"Take him down? What does your highness mean?" The empress dowager cannot remain silent anymore.
"Dethrone him." The grand empress dowager said with a straight face.
Hearing this short response from the elder, she's still unsatisfied. "Your highness, I am not getting against you, however, are you planning to let the empress rule the rest of the span of the eighth generation?"
The grand empress thinks for a while. She thinks it's not that bad but she seems she doesn't like the idea very much. "That idea is good as well. We can control her like a puppet behind the stage after all. However, I have another thing in mind. The seventh prince is a strong candidate to be the next emperor."
"The seventh prince?" The empress dowager tries to recall who was it. It didn't take too long for her to picture out the figure of the seventh prince of the eighth generation. The said prince is only a thirteen-year-old child. "Is your highness talking about the youngest son of the second princess?"
The second princess she was talking about is just a few months younger than the triplets. She's the second daughter of the late emperor with one of his concubines.
"Yes." The empress dowager replies.
A child as an emperor? The empress dowager nor Empress Xue Chi heard of that yet. What would others say about the royal family? Wouldn't it encourage revolt against the empire? The rebellion would most probably take them easy because of the fact that 'what they are against with is just a child'. Wouldn't she consider choosing among the half brothers of the current emperor such as the second, third, and fourth prince?
"But he's still a child, your highness! Did he even reach the coming of age?"
She replies, "He may be young but I heard he is a very smart child. His skills and knowledge in six arts are not to be underestimated. He's not far inferior to the first prince's intellect, I believe. And given that he is still a child, I, as the grand empress dowager, can 'guide' him in palace matters as his reign goes on."
The empress silently thinks about what the grand empress dowager said. By the first prince, she's talking about the emperor, right? She's wary about the emperor's intellect when the known tactician of the Ministry of War and Defense is the first princess. Does Emperor Yin Renshu even look after the ministry? She doesn't think so.
The truth is, what Empress Xue Chi thought is about half correct and half wrong. First, she thought that the first prince is Yin Renshu. Since Yin Wenyan's identity is kept as a secret, he didn't receive a title as the nth prince. The real first prince, which is Yin Renshu who ascended to the throne, promoting him into the emperor a few years after they returned to the imperial palace.
Now, this is where the confusion starts. A lot of the members of the royal family wonders about this. Why do the princes of lower ranks didn't promote a step higher as well? However, they didn't give it much of a thought and don't mind if they remained as the second prince, third prince, and so on. The truth behind this is that the grand empress dowager did not promote them for Yin Wenyan to have a title, which is the title of the first prince. Although it is not known to all, the two old empresses, the first princess, and the emperor acknowledge him as the first prince. The two empresses are not wary of Yin Renshu but of Yin Wenyan.
Second, it is true that the known tactician of the empire's operations on the battlefield is the princess general. However, this is just for the show as well. The real tactician isn't the first princess but the first prince. The princess general only carries the plan on and leads the army to war. Yin Renshu doesn't even involve himself in the matters of the royal army.
The empress dowager is still not convinced in grand empress dowager's plans but she asks anyway, "How will we do that? The imperial royal army is under the first princess' command. Or are we exposing our ace already? Whichever way I think about it, coup d'etat seems difficult in our side, your highness."
The old woman sighs, "What coup d'etat are you talking about? We will not go such trouble to seize the throne and cease his reign." The grand empress dowager's lips form a wicked grin. "We will just do a little dirty trick to do that."
"..." The empress dowager isn't sure about what the old empress is talking about. Well, whatever, if her plan messes up, she'll be the one who'll suffer the consequences the most after all. And if worse comes to worst, she'll just flee by then.
"Good child..." The grand empress dowager plays with the empress' lock of hair. She whispers to her ear in an audible voice, "Curse the emperor."
"...?"
The empress is puzzled. Why would she do such a thing? She never cursed other people no matter how much they made her upset. And another thing, how would it help them if she cursed his majesty?
Seeing the empress' confused look on her face, the grand empress dowager loses her patience and demanded once more. "I said curse him! The worse, the better."
The pressure is too much for the empress. She gets scared easily whenever there's someone threatening her. With a trembling voice, she indeed curses Yin Renshu, "Fuck the emperor?"
"..."
The grand empress dowager, even the empress dowager remained silent. She thought, maybe they are unsatisfied? Maybe she should curse more than that? The grand empress dowager said 'the worse, the better', after all.
"His majesty is a son of a bitch?"
"..."
Still, the two old empresses remained silent. Empress Xue Chi admits defeat. She doesn't know any way how to curse someone out other than what she already said.
It was the empress dowager who breaks the silence first. "Yes, I agree with you, your highness." The empress dowager wants to laugh but she knows she can't so she suppresses it all inside her. "But what the grand empress dowager meant is that you cast an evil spell on his majesty."
"Oh." Empress Xue Chi just got enlightened.
So it's the other type of curse that the grand empress dowager wants her to do. Now that she thinks about it, she does not specialize in curses and black magic. She only focuses on herbs. And now, she's only starting to cultivate using yin energy and dark arts. Why is this old woman expect so much in someone who just started using the dark method of cultivation?
"I can't believe our clan has raised such a fool." The grand empress dowager stands up and walks further from the empress. She really got her annoyed. "I even passed my prowess on her."
The empress on the other hand just silently lowers her head in embarrassment and fear.
The empress dowager lets out a deep sigh. She keeps on telling herself not to laugh. She must not laugh. "Your highness, I think the empress is still inexperienced when it comes to curses. I'm afraid it will only backfire on us. Why won't we use 'that poison' on his food instead?"
"We already used it to my son's useless first wife. Haven't you heard? Rumors had it that it's most probably you who poisoned her. Well, that's not just a rumor but a half-truth. It's not only you who poisoned her. But if we were not careful enough back then, we might have been exposed!"
"If we can't poison the emperor, nor curse..." The empress dowager takes a deep breath to focus herself. She should not laugh now. She should wait until she retires to her hall. After collecting herself, she continues, "Nor curse him to have a grave illness, not even coup d'etat to make him descend from the throne, maybe it's time for us to use Number 43."
This suggestion from the empress dowager is making the empress anxious. She has a bad feeling about this. Although the emperor failed her once, she still hopes that his majesty will look for her and take her away from these two.
The grand empress dowager thinks about it for a while. She's still hesitant after all the thinking she made. "Is this really the right time to use that?"
The empress dowager smiles sweetly. "If not now, when will you show your real capability? You need to let everyone know that you are the absolute ruler."
"Ah-Chi." The empress dowager calls the empress in an intimate manner as she gently strokes her hair. "Summon Ye Feng."
Empress Xue Chi slowly turns her head to the empress dowager. Her face shows how terrified she is. Her lips tremble as she speaks, "Your highness, what if... what if I mess up again?"
"You won't." The empress dowager's voice is soothing but it didn't reduce the anxiousness that the empress feels.
"But what if I mess up again?" The empress insists.
Number 43, also known as Eunuch Yu Feng, is the 43rd experiment made by the three of them using their knowledge learned from their clan. Eunuch Yu is the product of the combined knowledge they gathered from the last 42 experiments they did.
Recalling how destructive the chaos did Number 43 caused in the town square, it's not impossible to get repeated. That incident is actually not the outcome that they hoped for. Eunuch Yu went berserk and it attacked numerous civilians. However, through this, they discovered something. Anyone that the eunuch bites become a blood-thirsty monster.
This discovery is similar to that of their Number 42. Number 42 is their 42nd experiment. It's just an odorless and tasteless powder. If this powder will be sprinkled on one's food, one will never know that their food has a strange substance on it.
A bite will not affect the person. The more one takes, the more the substance affects the body. This substance can turn the victim into a vampire-like monster that they can control through dark arts. The empress dowager snorted. "Don't worry about it. His majesty will clean up for you again."
"His majesty... his majesty is..."
With his majesty getting mentioned, she recalls how sincere he was when he said that they will do no harm to her, that they got her back. But the fact that he strangled her isn't something to be easily disregarded as well. On the other hand, these two old empresses raised her and helped her to get herself where she is now. However, it is clear that these two are just using her and forcing her to do terrible things.
This time, whose side should she go?
"Xue Chi, call Eunuch Yu right now. Or do I have to use your biological family against you?" Since the gentle method isn't working, the empress dowager switched into an authoritative tone.
Hearing that her real family is in question. She immediately made her mind out of fear. "No! Please don't involve them here! I... I'll do it, your highness."
This is how they control the empress to take part in their plans. It's not that she wants to do evil with them, it's just she has no choice but to let them use her. Or else, her family's safety will not be secured.
"Good." The empress dowager smiles and rises to her feet. She distances herself from the empress about a meter away.
Empress Xue Chi takes in a deep breath and slowly exhales. She fixed her posture and straightens her back. She positioned herself into a meditating form. The tips of her hair are still dripping with wine. It feels disgusting and sticky in the skin but the empress could care less about that. She closes her eyes and concentrated on feeling the flow of energy in her body.
As she was preparing herself to summon the eunuch named Yu Feng, her chest feels tight and it gets harder to breathe. She just recovered from a pitiful state, and now she's getting forced to push herself to her limits again.
A lot of people in the imperial palace are wondering about the empress' health. She's doesn't seem to have a weak body nor a history of a grave illness. In fact, she has the energy to run around the imperial palace every day. It really was strange that the empress suddenly got an illness that almost made her body into a vegetative state. She almost seems like she got cursed or something.
If not because of the ground petal of the spirit herb Yueguang Hua, she would not recover herself at such a fast pace. The cause of her illness? It was the backfire of using dark arts in cultivating. It's the same as the grand empress dowager as well. She got severely sick when she passed her lifetime worth of prowess to the empress.
What the Fenghuang Sect disciples detected in her highness is indeed an abnormal amount of Yin energy in her body. That time, she went out to go to the black market and brought several types of rare herbs and other materials. When her way got blocked by the young disciples, she reasoned out that she went out to worship in the nearest temple around.
She made several hand seals and a magic circle appeared on the floor right below where she sits. Every line of the incantation seal gives off a crimson faint light. From the center, the circle extends into a radius of a meter.
A droplet of sweat forms on her forehead and her eyebrows knitted. It seems she's having a hard time summoning Number 43. She made a series of hand seals again and provides more spiritual energy in the magic circle. This indeed made the incantation seal glow a little brighter but this only made the empress cough blood.|
Seeing that the empress is on the verge of failing, the empress dowager couldn't standstill. She made hand seals and transfers some spiritual energy to Empress Xue Chi. With the support coming from the empress dowager, the burden that the empress carries on her shoulder seems to get a little lighter.
However, her highness the empress noticed that something is strange. She knows that she and Eunuch Yu are now connected but there's something that's getting in between them.
"Your highness..." The empress speaks with her eyes still closed. "There's something that prevents me from summoning Eunuch Yu."
"What? What is it?" The empress dowager asks.
"I do not know. It seems he can't move." More sweat forms on her forehead as she exerts more effort.
"Could it be your skills failed you?" The grand empress dowager can't stay quiet.
"I don't think that's the case, your highness." She gritted her teeth and pushed herself further. "It's an external factor."
"..."
"Is he captured?" The empress dowager asks.
"I cannot tell but perhaps that's the case." The empress replies.
"Then this is no good. Quick, free him!" The grand empress dowager demanded.
However, things are indeed easier said than done. The empress vomited a mouthful of blood but it seems no one cares about it. Although Empress Xue Chi is getting into her limits, she still tried her best to summon the eunuch.
Meanwhile, the immobilizing spell that Yin Renshu had set up using Zhao Yangguang's talisman is slowly ripping in half. The bloodless veins of the dead eunuch are bulging and his dilated eyes turn red. His sharp canine teeth grow even longer. The single talisman on the creature's forehead can't withstand the violent resistance against it. After so much struggling, the talisman was finally torn into pieces.
The eunuch rises from his grave and hops its way to the summoner.