All Sorts of Demons and Monsters Fill the Hall

Inside the Ganquan Palace, the dead silence was suffocating.

The blue smoke from the burning aloeswood coiled gracefully in mid-air, yet it could not dispel the seemingly solidified, icy killing intent within the great hall. The hall doors were tightly shut, and only a few faint rays of daylight seeped through the carved window frames pasted with Goryeo paper, illuminating the dragon patterns on the floor tiles to make them look as if they were baring fangs and brandishing claws.

Wang Hao sat upright on the spacious dragon throne, his face as calm as deep water. Beside his hand lay a thick booklet with a cover dyed a piercing scarlet. That was the Secret Investigation Record of the Seal-Holding Eunuchs of the Twelve Directorates, Four Offices, and Eight Bureaus of the Inner Court, which the Eastern Depot Governor Wei Zhongxian had stayed up all night to compile.

Below him, the most powerful group of people in the inner court of the Great Zhou Imperial Palace were divided into two rows according to their official ranks, kneeling on the ground like quails waiting to be slaughtered.

On the left were twenty-four inner court magnates, headed by the seal-holding eunuchs of the Twelve Directorates, Four Offices, and Eight Bureaus. When these people usually walked in the palace, which of them was not surrounded by attendants, with rows of adopted sons and grandsons trailing behind? Even the regular third-rank officials of the outer court had to politely slip them a silver note and respectfully call them Eunuch upon meeting them. But at this moment, they were trembling all over, their foreheads pressed hard against the cold golden bricks, not even daring to breathe loudly.

On the right, only one person stood.

The Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Pei Jingzhe. Wearing a flying fish suit and an embroidered spring sword at his waist, his posture was as straight as a pine, looking like a god of death. Although he was only a regular third-rank military officer, standing before this group of eunuchs at this moment, the iron-blooded killing aura emanating from him suppressed the eunuchs opposite him so much that they could not even lift their heads.

Wang Hao did not speak; he merely silently activated the Son of Heaven's Qi Observation Technique.

In an instant, a faint golden glow surfaced deep within Wang Hao's pupils. The world before his eyes changed its appearance; the physical facade was stripped away, replaced by pillars of qi representing destiny, cultivation, and the most core loyalty, rising within the great hall like colorful wolf smoke.

Hiss—

Wang Hao gasped internally. The anger in his chest was like a bucket of burning oil had been poured over it, instantly exploding with a boom, burning his eyes red and making even his breathing heavy.

Too rotten!

Simply rotten to the bone!

The civil and military officials in the royal court were disloyal and harbored their own ulterior motives, which Wang Hao pinched his nose and accepted, since those people had noble families and sects standing behind them, with intricate entanglements of interests. But what were this group of eunuchs below? They were the royal family's domestic slaves! They were the emperor's dogs! Without the emperor, they were worse than stray dogs on the side of the road!

But now, as Wang Hao swept his gaze over them with the Son of Heaven's Qi Observation Technique, the destinies above the heads of these twenty-four seal-holding eunuchs were simply a wild dance of demons!

More than half of the people's loyalty levels were actually below 50! In the system's judgment, this was already a dangerous warning line of could betray at any moment. What was more, a few people's loyalties were directly glaring red negative numbers!

What made Wang Hao even more shocked were the mixed colors intertwined in their destinies.

He saw a thin gray thread above the head of the Directorate of Ceremonial's Governor Eunuch Fulin, connecting straight toward a certain direction outside the palace—that was the residence of the Vice Grand Secretary, Zhao Wuji! This was blatantly colluding with foreign ministers, acting as an inside man for the civil officials!

He saw a nauseating trace of blood fiend aura circling above the head of the Directorate of Imperial Requisites' seal-holding eunuch. This dog thing was actually secretly using the lifeblood of palace maids to feed evil spirits within the palace! In this world where the bizarre ran rampant, raising evil spirits within the imperial palace grounds was no different from lighting a torch in a gunpowder magazine!

He even saw a peach-blossom-like pink miasma floating above the heads of a few eunuchs. Wei Zhongxian's report stated clearly that these old things actually became paired eaters with those young and beautiful palace maids, and not just one; some monopolized seven or eight palace maids alone, and even beat young eunuchs to death in the lateral courts out of jealousy!

As for corruption?

Wang Hao opened the scarlet booklet at his hand, turning it page by page. The rustling sound of the turning pages in the silent great hall at this moment was like a death knell.

Except for his own Eunuch Gang of Six Heavenly Group—Sun Li, Wei Zhongxian, Cao Zhengchun, Yu Huatian, Cao Shaoqin, and Hai Dafu—out of the remaining twenty-four seal-holding eunuchs or former seal-holding eunuchs, regardless of loyalty or treachery, good or bad, not a single one had a clean bottom!

The one who embezzled the least had taken a full five hundred thousand taels of silver!

Five hundred thousand taels... Wang Hao's fingers squeezed until his knuckles turned white and veins popped out. Just now in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Ministry of War fought bloody battles with the Ministry of Revenue over three million taels of silver. The national treasury of the entire Great Zhou was so poor that even mice would shed tears. So the silver of the Great Zhou had all fucking entered the pockets of these ball-less eunuchs and the corrupt officials of the outer court!

Wang Hao violently closed the booklet, letting out a deafening muffled thud.

Bang!

This sound scared the kneeling eunuchs below into collectively shivering. A few timid ones even had a patch of foul-smelling liquid seep out from beneath them.

Wang Hao stood up and slowly walked down the jade steps. With every step he took, the sound of his boot soles striking the golden bricks was like a heavy hammer smashing into everyone's hearts.

He stopped in the crowd, his gaze like a knife, staring dead at an old eunuch kneeling on the far left of the first row.

Former Seal-holding Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, Liu Xi. Wang Hao's voice was extremely icy, devoid of any emotional color.

Liu Xi trembled violently all over and shakily raised his head. That old face was already covered in cold sweat, snot, and tears. He kowtowed heavily: This old slave... this old slave is here!

Wang Hao looked at him with the Son of Heaven's Qi Observation Technique. Liu Xi's loyalty was 93, which could be considered utterly devoted, and there were no mixed colors of colluding with foreign ministers or barbarians in his destiny. But the yellow qi representing wealth above his head was so rich that it was almost dripping oil.

Wei Zhongxian investigated you, finding out that you have three manors in the suburbs of the capital, twenty thousand mu of fertile land, eighteen pawnshops and silk shops within the capital, and one million two hundred thousand taels of silver and ten thousand taels of gold hidden in your cellar. Wang Hao looked down at him from above, his tone carrying a hint of mockery. Liu Xi, oh Liu Xi, you are but a eunuch. You brought nothing at birth and can take nothing at death. Without heirs and without a root, you want so much money. Are you planning to take it to the underworld to buy a safe passage?

Hearing this, Liu Xi collapsed onto the ground like mud. He knew that since the Eastern Depot had investigated so clearly, any sophistry of his would be meaningless.

This old slave... this old slave deserves death a thousand times! This old slave's heart was blinded by lard. Seeing others take, this old slave also followed suit and took... This old slave's loyalty to Your Majesty can be witnessed by the sun and moon! I beg Your Majesty for mercy! I beg Your Majesty for mercy! Liu Xi kowtowed madly. His forehead was quickly broken, and fresh blood dyed the golden bricks red.

Wang Hao looked at him coldly, without the slightest pity in his eyes. Loyalty? Could loyalty hollow out the foundation of the Great Zhou?

But he was not here today to kill everyone. He needed to establish his authority, and he also needed to display the tactic that both thunderous wrath and gentle rain are the grace of the sovereign.

"Considering you served the late Emperor for many years and have shown a sliver of loyalty to the royal family, We shall spare your miserable life." Wang Hao turned around, sharply flicking his sleeve. "All of your assets are hereby confiscated! You are stripped of your position as the Seal-holding Director of the Directorate of Ceremonial. From this moment on, scram to the late Emperor's mausoleum to sweep the floors and tend to the oil lamps. Without Our decree, you are forbidden from taking a single step outside the mausoleum until the day you die!"

Feeling as though he had been granted a supreme pardon, Liu Xi kowtowed repeatedly. Even though he had lost everything, he had at least managed to keep his life. "Thank you for your profound grace, Your Majesty! Thank you for sparing my life! This old servant will head to the imperial mausoleum at once to pray for the Great Zhou day and night!"

Having dealt with Liu Xi, Wang Hao's gaze slowly shifted to the other figure kneeling beside him, who was currently trembling uncontrollably.

In that instant, the temperature within the grand hall seemed to plummet to freezing. The true purge had only just begun.