Thunderous Means, Sky Lanterns Illuminate Corrupt Souls

"Wang An, Seal-holding Eunuch of the Inner Treasury."

Wang Hao's voice was like a freezing wind blowing from the deepest depths of hell, scraping across the floor tiles of the Sweet Spring Palace.

A fat eunuch kneeling to the right of Liu Xi shuddered violently, the fat all over his body trembling like rippling water. This man was none other than Wang An, the Seal-holding Eunuch in charge of the Great Zhou imperial family's inner treasury.

Wang An struggled to raise his head. His face, which was originally slick with oil and as white and plump as a steamed bun, was now completely drained of blood, taking on a deathly, ashen pallor. His lips quivered, and he could not even form a complete sentence. "This old... this old slave... your servant is here..."

Wang Hao looked down at him from above, the disgust and killing intent in his eyes almost materializing into something solid. Through the vision of the Emperor's Qi Observation Technique, the loyalty value above Wang An's head was a pitiful 15 points, and it was constantly flashing with a black light that represented betrayal. Even more shocking was the yellow pillar of qi representing greed above his head; it was so thick it looked like a pillar supporting the heavens, intertwined with countless blood-red threads representing vengeful spirits.

"Wang An, you have managed the inner treasury for thirteen years. You could be called the late emperor's most trusted God of Wealth," Wang Hao said slowly, though his tone grew increasingly chilling. "Just now in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, I was pressured by the officials who claimed the state treasury was empty, demanding that I open the inner treasury and take out my private funds. My Grand Companion Wei told me that the ready silver in the inner treasury is less than three hundred thousand taels."

Wang An's forehead was pressed heavily against the floor. Cold sweat had already soaked through his expensive silk eunuch robes. He cried out hoarsely, "Your Majesty, please see clearly! The expenses were simply too vast. The silver in the inner treasury was truly spent by the late emperor! This old slave is wrongfully accused, Your Majesty!"

"Wrongfully accused?"

Wang Hao laughed out of extreme anger and delivered a vicious kick to Wang An's fat shoulder. Although Wang Hao was only at the Muscle Forging Realm in his cultivation, this kick was fueled by rage, sending the several-hundred-pound Wang An rolling away like a ball of meat.

"Do you take me for a three-year-old child?!" Wang Hao roared fiercely, pointing at Wang An on the ground. "Wei Zhongxian! Read it! Read out the entire background of this old dog for me! Let everyone present hear just how wrongfully accused he is!"

Wei Zhongxian, standing behind Wang Hao, took a step forward. A viper-like, sinister gleam flickered in his eyes as he pulled a secret memorial from his sleeve. In a shrill voice, he read out word by word:

"Upon investigation, Wang An, the Seal-holding Eunuch of the Inner Treasury, has used his position of managing the inner treasury to steal countless amounts of silver and curios over the past thirteen years. He replaced imperial tributes with inferior goods and sold the real ones at high prices on the black market. He even colluded with the underground banks in the capital to issue usurious loans, forcing as many as seventy-three people to their deaths!"

With every sentence Wei Zhongxian read, Wang An's body convulsed.

"He enclosed fifty thousand acres of fertile farmland outside the capital and forcibly seized twelve civilian women. Upon raiding his secret private residence, a total of eight thousand solid gold bricks were confiscated, equivalent to two million three hundred thousand taels of ready silver! Various top-tier jade artifacts, magical artifacts, and medicinal pills filled twelve storehouses, their value immeasurable! The amount of his corruption even far exceeds the tax revenue of an entire province!"

Deathly silence filled the great hall, leaving only Wei Zhongxian's sharp, piercing echoes.

When the other eunuchs heard the figure "two million three hundred thousand taels," even though they were mentally prepared, they still could not help but gasp. This Wang An truly treated the inner treasury as his own personal coin pouch. Even a mouse would have to leave behind two ounces of meat before leaving his domain!

Wang An had completely broken down. He scrambled and crawled to Wang Hao's feet, hugging Wang Hao's boots while weeping bitterly. "Your Majesty! This old slave was wrong! This old slave will hand over all the money! This old slave is willing to atone for his crimes with meritorious service. I beg Your Majesty to spare this old slave's dog life. This old slave is even willing to go sweep the floors at the imperial mausoleum!"

"Sweep the floors at the imperial mausoleum?"

Wang Hao kicked him away, his eyes as cold as ten-thousand-year-old ice. "Liu Xi is greedy, but he still holds the imperial family in his heart, and he is still loyal to me! What kind of thing are you? You eat the imperial family's food and smash the imperial family's pot. A fat, deceiving rat like you—if I sent you to the imperial mausoleum, I'm afraid you would even sell the late emperor's coffin boards!"

Wang Hao took a deep breath, suppressing the rolling killing intent in his chest, and coldly handed down the sentence:

"Pass down my decree! Wang An, the Seal-holding Eunuch of the Inner Treasury, has deceived the sovereign, perverted the law for bribes, and accumulated a massive amount of illicit wealth. He is guilty of the ten abominations and is beyond forgiveness! Order the Embroidered Uniform Guard to flay him alive and stuff his skin with straw!"

"Additionally, don't let all that fat go to waste. Pei Jingzhe!"

Pei Jingzhe, the Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard who had been as silent as an iron tower, forcefully clasped his hands. "Your subject is here!"

"Drag him outside the Meridian Gate and light him as a sky lantern for me! Let all the eunuchs and all the officials in the capital open their eyes wide and see that this is the fate of those who embezzle my silver! I want him to wail for three days and three nights before he dies!"

"Your subject obeys the decree!"

A hint of bloodthirsty light flashed in Pei Jingzhe's eyes. He strode forward and grabbed the limp, mud-like Wang An as if lifting a baby chick.

"No! Your Majesty, spare my life! Lighting the sky lantern! No! Help! This servant's loyalty to Your Majesty can be witnessed by heaven and earth!"

Wang An let out a miserable shriek like a pig being slaughtered, but under the iron grip of Pei Jingzhe, a martial artist of the Astral Qi Realm, his struggles were entirely futile. As he was dragged out of the Sweet Spring Palace like a dead dog, that bone-chilling scream echoed endlessly outside the hall, as if a cold blade were suspended over the neck of every eunuch inside.

Lighting the sky lantern. It was the most cruel torture, where a person was stripped naked, wrapped in cloth, soaked in a vat of oil, and then tied upside down to a wooden pole and ignited from the feet.

The eunuchs in the hall were already frightened out of their wits. Many had even knocked their heads against the floor until they bled, praying only that this god of death would not call their names.

Wang Hao's gaze swept over the crowd again. He did not feel the slightest psychological burden from his recent brutality. In a world like this, where bizarre entities ran rampant and powerful enemies surrounded them, mercy would only lead to destruction. Only iron and blood, along with terror, could forge the absolute authority of imperial power.

He turned his head and looked at the fat eunuch standing to his side, who had been smiling all along.

The fat eunuch, who always hunched his back and occasionally coughed, took a step forward, his voice raspy. "This old slave is here."

Looking at Hai Dafu, whose injuries from encircling and suppressing Ye Chen and the bizarre entities a few days ago had still not healed, the coldness in Wang Hao's eyes finally melted a little. "The Inner Treasury cannot be without a master for even a single day. From today onward, you will take over the position of Seal-holding Eunuch of the Inner Treasury. Go immediately to receive the stolen funds that Wang An spat out. I want you to sort out the inner treasury within three days!"

Hai Dafu knelt down deeply. "This old slave receives the decree. I will absolutely not allow Your Majesty's silver to be short by even a single fraction."

Wang Hao nodded. Hai Dafu's loyalty was unquestionable. But immediately after, his gaze bypassed Hai Dafu and locked onto another eunuch standing in the front row—one whose back remained stiff despite kneeling.

A truly tough bone had appeared.

"Director of Ceremonial Eunuch, Fu Lin."

When this name fell from Wang Hao's lips, the air pressure inside the Sweet Spring Palace seemed to instantly drop a few more freezing degrees.

Kneeling in the second position on the right, a eunuch with an effeminate face, so well-groomed he resembled a fifty-year-old scholar, slightly raised his head. Unlike the other eunuchs who were frightened out of their wits, Fu Lin wore a respectful expression, yet a hint of fearless arrogance was hidden deep within his eyes.

He did not even kowtow frantically like the others. Instead, he performed a perfectly executed formal bow, his voice shrill yet steady: "Your servant Fu Lin greets Your Majesty. May I ask what orders Your Majesty has for this servant?"

Wang Hao looked at him as if he were looking at a dead man.