Slapping the Traitor to Death

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

Under the gaze of the Emperor's Qi Observation Technique, the fortune hovering above Fulin's head was an absolute foul mess. The number representing his loyalty was a shocking negative 30! That gray pillar of qi not only connected to Zhao Wuji's mansion outside the palace, but it also had a few faint black threads pointing vaguely toward the northeast—the direction where the Tartars were located!

"Fulin, you are quite calm." Wang Hao sat back down on the dragon throne, looking down at him from above, his eyes revealing undisguised mockery. "What, do you think that just because you have the backing of the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, Zhao Wuji, and are even secretly making eyes at the Tartars in the north, I can't do anything to you?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Fulin's placid face finally changed color. A flash of extreme shock crossed his eyes. He couldn't understand how this young, newly enthroned emperor knew about the things he had done so secretly—things that even the Eastern Depot might not have solid evidence of.

But he quickly calmed down, crying out with forced composure, "Your Majesty, please see clearly! This servant is absolutely loyal to the Great Zhou and has no second thoughts about Your Majesty! Cabinet Minister Zhao is a pillar of the state, and as the Superintendent of the Directorate of Ceremonial, it is only natural for this servant to have contact with Cabinet Minister Zhao for official business. As for colluding with the Tartars, that is utter nonsense! Someone must be jealous of this servant and deliberately framed me! I beg Your Majesty to uphold justice for this servant!"

"Framed?"

Wang Hao laughed out of extreme anger. He directly grabbed another booklet from the table and smashed it viciously into Fulin's face.

"See for yourself! You hid 2.8 million taels of silver in your estate in the suburbs of the capital! You embezzled more than Liu Xi and Wang An! How much intelligence did you send to Zhao Wuji? The border defense maps of the Great Zhou, the deployment maps of the imperial palace—was it you, you dog, who leaked them out?!"

Fulin was battered and bruised by the booklet, but he gritted his teeth and refused to admit it. "Your Majesty, these are all fabricated charges extracted through torture by Wei Zhongxian of the Eastern Depot! This servant is innocent!"

"What an innocent man." Wang Hao's eyes suddenly became extremely strange, carrying a mixed emotion of disgust and absurdity. "Corruption and treason, I can understand as being blinded by greed. But the other thing Wei Zhongxian found out truly opened my eyes."

Wang Hao stood up abruptly, pointing at Fulin, his voice so loud it almost blew the roof off, his tone filled with unbelievable fury:

"You ball-less dead eunuch! Not only did you set up a mistress outside the palace, but you actually formed 'paired eating' relationships with three palace maids inside the palace! Sleeping together under the same big quilt every night, and you even beat a little eunuch to death and threw him into a well out of jealousy because he discovered your scandalous affair!"

A chorus of sharp intakes of breath immediately echoed through the great hall. Even the other guilty eunuchs beside him looked at Fulin as if he were a monster.

Wang Hao's chest heaved violently with anger, practically roaring his question, "I'm just baffled! Your damn thing down there was cut clean off a long time ago. You found three women—do you even have that function?! What do you use to satisfy them?! Are you a psychological pervert or sick in the head?!"

This extremely vulgar yet soul-piercing scolding completely tore away Fulin's last shred of dignity. As eunuchs, their greatest taboo was others bringing up their physical mutilation.

Fulin's effeminate face instantly twisted into the likeness of an evil spirit, his eyes erupting with extreme resentment and madness. He knew that he wouldn't survive today no matter what; this little emperor was simply using this as a pretext to uproot Zhao Wuji's power in the palace!

"Incompetent ruler! You are but a child, yet you dare to humiliate me!"

Fulin suddenly let out an inhuman shriek, and his martial arts aura instantly erupted! He had actually hidden his cultivation; he was astonishingly an expert at the early stage of the True Intent Realm!

His hands turned into eagle claws, his ten fingers gleaming with a terrifying, eerie blue poisonous light. Like an arrow released from a bow, he sprang up from the ground and lunged straight at Wang Hao on the dragon throne!

"Protect His Majesty!" Pei Jingzhe roared angrily. Drawing his embroidered spring blade, he prepared to fly forward.

But someone was faster than him.

"You dare to touch the master in front of me? You're courting death!"

Sun Li, who had been standing beside Wang Hao like a clay statue, suddenly opened his eyes. He didn't draw a weapon; he merely gave a cold snort and lightly thrust an aged palm forward.

The terrifying coercion of the second layer of the Astral Qi Realm descended with a crash, like Mount Tai pressing down!

Fulin's early True Intent Realm cultivation, in the face of Sun Li's astral qi, was simply like an egg smashing into an iron wall.

"Bang!"

Sun Li's palm arrived first despite being launched later, landing solidly on Fulin's chest.

There was no scream, no stalemate.

An incomparably violent surge of astral qi instantly penetrated his body. With a teeth-aching sound of shattering bones, Fulin's chest caved straight in. The clothes on his back burst apart instantly, erupting in a mist of blood.

His entire body flew backward like a torn sack, smashing heavily against the thick, dragon-coiled pillar of the Ganquan Palace. He slowly slid down, his eyes wide open, as blood mixed with fragments of his internal organs gushed frantically from his mouth. He died on the spot!

Deathly silence.

A deathlike silence once again enveloped the Ganquan Palace.

All the eunuchs looked at Fulin, who had been killed in a single strike on the ground, and then at Sun Li, who was slowly and methodically wiping his fingers with a pristine white silk handkerchief. They were so terrified that even their breathing stopped.

Wang Hao glanced coldly at the corpse on the ground, his eyes showing not the slightest ripple of emotion.

"Drag him out, tear his body apart with five horses, and feed him to the dogs." Wang Hao's voice was cold and ruthless. "Pass down the decree: Sun Li has rendered meritorious service in protecting the emperor. From this moment on, he is promoted to the Seal-Holding Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, holding the standard second rank, and will command the twenty-four bureaus of the Inner Court!"

Sun Li casually tossed the silk handkerchief onto Fulin's corpse and knelt respectfully on the ground. "This old servant Sun Li thanks Your Majesty for your immense grace! I am willing to go through fire and water for Your Majesty, and would not hesitate to die ten thousand deaths!"

At this time, Hai Dafu, who was standing to the side, suddenly began to cough violently. He hunched over, looking as if a gust of wind could blow him down.

Wang Hao turned his head to look at him, a trace of deep interest flashing in the depths of his eyes. During the extremely tense moment just now, Wang Hao's Emperor's Qi Observation Technique had been locked onto the entire scene. He was surprised to find that when Hai Dafu coughed and stopped circulating some mysterious cultivation method in his body, the loyalty above his head actually revealed itself, instantly soaring from 90 to 93! Moreover, hidden within his originally sluggish aura was an extremely overbearing yet tightly suppressed fluctuation of true qi.

"Hai Dafu, your cultivation method just now... is somewhat special." Wang Hao looked at him with a half-smile. "To be able to hide it from my eyes for the most part, this method of concealing fortune and cultivation is quite exquisite."

Hai Dafu's entire body trembled. He immediately knelt down and said in a quivering voice, "Your Majesty's eyes are as bright as torches. What this old servant cultivates is a combination of the Bone-Melting Cotton Palm and the Turtle Breathing Great Art. In order to suppress the yin poison in my body, I have to circulate this method year-round to restrain my vital energy. If Your Majesty is interested, this old servant will immediately write it down from memory and present it to Your Majesty!"

He was very smart. He knew that the emperor asking this question during a purge wanted not just the cultivation method, but his unreserved surrender and allegiance.

Wang Hao nodded in satisfaction. "Very good. Hai Dafu, I can see your loyalty. In addition to managing the Inner Treasury, from this day forth, you shall concurrently serve as the Supervising Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial. You are promoted to the Junior Second Rank! As long as you serve me wholeheartedly, I will naturally find a way to bestow upon you an alchemical pill to neutralize the Yin poison in your body."

Overcome with emotion, tears streamed down Hai Dafu's aged face as he kowtowed repeatedly. "This old servant's life belongs entirely to Your Majesty!" His loyalty metric instantly shot up to 100, marking him as fiercely devoted.

Having used thunderous methods to awe the wicked and given sweet rewards to his loyal hound, Wang Hao now turned his gaze toward the survivors who had already been scared out of their wits. The climax of the great purge was about to begin.