Lin Zixiao's previous actions had already dissatisfied his seven sworn brothers. Now, his subservient attitude only fueled their discontent, and they began shouting in protest.
"Big brother, do you really only want the Empress's Edict of Repentance?"
"Big brother, where does this leave us brothers?"
"Big brother, wake up! You absolutely cannot do this."
...
"That's right, you absolutely cannot do this!"
As soon as Lin Zixiao said this, the faces of his seven agitated brothers instantly lit up with joy. Had their wise and martial big brother finally come to his senses at the critical moment?
That would be wonderful.
Unfortunately, the smiles on their faces didn't even last a second before they heard Lin Zixiao say, "How can we treat Her Majesty's Edict of Repentance so lightly?"
"Men, hurry and set up the incense altar for me. Place an incense burner on it and light some incense. Then, lay out a tray lined with bright yellow brocade and a kneeling cushion..."
Lin Zixiao ordered anxiously.
Remembering something, he even deliberately went to wash his hands.
He had to treat this hard-won Edict of Repentance with the utmost caution. Besides, this was a decree issued personally by Her Majesty the Empress; how could he not treat it with respect?
Instantly, this infuriated his seven brothers even more.
Right at this moment, the personal guards sent by Ren Tianye to deliver the decree arrived.
Lin Zixiao did not hesitate. He fell to his knees with a heavy thud, his posture extremely respectful: "Your subject, Lin Zixiao, respectfully requests the Imperial Envoy to proclaim the holy edict."
The guard was stunned for a moment.
Wait, why would the rebel army value an imperial edict so much?
It seemed the Grand General's predictions were spot on.
Thus, he smilingly read out the imperial edict and then personally helped Lin Zixiao up: "General Lin, Her Majesty has said that your Lin family is full of loyal martyrs. It was Her Majesty who made a mistake, and she now sincerely apologizes to you."
"She hopes you can forgive her."
Looking at the Edict of Repentance written personally by Xiao Mingzhao on the imperial scroll, Lin Zixiao could no longer control the hot tears welling up in his eyes, and they poured out. Hearing the envoy's words, he was moved to a flood of tears.
He, Lin Zixiao, had finally cleared his father's unjust name!
Her Majesty was reasonable after all!
To recognize one's mistakes and correct them is the greatest of virtues!
He said, "Sir Envoy, please pass on my message to Her Majesty."
"How could this lowly subject dare to accept Her Majesty's apology?"
"Her Majesty is wise and brilliant. My late father's unjust death was certainly not Her Majesty's fault; it was truly the treacherous officials who deceived the imperial ear that led to such a thing. Now that Her Majesty is willing to issue an Edict of Repentance for this lowly subject, it is already the utmost benevolence and righteousness. This subject can only shed tears of gratitude."
"I dare not harbor the slightest bit of resentment!"
Pausing, Lin Zixiao said with a firm tone: "From now on, this subject harbors no more grievances. I will immediately hand over my military power, so as not to fail Her Majesty, nor fail my late father!"
The guard's eyes widened.
Holy crap, he's handing over his military power just like that?
The command of two hundred thousand elite troops?
Is it really this easy?!
A look of impatience and eagerness instantly washed over his face.
However, this action could not be carried out, as the seven brothers had already stepped in to stop it.
"You absolutely cannot hand over the military power!"
"Commander, we brothers bet the lives of our entire nine generations, all just hoping to follow you and earn the merit of establishing a new emperor. Now you want to hand the military power over to the imperial court? Then what are we supposed to do?"
"With the way the Empress is, if you dare to hand over the military power today, she'll dare to find an excuse to execute us tomorrow. Are our lives not lives?"
...
The brothers shouted themselves hoarse.
Their address for Lin Zixiao changed from Commander back to Big Brother, then from Big Brother to Commander, and they were even on the verge of calling him directly by his name.
Lin Zixiao's gaze, however, suddenly turned cold and stern.
"All of you, shut up!"
"My father and I have been loyal to the sovereign and loved our country our entire lives. Her Majesty is a sage who knows to correct her mistakes. The world of Great Yu is destined to become increasingly prosperous, and the common people of this world are destined to live better and better lives."
"Yet you only think of the merit of establishing a new emperor?"
"So what about the nine generations?"
"For Her Majesty, for Great Yu, even if our nine generations are entirely wiped out, that is exactly what we as subjects ought to do."
"Whether it is thunderous wrath or gentle dew, all are the sovereign's grace. Do you not even understand this?"
Lin Zixiao's imposing manner was fierce, but the flames in the eyes of the crowd only grew brighter. Just as the two sides were locked in a stalemate, someone suddenly came from outside the door to report.
"Report! Commander, the Empress has sent someone to deliver another imperial edict."
Lin Zixiao froze for a moment.
Another imperial edict?
Seeing an opportunity, the brothers immediately started shouting.
"The Empress must have regretted it, and now she's coming to take back that Edict of Repentance."
"Yes, yes, yes, that must be it. We brothers know exactly what kind of person that Empress is."
"Commander, wake up! Pinning your hopes on the Empress is truly not as good as you becoming Emperor yourself. We could also earn the merit of establishing a ruler, get appointed as Grand Generals or Grand Marshals, and clear your father's name."
"That's right, Commander! I'm still waiting to give her a lifetime of glory and favor. If you get schemed against by the Empress, what capital will I have left?"
...
These few words did make Lin Zixiao's heart skip a beat.
He suddenly felt a bit worried.
But he still braced himself and received the second imperial edict.
As a result...
The Empress Xiao Mingzhao's second edict was written even more straightforwardly, its tone filled with earnestness.
"Lin Zixiao, I was wrong. I was truly wrong. I should not have killed your father. For this, I am filled with remorse day and night, often washing my face with tears. I beg the General to forgive me!"
Lin Zixiao's emotions, which he had just barely managed to control, collapsed again.
Her Majesty had given him another Edict of Repentance!
And using such a pleading tone?!
He, Lin Zixiao, was guilty! To have actually caused Her Majesty to feel such guilt, he was unworthy of being a subject.
He fell to his knees once more and said to the guard delivering the edict: "Please reply to Her Majesty that it is not Her Majesty's fault, but the fault of Lin Zixiao. I should not have raised an army, much less marched on the capital."
"If I had been able to go straight to the capital and present my case to Her Majesty face-to-face back then, how could I have caused such a disaster?"
The second guard returned to report.
Lin Zixiao was still kneeling on the ground when the third guard arrived.
It was yet another imperial edict from the Empress.
Still an Edict of Repentance.
Still an apology!
And three Edicts of Repentance were far from Ren Tianye's limit.
Thus, next, the messengers at Lin Zixiao's door went a bit crazy.
"Report! Commander, the Empress has sent another edict!"
"Report! Commander, the Empress has sent yet another edict!"
"Report! Commander, the Empress has sent another, another, another edict!"
"Report..."
Lin Zixiao received the imperial edicts one after another. The guilt on his face grew deeper and deeper, and the boiling emotions in his heart surged ever more violently. By the time he received the eighteenth Edict of Repentance sent to him by the Empress Xiao Mingzhao, Lin Zixiao was already crying like a baby.
Eighteen of them!
Eighteen Edicts of Repentance!
What virtue or ability did he, Lin Zixiao, and their Lin family have?!
To make the Empress humble herself to such an extent?!
He, Lin Zixiao, had actually forced the Empress to this point!
He was guilty!
Therefore, after slightly controlling his emotions, Lin Zixiao suddenly stood up and shouted loudly: "Her Majesty has said that I am to enter the capital for an imperial audience."
"But having committed such a grave mistake, how could I have the face to see Her Majesty if I entered the capital alone?"
"Therefore..."
Lin Zixiao returned to his commander's chair and issued a cold command: "Pass down the order to the entire army: take off your armor, raise white flags, line up, and follow me to the gates of the capital to submit to Her Majesty's judgment and punishment!"
"Military orders are like mountains! No one is allowed to disobey!"
...
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
pression Bureau] Transported to a fantasy world overrun by demons and monsters, Gu Qingfeng becomes a jailer in the Demon Suppression Prison of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau. From this point on, bizarre cases frequently occur in the Demon Suppression Prison, once known as hell on earth and infamous for its gloomy, terrifying atmosphere! Why do the demons and monsters in the prison wail miserably every night? Why has the corpse demon, capable of transforming into various beauties, donned black stockings and switched careers to become a foot massage therapist? Why has the eye demon, expert in soul-snatching and illusions, turned into a VR headset? Why is the fox spirit performing otaku dances? Are all these occurrences a twisted expression of demonic nature, or a descent into moral depravity? After peeling away layer upon layer of mystery, all clues ultimately point to a jailer named Gu Qingfeng. Gu Qingfeng: "Hehehe... My dear demons and monsters, whose card shall we flip today?"
e vast world of cultivation, where he becomes the master of the Heavenly Ruins Sacred Hall, a dying old man with barely a tenth of his former cultivation remaining. He is immediately confronted with a deadly crisis: his subordinates have rebelled, and his protectors are forcing him to abdicate. At the critical moment, the system descends from the heavens: [Ding! The host has been detected facing a life-or-death crisis. The system is now officially activated!] [As a gift, you have received the Supreme Beginner’s Pack and awakened the ultimate cheat: ten thousand years of pure cultivation essence every second!] Yin Tianjue: “Wait… ten thousand years of cultivation every second? That’s six hundred thousand years a minute, and in one day… I can’t even calculate it. Either way, I’m already invincible!” You’re a peerless prodigy rarely seen in ten thousand years? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re an undying ancestor who has guarded a sacred land for countless ages? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. You’re the strongest chosen one, blessed with heaven-defying destiny? Sorry, I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. From this day forth, I have only one thing to say: “I gain ten thousand years of cultivation every second. Now, how exactly are you supposed to deal with that?”
