Realms In The Firmament

The Crown Prince was a fool who kept repeating the same words for nothing. He was trying to notice the king… [This is a serious problem!]

Jiang Yu-Ming thought that the Crown Prince was going to get him killed today…

[But when did I offend the Crown Prince? Did I mess with him somehow? A prince who is going to be the king actually treats me like that…]

“Your son and his group teased and bullied Ye Xiao and his friend’s outside the southern gate. Is your baby son wronged?”

“Prince Hua-Yang had just left and your son, Jiang Tai-Sui, actually talked dirty to the little princess of the House of Hua-Yang. Is your son wronged?” The Crown Prince kept pushing him to the edge.

Jiang Yu-Ming couldn’t find the words to retort the Crown Prince.

He knew that his son could have actually done those things.

“The warriors fight for the kingdom. Your son fools around in the capital. He actually got out and bullied the warriors’ families right after they left. Isn’t it insulting the warriors who are now shedding their blood to protect you?”

“When the soldiers are disappointed, who will protect the land of our kingdom?”

The Crown Prince was harsh.

Jiang Yu-Ming felt like he would be wronged to death this time. [Wasn’t it always a children’s fight between the lads? They had done it before, hadn’t they? Why are you being so harsh on it this time and keep dragging it to the national level?]

“When the two groups of lads met. One group were moaning in heart because their families had just left to a life and death battle. Yet your son’s group acted arrogantly and humiliated people as they wish…” The Crown Prince spoke coldly, “Nobody could stand it. Isn’t it?”

“So they got into a fight. Your son was hurt. That’s true. But wasn’t he asking for it? He viciously offended people and ended up being badly beaten. It was just simply because he was lame. The one who humiliates people will always get humiliated!” The Crown Prince humphed and said, “Besides, although your son is hurt, he was not in a critical condition, as far as I know. Ye Xiao’s bones are all smashed! He is stepping into the door of the heavens right now and you actually dare to reverse right and wrong here!”

The Crown Prince had made Jiang Yu-Ming lower his head.

While he just wanted to say something, he heard the king asked in concern, “What? What did you say? His bones are all smashed? Were you talking about Ye Xiao?”

The Crown Prince turned to the king and spoke respectfully, “Yes, father. I didn’t see him myself. But I was told so. It can’t be false… Because there was actually a superior cultivator among the group of Jiang Tai-Sui. He secretly hit Ye Xiao with the long lost martial art, the vicious Melting Bone Palm.”

“What? The Melting Bone Palm?” The king had once cultivated martial arts before. He knew about the Melting Bone Palm, so his face turned pale because of fear.

These three words meant death.

“After Ye Xiao was hit, it didn’t act up immediately. When he returned to the city and just got near his house, he suddenly fell down off the horse. He bled badly and his bones all turned soft like cotton.”

The Crown Prince sighed, “Now he is in coma. He seems to be only a breathing corpse…

The House of Ye had sent the pigeon to the north to inform General Ye. He may be able to see his son for the last time.”

The Crown Prince saw the king was actually shaking.

The king’s face was all pale.

He had always been a tough guy, yet at this moment, he couldn’t help staggering. He couldn’t even stand stably. He staggered and nearly fell on the floor. He hurriedly held the table to keep his boy stable. His legs, however, were weak. He sat straight down on the chair gasping.

“Are you alright, father?” The Crown Prince was in a panic. He hurriedly stepped over.

The king’s condition rather surprised the Crown Prince. [How come? It shouldn’t be!]

The king gasped and then smiled bitterly, “I think it must be the gods’ will. The gods want my kingdom to collapse.”

Jiang Yu-Ming and the Crown Prince were both frightened.

[Why did you say that, your highness?]

The king closed his eyes. He seemed tired. He rubbed his head. He looked extremely weak and tired at the moment. He couldn’t even disguise it.

The Crown Prince was astonished at this moment.

Since he was a baby, the king was like a great mountain to him. The king had held up the whole kingdom through countless storms and misfortunes. He never showed the look he was showing right now.

The Crown Prince was scared.

After a while, the king opened his eyes slowly and murmured, “The Melting Bone Palm… It is incurable… He is in a coma… He is going to die soon… They have sent a pigeon to the Great General… He will come back to see his beloved son for the last time…”

And then he laughed weirdly and spoke coldly, “Great. How amazing!”

It looked like his hopes were all blasted apart.

He knew that when the pigeon arrived at the north, no matter what Ye Nan-Tian was working on, he would leave everything behind and return for his son.

He wouldn’t even waste a second.

[Well then… What about the war in the north?

The only firm and safe place along the border of the kingdom is going to be the first broken breach?]

He opened his eyes and looked at Jiang Yu-Ming expressionless. He sounded calm and peaceful, “Jiang Yu-Ming, you should go home now.”

Jiang Yu-Ming was frightened, “Your highness… Your… Your health…”

The king spoke gently like he was whispering. What he said was, however, frightening, “You spoil your son. That’s fine… Your son is foppish, useless, arrogant and wild. Ok. Fine. I don’t care… Yet he actually acted with the temper of such a bastard while dealing with the national affairs… That was…

He deserves to die! Jiang Yu-Ming, you get the fxck out of here! I don’t want to see you again!”

Jiang Yu-Ming moved forward a bit on his knees and begged, “Your highness… Your highness, please… Please…”

The king closed his eyes and shouted all of a sudden, “I told you to get the fxck out! Are you deaf?!”

The shout had nearly dislodged the soul out of Jiang Yu-Ming. Even the Crown Prince felt a bit dizzy.

At the moment, the king’s eyes were full of disgust while looking at Jiang Yu-Ming.

Jiang Yu-Ming tried to say something. The king shouted loudly, “Somebody come! Drag him out!”

A few eunuchs came over and dragged Jiang Yu-Ming who had been scared and become like a puddle of mud out of the hall.

Jiang Yu-Ming was confused and blank. [What on earth happened? Why did the king do this to me? We are good friends, aren’t we?]

To be honest, Jiang Yu-Ming was absolutely loyal to the king. That was why the king had been valuing him all the time.

However… What happened today…

Jiang Yu-Ming was limp and feeble outside the hall. He felt like he just had a nightmare back there.

…

It was in the main hall again.

“Father, what happened to you? Why did you…” The Crown Prince was rubbing the king’s head gently. His voice was full of worry and concern.

He was eager for the crown indeed, yet he was still frightened by how his father was ill now.

“What happened? Look at them yourself.” The king pointed at the reports on the table.

The Crown Prince picked them up and started to read. When he read the first one, he exclaimed. When he finished the four reports, his face had turned all pale.

“I never have thought that Jiang Yu-Ming would have caused such a disaster for our kingdom…” The king spoke with hatred, “I should have killed his whole clan when that thing happened. I was soft-hearted. I kind of cherished the friendship between us and I have kept him alive till now. Now my stupid mercy has led to the collapse of my kingdom. A king should never have friends indeed.”

The Crown Prince had totally lost the vigor he showed just now. He was now blank.

He was scared. He surely was.

The four sides of the kingdom were all facing wars at the same time.

The enemies in four sides were all strong ones. Enemies in each side had a commander who was at the equal range as Prince Hua-Yang, the invincible War God.

That was truly the most dangerous situation the Kingdom of Chen had ever faced.

It just broke out like this quietly.

And Ye Xiao was down at the very moment.

Ye Nan-Tian would definitely leave the battle once he knew what happened to his son.

That meant they had already lost the battle in the north.

The Crown Prince was extremely astonished knowing the current situation.

He was so regretful. He thought that he shouldn’t have listened to his wife and planned on killing Ye Xiao.

However, nobody had expected a foppish young lord in town would have made a great impact to the war.

It was unbelievable and incomprehensible, but Ye Xiao had actually made such a weird thing to happen. It was as if the most unreasonable thing could only happen on Ye Xiao.

The king gradually regained his composure. He frowned and looked at the Crown Prince. His eyes were full of inspection and he asked calmly, “My son, you seem to care much about this thing.”

The Crown Prince was stunned and then immediately responded, “It concerns the safety of the entire kingdom. Now it is the troubled time. I am indeed worried about it.”

The king nodded.

They both knew that he wasn’t really answering the question. Yet the king didn’t want to dig deeper about it anymore.

…

6th and final guaranteed chapter of the week.

From XianXiaWorld