Volume 1, Chapter 63: Those Who Offend Our Eastern Palace Shall Be Executed No Matter How Far Away They Are

The imperial capital, Luoyang, lay beneath the emperor's feet as a land of paramount virtue. Even though the northern frontier was already gripped by biting, frigid winds, this place remained a scene of bustling prosperity.

However, this prosperity and tranquility were completely shattered on a morning three days later.

A procession composed of over a hundred horsemen appeared on the main post road outside Desheng Gate.

At the head was a burly man whose physique was as imposing as an iron pagoda. His face was weathered by the elements, yet his eyes shone with startling brilliance. Behind them followed dozens of large carts laden with identical black wooden boxes, covered by thick oilcloths. It was impossible to tell what was inside, but the faint, lingering scent of blood and quicklime caused the pedestrians along the roadside to cover their noses and step aside.

This contingent was none other than Tieniu and the "honor guard" he commanded.

Instead of entering the city, they bypassed it directly and headed straight for the vegetable market in the southern district.

The vegetable market was the execution ground where criminals were beheaded in the capital. Normally, it was a place of gloomy, chilling dread, and ordinary citizens would never come here without reason.

Yet today, it was packed with a sea of people, immensely lively and bustling.

Carrying out Li Xuan's military orders, Tieniu had actually commanded his men to erect a high platform over three zhang tall right here. Then, amid the astonished gazes of countless onlookers, he had the three hundred black wooden boxes—emitting an ominous aura—stacked up one by one in neat rows, forming a towering pyramid of heads that inspired awe and dread.

Having finished all this, he erected a fluttering, wind-swept black banner in front of the high platform.

Inscribed upon the banner in bold, flying, blood-red characters were eight striking words:

"Those who violate my Eastern Palace shall be executed, though they be far away!"

These eight characters seemed imbued with the murderous intent of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, causing a chill to rise from the depths of the hearts of everyone who saw them.

"Clang, clang, clang—"

Tieniu personally wielded a blade, picked up a bronze gong, and struck it with all his might.

He cleared his throat, channeled his dantian energy to the utmost, and let out a shout that echoed to the heavens:

"A great victory in the Northern Frontier! His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has slain three thousand bandits at Black Wind Pass and presented three hundred captive heads! To celebrate for His Majesty! To celebrate for the Great Zhou!"

This roar was like a sudden clap of thunder, instantly igniting the entire vegetable market.

Slain three thousand bandits? Presented three hundred captive heads?

The citizens were first shocked, and then erupted into earth-shaking cheers. The Great Zhou Dynasty valued martial prowess, and the people admired heroes capable of expanding territories and defending the realm above all else. As for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince—once dismissed as a literary wastrel—he now stood in their hearts as an absolute God of War!

The news spread like wildfire through the avenues and alleys of the capital.

Inside the teahouses, storytellers recounted with flying spittle how "the Crown Prince single-handedly breached the bandit camp"; in the wine taverns, scholars and poets passionately chanted verses of "a general's success is built upon ten thousand withered bones"; even young maidens in secluded chambers quietly discussed this heir apparent who possessed both world-shaking literary talent and peerless martial might.

At this moment, the Crown Prince's prestige reached an unprecedented peak.

However, to certain individuals, this bustling jubilation was no different from a doomsday judgment.

The Third Prince's Mansion.

"Crash!"

An expensive Ru-kiln tea cup was fiercely smashed onto the ground, shattering into countless pieces.

Third Prince Li Yi turned deathly pale, his entire body trembling, whether from anger or terror.

"Li Xuan... How ruthless! How vicious!" he growled through gritted teeth, his eyes bloodshot.

The Black Water Alliance was an organization he had spent countless efforts secretly cultivating over many years, the sharpest blade in his hands. Yet now, this blade had been snapped in half by Li Xuan's brute force!

What terrified him even more was the pyramid of three hundred heads at the vegetable market and the battle flag inscribed with "executed, though they be far away."

Was this presenting captives? This was clearly a most vicious curse and a most cruel intimidation directed straight at him!

"Your Highness, what... what should we do now?" The advisor beside him asked, his voice trembling.

What to do?

Li Yi wanted to know what to do as well!

Right now, he felt like someone stripped naked and thrown into a bustling market square; all his schemes and methods had been brutally and bloodily exposed by Li Xuan in the roughest, most direct manner.

He did not even dare enter the palace to see his Imperial Father. He had no doubt that the moment he appeared, his father's all-seeing gaze would completely pierce right through him.

While Li Yi was consumed by terror and panic like a trapped beast, the atmosphere in the Second Prince's Mansion was similarly as heavy as ice.

Second Prince Li Zhan sat quietly in his study, listening to the report of his confidant, Wei Yong.

Upon his face, there was none of Li Yi's violent rage and fear, only an impenetrable gloom.

"What a brilliant Li Xuan, what a brilliant 'turning the tables to use the enemy's plan', what a brilliant 'killing the chicken to scare the monkey'..." Wei Yong sighed deeply after finishing, his face full of bitterness. "Your Highness, we all underestimated him. He was neither the cicada nor the mantis stalking the cicada; from the very beginning, he was the hunter casting the inescapable net!"

Li Zhan picked up his teacup and took a sip, yet the scalding hot tea failed to dispel the chill in his heart in the slightest.

Not a single one of the men he had sent out had returned.

The "letter" Li Xuan had sent back was so loud, so glaring.

"He is telling this prince that he knows everything." Li Zhan's voice was somewhat hoarse.

"Yes, Your Highness." Wei Yong's expression was grave to the extreme. "He used three hundred heads to simultaneously warn you and the Third Prince. He is forcing the two of you into mutual slaughter and suspicion. As for him, he can sit comfortably in the northern frontier and watch a fine show."

"This prince will never let him have his way!" Li Zhan slammed the teacup heavily onto the table.

He knew that in a direct confrontation, he had already lost. Li Xuan held military power in the northern frontier, had the Xiao family as his backing, and possessed unfathomable personal martial prowess; sending any more assassins over would simply be feeding them heads.

...

The wind of the northern frontier was cold and hard after all.

Even though Li Xuan had commanded his men to build a pyramid of three hundred heads at the capital's vegetable market, the overwhelming murderous aura carried to the northern frontier was largely dispersed by the biting, frigid gales, leaving behind only a bone-deep chill.

Yet this coldness was meant for the enemies.

For the soldiers of the Northern Camp, the past half-month had been a time of unprecedented exhilaration and pride.

With His Royal Highness the Crown Prince presiding over the army, he first used thunderous methods to root out the traitor Wei Zhong, thereby stabilizing army morale; then he laid an inescapable net at Black Wind Pass, completely wiping out the three hundred martial arts assassins sent by the Third Prince, leaving a trail of rolling heads and rivers of blood.

Those three hundred heads sent back to the capital did not merely intimidate the Second and Third Princes; they injected a powerful stimulant into the three hundred thousand soldiers of the northern frontier.

As it turned out, the imperial court behind them was not merely capable of plotting against one another. As it turned out, this Crown Prince was truly willing to stand up for them and use the most ruthless methods to respond to all schemes and provocations.

For a time, Li Xuan's prestige within the army faintly threatened to surpass that of Xiao Yuan. The soldiers no longer looked at him with mere awe for the heir apparent, but with a fanatical and fervent worship born from the bottom of their hearts.

Having resolved external troubles, Li Xuan found himself with much leisure time.

Every day, aside from conducting sand-table simulations and discussing military affairs with Xiao Yuan, Xiao Teng, and others, he devoted most of his time to his Crown Princess, whose ice had nominally been "broken."

It was just that this ice, though broken, still harbored an ancient layer of glacial frost at its core, exceptionally stubborn and hard.

On this evening, after finishing the last piece of intelligence reports, Li Xuan stretched lazily, looking out the window at the sky dyed golden-red by the setting sun, feeling exceptionally pleasant.