Martial King's Retired Life

Water flows torrentially. The wind slows. The sunlight peeks into the large corridor.

Dozens of busy summers. Cicadas sing the chorus for autumn snow.

Months to years. Famines forgotten.

Life is short. Summer is long.”

– Wang Tushui.

Wang Tushui, since he entered the imperial palace as a kid, always had to wake up a few hours before sunrise to start work. It was a rule he had to abide by even though he had risen to the post of General Manager.

The eunuchs following behind Wang Tushui and himself crossed a long hall without barely making a sound.

As he silently stood in a room with his head down, Wang Tushui silently approached the bedside of the Emperor he assisted to the throne on his coronation day. Back then, Emperor Yuansheng was unable to sleep due to his anxiety and almost missed his first morning court. When he woke up, he hastily got dressed and basically sprinted to court.

“What time is it?” Emperor Yuansheng asked.

“It is five in the morning, Your Majesty.”

“Mm.” Emperor Yuansheng got out of bed to go through his morning routine with the assistance of a number of others. After he examined himself in the mirror, he heaved a big breath and, in a deep voice, asked, “Wang Tushui, my eyebrows are looking more and more… like I’m blessed.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Wang Tushui took small steps over, glanced up and praised, “You have the appearance of the chosen one.”

“Mm…” Emperor Yuansheng proudly smiled, twisted his brows to perfection and then said, “All right, all in your hands now. We need good luck.”

Once Emperor Yuansheng was done fixing his appearance and prepared to call for his sixteen golden sashes over to pick, Wang Tushui informed, “Your Majesty, the court officials are waiting.”

“Hmm? I didn’t wake up late this morning.”

“Indeed. However, you are far from the court palace today.”

Following an awkward silence in the palace, everyone picked up the pace in a panic, and Emperor Yuansheng ended up rushing to morning court again.

Emperor Yuansheng gave a nod to the two separate columns of martial and civil servants. “It’s time.”

As he took to his throne, the officials dropped to their knees and chanted, “Long live, Your Majesty.”

“Everyone looks gloomy today. I slept well last night. How about you, gentlemen?” Emperor Yuansheng had his plan formulated when he sat down to see all the gloomy faces, Song Ou with his brother, Long Zaitian’s robes smudged and even He Kanyu present.

Last night, around 30% of the officials below were either dealing with fires in their homes or fooled, while another 10% were racing to the scenes of fires or being fooled. They had taken peace in the capital for granted so long that they were unprepared for the mess last night.

“Say something!” thundered Emperor Yuansheng.

The first person to speak up was the man who was notorious for taking blame when he was actually innocent. On shaky legs, Sir Bao stuttered, “Y-your Subject failed in his duty.”

Right after Sir Bao spoke up, one man after another cried, “Your subject requests permission to speak!”

All the reports were essentially the same: villains infiltrated the capital and brazenly ran amok, burning homes, killing citizens and assaulting estates of officials.

The six secretaries reported that they were fortunately prepared, or their families and themselves would’ve been in peril. Only Secretary Leng was so pumped up he had someone to fight that he killed the criminal on the other side of his door when he booted it open, so he couldn’t sleep the rest of the night due to disappointment.

Song Ou reported that a group of unidentified people in the pugilistic world committed violent crimes.

Long Zaitian reported that a group of unidentified people in the pugilistic world committed arson in the south and west of the capital.

Daren Academy and Song Chi reported that Xun Feng attacked members of the academy, colluded with criminals, stole the Nine Dragons Fire Jade, and Song Chi eventually subdued him.

Prime Minister Li reported he was lucky Shen Yiren and Yi Ya were there to protect him, or he would’ve lost his life.

Emperor’s Entourage reported on a fiendish being with flame wings committing mass homicide and tried to infiltrate the imperial palace to assassinate His Majesty, but Tianhu managed to eliminate him.

In summary, criminals committed violent crimes in the capital last night when the White Princes besieged the city. According to a report in the morning, the White Princes had withdrawn their forces and were no longer a threat.

“It is clear that they were in on it together!” Secretary Leng was fuming when he saw the state of the city on the way into the imperial palace in the morning. “Your Majesty, they were trying to draw our elite troops out of the capital so that their elites could sneak in and cause havoc. Please grant your subject permission to raise an army and annihilate them in a year’s time.”

The fact that Secretary Leng spoke politely and didn’t use profanity indicated just how furious he was. Unsurprisingly, there were officials who argued that concluding the White Princes were involved in the violence was premature based on the available information.

Emperor Yuansheng let them debate for a while before slamming his desk and said, “Zi Li, you speak. What was Xun Feng’s involvement?”

Song Chi went down on his knees. “Xun Feng was in collusion with League of Assassins’ Bronze Mask. Zi Li pursued him after he stole Daren Academy’s Nine Dragons Fire Jade but was unable to retrieve the Nine Dragons Fire Jade. The fire-clad fiend stole it.”

“Tell me more about Bronze Mask.”

“Bronze Mask is… Bai Clan’s Bai Yumo. She and Xun Feng were working together, with her using Daren Academy as a cover to commit murders.”

“So, why did Xun Feng want the Nine Dragons Fire Jade? Where is He Kanyu?”