1 The Egotistical Emperor
Capital of the Qin Dynasty.
The depths of the Imperial Palace.
"Ah..."
A ghost-like figure was sitting cross-legged in complete darkness. Suddenly, he groaned with pain and opened his bright eyes. Red blood slowly oozed out and streamed down the area between his eyebrows.
Swoosh!
Four ghost-fire floating lamps around him lit up by themselves.
The dim, blue light poured onto the body of the ghost-like figure, making it look like a translucent sculpture. The figure was very strange. The huge head was about two-thirds of the body’s size, and the torso was only about one-fourth of the body’s size. The limbs were short and small.
"Who is it? Who has broken my Soul Spell so quickly... Well, I have to be careful."
He reached out his hand, wiped away the blood oozing from his glabella, and stuck out his tongue. Surprisingly, he could lick his glabella with his tongue! His forked tongue was like that of a viper, and he looked like neither a human being nor a demon or monster.
Just then, he heard footsteps outside the door.
"Your Highness the Imperial Preceptor, the food sent by His Imperial Majesty has arrived." A high-pitched voice rang out. Tinged with Yin Qi, it was obviously the voice of a eunuch from the imperial palace.
"Good. Bring it in," said the Imperial Preceptor.
His voice was even thinner and more high-pitched than that of a eunuch. It sounded like an elongated silk thread that might break at any time.
Then, the voice of a young woman crying and begging for mercy came from outside the door.
Qin Zheng, the emperor of the Qin Empire, was pacing back and forth in the hall.
He looked a little anxious, as if he was waiting for something.
The palace maids and eunuchs serving him clearly felt that he was very irritable and completely different today. Today, he was not like the confident and authoritative emperor who had everything well in hand. For this reason, the palace maids and eunuchs acted very cautiously and hardly dared breathe.
About two hours ago, a concubine who was extremely favored by the emperor broke into the conference hall. If she had done that in the past, the emperor would at most say a few words to reprimand her and allow her to stay and serve him. Today, however, the impatient emperor directly ordered the imperial guards to drag the concubine out and bludgeon her to death.
In the past year or so, everyone had felt the change of the emperor. He lost his former gentleness and kindness and became more and more irritable and ruthless.
Even the imperial princess came to the Imperial Palace less frequently.
It was said that a year ago, the two siblings, who had once depended on each other for survival, became a little estranged and had furious arguments with each other.
"Why haven’t we received any further information?" Qin Zheng looked anxious.
Today, he decided to do something big.
The preliminary news came, but further information was needed for confirmation.
This made him feel a little uneasy.
Creak!
The door of the conference hall was suddenly pushed open.
"Bastard! Who broke in without prior notice? Guards! Drag him out and bludgeon him to death!" Annoyed, Qin Zheng shouted loudly without even looking back.
"You’ve become so impetuous."
A calm voice with terrifying power came from outside the door.