A figure slowly walked out from the gloomy imperial prison.
Jade pandent hanging from his waist sash, draped in a black robe, his temperament gentle, his complexion pale and refined, his spine straight as bamboo.
Lian Shenwei raised his hand slightly, shielding his eyes from the somewhat glaring sunlight. The thumb ring on his left hand gleamed with a metallic cold light.
The Regent Prince’s carriage was parked right at the main gate of the imperial prison. Tian Nan saw his master and quickly approached, saying respectfully, “Master, His Majesty has already issued an edict proving your innocence. The Shunchang Earl’s Manor is yours to dispose of.”
Behind them, miserable wails could be faintly heard from within the prison, accompanied by urgent footsteps. Prison Warden Lin Heng led his subordinates and stopped behind Lian Shenwei, then bent at the waist with cupped hands, his smile awkward.
“The Regent Prince has worked hard these two days in the imperial prison. This official has long known that the Shunchang Earl’s Manor consisted of rebellious traitors who offended their superiors. Since that man surnamed Luan offended you, it’s best to leave him to your disposal.”
“This is His Majesty’s decree. His Majesty also feels guilty about imprisoning you for two days.”
The Prison Warden clapped his hands, and immediately soldiers behind him pushed someone forward.
Luan Qingan’s body bore many fresh whip marks, clearly just beaten. He was being restrained, his eyes wide with fury. He sneered and spat at the Prison Warden, then said to Lian Shenwei, “Birds of a feather!”
Lian Shenwei smiled ambiguously, his right hand clasped behind his back. He ignored Luan Qingan and instead turned his gaze sideways, saying, “Prison Warden, you certainly know how to conduct yourself.”
“During these two days in the imperial prison, this Prince was well cared for and is deeply grateful.”
His tone was gentle and smiling, yet it made the Prison Warden bow his head even lower. He smiled apologetically and said he dared not, while cold sweat broke out across his back.
The young man before him, barely in his twenties, was the Regent Prince of their Great Sheng Dynasty.
Their Majesty was often ill, and the Crown Prince was young. Selecting a Regent Prince to balance the court’s various factions was understandable. However, Regent Princes had always been chosen from among the imperial clan, or at the very least had blood ties to the royal family.
Yet Lian Shenwei was the first-ever Regent Prince from outside the imperial clan.
Six years ago, he had achieved the top rank in the imperial examinations. In a short time, he rose meteorically through the ranks, winning over court officials, engaging in corruption, colluding with treacherous nobles, and oppressing the common people. Though blessed with refined features as elegant as jade, his actions were entirely contrary to his appearance.
In the capital, merely speaking Lian Shenwei’s name at night could stop children from crying.
The Shunchang Earl’s Manor could truly be said to have suffered an undeserved calamity. Simply because Lord Luan had submitted one memorial impeaching the Regent Prince, the Regent Prince found a pretext and splashed them with the crime of colluding with foreign enemies.
That very night, the Regent Prince led the Black Armored Guards and beheaded everyone in the entire Shunchang Earl’s Manor, leaving only Luan Qingan, who had escaped by crawling through a dog hole.
The next day, His Majesty was furiously enraged and had the Regent Prince imprisoned in the imperial prison.
Originally, everyone thought the Regent Prince would at least lose a layer of skin this time. Who would have expected that after merely two days in the imperial prison, His Majesty issued an edict releasing him, even handing Luan Qingan over to the Regent Prince for disposal.
Throughout the court and the land, voices of opposition roared to the heavens, but they were suppressed by the Regent Prince’s faction. People dared to be angry but not speak out.
Truly and utterly covering the sky with one hand.
No one knew why His Majesty trusted Lian Shenwei so much.
The Prison Warden lamented bitterly in his heart. A newly appointed deputy who had been placed under him didn’t know any better and, without his knowledge, had tortured the Regent Prince for half a day. Now he would certainly be held in grudge!
He kicked the deputy beside him in the rear, and the deputy fell to his knees with a thud, trembling like chaff in a sieve.
The Prison Warden smiled obsequiously, “It was all this ignorant fool who took it upon himself to torture you. You may take him away for punishment as well.”
Lian Shenwei smiled gently, saying mildly, “Prison Warden, he was merely fulfilling his duties in his position. Why make things difficult for him? However, before this Prince has even said anything, he’s already trembling like this. He’s truly unfit to serve in the imperial prison.”
Leaving his words measured, the Prison Warden immediately said, “Yes, yes, you are absolutely right.”
Lian Shenwei nodded, “In that case, you will be short one deputy. This Prince has a suitable candidate who can assume the position tomorrow.”
He was going to plant someone in the imperial prison.
The Prison Warden could only agree, then respectfully saw Lian Shenwei off.
Only after the man had left did he kick the kneeling deputy again, lowering his voice to say bitterly, “You scared this official to death! This official was nearly killed by you! That’s the Regent Prince—where did you get the audacity to dare torture him?”
The deputy cried, “Sir, save me! Sir, save me!”
Though the Regent Prince hadn’t held it against him, there were plenty of people in the capital eager to curry favor with the Regent Prince. The moment he left the prison gates, someone would likely cut off his head to present it before the Regent Prince as a show of loyalty.
This deputy had also been planted here by someone. The Prison Warden ignored his pleas for mercy. “Go find whoever planted you here. Perhaps you can still keep your life!”
With those words, he flicked his sleeves and left.
·
The Regent Prince’s carriage traveled from the official road toward the palace. Behind the carriage, a person was being dragged—none other than the gagged Luan Qingan.
He left a trail of blood, like a fish stripped of its scales, writhing and struggling.
Though it was daytime, the marketplace was extremely quiet. The people on both sides were apprehensive about Luan Qingan’s miserable state, waiting until the carriage had passed before daring to speak.
Scholars who had come to the capital for the examinations shook their heads and sighed quietly, not daring to voice their thoughts aloud.
Inside the carriage.
Gong Du rubbed his aching neck, sighing inwardly, “This body is so weak.”
In this world, the jianghu and the imperial court were intricately connected. He only had one identity as Lian Shenwei, which made things much easier, though the experiences were quite rich.
There were still three protagonists, but unlike the protagonist groups in the previous two worlds who seemed naively sweet in his eyes, these three struggled desperately in the whirlpool of political schemes and calculations.
Three protagonists, each holding a different script, their fates intertwined, gradually growing, leaving their names in history.
As for Lian Shenwei, as a treacherous minister, his death was miserable. After ascending the throne, the new emperor purged the court bit by bit, stripping away his power and sentencing him to death by a thousand cuts, to be reviled for ten thousand generations.
Little Light Orb asked, “Although you get a random illness in every world, this one doesn’t seem as obvious as before?”
Gong Du propped his chin, “Is that so? Perhaps.”
This time, the randomly assigned illness was decline—a comprehensive type of disease that didn’t sound like much.
He had taken over this body starting from age 17, which was also the turning point in Lian Shenwei’s fate. From the moment he took control, this body began to gradually deteriorate, eroding bit by bit in a way that was difficult to detect.
“Why haven’t I seen you writing scripts in this world?”
Since entering this world, Gong Du seemed to have been infected with laziness. Even the black mass in his soul sea was listless, not having written a single word.
Gong Du didn’t answer.
The randomly assigned decline, for this body, meant the body would gradually worsen. But decline was a rare ailment that could affect his soul.
During the decline period, he would become very lazy, so lazy he wished his soul would immediately fall into slumber.
To summarize in four words—
He wanted to slack off.
The task in this world was to temper the three protagonists, ensure they didn’t die from accidents, and incidentally complete Lian Shenwei’s story.
Aside from the last requirement, he was essentially babysitting for the world consciousness.
Gong Du felt that in his current state, honestly following the plot without cuts or fast-forwarding already made him a good failing student.
Write scripts? Just thinking about it in his head was enough. He had never been a god who mistreated himself.
Anyway, he had already collected ninety-nine percent of the fortune energy. As long as nothing major went wrong, he could leave at any time.
However, his role had to wait until after the new emperor ascended and stripped the power from his hands before he could exit. Calculating the time, there were still nearly ten years left.
This body probably couldn’t last that long. Gong Du really wanted to die.
So he took a shortcut—showing goodwill to only one protagonist to gather fortune energy, while for the other two protagonists… he planned to add fuel to the fire and let them kill him, this treacherous minister, ahead of schedule.
After death, whatever happened in this world would no longer concern him.
Of course, he absolutely couldn’t tell Little Light Orb about this, or that thing would start clamoring about its performance losses again.
Right now, he needed to go to the Eastern Palace to meet the future new sovereign who would order his execution—the current young Crown Prince.
Also the most significant of the three protagonists.
Little Light Orb asked again, and Gong Du answered perfunctorily, “I have everything under control. Writing scripts or not makes no difference.”
The young man leaning inside the carriage closed his eyes tiredly.
……
The Imperial Palace.
Lian Shenwei had Tian Nan at his side, with two eunuchs behind him restraining Luan Qingan, heading straight for the Eastern Palace.
Guards stopped them outside the hall. Little Zhizi flicked his whisk and hurriedly bowed, “We didn’t know the Regent Prince was coming. The Crown Prince is still taking a nap and said no one was to disturb him.”
It was early spring now, and the weather outside was bitterly cold. After just a short while, the cold began to seep into one’s bones.
Lian Shenwei wore a black drawstring robe, a section of pale wrist exposed, contrasting with the black cuffs, unconsciously rubbing the metal thumb ring on his left hand.
Tian Nan noticed that his master’s hands were faintly turning blue from the cold in the air.
Tian Nan worried, frowning as he said in a low voice, “Master, why don’t you go back and have Physician Feng examine you? The torture in the imperial prison has always been severe…”
Lian Shenwei raised his hand to stop him, “No need. The torturer was merely a martial artist of the Mortal Realm. Just superficial wounds that won’t cause much harm.”
The young Regent Prince looked at Little Zhizi and said gently, “This Prince can wait for him to wake, but I wonder if Lord Luan can afford to wait.”
Luan Qingan behind him was already breathing weakly. Rather than being escorted here, he was being held up by people just to barely stand.
In this cold weather, if it took too long, he might truly die here.
Little Zhizi said nothing and respectfully withdrew, having someone lead the Regent Prince to wait in a side hall.
Lian Shenwei hadn’t even waited half the time it takes to drink a cup of tea before being informed that the Crown Prince had awakened and was requesting the Regent Prince come to the study for a conversation.
Tian Nan understood immediately—the Crown Prince had deliberately made his master wait. He pursed his lips and followed Lian Shenwei to the study.
The imperial surname of the Great Sheng Dynasty was Ying. The Crown Prince was named Ying Jingjue, currently fifteen years old.
He was a child born when the current emperor was still a prince. He was not the eldest son, nor was he the biological child of the current empress. His birth mother had died nine years ago.
Since the empress had no sons, Ying Jingjue had always been raised at the empress’s knee. So although he wasn’t the eldest son, he was the legitimate son properly recorded in the imperial genealogy. As soon as the emperor ascended the throne, he established him as Crown Prince.
Though he was the Crown Prince, he had little real power in his hands and lived in frustration.
“The servants outside are so ignorant, they didn’t wake this Prince,” Ying Jingjue scolded Little Zhizi, then raised a smile. “Why has Teacher come?”
The young Crown Prince already possessed considerable cunning. When he looked at Luan Qingan covered in blood, his expression didn’t change, but the moment he withdrew his gaze, a flash of cold darkness passed through his eyes.
He had allowed the Third Prince’s people to torture Lian Shenwei in the imperial prison, but they hadn’t managed to completely kill this treacherous minister. What a pity!
Ying Jingjue suppressed his suspicion and anger, wondering on one hand whether his actions had already been discovered, while lowering his eyes and personally pouring a cup of tea for the Regent Prince seated in his chair.
When he was young, Lian Shenwei had tutored him in his studies, so Lian Shenwei deserved to be called Teacher.
Luan Qingan was the maternal uncle of the Young Marquis of the Loyal Righteousness Marquis Manor. The Young Marquis was his sworn brother.
Now Luan Qingan was being restrained in his palace in this condition—it was nothing less than a slap in the face of him as Crown Prince, yet he still couldn’t save the man.
How could he face his brother who was still fighting at the frontier?
Lian Shenwei took a sip of tea. “I heard that Your Highness’s internal energy has already stepped into the Kaiyang Realm. The first thing I wanted to do after leaving the imperial prison was to test Your Highness’s lessons.”
“The Kaiyang Realm—a needle can penetrate through the skull without being stained by blood.”
Tian Nan escorted Luan Qingan forward. Dripping blood soaked through the soft carpet.
The only survivor of the Shunchang Earl’s Manor, a clean and loyal official of the Great Sheng Dynasty, now hung his head before the Crown Prince whose hands and feet had gone cold.
Tian Nan offered a needle. “Your Highness the Crown Prince.”
Ying Jingjue stiffly accepted it, the blood in his entire body turning cold.
Lian Shenwei’s lips curved in a smile as he said gently, “It’s cold outside. Your Highness is benevolent—send him on his way here.”
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wannaberecluse On SRTT Chapter 50.1