Chapter 392: Accusations and Impeachment
"Cough, cough."
The master of the Sun Moon Empire, the majestic emperor seated upon the golden dragon throne high above, gave a light cough, immediately silencing all discussion in the hall.
Only after the chamber grew still did the middle-aged emperor smile faintly.
"I see that everyone's eyes are fixed upon Jiyun. I suppose you have already guessed the purpose behind today's summons."
"Your Majesty, the Third Prince's return is indeed cause for celebration. But… regarding the Douluo Continent—"
All eyes turned toward the prime minister, the head of all officials. As expected, he stepped forward and spoke in a clear, resonant voice.
"Quite so. Jiyun has already gathered a great deal of intelligence from within the Douluo Continent."
The emperor lifted the thick stack of documents from the desk before him and waved it in the air.
"It is all here."
In that instant, the searing gazes of the officials upon the documents were so intense that even this sovereign, exalted as he was, felt slightly pressured.
"Heh." He chuckled lightly. "Do not worry. I have already ordered hundreds of copies to be made. They will now be distributed to every official in this hall."
"Your Majesty, this seems somewhat improper. Such critical information…"
The prime minister's expression shifted. "It is not that I doubt the loyalty of my colleagues, but the matter is of grave importance—"
"It matters not!" The Sun Moon Emperor waved his hand dismissively.
"This time, it is a war between continents. The Sun Moon must unite as one! Our coasts are already sealed—no one can leave. What is there to fear?"
Hearing this, the prime minister's expression eased.
Indeed, so long as no one could escape the continent, letting the ministers read it was of no consequence.
At the emperor's order, a dozen eunuchs filed in, each carrying bundles of the documents, distributing them throughout the assembly.
At once, the great hall fell silent, broken only by the rapid rustle of pages being turned.
After a time, the officials who had finished reading looked up in astonishment, whispering among themselves.
Not everyone had previously known the specifics of the Douluo Continent. For many, their understanding was limited only to the name of that distant land.
Some had even thought it a place inhabited solely by barbarians and weaklings.
Now, the prime minister's expression grew solemn as he tightened his grip on the papers.
"Your Majesty, according to this report, the high-end combat strength of the Douluo Continent seems to surpass ours by no small margin."
At his words, many officials nodded, worry evident on their faces.
The report stated that the Sun Moon's ninth-level spirit engineers were the equivalent of what the Douluo Continent called Titled Douluo.
And by intelligence gathered, the number of Titled Douluo there was two to three times greater than the number of ninth-level spirit engineers in the Sun Moon Empire.
How could they hope to contend with that?
"It is of no concern."
The emperor had already studied the report and understood well the anxieties of his ministers.
"The Sun Moon has spirit guidance devices, whereas the Douluo Continent does not. Do not forget the immense power of spirit guidance devices in large-scale warfare."
"The outcome of battle is never decided by a handful of strong individuals, but by armies—by overall might!"
"Moreover!" A fierce gleam lit the emperor's eyes.
"Imperial Teacher Hongchen has made breakthrough progress in the research of spirit guidance device formations. Once they are perfected, the combined power of spirit guidance devices will no longer be a mere sum of their parts—it will be far greater than one plus one equaling two!"
"We still have ten months to prepare." The emperor's face grew solemn.
"With all of you united in effort, conquering Douluo will be no difficult task!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
The officials' eyes burned with fervor. Buoyed by the emperor's words, their confidence in the coming war surged.
Yes, they had spirit guidance devices, while the other side had none!
"Father!"
The second prince, standing beside Xu Jiyun, could no longer remain seated. Watching his younger brother earn merit enough to be remembered for generations, the position he had painstakingly maintained in the struggle for succession was slipping away. Anxious and restless, he suddenly rose, waving the dossier in his hand.
"Your son wishes to impeach Third Brother for dereliction of duty!"
The hall fell silent at once.
"Oh?"
A cold gleam flickered in the emperor's eyes.
"And where, pray, has he been negligent?"
"Father, please look at page eighteen!"
The second prince's face brimmed with the smug delight of one who had caught an opponent's flaw.
"It says here that within Shrek City, there is a restaurant possibly supported by some mysterious power. Ridiculous! What sort of hidden force would operate a mere restaurant?"
"And here, on page twenty-seven—within the intelligence on Star Luo City—once again it claims there is a restaurant possibly backed by a mysterious faction. Laughable beyond measure! For such absurdities to appear not once, but twice!"
"I suspect Third Brother never reached the Douluo Continent at all! He must have hidden away on some nameless island for two years, fabricating this report to deceive the court. Otherwise, how could such nonsense appear in what is supposed to be top-secret intelligence about another continent?"
This…
The atmosphere in the throne hall grew strange.
Truth be told, it did sound absurd—restaurants as covers for powerful forces? It seemed implausible.
But if that was false… then what about the rest of the report?
The second prince's words struck a heavy blow to the credibility of the intelligence.
Xu Jiyun's expression shifted slightly.
Of course, he had already read through the dossier himself.
And indeed, those two items did appear rather outlandish.
After returning from their voyage, they had been attacked by a sea spirit beast. Many of his men perished in that battle. By coincidence, the agents who had gathered those two particular pieces of intelligence were among the dead.
Thus, there was no way to verify the details any further.
Originally, Xu Jiyun had considered erasing those lines. But the report was the result of two years of painstaking effort from his men. What if those scraps were the clue to some hidden truth, some yet-unseen thread? To cut them out rashly would be his own dereliction of duty.
After much deliberation, he had chosen to leave them intact.
Never did he expect that they would become the weapon his elder brother used to attack him.
Xu Jiyun opened his mouth, wanting to explain—only to realize there was no explanation that would clear suspicion.
What if Second Brother claimed he had killed the witnesses to cover his tracks?
As murmurs spread among the ministers, the emperor's eyes grew colder and colder.
"Guards!"
"Seize this unfilial son—confine him for a year!"
The second prince's expression only grew more triumphant. Like a victor savoring his prize, he cast a look of superiority at his younger brother.
'Little brother, little brother… you risked life and death crossing the seas, yet you cannot withstand the edge of my tongue. In this struggle for the throne, you would do well to abandon hope.'
But from Xu Jiyun's face, he saw no panic. Only… something odd.
Puzzled, he turned his head—only to see several burly eunuchs striding toward him. They were not going to seize his brother, but him.
"You—"
He tried to speak, but one eunuch clamped a hand over his mouth and carried him out of the hall.
Xu Jiyun lowered his eyes, sighing inwardly.
'Foolish Second Brother.'
His dossier was thorough, containing details that matched secrets known only to their father. Such things could never have been fabricated.
If that were not so, how could their ever-cautious father have summoned the entire court the very moment he finished reading it?
By leaping out in such haste to attack, his brother had thrown himself into ruin.
From this point forward, the succession struggle would likely have nothing more to do with the Second Prince.
'So then… Eldest Brother, in these two years, what preparations have you made?'
Lifting his gaze toward his eldest brother, Xu Jiyun saw the man's handsome, heroic face adorned with a gentle smile. The crown prince gave him an encouraging nod—like a kind elder brother proud of his younger sibling.
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