Chapter 305 Wishes Fulfilled

Chapter 305: As Wished

The weather in late April was neither hot nor cold, normally the most comfortable time, yet Xue Quan couldn't help but shiver.

What was His Majesty saying?

The late Honored Consort Yu often summoned Qiu Heng to the palace, and now he wanted Qiu Heng to visit the palace more often to accompany Beauty Qiu—was there any connection between the two at all?

His Majesty had taken a fancy to Qiu Heng!

Realizing this, Xue Quan felt as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped over him, chilling him to the bone.

His Majesty was being foolish—wasn't this just inviting a wolf into the henhouse?

Thinking about how hard he had worked to keep an eye on Qiu Heng today, and then imagining her future frequent visits to the palace to see the emperor, Xue Quan felt utterly exhausted, as if the sky had gone dark.

Unlike Xue Quan, who worried about Emperor Jingping, some among the attending officials also detected the emperor's intentions. Their looks at Qiu Heng ranged from sympathetic to disdainful to merely curious.

County Princess Suiyun and Imperial City Commissioner Xue Han were in love—was she about to be torn from her love and forced to become a consort?

Having lost Honored Consort Yu, the emperor was feeling a void—it wasn't surprising he would have such thoughts.

With that in mind, many stole glances at Xue Han.

Xue Han sat still, as if he hadn't caught the hidden meaning, his face completely blank.

Tsk tsk—still too green to read between the lines.

The young man, perceived as too naive to grasp the subtext, expressionlessly raised his wine cup and took a sip.

He hadn't realized the tyrant was after A Heng.

Sure enough, those incense pellets were too indirect. A rough man like him, who grew up a beggar, should just cut the tyrant down—that was the way for him.

Fine then. When the tyrant made his move toward A Heng, he would act and butcher that damned tyrant.

With that decision, the gloom from today's failed plan lifted.

Qiu Heng was no fool. When she got Emperor Jingping's implication, her first reaction was disgust.

Then came a cold sneer.

Just when she lacked opportunities, this tyrant was playing right into her hands.

"Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty. I, your subject, will visit my elder sister in the palace tomorrow."

Beauty Qiu's chambers were much smaller than this hall—with all that incense, the effect would be even better.

Qiu Heng was glad that noble families always burned incense to show refinement.

"Good." Emperor Jingping nodded with a smile, immensely pleased with today's Immortal Gathering.

Together with the ministers, he had witnessed the cranes paying homage and used the elixir to win over those doubters, and found a beauty who could stir his interest.

That was no small feat. Since the Honored Consort's passing, he had completely lost interest in the harem and only liked staying in the Hall of Eternal Life.

A truly perfect Immortal Gathering—deserving of a toast.

Caught up in the moment, the emperor forgot to tell Qiu Heng to rise. He turned to Master Miaoqing, raising his cup: "My health has recovered so quickly, all thanks to the True Man's efforts. Let me share a cup with you."

Master Miaoqing casually picked up his cup: "Thank you, Your Majesty."

Witnessing this, the officials better understood Master Miaoqing's standing with Emperor Jingping.

This National Preceptor's influence would likely be enormous going forward. And his attitude toward the Crown Prince was clearly hostile...

Unaware of the ministers' swirling thoughts, Emperor Jingping brought the cup to his lips. Just as he was about to drink, he froze.

What was this?

A drop of blood fell into the cup, mixing with the golden liquid and spreading a faint red.

Emperor Jingping stared blankly, still not understanding.

What in the world was this?

More blood dripped down, the trembling liquid splashing. Though it was only the small space of a wine cup, it seemed to churn into a massive vortex, sweeping up the holder's great confusion and dawning terror.

The wine cup fell, clattering to the ground with a metallic sound. In this music-filled hall, it wasn't much noise, yet it struck the ears of everyone present as piercingly sharp.

Master Miaoqing, facing Emperor Jingping, changed drastically, losing all his earlier composure.

In that moment of crisis, time seemed to freeze. The crowd stared motionless at the sovereign on the high throne.

Until with a sputtering sound, Emperor Jingping spat out a gush of blood.

The strings snapped, the musicians forgot to continue. Cups clattered, palace maids screamed, tables overturned—and above all, the officials shouted.

"Your Majesty!"

"Guard the Emperor! Quickly, guard the Emperor!"

But guard against what?

No assassin to repel. Emperor Jingping sat at the highest point of the hall, vomiting blood mouthful after mouthful.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, don't frighten your slave!" Xue Quan wailed, wanting to support the emperor but afraid to touch him, his hands flailing uselessly.

Yet in the midst of such panic, Xue Quan inexplicably glanced at Qiu Heng.

Everything had happened too fast, too suddenly. The young woman was still kneeling in the center of the hall, not yet having risen to return to her seat.

Was it her?

It must be her!

How had she done it?

Was she a demon?

Countless voices were screaming in Xue Quan's mind. When Emperor Jingping collapsed, all his suspicions turned to terror.

"Your Majesty!"

Emperor Jingping collapsed onto the table, his bright yellow Daoist robe soaked in blood.

Qiu Heng knelt silently. The chaos in the hall seemed distant to her; her eyes fixed only on the emperor, whose eyes were tightly shut.

The tyrant who had just schemed to bring her to the palace—had he fallen like this?

The incense pellet wasn’t used; there was no need to wait for another opportunity. Could it really be that easy—a wish come true just like that?

It felt like a dream—a beautiful dream come true.

Qiu Heng felt it was surreal. Ever since she fell into the Magpie Lake and arrived in the devastated Great Xia, and then returned to face thorns at every step, she always had to exert herself and rack her brains. When had there ever been such a windfall?

She desperately needed something to convince herself this was real.

As her gaze wandered, it met a pair of eyes as warm and clear as autumn water.

“Brother Ling—” Qiu Heng’s lips moved, silently mouthing those three words.

Ling Yun stood right beside Master Miaoqing, very close to Emperor Jingping.

The ethereal young man curved his lips slightly toward the girl kneeling in the center of the hall.

Qiu Heng’s eyes widened slightly, her heart pounding like thunder.

It was Brother Ling!

He had killed Emperor Jingping!

When she looked at him again, his expression had already shifted to one of panic, indistinguishable from the others. That smile seemed as if it had never existed.

“A Heng.”

A hand reached out and helped Qiu Heng up.

“Xue Han…” Qiu Heng moved her lips, wanting to ask what had happened before Xue Han and Ling Yun left the hall together, but she couldn’t ask now.

“You go join Princess Rongning and the others.” Xue Han pulled Qiu Heng aside.

Qiu Heng nodded, searching through the chaos for Commandery Princess Rongning and County Princess Jiayi.

A sharp shout rang out: “Everyone, stop! No one is to approach His Majesty!”

Palace Commandant Zhu Qiang’s eyes were like knives, glaring at the crowd: “Summon the imperial physician immediately!”

As the Palace Commandant, his most important duty was to protect His Majesty, yet His Majesty had come to harm right before his eyes.

At such a grand banquet, imperial physicians were always waiting in the side hall, and more than one.

Soon, two physicians came stumbling in. After taking turns examining Emperor Jingping’s condition, they turned ashen-faced with horror.