CMWKSD -Chapter 263 Prince Hui

“Wasn’t Shen Zongsheng already crippled?”

Lin Jue frowned slightly, recalling that battle and the Shen Zongsheng he had seen with his own eyes. He was, in fact, somewhat puzzled.

“Indeed. In that battle, Shen Zongsheng’s legs were crippled, Shen Zongyan went missing, and among General Shen’s children, only the third and the seventh are barely usable.”

Prince Hui was hidden in the shadows. When he raised his eyes, they were filled with bone-chilling cold, dark and sinister. He stared straight at Lin Jue.

“Then why is he standing again?”

As he spoke, Prince Hui pushed his wheelchair out of the darkness and into the area illuminated by candlelight.

The candlelight was faint. Though it lit up a little, it was ultimately of little help.

“Did you really see him clearly?”

Lin Jue nodded. “This subordinate personally went to confirm it. It is indeed Shen Zongsheng. Not only that…”

“What?”

“Shen Zongsheng’s martial arts are even stronger than before. His legs are healthy and powerful—he moves as swiftly as the wind. You can’t tell at all that he was once pronounced unable even to stand.”

Hearing this, Prince Hui’s hands suddenly clenched tightly around the armrests of his wheelchair.

“He…”

He had only uttered a single word when Prince Hui immediately realized he had lost his composure.

He quickly calmed himself.

“Several of the hidden operatives I planted in Great Qi have been uprooted in one sweep.”

As he spoke, Prince Hui narrowed his eyes slightly. “It seems that Emperor Fengyuan has an expert backing him.”

Lin Jue hummed in agreement and looked at Prince Hui. “They all say it’s related to that Princess Xuyu whom Emperor Fengyuan personally ennobled.”

“Do you think… could it really be that princess?”

Prince Hui fell silent for a moment.

As for Jiu Yue, he had first heard of her when Great Qi suddenly produced a miraculous healing medicine called penicillin. Later, as major events one after another were linked to Jiu Yue, Prince Hui instead stopped paying close attention.

There was no other reason.

People always need a pillar, a belief.

Just like the Holy Maiden of the Northern Barbarians.

They build momentum for the Holy Maiden, elevate her reputation, make all the Northern Barbarians kneel and worship her, treating her as a god. Through the Holy Maiden, messages are conveyed and the people are made to submit.

This was a routine tactic long used by the Northern Barbarians.

Thus, when Jiu Yue emerged out of nowhere, Prince Hui’s first reaction was that Great Qi had learned from them and created its own “holy maiden.”

Just listen to that title—Xuyu, Xuyu…

Warmth, light, hope.

Wasn’t the meaning obvious at a glance?

But if…

Prince Hui suddenly realized a problem he had deliberately ignored.

If everything that Princess Xuyu had done was real.

When they built momentum and fame for the Holy Maiden, most of it relied on so-called heavenly omens at birth—miraculous signs, words hidden in fish bellies, and the like.

Yet none of these things had ever circulated about Xuyu.

What spread were solid, tangible achievements in governance.

Prince Hui did not believe Emperor Fengyuan would, for no reason, use such achievements to build fame for a young girl.

Could it be that this girl was a princess lost among the common folk?

As soon as Prince Hui thought this far, he felt it was even more impossible.

Leaving aside the fact that Emperor Fengyuan was not a man indulgent in women—

If there truly were a princess lost among the common people, given Emperor Fengyuan’s pitifully thin lineage—so thin it nearly faced extinction—

If Xuyu really were a lost princess, Emperor Fengyuan would probably be beating drums and gongs to announce it to the entire world.

Prince Hui suddenly clenched the armrest tightly.

Then…

Xuyu truly had real ability. This was not manufactured fame.

It was his oversight.

Not only his—this was an oversight by the entire Northern Barbarian royal family.

They had focused too much on Jue Ningzi.

They only thought that Emperor Fengyuan was about to die, that the Crown Prince had no heirs, and that Great Qi was finished.

They never realized that if Jue Ningzi lost his usefulness, all their previous deployments would amount to empty talk.

A sudden chill ran over Prince Hui, raising goosebumps all over his body.

Could it be that this incident involving Zhuo Mu was deliberately orchestrated by Great Qi?

With the intention of…

With the intention of attacking the Northern Barbarians?

Did Great Qi really have that much confidence in taking down the Northern Barbarians?

Prince Hui sat by the window. The entire courtyard was filled with wave after wave of medicinal scent.

He had been presumptuous. He should never have underestimated Great Qi after the poisoning incident was exposed.

Now, it might already be too late…

“Lin Jue.”

“This subordinate is here.”

“Go investigate thoroughly. Was Shen Zongsheng’s leg healed by that Jiu Yue?”

Lin Jue acknowledged. “If that’s the case…”

Prince Hui glanced at Lin Jue, his eyes flashing with a dazzling, unusual light.

As for Jiu Yue, Prince Hui felt that he was determined to have her.

“The entire Lin Division will be mobilized. I want to see her.”

“Yes.”

After Lin Jue left, Prince Hui maneuvered his wheelchair behind a screen.

He felt along the bedside, and a secret chamber silently appeared.

The wheelchair creaked as it entered the chamber.

Twisting and turning, no one knew how long it took.

Darkness always makes one forget the passage of time.

At the end appeared a room.

Two men in black stood at the doorway. Seeing Prince Hui, they bowed their heads in salute.

Then, they slowly opened a wooden panel.

With a loud bang—

A disheveled man with bloodshot eyes suddenly lunged toward the opening.

“Zhuo Zi’an, you won’t die a good death!”

Prince Hui sat in his wheelchair. Below his knees, there was only a vague outline.

Sometimes his trousers clung to it.

The withered shape made it impossible to imagine that beneath them were legs.

Prince Hui smiled faintly. “Imperial Brother, you’ve been repeating those words for over ten years now.”

The disheveled man roared helplessly, panting heavily.

His eyes, however, stared viciously at Prince Hui through that opening.

Then he suddenly threw back his head and burst into wild laughter.

“So what if you imprison me? You’ll never become emperor! You cripple! Trash! The Northern Barbarians will never allow a cripple to be emperor—you can only dream!”

Prince Hui suddenly thrust his hand into the opening.

He grabbed the man’s hair and yanked.

The man’s face was fully revealed.

If one looked closely, one would discover that this man looked exactly like the Northern Barbarian Emperor.

“I’ll be able to stand soon. Very soon!”

“Bah! Keep dreaming!”

Prince Hui gripped the Northern Barbarian Emperor’s hair tightly. “If Shen Zongsheng can do it, why can’t I?”

As he spoke, Prince Hui dragged the emperor’s head to the opening. “Even if I can’t, my son can. My grandson can. That’s still better than you—alone here, being tortured by me.”

The Northern Barbarian Emperor screamed madly.

No one would ever imagine—

Prince Hui had long known that becoming emperor himself was hopeless. Thus, during the struggle among the princes for the throne, he took another path.

What he sought was how to replace the emperor.

He personally pushed his second imperial brother onto the throne—and then replaced him.

He then spent years as an emperor hidden from the light.

Even all the current royal offspring of the Northern Barbarians—

Every single one of them was his seed.

Apart from being unable to openly appear in the Golden Hall, He possessed everything an emperor possessed.

An emperor of the Northern Barbarians, hidden behind the scenes for over ten years.

Oh—and not only that.

So close—just a little bit more, just a tiny bit more—Great Qi would have been his as well.

After all, Emperor Fengyuan’s only healthy child was his.

What a pity… truly, what a pity!