SBCEJM -Chapter 272 So He Abandoned the Throne and Took His Seventeen Sons to Open Up New Lands!

【The star of today’s earth-shattering scandal is… the Taishang Huang (Retired Emperor)!】

The system’s single sentence was like nine layers of heavenly thunder, striking dead center in the Golden Palace.

The entire court fell into absolute silence.

Time and air seemed to freeze at this moment.

The culprit… is the Retired Emperor?

This… how could that be possible?!

【What the—???】

Feng Zexuan felt like her CPU was about to melt.

【The Retired Emperor? Wasn’t he already dead twenty years ago? The weeds on his imperial tomb must’ve been replaced twenty times by now!】

【I remember clearly—the official obituary said even his bones were torn apart by wolves, beyond recognition.】

【How are we supposed to gossip about this?】

【Don’t tell me the system has expanded into grave-digging literature now?】

She still vividly remembered that national tragedy that shook the world.

The Retired Emperor had gone on an autumn hunt at Mount West with the Crown Prince and many princes—only for them to be ambushed by thousands of elite assassins. None survived.

【System, is your database infected or something?】

Feng Zexuan muttered internally.

【Or did the old emperor go to the underworld, get promoted, or reincarnate as some neighbor’s chubby kid?】

On the Golden Palace floor, the civil and military officials all wore expressions of utter disbelief.

A ghost-world scandal?

A human-world scandal?

Has this “system” inside the Prince of the North’s mind extended its intelligence network all the way to the underworld?

Could it be… the Retired Emperor is now an underworld emperor too?

On the dragon throne, Xiao Juechen felt as if a brazier had been lit beneath him. The heat nearly made him leap from his seat.

His father?

He gripped the dragon-head armrests tightly, his nails digging into the cold golden carvings, knuckles turning ghostly white.

Just as everyone’s imagination ran wild, the system dropped a true nuclear bomb.

【Host, your imagination is too limited!】

The system’s voice turned solemn, as if revealing the ultimate truth of the universe.

【The truth is… the Retired Emperor never died at all!】

“BOOM—!”

A blinding white light exploded in Xiao Juechen’s mind, followed by a deafening roar like mountains collapsing and seas surging.

His father… wasn’t dead?

That thought struck like lightning, tearing open twenty years of sealed memories.

If that was true… did it mean the princes who “died” alongside him that day… were also alive?!

He suddenly felt the dragon throne beneath him shaking violently. After sitting on it for twenty years, it had never felt so unstable.

The Crown Prince Xiao Mingxuan, seated below, widened his eyes in shock.

Grandfather… isn’t dead?

Then… where is he now?

Princess Xiao Mingyue frowned sharply, a shocking thought erupting in her mind:

If the emperor never died, then wasn’t the so-called “imperial hunting ground massacre” a complete lie?

A conspiracy from start to finish?

Among the officials, Censorate Vice Minister Feng Huanan’s usually calm face finally cracked for the first time.

If the Retired Emperor is alive…

Then the national mourning, the historical records, the grief of the people for twenty years—wouldn’t all of it become a colossal joke?

As the head of the officials responsible for admonishment, he instinctively wanted to step forward and demand an investigation.

But reason forcibly restrained him.

Feng Zexuan frowned deeply, thinking further ahead.

Why would the system reveal such a shocking secret now?

Could something have happened on the Retired Emperor’s side?

The system didn’t keep them guessing.

【That so-called assassination back then… was from start to finish a self-directed act by the Retired Emperor himself—a perfect golden cicada shedding its shell.】

【As for the seventeen prime-aged princes… not a single one was left behind. He took them all with him.】

【What kind of operation is this?!】

Feng Zexuan’s worldview shattered.

【Tired of being emperor so he just takes his seventeen sons and goes missing together? Where did they go—ascend to immortality as a group?!】

Why?!

This question echoed simultaneously in Xiao Juechen and every official’s mind.

They simply couldn’t understand it.

In this world, was there anything better than being emperor?

Supreme power, endless beauty in the harem, unimaginable wealth and luxury!

What kind of mind would willingly abandon all of this?

The system let out a long sigh.

【For others, the throne is honey. For him… it is bitter medicine.】

【He was never interested in power or politics to begin with.】

【He only became emperor because the struggle for succession in the previous generation was so brutal that, in the end, he was the only reasonably healthy adult prince left.】

【When the previous emperor passed away, there was no other choice but to hand the throne to him.】

Upon hearing this, several veteran ministers who had served through two reigns showed complex expressions.

They remembered the Retired Emperor clearly.

He had indeed been a competent ruler—diligent, restrained, and never making major mistakes during his reign.

But he lacked the domineering aura and political ruthlessness of a true emperor, more like a weary patriarch forced into the role by fate.

Xiao Juechen also sank into memory.

As a child, he rarely saw his father.

Each time, the emperor was buried in mountains of memorials, brows tightly furrowed, eyes bloodshot.

Even so, that exhausted yet upright figure had always been the target he wanted to chase.

【So how did he end up quitting so decisively—and even dragging all seventeen brothers along?】

Feng Zexuan’s gossip instincts ignited.

The system replied:

【Because his sense of responsibility was too strong—but his talent… couldn’t quite keep up.】

【Most importantly, his memory… was not very good.】

【A court roster—someone with genius-level memory could recall instantly. He had to stare at it for days just to match names with faces.】

【Because of this, he made plenty of embarrassing mistakes.】

At this, several old ministers including Prime Minister Lin showed nostalgic, strange expressions.

One incident stood out clearly:

During a previous imperial examination ceremony, the Retired Emperor had stared at the newly ranked top scholar for a long time, then smiled and mistakenly called him the previous year’s second-place candidate.

The hall froze in awkward silence.

Xiao Juechen also remembered when he was seven.

He had been summoned to the emperor to recite his lessons.

After finishing the Analects nervously, the emperor was delighted, patted his head kindly, and asked:

“Good, good! Are you… the seventh or the eighth again?”

At that moment, young Xiao Juechen felt overwhelmed by paternal “blessing.”

【Indeed… memory is something you’re born with. You can’t force it.】

Feng Zexuan agreed deeply.

The system continued:

【So every day, the Retired Emperor kept himself under immense pressure, afraid of making mistakes in governance.】

【At the same time, he secretly ordered trusted neutral ministers to conduct long-term evaluations of all his children—just to find the most suitable successor.】

【Damn… he had already been planning early retirement all along!】

Feng Zexuan saw through it instantly.

【Exactly. That’s why he was unusually enthusiastic about having children—practically a production model worker.】