Chapter 11645 — What a Big Mouth

The Prince of Qi laughed in sheer fury. "It seems a year with Wei Zhao has brainwashed you but thoroughly. You've lost even the most basic sense of right and wrong."

Young Master Qi knelt with a solemn face. "My words may not sit well with Your Highness, but I swear upon the Heavenly Dao—every single word comes from the bottom of my heart, and every single word is spoken for the future of our Princely Estate of Qi. I beg Your Highness to think it over!"

With that, he knocked his head heavily against the floor.

Everyone present was visibly moved.

In their minds, Young Master Qi had always been a spoiled rich brat who knew neither the height of heaven nor the depth of earth. Given his past misdeeds, if not for the top-tier backing of the Princely Estate of Qi, he would surely have been done in long ago.

But his conduct today truly caught them all off guard.

Whatever else might be said—right or wrong, his position—the sheer fact that he dared to stand up to the Prince of Qi to his face was enough to make people sit up and take notice.

Several core higher-ups hesitated for a moment, then stepped forward. "Your Highness, what the young master says is not without reason. Why not sit down with Wei Zhao and talk it over first? If the talks go well, we dissolve old grievances and renew the alliance—that would hardly be a bad thing for us."

"Insolence!"

The Prince of Qi's oppressive aura flared at once, bearing down hard on every head in the hall.

The crowd fell to trembling instantly, none daring to utter another word.

The Prince of Qi gave a cold snort. "Have you all forgotten the humiliation of kneeling at Nightfall Palace?"

The crowd exchanged glances.

Kneeling before Wei Zhao in public at Nightfall Palace had, to be sure, been utterly humiliating—but when all was said and done, it was the Princely Estate of Qi that had sold Wei Zhao out first, and that was the fuse that set the whole affair alight. Wei Zhao, returning in force to demand a kneeling apology, was not entirely in the wrong.

Of course, at bottom this was also because the Ten Great Sins that Wei Zhao had brought back with him were simply too terrifying in strength.

Had Wei Zhao's faction been even a shade weaker, what the crowd would likely have thought was that the Princely Estate of Qi was not to be insulted.

The Prince of Qi swept a cold glance over the hall and shouted, "The Princely Estate of Qi and Wei Zhao are locked in a fight to the death. Whoever breathes another word to stir up hearts shall share the fate of this desk."

As his voice fell, the great desk representing the Prince of Qi's seat of authority before the crowd was crushed on the spot, splitting asunder and ground to powder.

The crowd did not dare so much as breathe.

Behind the gauze curtain, the Prince of Qi fixed his gaze once more upon Young Master Qi and announced in a deep voice, "As a legitimate son of the Princely Estate, Young Master Qi has instead refused to serve the Estate and turned traitor, stirring up hearts and minds. His crime admits no pardon. From this day forth, he is expelled from the Princely Estate of Qi, and shall never again set foot within its gates!"

The whole hall was in an uproar.

They had guessed that the Prince of Qi would punish Young Master Qi, but they had truly never imagined matters would turn this grave!

After all, Young Master Qi was the most honored legitimate line of the Estate's blood. However much of a good-for-nothing he might be, by virtue of that bloodline alone he was the undisputed choice for Crown Prince.

With this single stroke, the Prince of Qi had effectively deposed his own heir with his own hands!

When the news spread, it was bound to send tremors through every faction.

Prince Qi himself looked taken aback as well.

All along, he had feared this father of his as one fears a tiger; every meeting had meant a scolding, and scoldings again—there had almost never been a normal moment of father-son affection between them.

Even so, the King of Qi had always loomed in his eyes as something towering, like a god.

Were it not for the full ten thousand years he had spent tempering himself in the Land of Sin, a trial that had remade him utterly, he would never have dared to speak back to his father to his face.

Even when a scene like today's broke out, he had never imagined a rupture between father and son.

Never in his wildest dreams had he thought his own father could be so heartless!

"Calm yourself, Your Majesty! The prince meant no offense to you. Young men's thinking is unripe—he is at fault, but not to this degree!"

"Calm yourself, Your Majesty!"

At once the core high officials present all fell to their knees to plead for him.

They might not think much of Prince Qi himself, and they might loathe the good-for-nothing, silk-pants antics he had shown in the past, but one matter was one matter. However worthless Prince Qi might be, he was still the best choice for heir to the Qi Princely Estate—and there was no second.

Once Prince Qi was driven from the estate, it would not only give every faction a fine laugh; worst of all, the fight over the heir would inevitably bring open strife and veiled scheming, even bloodshed, within the Qi Princely Estate.

In ordinary times that might have been bearable—at worst it would cost them some vitality, and with its vast household and great resources the Qi Princely Estate could still hold itself together.

But now, at this very juncture when the great upheaval was about to arrive, to suddenly have such a thing erupt—any clear-eyed person would turn pessimistic.

Yet the King of Qi's will was iron: "My mind is made up. Whoever tries to persuade me further can roll out of the Qi Princely Estate together with this unfilial son!"

The crowd was struck dumb, every one of them silent as a cicada in winter, not daring to make another sound.

Gazing at that familiar yet strange figure behind the gauze curtain, Prince Qi felt a desolation in his heart.

After a moment of silence, Prince Qi said nothing, and did not plead to his face either.

Thump!

Under the eyes of all present, Prince Qi knocked his head heavily to the ground nine times in a row, then abruptly rose and left.

Once past the main gate of the Qi Princely Estate, Prince Qi suddenly shook his head and laughed.

In times past, a thing like this would have been no different from the sky collapsing on him; he might even have fainted dead away on the spot.

But now, instead, he felt that the shackle binding him had finally shattered and fallen away.

A true man is born between heaven and earth; the world is vast—where can he not find a place to stand?

Under the pitying gazes of the crowd behind him—some genuine, some feigned—Prince Qi felt not the slightest attachment left, and strode away.

Watching his retreating back, several of the more seasoned high officials of the Qi Princely Estate exchanged glances, and the same thought arose in each of them unbidden.

Perhaps the Qi Princely Estate had just let slip a true restorer of its fortunes.

No sooner had Young Master Qi departed than the atmosphere throughout the Qi Princely Estate did anything but settle; instead it grew heavier still, as though a storm were about to break and a mighty foe stood at the gates.

There was no other cause: Wei Zhao had come.

And not Wei Zhao alone—Wei Baizhan, Li Qinghe, and the rest of the Ten Great Sinners had come as well.

The ten of them ranged themselves in a single line facing the main gate of the Qi Princely Estate, and the aura they radiated simply overwhelmed the grandeur of the estate's entire complex of buildings.

In the eyes of the world, this top-tier power of the Inner Royal Court, which stood aloof on high and rivaled the Qin Princely Estate, had in this instant become the small and feeble party.

Countless streams of thought hovered overhead, fixed intently on every move either side made.