Chapter 149: The Privy Council

In the capital of the Haotian Empire, within the Du Residence, Elder Du Fengzhong looked at the letter in his hands with a gloomy expression. It was a personal, confidential letter written to him by Du Long, through which the old man learned that his beloved grandson had actually encountered an assassination attempt!

He had no idea that Du Long and Princess Huofeng had also been ambushed together in the Beast Forest; otherwise, there was no telling how furious the old man would have become.

This was utterly intolerable!

"Fan Kun! You people are truly pushing things too far!" Flying into a rage, Elder Du slammed his palm against the sandalwood armrest beside him with such force that, with a sharp crack, the incredibly sturdy sandalwood instantly disintegrated into fine powder!

Picking up another confidential letter from the desk, Elder Du vanished from the study, shooting straight up into the midair. Disregarding the fact that it was the dead of night, he streaked directly toward the Wei Residence.

At the Wei Residence, Old Man Wei Xuan was sitting leisurely by a table, sipping tea, when he suddenly raised his head and saw a figure flash toward him like lightning, vaulting directly over several courtyard walls of the residence to arrive close by.

Recognizing the intruder, he did not launch an attack. Instead, he smiled and looked at the furious Elder Du, saying, "Old man Du, who has managed to make you this angry? What brings you to see me at this hour of the night?!"

"See for yourself!" After tossing a letter to Wei Xuan, Elder Du unceremoniously found a chair and sat down, picked up the teapot on the table, poured himself a cup of tea, and gulped it all down in one breath.

"Drink a bit slower! This is the Ice Mountain Snow Tea produced on Iron Wall Peak in the northwest borderlands. It's expensive!" Wei Xuan complained with a look of heartache as he unfolded the letter paper.

"Isn't it just Ice Mountain Snow Tea from Iron Wall Peak? Someday I'll send you a pound of it!" Elder Du urged impatiently. "You'd better read the letter quickly, and shortly we'll go find the old Emperor to settle this matter!"

"Oh! Today the notoriously stingy old Du is actually being this generous?! A pound of Iron Wall Peak Ice Mountain Snow Tea costs over ten thousand gold coins. A real man never goes back on his word, so you aren't allowed to renege!" Wei Xuan teased leisurely.

"If you talk any more nonsense, I will go back on my word! Hurry up and read the letter!" Elder Du threatened with dissatisfaction.

"Alright, alright! I'll read it right now, won't I?!" Only then did Wei Xuan shift his attention to the letter. As time passed, the smile on his face began to fade, and his expression grew increasingly solemn and grave.

"Is what your precious grandson wrote true? This man surnamed Fan is going too far, isn't he? He actually dares to use assassination methods against the Princess Consort?!" Wei Xuan asked with a stern face.

"Hmph! There is no doubt they were ambushed. My grandson has a special ability, so it's quite possible for him to receive advance intelligence on who was going to intercept and kill him," Elder Du snarled with an ugly expression.

"Outrageous!" Wei Xuan fumed. "That man surnamed Fan actually dared to dispatch the Black Eagle Death Squad to ambush the Prince Consort and the Princess?!"

"Hmph! The man surnamed Fan has crossed the line. If this had happened to your precious grandson Wei Yiming, what would you do?!" Elder Du demanded angrily.

"We had an agreement back then! If any faction ever dares to use assassination methods against direct-line descendants, the other factions have the right to jointly annihilate the party that crossed the line!" Wei Xuan replied without hesitation.

"Very well! Let's go find the old Emperor right now! This matter also involves his most cherished beloved granddaughter; I refuse to believe he can sit still after knowing this," Elder Du stood up immediately and said.

"Alright! I'll accompany you to the imperial palace for a trip. Since this is of grave importance, let's try not to let news of our visit to the old Emperor spread. Therefore, we'll fly directly into the palace under the cover of night and simply ask the old Emperor for forgiveness later if necessary," Wei Xuan said as he rose to his feet as well. Utilizing the cover of the night, the two Spirit-realm existences flashed and flew directly through the air toward the imperial palace.

Within the imperial palace, the dozens of meters high perimeter walls were completely useless against these two top-tier martial artists. Soaring over from hundreds of meters up in the air under the cover of night like two giant birds, they vaulted directly across the palace walls and arrived above a restricted imperial garden.

They could deceive countless members of the imperial guards, but they could not fool the Spirit-realm old Emperor residing within the restricted garden. Sensing two familiar auras approaching, he was already waiting inside a quaint pavilion within the garden.

"What is the urgent matter that brings the two of you to see Us at this hour?!" Inside the pavilion, the old Emperor looked calmly at the two old men visiting in the middle of the night.

"Greetings to the Old Emperor!" The two elders of Du and Wei bowed politely. With their level of cultivation, how could they possibly still need to perform grand kowtows as they did in the past?

"Hm! Sit down, both of you! The two of you being in such a rush to find me means this definitely isn't a small matter, right?!" The old Emperor said with a faint smile.

After taking their respective seats, Elder Du flipped his hand, produced a letter, and handed it directly to the old Emperor, saying, "Once you finish reading this letter, we can chat slowly without delay!"

Taking the letter with a puzzled expression, the old Emperor unsealed the outer cover on the spot and, right in front of the two elders, began to carefully read the letter written in Princess Huofeng's own hand.

Very soon, the smile vanished from his face, replaced entirely by fury. When he saw the unique secret mark belonging to Princess Huofeng at the very end of the letter, he knew for certain that it was personally written by his beloved granddaughter.

"I never imagined that the man surnamed Fan would be so vicious! He actually dared to make a move against the Prince Consort and the Princess. However, after all, this is merely the speculation of the Prince and Princess; wishing to convict the old man surnamed Fan based on this alone is probably not enough!" Having finished the letter, the old Emperor quickly regained his composure, proving himself worthy of being a former emperor of the empire.

"No matter what! It is definitely a fact that the two of them were ambushed, isn't it?!" Elder Du said with a gloomy face.

"Indeed! If not for the mysterious powerhouse secretly aiding the Prince Consort and Huofeng this time, the scoundrels' scheme probably would have succeeded!" The old Emperor replied coldly.

As it turned out, in order to conceal the strength of the great lion Xiaolie, Du Long and Princess Huofeng had discussed the matter and decided to use the excuse of a mysterious powerhouse secretly coming to their aid. Otherwise, how could they possibly explain how they managed to handle that group of Black Eagle Death Squad experts?

"Old Emperor! How do you think this matter should be resolved? In any case, old Du and I will definitely stand on your side!" Wei Xuan interjected. He held no favorable impression of the Fan clan whatsoever and was naturally more than happy to unite with the other two factions to deal with them.

"This matter is somewhat strange. Logically speaking, the old man surnamed Fan shouldn't be foolish enough to send the Black Eagle Death Squad to intercept and kill the Prince Consort and Princess halfway. If the various grand plans led by the Fan family are running smoothly, there is simply no need to do such a foolish thing at a time like this," the old Emperor did not immediately decide how to deal with the Fan clan. Instead, he analyzed the situation with a puzzled expression.

"That's true! Even if the old man surnamed Fan truly wanted to assassinate two juniors, there was no need to send out the Black Eagle Death Squad. Wouldn't that be a case of trying to conceal something only to make it more obvious?!" Elder Du only now thought of this point. Because he had been too furious upon reading Du Long's letter earlier, his mind hadn't gone in that direction at all.

"Regardless of anything else, the Black Eagle Death Squad was indeed dispatched. As everyone knows, the Black Eagle Death Squad will never take the initiative to strike without the personal tally of the Fan family head!" Wei Xuan analyzed in a deep voice.

"Precisely because of that, I feel that this whole affair reeks of strangeness from top to bottom!" The old Emperor nodded and said.

"Then what should we do?! If we ignore the fact that the two children were ambushed, it will surely embolden the Fan clan to push their luck further. We cannot guarantee that our grandson and the princess will always be so fortunate as to have a mysterious powerhouse helping them every time!" Elder Du stated gravely.

"That's right! Whatever the case may be, we cannot let the man surnamed Fan act without any restraint against our direct descendants. We must let them know the severity of this matter!" Wei Xuan nodded in agreement.

"Very well! Let us accelerate the execution of our previous plan. Once the grand situation is settled, we can settle this score with them!" After pondering for a long while, the old Emperor immediately made a decisive judgment. "Moreover, so that they have something to fear, we might as well do this..."

The next day, within the imperial court of the Haotian Empire, the Emperor ascended the dragon throne with a gloomy countenance!

After receiving the respectful kowtows of the civil and military officials, he did not grant them permission to rise as he usually did. Instead, he roared with uncontrollable fury, "Today! There is an exceptionally grave matter that We must announce!"

Under the bewildered gazes of the civil and military officials, the Emperor continued to bellow, "Two days ago, Princess Huofeng and Prince Consort Du were unexpectedly ambushed by scoundrels halfway to their fief!"

A commotion instantly broke out...

Inside the court chamber, waves of whispers and exclamations erupted immediately. To intercept and assassinate the imperial princess and her consort—and furthermore, the current consort was no ordinary person, but rather the direct grandson of a Spirit-realm existence!

Upon the dragon throne, the Emperor swept his icy gaze across the officials standing below, lingering for a moment, whether intentionally or not, on the Minister of the Left, Fan De. That freezing gaze made Fan De's heart contract for no apparent reason, though he tried his utmost to maintain a calm and composed demeanor.

"To severely punish such rebellious and treasonous scoundrels, We hereby announce that this case must be thoroughly investigated! This case is handed over to the Privy Council to be handled with full authority. Everyone present here, regardless of your position, must cooperate fully with the investigation work of the Privy Council's internal guards. Anyone who obstructs the internal guards of the Privy Council in the execution of their duties shall be strictly punished without exception!" The Emperor announced loudly.

The Privy Council of the Haotian Empire was an intelligence agency directly under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Emperor. The internal guards of the Privy Council possessed numerous experts and were richly experienced in investigating major and critical cases; they were by no means comparable to ordinary civil judicial yamen!

By having the Privy Council take over the case, the old Emperor was also seizing the opportunity of investigating the assassination attempt on the Prince Consort and Princess to simultaneously probe into the Fan clan's series of regulatory violations, which included the serious issue of illegally funding the expansion of several military legions!