Inside a side hall of the palace.
"Zheng Longtu, was it you who poisoned me? Your Zheng family owes everything to me. What good would my death do for you?"
Zhang Yuanqing leaned against the latticed door, afraid to move. Yuan Shitianzun had experienced life and death, and wouldn't be timid or fearful even in the face of death, but he was now a fatuous emperor.
To be honest, the plot's development had once again exceeded his expectations. Logically speaking, the Zheng family was an in-law clan, relying on the emperor. Zhao Shun had no children. Once he died, the new emperor would definitely weaken the Zheng family's power. There was no reason for the Zheng family to murder the emperor.
"Good?" Zheng Longtu sneered. "The benefit is the vast land of the Southern Dynasty. Don't worry, I won't kill you with a sword. It's just you and me in the hall. If you die by the sword, I couldn't clear my name even if I jumped into the Yellow River."
With that, he sheathed his longsword, grabbed Zhang Yuanqing's neck, and dragged him to the table.
Then, Zheng Longtu took out a wooden box from his pocket, opened it with a snap. Inside was a purple pill the size of a longan.
"Your Majesty, you are the ruler of a country. It's not dignified to die by sword. I'll leave you with a complete corpse. Take this pill, and you will die at the hands of an assassin, which has nothing to do with me." Zheng Longtu pried open the emperor's mouth and stuffed the pill in.
Zhang Yuanqing choked, refusing to swallow.
Zheng Longtu grabbed the kettle from the table, pinched his nose, and roughly poured water into the fatuous emperor's mouth.
"Cough, cough..." Zhang Yuanqing choked on a few mouthfuls of water, suddenly stopped resisting, his throat bobbed, and he swallowed the poison pill.
Zheng Longtu put down the kettle with satisfaction.
Zhang Yuanqing held onto the table, coughing violently for a moment, panting:
"Is your Zheng family crazy? The Northern Dynasty is about to besiege the capital. If I die, the court will be in turmoil, and the army on the front lines will retreat to the capital. Your Zheng family wants to usurp the throne. That's wishful thinking."
Zheng Longtu glanced outside the door, and seeing that the battle was still ongoing, he continued:
"The army on the front lines will not be able to return. The Northern Dynasty will help us contain Yang Ce."
"The Zheng family even colluded with the Northern Dynasty? Playing with tigers, aren't you afraid of being eaten and left with no bones?" Zhang Yuanqing sat by the table, clutching his throat, his face pale.
"It's all your Majesty's fault." Zheng Longtu said solemnly:
"After the Empress Dowager's death, you favored the Empress, promoted the Yang family, and appointed Yang Ce as the Grand Marshal of the Army, against the Zheng family's objections. If he defends Linxia City and repels the Northern Dynasty's army, then the Zheng and Yang families' positions in the court will be completely reversed. The Zheng family has to plan for the future.
"Only if you die at the hands of an assassin can the Zheng family take over the court smoothly. With the Imperial City Guard in hand, no one among the officials dares to oppose the Zheng family."
Zhang Yuanqing scoffed, "Ridiculous. The Imperial City Guard is my imperial elite, not your Zheng family's private soldiers. They obey you because you are the commander of the Imperial Guard. Once you rebel, you become an enemy."
Zheng Longtu smiled, "You don't need to worry about that, Your Majesty. The National Preceptor will support the Zheng family. Besides, the absurd things you've done these years have already aroused public resentment. The officials hate you and wish you would die sooner. My father's ascension to the throne is in line with the general trend and the will of the people."
National Preceptor? Who is the National Preceptor? Zhang Yuanqing had no relevant information in his memory, but seeing Zheng Longtu's confident look, this National Preceptor seemed to be a big shot.
"Even if the National Preceptor supports the Zheng family, what about the Northern Dynasty's army? Why does your Zheng family think you can defend the capital?" Zhang Yuanqing asked.
Zheng Longtu's mouth curled into a smile:
"My father has already secretly reached an agreement with Tuoba Guanghe. After he ascends the throne, he will represent the Southern Dynasty as its ruler and negotiate peace with the Northern Dynasty, ceding land and paying tribute, and submitting forever.
"Tuoba Guanghe rose to power too quickly, and has many political enemies in the court. He needs military achievements, but he also worries about the Northern Dynasty cooking the dog once it's no longer useful. Leaving a Southern Dynasty that is severely weakened is only beneficial to him."
"Rearing a self-respecting bandit, huh!" Zhang Yuanqing muttered to himself.
"Eh?" Zheng Longtu looked at the fatuous emperor in surprise, frowning. "Why hasn't the poison taken effect yet?"
As soon as he said that, he suddenly coughed violently, coughing so hard his lungs felt like they were tearing, his forehead was burning hot, and his breath was full of scorching heat.
No, not good, it's the plague. He staggered up, drew the sword from his waist, his eyes filled with bewilderment.
"Drip!"
A drop of water fell from above, landing on the back of his hand.
Zheng Longtu looked up, and through the crisscrossing beams, saw trickles of water seeping through the tiles, like a leaky roof.
These trickles of water landed on the ground and quickly coalesced into a burly woman with a round face, eyes like copper bells, thick eyebrows, and thick lips, with a masculine physique. She was truly a heroine.
It was Consort Wan.
Consort Wan reached out her palm, pressed it against Zhang Yuanqing's chest and abdomen, and wiped upwards.
Zhang Yuanqing "Ugh" sound, spit out the poison pill wrapped in tea.
The poison pill had been wrapped in tea all along, which was why Zhang Yuanqing hadn't died from the poison. He certainly didn't have water control abilities. It was Consort Wan who secretly took action, using her water control abilities to wrap the poison pill.
Zhang Yuanqing felt the abnormality of the tea when he swallowed, so he boldly swallowed the poison pill.
Zhang Yuanqing had the eunuch invite Consort Wan. The three beauties' attempt to assassinate him was indeed unexpected. On the one hand, the time he had entered the instance was too short, and the information he had collected was limited.
On the other hand, who would have thought that the task the teammates received was to assassinate him?
This had already exceeded the scope of "wisdom." Unless one could predict the future, no one could have foreseen it.
But as Yuan Shitianzun, as a high-level player who had conquered S-class instances in succession, the moment he escaped the bedroom, he was thinking, who exactly was the spy in the mission?
It obviously couldn't be the three beauties. The three beauties were his teammates. This was a multi-person collaborative instance, not a confrontational one. Therefore, teammates couldn't be mortal enemies. This didn't conform to the Spirit Realm mechanism.
The spy was someone else.
In other words, the crisis of surviving for 24 hours hadn't truly ended.
So Zhang Yuanqing thought of Consort Wan. In Consort Wan's character story, this woman, a veritable Amazon, who could have people stand on her fists and horses run on her arms, had rescued Zhao Shun before the Imperial Guard after he fell into the water.
An ordinary person, no matter how gifted, couldn't be stronger than the masters in the army. Therefore, Consort Wan was definitely not an ordinary person.
In addition, Consort Wan, who had saved him once, was a bodyguard that the fatuous emperor could rely on and trust.
This was a hint given to him by the instance.
The fact was that he had predicted correctly. Consort Wan was the fatuous emperor's bodyguard, a bodyguard given by the instance.
Only by understanding this hint could he overcome the crisis without any danger.
Looking at Zheng Longtu, who was coughing violently and whose limbs were weak, Zhang Yuanqing smiled:
"I knew you were a problem a long time ago, but my Consort Wan hadn't arrived yet, so I've been playing along with you and didn't expose you. Thank you, Commander Zheng, for telling me so much information."
The instance's main storyline suddenly became clear.
During the day, Zhang Yuanqing had meddled and read the memorials, which were all impeaching the Yang family and Yang Ce. From the feedback of the memorials, it could be seen that the Zheng family was very anxious, eager to suppress the Yang family and Yang Ce.
Just now, Zheng Longtu dragged him into the side hall, but didn't arrange for the Imperial Guard to guard outside the hall. From this point alone, it wasn't the attitude of someone protecting someone.
So he realized that there was a problem with the Zheng family, but he hadn't guessed that they were spies. When Zheng Longtu held the sword against his chest, Zhang Yuanqing was indeed scared into a cold sweat.
Zheng Longtu gritted his teeth and said, "Fatuous Emperor, I'm going to kill you!"
He picked up the iron sword and stabbed.
Consort Wan stepped in horizontally, blocking in front of Zhang Yuanqing, letting the longsword pierce her heart, splashing a faint spray of water.
"Your Majesty, get out of the way!" She turned and pushed, pushing the frail and helpless emperor into a dog eating mud.
Consort Wan grabbed Zheng Longtu's wrist. In an instant, thin white mist condensed in the surrounding air, and strands of it drilled into her mouth and nose.
Water deprivation!
Zheng Longtu's skin quickly wrinkled and shriveled. He struggled violently, revealing a look of despair. After a moment, the look of despair solidified on his face.
He had completely become a dried corpse.
(End of this chapter)