"Whether you succeed or fail, you can't come back alive."
Palace
The cold moon is hidden in the fog, and the assassins walk in the night.
In the boxy deep palace garden, the black-clad walkers crouch on the high wall. Carrying the night wind, the toes lightly touch the rubble, like a swallow through the mist, startling gusts of jackdaws, and the screams break through the long sky.
The Assassin's name is Qi Li, a member of the Tiger Clan. A few months ago, the Great Emperor ordered the conquest of the various tribes outside the Guanwai, the Tiger Clan bore the brunt of it, and countless boys died on the battlefield, which did not change the outcome of the territory being conquered by the dynasty.
As the oldest of the remaining young boys of the Tiger Clan, the heavy responsibility of revenge for the extermination of the clan fell on the shoulders of Qing Yuan. With the efforts of his people, he went to the door of Nie Yuan, the first assassin of the dynasty, and worked hard to learn various life-threatening techniques.
Inspired by hatred, in just a few months, Qing Li has integrated light skills, dark weapons, fighting and even poison kung fu. The next thing to do is to meet the Great Emperor and take his head.
Before leaving, Master told him to do a good job of realizing that he would never come back regardless of success or failure. If the imperial court could not catch him, it would definitely vent its anger on the head of the tribe, which would instead bring disaster to the people in his hometown.
Therefore, tonight Qi li has been ready to die. Finally, when the Great Emperor returned to the palace, he asked for a long time. Only to see that the great emperor was lying in front of the book case, still burning a candle and flipping through the folds, and the eunuch who was waiting had been screened off.
Qi Li seized the opportunity, used his pocket smoke, put down the guard at the door, and then jumped off the beam and stood in front of the emperor. Although he knew that the patrolling guards would turn around every once in a while, he did not choose to stun the emperor directly.
First, he had no intention of leaving alive, and second, he wanted to see the Great Emperor fearful, just like the slaughtered people.
However, the truth disappointed him.
emperor
Under the flickering lights, the great emperor's face full of stubble was full of waves. Knowing the distance of twenty steps, Qi Li had the confidence to use his flying knife stunt and attack his throat with one shot. But he was not willing to do so, he wanted to see the Great Emperor fearful.
"I can easily take your life, why aren't you afraid?" Ask away from questioning him.
"Then why aren't you afraid, there are many masters of the Imperial Forest Army, you have already made a disturbance, and today you can't get out of here anyway." The Great Emperor asked rhetorically.
"I already have nothing, so I'm not afraid. But you are different, you sit in the world, you should spare your life. That's what I thought.
"If you die today, you may regret that the great cause has not been accomplished." However, shuo knows that the descendants of shuo will still do the unfinished business of shuo, unify the world on behalf of shuo, and achieve the martial arts of wenzhi. This is the king's way! The Great Emperor said with a loud voice.
"The hegemony you want is to bring misfortune to others?"
Asked if he didn't understand what the royal way was, he only knew that his hometown had been destroyed.
"I don't want to whitewash myself with words like stopping war, I just want to win the world." But it is also true that everything that Yuan has done can unify the world and truly bring stability to the people. The Great Emperor said quietly.
"Why can't we give the world back to the people and let them live their own lives?" Asking away from the sadness and indignation, he asked the questions he had always had.
"Because it's not just yuan who has ambitions!" The Great Emperor said, "You can ask the leader of your tribe if he has the ability, will he want to seek the fall of the country?" Including between your tribes, have there been fewer wars over the years over the turf? Yes, conquer your territory and let many of your compatriots die in battle, but if the world cannot be unified, how many lives will be paid for years of friction and chaos? ”
"But that doesn't have to come at the cost of bloodshed..." The language of the question gradually became pale and weak.
"Do you think you don't want to win without a fight?" The Great Emperor was also helpless: "If you just open your mouth and speak a few words of Confucianism, you can make the world return to benevolence and realize the unity of the world, so why train warriors and build armaments." Everyone in the world has wild hopes, everyone wants to get more, if there is no strong will to lead the order, the world will only be in constant strife. Since there must be someone in charge of everything, why can't this position be sat by yuan? At least, he knows how to benefit the people. ”
"Maybe in the future thousands of years from now, people will abandon the emperor, or even the imperial court." But now, the position of these Nine-Five-Five-Year Dignity is fixed. If you only want to vent your anger and avenge your people, even if you take away the head of the fallen, the world will still not be peaceful. The Great Emperor finished speaking and calmly closed his eyes.
Qi Li flicked his finger up, and the two-foot long flying knife was emitted from between his fingers, breaking the wind and attacking the Great Emperor.
Flying
For a moment, the Great Emperor only felt a burst of warmth in his ears, and the flying knife that asked for permission only cut through his left ear and was embedded in the back of the dragon chair behind him. When he opened his eyes, he saw that Qing Li had pulled out his dagger and plunged it into his abdomen.
"You..." A touch of sadness finally appeared on the face of the Great Emperor.
"Master said, regardless of success or failure, my head must be left behind, and this matter is my own intention, and has nothing to do with my people!" Qing Li smiled slightly, gritted his teeth, and said the last words of his life.
The next day, the Imperial City posted a notice that last night an assassin had broken into the palace and had been condemned. But outsiders did not know that the Great Emperor sat alone in silence against the assassin's body for a night. The next day, he ordered his head to be hung up and shown to the public.
A few months later, the Emperor died on his way to conquest of the Guanwai clan.