novel bin Chapter 757: Knowing Full Well (I)
Chapter 757: Knowing Full Well (I)
Chapter 757: Knowing Full Well (I)
“Father!” A young man clenched his teeth next to the fatty—it was one of Mu Xiaorong’s brothers. She was the youngest daughter of the minister of Internal Affairs and much beloved. However, she was being arrested in front of everyone, in front of the ministry, in broad daylight!
“Let’s just go at them!” Someone spat out.
The minister didn’t say anything, he didn’t make a single sound. Perhaps that outcome was what some wanted to see. Or even what Li Hao wished to see. The minister could vaguely sense strong presences sweeping through the area. What did Li Hao want to do?
Are you trying to force us into a duel to the death with you?
The minister continued to be silent. Perhaps the royal family was waiting for his resistance. It would be the perfect pretext for war between the nine ministries and Li Hao. But... he’d worked for the royal family for so many years and the Ministry of Internal Affairs was the royal representative among the nine... The royal family was growing ever more mysterious in their actions.
That was not a good sign!
Skystar royalty should be taking a stand now, whether in support of Li Hao or the nine ministries. Whatever it was, this should not be their reaction. It was good to watch a fight from the sidelines, but they should not be forgetting that Internal Affairs was their external representative and the only one among the nine who supported them!
Are you not going to say a word even when my daughter is being taken?
The chubby minister watched silently. Then take her! His daughter hadn’t committed any serious crimes, she’d simply fled from earlier custody. Could Li Hao sentence her to death for that? Didn’t he present himself as a champion of justice, that he strictly administered the law?
Then his daughter would be held in custody at most. Those who wanted to watch a show or see him stick his neck out... could keep waiting!
You guys are cherishing a snake in your embrace, just you wait!
“Take her!” Liu Long waited a while outside the front doors and didn’t see anything else developing. He swiftly gave the order for the group to retreat and vanished with Mu Xiaorong, leaving astonished onlookers in his wake. The Ministry of Internal Affairs had stayed out of this business!
......
People on all sides were mobilizing, whether Night Watchers, Silver Moon Guards, or others. Various nobles were being arrested again!
In front of a prince’s manor.
The Stable Mountain Prince was dressed in royal robes and wearing a cold expression on his face. There was a large crowd gathered in front of his manor.
Although Hu Qingfeng looked visibly timid, he set his jaw and roared, “Stable Mountain Prince, are you going to shelter criminals in your manor? That one is just the son of a steward, are you going to defy the law?!”
The prince remained silent. He didn’t want to submit to this course of action as it came down to a matter of dignity, but the royal family had sent word for him to cooperate. He wanted to snarl back at them, that this was a royal humiliation!
However, the one in the palace seemed to wish to see this kind of scene develop. The minister looked in the direction of the palace and sighed. What do you have in mind, royal brother? The Steppe Prince is dead and you don’t make a move to shelter Internal Affairs. There’s even people kicking in the doors of your brother’s manor now.
Li Hao is slapping the faces of the nine ministries and the royal family. Must it come to absolute chaos beneath the heavens?
He didn’t wish for this to happen as the dynasty was the result of their family’s efforts. It was their nation, but his royal brother seemed to seek to overthrow it all and break fresh ground again. It is not enough to be the liege of a prosperous dynasty, he wanted to be the founding sovereign of a new nation!
All of this could not be explained otherwise. This royal brother of his was not only weakening the nine ministries, he was also whittling away at royal forces. Those who wished to strengthen the royal family were being diminished because his royal brother appeared to want to start all over again!
What... grandiose ambitions!
“That’s... that’s too dangerous, isn’t it?”
“......” The crowd also quietly conversed if they wanted to attend the Skystar Martial Academy. The possibility was too frightening! A reckoning would be swiftly forthcoming once Li Hao died, so they didn’t dare.
Indeed, the people didn’t dare. As excited as they might be, they didn’t dare take the risk.
......
But at this moment, someone did dare.
“I want to sign up for the Skystar Martial Academy!” someone shouted in a large yard.
“Sign your ass! Sign up for death? The Skystar Commander Office may be in the spotlight now, but do you think it’ll be able to suppress the nobles that have stood for two hundred years? I’ll break your legs if you dare go!”
“Dad, am I supposed to not take risks and be like you for the rest of my life? I’ll just be a minor merchant and give offerings to powerful personages here and there. I kneel when I see nobles and bow when I see the powerful...”
“You bastard, I do it all for you! At least we have food to eat and clothes to wear, you...”
“This isn’t what I want! I just want to be able to lift my head. Even if I die, I want to die with dignity!”
“Can you eat dignity? It’s fine if you go, but once the Skystar Martial Academy is no more... our home may be no more as well!”
The young man fell silent. He would insist on his course of action if he had only himself to worry about, but his father was right. Once Li Hao was cut down, then his family might be soon to follow.
Hesitation like this was occurring in all parts of the city.
......
Li Hao didn’t care about any of this. He waited in the large courtyard of the northern city manor. Deputy Zhou looked at him.
“What kind of outcome do you want to see?” the deputy asked after a long moment.
“I want them to come kill me!” Li Hao smiled.
Deputy Zhou nodded. He could see that. The young man wanted nothing more than for everyone to kill him, to force everyone to kill him. Why else would he undertake all of these actions otherwise?
“They waited until the last day last time,” Li Hao laughed. “They might do that again if I didn’t do anything. There’s no need for that! Passively waiting is not my style.”
There was no fear of the nine ministries actually killing him. He had the Windchaser Boots at the ready. The existences in the ruins couldn’t emerge in the world, so what could people do if they wanted to kill him?
The ruins!
They had to lure Li Hao into the ruins if they wanted to kill him through paying the smallest price possible. Utilizing a set of ancient ruins was the only possibility that seemed feasible to the young man, and there happened to be a set that was about to be available!
He was almost worried for the nine ministries, how could they lure him in? How were they to make him lower his guard? He’d thought of everything for them. The only question remaining stymied him as well—how were they to naturally lure him inside?