Peace Order

Chapter 1788 - 78: Fiery Heart, Insignia of the Red Emperor

Ji Zichang looked at the Imperial Decree, exhaled slightly, and he planned to abdicate the emperor’s position to Prince Qin, Li Guanyi. If so, afterward he could take his wife and children and leave here.

Leave Central State, leave the turbulent center of the world.

Go everywhere and see many landscapes.

His shoulders relaxed, with a sense of tranquility and a feeling that after a lifetime of toil, he could finally ease a bit.

However, the events that followed caught Ji Zichang somewhat off guard—

He did not receive trust and support.

Grand Protector Yan and Ji Yanzhong both showed a slightly unusual expression on their faces.

That expression was bewilderment, disbelief, followed closely by rebuttal.

Although they did not speak, the sense of opposition was so strong and overwhelming.

Such emotion should not have appeared on these two loyal old ministers. Ji Yanzhong was somewhat confused about what to do. He saw with his own eyes the contents of Ji Zichang’s Imperial Decree and glimpsed something.

He wished to obey Ji Zichang’s orders as usual, but this time, his steps could not move—after all, he was born in the line of the Red Emperor, bathed in the glory of the Red Emperor when young.

His life, his experience, his views, and his way of seeing the world have revolved around the old, majestic, brilliant, rotting line of the Red Emperor.

He could assist Li Guanyi.

He could regard Li Guanyi as the pillar of Central State; his experience and journey could also let him see that the future world will surely stabilize, and the Red Emperor’s line will lose the role of common master of the world.

Yet the word "abdicate" remains so glaring.

He almost instinctively produced resistance from deep within his heart.

Grand Protector Yan’s reaction was even more direct and radical, stepping forward half a step, grabbing Ji Zichang’s sleeve urgently, saying: "Your Majesty, what are you doing!? Abdicate the throne to Li Guanyi!?"

The old man was utterly heartbroken, shouting:

"How can you do such an outrageous thing!"

!!!

Ji Zichang looked at him, feeling a momentary stasis of thought.

As if steadily descending the mountain, then suddenly stepping into the void, a sudden sense of weightlessness nearly caused him to become dazed, which resulted in Ji Zichang’s face showing no expression or change, saying: "...Teacher, what do you mean?"

Grand Protector Yan snatched the Imperial Decree from Ji Yanzhong’s hand.

The elderly nobleman, at the peak of Seven Heavens, neither struggled nor resisted.

Thus he had the Imperial Decree taken by a scholar with far inferior martial arts.

Grand Protector Yan stepped back several steps, knelt on the ground, holding the Imperial Decree with both hands, sternly saying:

"Your Majesty, will you entrust our ancestral state and the world to an outsider!?"

"What are you thinking!?"

"Though the Red Emperor’s line is slightly ailing, Your Majesty has already boldly shown the grandeur of a king. With diligent governance, the employment of worthy ministers and capable generals, someday it can flourish again, and then the Unification of the World is not impossible to hope for!?"

"Why, in such a manner, give away the dignity of the Red Emperor’s line to Prince Qin!?"

"Is Your Majesty going to put Prince Qin in a position of disloyalty and dishonor?!"

Ji Zichang said softly: "And Prince Qin is also disloyal and dishonorable?!"

Grand Protector Yan said decisively: "If one is to take away the throne of the Red Emperor’s line, then Prince Qin and Emperor Ying are no different, both—"

"Disloyal and Dishonorable!"

At that moment, Ji Zichang felt a sense of emptiness, felt a sense of detachment as if all the blood in his body was stripped away.

He struggled to the end.

Yet precisely by battling to the end, he realized.

Apparently, there were never real companions and support around him; they were ’a group’."

Grand Protector Yan moved forward:

"Prince Qin is loyal and eventually can support the Red Emperor’s world."

Ji Zichang looked at this truly respectable, virtuous minister, loyal friend and teacher, looked at the silent and guilty mature elder Ji Yanzhong, at that moment, the deviation of the world unfolded before him.

He heard himself asking: "...Then what about this world?"

Grand Protector Yan wiped tears from the corner of his eyes, his voice thunderous, saying: "The Red Emperor’s line, with its long-preserved sovereignty, grand force, has already been imprinted in people’s hearts throughout the world; how could a decade’s brave men just erase it!?"

"You cannot pass the throne; you can rely on Prince Qin’s loyalty, rely on the virtuous people of the world, walk side by side, Your Majesty distances from treacherous ministers and wicked people, and stands by good talents and loyalty, diligently governs, then can turn the state’s peril into safety."

Ji Zichang said softly:

"But now, the world has changed, Jiang Wanxiang’s army presses ahead."

"Where is there still an opportunity for diligent governance?!"

Grand Protector Yan suddenly said: "There is also the princess!"

Ji Zichang said in shock: "What!?"

Grand Protector Yan said: "The princess is also Your Majesty’s offspring, also the bloodline of the Red Emperor, possessing eight hundred years of Red Emperor’s bloodline and heritage. Her offspring, born from marriage, can also have the name and authority of the Red Emperor."

"Change the surname to Ji, return to the old capital, overturn the Qin title, still as the Red Emperor."

"Yes, bloodline and heritage are power."

"They are enduring and continue!"

"It can still recreate the Red Emperor!"

"Eight hundred years incessantly, a thousand years uninterrupted, as long as the Red Emperor’s orthodoxy remains, as long as the blood of the Red Emperor, akin to an Ancient Red Dragon, continues endlessly, passed to future generations, even a thousand years, two thousand years hence, there remains this orthodoxy!"

"It remains the line of the Red Emperor!"

"It remains where justice lies, my line of the Red Emperor."