My disciples are all villains.

Zhang Yuanren's sudden action caused the entire place to fall silent.

A crack could be seen on the bloodied huge pillar. Blood continued to drip down the pillar to the ground.

Thud!

Zhang Yuanren, whose head was cracked open, fell to the ground with his eyes wide open. When he fell on the ground, it looked as though he was glaring at the heavens.

The commoners broke out in an uproar.

"Lord Zhang!"

"Lord Zhang!"

A row of dozens or so royal guards standing in front of the commoners fell to their knees loudly as they stared at Zhang Yuanren's lifeless body in shock. The loud and dissonant noises from their long halberds hitting the ground rang in the air.

All the civil and military officials wore a shocked expression on their faces.

Zhang Yuanren had really proved his determination and loyalty with his death!

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"Father!" Zhang Jingyuan cried out heart-wrenchingly.

Yu Zhenghai pressed his hand down, subduing Zhang Jingyuan.

The four Grand Dukes were similarly shocked. They really did not expect Zhang Yuanren would kill himself to prove his loyalty and determination. How were they going to appease the commoners now?

Li Yunzheng was nervous. How could it be easy to be a ruler of a country? His teacher had said he had weaknesses a ruler should not have. What should he do now? Should he continue down this path and start a massacre?

Seeing that the situation was getting out of control and the public opinion was one-sided, Si Wuya casually waved his hand.

Wang Yun hurriedly brought out a stack of documents and presented it with both hands.

Si Wuya used his Primal Qi and said in a clear voice, "In the year 306 of Zhenwu, Zhang Yuanren occupied 3,000 acres of fertile land in Longxi, causing poverty and starvation among the people. This is the first evidence. Post it up."

It was as though they had long prepared for this; someone walked out from the back and posted it on the board.

Si Wuya continued to say, "In the year 310 of Zhenwu, there was an earthquake in Jiannan Circuit's Shu district. Zhang Yanchen, Zhang Yuanren's second son, embezzled hundreds of thousands of gold from the funds for disaster relief. Post it up."

"..."

"In the year 320 of Zhenwu, Zhang Bo led 30,000 men to the north and was defeated. In order to save his own life, he abandoned the border and fled south. This allowed 100,000 men from the foreign tribes to cross Wei River and Great Tang. Post it up."

This series of actions stunned Li Yunzheng. When were all these things prepared? How did his teacher do it?

The civil and military officials were stunned as well.

Meanwhile, Lu Zhou nodded his head in satisfaction. If he were to deal with the matter, he would have just killed all of them with a palm strike. Everyone would, naturally, submit, but they would lose the hearts of the people. Moreover, those who were forced to submit might even stab them in the back.

Si Wuya's move did not require him to personally kill the enemy. However, those who needed to be killed still died.

Li Yunzheng really felt like applauding his teacher at this moment. However, taking into account his image as the ruler of the country, he suppressed his desire to applaud his teacher. As it turned out, his teacher was not having a hard time dealing with Zhang Yuanren at all. His teacher had deliberately provoked Zhang Yuanren and slowly lured Zhang Yuanren to his death. His teacher waited until Zhang Yuanren died before listing out Zhang Yuanren's crimes one after another. With this, Zhang Yuanren did not prove his loyalty or determination with death. Instead, it looked as though Zhang Yuanren had committed suicide out of guilt.

How wonderful!

As expected of his teacher.

After Si Wuya listed out Zhang Yuanren and the Zhang family's crimes, he continued to say in a clear voice, "Zhang Yuanren knew that he had committed a grave sin so he committed suicide out of fear in front of the emperor."

The commoners looked at the evidence that was posted up on the board.

All of a sudden, someone in the sea of people cursed, "So he's a b*stard thief?!"

Another person joined in and began to curse as well. "Is this kind of person worthy of our support? He's too despicable! I really want to use my Dragonsong to stab him!"

A man asked in confusion, "How did you bring the sword into the palace?"

"That's right... Why do I have a sword? H-how terrifying! Was he trying to frame us? Don't tell me he wanted to borrow His Majesty's hand to silence us?"

The commoners took a few steps back one after another. Then, all of them fell to their knees with a thud and began to beg for mercy.

Si Wuya nodded before he turned to look at Li Yunzheng meaningfully.

Li Yunzheng rose to his feet and spread his arms as he said, "Rise! You're my people, my flesh and blood. Isn't it like hurting myself if I hurt you? Rise!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty. Your Majesty is merciful!" someone in the crowd shouted.

With this, the other commoners began to join in as well.

Lu Zhou frowned slightly. 'Isn't this guy overdoing it?'

At this moment, someone dove from the sky above the Political Announcement Hall.

The sky lit up and a buzzing noise rang in the air.

Si Wuya said, "The civil and military officials are not allowed to retreat. Stay and protect the commoners!"

How preposterous! The civil and military officials ran faster than everyone else and retreated behind the royal guards as soon as that person flew over.

"These b*stards... They're indeed wicked people! It's His Majesty who loves the common folks!"

The commoners ran towards the steps of the hall.

The situation was clear to Li Yunzheng. He said to Si Wuya, "Thank you, Teacher."

Si Wuya nodded and smiled.

Li Yunzheng thought the person would fly to Si Wuya and let himself be captured. At that time, today's matter would be over. However, he did not expect that person to fly past Si Wuya and make his way toward him instead!

"Useless emperor, I'm going to take your life!"

Swoosh!

The assassin flew horizontally as an energy sword with black runes around it shot toward Li Yunzheng!

Si Wuya frowned. No matter how intelligent one was, there would always be things that one could not predict. He had long expected for something to go wrong somewhere, hence, he had invited his master over. As expected, something had gone wrong. Fortunately, this was all within his prediction.

Li Yunzheng's eyes widened. It felt as though his heart was in his throat at this moment.

The energy sword was about to pierce Li Yunzheng's glabella when Lu Zhou's wizened figure flashed and appeared in front of Li Yunzheng. He raised his hand indifferently and caught the black energy sword between his index and middle finger that shone with a faint blue light. All he needed was little supreme mystic power to catch the sword. In fact, there was no need for him to use the supreme mystic power. With the power from the Thousand Realms Whirling alone, he could easily deal with the black energy sword. However, how could he let go of such a good opportunity to test the supreme mystic power?

At this moment, it was as though everything and everyone had frozen over.

On the left, right, front, and back, the palace experts and the royal guards could sense the assassin's dangerous aura.

The assassin glared at Lu Zhou and said in a deep voice, "Get out of my way." Then, he tried to twist the energy sword to force Lu Zhou away with the offensive force of the black runes. Alas, Lu Zhou's fingers and hand were not shaken at all.

Lu Zhou said indifferently, "How dare a mere Nine-leaf cultivator act so impudently?!"

Lu Zhou exerted a little pressure with his fingers…

The energy sword covered with black runes broke immediately.

Following that, Lu Zhou struck with his palm. However, he did not use the supreme mystic power.

Bang!

A huge Great Vajra Wheel palm seal shot out and hit the assassin's chest. He felt as though his internal organs had ruptured and his bones had shattered from the force of the palm seal.

Lu Zhou pointed with two fingers before the top of the steps was filled with countless energy swords.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

They shot toward the assassin and pierced his body.

Thud!

Just like that, the assassin fell to the ground.

When Wang Yun saw the assassin's face, he cried out in surprise. "Zhang Yong?!"

At this moment, a young man holding a sword in the crowd cried out, "Goodness, my eyes have been opened today. These people are really shameless!"

At this point, unless they were not sound of mind, how could the common people not understand what was going on?

"It's Zhang Yong?'

"Zhang Yong wants to assassinate the emperor?"

Is it really Zhang Yong? Zhang Yong wants to assassinate the Emperor? !"

At this moment, Li Yunzheng recalled Si Wuya's words. As a ruler, one should not be indecisive. Hence, he shouted, "Pass down my decree. Capture all the members of the Zhang family."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Lu Tianning, the Grand Duke of Hu walked down the steps and pointed at the royal guards nearby. "Why are you standing there? Follow me?"

The royal guards did not move.

This was within Si Wuya's expectations as well.

At this moment, Lu Zhou's ears twitched slightly. The supreme mystic power converged around his ears, and in just an instant, his range of hearing covered the entire area around the Political Announcement Hall.

...

A few miles east of the Political Announcement Hall, in the Supreme Heaven Palace near the entrance of the royal palace, a person sat on a chair, leisurely eating fruits as he said, "I didn't expect the little emperor to be so capable. Forget it. I've lost today's game of chess. I'll continue playing another day..."

"Lord Xiahou, what about the royal guards?"

"Leave a number of them for the little emperor to order around. The royal guards are still my people. He has the support of a Thousand Realms Whirling expert so it's wise to engage in a direct fight today. I didn't expect them to not start a massacre. Let's go."

Just as they were about to leave...

Buzz!

A 450-foot Thousand Realms Whirling avatar appeared in the sky above the Political Announcement Hall.

The huge astrolabe unique to the Thousand Realms Whirling avatars made everyone present feel unable to breathe.

The thousands of commoners, the royal guards, the civil and military officials, and the members of the Zhang family looked up at the Thousand Realms Whirling avatar in a daze.

"This is..."

"T-th... T-thousand Realms Whirling?!"

"So Yu Chenshu was really killed by a Thousand Realms Whirling expert?!"

Some people were puzzled by Lu Zhou's sudden move. He had already won the game of chess. Why did he manifest his Thousand Realms Whirling avatar? To show off?

The atmosphere was stifling and heavy, causing everyone to feel suffocated.

The entire outside of the Political Announcement Hall was cast with the light from the lotus.

In the crowd, Jiang Aijian said again, "Senior Lu, you're the manifestation of divine power!"

The commoners wore frightened expressions on their faces.

Upon seeing this, Si Wuya rolled his eyes and said in a clear voice, "Don't worry. If he wanted to kill all of you, he would've killed all of you long ago. Why would he wait until now?"

Indeed. Was there a need for such an expert to wait before making a move? If he wanted to kill them, they would have died a long time back.

At this moment, Lu Zhou's voice rang clearly in the air. "There's an assassin. I'll be right back!"

Everyone was relieved. As expected, he was not targeting the common people.

The common people were not cultivators so they did not care if the lotus was golden or red. All of them kneeled on the ground reverently.

"Ding! Worshiped by 3,680 people. Reward: 3,680 merit points."

Li Yunzheng said, "Everyone, don't worry! I will never point my knife at innocent people."

Buzz!

The sound of energy resonating rang in the air.

In just a blink of an eye, the Thousand Realms Whirling avatar appeared in front of the Supreme Heaven Palace, looking down at a dazed Xiahou Sheng.

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Lu Zhou said indifferently, "Xiahou Sheng."

"You... You... How did you know I'm here?"

The most dangerous place was the safest place, after all.

Xia Housheng had been hiding in the Supreme Heaven Palace all this time.

"Surrender now!"