Heroism meets heroism.
As for the autumn hunt...
Li Guanyi turned his back to the broken cliff, raised his hand, and let the Divine Weapon dissipate into light.
The Divine Deer leapt from the cliff, its posture magnificent. Two arrows aimed at the deer in midair, but suddenly a burst of flame exploded into the sky, and the small waterfall seemed to boil over!
Wild flames nearly soared towards the sky.
White steam rose upwards.
Forming a bridge, it spanned the broken edges of the cliff!
The two arrows melted away, the deer was unscathed by them, yet let out a tragic cry, devoid of life, not felled by arrows, but slain by an Exotic Beast.
The Exotic Beast, cloaked in red Scale Armor, a horned head like Dragon Horns, stepped on flames, traversed the steam bridge formed by the burning waterfall, each step resonating with a sense of deadly intent.
With a shake of its head, the magnificent Divine Deer fell by Li Guanyi’s side.
The Exotic Beast stood behind Marquis Qin Wu.
Its originally gold-red pupils fully turned golden, when it opened its mouth, a terrifying maelstrom like magma was faintly visible in its throat, its breath exhaling white mist.
Chen Dingye and Jiang Wanxiang fell silent, looking at the Divine Deer at Li Guanyi’s feet and the Fire Qilin behind him. Li Guanyi reached out to stroke the Qilin, eyeing the slain seventeen branch leaders of the royal clan, those ’elders’ who treated the current Red Emperor as a puppet, a plaything.
Li Guanyi said: "What a truly wretched creature."
Li Guanyi held the deer, and the guards rode away, holding the scarlet Qilin Cloud Pattern Battle Banner symbolizing Li Guanyi, sped away, shouting: "Marquis Qin Wu, opens the Household Same as Three Ministers, Heavenly Strategy General Li Guanyi has hunted the Divine Deer!"
"Marquis Qin Wu, opens the Household Same as Three Ministers!"
"Heavenly Strategy General!"
"Li Guanyi, hunted the Divine Deer!"
With such three shouts, Ji Zichang relaxed, a hint of exhausted yet helplessly self-mocking smile on his face.
Even if he regarded Li Guanyi as his closest friend, his friend’s rise nonetheless trampled upon the Red Emperor and his own dignity to step into the world.
Even though Ji Zichang was known for his broad-mindedness.
Deep within, he felt uncomfortable.
Amidst the crowd encircling Li Guanyi, Chen Dingye and Jiang Wanxiang arrived, while a pale-faced member of the royal family stumbled forward, wailing: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, this traitor has killed, has killed our ancestors, our uncles..."
Ji Zichang was initially shocked, then a glimmer of satisfaction flickered in his heart.
Li Guanyi stood in front of Ji Zichang, saying: "This deer is indeed a wretched creature, born with such grandeur, yet with two large, sharp antlers like those of Marquis Zhao, Marquis Wu, and seventeen others who unfortunately were gored to death by these antlers."
Saying that seventeen warriors of the Third Layer Heaven were killed by a deer’s antlers?!
Who would believe such a thing?
The members of the royal family, unwilling, shouted: "What are you..." But before the words fell, they saw Jiang Wanxiang smile, and the Great Emperor of Ying Country exclaimed with satisfaction: "Marquis Qin Wu is right, indeed killed by the deer’s antlers."
Chen Dingye said: "Indeed so."
Thus, the remaining thousand people, including children of influential families and royal clan members, all lowered their heads, acknowledging Li Guanyi’s words as true, even expressing gratitude to Marquis Qin Wu for killing the deer and avenging the seventeen men.
The royal family member’s face was rigid, observing Marquis Qin Wu standing there, thousands of banners waving behind, the Qilin pacing beside him, he felt as though the sky was falling, yet, in this public courtyard, with seventeen royal elders slain, a single sentence resolved it?
At that moment, including Ji Zichang, Gao Yingju, and the young generation from both influential families and royal clan, finally understood the meaning of great momentum and what he meant when he said, "I am the great momentum."
This was the rise of the hidden dragon...
Even if such words were clearly false, no one dared to contest it.
Ji Zichang sighed inwardly.
Then he saw Li Guanyi raise his hand, grasping the Divine Deer, and with both hands, lifted the Divine Deer, placing it before Ji Zichang, who was startled, watching pharmacist Li smiling at him, saying: "Today, by fortune, I hunted this deer."
"Autumn hunt of the Emperor, peace across the Four Seas."
"It must be offered to Your Majesty!"
Ji Zichang paused in surprise, recalling the first meeting when this fellow took his fruit wine, promising to give him a gift.
Ji Zichang chuckled, hesitated a moment, then suddenly burst into laughter.
The Emperor’s final autumn hunt, thus preserving the last bit of dignity, Li Guanyi was unlike those others, this ’powerful minister’ provided Ji Zichang and the lineage of the Red Emperor a final shred of face before rising to power.
On this day, the Emperor hunted the deer!
Thus, there was a grand banquet for all the marquises, families, and officials, with rewards for all.
On the fifth day of the seventh month, autumn, in the eleventh year of Tianqi, the autumn hunt concluded, peace across the Four Seas, granaries were full, academies discussed the Tao, martial world compared swords, indescribable elegance across the land, the empire with no wars, celebrating year after year, day by day in harmony, the Emperor feasted the officials, all in high spirits.
Ying Country attacked Chen.