Chapter 71

Chapter 71

By the time Sheng Zhaoning returned to the Hanlin Academy, three days had passed.

She continued staying at Wenyuan Pavilion to teach the Fifteenth Prince.

She had thought Wei Heng would surely ask about what had happened that day, but he only showed concern for her health. After learning that she felt no discomfort, he considerately asked nothing more.

Sheng Zhaoning was grateful to him.

Wei Heng truly was a good person. If not for the difference in their positions, she would never have done anything to hurt him.

Unfortunately, in this life, she could only remain indebted to him…

In the blink of an eye, another half month passed.

The drought in the north grew increasingly severe. The Yu Sacrifice jointly prepared by the Ministry of Rites and the Court of Imperial Sacrifices would be held at the Temple of Heaven. When the time came, the emperor would personally attend with the civil and military officials to burn incense and pray for rain.

Sheng Zhaoning was also among those summoned.

Early that morning, the officials gathered inside the Circular Mound Altar.

The Imperial Guard stood watch in layer after layer from the inside out. Since this was a grand sacrifice, the outer perimeter of the Temple of Heaven was packed with commoners who had come to watch. Musicians and the ceremonial procession stood on either side of the altar, while the civil and military officials formed two separate lines behind the emperor.

Sheng Zhaoning stood at the very end of the civil officials’ line. Her fair, refined face was especially striking among the assembled officials.

After the ceremony began, the emperor recited the sacrificial prayer. The Crown Prince followed at his side, burning incense and offering worship together with him.

The altar was filled with offerings. On the highest tier stood the memorial tablets of Great Wei’s emperors through the generations, signifying that the ancestors and Heaven above would jointly grant their blessing.

Sheng Zhaoning’s gaze drifted toward the rows of wooden tablets.

Great Wei had lasted more than a dozen generations. Its founding emperor had once been nothing more than a commoner. Relying on a force of only a few hundred men, he had fought step by step to carve out the vast realm that existed today. When he established the dynastic name, he broke from the convention of not using one’s surname as the name of a state and gave the conquered realm the surname “Wei.”

From then on, the Wei Clan became the masters of the realm.

The current emperor had not come by his throne easily either. The Late Emperor had many sons and had delayed naming an Heir Apparent, which directly caused several of the princes beneath him to fight to the death over the position of Heir Apparent.

Prince Zhenbei and the emperor had originally been full brothers born of the same mother. Their birth mother was the Late Emperor’s Imperial Consort, deeply favored by the throne, and Prince Zhenbei himself had repeatedly won military merit along the Northern Border. He had once been the candidate with the greatest hope of seizing the position of Heir Apparent. Yet for some unknown reason, in the end, he chose to give up the struggle and remain at the frontier.

After the emperor ascended the throne, he was quite wary of this younger brother of his, but the two were still far from being at each other’s throats. After all, the reason the emperor had been able to take the throne was because Prince Zhenbei had voluntarily stepped aside.

But later, no one knew what happened. The brothers turned completely against each other.

Prince Zhenbei no longer concealed his ambition. He stationed troops and raised warhorses along the Northern Border, expanding his power rapidly with naked ambition until he became an arrow constantly aimed at the Capital.

The two had clashed for many years, throwing the court and the realm into turmoil and leaving the frontier restless.

Only now had the war that had dragged on at the frontier for more than a decade finally come to an end.

Once Prince Zhenbei returned to the Capital, who knew what kind of bloody storm would unfold next?

“Kneel.”

The Minister of Taichang Temple stood at the edge of the altar and called out loudly to the crowd.

Everyone knelt in unison and kowtowed three times to Heaven and Earth and to Great Wei’s ancestral emperors.

“Kneel again.”

“Third kneeling.”

Sheng Zhaoning followed the others through the motions, performing the grand rite of three kneelings and nine kowtows.

Beyond the altar, the commoners also knelt as one, praying sincerely for Heaven’s protection and for sweet rain to fall soon.

After the prostrations, the Court of Imperial Sacrifices continued presiding over the rites of welcoming the spirits, presenting the offerings, removing the sacrificial food, sending off the spirits, and watching the burnt offerings. By the time the ceremony ended, the entire Yu Sacrifice had lasted more than four hours.

The sun still blazed fiercely in the sky. There was not the slightest hint of rain.

After the emperor finished offering sacrifice to Heaven, Earth, and the ancestors, he began to walk down from the altar. The officials remained waiting on both sides of the path, allowing the emperor to pass first.

Just as the Emperor of Wei had reached the rear of the procession, a sharp arrow suddenly came whistling in from the distance without warning.

The Jinwu Guard stationed on either side of the emperor reacted first, moving swiftly to knock the incoming arrow aside.

“Protect His Majesty!” one of the Jinwu Guard shouted.

The crowd instantly plunged into chaos, people screaming and scattering in every direction.

Sheng Zhaoning stood in the middle of the crowd, her gaze sharp. Almost instinctively, she looked toward the direction the arrow had come from and quickly spotted several suspicious figures along the outer edge of the altar.

She did not know whether they were Prince Zhenbei’s men. She made no sound and did not act. Instead, she merely glanced, without drawing attention, toward the Emperor of Wei, then turned to leave in the opposite direction.

The moment she shifted her foot, a warm hand suddenly caught her by the wrist.

Sheng Zhaoning looked up in surprise and met Wei Heng’s anxious eyes.

“Lord Sheng, hide yourself, quickly!”

Wei Heng pulled her through the restless, panicked crowd, dodging arrows flying in from every direction as they ran straight toward the rear of the Jinwu Guard formation.

Sheng Zhaoning was led along behind him, able to see only his back.

The grip around her wrist was tight, its heat steady and searing. Her gaze fell on the hand clasping her wrist. It was long and slender, clean, with faint blue veins visible across the back.

In that instant, she had no time to think. All she could hear was the biting rush of wind and the pounding of her own heartbeat in her chest.

For the first time in Sheng Zhaoning’s life, someone was protecting her with unwavering resolve.

“Crown Prince, look out!”

A Jinwu Guard beside them shouted, and from the corner of her eye, Sheng Zhaoning caught a flash of cold light shooting straight toward her.

Her expression sharpened. By instinct, she was about to strike the incoming arrow away, but the instant she raised her arm, she forced herself to stop.

No.

Sheng Zhaoning of the Hanlin Academy did not know martial arts.

Seeing the sharp arrow close in, she could not use qinggong to dodge. All she could do was shut her eyes tight and wait for it to pierce her.

The pain she had imagined never came.

A muffled groan sounded beside her ear.

Sheng Zhaoning’s eyes flew open. At some point, Wei Heng had turned back and pulled her into his arms. The arrow had struck his left arm with unerring accuracy, and blood immediately began to gush out.

“Your Highness!” Sheng Zhaoning cried out despite herself.

She held Wei Heng’s arm, rare panic and helplessness filling her eyes.

Around them, the civilians and civil officials fled in all directions, the scene descending into utter disorder.

The Jinwu Guard and the military officials had surrounded the emperor to protect him. Because Wei Heng had gone back to look for Sheng Zhaoning, he had ended up among the civil officials and was not within the protective ring formed by the Jinwu Guard.

The volley of arrows continued for a while longer. Once the arrows were spent, the assassins who had long been lying in ambush around the altar rushed in.

Dozens of men in black emerged at once, each armed with a blade, their target unmistakably the emperor.

Wei Heng’s left arm hurt so badly it had gone numb, and blood had stained half his sleeve red. With one arm around Sheng Zhaoning, he looked toward the Emperor of Wei.

“Quickly! Protect His Majesty!” Wei Heng shouted.

Hearing him, the surrounding Jinwu Guard stopped wasting time entangled with the assassins and moved as one to gather around the emperor.

The nearest assassins saw that the Jinwu Guard no longer intended to keep fighting them, but had united to shield the emperor instead. After exchanging glances, they swiftly changed targets and charged at Wei Heng together.

Sheng Zhaoning’s face changed. She caught Wei Heng’s arm in a backhand grip and dragged him away, ready to run.

In the next instant, a streak of sword light blocked their path.