136 Taking Down the Usurpers - Part 1

Blue Wind Imperial Palace, Emperor's Chambers.

Two days ago, when Emperor Cang Wanhe was resting in his chambers, recuperating from having the Soul Devouring Life Binding Parasite removed out of his body, he was suddenly and rudely awoken when his doors suddenly slammed open. And in came a group of people, led by Third Prince Cang Shuo with Burning Heaven Clan Master Fen Duanhun.

"What is the meaning of this!" Bellowed out Emperor Cang Wanhe in anger at Third Prince Cang Shuo. "You unfilial brat, how dare you enter our chamber like this!"

Cang Shuo on the other hand didn't feel intimidated or insulted in the least. He simply looked down on Emperor Cang Wanhe with a condescending smile on his face. "Apologies for the sudden intrusion Royal Father, but I have come here to tell you are unfit to continue your duties as the Emperor and that from now on, I shall be the Emperor of the Blue Wind Empire."

This stunning admission of intent to depose him left Emperor Cang Wanhe speechless and trembling with anger. "How dare you." He said in a quiet, but wrath filled voice.

"HOW DARE YOU!" He then proceeded to yell out in rage.

At that point, Dongfang Xui, Palace Chief of the Blue Wind Profound Palace and the one who had secretly been protecting Emperor Cang Wanhe from the shadows suddenly shows himself, getting in between the Emperor and the Third Prince and his group of coup plotters.

"Third Prince Cang Shuo! Clan Master Fen Duanhun! How dare you commit such an unforgivable crime!" He yelled out in rage and indignation.

Cang Shuo and Fen Duanhun and the rest of their cohorts though, didn't seem perturbed at all. They were actually very relaxed in fact. "Ah, if it isn't the great Palace Chief of Blue Wind Profound Palace Dongfang Xui. How nice to see you, have you come to join us? If you do, I promise you that the Blue Wind Profound Palace will flourish and prosper like never before! It will certainly be infinitely better than it had ever been under my Royal Father's weak rule." Said Cang Shuo in a very relaxed and calm way and extending his hand towards him.

"How dare you extend me such a treasonous proposition! I will never betray my Emperor and my country like this you traitor!" Roared Dongfang Xiu.

"Palace Chief Dongfang Xiu!" Called out Emperor Cang Wanhe grabbing everyone's attention. "We hereby declare the Burning Heaven Clan as a treasonous sect that seeks to overthrow the rightful Emperor and seize power! From this moment forward, they are to be disbanded and their leadership imprisoned and executed for treason! And Third Prince Cang Shuo is to be executed for his crimes of treason and plotting to seize the Imperial throne by ways of force!"

"Yes! Your Majesty!" Acknowledged Dongfang Xiu and immediately, his Profound Energy exploded out of his body to suppress all who were present. With his strength at half-step Emperor Profound Realm, he was by far the strongest present, stronger than even Fen Duanhun, who himself was at level 9 Sky Profound Realm. And so, with everyone unable to stand up to him, he went on to capture Cang Shuo and Fen Duanhun and eliminate the rest of the group.

While Dongfang Xiu did that, Emperor Cang Wanhe reached into his nightstand to take out the sound transmission stone that would allow him to immediately contact Ling Yuefeng, master of the Mighty Heavenly Sword Villa, for help in order to bring down the Burning Heaven Clan and eliminate this threat to the imperial family. But just as he was about to inject his Profound Energy into the sound transmission stone, a hand grabbed him and twisted it until he dropped the sound transmission stone with a strange voice saying. "Sorry your Majesty, but I cannot let you do that."

When Dongfang Xiu heard Emperor Cang Wanhe's scream of pain, he turned around to see this stranger twisting the Emperor's hand. Overcome with rage, he bolted towards him, only to be rebuffed and suppressed easily when this stranger let out his power. A power that Dongfang Xiu had no hope of ever overcoming. This stranger's power was at level 3 Tyrant Profound Realm. A power far beyond anyone's present and beyond anyone's in the entirety of the Blue Wind Empire.

"Ahahahahaha…" Sounded out a haughty laughter of Fen Duanhun who stood in the doorway with no relaxed demeanor. And with a haughty stride, he made his way over to Emperor Cang Wanhe, followed closely by Cang Shuo. When Dongfang Xiu wanted to step in between the two of them, this stranger appeared before him and with a lazy palm strike to his chest, he was immediately defeated and had trouble catching his breath. With Dongfang Xiu defeated and taken away to be imprisoned by Cang Shuo's lackeys, Emperor Cang Wanhe was all alone now.

"Allow me to introduce you to the newest of our Burning Heaven Clan, Fen Chu." Said Fen Duanhun proudly.

"So your Majesty, you have two choices. Either you surrender the throne to Cang Shuo willingly and you can remain alive but under house arrest or die and we will take the throne that way. The choice is yours." Said Fen Duanhun.

Trembling with white hot rage, Emperor Cang Wanhe refused to submit to them, telling them to kill him instead. But instead of doing that, Fen Duanhun had Cang Yue dragged into the room by Fen Juecheng and two other Burning Heaven Clan disciples. Apparently, when they entered the Imperial Palace, Fen Juecheng followed by two disciples and accompanied by Fen Chu made a beeline for Cang Yue. Barging into her room, they made it very clear that they were here to take her away to marry Fen Juecheng and install Cang Shuo on the imperial throne and they told her what the consequences would be if she didn't cooperate with them. Seeing no other choice for now, she very reluctantly complied. And so, with Cang Yue used against him, Emperor Cang Wanhe reluctantly complied. But to make a bad situation worse, they told him and Cang Yue that they are taking her away and that they are posting a guard in the Imperial Palace to watch Cang Wanhe.

Because they knew that Mesa would definitely come for them, they separated them intentionally. Since he could only be in one place at the same time, they set it all up so that when Mesa came for either Cang Yue or Cang Wanhe, they would send a message to each other where Mesa was and kill either Cang Wanhe or Cang Yue, depending on who he came to save first.

And with that, Cang Shuo with the help of the Burning Heaven Clan took over power. And their first decree was to declare Mesa as public enemy number one and put a large bounty on his head for whoever would bring him in, be it alive or dead.

And it is in this mess that Mesa and his clones find themselves in. Two groups of Mesa clones went out to the imperial palace and to the Burning Heaven Clan to rescue both Cang Yue and Cang Wanhe by hitting both places at the same time. A group of about 50 Mesa clones went to the imperial palace to sneakily infiltrate, close of all escape routes and systematically root out all of Cang Shuo's lackeys, capture Cang Shuo and Cang Lin (if he is present) and free Cang Wanhe from his imprisonment. All the while, keeping anyone from sounding any alarms and keeping anyone from sending any message to the Burning Heaven Clan.

As for Cang Yue, only two clones would go to the Burning Heaven Clan. The clone would come in through the front with guns blazing and attract everyone's attention while the real Mesa would sneak in from the back and stealthily rescue Cang Yue while at the same time capturing Fen Juecheng.

Landing around the outskirts of Blue Wind Imperial City spread out across a front stretching a few miles, all of the clones touch down and use the transformation jutsu to disguise themselves. And with the Mind Stone in hand (or on the hand to be precise), they could stay in telepathic contact with one another to make up a plan of attack, coordinate a stealthy approach, adjust the plan if need be and strike with military precision.

So, with all of them disguised, they made a beeline for the imperial palace from all sides. Cang Shuo had taken the throne by force two days earlier and taken the oath of coronation just 24 hours earlier, thus effectively making him the Emperor. The palace was as busy as an ants' nest, with government officials and servants running around trying to take care of all administrative duties and preparing the palace before the official coronation ceremony would take place later that week where Cang Shuo would be crowned the next Emperor of the Blue Wind Empire in front of the eyes of the people. One section of the was completely cordoned off and none where allowed in or out. This was where Cang Wanhe was hostage and below there, in the dungeons, was where Dongfang Xiu was.

It was still morning, around 8 am. Cang Shuo still hadn't woken up and he wouldn't be waking up, not until the early hours of the afternoon at least. After ensuring that every single entrance and exit of the imperial palace was covered, the clones went to work. Using Kamui, they pass through the walls and stealthily make their way through the imperial palace. In order to ensure that the imperial isn't desecrated with possibly innocent blood being spilt, they knocked every guard, every government officials and other administrative staff, every servant, and every other support staff they could find using only the Vulcan nerve pinch when they were alone. And when needed, they would use Conqueror's Haki to knock out groups of guards and such.

Servants that were busy decorating the gardens would get sneaked up by from behind by a clone. And once in striking range, they'd cover up the mouth with their hands to stop them from making any noise and use the Vulcan nerve pinch on them to knock them out. And anyone that they had knocked out, they'd teleport to a place outside the imperial city and restrain and gag them there and make another clone there to watch over them while they returned to the palace. Officials and other administrative staff and guards were all knocked out in the same way or knocked out using Conqueror's Haki when they were in a group of 4 or more.

And like this, people kept disappearing, post were left unguarded, preparation work was left halfway done, paperwork scattered. Though this didn't go unnoticed, no alarm was raised, seeing as how those who saw this were immediately knocked out and taken away. But tension did rise among the staff as more and more kept disappearing and no one knew what was going on or who did it, like they were in some Lovecraftian horror flick. At this point, the entire palace staff started to form groups spread out throughout the palace isolated from one another. Communication was down because every time they tried to send for help outside of the castle, or contact any of the other staff or waking up Cang Shuo, they wouldn't return. And one by one, they would be taken out, giving them only mere moments to see the culprit before losing conscious.

After having isolated everyone in the castle and destroyed any form of communicating, be it to the outside world or inside the castle, that two of the Mesa clones went towards the closed off section of the palace. Cang Wanhe was locked up inside his chamber, not allowed to exit with his meals being brought to him three times a day. In front of his chamber were two disciples of the Burning Heaven Clan. It was their job to immediately send word back to the Burning Heaven Clan if Mesa came to the Imperial Palace and to use Cang Wanhe's life against him and capture Mesa. For them, it was just a normal day. A servant came to bring Cang Wanhe's breakfast to him and left. This servant had been captured the moment she left the restricted zone. Afterwards, two Mesa clones phased the floors and came up inside Cang Wanhe's chamber.

When Cang Wanhe saw those two Mesa clones, his face lit up with a mixture of elation, confusion and dread. And just before he could say a word, one of the clones immediately put his hand on his mouth and stopped him from making a sound. The other clones immediately came up to him with a notepad that had a message written on it.

(Your Majesty, be quiet. Say no word. Make no sound. <turning the page> I know everything that has happened and I will answer your questions later. <turning the page> But do as I say for now in the meantime and I will get you out.)

Reading the message on the notepad, Cang Wanhe nods yes. And with that, the clone that had his hand on his mouth takes it off and Cang Wanhe immediately signals to other clone with the notepad to give him that notepad. Writing furiously on it, he shows them his message.

(WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE! <turning the page and writing furiously again> Those bastards have taken Yue'er with them to the Burning Heaven Clan! <turning the page and writing furiously again> FORGET ABOUT ME! Just leave me here, but get out right now and go save Yue'er and run!)

Taking back the notepad, the clone writes on it and shows Cang Wanhe.

(I know that. That is why the real Mesa is there right now to free her. <turning the page and relaxed writing> Like I said, do as I say for now and I will answer your questions later. <turning the page and relaxed writing> By the end of this day, you will be back in charge, Cang Shuo and those who support him will all be arrested. <turning the page and relaxed writing> And the Burning Heaven Clan will no longer exist.)