DESPAIR TO SALVATION

As the verdict condemning the Blueflame Empress and the Fourth Prince was passed by the Crowned Prince. The whole hall was quiet and everyone was for their own sake and the welfare of their clans was unable to speak against it.

It seemed the end had come for the mother-and-son duo. Clearly, there was no one to speak for them. Not even the former subjects of the defunct Blue Flame Empire.

Of course, the remnant authority and power of that Empire are the ones being accused; she appears unable to defend herself and her only child. Who would risk their own lives and that of their loved ones to defend what is already doomed?

As the Blue Flame Empress stood in chains and secretly healed herself and wear out the seal placed on her. She was desperately trying to regain some fighting lower to make one last move.

She intends to save herself and her son, if that fails then she would force herself to self-detonate and take half the court with her. She might even be able to take the Emperor with her or at least leave some permanent damage on him.

That was why she paid no heed to all the blabbering by both father and son earlier. She was, unfortunately, able to remove ten per cent of the seal on her cultivation.

She was about eighty per cent healed, as a Sword Emperor her constitution was very solid and vibrant. Unless it was an attack on her soul she would quickly recover.

Earlier the Shadow Flame General and the Eunuch had suffered severe damage to their soul force as she wealth with them using her Blue Flame. So they were unable to recover fully before the heavenly tribulation finished them off.

Their Blood should have caught fire and burned for a thousand years had they been slain under normal circumstances. But the heavenly tribulation had consumed all their life force and vitality.

As she now knew she was out of time she opened her eyes and stare at the Crown Prince and shouted. "What imprudence!!!!!!"

The power behind her words and the pressure exerted forced the Crown Prince to her knees. The Emperor released an equal amount of pressure to lift the Crown Prince back to his feet.

He was pale and shivering slightly as he wobbled slightly and found his seat to plump into looking dejected and embarrassed. After he was just a peak late Spirit Realm Cultivator.

He couldn't have done anything against the pressure of suppression from an early mid-level Sword Emperor. Thanks to the Emperor's intervention he was able to suppress the blood that was about to fly out of his throat.

He swallowed it back down and sat on his seat with anger and humiliation evident in his glare.

"Hei Long, you are indeed a despicable and treacherous bastard!!! To think you have the guys to accuse me of treason?!!" the Bluflame Empress spat St the Emperor.

This caused an uproar within the large hall and most of the ministers and Officials stood up in utter shock. There were rebukes and indignant ranting among those present.

The Eunuch beside the Emperor roared," What insolence, what imprudence, a Consort spewing insults and curses against the son of heaven??!!! "

He was truly angered and the shrillness that usually accompanies his voice was gone. He had lost control of his emotions, something that rarely happens.

"What is happening today, even the deadpan-faced Eunuch has lost control of his emotions?" the outrage shocked all and sundry that witnessed it.

Even with his Position as the Emperiql Chief Eunuch, this man always had an amiable disposition. No matter the situation, he always bows slightly and carries himself in a subservient manner.

Yet today he is roaring and growling. First, the Emperor displayed excitement which is a very rare occurrence. Now his Eunuch is displaying anger.

The Emperor sat down unmoved yet the temperature of the whole hall dropped drastically and the dew began to gather and dumped the outer garments of the people around.

There was a chill that drills. Straight to the bones emanating from him. This lasted for a few minutes and disappeared as easily as it had appeared. The Emperor had reigned his emotions under control.

The Empress didn't seem to notice all these outbursts and changes in the atmosphere as she continued to berate the Emperor with wild abandon and blatant disregard.

" You are the master of treachery and rebellion himself. Betraying your friend whom you had even called brother and took over his Empire. Destroying his forces after they had surrendered to you" She paused with her chest rising and falling in anger.

"Forcing me to marry you and under the pretence of consulting the marriage; you used a dual cultivation technique to stimulate my blood essence and potential to reap my latent talent and bloodline blessing".

The Fourth Prince was bewildered," how come I have never heard of any of this?" he asked ." Mother, mother, mother!!!"

Most of the ministers and officials know of this, but as to the harvesting of the Emprese's latent talent and bloodline blessing, this was the first time most are hearing of it.

But despite their shock, there was nothing they could do about it. They couldn't even comment on it. Now most of the tension of the past twenty years between this husband and wife was explained.

"Yet you stand there to posture in front of this Empress and talk of treason and betrayal?" the BleuFlame Empress continued with anger evident in her voice.

She turned to his son and smile at him, "Your father's greed knows no end, he only made his move against my BlueFlame Palace because you have shocked the world with your talent".

"He intends to....." before she could finish her sentence there was a loud boom as the Emperor directly struck the Empress and he did not hold anything back.

The palm strike shattered the steel cage and the empress was blown flying out before landing on the ground and taking several steps back to stabilize herself. Even the solu locking chains had several web-like fractures all over their surface.

Luckily for the BlueFlame Empress, the chains absorbed part of the power of the palm strike. If not she would have suffered grievous injuries. She stood up and omitted a mouthful of blackened blood.

The Emperor didn't follow up on his attack, this gave her a bit of a breathing space. She was a bit panicky when the attack arrived suddenly without any warning. She hadn't expected the Mighty Emperor to be shameless to that extent.

Seeing the result of his attack had rather broken the cage; which in itself was a suppressing treasure and the Soul locking chains the Emperor harumphed and waved his hand.

The Eunuch gestured also and a legion of soldiers walked in with another cage and a large roll of Soul-locking chains with sword-like hooks at the end of it. These were the Imperial Prison Guards.

They take care of all prisoners the Emperor wishes to keep captive, their soul-locking chain was a grade higher than the previous one used. This is shot into the prisoner's tendons and vital points and hooked to their born.

It is capable of torturing the prisoner day and night and slowly consumes the captive's cultivation and life force until they become a dry husk of bones and skin. This punishment was indeed worse than outright execution.

One could imagine the intent behind the Crown Prince's request for this to be the punishment his younger brother and the Consort to be subjected to.

As the Prison guards marched into the hall carrying their soul-locking chains that had black runes flickering and moving all over their surface. Everyone present couldn't help but shudder with apprehension and a primal fear coming from their soul.

The Blue Flame Empress's countenance became icy cold as she watched the take up their battle and restriction formation. The prisoner they were here to take away was restrained yet, they took no chances.

This we're the elites of the elites, trained to be ruthless no matter who they must capture. They are always vigilant and never underestimate anyone. This was why despite their prison being in chains; we were still prepared to go all out in preparation for any unforeseen circumstances.

Their leader only known as the Prison Guard General walked as bowed to the Emperor and then to the Empress. No matter what she is the Emperor's Consort and therefore he dare not be disrespectful.

Nonetheless, that wouldn't prevent him from undertaking his responsibility. Despite the show of respect, if the Empress resists he wouldn't hesitate to fight her.

She is his prisoner and only death would prevent him from taking her away or the Emperor's decree for him to step down. He approached the chained Blue Flame Empress cautiously. He was a peak lever Sword Sovereign realm cultivator.

As he was approaching the Blue Flame Empress, his subordinate and a deputy had already surrounded the Fourth Prince; who remained to kneel all this while. There was confusion on his face.

Some words were spoken by his mother that were shocking and foreign to him. He was confused and no one would answer him. This left him even more dejected. All his life he had admired his father and mother the most.

Yet he was seeing a different chapter that crushed his whole worldview. His beloved mother had never shown any disdain towards his father in front of him and the father never seemed to care much for his mother.

But he had believed it was normal for a woman to be jealous and an Emperor with many consorts and concubines not to be infatuated or care much about only one person. Perhaps the mother was not the father's favourite woman.

This was his belief the few times he felt tension between these two. Who would have thought he was just an ignorant fool who didn't know anything? He was dejected and felt betrayed by both of them.

At this point, the Prison Guard General was only ten feet away from the Blue Flame Empress, when the was a vast outburst of power that shattered the soul-locking chains that held her bound.