Chapter 384: The Northern King

Chapter 384: The Northern King (1/2)

Yan Kingdom, Wancheng.

Wancheng is the city at the northern border of Yan Kingdom.

The one stationed in Wancheng is the Northern King of Yan Kingdom, Cao Wanqi.

The Northern King is an hereditary title in Yan Kingdom, and Cao Wanqi inherited the throne from her ancestors.

At this time, the news of the major changes in the Great Yan Imperial Palace had not yet reached this northern border city.

Inside the Northern King's residence,

Cao Wanqi was wiping her personal spiritual sword in the courtyard, while her niece, Wei Ruoshu, was painting on the side.

Just then, a woman dressed in a green long dress landed in the courtyard.

When Wei Ruoshu saw this figure, her eyes lit up, immediately putting down the paintbrush in her hand and greeted, "Sister Qian, why did you come to the northern border?"

Song Qian smiled faintly, "I came specially to see you."

Wei Ruoshu is the granddaughter of Wei Xinlan. Both her parents died at the hands of Wei Xinlan. If it weren't for the protection of the Northern King's residence, she wouldn't have survived.

Three years ago, Wei Ruoshu followed the Northern King to the capital for an official duty report. One day, while Wei Ruoshu was playing outside the residence alone, she happened to encounter two cultivators fighting. The aftermath of their magical powers rushed towards Wei Ruoshu.

At that time, Wei Ruoshu was only fifteen years old and had no cultivation. If she were hit, she would undoubtedly die on the spot.

Fortunately, Song Qian happened to be nearby and saved her.

It was this incident that allowed the two women to form a bond.

"In addition, I have some important news to tell you," Song Qian said.

As she spoke, her gaze turned to the Northern King standing nearby.

The previous Northern King, Cao Yuan, had no sons, only two daughters. The elder daughter, Cao Wan'an, married the Xiwang (Western King) and gave birth to Wei Ruoshu. Later, Xiwang was accused of plotting treason and was ordered by Wei Xinlan to be investigated and executed.

In order to prove his innocence, Xiwang self-immolated in the residence, and Cao Wan'an followed him in death.

After the deaths of Xiwang and his wife, Cao Yuan stepped forward and saved the life of his granddaughter, Wei Ruoshu.

After Cao Yuan's death, his second daughter, Cao Wanqi, inherited the throne.

At this moment, Cao Wanqi put down the spiritual sword in her hand and looked at Song Qian, asking, "Is there trouble in the capital?"

"Yes," Song Qian nodded, "And it's a major event."

Cao Wanqi smiled, "No matter how big it is, it has little to do with our remote northern border city unless..."

She paused for a moment, seeming to guess something but not daring to say it.

"Just today," Song Qian continued, "the Great Yan Imperial Palace was destroyed, and not a single living soul survived, including Empress Tianxin."

After Wei Xinlan ascended the throne, she gave herself the title of "Tianxin," so she was also known as Empress Tianxin.

Upon hearing this, both Cao Wanqi and Wei Ruoshu showed extremely surprised expressions.

After a moment of recovery, Cao Wanqi asked, "Who did it?"

"I don't know," Song Qian shook her head, "The other party never appeared from beginning to end. We could only see that, in an instant, the entire Great Yan Imperial Palace became ruins, and everyone inside the palace died instantly."

Cao Wanqi said, "Empress had profound cultivation. Looking across the entire Xuanwin Continent, in both the immortal and demonic realms, there aren't many who could kill her. Could it be that the demonic woman came out of seclusion ahead of time?"

Cao Wanqi instinctively thought of Qin Xuexi, the Demon Lord of Xuanyuan Abyss.

After all, Qin Xuexi had a precedent for such matters. During the siege of Luocheng years ago, she slaughtered all living beings in the Luocheng Imperial Palace.

"Which demonic woman?" Wei Ruoshu, who was on the side, asked.

Cao Wanqi smirked, "Who else could it be, Qin Xuexi, the Demon Lord of Xuanyuan Abyss."

"It's probably not the work of that demonic woman. I've learned quite a bit about her deeds," Song Qian said, "She tends to be more high-profile. Before slaughtering the Luocheng Imperial Palace, she first had her subordinates besiege the city for several days, creating fear throughout the city. It seemed like she wanted to announce to the world that she, the Demon Lord of Xuanyuan, was about to unleash a massacre in Luocheng."

"For this demonic woman, killing is probably not to achieve a specific goal. She just enjoys the process," Song Qian said.

"But in the case of the massacre at the Great Yan Imperial Palace, the perpetrator acted very decisively, and there has been no appearance. It seems very different from the style of that demonic woman."

Song Qian was born not long before Qin Xuexi went into seclusion. Everything she knew about Qin Xuexi was learned from books or from others' accounts.

After Qin Xuexi went into seclusion, many books related to her appeared on the market, using her as a headline. Before her seclusion, these writers dared not write extensively about her, but once they heard that she was going to be in seclusion for a hundred years, they began to publish extensively.

Titles like "Biography of Qin Xuexi," "Wild Stories of Qin Xuexi," "Analyzing how Qin Xuexi's wicked personality was developed," "From an ignorant young girl to a murderous female demon," "Qin Xuexi's unknown secrets," suddenly emerged overnight.

Having read these books and heard many rumors, under the influence of these stories, Qin Xuexi became an unforgivable female demon in Song Qian's mind.

Of course, Song Qian would never have thought that such a notorious female demon would be her birth mother.

"Who could it be then?" Cao Wanqi asked.

"It's hard to know," Song Qian said, "But at the moment, there's something more urgent that we need to discuss, related to the future of the Great Yan throne."

Cao Wanqi's brow furrowed slightly, "Are you talking about the matter of inheriting the Great Yan throne?"

"Yes!" Song Qian nodded, "That's why I rushed here immediately. Empress Tianxin did not name an heir during her lifetime, and she had no offspring. I'm afraid that the Great Yan Kingdom will soon be plunged into internal struggles for the throne among various forces."

"At this time, only the Northern King leading the army and Princess Anruo entering the capital together can stabilize the situation to prevent chaos and widespread suffering."

"Anruo" is the title of the princess given to Wei Ruoshu.

Cao Wanqi immediately understood Song Qian's purpose today. She looked at Wei Ruoshu, who looked innocent and naive, and said

, "Song Clan Leader, are you suggesting that my Northern King's residence support Princess Anruo as the new empress of Great Yan?"

For many years, almost all the male heirs of the Wei imperial family had been killed off by Wei Xinlan for various reasons.

The only surviving male line was the Fenyuan King, Wei Yule.

In fact, back then, Wei Xinlan wanted to find an excuse to kill Wei Yule and all the male members of his residence, but the Boundless One stopped her from doing so.

Now, the most likely candidates to inherit the Great Yan throne were Fenyuan King Wei Yule and Wei Ruoshu, backed by the Northern King's residence.

Since the Fenyuan King's residence and the Shangguan family were in-laws, if the Fenyuan King ascended, only the Shangguan family would benefit, and it would not benefit the Song family in Longyang, so Song Qian chose to support the latter.