"Hahaha, don't throw accusations of being a traitor on me like that. When did the late emperor issue such a will? How come I, the crown prince, didn't know about it!"
Just then, another voice came from outside the courtyard, and soon, Crown Prince Chen Muyang arrived, accompanied by many guards.
He looked at the Eighth Prince and said, "Eighth Imperial Uncle, regardless of whether this edict is real or fake, you must know that the late Emperor was in the hands of the Jurchens at the time. It's hard to say whether this edict is the late Emperor's will or the Jurchens' will. So, Eighth Imperial Uncle, you'd better not bring this edict out to embarrass yourself!"
Chen Muyang's sudden appearance here was naturally orchestrated by Li Ling, who suspected that the Eighth Prince and the Carefree Prince were colluding with each other.
To prevent the Eighth Prince from resorting to force if things went wrong and then distorting the truth, Li Ling specifically notified Chen Muyang.
Chen Muyang wouldn't let this opportunity to strike at the Eighth Prince slip by, so he 'coincidentally' appeared here.
Upon seeing the Crown Prince suddenly appear, the Eighth Prince had a bad feeling. He frowned and said, "Nephew, whether this will is true or false will be discussed by the important officials in the court. It's not appropriate for you to question it so directly!"
Chen Muyang said directly, "Hehe, didn't this young brother Zhang Junbao just say that the princess really has an arrow wound on her shoulder? All we need to do now is examine it."
As for the princess being of noble birth, I have brought the palace maids with me this time. There shouldn't be any problem finding a room here for them to examine her!
If this princess is fake, then this so-called imperial edict is probably a conspiracy by the Jurchens against our Great Song Dynasty.
"Uncle, if you insist on preventing me from examining the princess's arrow wound, and if uninformed outsiders later conclude that you are colluding with the Jurchens, that would be disastrous!"
Chen Muyang's words, a combination of veiled threats and direct attacks, effectively cornered the Eighth Prince, leaving him no choice but to agree to examine the arrow wound.
With Li Ling's involvement, the situation has changed from the original plot. The carefree king and his group have no idea that the real princess has an arrow wound on her shoulder, so they have no opportunity to prepare. Therefore, once they examine her, all the tricks will be exposed.
Even though the matter of impersonating a princess doesn't directly involve the Eighth Prince now, those in the court who understand the situation can see that he was behind it all. The current emperor won't let him get away with interfering in court affairs in this way.
At this point, the Eighth Prince was in a dilemma, but after weighing the options, he quickly decided to abandon this lightning bolt that was about to be exposed.
He said directly, "Nephew, you are right. This matter concerns the bloodline of our Great Song Dynasty's royal family and cannot be taken lightly. I was overjoyed to hear that the late emperor's bloodline had appeared, and I was somewhat negligent. So let's do as you say and examine this princess!"
As soon as these words were spoken, Lightning, who was pretending to be a princess, changed her expression. She knew that the Eighth Prince was going to sacrifice a pawn to save the king.
"Uncle is indeed wise. Since that's the case, you..."
Just as Chen Muyang was about to instruct the nanny he had brought to check, Lightning, disguised as a princess, suddenly pulled out two swords from under her skirt and flashed to the Eighth Prince, who was only a few steps away from her, placing the swords on the Eighth Prince's body.
"Don't move!" Lightning shouted coldly.
"Whoosh~"
Now everyone knew that the princess in front of them was indeed fake, and a murmur of discussion immediately arose from the crowd.
"All of you, get out of my way!" Lightning, holding the Eighth Prince hostage, slowly retreated, intending to escape first.
"Boom!"
Just then, a tremendous force suddenly came from behind, and Lightning had no time to react before being instantly killed.
The carefree prince stepped out from behind, not even glancing at the corpse of Lightning, and said to the Eighth Prince with feigned concern, "Is Your Highness alright? I never expected that this so-called princess was actually a spy sent by the Jin Kingdom. Fortunately, the truth has now come out, and she has been killed by my own hand!"
Having been held hostage by Lightning, and now that Lightning is dead, the Eighth Prince relaxed and thanked the Carefree Prince, saying, "So it was the Carefree Hermit. Thanks to the Carefree Hermit's amazing skills, I was able to save my life."
"I never imagined that I, who have been so devoted to the cause of the Song Dynasty, would be so misled by treacherous officials and nearly commit a grave mistake. I am truly ashamed! I now beg Your Majesty for forgiveness, and I entrust this matter to you, Sanren!"
Having risen to the position of a prince with considerable power, the Eighth Prince was certainly not lacking in political acumen. Now that the incident had already occurred, the Eighth Prince wanted to take preventative measures before the situation reached the Emperor's ears.
In this way, even if the emperor heard about this matter later and formed his own preconceived notions, it would not cause him much harm.
“Eighth Imperial Uncle, please wait a moment. I also need to see the Emperor. Why don’t we go together?” Chen Muyang, having been the Crown Prince for so long, was no pushover. Naturally, he wanted to go with him. He wanted to put a good word out of this Eighth Prince in front of the Emperor.
Li Ling watched all this with a cold eye. He had no interest in getting involved in court affairs; he was only here to counter the Prince of Xiaoyao. However, when he saw Lightning being killed by the Prince of Xiaoyao, Li Ling's eyes narrowed slightly.
In the original drama, Lightning eventually became Zhang Cuishan's wife, and her original name was 'Yin Susu'. Zhang Cuishan was Xueyan's junior brother, so in a way, he was also his wife's brother.
Now that his brother-in-law's future wife is dead, does that mean his nephew Zhang Wuji is also gone?
"Heh, you're overthinking it." Li Ling shook his head and smiled. Since he transmigrated into Yi Jifeng's body, many things have changed. He only needs to fulfill his grandfather Yi Yun's wish and revitalize Mingjian Manor. He's too lazy to get involved in anything else.
Speaking of which, Lightning, as a disciple of the Carefree King, was mostly wicked and had done many evil deeds. Now that he's dead, so be it.
Let Zhang Cuishan go flirt with other girls. Anyway, he's quite handsome, so he won't have trouble finding a wife. If they have a son later, they can name him Zhang Wuji.
Handsome people were more popular in ancient times. Ha! What a face-obsessed society!
Soon, the Eighth Prince and the Crown Prince left the scene together. The imperial court was what they were really concerned about. As for the martial arts tournament, what was that?
The high-ranking officials of the imperial court never took martial arts practitioners seriously. No matter how high their martial arts skills were, could they defeat an army?
Moreover, the imperial palace has countless secret manuals and various tonics, and there are many experts among the imperial guards. Only a top expert like the Prince of Xiaoyao can make the court officials have some reservations.
For top martial arts masters, numbers are no longer of great significance. That is why the Carefree King was able to obtain the title of "Carefree Hermit".
Zhang Junbao watched all this unfold in astonishment. He never expected that the Carefree King would kill Lightning so decisively. He truly hadn't anticipated that the Carefree King would be so ruthless towards his own disciple.
Given Zhang Junbao's personality, killing his own disciple was simply unthinkable, which made him feel immense contempt for the carefree king.
At that moment, Zhang Junbao coldly shouted at the Prince of Xiaoyao, "Prince of Xiaoyao, you are truly ruthless! You can even kill the disciple you personally trained without any mercy!"
The carefree king remained unfazed, coldly snorting, "Hmph, Zhang Junbao, this recluse is not someone you can slander at will. I have never seen that fake princess."
The Eighth Prince has instructed me to continue presiding over this martial arts tournament. If you continue spouting nonsense, don't blame me for being impolite!
"You're welcome? I'd like to see what kind of impolite method you're using!" Zhang Junbao retorted sharply.
As an upright and promising young martial artist, Zhang Junbao now wanted to teach this vicious and despicable Prince Xiaoyao a lesson. (The rest of the text appears to be unrelated and likely refers to a different character or symbol.)
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