Chapter 30: Startled Awake on a Deathbed, the Fool Turns Out to Be Me

Xuan Xiao was stunned.

He looked down at the remaining half of the sword hilt in his hand, then at the half-blade lying on the floor, his entire being petrified.

This… this shouldn't be happening, should it?

He had spent fifty taels of silver on this sword, bought from the finest carpentry shop in the west of the city. How could it have snapped just like that?

"Pfft."

Someone couldn't hold it in and let out a laugh.

That single laugh was like a spark hitting a gunpowder barrel. Throughout the ancestral hall, a wave of irrepressible laughter erupted instantly. The eunuchs and palace maids, who had previously been intimidated by Xuan Xiao’s masterful facade, could no longer contain themselves. This was no enlightened master; it was clearly a common charlatan.

Beside them, Yuwen Yue’s face turned the color of a pig’s liver. He felt a burning sensation on his face, as if he had been slapped repeatedly in public, and he wished he could crawl into a crack in the floor. He could never have imagined that the "master" he had painstakingly hand-picked and hired at a great price would turn out to be such an incompetent fraud.

The Empress Dowager’s expression was equally ghastly. She stared coldly at the completely bewildered Xuan Xiao, her gaze as sharp as if she intended to swallow him whole.

"Guards!" she barked.

"Drag this charlatan, who speaks nonsense and deceives his sovereign, out of my sight. Give him eighty strokes of the heavy rod, and throw him outside the city walls to feed the dogs."

Two ferocious-looking guards immediately rushed in, seizing the still-dazed Xuan Xiao by either side and dragging him toward the exit.

"Your Majesty, have mercy!"

Xuan Xiao finally snapped back to reality. Paralyzed with terror, a warm stream surged through his crotch—he had wet himself. "I haven't even shown you my true abilities yet, Empress! Have mercy!"

He struggled and wailed desperately, but no one paid him any mind.

Just as he was about to be dragged out of the hall, Xie Ning’s languid voice rang out once more.

"Wait."

Hearing this, everyone instinctively looked toward him.

Xie Ning walked slowly over to the terrified, collapsed Xuan Xiao and patted his cheek. "Master, don't be in such a hurry to leave. You haven't finished the ritual yet; how can you give up halfway?"

Looking at the playful smile on Xie Ning’s face, Xuan Xiao shivered violently, unable to even speak.

Xie Ning stood up, scanned the room, and finally rested his gaze on the cracked memorial tablet. He sighed and shook his head.

"Sigh, what an embarrassment."

He walked up to the tablet and reached out, gently stroking the jagged crack.

"Actually, this thing isn't all that complicated." Xie Ning turned to the crowd, flashing a confident smile. "Want to restore it to its original state? Simple. I’ll do it."

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire hall fell into a deathly silence once again. Every eye was fixed on Xie Ning. There was suspicion, curiosity, and, more than anything, disdain. Even the true Taoists from Mount Longhu were helpless; what right did this notorious, good-for-nothing heir have to claim otherwise?

Even Li Qingning clenched her fists nervously. Although she had chosen to trust Xie Ning, this bizarre scene was beyond her comprehension.

Xie Ning ignored the gazes of the crowd. He simply closed his eyes and took a deep breath. A second later, he snapped his eyes open.

Those eyes, previously filled with a touch of lethargy, now seemed to contain swirling stars. A vast and pure aura erupted from his body.

"Hum."

Unseen by anyone, a tortoise shell carved with the Innate Bagua diagram began to spin madly within Xie Ning. Golden light flowed endlessly from his palms, pouring into the cracked memorial tablet.

The entire ancestral hall was instantly enveloped in a warm and harmonious aura. The previously gloomy and eerie atmosphere melted away like snow under the sun. Everyone was left speechless by the miraculous sight before them. They watched as the cracked tablet, under the shroud of golden light, began to heal slowly. The jagged fracture shrank at a speed visible to the naked eye until it vanished entirely. It was as if an invisible hand was fusing the shattered wood back together.

This was no longer metaphysics or sorcery. This was a miracle—the true power of an immortal.

The Empress Dowager’s mouth hung open wide enough to fit an egg. She looked at Xie Ning as if she were staring at a monster.

Yuwen Yue’s face went from green to white, then from white to gray, until his legs finally gave way. He collapsed to the floor with a thud, his eyes filled with despair and disbelief.

He had lost. He had lost completely and utterly.

The master he had carefully chosen seemed like a joke in the face of Xie Ning’s divine intervention. A total, colossal joke.

Time passed—perhaps a stick of incense, perhaps only a fleeting moment. When the last shred of golden light merged into the tablet, the shocking crack had completely disappeared. The memorial tablet was restored to its original state, looking even smoother and brighter than before, faintly emitting a warm scent of sandalwood.

The sinister, ominous air that had shrouded the ancestral hall had also vanished into thin air. In its place was a sense of peace that set everyone’s hearts at ease.

Xie Ning slowly withdrew his hand, his face pale and his forehead covered in a fine layer of sweat. Repairing the tablet had been a massive drain on him. This was no simple matter of fixing a piece of wood. The tablet carried a wisp of the Great Qi Emperor’s soul and was connected to the fortune of the entire imperial family. The mastermind behind this had used a vicious "Dragon Nail Curse" to drive an invisible spike into the dragon vein of the Great Qi through a formation, and this tablet was the tip of that spike.

What he had just done was to use the power of the Innate Bagua to forcibly pull out that dragon nail. With the nail gone, the formation naturally collapsed.

Though the process looked effortless and smooth, only Xie Ning knew how perilous it had been. Had he been the slightest bit careless, he would have been consumed by the backlash of the massive dragon vein’s fortune, resulting in the annihilation of his very soul.

Fortunately, he had succeeded.

"Phew..."

Xie Ning let out a long breath, feeling as if his body had been hollowed out. He turned around, looked at the crowd in the hall who were still completely petrified, and grinned.

"Done."

Those two words struck like a thunderbolt in everyone’s ears. Everyone snapped out of their immense shock.

"A... a miracle."

"Heaven bless our Great Qi! Heaven bless our Great Qi!"

The eunuchs, palace maids, and officials from the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs, who were kneeling in the hall, could no longer contain their excitement and awe, and they began to kowtow to Xie Ning one after another. The scene was more devout than any homage paid to an emperor.