Chapter 11606 — Watching the Reactions from All Sides

After so many years as a puppet Son of Heaven, it was rare to enjoy a moment in the spotlight like this.

Wonderful!

Wei Zhao gave a soft scoff, but paid no heed to the Son of Heaven of Zhou's accusations. Instead, he asked once more, "Anyone else?"

The whole assembly was struck silent.

The Night Palace contingent wore uniform expressions of contempt.

Things had already come to this pass—the matter was settled beyond any doubt, and no further uproar could possibly be stirred. Would it kill you to show a little sense, admit your guilt, and stop putting on airs here?

Do you really not know how the word 'death' is written?

No one made a sound.

In truth, it was not that the other factions had no wish to leap out.

For the Inner Royal Court to produce an upheaval of this scale was a rare thing, and there was no shortage of those eager to make their presence felt.

Unfortunately, they lacked the Son of Heaven of Zhou's singular advantages.

With six kings present, a high-end game like this was not one that just anyone could elbow their way into. Apart from a figure of the Son of Heaven of Zhou's special standing, anyone else who barged in would only be asking for humiliation.

"Fine, then I won't wait any longer."

Wei Zhao casually snapped his fingers.

The various factions grew all the more baffled.

But the very next moment, their eyelids began to twitch wildly.

A void passage opened, and one after another, figures with auras surging to the heavens stepped slowly out, appearing before the crowd.

Zhan Yingxiong, Black Eagle...

Li Qinghe let out a low chuckle, and at once released his full aura as well, striding forward to stand shoulder to shoulder with Wei Baizhan and the others.

In the end, ten figures stood in a single line, and the intensity of the aura each one released was in no way inferior to Wei Baizhan's.

Wei Zhao said blandly, "Allow me to introduce them—these are the Ten Great Sin Sects of the Sinful Nation."

A deathly stillness fell over the entire assembly.

A deathly stillness fell over the entire Inner Royal Court.

The Son of Heaven of Zhou was dumbstruck, the King of Qi was dumbstruck, the various factions were dumbstruck—even the King of Qin was dumbstruck.

Wei Baizhan alone had been enough to shake the heavens, enough to make every princely estate weigh its position carefully. Had they not banded together, no one today would even have dared to step forward at all.

Only with all the factions joining forces would they have the confidence to utterly suppress Wei Baizhan.

And now? Now there were a full ten madmen, each of them no weaker than Wei Baizhan. How the hell were they supposed to keep playing this game?

Inside the Son of Heaven's palace, the Son of Heaven of Zhou dropped to the floor and sat there sprawled out.

Hou Chuang murmured, his voice failing him: "Since when did the Realm of Sin become this terrifying?"

Though the Realm of Sin was physically cut off from the Inner Royal Court, he still had a fair idea of the general situation inside.

Apart from the legendary Lord of Sin, that demigod powerhouse, the Ten Sins within were certainly no weaklings—but at best they barely scraped the threshold of top-tier royal power. Even if every last one of them charged out, they could not have dealt any real, substantial blow to the Inner Royal Court.

As for the Lord of Sin, he could not come to the Inner Royal Court at all.

After all, even if he wished to come, he would first have to ask those old fossils of the Inner Royal Court whether they agreed.

So how had a whole pack of monsters with off-the-charts combat power suddenly appeared out of nowhere?

The Son of Heaven of Zhou looked at Hou Chuang in horror: "What do we do? What do we do now?"

The script had been perfectly laid out—he had meant to ride on Wei Zhao's shoulders, freeload a wave of prestige for himself, and make his presence felt. And now? Now he had slammed headfirst into a brick wall!

Hou Chuang could not speak for a long while.

He did not know what to do either.

With the Ten Sins standing there, Wei Zhao himself did not even need to lift a finger—they already crushed the entire Inner Royal Court in terms of raw strength.

Any so-called scheme or calculation was, before such absolute power, nothing short of a joke.

"Say something! Say something, damn you! This was all your rotten idea!"

The Son of Heaven of Zhou's terror gave way to fury, and the look he turned on Hou Chuang could not help but carry resentment.

Nothing would have happened at all. He could have sent Wei Zhao a favor afterward, sold him a bit of goodwill, and he might even have used Wei Zhao's momentum to bring the Seven Great Princely Estates to heel.

And now? Now he had not gained the slightest benefit—worse, he might well become the first target Wei Zhao opened fire on.

How the hell was that fair?

A chill ran through Hou Chuang's heart. This time he had indeed miscalculated—but he had won no small merit for the Son of Heaven of Zhou in the past. Was the man really going to dump the whole pot on his head just like that?

Was he himself truly beyond any blame?

Within the Son of Heaven's palace, sovereign and minister eyed each other with suspicion—and the situation of the other factions at this moment was no better.

The great hall of the Prince of Qi's estate was steeped in oppression.

Behind the hanging curtain, the Prince of Qi sat in silence.

The high-ranking members of the various princely estates looked at one another, their faces written all over with complication.

Qi Zhuiyun snorted coldly and cursed, "And to think every last one of you fancied yourselves so shrewd—when all is said and done, not one of you is worth as much as Young Master Qi!"

The crowd could not help but flush to the ears.

Young Master Qi's earlier warning was now a resounding slap across every one of their faces—and naturally, across the face of the King of Qi himself.

Within the whole Qi Estate, the only one who had stood on Young Master Qi's side was Qi Zhuiyun.

Unfortunately, because of the matter with the Rules Institute, Qi Zhuiyun had had a bitter quarrel with the King of Qi, and by now no one in the Qi Estate listened to a word he said.

Now the blowback had come.

There were, of course, those who would not accept it and wanted to seize the chance to argue on the King of Qi's behalf, to score points in his eyes—but looking at the ten towering Sin Sect phantoms of the Night Palace, surging with menace, they finally swallowed their words weakly.

These people were no fools, after all.

It was no longer a question of scoring points with the King of Qi; it was a question of whether, if this matter were mishandled, the King of Qi—indeed, the entire Qi Estate—could even go on existing.

To leap out now and court attention meant that when Wei Zhao came calling to settle accounts, one might well be flung out as a scapegoat.

People who had climbed to this level of cunning would never overestimate the integrity of any superior.

The Qi Estate kept silent, and naturally the other great princely estates dared not make a sound either.

The only hope left to everyone was the Qin Estate.

And in the end, the King of Qin likewise said nothing.

Wei Zhao cleared his throat and said blandly, "I now address the Inner Royal Court: I have taken the Night Palace. Who approves, and who objects?"

No one made a sound.

The entire Inner Royal Court was silent as a cicada in winter.

From the moment the ten Sin Sects appeared together, the outcome of this matter had been nailed down beyond any doubt.

Had Wei Zhao's demands stopped there, everyone would have counted themselves survivors of a catastrophe and congratulated one another.

But the question was—was Wei Zhao really so easy to bargain with?

The six kings, the Son of Heaven of Zhou—they had all scrambled forward to stop him. Would Wei Zhao really be so magnanimous as to let bygones be bygones?