Chapter 36: The Scapegoat Princess Is Sentenced to Death (36)

Ding Shui initially had two different plans. The first was to temporarily possess Emperor Tianwu and, while assuming his identity, expose the crimes of his son, Prince Lu, to the world. She would then have the prince executed by slow slicing and return the body to the Emperor. Even as an emperor, he would be unable to restore a son reduced to thousands of pieces of flesh.

The second plan was to act herself, under the banner of "Heaven’s justice is clear and retribution is certain." Using her psychic power, she would create an illusion of the prince being torn to shreds by his victims, while in reality, she would simply use her Super Synthesis System to merge him with random objects until he died. She intended to broadcast the entire process to the whole capital using her psychic power.

Overall, the first method was relatively simple, while the latter was more complex and drained more psychic energy. Yet, no matter how much Ding Shui pondered it, she felt the first method was far too lenient on Emperor Tianwu. Even if she were the one controlling his body to carry out those actions, and even if the Emperor himself might not have been willing, the common people would perceive it as the Emperor suddenly finding his conscience and choosing righteousness over family. His reputation among the populace would soar, and history books would look upon him more favorably—provided, of course, that the dynasty did not fall. Wang Mang had also killed his own sons, more than one in fact, but because his dynasty collapsed, his reputation remained abysmal. Since Emperor Tianwu was also on the list of targets for revenge on behalf of the original host, Ding Shui decided to abandon the idea of playing into his hands, preferring the extra effort of the second plan.

She decided to proceed with the second plan, though she had to wait for the right moment. She realized that in three days, the dynasty would hold the Mengchun Grain Prayer Ceremony. The imperial court held three great rites to Heaven each year: the Winter Solstice, the Spring Grain Prayer, and the Summer Rain Prayer. Three days later was the scheduled date for the Spring Grain Prayer. The impact of causing a scene on such a significant day would be far greater than on an ordinary day, or even a day when the Emperor failed to hold court. On such an important occasion, Emperor Tianwu would likely not be absent as he had been for the past month. If he appeared looking much heavier, it could be explained away as weight gained during his recent convalescence. Even if he failed to appear, the ritual would not be canceled; at most, the Crown Prince would stand in for him.

The spectacle would still be grand, and it would not hinder Ding Shui from delivering divine retribution. Over the next three days, she focused on preparations: stocking her synthesis storage space with items and accumulating psychic energy to ensure she could broadcast the event to the entire capital when the time came to kill Prince Lu.

During these three days, Prince Lu was subjected to the examinations of monks and Taoists, yet he constantly tried to send a message, hoping to reveal that it was the late Princess Lu who was tormenting him and that his current state was likely related to her. It was futile, however, because Ding Shui was constantly watching him. On the journey back to the capital, as she began to torment his soul, he had tried to remain calm and use his hands—now transformed into pig trotters—to write a message to Dong Huaide and the others, pointing to the Princess as the source of the trouble. He was not a fool; he knew that if a dead wife were haunting his soul, she was undoubtedly the key.

But how could Ding Shui allow such a loophole? Whenever he tried to communicate, she would simply strike him with a psychic shock. In short, she would use her own soul to deliver a heavy blow to his, knocking him unconscious for at least half a day. With his soul incapacitated, he could not control his body to send messages. Furthermore, because his soul was being constantly shredded and reconstituted, his soul essence was being steadily depleted. Though his soul appeared intact—even showing signs of qualitative improvement due to the system's effects—the direct result was that he found it increasingly difficult to control his physical form. With his limbs turned into trotters and his soul growing weaker by the day, his efforts were wasted; not a single useful piece of information reached the outside world.

Soon, the three days passed. Under the direction of the Ministry of Rites, the spring ritual proceeded in an orderly fashion. After much deliberation, Emperor Tianwu, fearing to let his eldest son, the Crown Prince, preside over such a vital ceremony, chose to tie up the pig's tail growing from his backside and appear in person. Everything went normally at first. What was abnormal was that Prince Lu, who should have been in the palace, had suddenly disappeared, but word of this had not yet reached the Altar of Heaven, nor would anyone dare to spread such news there.

Thus, the ritual continued as usual, and they were already preparing to burn the sacrificial prayers. It was at this moment that Prince Lu, whom Ding Shui had transferred to her storage space, suddenly appeared in the center of the altar. The ministers participating in the ceremony were startled. Some wanted to call it an auspicious omen, but looking at the creature before them, they could not bring themselves to say it. Yet, they dared not call it a monster either.

At that moment, only Emperor Tianwu recognized it as his son, Prince Lu, having seen his condition earlier. The other ministers, save for the Duke of Shu who vaguely felt the creature resembled his son-in-law, had no idea what it was. Some overzealous guards even drew their swords, ready to strike the creature down to protect the Emperor.

"Heaven’s justice is clear and retribution is certain. The world is without the Way, so I shall act on behalf of Heaven. Prince Lu, Zhu Qin, has abused Heaven and harmed the people. Since his enfeoffment, he has sacrificed 170 pregnant women, 176 unborn infants, 203 newborn children, and 174 adult men in his quest for alchemy and immortality..."

Ding Shui did not delay. Once she had tossed the Prince onto the altar, she spent less than half a minute calibrating her psychic power and began reciting his crimes. Everyone in the capital heard these words—not with their ears, but with their souls. Even the deaf could hear them. This was because Ding Shui was projecting through the soul, and she had employed a technique of resonance.

Before long, she had laid bare all the atrocities the Prince had committed over the years, the number of lives he had taken, and what Emperor Tianwu had done in the process—how many people he had killed to cover up his son's crimes and how many innocent scapegoats he had framed. She had effectively overturned the table, dragging hidden secrets into the light for all to see. The entire capital heard it all. Had her psychic power been sufficient, she would have let the whole world hear it.