Atop the city walls, Shi Sheng had ordered her people to set up several modified ballistae.
She held onto several purple little balls that were wrapped up in a layer of yellow-papered talismans and called people over.
“Are they ready?” Shi Sheng turned to ask Dai Yue, who was standing beside her.
Dai Yue immediately nodded. “Everything is prepared.”
Shi Sheng handed the little balls to several people. “When I give the order, launch these over. Wait till the explosions have stopped before charging in, got it?”“Yes.”
“Go prepare then.”
Those given a little ball stood in front of the various ballistae, palms sweating.
They had never seen this projectile before, so they were unsure whether or not it was something they could effectively launch at the enemy encampment.
Shi Sheng looked at Ling Yue, who stood beside her, face a bit pale. He shook his head slightly at her, expressing that he was fine.
Shi Sheng rubbed his cheeks in concern. “We’ll return after this is done. I told you not to draw the talismans; I have ways to deal with it on my own...”
Shi Sheng had always been puzzled as to why Ling Yue had spirit energy. Unexpectedly, it turned out he knew how to draw talismans.Talisman-drawing was part of a priest’s arsenal. Good talismans were very useful.
But in this world, priests seemed to have picked up nothing more than just the basics. Ling Yue had come up with these talismans himself, so spirit energy was present in only his body.
It was like a gift from the Heavenly Dao. Once his talismans were known to everyone, spirit energy would slowly build up in this world.
Ling Yue clutched Shi Sheng’s hand. “I wanted to do something for you too.”
He didn’t want her to be the only one giving.
Ling Yue would only be weakened for a while after drawing talismans, and he would get better after some recuperation.
Shi Sheng didn’t say anything else, as she turned around to give orders.
As the little talisman-wrapped balls went flying, they tore through the sky like bolts of lightning, lighting up the night as they fell onto the distant enemy camp.
Bang!
Bang!
The violent explosions caused even the city walls to tremble.
The troops in the city had never witnessed such a powerful explosion before and were scared stiff. Only after quite a while did they react and charge into the enemy camp.
The radius of the explosions was very big.
Some people fell amidst the chaos due to the sheer girth of the pits.
The only fate that could come from falling in was to be zapped into ashes.
Shi Sheng hadn’t gone overboard with the lightning balls—the amount she used was still within the world’s tolerable range, so no abnormalities appeared in the sky.
Jiang Zhi still had a stupefied expression on her face when she was captured. She didn’t understand how Shi Sheng possessed such advanced weaponry. Even if Shi Sheng was truly a transmigrator, surely it was impossible for her to create such advanced weaponry in so short an amount of time?
Jiang Zhi requested to see Shi Sheng. She had plenty of doubts she wished to clarify, but Shi Sheng refused to see her at all.
With the battle ending just like that, Jiang Zhi and the Protector General’s strategies never came into play.
The two were locked in prison, appearing a bit worse for wear. Amidst the rattling of chains, the sound of footsteps slowly approaching echoed down the hallway.
“Your Majesty...”
As the Protector General watched the person slowly approaching the cell, her eyes suddenly lit up and she launched herself at the door. “Your Majesty, I(wc) was not planning a rebellion! I(wc) came to save you! Your Majesty, please investigate thoroughly ah!”
The Protector General never expected that she would be imprisoned on grounds of treason. She had clearly come to rescue the Empress, so how come it had turned into plotting rebellion?
Jiang Zhi curled up in the shadows, glaring at the Empress with hatred.
The Empress stood outside the cell, surrounded by guards and attendants. She still had her dignity, nobility, and majesty.
The woman who had once been disheveled and had broken down crying in front of Shi Sheng was gone.
The Empress waved a hand, dismissing her followers.
“Your Majesty, save me(wc)!” The Protector General reached out to pull at the Empress’ sleeve.
She allowed the Protector General to do so. The Empress lowered her eyes and spoke faintly, “You should not have returned.”
You should not have returned.
“Your Majesty?” The Protector General stared dumbly at the Empress. ‘What does she mean by that?’
“The Prime Minister did not rebel.” The Empress’ voice trembled slightly as she said these words.
She didn’t wish to admit this, but it was the truth.
The Prime Minister didn’t rebel.
The Empress was still the Empress, and the Prime Minister was still the Prime Minister.
“How could that... She...” The Protector General looked towards the Ning Princess.
“Why did you want to kill me?!” Jiang Zhi asked through gritted teeth.
The Empress looked at her with an expression that contained no guilt, only disappointment.
“If I were you, I would not have returned so soon.”
“The imperial clan is the most heartless... This I have finally learned today.”
This had always seemed more of an empty phrase, but Jiang Zhi’s recent experiences had truly taught her what it meant when people said ‘the imperial clan is the most heartless’.
‘Just what was the point of transmigrating here?’
“We(z) will make sure you two remain whole, at the very least.”
The Empress sighed and turned to leave.
Although she was the Empress, things were no different from before—all the power was still in the hands of that person.
Jiang Zhi caused a ruckus in prison, demanding to see Shi Sheng.
When Shi Sheng was informed of this, she didn’t even lift her eyes.
‘Why should I go see her? Who does she think she is? Why should I answer her questions? She can go ask Hades!’
The Empress bestowed poison wine on the two. It seemed like Jiang Zhi hadn’t been willing to drink it, so it had to be forced down her throat.
It was clearly a fast-acting poison, but in Jiang Zhi’s case, she managed to persist for an entire hour.
‘Wow, the FL-sama’s luck actually wasn’t finished yet?’
This matter was resolved as quickly as it cropped up. The commoners unaware of the truth thought that the Ning Princess had joined hands with the Protector General to rebel.
And of those who knew the truth, who would dare publicise it?
Within the throne room, the Empress gazed down at the Prime Minister who was spacing out.
She weakly waved a hand. “Submit a proposal if there’s anything. If not, court is dismissed.”
“I(c) have a proposal.”
The Empress lifted her gaze to look at the speaker.
And it seemed as though the person had gotten Shi Sheng’s attention too, as the latter turned to look at her.
The official trembled and forced herself to submit the proposal. It could be roughly summarised as wanting the Empress to name an heir.
The Empress furrowed her brows. ‘I’m not in the mood to be talking about naming a new heir... Besides, even if I wanted to, would that person agree?’
“Sounds reasonable; an heir should be named.”
The Empress thought she was hearing things. ‘She actually agreed?!’
Once Shi Sheng spoke, several others immediately echoed her sentiments.
“Which princess do you think is suitable, Prime Minister?” The Empress gave Shi Sheng the power to choose.
Shi Sheng immediately returned her a look that practically said ‘are you an idiot?’
“It’s not my empire; how would I know who’s suitable?”
The Empress, “...”
‘You’re holding all the power now! How is it not yours?!’
Since the court couldn’t come to a consensus, even after a heated discussion, the matter of choosing an heir could only be put off for now.
The Empress didn’t attend court for a long time after this.
She figured that since she didn’t have power anymore, and because the Prime Minister could make all the decisions, it made no difference whether or not she attended court. As a result, she holed up in her palace and screwed around with her consorts, having clearly given up.
The result was that the entire government fell into disarray.
The Empress made people go look for the Prime Minister to make decisions. But the Prime Minister was much more violent—she drew her sword to scare them off.
‘It’s not my job! Why’re you lot looking for me?! Go find your Empress!’
In the end, the Empress discovered that her Prime Minister really wasn’t willing to bother about these matters, so she could only pull herself from the arms of her beauties to go deal with governing the empire once more.
