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I am the Main Character? No Thanks!: Chapter 16 (Volume 2)
🕑 Added 2025-01-04 06:22:04 +0000 UTCChen Yunfeng, the head of the Alchemy Guild, sullenly looked at the walls of his prison and the cuffs placed on his hands.
These walls of spiritual stone and cuffs of cast iron could have never dreamed to hold a Nascent Soul realm cultivator like him, and yet, here he was, helplessly waiting for the Empress to return from her trip and decide his punishment.
‘Damn you!! Yao Xingchen!! You bitch!’
Once again, cursing out the woman who crippled his cultivation, the elderly man leaned against the wall with his fears and anger dominating his mind.
Everything was going fine. The new pills introduced by the Eldest Prince were selling very well, always going out of stock mere minutes after they were put up for sale despite their exorbitant price.
The Alchemy Guild was making a killing while selling these pills which were only of average quality, refined from the bodies of mortals. The pills that were refined from their ‘disciples’ and other rogue cultivators that no one would miss were being traded directly for favors across the various influential forces across the continent.
Slowly, but surely, the Alchemy Guild was becoming a powerhouse that no one could ignore, just as the eldest prince had planned.
Once the Alchemy Guild was powerful enough, the prince was planning to challenge the unworthy Empress with the Guild at his back for the throne.
It was a beautiful scenario that Chen Yunfeng was just a mere decade away from achieving.
Yet, all of it came crumbling down the moment one of their scapegoat families' warehouses was discovered.
Even now, Chen Yunfeng could not believe that the Yang family was stupid enough to leave evidence of their deeds in the open like this, neither did he believe that it was a coincidence that the Imperial spies across the empire suddenly started discovering evidence of the Alchemy Guild’s actions and their connections and methods.
All of this stunk of a conspiracy, one that he could not trace to anyone that he knew.
Whatever the case might be, the truth is that the Alchemy Guild is no more, with all of its disciples slaughtered by the Royal family’s forces with only Chen Yunfeng being left alive so that he could be punished by the Empress herself.
Once again Chen Yunfeng cursed Yao Xingchen in his heart.
If it were not for the horrifying way she killed the Yanfeng patriarch and ancestor, chilling the other noble families to their cores and hence keeping them from interfering with the Royal Family’s forces, The Alchemy Guild could have called upon their various connections, including the Qingmu, Tuzhao, and the other families along with the other guilds for assistance.
Maybe even the various top-ranking sects, including the Heavenly Sword Sect if it was not already destroyed.
Chen Yunfeng felt pained as he remembered that huge loss for the Guild.
The Heavenly Sword Sect was the main focus of the Alchemy Guild ever since the eldest prince gave them the recipe for the new pill with the aim of raising the sect as their main attack force against their enemies. A pact that the sect master agreed to since they promised to provide him with top-quality pills.
And yet, all of that effort went down the drain when the sect was wiped out by a mysterious duo.
As Chen Yunfeng was lost in his lamenting, he suddenly heard the noise of footsteps approaching his cell in the Imperial family’s dungeon.
It did not take long before the illuminating stones of the dungeon revealed a young man with long silver hair and golden eyes.
Chen Yunfeng felt joy at the sight.
“My Prince-“
His words were suddenly cut off as he choked out blood from his mouth thanks to the sword that was shoved into his chest by the man with cold golden eyes.
“You useless piece of trash. You couldn’t even keep things secret properly. What was the use of using you as my backing and giving you all those benefits? Now, you are nothing but a liability.”
The man, Yin Tianzhu, the eldest prince of the Yin Long empire gave a sneer to Chen Yunfeng as the older man glared at the prince with his dying breath.
“With this, there is nobody left that knows of the truth except me.”
“Is that so? Dear brother?”
The sudden voice startled the eldest prince enough for him to jump in surprise and turn around, only to sigh in relief as he spotted his youngest brother, Yin Haoran.
The eldest prince gave a disdainful look at the famous debauchee prince and spoke in a condescending tone.
“Oh!? It was just you, Haoran. For a second, I thought it was someone else. How much did you hear?”
The youngest prince gave his older brother a mysterious smile which annoyed the older prince.
“No matter. It is quite a pity that Chen Yunfeng escaped his confines due to Yao Xingchen’s incompetence and killed you, giving me no choice but to kill the Alchemy Guild’s head and deny the Empress the chance to extract information from the traitor. Quite the interesting series of events, don’t you agree?”
The eldest prince approached the youngest with killing intent as he spoke those words, expecting his useless brother to run the moment he revealed his plan to kill him to bury this secret.
And yet, against his expectations, Yin Haoran continued smiling and started to speak in a tone that chilled Yin Tianzhu’s heart for some reason.
“Eldest Brother, have you ever heard the phrase, The Mantis stalks the Cicada, unaware of the Oriole behind?”
For a single moment, Yin Tianzhu felt panic swell as he immediately realized the meaning of those words, and directly attacked the youngest prince with his full might as a middle-stage Core Formation realm expert.
And yet, his sword was stopped before it pierced the youngest prince’s heart by another sword, one that he immediately recognized and paled in fright.
The light in the corridor provided by the illuminating stones distorted and revealed Yao Xingchen’s form as she gave a cold look to the eldest prince.
“Prince Yin Tianzhu, for the crimes of treason and murder of an important criminal, you are hereby stripped of all your status and wealth.”
Before Yin Tianzhu could even react, Yao Xingchen rushed forward and directly crippled Yin Tianzhu’s cultivation, turning him into a mortal.
“The Empress will decide your further punishment when she gets back. Until then, you will be kept here as the criminal you are. Guards!!”
Prison Guards immediately surrounded the eldest prince and dragged him away towards an empty cell, all the while the disgraced prince continued to shout insults at the youngest prince and the acting empress.
Yin Haoran gave a bow toward Yao Xingchen.
“Thank you, Aunt Yao, for listening to my words and accompanying me to catch this traitor.”
Yao Xingchen continued giving her nephew a neutral look.
“Prince Haoran. Let me be clear. It is clear to me that the Empress and I underestimated you in the past, something that you have already proven with your actions thus far. However, don’t even think about trying to fight the Empress for the throne like your brother did before.”
Yao Haoran gave a wry but gentle smile towards his aunt.
“Aunt Yao, I know my limits, unlike my brother. Besides, I have no desire for the throne. I just wish for my family to be safe.”
“Bold words for someone that couldn’t be bothered to look past the bottom of a wine gourd or a woman’s body.”
Despite Yao Xingchen’s harsh and crude words, Yin Haoran could do nothing but smile bitterly since those accusations were as real as his convictions.
There is no denying his past. All he could do, now that he had the advantage of future knowledge, was to keep his family from suffering the same tragedy as they did in his future.
With his determination renewed, Yin Haoran simply followed his aunt out of the dungeons and back to the palace.
‘I need to find the time to leave for the Baihu Empire as quickly as I can. I need to get my artifact from that secret realm in the Baihu Empire’s capital. It is just as important for me now as it was in my future.’
His face held a small and reminiscent smile as he thought about that secret realm where he met the woman who would become his source of light in the darkest of times in his doomed future.
‘Qingyin, my love. Just wait for me. I’m going to do my best to save you this time around.’
Comments
Phantom knight who can’t think of a better nicknam
As much as I love this story I need to go back and reread it again
Duke Togo
I gotta reread 15+ chaps back
Duke Togo
Wait whattt?! That's unexpected
