Emperor Cang Wanhe Takes Back Control

As they dressed themselves up after a wild and steaming sex session, Cang Yue tells Mesa not to tell her father that Xuanyuan Wentian is the one behind enabling the Burning Heaven Clan's attempted coup d'état.

"What, why not? He should know the truth about who is really behind all of this." Said Mesa confusedly.

"Yes, I agree. My father should know who did this to us. But right now." Said Cang Yue seriously.

"He has just recently recovered from that horrible Soul Devouring Life Binding Parasite. If we tell him that Xuanyuan Wentian, master of the Mighty Heavenly Sword Region, was directly involved in orchestrating this coup d'état and why he was involved, we will only cause him even more stress and anxiety. And I am afraid that it will consume him just like that horrible parasite did and I can't stand to see him like that again."

Looking at her face, Mesa could see an ocean of sadness and fear in her eyes for her father's wellbeing. For years, she was the only one who stood helplessly by her father's side as his health was gradually deteriorating. Meanwhile, her First and Third brothers used this opportunity to instigate a power struggle between against each over who would take the throne once their father died.

"Very well, I will keep Xuanyuan Wentian's involvement a secret." Agreed Mesa. So with that, the two of them came up with a new story to explain Fen Chu.

After they've had their little fun in their private forest cabin, Mesa and Cang Yue returned to the Blue Wind Imperial Palace. Whereupon seeing them, Emperor Cang Wanhe ran up and enclosed Cang Yue in a tight hug with tears streaming down his face and thanking Mesa profusely for bringing back his daughter, the one person whom he cares about more than anything in this world.

"Thank the heavens that you're are back Yue'er. We wouldn't know how to go on without you!" Said Emperor Cang Wanhe tearfully as he hugged Cang Yue and kissed her on the forehead. And Cang Yue herself happily hugged her father back and crying her eyes out.

When finally, both of them let of each other, Emperor Cang Wanhe turned to Mesa and asked him what he eventually did with the Burning Heaven Clan. So Mesa explained what he had done to them.

"Hmm… we see." Said Emperor Cang Wanhe. "It is not something that we personally would have chosen to do, but we see the reasoning behind it."

"Yeah, but it is what happened after I left that is unsettling." Said Mesa.

When Mesa asked Emperor Cang Wanhe if he still remembered Fen Chu, he answered with a fearful yes and wondered where he was if Mesa had been dealing with the Burning Heaven Clan.

"Apparently, he was not who said he was. As it turned out, he was not here to help the Burning Heaven Clan achieve their dream, but to instigate their downfall." Said Mesa. When Emperor Cang Wanhe asked how he knew, Mesa showed him the Infinity Gauntlet and he knew that Mesa had read his mind.

"He had used us all to get revenge on the Burning Heaven Clan for what they had done to his ancestors long ago." Said Mesa.

"If what you say is true, then why did he help them to overthrow us? It makes no sense." Said Emperor Cang Wanhe.

"Yeah, that's the messed up part. Apparently, Fen Chu knew about the feud between me and the Burning Heaven Clan. And so he helped them take over Blue Wind Empire and kidnap Cang Yue, because he knew that I would eventually come and stop at nothing to get you all back. His whole plan was to sow the seeds to cause as much chaos as possible and then sit back and watch as all the chaos is unleashed when I destroyed the Burning Heaven Clan."

Reaction horrified to this news, Emperor Cang Wanhe tried to make some sense of what he was told.

"We fail to understand the logic behind all this. Why would Fen Chu do this all of this, when he had more than enough strength to destroy the Burning Heaven Clan himself?"

"That's just the thing with men like him, your majesty. He did it because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money or power. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn. When I read his mind, one thing in there stuck out that truly defined him as, in his own words, an agent of chaos. 'Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes… chaos'." Said Mesa in the same way as Heath Ledger's legendary portrayal of the Joker in the Dark Knight movie.

"Then what is to be done against this madman!" Said Emperor Cang Wanhe in obvious distress imagining a monster like Fen Chu being on the loose.

"Simple, your majesty. We need do nothing." Said Mesa bluntly much to Emperor Cang Wanhe's great surprise. Before he could even respond, Mesa had cut him off as he went on to explain his point.

"I have read his mind, as you already know, and I have conformation from Fen Chu himself that he's no longer a threat to us. In fact, he has already left the Blue Wind Empire and is heading south as we speak. He simply gotten what he was after and that was the destruction of the Burning Heaven Clan. All of the chaos and anarchy around it was simply entertainment for him. Simply put, he used us to get his revenge and simultaneously cause mayhem for us all. We may have won against the Burning Heaven Clan, but we have ultimately lost against the mastermind behind it all."

While he did believe Mesa, Emperor Cang Wanhe still wanted to do something about Fen Chu, unable to reconcile the with fact that this madman was on the loose, but unable to do anything about him at the moment. And this was a bitter pill to swallow for Emperor Cang Wanhe.

"Mesa, please use your powers to keep an eye Fen Chu. Even if he so much as looks in the direction of our Blue Wind Empire, we want to hear it immediately!" Said Emperor Cang Wanhe, resigning himself to the bitter aftertaste of this victory.

Taking a deep breath, Emperor Cang Wanhe steeled himself for what he was gonna do next. Earlier, when a pair clones of Mesa had freed him from the house arrest that the Burning Heaven Clan had placed him under, they had taken down Cang Shuo and all of his cronies who helped him take over power.

"It is high time that the Blue Wind Empire is informed about the events that have occurred during these past few days." Said Emperor Cang Wanhe.

Beckoning Dongfang Xiu to him, he ordered him to send a message to all of the sects, all of the towns and cities and of all of the Profound Palaces of the Blue Wind Empire that he was still alive and that third Prince Cang Shuo has been imprisoned for overthrowing the rightful ruler of the Blue Wind Empire. He ordered Dongfang Xiu to send a detailed report to any of them of what the Burning Heaven Clan has done and what eventually has happened to them, but told him to keep out any mention of Fen Chu. And lastly, he issued an arrest warrant for Crown Prince Cang Lin.

To say that the Blue Wind Empire was shaken to its core was an understatement. Firstly, with the news that Emperor Cang Wanhe was still alive and that Prince Cang Shuo had overthrown him with the help of the Burning Heaven Clan had shocked everyone. Secondly, the news that the Burning Heaven Clan was no more and that their destruction came at the hands of Mesa Uchiha had solidified his position. And thirdly, that Princess Cang Yue and Mesa Uchiha would marry each other was what elevated the political power of Emperor Cang Wanhe to very top.

After Prince Cang Shuo had assumed power, Prince Cang Lin knew that his place in the halls of the Imperial Palace was no more, so he fled the palace immediately. With Cang Shuo assuming the mantle of the next Emperor, the Xiao Sect withdrew their support for the Crown Prince and aligned themselves with Cang Shuo. So when the news of the treason that Cang Shuo and the Burning Heaven Clan had committed came out and their subsequent destruction at the hands of Mesa, they quickly backtracked their support for Cang Shuo and realigned their support once again for Emperor Cang Wanhe. As for the Frozen Cloud Asgard, they adhered to their strict non-interference policy with the political climate of the Blue Wind Empire, so their silence was taken for what it was, simple disinterest in all things political. And as everyone knew, the Heavenly Sword Villa supports the Imperial Family regardless of whoever sits on the throne, even if they stayed silent. But when news of this betrayal had reached them, they had immediately condemned the Burning Heaven Clan in the strongest possible terms and reaffirmed their vows to protect the Blue Wind Imperial from all possible threats.

Crown Prince Cang Lin was quickly found after his arrest warrant was issued. Apparently, the former Crown Prince Cang Lin, seeing his whole world collapse around himself, went to drown his sorrows in the brothels of the Imperial City where he was eventually found and detained.

Continuing on with this purge, Emperor Cang Wanhe had every single one of both Cang Shuo's camp and Cang Lin's camp arrested. And depending on how much they had supported either one of the princes, they were either imprisoned or exiled with all of their assets seized, heavily demoted to low ranking government official jobs or pardoned to once again swear their fealty to the Emperor.

It had been a week since the Emperor had returned from the 'dead', and Third Prince Cang Shuo had been convicted of high treason and sentenced to death. He was to be hanged until death in a public show of execution, his body fed to the dogs and his bones crushed into dust and tossed into the sea. Before his day of execution, he was stripped of his titles and his name and his records were expunged from the Imperial archives.

Crown Prince Cang Lin, seeing the writing on the walls, had resigned himself to his fate, but instead was released by Emperor Cang Wanhe. Because he had not partaken in the high treason that Cang Shuo had partaken in, he was instead stripped of his titles and barred from ever entering the Imperial Palace, forced to live out his remaining days in obscurity in the Blue Wind Empire.

Emperor Cang Wanhe had acted with unparalleled resolve and steadfastness and he showed no mercy in showing everyone that he was not the sick and feebly weak ruler from before. He seized back the authority of the Emperor and with Mesa's support, his deterrent force of authority was no less than those of the Three Major Sects.

During all this, Emperor Cang Wanhe had never forgotten his supposed 'miracle doctor', Gu Qiuhong, who was treating him during his time of sickness. During the purge, Emperor Cang Wanhe purposefully let him go in some vain hope that he would repent somehow for what he did to him. Tasking Mesa with keeping an eye on him, he was quickly, but unsurprisingly, informed that Gu Qiuhong had locked himself in the Medicine Hall of the Imperial Palace with his disciples and was packing all his stuff to get out of the Blue Wind Empire as soon as possible. So with a disappointed headshake, Emperor Cang Wanhe asked Mesa to take care of him.

Inside the Medicine Hall, Gu Qiuhong and his disciples were hurriedly packing all their stuff and depositing them in Spatial Rings. Gu Qiuhong, knowing the reason behind Emperor Cang Wanhe's illness and that Mesa Uchiha had cured him of it, was more than aware that he would be suspect number 1. When Cang Shuo with the help of the Burning Heaven Clan had overthrown the Emperor, Gu Qiuhong had thanked the heavens that he was getting away with the attempted assassination of the Emperor. But when a sudden army of Mesas had suddenly invaded the Imperial Palace and taken everyone in the Palace prisoner and freed Emperor Cang Wanhe, he knew that the jig is up. But when against all odds, Emperor Cang Wanhe had let him go, he knew this second chance was all he had and he would not waste it and leave town as soon as possible.

"Hello doctor Gu Qiuhong. Why the hurry?" Said a voice inside the Medicine Hall that chilled Gu Qiuhong down to the very bone. Turning around, he saw Mesa standing there inside the Medicine Hall. Taking a quick peek at the doors, he saw that they were still closed.

There were four personal disciples at Gu Qiuhong's side, and none of them detected Mesa's sudden arrival in the Medicine Hall and all of them were trembling with fear. They stooped and didn't even dare to let out a breath… As his successor disciples, they knew what Gu Qiuhong had done to Cang Wanhe very clearly and they spent the past few days in the same manner as Gu Qiuhong, in a constant state of anxiety.

"Ah L-L-Lord Mesa. To what do I the honor of your visit?" Said Gu Qiuhong stammering the words out of his mouth.

"Honored? You don't look honored to see me at all. More like afraid." Queried Mesa with a tilt of his head as he looked around the Medicine Hall. "And you also look like you're in a great hurry to leave. Why is that?"

"L-L-Leave! No, no, no, no. You are mistaken Lord Mesa. I am merely reorganizing the Medicine Hall!" Said Gu Qiuhong fearfully. "Now that his majesty is cured of his illness, I am reorganizing the Medicine Hall to be of better service to him."

"Is that so?" Said Mesa with a deadpan look on his face.

For a moment, nobody said anything. Gu Qiuhong was desperately trying to keep his fear under control, as were his disciples, while Mesa simply stared at him saying nothing. After a long moment of tormenting silence, Mesa released a sigh as he addressed Gu Qiuhong.

"Let's just drop the pretenses Gu Qiuhong, you know what I am here for."

"Ah…" Gu Qiuhong's eyes widened. He was just about to say something, begging even, when a white-blue light flashed in front of his eyes.

Faster than anyone of them could have seen, Mesa took out a kunai, infused it with lightning and tossed it straight through Gu Qiuhong's chest, out the other side and embedding itself deeply into the wall behind him. Going straight though his heart, Gu Qiuhong fell dead to the floor.

"Master!" The four disciples of Gu Qiuhong yelled out seeing their master fall dead to the floor. When Mesa's gaze fell on them, they shrank in themselves and prostrated themselves even more in front of him.

"You four! Clean up this mess and get back to work!" Said Mesa commandingly with them scurrying over to their dead master's body and picking him up. None of them dared to respond to Mesa or even look at him.

"Emperor Cang Wanhe has deigned it to give you four a second chance, so I will not kill you here! So I suggest you don't waste it." Said Mesa as he turned around to leave the Medicine Hall. But right before he opened the doors, he stopped as he addressed them one last time.

"You know exactly what that filthy maggot has done to Emperor Cang Wanhe and why he deserved to die. His deeds will be known to the Blue Wind Empire and you will provide us with the evidence. And keep in mind that if you me give any reason what so ever to doubt you, I will kill you."

And with that, Mesa left the Medicine Hall, not sticking around any longer to listen to them.

(A.N: And with that, this volume is now at an end. The next volume will detail the Second Infinity Trail, so stay tuned because I have a major surprise in mind for it.)