For more than twenty days, Xu Qing had come up with countless reasons to convince himself to stay silent. But he hadn’t been able to stop himself from thinking about another possible outcome.10

He had known all along that if he stepped out like he did, there were three possible catastrophic outcomes. The first was that the moment he stepped out into the open, he would be struck dead immediately. Although that didn’t seem likely, it was a possibility. After all, to most people, voicing an objection wasn’t the same as outright rebellion.0

The second possibility was that he would be imprisoned, whereupon his life or death could be determined by someone’s else’s whim.0

The third possibility was that everything would go smoothly, but that he would create immense potential calamities that would lead to further catastrophe.2

Of course, all of those possibilities were what would happen if he failed.0

The moment he stepped out into the open and mentioned the 30,000-meter pillar of light, he ensured that the first possibility wouldn’t play out. What was more, he hadn’t even considered that the deputy palace lord and others would try to shield him from harm.3

Next he had taken out the orders from Palace Lord Kong. With that jade slip as evidence, and as soon as he said he wanted to report...3