Breaking the Move

Di'an, the Imperial Palace. Beside Tianding Lake, birds sang amidst blooming flowers. The misty post-rain drizzle dispersed the summer swelter. Two old companions who had walked side by side for a lifetime strolled along the shaded path beside the lake's embankment. Faint morning light filtered down through the treetops amidst birdsong, catching the eye of the one clad in bright yellow imperial robes. The old emperor raised his gaze toward a green bird hopping along the branches and suddenly spoke: "We have noticed that since the year before last, the times We meet with you have grown more and more frequent." The imposing middle-aged man paused in his steps, his voice revealing no emotion. "That is not a good thing." The old emperor glanced back, his deep, aging eyes carrying a meaningful gleam. "Oh? Across Great Yan, those who wish to see Us are as numerous as carp crossing a river. Yet to you, Our Chancellor, it has become a bad thing?" The middle-aged man met his gaze without uttering a word. Seeing this, the old emperor shook his head slightly and resumed his pace. "True enough. The more often we meet, the more turmoil brews out there in the world." Breathing in the crisp scent of earth after rain in the woods, the middle-aged man slowly followed, picking up the thread of the conversation. "Then for which of these matters did Your Majesty summon this minister?" The old emperor lowered his eyes. Rather than answering immediately, he said faintly, "We once believed the one directing the war on the Northern Border was that girl under your command, or perhaps Zong Qingsheng. But recently, We realized that Our understanding seems to have been mistaken—and egregiously so." Staring at the old emperor's back, the middle-aged man countered evenly, "Was the victory on the Northern Border not due to Wuyuan?" The yellow-robed elder slanted his eyes, fixing a sharp gaze on his lifelong confidant half a step behind him for several breaths. He shook his head and said slowly, "Wuyuan indeed possesses the capability, but We have not yet elevated her to such heights." At this, the yellow-robed elder withdrew his gaze and fell silent. He was waiting—waiting for the man behind him to speak of his own accord. After they had walked several dozen paces together, the middle-aged man's voice drifted into his ears. "Zhenxi Manor will soon be overthrown by the sects." "Are you surprised?" "Prior to this, this minister knew the sects would place a stone elsewhere on the board, but was not certain it would be Zhu Chaoxian, nor how it would unfold." Zhu Chaoxian was the original name of the Marquis of Zhenxi, before he had been bestowed the imperial surname. Li Yaoxuan let out a soft exclamation of surprise. His boots brushed past the flagstone path, and dew from the wild grass dampened his ankles. His tone carried a hint of teasing. "It seems Our Chancellor still cannot keep Our world under all-encompassing watch, after all." Saying so, Li Yaoxuan shook his head slightly, rested one hand behind his back, and said leisurely, "We never held a high opinion of Zhu Chaoxian. He is merely a boorish warrior. For Zhenxi Manor to deteriorate to its present state is nothing more than what was bound to happen." Xu Yinhe did not deny it. Instead, he asked, "Does Your Majesty have nothing to say regarding the upheaval at Zhenxi Manor?" "..." As they spoke, the two emerged from the woods. Their view broadened instantly: an azure dome of sky, deep lake waters, a flock of white birds circling down, and a gentle breeze sweeping over boundless green grass, all quiet and serene. Beholding this magnificent scene, Li Yaoxuan stepped forward with a chuckle, his visibly thinning frame bathed in the sunlight. "Chancellor, you appear to be in quite a hurry." "..." Xu Yinhe halted in the shadows of the woods, staring at the back before him without stepping forward. Li Yaoxuan paid no mind to the reaction behind him, continuing forward on his own and inquiring softly about seemingly unrelated matters: "Chancellor, why do you think we were able to win in the north, able to devour both the northern Barbarians and the sects? What was it that carried us through?" Xu Yinhe stood where he was and replied in a flat voice, "This minister asks Your Majesty for clarification." Without looking back, Li Yaoxuan strode forward, his voice tinged with laughter. "Playing dumb again? Heh... Our victory in the north relied on more than a decade of planning and preparation between you and Me, and on an almost reckless expenditure of resources. Now, the sects have placed their stone in the Western Border, plotting for decades. What right do you have to sit at the same table with them?" "..." The distance between the two widened. Xu Yinhe remained standing where he was, his tone calm. "It seems Your Majesty has already forgotten how the two of us reached where we are today, step by step." "Of course We remember." Li Yaoxuan's voice drifted back like a wisp of memory, low and filled with sighs. "When a man nears death, there are certain past events he cannot forget. Those years of treading on thin ice have been flickering before Our eyes of late. Every gamble with Our life, every brush with death... even if We wished to forget, We could not." Hearing this, a flicker of complexity crossed Xu Yinhe's quiet eyes. He subconsciously moved to take a step, but ultimately chose to stay in place. After a brief silence, the other man's voice drifted back once more: "Return, Chancellor. We have already obtained the intelligence We sought. "We hope the one you pin your hopes on will not fail your expectations, and We hope he can return to Di'an alive. "After all, Qingyan and Zhaoyuan will soon be returning to the capital as well." "..." Standing in the shadows of the woods, Xu Yinhe silently watched that familiar figure recede along the embankment they had walked countless times. Only when the emperor disappeared from view did he slowly turn around. Yet this time, he offered no parting bow. *** A grim, murderous chill hung over Zhenxi Prefectural City. Looking up at the specks of starlight lighting up atop the city walls, Xu Yuan actually felt a sudden urge to take Li Junwu and the others and flee at once. He had never been one to enjoy striving. If he could slack off and be a salted fish, he would never proactively push forward. Reaching this point had entirely been the result of external forces shoving him along. Xu Yuan agreed with his old man's grand, idealistic vision, but truth be told, rather than bringing salvation to the whole world, he preferred to look out for himself. The problem was that the people around him were already tightly bound to the war chariot of the Prime Minister's Manor. To protect himself, he had to keep going. His identity, along with the expectations of those beside and beneath him, forced Xu Yuan to constantly grit his teeth and push forward. Whether back in Shengshan County or during the expedition to the Northern Border, failure had never been an option. But the situation in Zhenxi Manor was fundamentally different from everything he had previously encountered. This game had not been set up by the Prime Minister's Manor. His Chancellor father had already written this place off, so he naturally had no compelling reason to win. And judging from the pervasive killing intent surrounding him, the entirety of Zhenxi Manor was rotten to the core. During the northern campaign, his leadership and strategic orchestrations had relied entirely on the boundless authority granted by his Chancellor father. But here in Zhenxi Manor, the cards he could play were few and far between. After arriving at Zhenxi Manor, he had indeed done a great deal, neutralizing many of the enemy's pre-laid trump cards. Yet even at this very moment, the enemy's reserve of cards remained bottomless. Before the fighting had even started in earnest, his own side had unleashed a volley of heavy city defense ballistas at him. Xu Yuan could even reasonably deduce that the city defense grand formation had likely been tampered with beforehand as well. Decades of sect planning could simply not be withstood by ordinary human effort. "..." In that single breath, myriad thoughts raced through Xu Yuan's mind. Thoughts of running away spread through his heart, yet they abruptly dissolved into a faint smile at the corners of his lips. Xu Yuan's gaze bypassed Si Zijing standing in front of him and settled on those dozens of heavy ballistas radiating boundless killing intent. To hell with running away! It wasn't as if there was zero chance of winning. Even that bastard Li Zhaoyuan had dared to wager his own life to enter the fray—what did he, Xu Changtian, have to fear? "Mr. Si, pay no mind to me." Before the third giant crystal bolt could strike, Xu Yuan's voice quietly reached Si Zijing's ears. Startled, Si Zijing turned his head, wanting to ask why, but he saw only a bizarre shroud of black mist unfurling outward with the Third Young Master at its center. Faster than thought, practically the moment Xu Yuan's words fell, that crystal bolt from the gate tower had already hurtled toward him. A momentary hesitation flared in Si Zijing's heart. He did not know whether he should obey the Third Young Master's command. Although the Third Young Master held the highest authority in Zhenxi Manor, if he misjudged and died before Si Zijing's eyes, he, the Director of the Metropolitan Directorate of the Black Scale Guard, would never escape the blame. Yet in the next instant, he chose to step aside. Because before his eyes, that cluster of black mist vanished without a sign and reappeared over a hundred feet away. And in that very instant, the Third Young Master completely slipped free from his sensory lock. In utter silence, the colossal power carried by the giant crystal bolt tore through the black mist, grazing past Xu Yuan before rocketing off into the distance, laced with boundless force. It works. Feeling death brush past him, a faint trace of excitement surfaced in Xu Yuan's eyes. He could not see, let alone sense, the incoming trajectory of the giant crystal bolts, but he knew they were not the spells of high-tier cultivators. Though immense in power, once fired, they lost all guidance, hurtling strictly in the direction they had initially been aimed. During the time Si Zijing had intercepted the bolts for him, Xu Yuan had continuously stacked the circulation patterns of the Step Void Slash within his body, and by now, they were fully prepared. Soon, however, a thunderous roar from behind dragged his thoughts back to reality. The giant crystal bolt, etched with demon-shattering array patterns, traversed the entire sky above Zhenxi Prefectural City and gouged a massive crater into the eastern city wall. The damage to the wall caused the localized array patterns there to flicker violently! After a momentary stupor, Xu Yuan instinctively glanced toward the firmament. He had to take to the skies. Otherwise, the city defense grand formation would continually be battered by these giant crystal bolts. The thought barely crossed his mind before Xu Yuan's figure flickered directly toward the heavens without hesitation. The second and third bolts arrived in rapid succession, yet he evaded them by a hair's breadth with his spatial shifts. The giant bolts pierced straight through the city-protecting canopy spanning the sky above, dispersing into flecks of light before vanishing. Under the bewildered gazes of countless people throughout the city, that bizarre cluster of black mist flickered ceaselessly across the sky above, as though some glitch had occurred in the workings of reality itself. At the center of the black mist, Xu Yuan constantly calculated his reserves of source qi. The Step Void Slash consumed source qi at a terrifying rate, but fortunately, the reserves within his body far exceeded those of an ordinary Body Integration cultivator. Ten breaths. He could hold out for ten breaths. This time should be enough for Huang Shiwei to wipe out the traitors on the city walls, and enough for Li Junwu to activate the city defense formation to shield him. "The Third Young Master truly possesses marvelous methods." An elderly voice suddenly echoed from below. With only the Soul Condensation realm to his name, he had used almost every ounce of his strength to broadcast his voice: "For you to wield such an art was indeed beyond Wen's calculations." That scholar surnamed Wen again?! Shifting through space without pause, Xu Yuan directed his gaze toward the source of the voice. At the end of his vision, a kindly, benevolent-looking old man stood atop a pavilion, his back hunched, smiling as he waved at him. "I had intended for this move to force that one's hand. Now, it seems Wen's plan must change a little." Before his words even finished, Xu Yuan, suspended in midair between shifts, suddenly saw the heavy ballistas on the city walls pivot simultaneously—aiming directly at the eastern city wall! "..." Seeing this, a look of involuntary bewilderment flashed through Xu Yuan's eyes. How is that possible? In an era where grassroots communication amounted to little more than shouting, how could this scholar surnamed Wen transmit commands simultaneously into the ears of dozens of mutinous company commanders?! No. Staring at the smiling Soul Condensation old man, uncertainty and shock stirred in Xu Yuan's eyes. Clones? This scholar's technique was not about cloning—it was parasitism. Those dozens of mutinous company commanders had not turned traitor; their bodies had been hijacked by his technique! As if sensing the gaze from deep within the black mist, the benevolent-looking Soul Condensation elder laughed heartily: "If you lose the majority of the city defense formation, I wonder how many trump cards the Third Young Master will have left in hand?" How do I counter this? Xu Yuan did not slacken his defense, continuing to shift incessantly across midair, but his thoughts spun at maximum speed. Have Tianye step in? No, if those giant crystal bolts weren't aimed at him, that woman would definitely just stand aside and enjoy the show. Use the Suspended Sky Ring? If he used the ring now, what would he do later? He had to catch an enemy Saint off guard with the Suspended Sky Ring to take them out of the fight. Yet right now, he seemed to have no choice. In that split second, a crisp voice suddenly rang in his ear: "Changtian, let me." Before the words faded, dozens of giant crystal bolts fired in unison, hurtling toward the most critical array core on the eastern city wall. At the same time, Xu Yuan sensed a terrifying aura abruptly coalesce from deep within the prefectural yamen. Is this Li Junwu? Then, he saw a streak of blade light trail across the firmament, along with a figure that outshone even the crimson-robed Qingyan... The sect's opening salvo of intimidation had ended. A tremendous roar reverberated across the heavens. The eastern city wall remained completely unscathed, while the shockwaves stirred by dozens of giant crystal bolts leveled several streets below into flat ground. Only that short-haired woman in armor remained standing aloft in midair, wisps of lightning arcing around her under the empowerment of the Zhenxi military array, looking like a celestial divinity. Looking at that figure, the benevolent-looking elder frowned imperceptibly. "It seems a few more variables have appeared in the plan..." "What variables?" Xu Yuan's voice suddenly rang out above him. The old man stared at him for a moment, then smiled and shook his head. "It seems Wen saw wrongly. Rather than seeking me out, Third Young Master, you would do better to check on the Commandery Princess's injuries." With those words, the smiling look in the old man's eyes gradually turned bewildered. After a moment's daze, as he met Xu Yuan's cold, indifferent gaze, a flicker of fear crept into his eyes. This time, the scholar surnamed Wen gave Xu Yuan no chance to humiliate him. Just as Xu Yuan was hesitating over whether to execute the old man to eliminate future troubles, Si Zijing's voice, fraught with astonishment, suddenly sounded beside his ear: "Third Young Master, look up!" "..." Instinctively looking upward across the vast, clear sky, Xu Yuan saw a silhouette—and caught sight of a pair of draconic eyes gazing down upon all living beings. The White Emperor.