Men held above women—that was a custom born of physical disparity among common mortals. Yet from the moment one embarked upon the path of cultivation, this gap in strength was bridged.
Though the customs and mindset of the lower classes exerted some reciprocal influence on the upper echelons, it was limited after all. In a realm of sects or an empire of dynasties, the ruling classes had never lacked formidable women.
That Li Yaoxuan intended to install an empress regnant was not unforeseen by Xu Yinhe—or rather, he had considered the possibility for every imperial scion capable of inheriting the throne.
Li Yaoxuan was contemplating the future; how could Xu Yinhe not have been doing the same?
It was only this resolute, unswerving decision of Li Yaoxuan's that Xu Yinhe had truly failed to see through.
This old friend had hidden it too well.
His manner of supporting Princess Wuyuan was like gathering water in a reservoir, a slow and steady trickle. Every move to bolster Li Qingyan's authority was masked beneath grander national policies.
When the Turmoil of Empress Mu ended, not stripping Li Qingyan of her military command had been framed as maintaining stability, sending a signal to the Empress's maternal clan, Marquis Wucheng's Manor, that the matter ended there.
The Crown Prince remained the Crown Prince.
Wuyuan remained outside commanding troops.
One inside, one outside.
And cutting off communication between inside and outside, severing the Crown Prince's means of contacting Wuyuan, was naturally justified as preventing a repeat of the Turmoil of Empress Mu.
When Li Yaoxuan had braved the blizzard disaster and bound the imperial family's state fortune to force the Prime Minister's Manor into deploying troops in the Northern Border, Xu Yinhe ought to have seen the clues.
Because he had been doing the exact same thing: paving the way for his future successor, securing Xu Yuan's prestige through victory in a great war.
Yet after reading the confidential reports from the Northern Border, he had inevitably dismissed that suspicion.
It was too rushed, the risks too great.
In a campaign of that scale, a hair's breadth of error would crack the reservoir dam, causing the waters gathered drop by drop over the past twenty years to vanish in an instant. Furthermore, this old friend had fiercely protected Li Zhaoyuan afterward despite the latter's plot to assassinate Wuyuan, an act that could not help but draw attention to this Second Prince who had always been suppressed behind the scenes.
Except for Li Yaoxuan's final words—the innately severed meridians of his third son...
With certain things, even if the suspicion in one's heart had reached absolute certainty, a sliver of hope would always linger. Thus, hearing the answer from the man's own lips still brought an unavoidable pang of grief.
As the morning sun climbed in the east, Xu Yinhe finally reined in his thoughts. "It is not enough."
To install an empress regnant, Li Yaoxuan's preparations were already sufficient. But to ensure that Emperor and Chancellor continued their cooperation until the sects fell from their celestial perch, this was nowhere near enough.
It lacked the most crucial puzzle piece.
"Xu Chang'an's death?"
From the colossal crater, the trench stretched for over a dozen li. The dazzling, iridescent brilliance of sunrise bathed the old friends standing atop the mountain peak.
Facing the brilliant new sun, the decrepit Li Yaoxuan chuckled softly, his wrinkles trembling slightly. "You and I both know how fragile a marriage alliance is. Blood ties may be the bond of lineage, a blood covenant bestowed by Heaven, but a qualified leader never lets such things stay his hand. I am like this—"
At this point, Li Yaoxuan's voice turned deep and resonant: "You are like this, and Xu Chang'an, who took after his father, would have been the same!"
"Therefore, having Xu Changtian become imperial consort is far from enough. Xu Changge must also become the next head of the Xu family.
"Chancellor, I truly am fond of your eldest son's disposition... Just like Feng Jiuxuan, he lacks no ability, yet in certain matters he is terrifyingly stubborn. So long as he has only one brother left in the world, and so long as he is not yet the master of the Prime Minister's Manor, he will never rebel for a single day."
With that, Li Yaoxuan glanced down at the imperial dragon robe upon himself and said, "If he takes power, he would be a tyrant. Even if those ministers of your Prime Minister's Manor were to drape this robe of Mine over his shoulders, he would forcibly suppress it. Once people like Zong Qingsheng, Hua Hong, and Lou Ji have died off of old age, your Xu family's threat to the imperial power might diminish considerably.
"Of course, it might not, but that is beyond My reach. To scheme for one generation, and then scheme for a second; scheming for a third is beyond human power."
His words falling, Li Yaoxuan said each word deliberately: "Therefore, Xu Chang'an had to die."
Xu Yinhe yielded not an inch, his dark eyes profound. "Did you do it?"
"His death—didn't you already investigate it thoroughly back then?"
"Too superficial."
"To say nothing of back then, have you so quickly forgotten the countless assassination attempts your third son suffered along his journey? The sects have always acted without restraint."
"Is that so." Xu Yinhe sounded as though a weight had been lifted.
Li Yaoxuan frowned instead. "You believe Me?"
Xu Yinhe's gaze was candid. "You have no need for falsehoods anymore. Just as you said, I am like you. Even if you admitted to it, I would still tolerate it for the greater picture."
Li Yaoxuan was silent for several breaths before speaking slowly, "It was too fast..."
Xu Yinhe raised a brow.
Reminiscence surfaced in Li Yaoxuan's eyes. "I knew your attitude toward blood kin, so every scheme had to be approached with utmost caution—with Xu Changtian, and with Xu Chang'an alike. But that time, the sects struck with ruthless decisiveness. Barely a day after the intelligence arrived, Xu Chang'an was assassinated."
The meaning was clear: he had known some details in advance, but had not intervened.
Beneath his wide sleeves, Xu Yinhe's fingertips trembled faintly. "Those final words were unnecessary."
"They were not." Li Yaoxuan smiled and shook his head. He took a deep breath, looking toward Di'an, his tone wistful. "Holding words back always leaves one feeling unsettled. Nearing death, besides grand affairs of state, I find Myself thinking of trifles.
"Xu Yinhe, tell Me... having walked this far together, is there greater affection between the two of us, or greater hatred?"
"..."
Xu Yinhe remained silent, with no intention of answering.
He knew him too well. Li Yaoxuan had asked merely to answer it himself; he had never expected a reply.
And what followed unfolded just as Xu Yinhe anticipated.
"I have thought it over, and none of that matters anymore. Between you and Me, there must ultimately be an end."
With a casual swing of the edgeless heavy sword, Li Yaoxuan kicked up a gust of astral wind that ruffled both their robes. Then, with a dull thud, the tip crashed into the ground. A boundless force rippled outward, instantly tearing the earth apart.
"Enough. Having said so much, you surely grasp My meaning. I do not wish to see Emperor and Chancellor tear each other apart, yet neither do I wish to see the imperial power overthrown after My passing."
Xu Yinhe glanced at the fresh trench carved by the heavy sword.
Several li long,
it possessed less than half the power of Ran Jianli's strike.
Yet this had merely been a casual wave from the Emperor.
The meaning was already clear.
Li Yaoxuan might not be able to kill Xu Yinhe himself, but he could ensure that the thing in the heavens killed him.
Speechless in his heart, Xu Yinhe lowered his eyes. "Your subject does not understand."
Li Yaoxuan fell silent for a moment. The hand gripping the heavy sword trembled slightly, the wrinkles on his face seeming to deepen as he murmured in a raspy voice:
"You do not understand...
"Why can you not understand...
"We have struggled so hard to reach this point. All it takes is dispersing your third son's cultivation, and Emperor and Chancellor can keep walking forward... The great affairs of the world, hundreds of millions of common folk, an ideal of a century—simply because he is your blood kin, you refuse to understand?!"
At this, Li Yaoxuan suppressed some surging emotion, speaking with urgency: "Xu Yinhe, I permit you to live—to live and see the future we both desired in my stead. Is that acceptable?"
"..."
Yet after his words fell, silence remained.
The standoff stretched on, second by second.
Clang!
The edgeless heavy sword plunged into the earth.
Looking thoroughly exhausted, Li Yaoxuan hunched his back and turned away. He looked up at the radiant morning sun in the sky, smiling, his voice sounding as though drained of all strength:
"Chancellor, the long night of Great Yan draws near, yet I am weary. You... return to the capital and prepare well."
Chapter 738