After Mr. Qi took his leave, the heavens began to weep once more.
With the human voices gone, only the crackle of firewood broke the stillness of the room. A soft drizzle seeped through the sandalwood lattice. Wrapped in a fur blanket, Li Junqing reclined alone in a lounge chair beside the hearth, his eyes half-closed as he gazed at the cityscape beyond the window. Clasped in his hand was the jade command token Mr. Qi had left behind.
Within Hanxuan City, pedestrians came and went through tightly packed streets, where oiled-paper umbrellas of every hue wove among the alleys. At the docks overlooking the sea, merchant ships and colossal vessels bustled in an unbroken stream.
As one of the greatest cities in the three northern provinces, this sprawling metropolis was undeniably fortunate.
The cold wave from the north had devastated many lands, and the imperial army's northward march had battered countless regions, yet this port city had survived both natural calamity and human strife remarkably unscathed.
Blessed by the sea's warm current, even during the calamity years prior—when frost and ice had locked the realm for thirty thousand li—this massive port city had never once ground to a halt. By the time Li Zhaoyuan's army reached its gates, the northern sects had already lost their momentum. Thus, after putting up a token resistance, they had surrendered with pristine grace.
Once Li Zhaoyuan took over the civil administration, within mere months of his governance, the military curfew over the port city was lifted, and ordinary maritime commerce resumed.
Upon this scar-ridden expanse of the northern lands, Hanxuan City truly deserved to be hailed as an auspicious sanctuary.
Li Junqing lowered his gaze to the exquisite jade token in his hand, a flicker of complexity surfacing in his dark pupils.
This was the jade tally Li Zhaoyuan had passed to him through Mr. Qi, and the ultimate purpose behind his journey to this port city.
A fleet composed of formation-inscribed warships.
Much like the Central Plains dynasties of the past, Great Yan had no need for maritime bans to consolidate central authority. Consequently, no such edicts had ever been decreed; yet by the same token, the dynasty had never placed much value on the profits of overseas trade.
The Central Plains were opulent and self-sufficient, so naturally, no one cared about the realms beyond the seas.
As a result, even though the scale of maritime transport within Great Yan could rival its land, river, and aerial routes, the Great Yan Navy remained laughably derelict. After all, Great Yan's shipping existed purely to serve the internal economic cycle, with sea routes confined to coastal waters. Employing high-tier cultivators for patrols and escorts was vastly more cost-effective than maintaining a standing naval force.
This had directly reduced Great Yan's maritime instrument of force—a branch of the military that nonetheless bore the empire's name—to an appalling state of neglect at court. Not only did it owe no direct allegiance to the Emperor, nor did it fall under the Ministry of War; rather, it was merely a local garrison subordinated to the Maritime Trade Bureau under the Ministry of Revenue. Last year, when the Imperial Guard embarked on an expedition to Dongying, they had already stripped the dynasty of every last formation-inscribed warship it possessed.
Thus, to assemble a fleet of his own, Li Junqing had approached countless people and leveraged endless connections, only to hit a wall at every turn.
Neither the imperial family nor the Prime Minister's Manor had a single combat-ready warship available for him to purchase. The sects, on the other hand, did. Overseas trade might be insignificant to Great Yan as a whole, but to an individual sect, the profits remained exceedingly lucrative.
The trouble was that no sect would ever sell him the very foundation of their existence—unless he went to his second elder brother, Li Zhaoyuan.
In the court's feast of carving up the three northern provinces, the Chancellor's Manor had focused primarily on seizing key industrial centers to sustain future war efforts. The imperial family, acting on Li Yaoxuan's instructions, had instead claimed the rare-earth spirit mines and vital transit arteries to keep any potential rebellion by the Chancellor's Manor in check.
In other words, the vast majority of the northern sects' warships had fallen into Li Zhaoyuan's hands.
After weighing his options, Li Junqing had abandoned the idea and prepared to cross the ocean on merchant vessels. Yet precisely at that juncture, his imperial brother had taken the initiative to seek him out and propose an exchange:
Seven formation-inscribed warships of the northern sects in return for the command of the Imperial Shadow Guard in Li Junqing's hands.
There were no free handouts in this world. Li Junqing naturally saw through his second brother's intentions.
They amounted to nothing more than two objectives.
First, to stop him from stalling and get him to clear out quickly, so he would no longer pose any threat to Li Zhaoyuan's claim to the throne.
Second, to establish a foothold and lay pieces in Dongying.
A grandiose ambition, yet one befitting an aspiring sovereign of the world.
And so he had agreed.
Both future masters of Great Yan's court wished to place bets on him. Whoever won in the end, it seemed he would enjoy a profound sense of involvement.
As these thoughts drifted through his mind, Li Junqing watched his reflections dance alongside the flickering hearth fire.
Throughout the days spent waiting to set sail, memories and thoughts of this land had swirled endlessly through his mind.
Yet now, the time had truly come for him to depart.
Outside the warm pavilion, the winter rain fell bleak and cold.
Curled by the hearth, watching the scenery and listening to the patter of rain, drowsiness welled up within the comfortable ambiance. But just as Li Junqing drifted toward sleep amidst his tangled emotions, an ill-timed knock echoed from the door.
*Knock, knock, knock.*
"......"
His reverie shattered, Li Junqing slowly opened his heavy eyelids and sighed.
"Enter."
The visitor was an effeminate man dressed in coarse hemp garments. Upon seeing Li Junqing, he immediately adopted a martial greeting, kneeling in supplication.
"Third Young Master, this humble one has an urgent matter to report..."
"Either call me Your Highness, or drop the 'Third' from Young Master."
"Uh... Your Highness, this servant just received word that at the Dao Alliance Grand Gathering..."
"The Imperial Shadow Guard already notified me of that."
"......" Eunuch Hou stood frozen.
After a moment of silence, Eunuch Hou ventured hesitantly, "But Your Highness, haven't you already surrendered command of the Imperial Shadow Guard to the Second Prince?"
Li Junqing looked at his senior attendant, crossed his legs, and countered, "Then where did you learn of this news?"
Eunuch Hou fell silent for a heartbeat before replying honestly, "While traveling the realm with Your Highness, I made friends with several high-ranking sect elders. They sent word specifically out of regard for old ties."
Hearing this, Li Junqing rose and walked over to the wine cabinet in the pavilion. Taking down a jar of fine wine, his back turned as he poured, he murmured softly, "If even people from the sects can remember old ties, is it so strange that a few commanders of the Imperial Shadow Guard, grateful to me for securing them a wise master, would report the matter to me?"
What had transpired at the Dao Alliance Grand Gathering was no small affair, but it was hardly an impenetrable secret either. Sooner or later, word would spread among the realm's nobility, so why not use the intelligence to sell a favor?
If the colossal ship of the Sect Alliance ultimately sank, those who had sent the message might still jump ship through these lingering ties.
The Imperial Shadow Guard was doing the very same.
The intelligence was of no critical consequence anyway; why not gamble it for a sliver of hope to abandon ship in the future?
Eunuch Hou knocked his forehead heavily against the floor. "Your Highness speaks truly. This servant was short-sighted."
Wrapped in his fur-lined robe, wine jar in one hand and porcelain cup in the other, Li Junqing leaned against the window frame. He took a sip and asked languidly, "Get up. I've grown used to your foolishness over all these years anyway. I've received the jade tally. How are the preparations for the formation-inscribed iron warships coming along?"
A look of shame crossed Eunuch Hou's face. Rising slowly, he bowed with hands clasped. "Six have already been assembled. The final formation-inscribed warship has set sail from Minghai Port. In at most five days, or as few as three, it will arrive at Hanxuan Port."
"Is that so?"
Li Junqing turned his gaze out the window.
His line of sight swept past the city toward the boundless horizon of the sea.
Countless colossal vessels were anchored offshore, awaiting clearance to enter port. Among them, six massive warships stood out with arresting prominence.
After staring at them for a few breaths, a shadow of melancholy flickered across Li Junqing's eyes. Out of nowhere, he asked, "Eunuch Hou, do you also think I am cold-hearted by nature?"
*Thud!*
Before the words had even faded, Eunuch Hou dropped straight to his knees, kowtowing as he spoke. "Your Highness, this servant would never—"
Seeing this, Li Junqing grew inexplicably irritated and barked, "I told you, going to Dongying means forsaking my identity as an imperial prince of Great Yan! You and I are no longer lord and vassal, but employer and employee. Can you fucking stop kneeling at every turn?"
Eunuch Hou shuddered under the reprimand. After a few beats of silence, he spoke hesitantly, shifting how he addressed himself once more: "Then this humble one shall take the liberty to speak plainly."
"Speak."
"You are by no means a cold-hearted man, Young Master."
Keeping his eyes lowered, Eunuch Hou's voice steadied as he summarized quickly, "The Emperor's stance is already plain to see; the Crown Prince's deposition is a foregone conclusion. Bridging the gap between the Imperial Shadow Guard commanders and the Second Prince in exchange for the formation-inscribed warships was merely an act of reading the times."
Li Junqing quietly poured himself another cup, downed it, and sighed. "You certainly know how to talk. But outwardly I handed the Imperial Shadow Guard to my eldest brother, while privately reaching a deal with Li Zhaoyuan. No matter how you slice it, I screwed him over..."
Eunuch Hou kept his head bowed. "Young Master, forgive this humble one's bluntness, but have you forgotten how the Crown Prince once treated you?"
Li Junqing fell silent for a short while, murmuring faintly, "Yet in the end, he wanted to entrust the mantle of Crown Prince to me, his younger brother."
"Belated remorse holds no meaning whatsoever."
"......"
A heavy silence descended. Li Junqing tipped the jar back and drank deeply, then tossed it aside and walked toward the pavilion door. As he brushed past Eunuch Hou, he patted the attendant gently on the shoulder.
"It seems this prince has grown overly sentimental. Stand up; there is no need to follow. I wish to inspect those warships by myself. From now on, that place may very well be my home... Heh."
With that, Li Junqing paused slightly, looking up toward the ceiling as if seeing through the eaves to the ink-black sky beyond, before vanishing from the pavilion in an instant.
"......"
The closer his departure drew, the more turbulent His Highness's thoughts became.
Yet it made sense. With ambitions such as his, departing the stage in such a desolate manner would inevitably leave a lingering trace of grievance.
After kneeling for a few more breaths, Eunuch Hou rose with unhurried grace. Walking softly to the window, he began tidying the furnishings His Highness had displaced, rearranging them according to his master's habits.
A senior attendant prepared by the imperial clan for a prince was forever his most trusted and intimate confidant; not even an empress sharing the imperial bed could rival a bond forged from childhood.
As such, he, Hou Xinghao, was perhaps the one person in this world who best understood His Highness's true nature.
His earlier answer had been no hollow flattery.
His Highness called himself cold-hearted, but if he were truly cold-hearted, why would he have ever asked such a question?
Reality was often the exact opposite of what appeared on the surface.
The Third Prince's emotions had always burned as fiercely as fire.
Yet he was simply too intelligent—so intelligent that, from an early age, he could see through everyone else's motives, and had learned to suppress his own feelings.
Still, human beings inevitably had moments when their guard slipped.
As his senior attendant, Eunuch Hou had witnessed those emotions with complete clarity.
After meeting with the Emperor, His Highness would sigh.
After discussing matters with the Crown Prince, His Highness would mock himself.
After debating the Dao with Xu Changtian, His Highness would laughingly complain about the third young master of the Prime Minister's Manor behaving like a scoundrel, yet whenever the rest of the Chancellor's household was mentioned, His Highness would abruptly fall silent.
It was an emotion named desolation.
Tucking away the fur blanket, stoking the hearth with fresh wood, and replacing the emptied wine jar, Eunuch Hou turned slowly toward the view outside the window that His Highness had just been gazing upon, letting out a soft sigh.
Deep down, the Third Prince truly wanted to stay, but lamentably, in all of vast Great Yan, there was not a single reason that could steel his resolve to remain.
His thoughts wandering, Eunuch Hou subconsciously glanced in the direction of Di'an.
If only the Emperor were not so cold-blooded;
If only the Empress could care a little less for ritual propriety and offer a little more warmth and tenderness;
If only the Crown Prince had been willing to place a fraction more trust in him, His Highness would never have chosen to leave Great Yan.
Even if it meant being smashed to pieces, his life and Dao utterly extinguished, he would never have left.
Alas, fate had other designs.
Chapter 757