"The future?"
The cold wave sweeping from the Far North had rolled all the way from the imperial mausoleum to Di'an. Shielded by the palace's various defensive arrays, little snow fell upon Nine Dragons Peak within the Palace City. Though the mountain woods were brushed with a light frost of white, the master and servant making their way up through the trees could still feel the texture of the soil beneath every step. Hearing his master's question, the purple-robed eunuch murmured softly in surprise, looking up.
The young man in python robes, a longbow slung across his back, did not turn around. His starry eyes gazed dark and fathomless toward the mountain summit. As he walked, he asked softly, "Could it be that you have never thought of your own future?"
The purple-robed eunuch fell silent for a moment before replying in a low voice, "I used to, in the past."
"Tell me."
"Lurking undercover among the sects, life was constantly hanging by a thread. I always wondered when I might return to Your Highness's side. That was likely the future this servant wished for back then."
"Heh."
The python-robed youth glanced back over his shoulder at the senior attendant following him. The corner of his mouth curved noncommittally, but not a shred of amusement reached his vacant eyes.
Seeing this, the purple-clad eunuch hurried to bow his head. "Your Highness, every word I speak comes from the heart—"
"I know."
The young man cut him off and turned back around, his tone somber. "Back then, arranging your escape through a feigned death was a desperate measure. I had no leverage left to hold you. After leaving the palace, you had countless chances to simply walk away, yet you ultimately returned. Whether out of loyalty or some personal desire, this prince is truly grateful to you. That is why I ask what kind of future you want."
The purple-clad eunuch's eyes flickered, and he answered hesitantly, "That past future of mine was only just realized. With Your Highness asking now, this servant truly finds himself at a loss for words..."
Strolling forward, the young man held out a hand to catch a pristine snowflake drifting from the sky, watching it melt upon his palm.
"...Then you are quite like me.
"In the past, I thought only of how to climb higher, how to seize greater authority, and how to ascend that throne to prove myself. Now that it is truly accomplished, I find myself somewhat at a loss.
"Attendant,
"you, I, and indeed all of Great Yan require a brand-new future."
The purple-robed eunuch remained silent for a few breaths before lowering his head. "Yes, Your Highness."
Gazing at the approaching summit of Nine Dragons Peak, the python-robed youth smiled faintly.
"A story can conclude at its most beautiful moment, but a life cannot. You are unlike the attendants of other imperial scions; you have witnessed the splendor of the world outside. Think carefully about what kind of future you desire. Whether you wish to restore your manhood, marry and raise children, enter officialdom to govern a province, or remain at my side in service, this prince can grant it all."
The eunuch grew anxious at his words and pleaded, "Your Highness, this servant—"
"I am serious."
The python-robed young man stopped in his tracks, his dark, impassive pupils locking onto the eyes of the attendant behind him. "Imperial Father disgusts me. I will not become the kind of man he was."
At that point,
his gaze drifted past the purple-clad eunuch down toward the mountain trail they had ascended, murmuring softly, "You have aided me greatly along this path. Consider this choice my gratitude to you."
"......"
The eunuch lapsed into silence.
The young man looked at him no longer, continuing his ascent to the summit in silence.
Neither spoke another word along the way.
The snowfall grew heavier, until the white covering the ground completely masked the texture of the soil.
And at last, the road to the summit reached its end.
The youth bearing the longbow emerged slowly from the woods, shaking free the dusting of snow that covered him, and stepped onto the open clearing where one could look down upon all smaller mountains.
Some were born standing here, while others exhausted an entire lifetime and sacrificed everything merely to reach this place.
Stepping silently through the snow, the eunuch stared at the figure ahead and called out softly, "Your Highness, this subject still wishes to follow you to behold the future you desire."
"The future I desire?"
The high wind whipped up accumulated snow, tossing the black cloak embroidered with python patterns into the air. Standing at the cliff's edge atop the summit, the young man slowly unslung the longbow from his back, looking down as his fingers traced the taut bowstring.
In the stillness,
arcs of lightning flickered along the summit, a vast qi dynamic converging as the array patterns running through the mountain beneath his feet stirred into motion.
At the center of that storm, the python-robed young man gave a quiet chuckle.
"Very well. Once this is done, this prince grants you leave to accompany me to Marquis Wucheng's Manor to kill someone.
"However..."
As he spoke,
Li Zhaoyuan gently drew back the bowstring, aiming across the distant sky toward the Great Yan Imperial Mausoleum.
"Before that... the story of the past must also come to an end."
***
The Great Yan Imperial Mausoleum.
Hearing what his old friend was willing to sacrifice his life to protect, Li Yaoxuan lifted his gaze to the pale canopy of the sky. He seemed to see shadows of the past, yet in the end he lowered his eyes and shook his head, remarking softly:
"'The future' is too vast a word—so vast that we no longer have the time to write it upon this land. Chancellor, that word belongs at the beginning of a story, not at its curtain call."
"I know."
Xu Yinhe spoke with utter calm, as though he were recounting someone else's tale. "Once, I was like you, hoping to shoulder everything myself and fulfill every duty. But each generation bears its own responsibilities. Even if our story is drawing to a close, the next will take our place, pressing forward wave upon wave, generation after generation."
"So you are paving the way for the beginning of the next story?"
"Yes."
"Hmph."
Li Yaoxuan let out a cold snort, his eyes tinged with helplessness. "Saying so much, waiting for so long—is this what you meant to convey? That Zhen should grant you time to pave the way for the future?"
Xu Yinhe answered once more with silence.
Li Yaoxuan did not speak either, only letting out a trembling, quiet laugh.
"Xu Yinhe, have you ever considered one question? The future each person desires is different. Where this path you pave leads... is it truly the future Zhen wants?"
"At the very least, it was what you wanted back then."
"......"
Li Yaoxuan froze, opening his mouth as if to say something, but his throat seized as though choked.
The wind and snow buried the dry bones that harbored those ideals, yet when the wind blew, they were revealed once more, as dazzling as they had been at the very start.
Yet the snowfall from the sky remained relentless.
Those long-dead bones were ultimately swallowed by the drifting snow.
Li Yaoxuan took a deep breath and offered a wretched smile.
"Yes... it was indeed what Zhen wanted back then.
"'A world of prosperity, ruled by the capable.'
"Yet people change. That future is no longer the one Zhen desires."
"......"
The look Xu Yinhe gave Li Yaoxuan could not be called disappointment, but it carried an intricate, tangled complexity.
Li Yaoxuan avoided his eyes, turning his head to look at the vast expanse of sky veiled in snow clouds, snow staining his imperial dragon cloak. He murmured,
"In truth, Zhen nearly went with you to the Sword Sect just now, but in the end, Zhen held back. You pave the way for the future you want, and Zhen must also pave the way for the future Zhen wants... Zhen cannot accept your Prime Minister's Manor devouring Hongnong. If the venue were different, if your Xu family's four hundred thousand elite troops were not stationed north of Hongnong, perhaps before dying Zhen could have stood side by side with you once more.
"Chancellor...
"Zhen truly cannot bear to use Zhen's own life to pave the way for the future of your Xu family."
Looking at the man who had accompanied him through an entire lifetime, Xu Yinhe did not echo any of his words. He simply said,
"You are mistaken."
"Mistaken?" Li Yaoxuan turned back.
Xu Yinhe brought his palms together and rested them on the stone table before him, the temples of the once-young man long since touched with strands of white.
"I know your stance, and I know your hesitation all these years. That is why I never thought to have you sacrifice your life to pave the way for our past ideals. Rather, I wish to use both your life and mine to pave a shared path for our ideals, different though they have become."
"Fine words—"
"The four hundred thousand troops of the Black Scale Army north of Hongnong began their gradual withdrawal a month ago."
"......"
Having his words cut short plunged Li Yaoxuan into silence once more. He looked at the man before him with doubt and disbelief.
With his companion nearing his end,
Xu Yinhe drew from his Sumeru ring the Heavenly Transmission crystal that represented the absolute secrets of the Prime Minister's Manor.
He pushed it toward him.
For the first time, his calm voice carried the trace of a smile.
"Your Majesty,
"the ride of iron cavalry across Jiangnan that you failed to make—I have made it in your stead."
Chapter 787