Li Yaoxuan's death from illness drew a definitive period to the grand resurgence known as the Rule of Jiajing. Yet even if a man had managed to sway the course of history, the world would not grind to a halt on account of his departure.
The morning sun still rose in the east and set in the west. Di'an's nights remained as lavish and decadent as ever, while across the lands of Jiangnan, battle cries and piles of corpses still spread across mountains and choked the valleys.
The Imperial Mausoleum, where the Great Abyss of Heavenly Punishment now lay, was swiftly cordoned off by the Imperial Guard. Those privy to the truth concealed the news of the reigning Emperor's demise, but no wall in the world was entirely airtight; the slightest leaks of clues were enough to send rumors and speculations running rampant through the highest echelons of Great Yan's nobility.
Azure mountains shouldered the snow, casting a brilliant glow to the southeast.
On the second day after Emperor Jiajing's passing, as the first rays of the morning sun rose, the deep and secluded Eastern Palace welcomed its first visitor since changing masters—a guest who had sent no calling card in advance, yet whom no one dared obstruct.
When the purple-robed eunuch noticed him, he was already standing before the gates of the Crown Prince's bedchamber. Graying hair framed his temples, and he wore a black-patterned dragon robe that proclaimed his identity. The morning dawn cascading over heaven and earth rimmed his figure in gold, like a coronation.
The purple-robed eunuch moved instinctively to block him, but as that pair of raptor-like black eyes glanced his way, his outstretched hand began to tremble uncontrollably. Yet loyalty to the new sovereign still compelled him to hold his hand firmly before the man, and he whispered with all his might:
"...Lord Chancellor, His Highness and the Crown Princess are still resting."
"..."
Xu Yinhe silently withdrew his gaze. Saying nothing, he looked toward the grand palace doors, his gaze seemingly piercing through everything.
Against the vermilion palace walls, a gentle breeze swept up swirls of snow mist.
Presently,
a slightly weary voice drifted from within:
"Insolent fool. Invite Duke Xu inside."
As the residence of Great Yan's future monarch, the bedchamber of the Eastern Palace was divided into inner and outer quarters. This was not Xu Yinhe's first time stepping into this dwelling. In his youth, as Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince, he had entered this place countless times to instruct that now-deposed pupil. Now that a new Crown Prince had been established, every trace of Li Yucheng's existence in this exquisite pavilion had been wiped clean overnight—a grand spectacle of the tea growing cold the moment the guest departs.
Tap.
Tap.
Li Zhaoyuan had not added any furnishings to the outer chamber of the palace. Footsteps echoed emptily across the vast hall as Xu Yinhe followed the path in his memory toward the inner chamber.
As the towering doors were pushed open by a wave of qi, a scent of burning herbs mingled with medicinal aroma and blood washed over him.
The inner chamber was somewhat dim and likewise bereft of any furniture. Looking along the light, Great Yan's new monarch stood with his back to the door before the room's sole stone platform. Countless medicine jars floated beside him as his hands worked over something upon it, while the Crown Princess, who had only been escorted into the Palace City yesterday, lay atop the stone platform with breath as faint as silk.
"I must ask Duke Xu to wait a moment."
Li Zhaoyuan turned his gaze halfway toward the figure at the doorway. Gloomy light fell upon his handsome profile, where freshly splattered blood was trickling down slowly.
Faced with this brutal spectacle of slaying the consort, Xu Yinhe's eyes remained completely unperturbed, granting tacit consent through his silence.
In the quiet,
the rustling sounds of flesh intertwining with Source Qi finally settled.
Li Zhaoyuan unhurriedly produced a brocade handkerchief and wiped the still-warm blood from his fingertips and cheek.
"You arrived sooner than I anticipated."
Xu Yinhe's dark eyes were deep as the sea as he said,
"You are not surprised that I am still alive."
Li Zhaoyuan fell silent for a moment before saying,
"To say I am not surprised would certainly be a lie. After all, that heavenly punishment was triggered by my own hand. But in all things, one must always prepare for both possibilities."
As he spoke,
Li Zhaoyuan turned around and leaned back against the blood-slicked stone platform, asking in a slow voice:
"I wonder how Duke Xu finds the realm beyond the Saint Realm?"
Xu Yinhe walked slowly into the hall, each step falling as though struck against the drumbeats of heaven and earth.
"It seems Wen Xinyun told you far more than I imagined."
Li Zhaoyuan did not deny his collusion with the Sect Alliance. He merely smiled and said,
"She wished to hand me a blade—or rather, wished for me to become the blade that would prune away the Emperor and Chancellor. Naturally, she had to pay a price.
"She once told me that the heavenly punishment is an inescapable cycle. The only ones who can survive beneath it are those truly beyond the Saint Realm, yet the heavenly punishment descends at the very moment one is at their weakest while breaking through beyond the Saint Realm."
At this,
a trace of mockery surfaced in Li Zhaoyuan's eyes.
"Let me guess: for you to arrive in Di'an alive, you must have broken through beyond the Saint Realm. Imperial Father helped you before his death, did he not?"
Xu Yinhe fell silent for a few breaths before speaking slowly:
"The sword strike he unleashed before his end wounded that thing. The power of the heavenly punishment was greatly diminished."
"Just as I thought."
A flash of realization crossed Li Zhaoyuan's eyes. He drew a booklet from his Sumeru ring and tossed it onto the stone platform where Mu Zhiyun lay supine. Paying no heed to the blood soaking into the title page, he merely chuckled:
"From the looks of it, Imperial Father was truly gifted by heaven to have actually perfected that sword technique. Who would have thought that a technique meant to slay you would instead become the strike unleashed alongside you against a common foe?"
At the end of his words, Li Zhaoyuan chuckled softly. The smile carried a hint of mockery—as though mocking himself, or perhaps mocking the fickleness of that imperial father of his.
Silence gradually settled over the bedchamber, broken only by the faint rustling of medicinal fluids being channeled into Mu Zhiyun's body.
After who knew how long, Li Zhaoyuan finally spoke in a quiet tone:
"In your eyes, Duke Xu, Imperial Father must have seemed a rather fine man, no? Regardless of the path, at the moment of his demise, he chose his true self; he chose the ideals the two of you once shared. Ha... a heartless tyrant, a hypocrite strict with others yet lenient with himself, actually went and pulled off a deathbed awakening."
"..."
Hearing these words, Xu Yinhe gazed at the new monarch his old friend had chosen. His gaze was complicated; he offered no rebuttal, nor was he able to offer one.
Li Yaoxuan had stayed true to his original ideals, and in doing so, he inevitably betrayed his twilight self—and betrayed the new Great Yan emperor he had forged with his own hands.
Noticing the Prime Minister's gaze, Li Zhaoyuan gradually reined in his smile and spoke in a steady voice:
"You need not look at me so, Chancellor. Regardless of the choice he made in his final moments, I was prepared."
With the conversation reaching the crux, Xu Yinhe turned solemn as well.
"Including now?"
"Including now."
"Then what does Your Highness intend to do?"
As the question fell,
a light breeze ruffled the hems of his robes.
An aura so imposing it was difficult to look upon directly emanated from the graying Prime Minister of Great Yan. The old Emperor was dead; the Prime Minister had become the most powerful person in this world, as well as the world's first existence beyond the Saint Realm today. And at this moment, this question of his in all likelihood determined the life and death of the future monarch.
Confronted by this oppressive aura,
Li Zhaoyuan naturally discerned the meaning behind the words, as well as the threat contained within.
*The old Emperor is gone. As the new Emperor of Great Yan, what kind of future do you desire now?*
Yet Li Zhaoyuan did not answer the question. Instead, he lightly tapped against the stone table and countered:
"Does Duke Xu wish for me to inherit his vision?"
"Naturally."
"Heh."
As if struck by the funniest joke in the world, Li Zhaoyuan chuckled low, pointing back over his shoulder toward the direction of the Jinluan Hall, his calm voice growing progressively heavier:
"Under his coercion, I severed every attachment in this world with my own hands. Under his coercion, I am left with nothing but this desolate, solitary imperial throne. Now, in his final moments, he betrayed me, yet you come here expecting me to inherit his original dying wish! Don't you find that utterly laughable?!"
Having said this,
Li Zhaoyuan looked straight into the Prime Minister's eyes and said, word by word:
"Chancellor, rather than inheriting it, I would much rather destroy it all, consequences be damned!"
"..."
Xu Yinhe did not respond. He watched him quietly, able to see that the emotions the new monarch had suppressed in the deepest recesses of his heart were churning violently, and able to see the surging self-destructive urge flickering in his eyes.
Yet there was no worry in Xu Yinhe's gaze.
Because this was Li Zhaoyuan.
This was the new monarch of Great Yan who had crawled from hell to the mountain peak step by step.
Soon enough,
under Xu Yinhe's watchful eye, Li Zhaoyuan let out a soft, turbid breath and laughed self-deprecatingly:
"If that were my answer, would you kill me?"
"I would. But you will not do that."
"Indeed... I will not."
Sighing softly, Li Zhaoyuan, still leaning back against the stone platform, lowered his eyes. His posture slumped forward slightly, his hands clasped before his lap, his words carrying a faint exhaustion:
"People like us will not—cannot—be swayed by emotion. If only for imperial power, I must inherit Li Yaoxuan's ambition. So please set your mind at ease, Duke Xu. Until the immortal sects and Sect Alliance are thoroughly eradicated, everything will proceed as before."
As he spoke,
Li Zhaoyuan straightened up and stepped aside from the stone platform he had been blocking, revealing the marquis manor's legitimate daughter lying atop it at her last gasp. From inside her skull, he extracted an eerie, pulsing mold.
Then,
staring at Xu Yinhe, he smiled faintly:
"I have given you the answer you sought, Chancellor. It is time we spoke of the other purpose behind your visit—as well as my request of you.
"Please take this and go kill Wen Xinyun.
"In the future I desire, there is no place for the previous generation."
Chapter 790