His downward gaze fixed upon those gem-like, magnificent radiant gold pupils. He wanted to catch a flaw in them, wanted to see that punchable smile vanish from her face, wanted to see this lawless demonic maiden's composure shatter completely.
Yet none of that happened.
Tianye was still smiling, her lips scarlet as blood.
The two of them stood frozen like statues before the magnificent Meridian Gate, so close their breaths were audible to each other.
Tianye slowly raised a slender hand, reaching to brush away the hand clamping her jaw, yet just before the two touched, time seemed suddenly to freeze.
Beneath the sunlight, dust from the gate tower mingled with snow flurries, sweeping past the vermilion steps and rustling down like suspended clouds. Confusion and panic froze across the faces of court officials, both old and young. Iron boots crushed the shattered snow crystals on the ground; the burly elder abruptly gripped the hilt of his cloud-tiger carved saber at his waist, startled by the disturbance behind him.
A wisp of blood-red flame sparked; the smile turned to cold indifference.
*Smack.*
It was the sound of a hand being slapped away.
It seemed just like the scene played out every day in the streets and alleys of Di'an, where a frivolous young master teased an innocent maiden. The difference was that Tianye struck with such immense force that she slapped Xu Yuan's hand flying right off.
*Buzz—*
A biting gale roared out from where their hands met, the blast wave carrying snow mist and blood to plow a gouge across the solid bluestone ground.
Forced upward by the impact, his arm flew high. Piercing agony shot from his wrist into his mind. With a calm gaze, Xu Yuan lifted his eyes to look at his right hand—where neither skin nor flesh remained—and then looked toward the golden-eyed girl before him, whose expression was now filled with fury.
Blood gushed from his severed wrist, staining the bluestone and remaining snow beneath his feet red. Marquis Wucheng and the surrounding generals of the imperial faction drew the sabers at their waists, a glimmer igniting in their resolute, iron-blooded tiger eyes. The military battle array's immense might coalesced in an instant, surging like mountains toppling and seas overturning, as if capable of flipping heaven and earth.
Yet in that brief instant of standoff, a point of cold gleam arrived!
A halberd imbued with boundless power tore through the void, traversing time from the far end of Tian'an Great Street to arrive beneath the Meridian Gate, poised to execute the woman threatening its sovereign. Behind her, the rock-solid vermilion palace wall was instantly gouged into a crater dozens of zhang across and several zhang deep!
Before the vast majority could even react, Zong Qingsheng had crossed several li in the span of a breath. Gripping the halberd, he held it against Tianye, the slightly deflected blade carving a faint red trace across her slender neck:
"Young Master?"
Zong Qingsheng looked at his lord, who stood with his back to him, raising a hand to halt the lethal strike:
"What is the meaning of this?"
Shifting his blood-red eyes, Xu Yuan glanced sideways at him and smiled faintly:
"Thank you, but no need to rush. It was just fooling around."
Zong Qingsheng stared in silence at the Pavilion Master of the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion for a moment, uttered an acknowledgment, put away his halberd, and walked back in the direction he had come:
"Understood."
The sudden turn of events happened so quickly that many people only realized a fight had erupted after seeing the massive crater gouged into the palace wall. Belatedly, a black-robed woman in the Sect Alliance delegation reached to draw her sword, only to be pressed back down by the elder beside her.
Beyond that, most broke into hushed mutterings and chatter.
Gathering his wits, Xu Yuan was about to say something more, only to see Tianye shoot him a cold glare before turning straight toward his black-dragon carriage. She opened the door on her own, then slammed it shut with a *bang*, making the heavy carriage sway.
Seeing this, Xu Yuan gently rubbed his already-regenerated right hand. That crazy woman was truly as willful as ever, as reckless of consequences as ever.
Yet was that killing intent in Tianye's final parting glance?
No.
Thinking about it, Xu Yuan gave a slight shake of his head.
That was not killing intent.
It was naked jealousy.
Li Qingyan had used the vanguard of her army as a brush to pen a love letter across the mountains and rivers of Great Yan, gifting it to him.
Yet prior to that,
had that map of his—marked with the pocket realms of Hongnong and the movements of the Black Scale Army—not also been a love letter from him to her?
As long as the Sect Alliance's Hongnong army was shattered by Li Qingyan, she could return to court carrying that overwhelming momentum, able to cooperate with the Chancellor's Manor without needing to purge the upper ranks of the imperial faction.
It would preserve Li Qingyan's loyalty to the imperial clan's stance while allowing the Emperor and the Chancellor to cooperate once more—neither subservient to the other, carrying on the path of the previous generation.
Yet to achieve this, if either Xu Yuan or Li Qingyan wavered in the slightest, if even a sliver of suspicion entered their hearts and provoked action, the immense internal and external pressures on both the imperial court and the Chancellor's Manor would drag them into eternal damnation.
Tianye was jealous of this extraordinary bond,
jealous of the trust between the two of them.
Her composure had cracked.
Regrettably, she still revealed no fatal flaw.
...
...
...
After the farce came appeasement.
The blame for the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion Master attempting to assassinate the Prince of Han and the Empress failing to mount the Meridian Gate on schedule was pinned squarely on the Sect Alliance delegation. Even though they lacked any motive or sufficient strength to carry out such deeds, Marquis Wucheng stubbornly saddled them with the blame anyway.
It was stiff and unconvincing, but how much political wisdom could one expect from a military commander who had barely attended imperial court a handful of times?
Still, it hardly mattered. As long as the chaos could be temporarily suppressed and time was bought, it was a success. Once the news of Li Qingyan crushing Hongnong arrived, no matter how great the discontent among the ministers of the imperial faction, they would have to shut their mouths.
With the blame cast upon them, Marquis Wucheng and the Commander of the Imperial Guard approached bearing the overwhelming power of the military battle array, preparing to take the Sect Alliance delegation into custody. The delegation surrendered quite simply and directly; personal cultivation truly amounted to nothing before such military array might, leaving them unable even to commit suicide.
Di'an possessed four towering walls reaching into the clouds, layered inward: the outer, inner, imperial, and palace cities. Now that Di'an was divided between north and south, the area outside the Meridian Gate south of the Palace City was the domain of the Black Scale Army.
Xu Yuan naturally intervened in the detention. To give Marquis Wucheng a graceful way out to appease the crowd, he agreed that the Black Scale Army would yield the Imperial City and withdraw south of the Chancellor's Manor, in exchange for two captives of the Sect Alliance from Marquis Wucheng—though theoretically, there was only one.
Because that crazy woman, the Pavilion Master of the Overseeing Heaven Pavilion, had climbed into the black-dragon carriage of her own accord, and furthermore could break through beyond the Saint Realm at any moment. None of the three factions wanted a brawl right now, so the imperial clan had simply dumped this trouble onto Xu Yuan.
The black-robed captive was essentially a bonus.
Yet no sooner had the deal been struck
than the black-robed captive tugged at Xu Yuan's sleeve, pleading in a trembling voice:
"Xu Yuan... c-can you ask for Martial Uncle as well?"
Xu Yuan instinctively wanted to refuse.
Rationally speaking, he had no reason whatsoever to demand Liu Wenzhou.
Liu Wenzhou was the Second Elder of the Sword Sect and the only high-ranking figure in the Sect Alliance delegation who wielded real authority. Leaving him to Marquis Wucheng would give the old general more leverage within the imperial faction and help him better stabilize the various lords of the imperial faction until Li Qingyan returned.
Yet looking into the girl's dark eyes and seeing that cautious, tentative plea, Xu Yuan sighed softly in his heart.
Must wielding supreme power mean being heartless?
Must one hurt those close to oneself even when having room to spare?
If that were truly the case, as the Third Young Master who had always been a dead weight to the Chancellor's Manor, his old man would have executed him long ago to satisfy the masses. After all, the secrets of the Chancellor's Manor he had leaked were far more than one or two, and the trouble he had caused was beyond counting, yet his father had quelled every single instance for him.
Besides leaving behind seeds named 'ideals' in this family, that father had also planted a nursery named 'affection.'
After a brief contemplation, Xu Yuan ultimately granted the girl's plea.
Using the supreme power in his hands, he demanded Liu Wenzhou—a high-ranking figure of the Sect Alliance who had virtually no relation to him—purely because the man was family to the Big Ice Block.
Though dissatisfied upon hearing this additional condition, Marquis Wucheng did not brush off Xu Yuan's face. Treating it as a 'buy two, get one free,' he handed Liu Wenzhou over to the Black Scale Army on the spot.
The allure and the filth of power
gleamed side by side beneath the rising sun before the Meridian Gate.
The incident had concluded, but its repercussions would take time to ferment.
Most of the court officials who had come to observe the coronation ceremony were dismissed. Marquis Wucheng, the Vice Chancellor, and a few other high-ranking imperial faction leaders remained standing before the Meridian Gate conferring on countermeasures. Xu Yuan took his leave first, returning to the Chancellor's faction, preparing to lead the Black Scale Army and the assembled faction members on their return journey.
As for the captives obtained in exchange, they were handled in different ways. After a Black Scale captain confiscated Liu Wenzhou's Sumeru ring, he was placed directly in Qi-locking iron shackles and made to march on foot with the army.
Seeing this, Ran Qingmo also lowered her eyes and walked toward her martial uncle.
She understood the present situation.
This coronation ceremony that summoned the Sect Alliance delegation to observe was merely a grand drama staged for the world by Li Qingyan and him.
Walking up to the captain with her head despondently hung low, Ran Qingmo offered her Sumeru ring while extending her fair wrists.
"..." The Black Scale captain.
Behind his iron visor, the captain's cheek twitched slightly. He silently averted his eyes, mounted his warhorse as if nothing had happened, and rode away without looking back.
Ran Qingmo looked up in confusion at his retreating figure.
"What are you running over there for?"
The familiar voice drifted over from not far behind.
Standing beside the black-dragon carriage, Xu Yuan looked at the silly Big Ice Block, who had been ready to follow protocol blindly, helplessness in his eyes:
"Get in."
"...Oh."
Ran Qingmo blinked, nodded, trotted over, climbed into the carriage, and sat inside staring at him eagerly.
Wheels rolled, hooves clattered crisply.
The Chancellor's faction departed in grand fashion under the eyes of the crowd, while inside the black-dragon carriage, two scents of unprecedented fragrance now lingered.
Xu Yuan stared at the white-dressed girl lying back on the soft divan across from him, legs crossed, the tip of her foot dangling her lotus slipper as she swung it lazily. Light and shadow flickered in his dark eyes.
He had not yet decided how to deal with Tianye.
Ran Qingmo was someone he had protected out of personal feelings, whereas Tianye was a matter of pure necessity.
Leaving aside the Heaven's Will behind her that could descend at any time, Tianye's own cultivation—poised to break through beyond the Saint Realm at a moment's notice—was already more than enough to give him a massive headache.
Marquis Wucheng's earlier speculation had been correct. To guard against Li Qingyan allying with the Sect Alliance, and to counter the imminent descent of 'Heaven's Will', Xu Yuan had secretly withdrawn nearly all the Black Scale Army from across the Capital Region, save for the forces stationed inside Di'an.
Had Li Qingyan chosen the Sect Alliance, unless he gambled everything in a single desperate throw, it would have been impossible for him to withstand the imperial clan's onslaught in Di'an while slaying the 'Heaven's Will' descending upon the mortal world. And had he done so, the Chancellor's Manor's national power would in all likelihood suffer a devastating blow. Thus, he had simply used himself and the Black Scale Army within Di'an as bait, leaving the colossal imperial military battle arrays gathered across the Capital Region to deal with that 'Heaven's Will.'
It was the optimal choice.
Though Heaven's Will descended upon the mortal realm as a calamity, after destroying the Chancellor's Manor, its second target for destruction was self-evident. Any sovereign with even a shred of foresight would never permit an enemy 'powerhouse' who transcended normal bounds to roam freely across the world.
Now that suspicion had been dispelled, Xu Yuan would have to make those withdrawn Black Scale troops run a shuttle run back across the Capital Region.
Yet this undoubtedly required time.
"What are you looking at?"
As the carriage rolled forward without the slightest tremor inside the cabin, Tianye, lying back on the soft divan, suddenly half-opened one golden eye to glance at Xu Yuan.
Xu Yuan stared at her, expressionless:
"Considering whether or not to kill you."
Chapter 809