Chapter 515 – A Crimson Ribbon Stays Its Hand, The Jade Palace Burns, An Empress Walking Away - Part 1

Chapter 515 – A Crimson Ribbon Stays Its Hand, The Jade Palace Burns, An Empress Walking Away - Part 1

The night was dark, the moon casting its pale light over the palace.

Clad in dragon robes, the young Emperor hurried through the long, twisting corridors, sword in hand, before bursting into the Dragon Roar Hall.

Like a man drowning, he slammed the doors shut, locked them, and stumbled toward a small round mechanism. His trembling fingers clutched it, twisting, turning, again and again, until at last the hidden chamber opened.

He darted inside. Only when his eyes landed on the old swallow kite lying upon the table did he finally breathe again. Relief washed over him. It was as though he had seized hold of his anchor at last.

The panic and dread faded from his face, replaced by a sudden, crystalline clarity.

That battered kite had always been his pillar of strength. It was this fragile thing that had given Ji Hu the courage to endure until now.

No matter what poisonous rumors spread outside about his mother and the Marquis of Freedom, no matter how many courtiers and common folk mocked him in secret, he remained unmoved, sometimes even quietly comforted. For he was certain that his father still existed, and that his mother in his heart was still that graceful, dignified woman who understood the greater good.

Since such a woman had once called that man her false husband, there could be only one explanation. The false husband was none other than his father, who had stepped into the shadows for reasons unknown.

As for how it was done...Ji Hu, as emperor, knew well the old tricks the Lotus Cult once employed, the so-called Yin makeup.

Thus everything could be explained.

His father placed great expectations upon him. He could not disappoint.

To Ji Hu, these years had been painted in cold hues, merciless, indifferent, and steeped in blood and death.

And yet, the warmest memories of his life were still of that man running through the streets of Bright Moon Prefecture with him on his back.

The sweetest taste he had ever known was the candy that man had bought him from a street vendor.

The man had held out the treat to his lips with the warmest smile in the world and said, “Hu’er, try it.”

He had stuck out his little tongue, licking, then sucking greedily at the man’s fingertips, waving his hands with childish delight as he cried, “Delicious! Father, I want more!”

The most unforgettable days of his life were still with that man.

He remembered him holding the swallow kite high into the sky, then lifting him onto his shoulders, pressing the string into his small fingers, and telling him:

“Without the string, the kite won’t soar higher, it’ll plummet straight down. Without laws and order, the people won’t live in peace, they’ll see their families ruined. Self-discipline feels like restraint, but it is what makes you grow stronger.”

A flood of memories surged through Ji Hu’s mind.

He caressed the old kite with gentle fingers, then slowly tightened his grip. A murmur escaped his lips, and a faint smile softened his scarred face:

“Strive without ceasing... Since Mother intends to swallow up Yan and Zhao, it must be with Father’s permission. If so, then I will follow their lead. They must have their reasons. Father... is never wrong.” He let out a long breath. His twisted face seemed almost at ease.

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

But in the next instant, something struck him as wrong.

Snatching up the kite, he turned it over and over in his hands. The words were gone, vanished.

Like a madman, he stared again and again, but no matter how he searched, those words had disappeared.

His expression turned to ice. Suddenly, he tightened his grip on the sword, stepped out of the hidden chamber, and gave a soft clap of his hands.

From the distant shadows came a ripple, as though something black and liquid stirred. Moments later, a red-clad figure appeared before him—the little ghost, Fish Guts, lips curling as he licked them, hunger for blood and slaughter burning in his eyes.

“Your Majesty,” he whispered, voice quivering with excitement, “have you made your decision?”

Ji Hu’s reply was flat, almost indifferent, “Stay by my side. Protect me.” Then he strode outside, summoned every maidservant of the Dragon Roar Hall, and with sword drawn, demanded coldly, “Which of you entered my bedchamber today?”

The maids froze like cicadas in winter, too terrified to breathe.

He raised his sword higher.

Just as he was about to strike, two elderly maids threw themselves forward, trembling on their knees.

“Your Majesty, w-we entered to clean...”

Ji Hu recognized them. These two had served at his side for years, faithful and dutiful, women he had trusted more than most. Yet now, without hesitation, he ordered his trusted guards to drag them off for interrogation.

The screams came quickly.

He sat motionless in the shadows behind a folding screen, his face unreadable, waiting for the reports.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Time stretched on. Stars melted across the heavens, the moon slanted west.

Under torment, the two women confessed nothing about entering the hidden chamber. They did not even know it existed. What they did reveal, in pitiful detail, was every petty sin of palace life, skimming money, bullying younger maids, trivial misdeeds.

Ji Hu listened, bored. He was about to rise and search for other suspects when suddenly he stopped, sitting back down.

For the two half-conscious maids had begun rambling about events from long ago, spilling everything they remembered.

One memory in particular struck like a dagger. Ten years earlier, after returning from the Jade Heart Pool, Ji Hu had collapsed with fever, raving like a madman. His lips had whispered again and again, “The kite... the swallow kite...”

Panicked, the two women had rushed to the streets, bought a swallow kite, and placed it by his bedside.

The moment he saw it, he had calmed. His fever broke, and he came back to himself.

Ji Hu’s sword flashed from its sheath. He spun, ready to kick down the screen and cut the two women to pieces.

But he stopped. Somehow, he forced the blade back down.

Instead, he barked orders. Search the imperial physicians. Search the scribes who kept the Emperor’s daily records. Search the kite-sellers in the capital. Search everyone.

The palace erupted into motion. Shadows raced through corridors, orders passing from hand to hand. Messengers hurried between the inner palace and the outer city, feet striking the ground like heavy notes pressed on a piano, together forming a dark symphony of conspiracy.

Two hours later, reports came pouring in.

The official records stated, “The Emperor suffers from headaches. The Emperor at times experiences hallucinations.”

Ji Hu skimmed through them. Indeed, many of the prescribed medicines were ones he had taken. And yes, he had suffered unbearable headaches.

But the so-called

hallucinations

? In his own memory, those had been real events.

Now, reading the words, a chill of dread and doubt coiled deep in his chest.

The imperial physicians recalled clearly, Ten years ago, the boy Emperor had returned from the Jade Heart Pool with splitting headaches. And yes, they too mentioned the incident of the maids buying a swallow kite.

Countless reports now lay before Ji Hu, all pointing to the same conclusion.

Suddenly, he leapt to his feet, sword flailing wildly as he roared, “Lies! All lies! You’re deceiving me! Every word, false!”

But the physicians, the scribes, the maids, the guards, all dropped to their knees, trembling, pleading in unison, “Your Majesty, please be calm!”

Ji Hu staggered as he swung his blade, then lost his balance and fell heavily to the ground. Panting, he dragged himself up again and pulled a porcelain vial from his robe. He tipped it carefully, letting a drop of searing red liquid fall out, fourth rank blood, the gift Gao Kaiping had left him.

Gao Kaiping had told him that if the need arose, he could use the blood to test those around him; it would reveal whether they were true humans, or demons wearing flesh.

Ji Hu dipped his fingertip into the hot blood and pressed it against the foreheads of those kneeling before him, one by one.

He waited. He longed for something monstrous to reveal itself. Nothing. Every single one of them remained ordinary.

Disappointed, Ji Hu clapped his hands weakly, signaling for them all to withdraw.

In an instant, the hall emptied.

He sat alone, in the silence before dawn.

The moment had come. He had to decide. Had the swallow kite bearing his father’s words been nothing but a hallucination?

If not, then how could it be that not a single maid, physician, or scribe had been swayed? Especially when this part of the palace was under his mother’s control, and many of these very people had been placed there by her own hand.

Unless...unless they were not truly themselves at all, but had been replaced.

But no, the fourth rank blood had just proven otherwise.

Faced with such evidence, Ji Hu could think of no other explanation.

“Fish Guts.” His voice broke the silence.

The red-clad specter appeared.

“Where is my mother?” Ji Hu demanded.

“In the palace,” Fish Guts answered with a sly smile. “The Jade Heart Pool has been remade into the Jade Palace. That’s where she dwells.”

“Bring her to me,” Ji Hu said.

Fish Guts hesitated. “The Empress Dowager has moved the imperial guard. She is surrounded by her shadows. And the Jade Palace itself is riddled with secret passages. I fear—”

“Then take Imperial Tutor Gao. Take Gao Kaiping. Join forces. Whatever it takes, bring her to me alive! There are questions I will ask her face-to-face!”

Fish Guts bowed low. “As you command.”

His figure dissolved into mocking laughter and vanished into the dark.

The first light of dawn pierced the horizon, spilling into the depths of the palace. Almost at once, the air filled with uproar.

Flames rose high.

The clash of steel, the thunder of hooves, the screams of battle shook the walls.

Ji Hu sat slumped on the stone steps of the Dragon Roar Hall, his spirit sagging.

One by one, his confidants returned to him, bringing tidings from the chaos outside.

Gao Kaiping, who should have been leading the Flying Bear Army south against the barbarians, had instead marched back into the Jade Capital. He and his men now stormed the Jade Palace, locked in deadly struggle against the imperial guards.

The imperial guards were the Empress Dowager’s creation, her private soldiers, lavishly equipped and fiercely loyal. They were no easy foe.

But their opponent was Gao Kaiping and the Flying Bear Army. Against them, even the imperial guards faltered.

From the shadows, corpses were dragged out and tossed aside. Some were secret shadows of the Empress Dowager, others were dragon guards of the Emperor himself.

The dragon guards were few, trained to be elite, their leader none other than Fish Guts. Now they clashed head-on with the Empress Dowager’s assassins.

The court officials, gathered for morning audience, quivered with fear. Yet amid their panic, a tall, broad-shouldered man in plain clothes appeared at the palace gates, speaking calmly to steady them.

The burly man was none other than Ying Shanxing, once the powerful provincial governor of Hidden Dragon Province.

Truth be told, the Jade Capital had once been his domain. Every minister here knew him, and he knew them. Though he now held no official rank, the moment he appeared at the palace gates, the anxious officials felt a surge of relief, as if a mountain had settled behind their backs.