Chapter 420 – The Black Lotus Blooms in the Jade Capital; a Burial Shroud at the Alley’s End - Part 2

The next day.

The army did not march. Lu Xuanxian said the danger hadn’t passed; it wasn’t time to leave.

Night fell, and Lu Xuanxian presented Li Yuan with an item. It was a black token. That was what he’d spent the day procuring. He slipped it from his chestplate, furtive as a thief, and handed it to Li Yuan.

Li Yuan snatched it out of the air. The moment his fingers closed, he felt a deep chill that seeped into bone.

Clearly, this was no ordinary trinket but a ghost item.

“This satisfies your first condition,” Lu Xuanxian said softly.

Li Yuan nodded, excited despite himself.

“It’s a Nine Provinces Provisional Patrol Token,” Lu Xuanxian explained. “Because it’s provisional, it has drawbacks. It can only take you to places you’ve already been. It can’t track a target, and you can’t blink with it using your senses. Also, only three uses per day. Will that do?”

“Hmm...” Li Yuan studied the token.

An instant later a new line popped up in his equipment box.

Nine Provinces Provisional Patrol Token

Seeing that entry calmed him. Anything that appeared in his equipment box was safe; if there were hidden risks, it wouldn’t show up at all.

Still, only three uses a day, and only to places he’d visited. Compared to Lu Xuanxian’s version, this was leagues weaker.

Maybe that was exactly why Lu Xuanxian had been so quick to hand it over.

“Good,” Li Yuan said.

It was enough. It neatly patched his biggest weakness, and that was no quick way to get somewhere on short notice.

With this thing—spawned by the ancient ghost street, or rather the Dragon Vein—Li Yuan could manifest as Ximen Gucheng in the Xie Clan’s seclusion chamber whenever he pleased; he could also pop over as Qing Hancheng to show his face at the Holy Tree Temple. Not that the Holy Tree Temple had anything especially important left for him.

It was clear that the ancient ghost street itself far outclassed Happyland Zoo. Even an inferior item was miles more useful than the thousand-mile thread.

Seeing he was satisfied, Lu Xuanxian didn’t linger on it, and they moved on to other matters.

In the middle of their talk, a messenger’s call drifted from outside: “The Empress seeks audience.”

Lu Xuanxian shot Li Yuan a teasing look. “A great man acts without scruple. With talent like yours, no less than mine in my prime, why let stale morality hobble you? Life runs, what, five hundred years at most? However you live it, it’s still life.

“Back then I was no stranger to the palace’s inner courts. Even the Empress Dowager was an old flame of mine. I still remember peeling off her phoenix robe and wrapping her in silk, the two of us stealing our pleasure on the roof of the Golden Throne Hall while the hundred officials were in morning court. Can you imagine? Hahaha!”

Li Yuan glanced at him. “Business first.”

“I’ll be blunt,” Lu Xuanxian said. “After you die, you’ll enter the dragon vein as I did, guarding this land in another form. Before that, you might as well enjoy yourself.”

“Withdraw. I’m going to rest,” Li Yuan said.

Lu Xuanxian rose, threw his head back in a grin, and murmured a reminder as he left. “Don’t forget, the Son of Heaven is a lecher. Back in Gemhill County, he never met a woman he didn’t enjoy. During the feast, that fool from the Xie Clan had already piqued his interest. He was thinking of taking both Xie sisters. How could he, at a moment like this, in such a heavy mood, refuse the Empress’s favor?”

“...” Li Yuan fell quiet for a beat, then nodded.

It was true. Morality had cost him his wits. He hadn’t wanted to do this at all, so he’d willfully ignored the Emperor’s real nature, telling himself it wouldn’t matter.

But when a bad man suddenly stopped being bad, who wouldn’t find that suspicious? An actor who gambled that no one would notice was just covering his ears and ringing a bell.

The moment he let his

better nature

show, he created a flaw. A flaw would breed doubt. And a little doubt could lead to very different outcomes.

The Emperor could not afford to seem

off

.

Soon after, Xie Wei came in again.

Today she was even more enticing—riper, fuller. Snow-pale thighs, long legs, and that dignified bearing combined into a look that fit the description,

nobility above, decadence below

; a face cool as frost, a body that begged for warmth.

“Your Majesty...” Xie Wei sank into a graceful curtsy, pouring every ounce of allure into it.

Li Yuan drew her up against him; she pressed close. They nuzzled and whispered for a time.

Xie Wei blew out the candle, and her body slipped beneath the quilt.

Li Yuan followed, and for a while they drowned themselves in pleasure.

Afterward, he lay smiling and began to chat about her little sister, Xie Yu.

Xie Wei lay with her back against him. In the dark, her eyes flashed with anger, but she forced a teasing smile. “Your Majesty already has me. Why are you thinking about my little sister?”

Li Yuan chuckled and leaned hard into the role of the Son of Heaven, letting loose with shameless lines, all of them hinting at the sisters serving him together and how it was only natural that the two share one heart.

Every word made Xie Wei’s blood boil.

Not far away, an inner-court eunuch stood with head bowed, half-dozing, quietly keeping tabs on the goings-on in the imperial quarters.

Last night he’d been puzzled. The Emperor didn’t seem like the type to send the Empress packing. But tonight...the Son of Heaven was still the Son of Heaven.

Yesterday must have rattled him, that was all.

He snickered to himself.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

A few days later.

The army set out.

Xie Jian’an and Xie Wei led the Xie Clan in seeing the Emperor off.

“Why is Xie Yu not here?” the Emperor asked.

Xie Jian’an forced a smile, bowed, and said, “Your Majesty, Xie Yu is unwell. I feared she might pass an illness to you, so I had her remain in bed at home.”

As soon as he finished, sweat prickled down his back; it wasn’t a very convincing excuse.

The Emperor, however, didn’t anger. He only laughed. “No matter. Once I enter the Jade Capital, I’ll summon the Empress to court. At that time, I’ll also confer upon Xie Yu the title

Mistress of Peace

. That way, the Mistress of Peace can often come into the deep palace to keep the Empress company, sisterly affection fulfilled.”

The words had barely left his mouth when Xie Jian’an and Xie Wei both went slack with shock.

Mistress of Peace? Brought into the deep palace to keep the Empress company?

Wasn’t that walking straight into the tiger’s jaws?

Was the Son of Heaven really this shameless?

Just then Zhao Gutong, all fluttering crimson sleeves, trilled, “Well? Aren’t you going to give thanks?”

Xie Jian’an jolted awake from his daze and hurried out, “We thank Your Majesty for your boundless grace!”

The Emperor laughed and rode off.

The Xie Clan stood at the city gate a long while.

Only when the army had vanished did they turn back.

Xie Wei and Xie Jian’an trailed a few steps behind the others.

“I’ll send Yu’er and her husband away,” Xie Wei said.

“The Emperor holds the reins now; he thinks the whole world belongs to him,” Xie Jian’an replied. “If you spirit Yu’er off, you’ll bring disaster down on us.” He sighed and added, “This is the very trap the Patriarch designed to ruin our branch—and it catches the Emperor’s desire exactly. If Yu’er were unwed, we might manage. But now... This is an open scheme; you don’t break it easily.”

“So long as you and our Ocean Province Armored Cavalry are here—” Xie Wei began.

“Do you take the 30,000 riders as invincible?” Xie Jian’an lifted a hand, stopping her. “Even if your brother drags his feet in battle, it will only deepen the Emperor’s hatred afterward.”

Xie Wei fell silent, small fists knotting tight. “That lecherous tyrant,” she whispered. “I won’t let Yu’er be thrown into the fire pit.”

“It may not be hopeless,” Xie Jian’an said, eyes narrowing. “We’ll watch for an opening. And if there isn’t one...we may have to wrong Young Master Ximen.”

“What if Yu’er refuses?” Xie Wei asked.

“You don’t know your sister?” he said with a weary breath. “She’s the same as you.”

“And Young Master Ximen?”

“Tell him everything. No secrets, not a single lie. Treat him honestly. In the end, ask him one question. What do you think we should do? He came to the Central Plains to temper himself; we’re trying to keep our family alive. If he has a good plan, we’ll hear him out and follow it. If he doesn’t, and still makes a scene and wants the Xie Clan to throw everything away and run for our lives, then we can’t listen.”

“Disgusting.” Xie Wei’s voice went small. She thought of these past nights and said through her teeth, “Every inch of me that Ji You touched makes my skin crawl.”

She rubbed at her arms and the line of her throat, as if she could scrub away the feel of him.

Xie Jian’an sighed. “The world is a chessboard. Some tables you can flip. Some you can’t. We’ve no more room to retreat.”

Xie Wei shut her eyes and cooled her breath. “I’ll kill him myself. Sooner or later.”

On the other side of it all, Li Yuan had no idea his dear sister-in-law loathed their recent nightly routine—and that, fooled by his flawless act, she was already arranging the Emperor’s downfall.

If this really were the true Son of Heaven, it would play like a tragedy, with bitter hatred, clenched teeth, stiff spine, swallowing pride, bearing the weight, and finally—revenge.

But the

Emperor

was simply Li Yuan in costume. So, aside from an adults-only melodrama about cuckolding himself, it was really nothing at all.

At present, Li Yuan sat straight in the golden dragon palanquin, stealing glances through the curtain at the terrifying army outside, a view he’d never imagined before. The ranks moved with one shared momentum, almost a single organism.

And he was wrapped in the very center of these monsters.

The 3,000 unit ghost cavalry, 8,000 unit Flying Bear Army, and 30,000 unit Ocean Province Armored Cavalry formed an unstoppable iron triangle.

Only, even together, the Flying Bear Army and the Ocean Province Armored Cavalry couldn’t match the ghost cavalry.

Beyond Ocean Province, no one could muster a real defense. The Five Elements Alliance, the Buddhist and Daoist orders, and the provincial governors...it made no difference. Several sizable encirclements didn’t even force the ghost cavalry to lift a hand; just Xie Feng and the Ocean province Armored Cavalry wiped them out with ease.

No one could stand against a host like this.

By rights, with such strength, the Emperor should have advanced step by careful step—breaking the unruly powers and governors around the Jade Capital before marching in.

Instead, they hurried.

The host drove forward like a spear thrusting straight for the dragon’s lair.