Chapter 558 - I’m Willing - Part 1

Autumn rain fell endlessly, gray and cold, pouring from the heavens in fine, needle-like threads that wove together into a net, draping over the mortal world.

Li Yuan walked slowly along a country path.

Ever since Peng Mingyi paid his respects to Yan Yu, he had, for all intents and purposes, become one of Yan Yu’s jade husks. Li Yuan had come to think of him as a walking barometer for Yan Yu’s condition.

But now, Peng Mingyi had lost all spiritual power. He couldn't even sense the world around him.

And that, coupled with the terrifying strength of Ying Zhuoyao, told Li Yuan everything he needed to know about the current state of the Underworld.

Yan Yu...she was probably already being digested, wasn’t she?

The youth sat motionless, his expression shrouded in shadow. His quiet, lifeless eyes stared at the falling rain.

His hair was soaked, plastered to his shoulders. There was no one on the distant road now. If there was anyone left at all, they were likely scrambling for shelter or fleeing in despair.

He sat alone in the rain, perched on a rock.

And at last, the plan he’d once hesitated over rose again in his mind.

He had multiple pieces of crucial information.

The first piece was that as long the world existed, the Outerborn remained eternal.

The Dragon Vein was the lifeblood of the Archon Star.

So, the Dragon Vein was indestructible.

The second piece was that the indestructible Dragon Vein was merged into the Human Emperor. Through this fusion, the Emperor gained power. But since the Dragon Vein couldn’t die, the Human Emperor was just a temporary vessel.

Li Yuan had lived in the Central Capital for three years as a vagrant. During that time, he had seen palace eunuchs sneaking out at odd hours to procure rare herbs from the city’s major trade halls.

No one else noticed. But Li Yuan did.

One of those eunuchs, it seemed, was the Emperor’s chief attendant. That meant something might be wrong with the Emperor.

Li Yuan had quietly asked about it and had received a confirmation from none other than Empress Dowager Xie herself. The Emperor suffered from headaches.

From this, he deduced this was likely tied to the

awakening

of the Dragon Vein.

The third piece was that the Human Emperor had a deep connection to this land, and held great affection for Li Yuan himself.

Finally, the fourth piece was that in the battle for dominance within the Underworld, the Ghost Lake was overwhelmingly in control. Yan Yu was already on the verge of being swallowed whole.

So the question was...how could Li Yuan help Yan Yu win?

Plip, plop, plip, plop...

Rain tapped against the wooden leaves.

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Li Yuan's eyes suddenly locked onto something.

It was a leaf still clinging to a bit of green. Upon it crawled a snail, about the size of a baby’s fist. One of its antennae shimmered in a swirl of iridescent colors.

It moved with unnatural speed and a frenzied energy pulsed through its body.

This wasn’t just a snail. It was a ninth rank demonic beast of the toxic variety, known as the

zombie snail

.

Though it looked like a snail on the outside, the true monster was the parasite that lived within its shell, a venomous worm.

The worm controlled the snail, using it as a puppet to scuttle about erratically, hoping to be spotted and eaten by a larger beast.

Once inside its new host, the worm could either take control of the stronger beast or begin reproducing within its body.

Either way, this dazzling, overexcited snail was nothing more than a disposable vessel.

Li Yuan stared at it for a long time, then finally stood and walked toward it

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙.

“Your Majesty.”

The tall girl stood proudly before the Emperor, chest out, brimming with confidence as she entered the Hall of the Human Emperor.

The Emperor had been sitting with his head bowed, his expression dark. But at the sound of her voice, at the sight of her, all that gloom melted away.

He glanced at the eunuch beside him and smiled. “Bring us some candied fruits, would you?”

The eunuch’s name was Feng Yun, the

Yun

as in rising to the clouds. And sure enough, that was exactly what he had done.

Once just a lowly palace servant in the lateral courts, Feng Yun had often been bullied. But he always remained diligent, quietly optimistic, and handled everything that came his way with care and composure.

The Human Emperor had noticed him a few times, and perhaps moved by some faint sense of kinship, brought him into his personal service.

With the Emperor’s favor, Feng Yun rose quickly through the ranks, reaching sixth-rank official status in just a few short years.

The Human Emperor didn’t need elite warriors around him. There was no fighter alive who could even glimpse his shadow, let alone protect him.

“I don’t want candied fruits. They’re gross,” the tall girl said, bluntly rejecting the Emperor’s kind offer.

The Emperor didn’t mind in the slightest. Instead, he smiled dotingly. “Then what does our Zhen’er want?”

The girl was none other than Li Zhen.

She began counting on her fingers, rattling off a list of requests—none of them simple. Rare foods, powerful techniques, precious treasures, cultivation resources...whatever she asked for, it was with the breezy entitlement of someone who had never been denied a thing in her life.

Feng Yun kept his head lowered, but his eyelids twitched with every word. There was likely no one else in the entire continent who could speak to the Human Emperor like this and get away with it.

And even Feng Yun couldn’t quite understand why His Majesty doted on her so much.

As expected, Zhen’er made her list, and the Emperor nodded along.

Whatever she wanted, he agreed.

When she said her throat was dry, the Emperor even told Feng Yun to fetch her a drink.

“All right, that’s everything,” she declared, then suddenly paused, her eyes shifting as if she’d thought of something new. “Wait, I want one more thing.”

“Go ahead,” the Emperor said.

“A few days ago, I was walking through the streets of the Central Capital,” she said, “and I saw all these homeless people. They were dirty, and gross, and honestly? Just looking at them ruined my mood. So...could you get rid of them, Your Majesty? Send them away. Far away. I don’t want to see them again.”

“...” The Emperor was stunned.

In the past, the Princess had only ever asked for food, or trinkets. But now she was saying things like this.

It hit him then, for the first time. Had he spoiled her?

But even that realization didn’t change the fact that he couldn’t bring himself to scold this

half-sister

of his. Especially since she couldn’t cultivate at all. That only made him softer toward her. He figured that however she chose to live out her years, the Great Zhou would always be more than capable of providing for her.

Zhen’er gave him a pitiful look. “You won’t do it, Your Majesty?”

The Emperor smiled. He had meant to say,

It’s not that I won’t, but those people are my citizens too. If a city as prosperous as the Central Capital still has people sleeping in the streets, that’s a failure on my part.

But when the words came out, it became, “Of course I’ll do it. If Zhen’er wants it done, it doesn’t matter if it’s right or not, it will be done.”

Zhen’er beamed. “Thank you, Your Majesty!”

That very night, the Emperor issued the decree. Officials were sent out of the palace to handle the situation with the homeless.

The Central Capital was a vast city, and not all of it was glamorous. After a full survey, they discovered that the number of vagrants exceeded several thousand.

But instead of simply driving them away, the Emperor ordered the distribution of silver, food, and clothing. His officials escorted the displaced to villages outside the capital, granted them fallow land, and offered tax exemption for the first three years, giving them a real chance to survive through honest labor.

It was Zhen’er who asked that they vanish from her sight, but it was the Emperor who made sure they didn’t vanish from the world.

At the same time, the Emperor also instructed the officials to tell the displaced people, “It was the Princess who saw you by the roadside and felt such deep compassion that she personally petitioned His Majesty on your behalf. Only then did the Emperor take action.”

Just like that, thousands of homeless people came to regard the young princess with profound gratitude.

That sweet, gentle demeanor, that kind and generous heart, and she was only nine years old.

In their minds, she was lifted to the status of a saint. Some even felt that if she asked them to go to war, or give their lives for her, they would do it without hesitation.

Among the vagrants were also a number of sixth-rank martial artists, skilled individuals who had ended up on the streets of the Central Capital for all sorts of reasons.

When the Emperor learned this, he handled them differently. He gave them silver, food, and clothing just the same, but instead of resettling them in the countryside, he offered cultivation resources and a rare opportunity, a chance to enter the Myriad Lineages Academy.

These martial artists, too, were left deeply indebted to the young princess.

A little over ten days later, Zhen’er once again rode through the capital in her luxurious carriage. As they passed through the city streets, she noticed something strange. There were no homeless people in sight.

More curious still, when she peeked out from behind the carriage curtain, the people on the streets looked at her not with the usual awe, distance, or idle curiosity, but with warmth. With respect.

That was new.

Zhen’er blinked in confusion.

Then a thought occurred to her.

Maybe it’s because I had the homeless removed? Maybe life got a bit better for everyone else too, so now they like me more?

She strolled through the market for a while, pleased with herself, then decided it was time to head back.

But just as she reached the Xie residence, she caught wind of a curious rumor. The Second Prince had been strung up on a tree inside the palace.

Zhen’er froze, then burst out laughing, eyes lighting up with glee. She hopped back into her carriage.

This kind of spectacle? No way was she going to miss it.

Deep in the palace, the second prince, Ji He, was indeed hanging from a tree.

Even though Consort He stood nearby sobbing, the Emperor showed not a shred of sympathy.

He stared coldly at his dangling son and said, “If you wanted cultivation resources or techniques, you could’ve just come and asked me directly. Why go through the Princess?”

“Your son knows he was wrong.” Ji He wept.

The Emperor’s voice was frosty. “Don’t think I don’t know. You didn’t ask for yourself. You asked so you could pass those things on to the He Clan. And for that...you dared to use the Princess?”

“I was wrong, I was wrong,” Ji He sobbed.

The Emperor gave him one last glance. “Let him hang there. Reflect on exactly what it is you’ve done wrong.”

And with that, he turned and walked away.

Even after His Majesty left, no one dared untie the ropes, not even Consort He.

She still remembered the days when she marched behind the Emperor, bearing the imperial standard into battle. It was back then that she had fallen in love with him.

But in the years since, he had grown more and more distant, pulling away from all those he once held close.

All except...for the Princess. His affection for her was truly without equal. Whatever she asked for, cultivation resources, techniques, anything, he granted it without question. One casual remark from her was worth more than years of scheming from any noble clan.

Still, if Ji He was punished, so be it. At least with the resources he’d managed to secure for the clan, they could raise a few more powerful cultivators.

And in the world of the court, that was more than enough.

At this point, the Central Capital appeared flush with resources on the surface. But the truth was, all top-tier resources remained firmly locked in the hands of the Human Emperor.

The Emperor would rather bolster the Myriad Lineages Academy, strengthen the ranks of the Black-Clad Guards, and centralize power, than allow the old noble clans to rise. As for the provincial military governors, that entire system had long been abolished.

Consort He looked at her son still hanging from the tree and let out a long sigh. He couldn’t be left dangling there forever, so she began seeking someone, anyone, who might convince His Majesty to show mercy and let the Second Prince down.

But no matter how many palace officials she approached, it was useless.

The Second Prince continued sobbing, crying out hoarsely, “Mother, save me! My arms are so sore!”

Consort He felt a deep despair.

The Emperor truly has no heart.

Just then, an imperial decree arrived.

At last, the Second Prince was cut down.

Startled, Consort He asked around and soon learned the reason. The Princess had entered the Human Emperor’s hall.

Her emotions were complicated, but it wasn’t hard to guess what had happened. It must have been the Princess who pleaded on her son's behalf.

She gathered up her son and hurried away.

As for the reflection on his mistakes that the Emperor had spoken of, Consort He understood all too well.

In His Majesty’s eyes, the issue wasn’t that the He Clan wanted resources. That was expected. What he couldn’t accept was the Second Prince’s

foolishness

, begging for resources only to hand them off to his mother's clan. That was what angered him.

The boy was still young, so the punishment had been symbolic, a public humiliation, nothing more.

Consort He didn’t harbor much resentment. She understood. It was just that someone in the He family had recently broken through to fourth-rank cultivation, and to support that, they urgently needed a significant quantity of fourth-rank beast flesh.

They had no choice.

The He clan owes that little girl a debt,

Consort He thought to herself.

Meanwhile, Zhen’er, after her meeting with the Emperor, had been practically bouncing with excitement, eager to go see the Second Prince humiliated in person.

But by the time she got there, Consort He and the boy had already left.

Fuming, she stomped her foot and stormed back the way she came.