Chapter 597 - Plucking the Flower - Part 1

The youth stepped slowly through the blood-soaked path, past mangled corpses, and came to a halt behind Zhen'er, who was still passionately reciting her charges. He cast a calm glance at the packed seats surrounding the hall, then quietly sat down in the empty spot beside her.

Zhen'er hadn’t touched her chopsticks, nor had she eaten, just sipped a bit of tea.

So, Li Yuan picked up her chopsticks and started eating.

Not that it mattered to him whether she had touched the food or not. Even if she had, he wouldn’t care. After all, this was his daughter. A father wouldn’t shy away from what his child ate.

As he took his seat, a ripple of tension swept through the room. The entire row of Clear Stream members tensed, while across from them, the remaining He faction loyalists stiffened as well.

In the center, He Shoukang naturally turned his gaze toward the newcomer.

All eyes now locked onto the youthful-looking man, each gaze heavy with awe and dread.

Li Yuan kept eating, shoveling food into his mouth without a care. Once Zhen'er finished reading the list of crimes aloud, he casually turned to a trembling maid beside him and said, “Go get me some rice.”

Then he looked at the Clear Stream members, his voice gentle.“This food was grown with farmers’ sweat and toil. Wasting it would be a sin. Gentlemen, can you still stomach a meal today?”

Silence fell for a few heartbeats.

Everywhere they looked, there was mangled flesh. The air reeked of blood. Just turning their heads slightly, they could see a corpse with wide, unblinking eyes staring lifelessly back at them.

Who could eat in a place like this?

Suddenly, Song Yehong stood up and bowed deeply to Li Yuan.

“Sir, I have long wished to feast on the flesh of traitors and drink their blood. Now, seeing these traitors butchered before me, I find my appetite...raging. I daresay I could polish off three bowls of rice in one go!”

That broke the silence. One by one, other Clear Stream members followed.

“Sir, I can eat three bowls too!”

“Not only can I eat, I can drink as well. On such a fine occasion, how can we not raise our cups in celebration? The people of this land should drink with us!”

“Sir, I suddenly find myself starving. Of course I’ll stay for the feast!”

Everyone understood now that this youth was none other than the father of the Princess of the Central Capital.

No one was foolish enough to think he was truly just a teenager.

Up on the high dais, He Shoukang, the head of the He Clan, had finally calmed his earlier labored breathing.

What had just happened...it was too fast, too surreal. Like a gambler convinced he had the winning hand, only to be told in the next instant that every card he saw was a lie.

His shock, his outrage, they were only natural.

But He Shoukang was still the head of the He Clan. He had dignity. He had foresight. He would not humiliate himself by falling to his knees and begging pointlessly for mercy.

Now that he had regained composure, he looked toward Li Yuan and bowed slightly. “Senior.”

Li Yuan looked up. “I remember someone from the He Clan...the He Concubine.”

He paused for a moment. “She should be the Grand Empress Dowager now, right? Back then, she was just a little girl trailing behind the Human Emperor, carrying his dragon banner as they ran all over the realm. So tell me, what happened to her? What turned that little girl into the standard-bearer of the He faction we see today?”

He Shoukang countered calmly, “The masses are weak, and the martial artists are strong. Shouldn’t the weak serve the strong?”

Li Yuan didn’t answer. Instead, he turned his head and glanced at Song Yehong.

Song Yehong immediately understood and rose to debate He Shoukang head-on.

Of course, this sort of argument was destined to go nowhere. Neither side would ever convince the other. No one was going to admit they were wrong.

Soon, the maid returned with a bowl of rice.

Li Yuan and the Clear Stream faction dug in with gusto.

Zhen'er, now finished with her accusations, returned to sit by Li Yuan’s side. She carried herself with grace, her expression soft and composed. In that moment, she even resembled Xie Wei when she was out in public.

As father and daughter chatted, Li Yuan learned that much of her childhood had been spent in the care of Empress Dowager Xie. In contrast, she’d rarely seen her own mother.

Xie Yu had been consumed by the sword, often secluding herself in solitary training, wholly devoted to her path. Much like Ximen Gucheng once was with the blade.

And now, Zhen'er knew without a doubt that the He faction was finished. Her father’s strength was exactly as he claimed.

The imperial capital? A child’s plaything.

Fourth rank martial artists? Clay dolls.

Even the He Clan’s vaunted He Wing Army, their ultimate weapon, was no more than cannon fodder before him, wiped out in an instant.

He had slaughtered most of the He faction’s elite, the fourth ranks, fifth ranks, and their army. The few fifth and sixth ranks left would be hunted down by Sheng’er.

What’s more, reinforcements from the Clear Stream faction were already on their way.

This battle at Swan Pavilion had completely gutted the He Clan’s core power.

Her father was truly and undeniably powerful.

This man...was her father!

Suddenly, Zhen'er asked in a quiet voice, “Will this affect you?”

Li Yuan knew exactly what she meant.

Zhen’er’s reputation as the Great Bodhisattva echoed across the Great Zhou. Li Yuan, meanwhile, was an almost mythical figure who moved unseen behind the scenes. He was expected to manipulate the board from the shadows.

Now he had stepped onto the battlefield himself, no longer the player but a piece in play. Wouldn’t that...break the rules?

“It was already decided.” He shook his head. Then he closed his eyes slightly. “And I’ve gained much from this battle.”

“Gained?” Zhen'er blinked, surprised.

All she’d seen from start to finish was a one-sided massacre. No one had even lasted a single round against her father. What could there possibly be to gain?

“My true enemy in this battle...was myself.” Li Yuan explained. “I had to control many forces all at once, something I’ve never done in real combat before. And this was a live battle, not a drill. I couldn’t afford to lose.”

“Father, you must be joking.” Zhen'er couldn’t help but laugh.

But Li Yuan’s expression remained serious. “I’m not. If you or anyone from the Clear Stream faction had suffered even the smallest injury, it would have meant I’d failed.”

Both Song Yehong and He Shoukang, still locked in their debate, fell silent upon hearing those words.

The leaders of the Clear Stream and He factions alike felt a strange sense of...loneliness.

It was the loneliness of being utterly outclassed.

Like two chess players giving it their all, only to watch the third man flip the board, win every match, then sigh softly and mutter,

“That was close.”

And when asked what was close, he’d answer,

“I almost, just almost, let you take one of my pawns.”

Li Yuan wasn’t trying to show off.

Just now, he had been controlling both his Immortal Form and his real body simultaneously, all while unleashing dozens, if not hundreds, of threads of Heaven-Binding Ribbons. That level of control would challenge even someone like him.

Up till now, his cultivation had always been a solitary pursuit. He practiced alone. He comprehended alone.

But actual combat was a different beast entirely.

And in the aftermath of this battle, something stirred in him. A new insight began to take shape, as if he'd glimpsed a deeper layer within the Heaven-Binding Ribbons themselves.

Though Li Yuan had cultivated extensively, he lacked real battlefield experience.

But combat, as it turned out, was something he could no longer avoid.

Only about 20 years remained before the great upheaval of Heaven and Earth.

And in those 20 years, he intended to fight as often as he could, to sharpen himself, to accelerate his path forward.

Time wasn’t on his side. That’s why he stepped out from the shadows. Had it been otherwise, today’s matter could’ve been resolved without him ever appearing.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Inside the Swan Pavilion, people continued eating.

Outside, more and more martial experts from the Clear Stream faction arrived in a flurry of footsteps, stunned into silence as they looked upon the scene within.

The Clear Stream troops also began to gather beneath the pavilion. But the battle they had prepared for never came.

After the meal, the remaining He faction members were naturally taken into custody and marched off toward the capital. The army pushed forward too, heading for the imperial city.

Li Yuan had already left by then. The Grand Empress Dowager still had to be dealt with. She could not be left unchecked.

Zhen'er stood among the crowd, gazing at the storm of snow sweeping across the heavens.

Night had grown deep. After tonight, it would be the first day of the twelfth lunar month.

“A new year...and a new era,” she said with a gentle smile. It was a clean, sincere smile, with none of the mischief or reckless wildness she had once carried as a child.

“This land will be reborn,” Song Yehong echoed, his lips curling into a smile as he looked up into the snowstorm. The light in his heart, he hoped, would one day become the light that bathed this entire land.

Truth be told, he never truly wanted to be an official. All he really wanted was to open a school, teach his Ink School principles, and become a humble teacher who guided others toward virtue.

He never asked who Zhen'er’s father truly was. He already understood that that man was someone from another realm altogether. A being who now stood completely above this world.

Maybe that was why the Human Emperor himself had always treated the Princess of the Central Capital with such extraordinary regard because of the deep, unspoken bond between him and that man.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Deep within the palace, the Grand Empress Dowager was still awake.

She was a fourth rank herself, and long past needing sleep.

In front of her, rows of jade boxes sat open. Within them had been stored the blood essence of the He faction’s elite fourth rank powerhouses.

But now that essence had dried up, reduced to a foul-smelling black sludge.

She stared, stunned, unable to comprehend it. And yet, she knew what it meant.

Something had happened at the Swan Pavilion. Something irreversible. The He faction had been crushed.

She remained frozen in place for a long time, then slowly rose. But she didn’t run, nor did she begin plotting anew. Instead, she retrieved her favorite fragrant tea.

Under the dim, flickering light of linked candles, in the still of midnight, she brewed it carefully, methodically.

The scent of pine and bamboo charcoal blended with the delicate fragrance of tea, slowly curling into the air.

Then came a knock at the door.

The Grand Empress Dowager rose and personally walked to the door. She opened it.

Outside stood a youth she didn’t recognize.

She blinked in surprise. Somehow...she had never seen this youth before.

And yet, at this moment, the only one who could have reached her chambers so quickly, the only one capable of slaughtering a host of fourth rank powerhouses and crushing the He faction at the Swan Pavilion, could only be

him

.

“Please,” she said, bowing slightly in greeting.

The youth stepped inside without hesitation and took a seat by the tea table. He no longer feared plots or poisons. Even if the tea were laced with venom, all he would do was sigh at her foolishness.

But there was no poison.

The Grand Empress Dowager quietly closed the door, sat opposite him, and began making tea. She didn’t speak. She brewed the leaves with practiced hands, poured a cup with care, and slid the porcelain toward him.

“Please,” she said again.

Then she took a slow breath, suppressing the sigh that almost escaped.

“You’re not willing to accept this?” Li Yuan asked.

“I’m merely curious about who you are.” The Grand Empress Dowager replied.

“I used to live in this palace once.” Li Yuan smiled.

“Oh?” she said, with a touch of embarrassment. “Forgive my poor memory. I must have failed to recognize a great one.”

“You weren’t here yet.” Li Yuan waved it off.

He didn’t elaborate further. There were ugly truths buried in that past, secrets tied to the Human Emperor’s birth. Ji Hu was gone now. There was no point in digging up old dirt.

And how could the Grand Empress Dowager possibly guess that the youth before her had assassinated Ji Hu’s biological father? That he had once

been

the Emperor? That he was once known as the Marquis of Freedom, the father of the Human Emperor, and his father-in-law.

She poured herself a cup and asked, “Senior, did you come directly from the Swan Pavilion?”

Li Yuan brushed off his sleeves and chuckled. “With this much blood on me, where else could I have come from?”

The Grand Empress Dowager asked, “Do you truly believe martial artists should live as equals among the common people? Martial power is strength. And the strong...ought to be served by the weak. It’s not like martial artists are draining the well dry.”

“I just don’t want to see chaos descend again. This land is already broken and bleeding. It deserves time to heal, and so do its people,” Li Yuan replied. He drained the tea in one sip and said, “Go to the imperial tombs. Keep watch over Hu’er’s grave. And tell him everything you’ve done.”

Hu’er?

That form of address, so unfamiliar, took her a long moment to process.

It was the given name of the Human Emperor. But across the empire, everyone simply called him the Human Emperor. Who else alive would dare to call him

Hu’er

?

He Si slowly stood. With deep reverence, she bowed. “Thank you, Senior, for sparing my life.”

She knew that as long as she lived, there was still hope. She also understood that the He faction was finished. The high ranking martial artists at least, there was no escape for them now.

Li Yuan stood to leave.

But He Si couldn’t help but ask, “Senior...who are you, really?”

“Zhen'er’s father,” he said simply.

“...” He Si froze.

Then, suddenly, she rushed to a nearby chest and dug out a swallow-shaped kite. On it were written,

Strive without ceasing. Hold the world with great virtue.

Her hands trembled as she held it up. “This...does this belong to you?”

As the Human Emperor’s consort, He Si naturally knew things others didn’t. Even if the Emperor never spelled them out, her keen instincts allowed her to sense the undercurrents.

She stared at the kite in her hands, but Li Yuan didn’t answer her question. He simply looked at her, his voice cold as he countered, “And did you live up to those words?”

With that, he turned and strode out.

He Si stood frozen in place, her whole body beginning to tremble.

The Human Emperor, whether speaking to her or to Empress Ying, had often repeated those same words,

Strive unceasingly. Hold the world with great virtue.

He’d said it so many times that both women had once complained about how nagging he was. But that constant repetition also revealed how deeply important those words were to him.

It wasn’t until He Si became Empress Dowager, and then Grand Empress Dowager, that she stumbled upon the kite in a hidden corner of the palace and began to suspect.

But now she couldn’t help asking herself if she had truly lived up to what the Human Emperor had asked?

Her child had been a puppet. Her grandchild, too, and she had molded them both with her own hands.

And her child, her son, had been assassinated with her silent consent by the noble families.

Had she

truly

lived up to the Human Emperor’s words?

He Si collapsed to the floor, as if her soul had been ripped from her body.