Chapter 687 - A Thousand Miles for One Kill, A Timely Return to Peace - Part 1

The name of the boy who caused a commotion outside the palace was Ji Miao.

He hadn’t seen the new master of the Tang Sect yet, but he’d had an unexpected encounter.

Clenching his fists in silence, Ji Miao ran through the blade skill he’d just learned, growing more convinced of its brilliance the more he thought about it. The move was profound, mysterious, even. But before long, his mind drifted back to recent events, and a smoldering anger rose in his chest.

Father did nothing wrong. Yet he was forced to step down as Grand Elder. This new sect leader, what a tyrant! Utterly unfit for command. If he treats my father like this, and me as well, then his character is plain to see. If we don’t get rid of him, disaster will follow.

I’m too weak today. But one year from now, when my cultivation is complete, I swear I’ll kill this monster and avenge my father’s humiliation!

So what if he’s transcendent? That’s no big deal! If someone like him can reach that level, why can’t I?

Gritting his teeth, Ji Miao was consumed by thoughts of revenge, unaware that the very man who had just taught him the skill he so admired was the same

monster

he now vowed to destroy.

He hadn’t gone far when his family caught up to him.

The Grand Elder, newly resigned, stood before him expressionless. “You went to cause trouble with the Sect Master?”

Ji Miao lowered his head. Then suddenly, stubborn defiance flared in his eyes. He lifted his chin and declared, “Yes!”

The Grand Elder raised his hand as if to strike him. But when he saw the boy’s face, so much like hers, the face of the woman he’d lost...his hand faltered. His hardened features slackened into weariness, and he sighed. “Go home. I’ll go make amends myself.”

Ji Miao froze. His fists clenched tighter, eyes reddening.

Why? Why should his father be the one to apologize? The villain was the one in the wrong! So why did his father have to bow his head? What was wrong with this world?

“Take the young master back!” the Grand Elder barked.

Two attendants stepped in and began pulling Ji Miao away.

The Grand Elder turned and made his way toward the palace to seek an audience with Li Yuan and to offer his apology.

Inside, Li Yuan was eating porridge.

Tang Nulong was off preparing for their next journey, so the one keeping him company was Tang Aizhu.

Even while attending to the man who had once taken her to bed, Tang Aizhu’s eyes held their usual sadness, an inborn melancholy that no affection could quite dispel.

Outside, hurried footsteps echoed along the pebble path.

A moment later, a palace guard appeared at the courtyard gate. He didn’t dare look directly at the boy eating porridge or the woman beside him. Instead, he dropped to one knee and reported respectfully, “Sect Master, Ji Yang requests an audience.”

Ji Yang was none other than the former Grand Elder.

The guard had wisely chosen to address him by name rather than title.

But as the words fell, Tang Aizhu remained silent, as if she hadn’t heard anything. With Li Yuan present, it wasn’t her place to speak.

Li Yuan didn’t even glance up. It seemed he had already expected this. After a few more spoonfuls of porridge, he said casually, “Sorrow, you handle it.”

“Yes.”

Tang Aizhu turned to the guard. “What’s he doing?”

The guard replied, “He’s kneeling outside the palace gates, head lowered, waiting.”

Tang Aizhu’s voice was calm, even wistful. “If he enjoys waiting, then let him wait. Tell him the Sect Master is busy.”

The guard’s eye twitched slightly, so this was what they meant by

new ruler, new court

. It was clear that the former Grand Elder’s time was over.

“Yes, sir,” he said, then quietly withdrew.

Li Yuan glanced at Tang Aizhu.

The young maid moved with graceful ease, slipping onto his thigh like she belonged there, sitting close and snug. Her delicate fingers reached for the grapes on the table, peeling them one by one before bringing them to his lips.

“I Didn’t know you had a kind side.” Li Yuan chuckled.

Tang Aizhu parted her lips, about to feed him with her mouth.

Li Yuan cut her off, mildly exasperated. “Not like that. Use your hands.”

He sighed inwardly.

Compared to Xue Ning’s four maids, who were as innocent as schoolchildren, the current ones named for emotions were something else entirely.

In their quiet desperation to attain transcendence, all four had willingly gone beyond the role of mere attendants. They weren’t just close to him physically. They had taken the next step, becoming his bedmaids.

Though they hadn’t gone all the way, these maids were anything but naïve. They each had their own methods, doing everything they could to please him, to provide all the comforts a man could want.

Just now, Tang Aizhu had even tried to feed him grapes with her mouth.

That brief misstep disrupted the mood, leaving the grape awkwardly caught between her lips.

Too late to eat it herself, and far too improper to offer it back to her master, she froze completely like a puppet stuck mid-scene.

Li Yuan reached out and gave the grape a gentle push, nudging it into her mouth.

Only then did she return to her senses.

Swallowing it, she reached for another, peeling its skin carefully as she responded to his earlier comment. “But Master, you’re the one who taught us all this, just this morning.”

Li Yuan replied lazily, “Just handle it as we discussed. As for transcending the mortal realm...your turn will come.”

He leaned back, hands folded behind his head, long legs stretching out in front of him.

He’d already decided how to deal with the former Grand Elder. All that remained was to let Tang Aizhu carry it out.

She obediently slid off his leg, letting him rest his feet on the stone table. Then she twirled around behind him, kneading his shoulders gently. Her gaze followed his off into the distance.

The sky was a flawless blue, vast, empty, and pure. There was nothing out there for her master to look at. Perhaps it was only the endless sky, or the sun itself, that still held his interest.

“Noon sun blazes bright,” Li Yuan murmured suddenly. “But no matter how brilliant, even it must one day set.”

His words struck something in her.

She lit up, responding eagerly, “Yes, death is the ending, but it’s also what gives birth to something new. Only with an end can new beginnings have meaning. Only through death can life feel precious. Every life that passes away takes its beauty with it, vanishes into nothing. I love to be near them at that moment, when everything slips away. There's something heartbreakingly beautiful about it. Like watching the blazing sun sink into twilight.”

Li Yuan considered this, then smiled and tousled her hair.

“Well said.”

Power determined many things in this world, but not everything.

The strong weren’t always superior in every way.

On the contrary, Li Yuan had seen plenty of so-called

weaklings

outshine their more powerful counterparts in areas that mattered.

Along his journey, he had encountered leaders from countless major sects and clans. Many held lofty titles and cultivation ranks, yet when it came to judgment and decision-making, they couldn’t hold a candle to Tie Sha, the former head of the Blood Blade Sect, who had only reached seventh rank.

Tie Sha, with just seventh rank strength, had managed to stir the winds and call the rain. As for those third and fourth rank elites sitting high on their pedestals, if the roles were reversed, would they have done any better? Li Yuan wasn’t so sure.

The girl beside him, Tang Aizhu, was clearly cut from the same cloth, distinct and sharp in her own way.

Her words had nudged him ever so slightly, and that subtle push had opened a new path of thought in his meditation on the character Dusk. He now saw something he'd overlooked, the end of one’s lifespan was its own kind of dusk, wasn’t it? In that light, dusk contained more than just fading sunlight. It held within it the essence of the Northern Dipper’s lethal power.

That was why he spoke again. “You’ve taught me something.”

Tang Aizhu blinked in surprise.

A thrill of disbelief rushed through her, equal parts joy and panic with a touch of pride.

He...actually acknowledged her?

This was the first time.

After all, even the other three handmaids usually dismissed her musings as something strange, even disturbing. Sometimes after a kill, when she lingered to savor the tragic beauty of death, they would grow impatient and urge her to hurry up. None of them truly understood the quiet grace of those final moments.

But Li Yuan understood?

Her thoughts were interrupted as Li Yuan asked, “Is the schedule set?”

She returned from her daze and answered gently, “Yes. We leave for Southriver the morning after tomorrow at 8.”

Outside the palace, Ji Yang, the former Grand Elder, had been kneeling for a full day and night.

Only at dawn on the second day, when the air was thick with morning dew, did the guards finally drive him away.

Li Yuan never granted him an audience.

And that, in itself, was a death sentence.

𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Ji Yang staggered away in silence. Not long after, he summoned his youngest son and sent him to the countryside.

At first, Ji Miao refused. But seeing his father’s bloodshot eyes, he gritted his teeth and left.

Two days later, Li Yuan was gone.

The transition of power around the Ji Clan’s sphere of influence in Shu had quietly completed.

The old had been swept aside. The new had taken root.

The newly appointed Grand Elder personally escorted Li Yuan ten miles out of the city before returning to assume his post.