After separating from Yan Yu, Li Yuan activated the Nine Provinces Provisional Patrol Token in his hand. He shifted his face at will and appeared beside the mass grave From the outside, it was still a mountain cottage tucked among green hills and clear waters. Inside, the door stood open as always. A beauty peeked out, smiling. “Who are you here to see, dear guest?” What used to be a terrifying sight was, to Li Yuan now, nothing at all. He even cracked a joke. “I’m here for your household’s great hero.” “Great hero? We don’t have any great heroes,” the beauty said, smiling. Li Yuan thought a moment, slipped behind a tree, and reemerged wearing the face of the Son of Heaven. “Well, miss. How about now?” She studied him quietly, still smiling. “Still no. Why don’t you come in and look for yourself?” “...” Li Yuan blinked. He stepped forward, and the scenery shuddered as if an earthquake had struck. A black boundary membrane was pierced by a red spear, like a hole punched into the sea. All the power condensed from Yin energy rushed toward that void, colliding in a violent storm. The cottage among green hills and clear waters warped into a deep pit where insects and dead flies swarmed. Inside the pit, blood stained the earth; red loam churned in eddies; a thick, rotten stench rose up. A miasma of bone-sickness drifted on the wind like white ghosts, bobbing in the sunlight. The beauty peeled back into a ghost servant and charged at him. Li Yuan opened his mouth and exhaled a cone of scorching Yang flame. The ghost servants trying to reach him were bathed in flame and burned to cold ash, one by one. But the erasure was only temporary. Given time, they would re-form within the ghost domain. The ghost servants crawling out of the mass grave grew stronger, rank by rank. A long time passed. Then longer still. From the depths of the pit came that uncanny thud-thud-thud of heavy footsteps. The familiar sound made Li Yuan’s expression turn grave. This time he didn’t leave. He stood and waited. The steps drew close. Beneath the red loam of the mass grave, a hand wrapped in a burial shroud popped free, and then the whole target hauled itself out. It was a gaunt corpse, swathed in a chill shroud beneath a ragged coat. And yet the corpse looked…weighty. Every scrap of its flesh seemed densely packed. Above its head floated 5.006~108,267. At its waist hung a long blade, corroded and nearly broken. Clearly, it was formidable, but not on Lu Xuanxian’s level. “I’m here to form an alliance,” Li Yuan said, not eager to fight. Crack…crk-crk-crk. The corpse didn’t answer. It drew the blade. Li Yuan stepped out of that place in an instant, standing beyond the perimeter of the mass grave. Inside, the scene shifted. The rotting corpse became a stern man with sharp, cold eyes. He was austere, yes, but handsome in a square, upright way, a heroic air rolling off him. No doubt he’d been a legend in his time, only to have all those old glories buried by a handful of dirt. Li Yuan pulled a pitch-black token from his robe, waved the Nine Provinces Provisional Patrol Token before the membrane, and repeated, “I’m here to form an alliance. Take a good look!” The stern man only stared, cold and silent. Li Yuan glanced at this great hero of a former dynasty and asked, “Why aren’t you talking?” The ghost servant, now wearing the face of a beauty, giggled. “Oh my, an officer! Why don’t you come inside and sit, milord?” “...” Li Yuan fell silent. The Dragon Vein didn’t recognize him? Or had they…crashed? Or was this fragment of the Dragon Vein not acquainted with itself? Then again, the Dragon Vein was just Lu Xuanxian’s story. He hadn’t actually confirmed if it existed. He had seen Lu Xuanxian block the two ghosts from merging with his own eyes. But seeing something didn’t guarantee that he’d grasped what it meant, did it? If the Dragon Vein was the ancient ghost street, stocked with powerful loyal souls and capable of pouring strength straight into one’s crown, then its display should be far more impressive than this. That was unless the Dragon Vein could spare only a tiny sliver of power for the crisis at hand, keeping the rest to fend off something else. Or maybe the Dragon Vein didn’t exist at all. No. Not that. I’m just thinking circles now. Li Yuan shook his head, flinging off the stray thoughts. Maybe there’s another way to test it… Time was tight; Li Yuan had no idea when the chaos in the Jade Capital would settle down. He drew a deep breath, twitched his fingers, and appeared near Xie Yu. He wasn’t here to see Xie Yu. This time, he was looking for Xie Wei. He was still wearing the Son of Heaven’s face. The moment he arrived, he began spreading his senses into the surroundings. He couldn’t tag specific people by their energy, but he could tell seventh rank from sixth, fifth, and fourth. With the life sensing ability he’d gained from Mortal World Transformation, plus his fifth rank sense, it would be easy enough to locate his target. One stick of incense later, Li Yuan had his answer. Xie Wei wasn’t at the Xie residence. Left with no better choice, he went looking for Xie Yu while still disguised as the Emperor. Xie Yu was cultivating in a quiet pavilion. The Xie residence was near a meat field, though not a fourth rank one. But that didn’t matter since Xie Yu herself was only sixth rank. Li Yuan didn’t bother masking his steps. As he drew close, Xie Yu’s eyes snapped open. The two locked gazes. “Your Majesty?” Eyes wide in shock, Xie Yu yelped. She sprang to her feet and said warily, “Er, Brother-in-law, w-when did you get back?” “I’m looking for the Empress,” Li Yuan said. Xie Yu stared at the grime all over Li Yuan’s clothes. “Why are you so…” “Forget that. Where’s the Empress?” Quick on the uptake, Xie Yu saw the Emperor’s sudden arrival and didn’t press. She changed the topic instead. “My Big Brother is back. He said you suddenly vanished in the Jade Capital. If he finds out you’re home, he’ll be thrilled. How about we go find him first?” “General Xie is back?” Li Yuan asked, curious. Keeping a polite distance, Xie Yu bowed. “Yes. Big Brother brought the Ocean Province Armored Cavalry and Flying Bear Army back with him. He seems…rattled by something. He’s been drilling those 8,000 members of the Flying Bear Army night and day, hehe.” “...” Li Yuan blinked. How did Xie Feng make it out in one piece? Still, there were more urgent fires to put out. “I’ll see the Empress first, then look for General Xie,” Li Yuan said. Xie Yu hemmed and hawed. “Big Sister… Big Sister, she—” A man’s voice cut across them from not far away. “Your servant Xie Jian’an pays his respects to Your Majesty.” A cultured figure drifted into view. Xie Jian’an had arrived, and the decadence was gone from his face. No wine lingered on his breath. Xie Yu hurried to stand at his side. Xie Jian’an fixed Li Yuan with a bright, steady gaze. “Your Majesty has come unannounced. Pray, first bathe and wash away the dust.” Li Yuan suddenly understood. He sighed. “Fine, make it quick.” Xie Jian’an let out a breath he’d been holding. “Yes, Your Majesty.” Thıs content belongs to 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵※𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮※𝓷𝓮𝓽 Li Yuan took another bath mixed with a drop of fourth rank blood. His form hadn’t changed. Only after he’d put on a clean robe did he say, “Father-in-law, have you anything I can carry as proof? Then I won’t need a bath every time. Your family’s blood can’t be bottomless.” Hearing the Emperor call him Father-in-law so warmly, Xie Jian’an smiled. “I have a twin hade. Fit the halves together and it tells true from false.” He turned and rattled off a few quick orders to Xie Yu. Pardoned like a condemned man, Xie Yu bolted. She didn’t want to spend another second in the Emperor’s company. Soon she returned with the twin jade. Xie Jian’an handed one half to Li Yuan. Li Yuan tucked it away. “Where’s the Empress? I’ve urgent business.” “I feared ill-intentioned hands might reach for the imperial heir in her belly,” Xie Jian’an said, “so I moved her, for the time being, to Clear Ripple Cottage.” Li Yuan had heard of it from Xie Yu. It was a Xie Clan property, secluded and elegant, and unknown to outsiders. Led by Xie Jian’an, Li Yuan reached a lakeshore. A quiet little retreat perched over the water. On the open ground by the lake, a fine-featured woman with a slight swell to her belly was walking, a gentle smile on her lips. In the soft play of her expression there was nothing but a young mother’s tenderness. A woman at such a time might be at her most beautiful. Only, this beauty was not his wife. And yet Li Yuan couldn’t give up the chess piece that was his identity as the Son of Heaven. That meant…he could only be this woman’s man. The rustle of his approach made her turn. She looked back slowly. At the sight of him, a flicker of veiled surprise crossed her eyes. Then she said, “Your servant pays respects to Your Majesty.” With Xie Feng back, he’d already told her the rough shape of what happened in the Jade Capital. Faults in small things, but true to the greater cause… That was Xie Feng’s judgment of the Son of Heaven. Because of that, the Xie Clan’s attitude toward the Emperor had shifted a hair. It was no longer the raw hatred of the beginning, though calling it close would be a stretch. Li Yuan stepped forward. “Empress, come with me to the General’s Temple. It’s important.” Xie Wei glanced at Xie Jian’an. Only then did Xie Wei say, “Yes, Your Majesty.” The two rode in a carriage, guards around them, and stopped before the bright red General’s Temple. Li Yuan had the offerings he’d prepared in advance brought out, and began the rites. From start to finish, he kept Xie Wei at his side, having her perform the sacrifice with him. She tried to decline, but in the end did as asked and felt a strange emotion stir in her chest. The sacrifice…had always been the Emperor’s prerogative. Why have her do it? Was this his recognition of her? After a long while, the ritual was done. Li Yuan stood and waited in silence. He remembered that when imperial blood offered a sacrifice to a loyal soul, the soul would answer. If the loyal soul answered, he could follow that thread to the missing Dragon Vein or at least learn more. A moment passed, then another. The temple remained hushed. Xie Wei stroked her belly, lifted her chin, and stood elegantly at Li Yuan’s side. He sighed to himself. Forget it. Maybe the child isn’t born yet. That’s why there’s no response. It’s perfectly normal. Just then, from within the scarlet temple came a long, strange creak. A general in a black helmet, gripping a blood-red, rust-cankered spear, began to step out. Half its body emerged first. Then Li Yuan noticed its left hand held a rein. At the other end was a warhorse in heavy barding. The horse’s eyes glimmered a ghostly green. Through the gaps in its chamfrons, he could glimpse bone. One snort cracked the air like a tiger’s roar. Leading the horse, the general walked out of the temple and then out of the ghost domain itself, and came to stand at Xie Wei’s side. In a deep, hollow voice, he said, “I greet my mistress. I, Gao Kaiping, pledge to go through fire and water for the Ji Clan, for generations to come.”