Under this starry sky, tens of thousands of miles away.
Divine Capital, Dragon Court.
The curtain was like thick ink, completely saturating the entire Dragon Court. The towering palace walls outlined a formidable and fierce silhouette in the darkness. The flying eaves and protruding angles resembled the jagged tusks of a giant beast, while the crenels and battlents were its sharp claws, silently occupying the center of the Divine Capital.
The spring chill was sharp, the cold wind carried the urgent sound of horse hooves, rushing through the empty Vermilion Bird Street, sweeping up dead leaves to crash against the vermilion palace gates, emitting a faint whimper.
"Booming"
The palace gates swung open, and through the flickering palace walls, the dim yellow glow was confined within the lattice windows, barely illuminating the mottled shadows on the paper.
"Drive"
"Drive"
"Drive"
The horse hooves stomped urgently, shaking the palace walls.
"Heavenly Petition from Jingguan City!"
Nine palatial gates gradually opened in sequence, the fast horses transford into fleeting shadows as they dashed through.
The candlelight trapped in the carved window lattice surged once, like the opened eyes of a giant beast, indifferently overlooking everything inside the walls. The mottled shadows reflected on the window paper rippled, faint and elusive, accompanied by a low, rustling sound.
At this mont, outside the Taiji Palace, gilded palace lanterns swayed in the night wind, their light divided into fragnts by the window lattice.
Inside the hall, smoke rose lazily from the incense burner, but could not suppress the scent of blood surging within.
Several eunuchs in palace attire, trembling with fear, knelt before the Imperial Desk, heads touching the ground, buttocks raised high.
In front of them, a corpse was being dragged away by palace guards.
The corpse was clad in a richly embroidered inner servant robe, its front soaked with blood, dark brown bloodstains seeping into the cracks between the bricks.
Just recently, this person had been serving the Emperor, managing pens and ink, but now lay as a lifeless body, soul departed.
Lately, the Heavenly Family was quick to anger, and palace attendants were dying one after another, casting a layer of gloom over the entire Dragon Court.
The oppressive atmosphere inside the hall made it hard to breathe, the only sounds being the rustling of the dragging corpse and the wind outside.
At this mont, urgent footsteps and the shouts of guards could be heard from outside.
"They say it’s a Heavenly Petition from Jingguan City to be presented to Your Majesty."
A sowhat shaky voice of a palace attendant ca from outside.
The people kneeling in the hall shuddered involuntarily upon hearing the three words "Jingguan City," burying their heads even lower, wishing to sink into the floor, best not to hear it at all.
There, to them, was an ominous place, every ti news ca from there, His Majesty ordered executions.
Soon, the doors of the Taiji Palace opened, and a palace attendant entered, carrying a petition, crouching and bowing.
"Your Majesty, it’s a petition from Lord State Preceptor of Jingguan City."
The voice was suppressed, fearing to provoke the Emperor who was reclining on the throne, feigning sleep with closed eyes!
As the voice fell, Emperor Wu abruptly opened his eyes, and as his eyelashes lifted, the candle flas in the hall dimd by a third, and deep in the pupils a turbulent light roiled, like a fierce tiger rising from the mountain mist, light erupting.
"Read!"
"Ah?"
The palace attendant hesitated for a mont, then fearfully lifted his body, opened the petition, and began to read.
"Minister Helian Mountain, respectfully petitions Your Majesty: Chen Yuan has returned to The Overseers, harbors discontent, has submitted a morial, resigning and returning ho. To prevent unrest, I have sealed the news. This person is no longer what he used to be. I recomnd pacifying him and urge Your Majesty to swiftly decide on the matter of Heavenly People descending, the situation is... is not optimistic. Minister Helian Mountain, respectfully petitions!"
This passage read by the palace attendant was nerve-wracking.
Is this sothing he should say or hear?
He looked up to see His Majesty’s eyes as sharp as cold knives, as if ready to devour him, the imperial aura was sothing a eunuch could endure.
The morial in his hand slipped and fell to the ground with a slap, scattering, the papers stained with blood from the floor.
This shock caused the palace attendant’s legs to weaken, and he fell to his knees, scrambling to pick up the papers.
At that mont, a fierce palm struck out, imprinting directly on the palace attendant’s chest,
He scread miserably, blood spurting from his mouth, imdiately knocked to the entrance of the grand hall. However, despite the pitiful appearance, the palace attendant was still alive, not killed on the spot.
Suddenly, a person erged from beside the Imperial Desk.
Wearing a scarlet round-collared robe with dark golden entwined patterns embroidered on the collar and cuffs, a black headcloth on his head, gray hair peeking out from beneath, holding a "Cloud Broom" in his hand.
"Useless!"
"Can’t even handle this simple task."
"You there, drag him away, don’t obstruct His Majesty’s view."
While this person scolded angrily, he directed the palace attendants to escort the injured away.
The eunuchs kneeling in fear quickly grasped this lifeline, hurriedly brought the person away, and retreated.
This person then turned, picked up the fallen morial from the floor, wiped it with his sleeve, then bent towards the Imperial Desk, speaking softly,
"Calm Your Majesty’s wrath!"
Emperor Wu suddenly sat up straight from the throne behind the Imperial Desk, hands gripping the desk, eyes flashing, coldly laughing, "Wrath, why should I be wrathful?"
"Chen Yuan, huh, sohow beca a Martial Saint, wings grown strong, doesn’t regard at all, not only disrupting Court plans, but at this ti drops everything."
"Such a fine Patrol Angel appointed by !"
As the emperor’s voice grew darker, cracks began to form on the Qilin Gold Stone Imperial Desk in front of him.
Chief Eunuch Feng Bao, the emperor’s Chief Companion for a full century, feeling His Majesty’s fury, lowered his eyelids, his head bowing lower.
To serve the emperor is like serving a tiger, staying on Emperor Wu’s side for so many years naturally allowed understanding of so of the emperor’s thoughts, only seeing His Majesty’s recent conduct, he couldn’t resist speaking quietly:
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