Abyss: Thank you Nix for the the Kofi! Enjoy the updatesss! You’re gonna love this chapter 😉
In a moment of hesitation, Wen Qingci’s steps faltered outside the Baiqiao Tower. He refrained from pushing open the door.
Holding his breath, he peered inside.
The Emperor extended his hand into empty space, as if grasping at something. Stumbling forward, he took two steps before suddenly shaking his head in fear. “No, I haven’t done anything wrong!”
With that, he collapsed unceremoniously onto the ground.
After a prolonged silence, he gritted his teeth and said, “It was me, I’m the one who wronged you…”
Did Emperor Xie Zhaolin just use the word “I”?
Wen Qingci finally noticed that the Emperor’s golden crown had fallen to the ground, revealing disheveled gray-black hair. This Nine-Five Majesty, who always cared about appearances, had completely lost his dignity for the first time.
The vast Baiqiao Tower fell silent once more.
Dressed in bright yellow, Emperor Xie Zhaolin surveyed his surroundings.
The emperor must not know that he saw this…
Wen Qingci stepped back immediately.
But he was still too slow.
In the next instant, their eyes met.
He saw himself.
Wen Qingci’s heart skipped a beat. Gathering his courage, he pushed open the door and walked inside, bowing respectfully to the Emperor. “I pay my respects to Your Majesty—”
A chill crept up his knees once again.
To his surprise, after that momentary eye contact, the Emperor seemed to look right through him, slowly shifting his gaze away.
Once again, the Emperor’s attention returned to the ceiling, muttering incoherently.
Although the incense had burned out, the Fuxuan Flower Pill remained the Emperor’s life-saving elixir. Under its magnification and catalytic effects, his mental issues continued to worsen.
Wen Qingci owed his survival to the Fuxuan Flower Pill. The Emperor’s dosage had increased significantly over time, and every few days, messengers were dispatched to find the rare flower outside the capital. They would rush it back while it was still effective, delivering it into Wen Qingci’s hands for pill refinement.
As long as the Emperor wanted to live comfortably or needed another dose of the Fuxuan Flower Pill, he couldn’t harm Wen Qingci or sever their uneasy alliance.
Unless he faced a problem even more troublesome than his headaches…
Observing the Emperor quietly, Wen Qingci realized that the Emperor seemed delusional, lost in his own thoughts.
A daring idea flared up within Wen Qingci. What if he tried to extract information from the Emperor while his mind was clouded?
In that moment, a surge of intense hatred welled up in Wen Qingci’s heart. His pulse even throbbed painfully.
He gently pressed his hand to his chest—perhaps remnants of the original host’s emotions.
His moon-white robe swayed as he adjusted his breath, walking slowly toward the Emperor.
At this moment, Emperor Xie Zhaolin knelt on the ground, muttering something. Apart from the name “Ning Yuzhao,” nothing else was audible.
Clearly, the Emperor feared that former dynasty figure.
There must have been many “remarkable” events twenty years ago.
Thinking of this, words from Consort Lan months ago resurfaced in Wen Qingci’s mind—the death of the previous Emperor at the Guangcheng Temple outside the capital.
“…Does Your Majesty remember Guangcheng Temple?”
“Guang… Guangcheng Temple?”
Indeed, the Emperor slowly raised his head, looking at Wen Qingci with immense fear.
His already unstable emotions became even more agitated. “I didn’t know! I truly didn’t know you weren’t armed—”
That sentence pierced through the Emperor’s psychological defenses like a blade.
He sat dumbfounded in the Baiqiao Tower, sinking into memories.
The decline of the previous dynasty’s descendants led to Emperor Ning Yuzhao’s birth when his father was over forty. But Ning Yuzhao not only inherited his father’s frail constitution but was even more delicate and sickly.
From birth, Ning Yuzhao’s sole concern was how to survive.
In this context, some worried about the dynasty’s future, while others harbored ambitious desires—such as the current Emperor.
Xie Zhaolin, several years older than the late Emperor, had been indoctrinated from childhood with the idea of seizing ultimate power.
He looked down on the Crown Prince, who never bothered with court affairs and only focused on recuperation. Yet, he pretended to be close, making Ning Yuzhao consider him a confidant.
The two spent their days together like this.
Until the day of the imperial hunt in the outskirts.
Ning Yuzhao nearly fell off his horse, but Xie Zhaolin saved him just in time.
In a hurry, he did not follow Ning Yuzhao’s instructions as usual and asked him if he was injured.
Instead, he got angry subconsciously and warned the prince, who was in poor health, not to participate in such activities.
“…Hahaha, why is he so stupid, so stupid?” The unconscious emperor sitting on the ground laughed and mocked, “I was really impatient at the time and thought he was causing me trouble… I didn’t expect that he, he thought I was really kind to him.”
Wen Qingci looked at the emperor coldly.
Xie Zhaolin’s ability to govern the country might be average, but before he became mentally ill, he was a top-notch actor.
He is so good at pretending.
He pretended to be virtuous and a wise ruler, and deceived countless people.
The one who was deceived the most was probably Ning Yuzhao.
Relying on his status as the crown prince, he kept Xie Zhaolin, the son of Prince Su, who was supposed to return to his fiefdom, in Yongdu and kept him by his side.
He trusted Xie Zhaolin so much that he even delegated power to him.
After he succeeded to the throne, his dependence on him was beyond ordinary.
It wasn’t until that heavy snow that Xie Zhaolin’s disguise was torn off.
From the people to the imperial court, there were voices everywhere asking Ning Yuzhao to abdicate. He finally came to his senses a little, and angrily and disappointedly questioned Xie Zhaolin about what was going on.
Xie Zhaolin did not explain as usual, he remained silent
No matter how dumb a person is, by this moment he should realize what is going on.
In the same year, Ning Yuzhao abdicated and became King Ning.
Xie Zhaolin changed the reign title to “Tianchu” and officially ascended the throne.
The two people who were originally close friends began a cold war.
Ning Yuzhao was imprisoned in Guangcheng Temple, under the pretext of “recuperation”.
Ning Yuzhao had clearly completely lost his power, but Xie Zhaolin, who had ascended to the throne through strategy, was still worried.
He was afraid that others would do the same thing as him.
In the third year of Tianchu, Guangcheng Temple was built.
In early spring, it was drizzling.
The long path of the mountain temple also became a little slippery. From a distance, the buildings blended into the mist and rain, like the legendary holy land of heaven.
Xie Zhaolin, dressed in bright yellow, walked into the room late at night, surrounded by a crowd of people.
“King Ning, what important matter does he want to discuss with me?” He frowned and asked the person next to him.
“Your Highness didn’t say much,” the eunuch in charge of guarding Ning Yuzhao hesitated for a moment, “King Ning only said that he wanted to talk to your Majesty about the past…”
The reason he voiced felt incredibly guilty. When Ning Yuzhao sent the message, nobody believed that the Emperor would actually come here for the appointment.
But unexpectedly, within just a few hours, the Emperor had indeed rushed over from the distant Taishu Palace.
However, his demeanor was nothing like that of a nostalgic reunion.
Thinking about this, the eunuch couldn’t help but glance cautiously at Xie Zhaolin.
The young emperor’s brow furrowed, his expression heavy.
Their suspicions were not unfounded.
Xie Zhaolin was not here out of sentimentality, he was driven by fear.
“Very well,” Xie Zhaolin said curtly, without further explanation. He nodded and headed deeper into the temple.
…
In the quietest corner of Guangcheng Temple, Ning Yuzhao sat under a tree, sipping wine alone.
When he saw Xie Zhaolin, he merely raised an eyebrow and said, “Your Majesty, you’ve come.”
Perhaps resigned to his fate or aware that time was running out, he was no longer as hysterical as during their estrangement. Instead, he appeared eerily calm.
With that, he filled the cup in front of him from the wine jug.
Then he slowly raised it.
Xie Zhaolin approached and sat across from him.
The man glanced at the object in Ning Yuzhao’s hand but didn’t take it.
Ning Yuzhao chuckled dryly, placing the cup down. “Is Your Majesty worried I’ve poisoned the wine?”
“I… didn’t mean that.”
Although he was accustomed to being the Emperor, exuding authority in court, he struggled to address himself as “I” in front of this man.
“…I didn’t mean that,” Ning Yuzhao repeated coldly, emphasizing the words.
Despite the chilly early spring weather, it wasn’t ideal for outdoor drinking, especially with the light rain falling tonight.
The Emperor’s clothes were already damp from the mist.
He frowned, observing Ning Yuzhao. Why would someone so health-conscious as Ning Yuzhao venture out in the rain?
A strange feeling crept into the Emperor’s heart.
After a pause, he finally spoke, “The rain seems to be getting heavier. Let’s go inside.”
He stood up, and Ning Yuzhao followed suit.
The Emperor breathed a sigh of relief, suppressing his unease.
But the real surprise came at that moment.
As they both stood up, Ning Yuzhao suddenly sneered.
He swiftly crossed the low table, heading straight for the Emperor.
His movements were lightning-fast, as if fueled by his last reserves of strength.
“What are you doing?!” Fear surged through the Emperor, his voice trembled.
Yet, alongside the fear, a sense of “I knew it” emerged.
Indeed, Ning Yuzhao was indignant and wanted to kill him!
Before Ning Yuzhao could reach him, the Emperor sidestepped, drawing a soft sword from his waist.
He raised the sword, lunging at Ning Yuzhao.
Since childhood, he harbored ambitions for the throne, diligently studying both the ways of an emperor and martial arts.
Though not a master, he was more than capable of handling Ning Yuzhao.
The soft sword pierced Ning Yuzhao’s chest—an unmistakable sensation of blade slicing through flesh and bone. The blood flowed, pooling at their feet.
The Emperor stared, wide-eyed, at Ning Yuzhao.
Finally, a look of terror settled on his face as he focused on Ning Yuzhao’s hand.
Dressed in a simple monk’s robe, Ning Yuzhao smiled faintly, as if relieved, and collapsed to the ground.
In that moment, his gaze held a complex mix of emotions.
“No, how could this be?”
“Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha–“
The piercing laughter echoed through the entire Baiqiao Tower, reaching the ears of Wen Qingci.
“Ning Yuzhao… What did he have in his hand? He’s deceiving me!” The Emperor shouted, almost unhinged. “How dare he deceive me?!”
Though an Emperor, Xie Zhaolin had faced defeat before, he wasn’t one to lose easily.
Yet, against Ning Yuzhao, he had always emerged victorious.
Now, Xie Zhaolin seemed unable to believe that this man had successfully deceived him.
Perhaps Ning Yuzhao sought death, carrying no weapons.
But even if he did… Ning Yuzhao, with little martial skill, couldn’t possibly defeat him.
At this moment, the emperor was like a dog that had lost its home.
Wen Qingci looked at him coldly.
Even in his disoriented state, the Emperor felt a chill from that gaze.
He fell silent, once again gazing up at the Baiqiao Tower’s ornate ceiling.
Xie Zhaolin was usually a man of few words, almost quiet.
But perhaps after years of suppressing these feelings, he had reached a point where he couldn’t hold them in any longer. Or perhaps his mental state was truly unstable, and his mouth no longer obeyed his brain.
After a moment of silence, the emperor spoke again in a hoarse voice: “…He said he got up not to kill me, but just to hug me again.”
“He must be lying to me, he must be lying to me…”
Over the past ten or twenty years, the emperor has told himself again and again that the man had said that on purpose just to provoke him.
However, Ning Yuzhao’s last words before his death were like a spell, completely imprinted in his mind.
Countless times in his dreams, he only remembered those broken sentences: “I, I came… not to kill you, but… to, to hug you again… just like we did back then…”
Baiqiao Tower fell silent again.
Wen Qingci ignored the emperor’s sincere expression of emotion and just stared at him and asked, “What else did King Ning say?”
Even if it was him, there was no guarantee that when the emperor regained consciousness, he would remember that he had heard him say these words.
At this time, there were countless people surrounding Baiqiao Tower, and Wen Qingci had no way to kill the emperor at this time.
He seemed to have only one option… to continue provoking the Emperor while his mind was in turmoil.
Xie Zhaolin: “…”
“He also said… he wanted to travel south along the canal to Songxiu Prefecture and build a canal there.”
Finally, he murmured softly, “Why didn’t I finish the canal sooner? Then I could have taken him… to see it.”
The grand canal of Yinchuan had been planned decades ago, but the previous dynasty’s waning power prevented its successful completion.
Unlike other emperors, the young Emperor Ai of the previous dynasty had once stayed briefly in Songxiu Prefecture, making him acutely aware of the canal’s importance in connecting the north and south.
After ascending the throne, he was determined to complete the long-planned Yinchuan Grand Canal. He confided this ambition to Xie Zhaolin, who had not yet revealed his ambitions.
But in the end, it was Xie Zhaolin who achieved this feat after seizing power.
In the third year of Tianchu, the canal was finally under construction.
Thus, building a canal in the south became one of Ning Yuzhao’s last wishes.
Xie Zhaolin’s journey south last year served multiple purposes: to assess the people along the canal, suppress the restless spirits beneath its waters, and confront the memories that haunted him.
Thinking back, Xie Zhaolin suddenly burst into laughter.
“And then, he said,” the Emperor’s eyes widened, his voice filled with anger and fear, “he cursed me. He said I stole his throne, turned him into a useless Emperor, and doomed him to die a violent death. He even said I am destined to follow in his footsteps—”
The Emperor’s paranoia and sensitivity stemmed from his own guilt and the curse uttered years ago.
“Hahaha how is that possible?!”
“How could I possibly end up like him?”
Finally, he added cautiously, “…He really hated me and wouldn’t even kill me with his own hands.”
“These days, I met the river engineers of the Yinchuan Grand Canal, the people from the Ministry of Works… I met countless people. But I didn’t see him.”
Under the grip of hallucinations, the Emperor suffered nightmares, reliving the deaths of those who perished directly or indirectly by his hand.
His emotions gradually calmed, but Wen Qingci wouldn’t let him regain composure
.
Wen Qingci, fueled by the original host’s anger and resentment, confronted the Emperor’s pitiful and absurd state.
——So many people in this world died just for this thing in front of them?
He really can’t accept it.
“For centuries, countless founding emperors existed, but who was as despicable as you?”
“Look down, countless lost souls in the Yinchuan Grand Canal await you. That’s where you belong.”
With each word, the Emperor trembled.
In the end, even his teeth chattered in fear.
“No, no, no!”
The Emperor staggered backward. “Silence! I am the supreme ruler, chosen by heaven. I should live forever… even if I die, the protective energy of the imperial tomb will shield me. Countless guards surround me, those wandering spirits can’t approach me so easily!”
No wonder he obsessed over his tomb—it was all because of this.
Wen Qingci smiled gently.
His dark eyes held both pity and tenderness, yet his words pierced the Emperor’s heart like a blade.
“Your Majesty, do you truly believe you’ll rest peacefully in the imperial tomb?”
Wen Qingci’s voice remained calm, but his words felt like a curse.
“For you, burial in the imperial tomb seems inappropriate. Your tomb should lie beneath the Yinchuan Grand Canal, where the canal workers can finally seek revenge. They’ve waited far too long.”
He finished with a smile.
The Emperor’s shattered reason couldn’t withstand the onslaught. He screamed and fled toward the Baiqiao Tower, avoiding Wen Qingci like a ghost.
Unlike the Emperor’s frantic state, Wen Qingci stood tall, his moon-white robe pristine.
His demeanor remained calm and gentle, as always.
Deep within the Baiqiao Tower, the Emperor descended into madness.
He thrashed about, muttering incomprehensible words.
The commotion drew the nearby Hengxin guards.
As they entered, they saw the pale-faced imperial physician turning away. Wen Qingci frowned, took a deep breath, and finally whispered, “Your Majesty seems to suffer from hysteria… he cannot be approached.”
As he spoke, the emperor not far away suddenly turned around.
The Hengxin guards came into his sight.
In an instant, the black shadows overlapped with the image of the Yinchuan Grand Canal workers in the hallucination.
Trembling, he pointed at them. “Guards! Kill them—”
The Hengxin guards exchanged glances, frozen in place. For the first time, they defied the Emperor’s command.
The Emperor’s recent behavior confirmed Wen Qingci’s diagnosis: hysteria, and a severe case at that.
The door of Baiqiao Tower was opened wide, and the emperor’s out-of-control screams spread to every corner of Taishu Palace.
From then on everyone knew that he was ill—
In the north, after three days of hard fighting, the Wei Dynasty army appeared at the gate of the r.
The endless empty Gobi Desert was filled with soldiers.
The army of the Wei Dynasty was no longer the same as before.
Everyone in the team looked straight ahead, without a trace of fear in their eyes.
They knew that in this battle, they could only win and not lose.
It seemed as if it was aware that a big war was about to break out here.
Before the bugle could be blown, vultures were already hovering in the sky, waiting for a good meal.
Xie Bufeng slowly rubbed the wool bracelet wrapped around his wrist with his fingertips, and carefully hid it under the metal wristband. His movements were gentle and affectionate.
Finally, he looked back to the south, looking for the direction of Yongdu.
Then he looked up at the sky and slowly smiled.
The blood in his body was boiling hot at this moment, and the murderous intent in his heart had already overflowed uncontrollably.
The vulture let out a long cry.
The young man slowly raised his right hand holding the heavy sword.
After a pause, he pointed it fiercely towards the sky: “Don’t leave any one alive, kill–“
“Yes!”
The black warhorse raised its front legs high and rushed forward with its master like a sharp blade.
Smoke and dust rose up and rolled away.
In an instant, the sound of killing shook the sky.
Abyss: Haha who cried? Here’s some tissues 🧻𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝
Oooh! Finally one mystery has been solved! Very exciting! The thing between the emperor and the prev emperor is tragic, poor emperor Ai