Zhao Yān had deceived her father, the Emperor.

She knew that if the original plan from Wenren Lin had been followed, he would never have brought troops to rescue the Emperor.

He had said before that he would not protect the Great Xuan in the slightest.

So when he stepped past her and turned to face the Emperor, Zhao Yān’s heart skipped a beat.

She feared Wenren Lin would deny her words and do something irreversible in front of everyone: the foreign enemy was still present, and this was not the time for internal strife. If he eliminated her father right here, unless he killed everyone present and framed the rebels, his reputation would be ruined. Such self-destructive revenge would have little meaning.

Taking advantage of the dimness of the secret passage, she discreetly grabbed the edge of Wenren Lin’s sleeve, which was slightly damp with blood.

Wenren Lin paused his steps. Time seemed to flow exceptionally slowly in the secret passage.

After a moment, Zhao Yān heard the clear ringing sound of a sword being sheathed, the bright blade reflecting the Emperor’s cloudy, exhausted eyes.

“Escort His Majesty back to the palace.”

Wenren Lin’s light, calm voice came through, and Zhao Yān let out a sigh of relief, releasing her tightly clenched fingers.

…

…

She ordered the guards to escort the Emperor, Empress, and others to leave first. The procession retreated in an orderly manner, one after another passing by her side. After some time, when the footsteps had faded into the distance and the secret passage fell quiet again, the cool air gently embraced the two figures standing with their backs to each other.

Zhao Yān gave a light cough, glanced at Wenren Lin, and turned toward the entrance of the secret prison.

She deliberately slowed her pace, hearing unhurried footsteps behind her, which allowed her anxious heart to finally settle back into place.

She descended the stone steps to the secret prison, and the steady footsteps continued to follow her.

Zhao Yān was exhausted and wondered if Wenren Lin was angry. Lost in thought, she missed the last step and was about to fall forward when she was caught around the waist by the person behind her.

Zhao Yān paused for a breath. Her pent-up emotions could no longer be suppressed. She turned and buried herself in Wenren Lin’s embrace, tightly wrapping her arms around his neck.

Wenren Lin allowed her to hold him. After a while, he narrowed his eyes and glanced toward the stone steps, as if noticing something.

At the entrance to the secret prison, the shadow of the embracing couple was cast on the steps, gently flickering.

Zhou Ji struggled out, supporting Li Kexing’s arm, and looked toward the steps.

Li Kexing’s legs were weak, causing him to fall behind the group, but he accidentally witnessed this scene and was filled with mixed emotions and reluctance to interrupt.

His beard twitched slightly as he was about to say something, when he saw his proud student raise his eyes and silently mouth “Teacher,” gently shaking his head.

Despite the darkness of the passage, he understood the plea in Zhou Ji’s eyes and could only swallow his sigh, lightening his footsteps.

After all the intruders had left, Wenren Lin finally raised his hand to grip Zhao Yān’s slender shoulders, gently pushing her away.

The rejecting gesture startled Zhao Yān.

As she tried to move forward again, Wenren Lin stopped her with a single hand against her forehead.

With his height and long arms, this gesture kept Zhao Yān from embracing him, immediately causing her to feel dejected.

“My clothes are covered in blood. Aren’t they dirty?”

Wenren Lin’s voice was soft and slow, carrying a hint of composure. “Your Highness has led me here—what do you wish to question me about?”

“How dare I question you?”

Zhao Yān stood with her head lowered, her eyelashes trembling anxiously. “I was afraid you would be angry and rebuke me in front of others. Wouldn’t that make me, Princess Changfeng, lose face?”

“Self-awareness” was something the young princess possessed, but not in abundance.

Wenren Lin couldn’t help but laugh at her words. “You know I don’t want Your Highness to risk danger, yet you insisted on coming. You know you’re wrong but refuse to change—isn’t that right?”

“Then let me ask you: if I hadn’t come, would you have saved them?”

Wenren Lin remained silent.

He raised his clean fingers and gently wiped away the black soot and blood stains from Zhao Yān’s face, revealing her delicate, fair skin. “Your Highness has thought of everyone’s welfare, but have you considered yourself?”

“Because I know there’s someone who, even if he disregards everyone else, will not disregard me.”

Zhao Yān looked up with a smile, her tired eyes sparkling with light. “He told me that no matter what I do, he would have my back. He gave me the courage to be fearless.”

Wenren Lin gently pinched her soft cheeks and smiled, “Your Highness is truly… insatiable.”

There was nothing to be done—the person he had taught would naturally be the one he had to indulge.

“During this day and night, I’ve thought about many things. The Jade Spring Palace only held out for three days before being reduced to ruins, yet back then, the Wenren family led ten thousand soldiers and defended the city for a full three months in a desperate situation.”

The atrocities then must have been a hundred or thousand times worse than the current “Jade Spring Palace Rebellion.”

Waiting for reinforcements in the secret passage for a day felt like years.

Zhao Yān hardly dared to deeply consider what Wenren Lin must have felt eight years ago when he watched his father, brothers, and soldiers die horribly before him, when they ran out of food and weapons, drinking blood and eating rotting flesh while waiting in vain for reinforcements, and the desperate hatred he must have felt.

Wenren Lin lowered his gaze to look at her.

He knew he could not constrain the Far-reaching Wind. He had never been angry with her in the first place, but seeing her cautiously trying to coax him with coquettish behavior was both warming and amusing, so he couldn’t help but indulge her a bit longer.

“Your Highness once promised to let me see hope for saving the world before the Lantern Festival.”

Wenren Lin’s voice was very soft, sounding more like a question to himself. “Where is that hope?”

“I escaped death from the shackles of ritual propriety during the Lantern Festival court inquiry—that is the first hope. As for the second…”

Zhao Yān lowered her eyes with a smile, took Wenren Lin’s cool, strong hand, and squeezed her bow-string-bruised fingers between his, gently intertwining them.

“The second, I’ll show you.”

The eagle riders escorted everyone retreating from the Jade Spring Palace back to the capital, stopping and starting along the way. It wasn’t until after nightfall when they safely entered the city gates that Wenren Lin understood what Zhao Yān meant by her smiling words, “I’ll show you.”

With the Emperor’s fate uncertain and rebels threatening the capital, spreading pressure through rumors and public opinion, the city was not in the imagined state of panic and chaos. Instead, it was orderly and pervaded by a magnificent atmosphere, unlike the cold spring.

Lanterns hung high on the city walls as commoners voluntarily took up hoes, sickles, and other implements to stand alongside the few remaining city gate guards on the high walls, watching for enemy movements.

Below the walls, crude oilcloth tents had been set up to accommodate the wounded city guards. Rong Fuyue, dressed in a plain work dress with rolled-up sleeves, was leading female students from the academy in helping brew medicines and soups, moving among the tents to care for the wounded.

Along one side of the road, several Confucian scholars from the Ming De Academy were pointing to the sky and speaking passionately about something, while the onlookers gripped their “weapons” tightly, ready to face death without fear.

The wind lifted a proclamation written by the scholars, powerfully displaying the decisive words: “What true man fears death when standing in the world? One journey to the yellow springs breaks through all impossibilities.”

Eight years ago, some had built a wall with their flesh and blood, exchanging their lives for the safety of hundreds of thousands of common people. Now, the common people were building a wall with their flesh and blood to protect the backbone of the Great Xuan from falling.

In this cycle of rebirth, continuing without end, this was the second answer Zhao Yān had given him.

“They’ve returned safely!”

“They did it! Heaven blesses the Great Xuan!”

The people lined the road to welcome back the guards and eagle riders, giving them the most enthusiastic cheers. Human voices rose in a deafening roar, so much that carriages and horses could not pass through.

When Liu Baiwei heard the news, he simply abandoned his horse and squeezed out from the crowded throng, loudly asking Gu Xing who was riding ahead: “Where is Her Highness?”

The people’s cheers were too loud, and Gu Xing had to lean forward and listen several times before understanding. He looked back.

Liu Baiwei followed his gaze and saw the carriage moving slowly forward. The swaying curtain was lifted slightly by cool, white fingers, revealing Wenren Lin’s frost-handsome face.

Zhao Yān was leaning against his shoulder, sound asleep.

Her clothes were stained with blood, making her look somewhat disheveled, but her complexion seemed good. Liu Baiwei relaxed slightly and was about to move forward when he saw the curtain being lowered as the carriage drove past him without a backward glance.

“How petty!”

Liu Baiwei stumbled as he was jostled by the crowd and cursed under his breath.

Back at the palace, they counted heads, reported duties, offered reassurances and rewards—everything was chaotic but busy.

In the Penglai Palace, the gauze lamps in the bedchamber were warm and quiet.

Zhao Yān emerged after bathing and changing clothes. Seeing that Shi Lan’s eyes were still red, she said gently: “Look, I’m perfectly fine, just some scratches. Why are you crying? Or did Zhang Cang frighten you when he discovered I had escaped?”

Shi Lan just shook her head, sobbing intermittently: “Your Highness might have lived modestly in Huayang, but you never suffered like this.”

“Come now, saying such things in front of me—what will Liu Ying think?”

Zhao Yān patted Shi Lan’s shoulder, and seeing that she had stopped crying, turned to Liu Ying and asked, “How is Mother Empress?”

Liu Ying replied: “A court lady brought word that Her Majesty has prepared everything according to Your Highness’s plan.”

Zhao Yān nodded: “You’ve worked hard these past days. Tell my aunt and Liu Baiwei that once my business here is concluded, I will personally visit them to express my gratitude and explain everything in detail.”

Liu Ying accepted the command and left.

Shi Lan sniffled and arranged a simple hairstyle for Zhao Yān. She was about to select a pearl hairpin from the jewelry box when she saw Zhao Yān take out that exquisite golden hairpin first, holding it in her palm and saying, “This is sufficient for tonight.”

As she spoke, her eyes seemed to contain many emotions, but all were resolute.

Zhao Yān dressed fully according to her status as a princess and opened the door to see Wenren Lin sitting at the stone table in the courtyard, appreciating the tea in his cup. His clean crimson lower garment was covered with a thin layer of peach blossom petals—he must have been sitting in the moonlight for quite some time.

He had come from the Crane Return Pavilion, as his robes had been changed and emanated a faint, cool medicinal fragrance.

Zhao Yān suddenly felt that nothing was more reassuring than surviving a calamity and reuniting after a brief separation.

Her eyes filled with a smile as she quietly approached and sat opposite Wenren Lin, resting her chin on her hand and smiling at him.

The bitter medicinal scent grew stronger. Zhao Yān curiously lowered her gaze and realized that what Wenren Lin held in his cup was not tea at all, but a concentrated brownish bitter medicinal brew.

“What medicine is it?” she asked.

Wenren Lin drained the cup in one go and, instead of answering, asked: “Why aren’t you sleeping yet?”

Zhao Yān remembered the important matter and shook her head: “If you hadn’t come to find me, I would have gone to find you.”

Wenren Lin was somewhat surprised and responded with a simple “Oh.”

In his mind, he was calculating how many more doses he had left of the medicine Physician Sun had prepared for him.

“About the rescue mission yesterday, I know I was quite shameless, but I’ve thought of how to make it up to you.”

The night breeze shook flowers down like rain. Zhao Yān tilted her head slightly, the golden hairpin in her bun gleaming brightly. “I want to seek justice for you, the one hundred thousand soldiers, and Zhao Yǎn in my way. What you want to do, I’ll do for you; what you want to ask, I’ll speak for you.”

Just as Wenren Lin had done for her this past year, she also wanted to protect him once, to brush away the frost and infamous name that covered him.

Estimating that the time was about right, Zhao Yān stood up and took Wenren Lin’s hand, pulling him to his feet, and headed toward the Eastern Six Palaces.

With Wenren Lin behind her, no one dared obstruct their path. Zhao Yān suddenly recalled the phrase “a fox borrowing a tiger’s might” and found it particularly apt.

“Is Your Highness taking me on a night tour by candlelight?”

“Follow me, and don’t speak.”

Follow me—

Wenren Lin found that he quite liked these somewhat domineering three words. His lonely soul seemed to find a resting place, pulled from the abyss of vengeance into the bright light.

He squeezed Zhao Yān’s little finger and asked no more.

In that moment, he felt that wherever this young woman led him would be his home.

In the Taiji Palace, within the warm inner chamber.

The Emperor had just sent away the sobbing Consort Xu and was now sitting with his hair undone and robes disheveled, wearily dictating an edict to comfort his officials and subjects, which a Hanlin official was writing down with an ivory brush.

Everything around was extraordinarily quiet, with only the slight sound of the brush tip moving across the paper and the Emperor’s occasional hoarse coughing.

It was at this moment that Empress Wei entered, carrying a bowl of medicinal soup. She had brought no palace maids, apparently intending to personally serve the medicine.

The Emperor waved his hand, ordering the Hanlin official and Eunuch Feng to withdraw, then leaned back on the couch, coughing out the suppressed air in his chest, and said hoarsely: “You have rendered meritorious service in protecting me, and you are still injured. I do not need you to attend to the medicine here. Go back and rest early.”

This woman had an indescribable cold charm about her. As an empress, she was impeccable, but as a wife, she lacked a certain submissiveness.

The Emperor’s attitude toward her was complicated. He had once admired and loved her, and he had also been annoyed by and wary of her. Now, having escaped death, he felt only tenderness toward her.

But Empress Wei simply focused on stirring the thick medicinal soup in the bowl, not responding to his words. The scratching sound of the jade spoon against the porcelain bowl occasionally echoed in the quiet chamber.

This sound, while coarse, was piercing to the ears. The Emperor’s temples throbbed in pain, and he couldn’t help but rub them with his fingers, exhaling a turbid breath through his nose.

Never mind, her temperament had always been thus; she never learned to be ingratiating.

“I risked my life to save you, but not for Your Majesty’s sake.”

After what seemed like a long time, when the medicinal soup in the bowl had lost its heat, Empress Wei finally spoke calmly.

The Emperor was shocked by the coldness in her words. He opened his eyes and scrutinized her uncertainly: “What is the Empress saying?”

The only answer he received was the scratching sound of the spoon circling the porcelain bowl.

“Enough.”

The Emperor pressed his temples and rose to grasp his wife’s wrist. “Then, for what reason did the Empress do so?”

“To prevent chaos among the people, to prevent the country from being destroyed by Northern Wu’s hands, and also…”

Empress Wei’s gaze turned toward the door, looking at the heavy shadows cast on the screen, and she said flatly, “For the sake of the truth.”

The Emperor frowned suspiciously: “Truth? What truth?”

Empress Wei turned her eyes to look at him. The coldness in her phoenix-like eyes gave the Emperor an ominous premonition.

“Why did you kill our son, Zhao Yǎn?”

As if struck by a needle, the Emperor abruptly released her hand, regarding Empress Wei with shock and suspicion.

“A-Yan was killed by your brother Wei Yan. Has the Empress forgotten?”

The Emperor frowned and said in a deep voice, “Yan’er was my son too. How could I kill him?”

“I understand Wei Yan better than Your Majesty does. He is skilled at gauging people’s hearts, friendly on the outside but distant on the inside, but he would not do things without benefit. How could he be certain that after killing my son, he would be safe and avoid Your Majesty’s accountability? Who gave him the courage to strike at the Eastern Palace? Whose blade did he ultimately become?”

Empress Wei stood up and looked down at him coldly. “Now, behind closed doors, with only my husband and wife, I want to hear one honest word from Your Majesty.”

“What I just said was the truth.”

“Please explain, Your Majesty, why you secretly permitted Wei Yan to kill him.”

“Empress, you… You’ve gone mad.”

“Because my son’s virtuous reputation overshadowed his father’s, and the political theories he was developing would have overthrown his father’s rule. So Your Majesty began to fear, just as you once feared your Crown Prince brother, feared to the point of using others to eliminate him, and even sending eunuchs to pursue him to Fangling to poison the deposed Crown Prince.”

“Nonsense!”

“Coincidentally, that eunuch who poisoned the deposed Crown Prince later went to Yanluoguan as a ‘military supervisor’ ten years later. Shortly after, General Wenren and one hundred thousand soldiers died for their country, and this eunuch also suddenly died on his return journey, his body mutilated. Because my son accidentally discovered that this imperial eunuch’s death was suspicious, with someone else behind it, Your Majesty became increasingly paranoid about old matters coming to light…”

“Silence!”

The Emperor suddenly shouted, triggering a bout of heart-wrenching coughing.

Empress Wei watched his heaving shoulders and applied the final pressure: “Wei Yan harmed Wenren Cang, but who killed the remaining eighty thousand soldiers?”

“I gave them a way out!”

The Emperor clutched his chest and got down from the couch barefoot. “How can one who achieves great things have womanly mercy! I was wary that the deposed Crown Prince would make a comeback, but look at those throughout history who seized power—which one didn’t root out potential threats? I only did what all emperors would do, but Wenren Jinping, relying on our brotherly feelings from when I was still a prince, repeatedly brought this matter up, often severely rebuking me for cruelly harming my brother, saying things like ‘the fallen Crown Prince was no longer a threat, and pursuing him was an act of tyranny.’ He was practically pointing at my nose and cursing, leaving me no face at all!”

“He was a subject, and I am the Son of Heaven! Did he ever treat me as the Son of Heaven? He led the army north for a year without any news. The army only recognized him, Wenren Jinping, and not the Son of Heaven. I also rose to power through military might—how could I not be wary? Seven imperial edicts summoned him back to the capital, which he ignored. How could I tolerate that?”

Empress Wei said, “At that time, Northern Wu was pressing hard, and the war was at a stalemate. If General Wenren had withdrawn his troops and Northern Wu had broken through Yanluoguan, the hundreds of thousands of people behind would have been slaughtered. How could they retreat?”

Faced with the Empress’s questioning, the Emperor’s eyes were bloodshot.

“I could not sleep day or night. As it happened, Wei Yan and Priest Shen Guang offered medicine, saying it could test his loyalty.”

With a sharp pain in his head and his urgency, he spoke without restraint. “I only wanted him to withdraw his troops and return to the capital, but he and his son preferred to take those pills rather than abandon the lonely city! A-Yan was the same. I was merely testing them, wanting them to remember the limits of being a subject and a son. I gave them opportunities…”

“From that moment on, Your Majesty had already decided to abandon A-Yan, correct? But Your Majesty had no other choice; you could only try to branch out and multiply. So, Your Majesty had the Shen Guang cult create secret drugs for producing children, and arranged for Zhao Yuan’yu to fall from his horse, becoming your test subject.”

“Enough! That was a supreme secret drug offered by the Shen Guang cult. I could not possibly trace its origins.”

The Emperor said, “But I must have a son.”

After speaking, the Emperor sat back on the couch as if he could no longer support himself. His heaving chest made wheezing sounds as he raised his hand to support his forehead.

“So, Your Majesty finally admits that the deaths of the one hundred thousand soldiers and A-Yan, as well as the case of Zhao Yuan’yu, were all orchestrated by your hand.”

Empress Wei slowly closed her eyes, a tear of grief and anger sliding down, which she calmly wiped away.

“Have all of you outside the hall understood clearly?” she asked, word by word.

As if struck by thunder, the Emperor suddenly tensed up and raised his head in disbelief.

The screen slowly opened on both sides. Under the writhing lamp, shadows stood the civil and military officials led by Li Kexing, all in solemn silence.

After the Emperor’s attack and return to the capital, they, as subjects, should have entered the palace to pay their respects and request rewards for their loyalty. The Empress Dowager and Empress had issued an edict commanding them to wait quietly and not make a sound that might disturb His Majesty. So they had been waiting silently on the steps, only to overhear such a shocking secret—

In the quiet of the night, with the Emperor’s voice intense, it was impossible for them not to hear.

The Emperor had not expected the ministers to come to the palace at this time. No… perhaps he should have expected it, but the fatigue from the long journey and the anxiety after the shock had numbed his vigilance. His face suddenly changed color.

So many people had entered the palace, yet not one person had announced them. Since when had he lost even this much control over his court?

The Emperor staggered forward, surveying the group of officials from behind the threshold.

A few who didn’t want to cause trouble lowered their heads, but most of the standing ministers clenched their fists and looked at him with eyes full of disappointment and grief.

The Emperor stepped back, his spine collapsing, his lips trembling, seeming to have aged ten years in a single night.

Zhao Yān stood at the front of the group with Wenren Lin, on the opposite side from the Emperor, witnessing his loss of the people’s hearts and his complete isolation.

“So this is Your Highness’s justice?” Wenren Lin observed, appreciated it, and asked in a low voice.

“Yes.”

She knew that her father was suspicious and cautious by nature, and only at this moment would his defenses be at their lowest.

Although it was not as catastrophically devastating as Wenren Lin had imagined, the final result was the same.

The old Emperor so disheveled, his imperial authority completely lost, and the court historian writing furiously nearby, recording his numerous crimes… for some reason, Wenren Lin felt a sense of satisfaction and very much wanted to laugh.

And indeed, he did laugh out loud.

A sudden sound in the silence, yet because it came eight years late, it felt all the more mocking and desolate.

The Emperor saw them too, then slowly turned back to look at the Empress, and asked with turbid breath: “You have all united to defy me?”

“When a ruler errs, even if he is my birth father, he must be admonished directly.”

Zhao Yān stepped forward, clasped her hands, and bowed, “I beg Father Emperor to proclaim the truth to the world, so that injustice may be redressed!”

Then Li Kexing struggled to kneel, his palms pressing against the ground, saying hoarsely and with grief: “This old subject admonishes with his life, begging Your Majesty to clear these grave injustices and restore clarity to the world!”

“We beg Your Majesty—to restore clarity to the world!”

The ministers all knelt in unison.

“You, you are rebelling!”

The Emperor pointed at them with his hand, his robe slipping from his shoulder and hanging awkwardly on his arm. “By doing this, are you forcing me to follow the likes of Jie and Zhou, to admit guilt to the world?”

The only answer he received was the increasingly loud chorus of “We beg Your Majesty to restore clarity to the world.”

The tide had turned. The Emperor was seized by violent coughing, his head feeling as if it would split.

The voices of the dead filled his mind. He suddenly swept the documents and lamp from the table. Eunuch Feng stumbled forward to support him, choking as he said: “Your Majesty, please take care of your dragon body!”

The Emperor’s head ached unbearably, with veins bulging on his neck. He kept saying: “Concubine Zhen… where is Concubine Zhen? Haven’t you found her yet? Tell her to come here!”

Empress Wei watched coldly and said sternly, “Concubine Zhen colluded with the rebels and has already fled the capital during the chaos.”

The Emperor’s breathing faltered, and he clenched his fist, saying hoarsely: “She is merely a woman of the deep palace. How could she collude with rebels?”

“Her identity is perhaps not as simple as you and I thought.”

The Empress exchanged a glance with Zhao Yān, then ordered, “Bring in the witness.”

The imperial guards dragged up a palace maid with disheveled hair. The Emperor recognized her face as Qing Yue, the chief maid serving Concubine Zhen.

It was this person who had secretly communicated with the rebels, leading them to block the front and back gates, nearly causing the Emperor and Empress to lose their lives. Zhao Yān, leading troops from the secret passage, had just caught this servant girl following Concubine Zhen’s orders to deliver a message to the rebel remnants, and had promptly captured her.

“Speak! Why did Concubine Zhen communicate with the enemy and place the Great Xuan in danger?”

Empress Wei gave a low shout.

Qing Yue collapsed on the ground, revealing one hateful eye through her disheveled hair: “A benighted ruler who killed his brother to seize the throne! The Divine Light has descended, and my mistress will soon avenge her great hatred!”

After speaking, she laughed wildly and tried to dash her head against a pillar, but was promptly restrained by the imperial guards.

The Emperor’s face grew ashen, and he cursed “wretched slave” several times.

When they couldn’t find Concubine Zhen at the Jade Spring Palace, the Emperor had already grown suspicious. But he had been unwilling to admit it, and didn’t dare to admit it, only hoping that Concubine Zhen had already died or had fled elsewhere during the chaos…

It wasn’t until he heard this slave’s words with his ears that he had to believe that the gentle, goddess-like Daoist concubine was a vicious, venomous demon through and through.

This woman was proficient in Daoist arts, with a naturally detached nature, yet in all these years he had never noticed! The perennial influence of the pills had clouded his senses, and he had been deceived to such an extent! He had been so blind!

As rage surged within him, the Emperor could no longer suppress the anger in his heart. He looked up to the heavens and spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, collapsing to the ground.

Zhao Yān tightened her fingers.

Wenren Lin’s smile grew cold as he watched the filthy blood mist disperse in the air, blooming like a withered flower.

…

Outside the county near the capital, a boat like a specter docked at the ferry.

Oil lamps swayed as the remnants of the severely diminished rebel forces gathered around, craning their necks toward the entrance.

A mysterious figure draped in a black cloak descended the creaking wooden stairs with slow steps. Beneath the slightly swaying hem of the cloak, a pair of exquisite purple lotus-shaped shoes occasionally appeared.

The shadows gradually retreated from the newcomer’s form. Everyone bent their index fingers in salute and called out in unison: “The Divine Light descends, Boundless Master.”

Concubine Zhen raised her hand and removed her hood, revealing a face as gentle and pure as a divine consort.