The sharp, thin voice immediately pierced through the hall’s commotion like a needle. The concubines hastily stood up, straightened their clothes, and crowded toward the hall entrance to greet him. The entire hall became a chaotic mass with constant sounds of “Oh my, Sister Yu, what are you rushing for?” and “Oh, Sister Li, you stepped on my skirt.”
But Jing Hengbo felt both disappointed and angry – just when there was a glimmer of hope, she got kicked at the goal line!
Just as she was thinking of simply escaping and later stealing from a few favored concubines, Yi Kingdom’s Great King arrived extremely quickly. The eunuch had just announced him when he was already stepping through the door. A crisp “no need for ceremony” and before the concubines could even squeeze to the entrance, he had already entered the room, casually placing his cloak in the arms of Li Pin who was nearest, and slightly bowing to the Empress Dowager who was gracefully rising above: “Paying respects to the Empress Dowager.”
Since Yi Kingdom’s Great King wasn’t the Empress Dowager’s biological son, she never dared find fault with his etiquette. She hastily helped him up personally, smiling: “You’ve finally come. Your timing is perfect. They’re all here.”
Yi Kingdom’s Great King turned around, and the concubines quickly paid their respects, their gazes burning like wolves as they surrounded him. Li Pin, holding the cloak, looked both proud and pleased, her face glowing.
Yi Kingdom’s Great King swept his gaze across the concubines and suddenly seemed to freeze for a moment, but this daze passed in a flash that no one noticed.
A room full of beauties, all with the same face and same smile, crowded together – it was actually quite a terrifying sight.
Jing Hengbo sat by the table, chin propped up, observing this Yi Kingdom Great King. This was her first time seeing his true appearance – he looked quite refined and handsome, but his features always carried three parts hostility. Uncomfortable to look at.
She suddenly didn’t want to leave.
Because she felt something was off about this Great King.
It seemed… he wasn’t as effeminate as before.
Jing Hengbo was too deeply impressed by Yi Kingdom’s face-changing abilities and reflexively began to suspect. But there was one thing she couldn’t understand – she, an outsider, felt something was wrong, so how could those concubines, as the Great King’s women, not find anything strange?
Perhaps she was overthinking. There was no logic that a mother and wives couldn’t recognize someone while she, an outsider, could.
The Empress Dowager gracefully sat back down, putting on a loving expression while letting her son’s little wives come forward to flatter him. She was just a stepmother and had always had a distant relationship with the Great King. That the Great King acknowledged her as Empress Dowager made her feel guilty, so she never dared ask for much.
The group of concubines was both excited and anxious – the Great King usually didn’t like coming to the harem, especially didn’t like seeing a bunch of women. When concubines came to pay respects to the Empress Dowager, he would absolutely never appear. Therefore, when coming to pay respects, the concubines dressed simply and plainly, but now they wished they could rush back and return fully adorned.
Some also wondered secretly why the Great King broke precedent today, and moreover, rarely appeared with his true face.
Yi Kingdom’s Great King’s gaze swept through the crowd once, then bypassed the pile of women in front and precisely landed on Jing Hengbo with the shortest hair.
No matter how women disguised other people’s faces, they wouldn’t bear to cut their hair short.
When his gaze fell on her, there seemed to be some fluctuation, but it passed in an instant.
“This king came here today to take this woman away.” He pointed at Jing Hengbo.
Jing Hengbo’s heart skipped a beat, thinking she was right – it was still Yi Kingdom’s Great King. She shouldn’t have harbored false hopes.
The Empress Dowager hastily smiled and explained: “I’ve been carefully guarding her, but this woman said she knew an interesting gambling game, so I let her teach the concubines to help pass the lonely palace time.”
The concubines promptly showed pitiful expressions, looking at Yi Kingdom’s Great King with pleading eyes. The Great King’s gaze swept over them like looking at wood, then fell on Jing Hengbo’s face again.
He looked at Jing Hengbo’s slightly drooping eye corners and the fine lines that had appeared on her neck, then at the concubines’ flawless skin without any lines or blemishes, and suddenly said: “Oh? What game?”
Li Pin hastily rushed to explain the rules. Yi Kingdom’s Great King glanced at the gaming table and suddenly said: “Sounds very interesting. I’ll play a round too.”
Everyone was stunned.
Jing Hengbo picked at her ear, thinking she’d misheard, then saw Yi Kingdom’s Great King sit down on his own, looked left and right, pointed to Li Pin and Yu Pin: “Four-person game? Then it’s you two.”
Jing Hengbo slowly shuffled the tiles, thinking whether this Great King was real or fake. What was he plotting? If he was real, should she take the opportunity to eliminate him?
The two were overjoyed and quickly sat down. The others, green with envy, refused to leave and crowded to one side to watch. Yi Kingdom’s Great King paid no attention, listened to Li Pin explain the rules, seemed to understand, and said: “Need to put up stakes?”
The two concubines said yes. Yi Kingdom’s Great King glanced at Jing Hengbo’s face and neck, then asked: “So what stakes did you propose?”
The two concubines repeated their earlier offers. Yi Kingdom’s Great King smiled and shook his head: “Those earlier stakes were fine, but now that this king personally joins the battle, you still bet these things?”
Yu Pin hastily smiled: “With the Great King personally participating, naturally we should bet our most precious things.”
Li Pin, not to be outdone, quickly said: “Our possessions are naturally most precious when bestowed by the Great King. But betting with such things seems to slight the Great King’s intentions…”
“No matter.” Yi Kingdom’s Great King waved his hand: “What this king bestowed is indeed most precious. Good that you understand. What, afraid to put them up and lose to this king?”
“We concubines, from person to heart, all belong to the Great King. Losing anything to you would be our pleasure,” the two concubines hastily smiled and flattered him. Yu Pin then said: “I’ll bet my Face-Washing Pill.”
Li Pin said: “Then I’ll bet the prescription for Youth-Returning Skin-Tightening Powder that the Great King bestowed.”
Jing Hengbo was overjoyed, then glanced at Yi Kingdom’s Great King again – what the heck, so understanding? Real or fake? If real, he wasn’t usually this kind-hearted. If fake, then who was it?
Yi Kingdom’s Great King waved his hand to signal the start of play, but the two concubines wouldn’t miss the opportunity, coquettishly asking: “The Great King made us put up stakes, but what about yourself?”
“What do you want?” Yi Kingdom’s Great King asked.
The two women exchanged glances, both seeing desire in each other’s eyes. Each curled their lips, and Yu Pin smiled: “We concubines have everything bestowed by the Great King – how dare we ask for things from you? We who stay in the deep palace, day and night hoping for nothing more than the Great King’s favor.”
Li Pin also covered her mouth and laughed: “I wouldn’t dare delay the Great King’s myriad affairs. I only hope when the Great King has leisure, he’ll come to my palace and taste the new dishes I’ve prepared.”
Jing Hengbo pursed her lips – did all deep palace women talk like this? Inviting someone for a meal required such watery eyes and spring feelings on the face? Why not just say “want to sleep with you” and pounce directly?
She suddenly thought of a certain person’s body, remembering those days and nights of taking advantage, and suddenly her eyes became watery with spring feelings, feeling restless. Then she heard Yi Kingdom’s Great King ask her: “What about you? What stakes will you put up?”
“Want to sleep together…” Her thoughts were still immersed in someone’s physique and figure, her mind full of spring feelings flying about, and she unconsciously spoke aloud.
From across the table came a long “Hmm?” She hastily straightened up: “Want freedom!”
Secretly adding three words in her heart: “…to sleep together.”
Another “Hmm” came from across the table with a noncommittal attitude, then: “You need to put up something as stakes.”
Jing Hengbo thought for a moment: “I don’t have anything good. How about this – if I lose, I’ll also contribute a beauty prescription.”
“If you lose to them, contribute a beauty prescription,” Yi Kingdom’s Great King said. “If you lose to this king, just agree to one request from me.”
Jing Hengbo watched him alertly. She could determine this Yi Kingdom Great King was probably fake, but couldn’t determine who exactly he was. But at this moment, she had to continue playing along, so she could only agree.
The four people began shuffling tiles with a rustling sound. The moment Jing Hengbo’s fingers touched the tiles, she nearly burst into tears – long-missed mahjong!
At this moment she immensely missed those days when the four of them surrounded the table battling day and night, when she and Taishi Lan would bicker, get roasted by Wen Zhen, and finally have Jun Ke mediate.
That rustling sound of shuffling tiles – intimate, musical, comfortable, satisfying – represented that period of leisurely life with good friends all present.
She found it strange now – how had she found that life unbearable back then?
She wouldn’t trade being queen for it!
Look at now – what kind of life was this? In a strange country’s strange palace, playing mahjong with a Great King of unknown authenticity and his two concubines. One table with three identical faces, all her own face. And her own face was the oldest and ugliest of the three.
Was this a life fit for humans?
Was fate deliberately making things difficult for her big-hearted self?
Feeling angry, she shuffled the tiles with extra force. Li Pin and Yu Pin thought this was also part of the shuffling rules, so they also worked hard. Rustling sounds filled the air as tiles flew everywhere, several times hitting the faces of watching concubines.
As Jing Hengbo shuffled, she suddenly felt something different. Looking down, Yi Kingdom’s Great King’s finger was touching hers.
Her gaze fell on that finger – truly a beautiful finger, snow-white and clean, joints like carved jade, nails like ice shells.
Also a familiar finger.
She joyfully shuffled tiles, thinking the great god was indeed a great god – he’d broken through such a bizarre situation, pursued her here, and was using the enemy’s own methods against them by impersonating Yi Kingdom’s Great King? Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful!
After a while, her finger was touched again. She thought Gong Yin wanted to communicate something, so she concentrated on looking, but Gong Yin nonchalantly withdrew his finger.
After another while, her finger was touched again. Jing Hengbo looked at his calm, indifferent expression and finally understood.
This guy was just taking advantage while shuffling tiles!
Looking more carefully, those two concubines were also taking advantage while shuffling, their fingers fishing around in the tiles, constantly trying to catch the Great King’s fingers. Unfortunately, the Great King’s fingers were like swimming fish, cleverly avoiding Li Pin and Yu Pin’s attempts each time, then in the intervals between dodging, cleverly catching Jing Hengbo’s fingers.
The four people, under the pretense of shuffling tiles, played a finger game of groping, dodging, and re-groping with great enthusiasm. The watching concubines were all yawning – these tiles had been shuffled for a quarter hour already, when would this end…
Jing Hengbo seriously explained: “Shuffling longer makes the later game fairer and harder to cheat. Moreover, in Imperial Song, the more noble the person, the longer they shuffle, the more advanced their technique. I heard Right State Preceptor Gong Yin can shuffle for three days and nights, can shuffle one-handed, shuffle with his hair, shuffle with his feet, shuffle with his butt…”
Across from her, Great King Gong’s finger paused, then reached across the tiles being shuffled to firmly tap her hand.
Jing Hengbo acted as if nothing happened, smiling like a flower – just mentioning your butt, what’s the big deal? Sister’s butt was stomped hard by you!
“The State Preceptor is truly extraordinary!” the concubines exclaimed in admiration.
Gong Yin’s eyes were dark and deep, flowing with dangerous light.
The tiles rustled for over a quarter hour until someone was satisfied with groping. It’s said that from then on, mahjong spread throughout Yi Kingdom, especially the custom of long tile-shuffling, which Yi Kingdom people regarded as an unbreakable rule. Shuffling time and variety of techniques became measures of ability and nobility. Special shuffling competitions were even held, with one youth winning by shuffling with his navel, and one woman tying for champion by shuffling for seven straight days without eating or sleeping. This was recorded in Yi Kingdom’s mahjong annals, but these are all later stories…
Finally finishing the shuffling, they began building the wall. Jing Hengbo explained the rules to Great King Gong again. Great King Gong truly had a super brain – while the concubines were still confused after hearing it a second time, he was already very smoothly beginning to play.
At first, Jing Hengbo thought that as a mahjong expert, beating these three rookies would be a matter of minutes. Though mahjong relied mostly on luck, technique, wisdom, and memory also greatly influenced winning chances. As someone experienced and skilled at remembering and calculating tiles, she’d soon need baskets to hold her winnings.
But wishes were beautiful while reality was cruel. The crushing power of a genius’s intelligence was always terrifying.
Initially, Jing Hengbo took advantage of Great King Gong’s unfamiliarity with the rules and won several rounds, her chips piling high. Just as she was celebrating, the tide quickly turned, and Gong Yin began his massacre.
Jing Hengbo stared dumbfounded at Great King Gong across from her. Before long, snow-white fingers flicked: “Peng!” He pushed the wall in front of him forward: “Win!”
“Two bamboo!”
Great King Gong slapped down tiles: “Peng!” With a crash as tiles were pushed: “Win!”
“White dragon!”
Slender fingers flicked and pushed: “All pairs! Win!”
“Four circles!”
Crash as tiles were pushed.
“Peng! Pure suit!”
Quick, neat, crisp, dominating. Shuffling like embracing sun and moon, pushing tiles like overturning rivers and mountains. Laughing while swallowing rainbows, facing tiles like commanding thousands of troops. A generation of heroes pointing at the landscape, using this majestic bearing at the gaming table with equally cool authority. The table was full of Great King Gong’s expressionless “Peng!” “Win!” “Pure suit straight flush!”
After winning, the god-like man remained motionless, eyes straight ahead, extending his hand with sacred bearing – pay up quickly!
As Jing Hengbo played, she covered her stomach – she couldn’t take it anymore, she was getting internal injuries from suppressing laughter. The image of the aloof, snow-like Great God Gong sitting at a gaming table calling “peng” and “hu” with a group of women was too incongruous and ridiculous. And that extended hand when collecting chips – she really wanted to pounce and grab his hand saying: “Ah ah ah, cold and cute or whatever, so bloody appealing!”
But she was also somewhat puzzled. Even if Yi Kingdom’s Great King could change in myriad ways, couldn’t his own mother and little wives recognize him? Setting aside everything else, Yi Kingdom’s Great King had acted very effeminate in front of her, but now Gong Yin couldn’t perform that effeminate quality – weren’t these people suspicious?
She didn’t know that Yi Kingdom’s Great King was gay but not obviously so. That effeminate air had only been revealed in front of Jing Hengbo during that earlier performance, leaving her with a deep impression.
For these concubines who rarely saw the Great King and weren’t favored, his heavenly countenance had always been majestic before them. The Great King was naturally effeminate? They’d never even considered it.
However, the Empress Dowager, sitting to one side, occasionally swept her gaze over Gong Yin with thoughtful eyes.
Gong Yin played four rounds, calculated his certain victory, pushed the tiles away: “Count the chips.”
Without counting, everyone knew he’d won. The two concubines had servants bring the prescriptions, both laughing: “Just returning the Great King’s things to the Great King. Who knows when the Great King will return them to us?”
Facing Jing Hengbo’s eager gaze, Great King Gong stuffed the prescriptions into his sleeve. Rising to defer to the Empress Dowager, Jing Hengbo was wondering why he didn’t quickly take her away when she saw him personally explain the rules to the Empress Dowager and arrange for three obviously sharp-minded concubines to accompany her. The three concubines very tactfully sent good tiles to the Empress Dowager. Before long, the Empress Dowager’s chips were piled high, and she was beaming with joy, completely forgetting everything around her.
Only then did Gong Yin rise and say to the Empress Dowager: “Mother Empress, your son still has official duties and must take leave. I’ll take this woman with me now.”
His words “your son” were quite muffled, drowned out by the concubines’ chatter. The Empress Dowager’s tile-shuffling hands paused as she looked at him, then suddenly said: “I find this woman quite interesting. My palace is full of mature people, and now seeing such a clever girl, I’ve grown quite fond of her. If she hasn’t committed serious crimes, why not let her stay in Ning De Palace to serve and accompany me, atoning through service.”
Jing Hengbo’s heart jumped, thinking the old woman was suspicious!
Actually, if Gong Yin had come and immediately left with her, he might not have been discovered. But by sitting down to swindle the prescriptions and prolonging the time, flaws became more likely to appear.
Gong Yin showed no surprise, smiling: “If it were an ordinary person, how could your son refuse Mother Empress’s request? But this woman is cunning by nature and involved in major cases. How could your son dare leave someone of unknown origins beside you? What if she harbored ill intentions and harmed you?”
The Empress Dowager pondered briefly but couldn’t be certain. At this moment, a concubine across from her played a tile she needed, so she hastily called “peng” and busied herself winning and collecting chips. Her mind was now completely occupied by this interesting and profitable game. After thinking, she said: “Since you’ve come, don’t just leave like this. You work on official duties all day – you should let these palace women serve you properly. You choose – let any of them go with you.”
All concubines immediately raised their heads. Those playing mahjong felt extremely regretful, while others stared like wolves. Jing Hengbo squinted at Gong Yin, waiting to hear how he’d refuse, but heard him say: “Then her.” He casually pointed to Yu Pin in jade-colored clothes.
Yu Pin was beside herself with joy. Jing Hengbo squinted again at Yu Pin – why did Gong Yin choose this one? Was she particularly beautiful?
The Empress Dowager had nothing more to say, her attention completely captured by mahjong. Gong Yin led Yu Pin and Jing Hengbo away amid the envious, jealous, and hateful gazes of other concubines. Outside Ning De Palace, a double sedan was waiting. Gong Yin helped Yu Pin into the sedan, glanced at Jing Hengbo: “Let her follow behind.”
Jing Hengbo had to follow. While others rode, she ran. Her Majesty the Queen bitterly watched the backs of the two in the sedan, watching Yu Pin constantly giggling and gradually leaning toward Gong Yin’s shoulder. She wanted to drag this shameless little vixen off the sedan or give that shameless male demon a good beating.
The sedan reached a secluded corner with few people. She watched those guards and eunuchs, waiting for Gong Yin to leap up so she could coordinate from outside to escape Yi Kingdom’s palace. But she encountered this opportunity several times, yet Gong Yin showed no movement. Full of confusion but unable to abandon Gong Yin and run alone, she could only follow. Walking and walking, looking up, she saw red background with gold characters reading “Qixiang” – they’d reached Yi Kingdom Great King’s bedchamber.
No way? Had Gong Yin become addicted to acting, really going to his bedchamber to sleep with his concubine in revenge?
Gong Yin indeed entered the bedchamber. This time he didn’t let Jing Hengbo follow, having people settle her in a side hall while he truly brought Yu Pin into the main hall. Then palace servants withdrew, and an old eunuch smiled while instructing everyone to prepare warm baths and hot water, also sending in various nourishing and aphrodisiac items. Jing Hengbo watched through the window, thinking this was truly the rhythm of imperial favor.
She felt that while Yi Kingdom’s Great King had kidnapped her using disguise techniques, Gong Yin impersonating him to live in his palace and sleep with his concubines was good revenge. But actually sleeping was impossible – not only could he not sleep with her, even touching wasn’t allowed, being alone together wasn’t allowed, even talking wasn’t allowed. These palace women were skilled in seduction arts. If pure, inexperienced Gong Yin couldn’t resist, she’d lose both the State Preceptor and her army.
The main hall’s doors closed heavily. Seeing night fall again, there seemed to be a woman’s hazy laughter from within, then it disappeared. Outside, wind curtains swayed in the breeze, making her heart itch.
…
While Jing Hengbo was outside Yi Kingdom Great King’s bedchamber looking around with an itchy heart, Ying Bai was outside Jade Palace running around unable to get in, his heart anxious.
He’d been chasing that mother and son to Jade Kingdom for several days. Without Jade Queen’s invitation, he was too embarrassed to follow into the palace. The moment Yu Wuse entered the palace gates, he immediately ordered the Imperial Guards to close them, moving as urgently as if dogs were chasing him. The Queen never looked back, gracefully entering arm-in-arm with her “new fiancé,” even her back radiating pride.
Then palace supervisors rode horses with red decorations and imperial edicts, joyfully rushing to various ministers’ homes to deliver the good news that “the Great King will take a new consort.” Subsequently, many ministers joyfully came with congratulatory memorials, requesting audiences to “congratulate the Great King.”
Ying Bai saw all this from atop the palace walls and had to drink several more cups because of it.
Jade Palace’s guards were very measured. They didn’t care about any of Commander Ying’s actions on the wall but absolutely wouldn’t allow him to cross it. Commander Ying couldn’t do something as despicable as beating up subordinates and forcing his way in, so he could only miserably camp on the wall.
Little Prince Yu Wuse was also quite miserable. The Queen kept her word – if she said house arrest, it was house arrest. Yu Wuse was also stubborn, immediately requesting that house arrest wasn’t enough punishment. He might as well be punished to guard the gate, guaranteeing to atone through service and stand guard faithfully for mother. Her Majesty the Queen expressed that he was teachable. Seeing his deep recognition of his errors, she wouldn’t rush to strip his crown prince position, keeping it for observation to see future performance.
Yu Wuse immediately sneered and moved his bedding, brought his lackeys and a large quantity of fine wine and ingredients he’d brewed, moving into the empty room the Gate Bureau had specially cleared for him. On the first day after moving, he prepared a full feast of wild game in the courtyard, roasting eighteen kinds of wild game on racks. The little prince held special tools, walking around the racks brushing oil like a general commanding thousands of troops. The aroma was extremely impactful, wafting over palace walls to the streets and throughout half the city. All the dogs and cats in the city caught wind and howled plaintively across the palace walls.
Commander Ying’s heart was also plaintive. The fragrant food was one thing, but the key was that Yu Wuse had also opened a jar of wine. Even from half a courtyard away, he could see the wine’s clear, excellent quality, and its mellow fragrance. The moment the jar opened, it overwhelmed all the intense food aromas, luring all his gluttons to crawl outward competing with each other.
More hateful was that little bastard Yu Wuse – with such good wine, such tempting wine, he didn’t drink it but used it to brush the cooked wild game! Using a water-ladling spoon to scoop wine, spilling it everywhere, making wine-loving Ying Bai repeatedly see black before his eyes.
Watching this, he began to feel this son absolutely had to be acknowledged. The first thing after acknowledgment would be using paternal authority to order him to hand over all his wine!
Yu Wuse feasted and drank wildly in the courtyard while his old father drank wind and dew on the wall, eating flatbread with thin wine. Yu Wuse opened jar after jar of good wine until even the kitchen chickens were drunk. Drinking until midnight, Yu Wuse got drunk and threw a drunken fit, barefoot in the courtyard wildly jumping around. He wouldn’t let palace servants notify the Queen, drove everyone away, smashed wine jars in the courtyard. After spinning several circles, he suddenly crashed into a wine jar and was about to fall headfirst into it when suddenly wind sounded behind him and his vision went black.
When he woke the next morning, he found himself in bed – warm bed, clean body, no trace of vomit. Warm sunlight, everything seemed like a dream except for lingering wine smell throughout the courtyard.
He stared blankly for a long time, glimpsing through the window that the figure was still on the wall. He hastily had palace servants check if any wine was missing. The answer was that except for what was broken, nothing else was missing.
Yu Wuse was somewhat surprised and somewhat disappointed. Looking again at that figure on the wall, his drinking posture truly had some grace, but that silhouette in daylight somehow looked rather lonely.
The little prince sat in bed, eyes rolling, snorting through his nose.
On the other side, in a high tower in a corner of the palace, the Queen who had watched that courtyard from afar all night also snorted, yawned, glanced at that figure on the wall, and lazily went downstairs to court.
Three people. One drinking wine in the wind on the wall, one walking to court with a smile at her lips, one thoughtful in bed.
Days passed like this – the stubborn remained stubborn, the proud remained proud, each with their own methods. Until one day Seven Kills came with Feifei and Er Gouzi, saying they couldn’t stand Pei Shu’s bloodthirstiness and came to find Ying Bai to discuss. The seven comedians expressed life’s loneliness with seven mouths and eight tongues, disdain for Ying Bai’s battlefield desertion, dissatisfaction with Pei Shu’s cruel bloodthirstiness, and most importantly, displeasure with life’s sudden monotony without Bobo. They expressed wanting to contribute to Ying Bai’s wife-chasing journey, guaranteeing to help him succeed quickly. Ying Bai firmly yet politely refused – joking, just when things were showing signs of thawing, if these seven comedians stirred things up, could he get a wife and acknowledge a son in this lifetime?
Fortunately, news came at this time that diverted Seven Kills’ attention. A secret message with Gong Yin’s unique markings from Yi Kingdom reached Ying Bai’s hands. The Grand Commander finally had a legitimate reason to request audience with Jade Queen – Gong Yin, in Jing Hengbo’s name, sent an invitation to Jade Queen, inviting her to secretly deploy troops at Yi Kingdom’s border and attack at the appropriate time. Black Water Queen was willing to share Yi Kingdom with Jade Queen.
…
While Black Water Queen and Jade Queen were discussing how to divide Yi Kingdom, the real Yi Kingdom Great King Yi Yiyi was still galloping across plains outside Huan Capital with his most trusted palace secret guards.
Precisely because the most trusted secret guards had been taken away by him, Gong Yin hadn’t been immediately discovered – secret guards were the ones truly most familiar with the Great King.
Yi Yiyi pursued that shadow emerging from the old king’s bedchamber, refusing to give up.
These past years, since hearing that some brother might not be dead and might even possess the imperial seal, he hadn’t had a single good night’s sleep. He always dreamed someone with the imperial seal rushed into his golden throne hall, impersonated him, killed his ministers, seized his power, turning his country into another’s country.
Such fear was so deep it became obsession. His relentless search for Imperial Uncle was no longer about that original life-and-death bond, but about an answer and decades of royal stability.
So when clues finally appeared, even if possibly deceived, he wouldn’t give up.
True open schemes succeeded because they gripped the deepest, most persistent desires in people’s hearts.
The person ahead had excellent martial arts, with an elusive figure. Several times he thought he’d lost the pursuit, but soon saw the figure again. This made him both relieved and irritated, because he discovered he was getting farther and farther from Huan Capital.
But he dared not turn back now, nor could he withdraw the people around him to return to the palace, because the person ahead clearly had accomplices – extremely formidable accomplices. Throughout the chase, both sides used all their cunning.
He stared at that black shadow ahead, suddenly saying to his most trusted guard captain beside him: “Return to Huan Capital. Order all ministers not to attend court these next few days. If anyone encounters court summons without my personal ‘Qixiang Master’ private seal on the document, absolutely do not respond. His voice suddenly turned vicious: “If you discover another me in the palace, kill immediately!”
The secret guard received orders and left. Yi Yiyi rubbed his brow with a headache. Yi Kingdom’s disguise arts were the world’s best – advantageous but also problematic. While bringing various conveniences, they also harbored risks of being impersonated by others.
To prevent people from impersonating himself or important figures, he’d arranged special people hidden in the hall specifically to “verify faces,” but some things still required vigilance.
That black shadow ahead appeared again, accompanied by waves of black mist. This was “Fog Concealment Art” used only by Yi Kingdom royalty – actually a type of illusion. In this mist, one could promptly change faces, alter body shape, and even switch people.
He gathered his concentration and pursued like the wind.