Claiming to have been deceived was a well-worn excuse for wriggling free of blame, and Gu Chengan had used it without a second thought.

Caught off guard by the question, he froze for a moment before collecting himself. He raked through his mind for a suitable candidate — someone he could throw out as a scapegoat.

Before he had arrived at anyone, the back of his collar was seized without ceremony and he was dragged forward. Gu Chengan, who would have summoned an imperial physician for stubbing his toe on a stone, felt his knees burning with pain.

They did not go far. He was just about to use the opportunity to lodge a complaint and muddy the main issue when a hand grabbed his hair and wrenched his head sharply backward. His scalp erupted in searing pain. Gu Chengan instinctively clutched his head and nearly cried out — but when his eyes fell upon what was on the window, what he did cry out changed entirely, and his voice shifted in pitch: “The Chaoli tribe totem!”

Gu Yanxi released him and stepped back behind the Emperor.

“How can there be a Chaoli tribe totem in the Imperial Palace?! This place is…” — this is Noble Consort Yi’s bedchamber! Gu Chengan’s legs went weak beneath him. He now understood what crime Tong Yi had committed — and he wished with everything in him that he did not.

Their very first lesson in the Imperial Study Hall had covered the history of the preceding dynasty. During that period, the task of arranging various shapes into the Chaoli tribe totem had been part of their coursework.

The Chaoli tribe revered the wolf as their guardian deity, and the totem appeared everywhere in their way of life. A newborn’s eyes had barely opened before the child had to first pay homage to the wolf god. It was said that each member of the Chaoli royal bloodline had a wolf born the same day as themselves. They grew up alongside their wolves, and whichever person’s wolf became the pack leader — that person became their ruler.

Theirs was a nation where strength was the absolute law. Ten soldiers of the Great Qing dynasty might not be a match for a single one of them. Yet perhaps because of their exceptional individual power, reproduction was comparatively more difficult than among the people of the Central Plains. Even after occupying the Central Plains for a century and enjoying its wealth and prosperity, their population had not grown significantly — and had that not been the case, it was unlikely they could have been driven from the Central Plains in the first place.

The founding Emperor had placed vigilance against a Chaoli resurgence at the very top of his handwritten imperial edict. In every generation since the Great Qing dynasty was established, no matter how foolish, feckless, or unworthy an imperial prince or princess might be, these matters had to be memorized backwards and forwards.

Gu Chengan was no exception, which was precisely why he understood all too clearly how grave the consequences of being entangled in this affair would be.

He crawled and scrambled his way before the Emperor, his face stricken with panic. “Imperial Father, this son has been worthless and committed many wrongs — but this son has absolutely never had any connection with the Chaoli tribe. I beg Imperial Father to see clearly.”

“Now you are willing to admit to your many wrongs? When you sent men to kill Hua Yizheng, did you think of the consequences? When you poisoned Wu Yong, did you think of the consequences? When you colluded with forces beyond the frontier, did you consider whether you might be inviting wolves through the gate?”

The Emperor kicked him over. “I did not want to make a great upheaval of all this. I did not want to have to deal with my sons one by one at the end of everything. That whole tray of evidence — I pretended not to see it. I thought confinement was enough, that when you came to recognize your mistakes I would release you. Ha! And what happens instead — right here, right before my very eyes, you bring a Chaoli remnant into my palace. And I have been sleeping in the same bed with her night after night…”

The words cut off abruptly. The Emperor suddenly clutched his own throat, straining to raise his head toward the one man he trusted most at this moment, and seized his hand. “I feel dreadful — have I already fallen into her trap?”

“Summon Physician Yu!” Gu Yanxi firmly moved his imperial uncle’s hand away from his throat, pressed two fingers to his pulse to examine it, and said at the same time: “The Chaoli tribe has no skill in these methods. Do not let your own fears unsettle you.”

“Just because they have no skill doesn’t mean they couldn’t obtain it from elsewhere?” The Emperor’s breathing grew heavier with each breath, and his appearance was truly that of a man about to lose consciousness.

Gu Yanxi confirmed that the pulse bore no signs of poisoning. He signaled Lai Fu to come over and press the philtrum point beneath the Emperor’s nose, while he himself retrieved a small medicinal pellet from his person and placed it in the Emperor’s mouth. Shortly after, the Emperor’s breathing visibly steadied.

Everyone in the room had broken out in cold sweat. Gu Chengan sat back on his heels on the floor and lowered his gaze, taking care not to let anyone see the regret in his eyes. If Imperial Father had simply passed away just then…

The Emperor still had not released his nephew’s hand. He asked in a rough voice, “Am I poisoned?”

“You are fine.”

The Emperor was naturally unconvinced. “Then why was I just…”

“This official just now only gave you a blood-replenishing pellet.”

“…” The Emperor stared at him. After all this commotion, the taut knot of his emotions had actually loosened somewhat — enough for him to notice the quiet displeasure in Yanxi’s expression now.

The Emperor understood. That displeasure had likely been there since the Emperor had suppressed all the evidence. He patted his nephew’s arm and looked toward the second son he had once intended to reprove lightly before setting free. “Was it the Tong family who first proposed bringing Tong Yi into the palace, or was it Huifei who went home and requested her?”

Gu Chengan did not dare be careless. He thought carefully and at length before answering: “It was during one of the dowager matriarch’s palace visits to see my mother. She brought it up herself, saying that Tong Yi had been raised and trained with great care by the family, and that since she was also of the Tong household, she would certainly be of help to my mother.”

“Was that all?”

Gu Chengan dared not conceal anything. He lowered his head further. “The dowager matriarch said that for many years now, no princes or princesses had been born in the inner palace, and that Tong Yi — to establish herself there — would have no choice but to rely on my mother and on this son. And so my mother… Imperial Father, I have no knowledge of the Tong family’s affairs. But my mother has been in the palace for over twenty years. She rarely leaves even once in a year. It would be utterly impossible for her to have any connection with the Chaoli tribe. I beseech Imperial Father to investigate clearly.”

The Emperor gave a faint, mirthless sound, rose from his seat, and took a few steps forward. He raised his head and stared at that window which now seemed so unbearably glaring. He had visited this side chamber often of late, drawn by his affection for Tong Yi, and never once had he imagined such a secret hidden in the window frame. The Chaoli tribe had already extended their reach into the Imperial Palace itself. Tong Yi was now confirmed to be a Chaoli remnant — but was she the only one in the palace?

No. There would be others. The palace would certainly harbor her accomplices. The Emperor’s eyes turned dark. His heart was filled with the kind of savagery that only blood could appease.

Gu Yanxi glanced at Lai Fu. Lai Fu understood and stepped forward to attend.

Though deeply troubled, Gu Yanxi still dared not slacken for even a moment. Preventing the Chaoli tribe from returning to power was an imperative branded into their very bones. Among the common people, that dark era had grown gradually hazy under the careful management of the court — but the imperial house kept several volumes of records in which it was preserved in meticulous detail.

The Chaoli were tall and powerfully built, strong as oxen. A century of ruling the realm had done nothing to civilize the savagery bred deep in their nature. To say they guarded against the Chaoli was, if anything, an understatement — they feared that people. The founding Emperor had been a warrior of exceptional valor, and yet even he could barely hold off six or seven of them at once. Ordinary soldiers were simply not in the same class. No one dared contemplate what would happen if the Chaoli were to breach the frontier again. The realm had known peace for too long. Military talent had withered. The fighting strength of the armies was nowhere near what it had once been.

And furthermore — the Gu family no longer had the War God, Gu Ningpei. The Hua family no longer had the military strategist, Hua Jingyan.