On the summit of Great East Mountain, the morning mist had dissipated, and the mountain wind blew fiercely. Through the gradually parting clouds, the true appearance of the temple was revealed. The Emperor of Qing, adorned in a bright yellow dragon robe, stood quietly by the railing, awaiting the arrival of Ye Liuyun. Surrounded by five thousand archers, especially with the appearance of ninth-rank experts from Dongyi City among the rebels, the Qing Emperor, known for his infallible strategies, seemed to realize for the first time that the situation was slipping beyond his control. A faint trace of worry appeared between the middle-aged monarch's brows.

Inside the ancient temple complex with its black tiled eaves, a clear and resonant bell rang out, deeply moving, stirring the soul, and calming the mind, yet disturbing the peace of the world. The sacrificial edict was burned in the furnace, smoke rising ethereally. Emperor Qing's enumeration of the Crown Prince's various transgressions seemed to have been offered to the ethereal temples and the even more intangible will of Heaven.

This journey to offer sacrifices to Heaven had fulfilled Emperor Qing's most important task. All that remained was to return to the capital with these fabricated divine revelations, depose the Crown Prince, and select a more agreeable successor.

However, a bamboo hat slowly crossed the last stone step on the summit of Great East Mountain, appearing naturally yet suddenly before the Qing officials gathered in front of the temple.

...

...

The Emperor calmly gazed at the figure, at the plain, unremarkable face beneath the hat, at the eyes as clear and gentle as autumn water, and slowly said,

"Uncle Liuyun, you are late."

Ye Liuyun ascended the mountain step by step, unopposed. The officials and priests on the summit, including the Minister of Rites and Ren Shaoan, instinctively bowed respectfully to this Grandmaster of Qing.

Only Emperor Qing remained standing as straight as ever before Ye Liuyun. Though the ever-stooping Eunuch Hong remained by his side, everyone knew that the old man's posture, as if he were watching ants crawl on the ground, was not a sign of respect for Ye Liuyun.

"How can you say I'm late?" Ye Liuyun sighed, looking at the Emperor, his tone filled with indescribable helplessness and regret. "Your Majesty's journey to offer sacrifices to Heaven... have you perhaps received the mandate of Heaven?"

"The mandate of Heaven rests entirely within me. Since I am not afraid of hardships and have traveled thousands of miles to Great East Mountain, I shall naturally achieve my desires," the Emperor said coldly.

Ye Liuyun lowered his head slightly, pondered for a moment, and said, "Such things as the mandate of Heaven are always difficult to fathom. Although Your Majesty is no ordinary man, it is best not to presume to punish in place of Heaven."

The Emperor looked coldly at Ye Liuyun, who was a dozen feet away, and said, "Uncle, has your coming here today been solely for the purpose of offering advice, and not with the intention of dispensing heavenly wrath?"

Ye Liuyun smiled bitterly, slowly raised his right arm, his sleeve slightly receding, revealing a right hand free from any blemish, the fingers smooth and neat, unlike the limbs of an old man.

His right finger pointed to the pool of blood in front of the Qing Temple, and to the Qing Temple priests lying within.

"Your Majesty... you are the one who has dispensed wrath," Ye Liuyun said with compassion. "The priests are ascetics who serve the temple. Even they know that Your Majesty's sacrifice to Heaven is a chaotic decree. If the ruler issues a chaotic decree, the subjects cannot accept it, nor can the ritual be accepted... So you killed them."

Indeed, the indictment of the Crown Prince for the Heavenly Sacrifice was written by the inner court, and the offenses chosen were vague matters such as drooling, harboring concubines, and unseemly behavior. These were the Crown Prince's actions from several years ago, completely different from the calm and filial prince he was now. Throughout history, no deposition of a Crown Prince had ever been based on such chaotic and absurd decrees, such ridiculous sacrificial texts.

The Qing Temple on Great East Mountain has a long history, and although it is not in the capital, several major Qing Temple priests often cultivate here. However, with the bizarre death of the chief priest and the death of the second priest, Master Sanshi, from an arrow wound, the Qing Temple's strength, already weakened by Emperor Qing, was now nearly nonexistent. Therefore, all the way from the mountain gate to the summit, the priests of the Great East Mountain Qing Temple had shown such humility and obedience.

However, when the Qing Emperor officially began the process of offering sacrifices to Heaven and accusing the Crown Prince this morning, some priests bravely stood up, vehemently expressing their opposition and piously pointing out that the Qing Temple would never become a sharp blade in the hands of a foolish ruler.

The court's secret encroachments on the Qing Temple and the successive deaths of the two leading priests had filled the priests of the Qing Temple lineage on Great East Mountain with boundless anger. The arrival of the rebel army below the mountain gave these people endless courage.

So these priests became the corpses in front of the black-tiled temple, their courage transformed into foul-smelling, fly-infested blood.

When someone dared to defy the Emperor's decree, he never hesitated to kill, even the priests on Great East Mountain. The only people Emperor Qing dared not kill were those he could not kill for the time being—like Ye Liuyun.

The Emperor calmly gazed at Ye Liuyun on the stone steps and said, "Uncle, you are not a foolish commoner. You naturally know that these priests are merely mortals. Even if I kill them, what does it have to do with the will of Heaven?"

Ye Liuyun frowned slightly and said, "Even if the priests are mortals, this temple is not ordinary. Surely Your Majesty knows better than I do that killing people in front of the temple's main gate, with blood flowing into the steps, does Your Majesty not fear the wrath of Heaven?"

The Emperor's expression was indifferent. He placed his hands behind his back and said, word by word, after a long silence, "You and I live in the human world, not at the end of Heaven. Therefore, in my life, I have never respected ghosts and gods, only Uncle."

Ye Liuyun remained silent.

The Emperor turned sideways, quietly looking at the black temple eaves, the old tiles on the eaves gleaming solemnly in the morning sunlight. He said, "Therefore, I have invited an old friend to meet with Uncle."

...

...

There were not many people in this world who qualified to be called Ye Liuyun's old friend by Emperor Qing, only a handful. So when the Qing Temple bell rang again, the wooden door of the side courtyard creaked open, and a gust of mountain wind swept across the summit, Wu Zhu, wearing a black cloth over his eyes, walked out from within...

Ye Liuyun simply smiled, though the smile contained more emotion and bitterness.

"It has been many years since we parted in Danzhou, and I have not heard from you for more than two years," he said kindly, looking at Wu Zhu. "I thought you had already returned, but I didn't expect you to be on Great East Mountain."

In the summer two years ago, the North Qi Grand Tutor Ku He was injured in a secret duel. As one of the Four Grandmasters, Ye Liuyun could naturally guess that Wu Zhu was the one who had acted, which is why he said he had not heard from him for more than two years.

And Ye Liuyun's phrase, "I thought you had already returned," concealed too much information. However, perhaps no one in this world except him and Wu Zhu could understand it. Fan Xian was far above the cliff during their conversation under the cliff in Danzhou and did not hear it at all.

Wu Zhu was as neat and efficient as ever. After saying two words, he stood at the doorway of the small courtyard, not moving another step towards the scene, facing Ye Liuyun from afar, but closer to the Emperor.

The two words he said were, "Hello."

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These mere two words of "Hello" shocked Ye Liuyun even more than seeing him emerge from the courtyard earlier, moving him deeply and causing him to smile in relief, a very sincere smile.

Then the laughter stopped abruptly. Ye Liuyun turned to face His Majesty the Emperor, bowed slightly, and exclaimed, "Your Majesty's divine schemes are truly remarkable. No wonder you made this journey to offer sacrifices to Heaven on Great East Mountain. Even this monster has been dug out by you. I cannot help but admire you."

The Emperor's expression did not change at all upon hearing this. Instead, the corner of his eyebrow twitched almost imperceptibly. Indeed, the sacrifice to Heaven was originally a scheme aimed at Ye Liuyun, and when Wu Zhu, the spearhead of this scheme, stood out, Ye Liuyun did not react as if he had fallen into the trap.

Momentum is always a matter of give and take. A trace of worry flashed in the Emperor's eyes, quickly disappearing. He must have known that the major event he and Fan Xian had predicted was finally about to become reality.

The Emperor glanced at Eunuch Hong beside him, his gaze calm but containing many meanings, as if asking why he did not act immediately. With the realm of the Grandmaster, even in a two-on-one situation, if they could not seize that previous moment—the slight lapse in Ye Liuyun's defenses caused by Wu Zhu's mysterious appearance—assassinating Ye Liuyun on the mountain would still become an extremely difficult task.

However, Eunuch Hong completely ignored the Emperor's gaze at this moment. His eyes were fixed on the front with extraordinary intensity, piercing through Ye Liuyun's shoulders and shooting straight towards the mountain forests below the stone steps.

He moved half a step forward, blocking the Emperor's path, and then slowly straightened his back.

Eunuch Hong, who seemed to have been stooping for his entire life, suddenly straightened his back. With this simple change of movement, an indescribable aura began to surge into his body, radiating out from the summit in an extraordinarily magnificent manner...

Even though everyone knew that Eunuch Hong's body had not grown larger, everyone had the illusion at this moment that Eunuch Hong had become an invincible celestial being, radiating dazzling light from head to toe, completely obscuring Emperor Qing behind him.

The intensity of this genuine energy even faintly exceeded the limit that a mortal body could contain.

Extremely domineering.

...

...

"Boundless fallen leaves descend with a rustling sound, endless great rivers roll on and on," this was the first poem Fan Xian copied in the capital. Regardless of whether the word "great" in "great rivers" was appropriate, the poem had already spread throughout this world.

Those who were fortunate or unfortunate enough to be on Great East Mountain that day all thought of the first half of this poem at this moment.

Because they felt a soaring sword aura raging in the mountain forests below the stone steps. Even the distant summit was invaded by this extremely fierce sword aura, and the verdant trees began to shed their leaves for no reason, the fallen leaves forming green piles.

Ye Liuyun looked at Eunuch Hong and said, "You were born beautiful, why become a slave?"

Eunuch Hong's silvery-white hair fluttered in the wind, and he said in a hoarse voice, "Grandmasters are all slaves. I am His Majesty's slave, and you... are merely slaves of this human world. What's the difference?"

...

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(In a hotel in Hangzhou... I've discovered the pain of writing again. I've tried my best, so I can only drool as I look at those update votes.)