Chapter 3: Wind and Rain Over the Realm (2)

A long bolt of lightning split the sky, sweeping all color from Yuexi's face. He stared at the Eastern Emperor as if he had never seen him before: "You are mad, this is absolutely impossible! Impossible!"

Zi Hao smiled coldly, looking at him proudly: "The military tally, you mean? There is nothing impossible. You underestimated Li Si, just as I, in the beginning, also failed to guard against my own 'Empress Mother'." He turned and started walking: "Take good care of the Changxiang Marquis. Li Si, take me to see my 'Empress Mother'."

Stepping into the Empress Dowager's bedchamber, the urgent sound of rain outside gradually weakened, pattering, drop by drop, through the jade curtains and palace drapes, as if the long night were returning to its proper tranquility and peace.

In the depths of the hall, palace lamps glowed, jade pillars and pearl curtains hung, and on the phoenix-patterned palace bricks, faint light scattered, swaying with silent shadows.

The room was filled with the scent of dragon saliva incense, yet it could not cover the heavy bitterness of medicinal soup. Soft silk curtains dragged before the couch, hazy and indistinct, where the sleeping face of the woman could be vaguely seen.

The Eastern Emperor stood alone under the lamps, his eyes as cold as frost. The Empress Dowager, Feng Wan, the woman recognized by all as the most beautiful of the Phoenix Clan, married the Xiang Emperor, Zi Jun, at seventeen, and was promoted to Empress the following year. During her time as Empress, she continuously deposed and killed thirty-six of the Emperor's concubines and ladies, monopolizing the inner palace.

In the ninth year of the Xiang Emperor, the Empress used the Emperor's serious illness as a pretext to rule from behind the curtain. From then on, the Xiang Emperor lived in seclusion in Zhao Ling Gong, effectively deposed.

By the fifteenth year, the Xiang Emperor passed away, and Young Master Zi Hao succeeded to the throne, becoming the Eastern Emperor.

The Eastern Emperor had been frail and sickly since childhood, always living deep in the palace and not asking about state affairs. During his seven years on the throne, the true ruler of the world remained the Empress Dowager, Feng Wan.

The Yong Dynasty world consisted of five clans and four states, known as the Nine Domains.

The Phoenix Clan, Witch Clan, Jiuyi, and Rouran were subjects of the Royal Clan. Among them, the Phoenix Clan had historically intermarried with the Royal Clan, having produced six Empresses and seventeen ladies within the clan, their nobility second only to the Royal Clan. The Witch Clan excelled in medicine and understood strange arts, always producing extraordinary people, the most mysterious and unpredictable. The Jiuyi Clan consisted mostly of women, the clan members being soft, beautiful, and graceful, their singing and dancing unrivaled in the world. The Rouran Clan was located in the Northern Domain, everyone brave and fierce, bold and unconstrained, the clan's cavalry elite, valuing martial arts and excelling in battle.

As for the fiefs of the world, the four states were the greatest. The Southern Chu State, with 'Han' as the royal surname, had a territory of three thousand li, forty-two cities, with its capital at Shangying; the Northern Xuan State, with 'Ji' as the royal surname, had a territory of two thousand three hundred li, twenty-seven cities, with its capital at Zhi Xiao; the Western Mu State, with 'Ye' as the royal surname, had a territory of two thousand seven hundred li, thirty-six cities, with its capital at Han Zhang; the Eastern Houfeng State, with 'Zhao' as the royal surname, had a territory of one thousand eight hundred li, twenty-one cities, with its capital at Chang Xuan.

During the time of the Xiang Emperor, the Empress, out of jealousy for Lady Wan of the Witch Clan whom the Xiang Emperor loved, and who had even given birth to a princess, ordered the extermination of her entire clan. The Witch Clan was demoted to rebel slaves, tragically slaughtered, and almost vanished from the Nine Domains. After the Xiang Emperor passed away, Lady Wan was also sent into the royal mausoleum to be buried alive.

In the fourth year of the Eastern Emperor, the Queen of the Jiuyi Clan came to the Imperial Capital to pay tribute. The Empress Dowager, jealous of her beauty, publicly poisoned her at a palace banquet, then acted arbitrarily and sent troops to conquer Jiuyi.

The Jiuyi Clan mourned their Queen and resisted to the death. This war lasted for three years and had not yet ceased. It was precisely because of this that the Eastern Emperor was able to take advantage of the empty military strength in the capital to launch a palace coup, rooting out the power of the Empress Dowager and the Changxiang Marquis in one fell swoop.

The heavy rain was like a waterfall, covering the sky and earth.

The heavy stone doors of the royal mausoleum at the peak of Qishan had been opened. The underground palace, which had exhausted the wealth of the people and required ten thousand men to carve through mountains and ridges over more than ten years, would finally welcome its master.

Seven years of enduring humiliation, seven years of long suffering, finally reaching tonight.

Zi Hao raised his hand to brush aside the curtains. The woman before him, who had once been the most beautiful in the world, now had her colors withered, no longer possessing her former dazzling beauty. Her dark hair was half-white, scattered messily on the pillow. Her skin, which had always been meticulously cared for, now presented a withered, deathly gray. The traces of time were fully revealed in her illness, quietly covering her brows and the corners of her eyes.

Even if she held power over the world, even if she were peerless in beauty, in the end, it was but a morning of withering, bones turning to dust—nothing more than a day earlier or a day later. Zi Hao curled his lips in self-mockery and flicked his sleeve. Several strands of True Essence penetrated the Empress Dowager's vital points from his fingertips. A strange flush immediately appeared on her face, and she groaned slightly, opening her eyes.

"Empress Mother."

The Empress Dowager saw clearly that the person standing before the couch was the Eastern Emperor, and her heart shook. She struggled to prop herself up: "Yuexi! Where is Yuexi?"

Zi Hao said calmly: "The Changxiang Marquis is not here. If Empress Mother has any instructions, telling me is the same."

The Empress Dowager leaned obliquely on the couch, her beautiful eyes dim, yet her former authority remained: "You have great courage! Who allowed you to enter Chonghua Palace?"

Zi Hao smiled indifferently: "Then please forgive me, Empress Mother. Since Empress Mother cannot bear to be apart from Yuexi, tomorrow I will surely send him into the royal mausoleum to be buried with you, letting him serve you for a long time, to fulfill my filial piety."

Hearing this, the Empress Dowager trembled with rage: "What have you done to Yuexi? Do you think that because I have few days left, this world is yours to command?"

"Empress Mother, rest assured, I have not killed him yet." Zi Hao looked at the woman he had called Empress Mother for twenty years, his voice still as calm as flowing water, yet wherever it passed, it turned to ice: "He is but a lowly male favorite by Empress Mother's side. Even if I want his life, I must wait until I have respectfully sent Empress Mother on her way."

"Presumptuous! Do you still have me, this Empress Mother, in your eyes?" The Empress Dowager was furious. Not knowing where she found the strength, she raised her hand to strike his face.

A cold light flashed in Zi Hao's eyes, and he easily restrained her, his cold fingers tightly clamping her wrist, his face revealing a chill like cold jade. He suddenly erupted, pressing close to the Empress Dowager, saying word by word: "Are you truly my Empress Mother? You forced my father to his death, killed my biological mother, and over the years, none of my brothers and sisters have escaped your poisonous hands. You dared not kill Zi Rao, yet you imprisoned her in Langxuan Palace for seven whole years! From the day I was born, I have had to take the poison you sent every day. Did you think that by doing this, you could turn me into your puppet? Do not forget, the blood of the Zi royal family flows in my veins! As long as I have a breath left, the Yong Dynasty belongs to my royal family!"

"You... you..." The Empress Dowager's breathing was chaotic, forced into silence by this stern questioning. Veins appeared on Zi Hao's forehead, the ruthless force of his fingers almost crushing her entire body, and a faint murderous intent had already emerged from the depths of his eyes.

"What about me? Do you think that after all these years I have long been at your mercy? You were too careless. You could poison me, and I had the same opportunity. But you need not worry, I will let you be buried in the royal mausoleum with glory, along with those lowly male favorites of yours!"

The Empress Dowager gasped rapidly, her face as pale as death. She stared tightly at the face before her that so closely resembled the Xiang Emperor. Many years ago, when she first saw this child, he had the same pair of ink-jade eyes, neither crying nor making a fuss, watching her quietly from such a close distance, his gaze so clear it was heart-stopping. Intuition told her she should not keep this child, yet he smiled at her in his swaddling clothes, softening her cold heart in an instant.

The gentle and elegant Zi Hao who grew up, the handsome Eastern Emperor, had always worn a faint smile before her, looking exactly like his father. Even the detached coldness and deep-seated hatred behind that smile were identical. She suddenly laughed out loud, her long cloud-silk sleeves covering her lips, laughing until she could barely breathe: "Do you think the royal family is so remarkable? Why should I let your noble father be romantic and carefree, leaving his affections everywhere? Was I not beautiful enough, or did I not treat him well enough? And your mother, my own sister, also had to seduce him behind my back! How could I let them go!"

The lamplight blurred her face, and the man before her seemed to transform into that person from her memories. The faint smile stung her until she felt dizzy, twenty years of hatred surging into her heart!

"That daughter of the Witch Clan bitch, did you think I truly dared not kill her? Since you care so much, I will let you see! Someone! Someone!"

There was no response in the empty bedchamber, only the damp, heavy rain quietly permeating, mixed with the cold sound of rain.

Zi Hao sneered, holding a bronze mirror before the Empress Dowager, mocking: "A woman who thinks herself the most beautiful in the world, yet has a heart like a scorpion. Unfortunately, now you no longer have your beauty."

The Empress Dowager had been proud of her beauty all her life. Seeing her haggard reflection in the mirror, she felt as if struck by lightning. She screamed in terror, waving her hand to knock the mirror over, hurriedly tidying her hair that had lost its luster, her eyes full of anxiety.

Zi Hao looked at her coldly, bending down to pick up the mirror and playing with it between his fingers: "Has anyone ever told you that you are truly the most detestable woman in this world? No wonder your father always kept you at a distance. No man would like a woman like you—even that Yuexi, who knows how many women he has been with behind your back. Oh, right, you didn't know? Someone once asked him who the most beautiful woman in the world was. Guess what his answer was? Lady Wan—Zi Rao's mother, the Lady Wan you forced to her death—you will never be as good as her, not as good as the one who is already dead..."

A violent wind rose, and thunder rolled over the glazed tiles in the pouring rain, shaking heaven and earth, striking straight at the heart. The Empress Dowager was speechless and gnashing her teeth, her expression already showing madness: "You lie! Impossible! He dares to betray me! He dares!" Her voice suddenly broke in her throat, one hand still pointing at the Eastern Emperor, the other clutching her chest in a spasm. Suddenly, her body trembled violently, and a mouthful of blood sprayed onto her clothes.

Zi Hao watched her fall backward expressionlessly. The bronze mirror fell onto the messy silk brocade before the couch as he turned away, the ghostly light in the mirror reflecting a red robe like blood.

The phoenix curtains slid down, the palace lamps suddenly extinguished, the night rain like a curtain, and everything fell back into silence.

Zi Hao walked out without looking back, only his own light footsteps heard in the hall, moving from the dark, dim deep palace toward the high, vast halls and solemn palace gates outside.

One life lives, one life dies. After tonight, the royal palace will no longer be as decadent as before, yet looking at the world, it is full of scars—virtuous ministers exiled, good generals defeated, harsh laws and bitter labor, the common people in distress, the royal family declining, feudal lords rising, the Nine Domains in turmoil, war and disaster spreading...

The rain covering the sky outside reflected tiny glimmers of light, occasionally drifting onto his face, ice-cold. He stopped at the end of the palace steps, looking up at the boundless firmament, seeing only the deep, ink-like night, the wind and rain swaying.

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 4 =====