Chapter 176

The twenty-third year of Jiajing, the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month.

Shuntian Prefecture, Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace.

The Jiajing Emperor was wrapped in thick quilts, sitting on a chair made of gold and full of hollow carvings, his eyes closed.

A young eunuch brought medicinal herbs from the Imperial Hospital, had the guards taste them first, and then pulled out the empty space under the Emperor's chair to put the herbs into the water.

A palace maid gently shook a silk fan toward the charcoal brazier under the chair, and after a while, water vapor from the hollow carvings under the Emperor enveloped him.

"Cough."

As if choked by the water vapor, the Emperor coughed.

In an instant, the palace maid fanning the wind turned pale.

She knelt down suddenly and kept kowtowing.

"Your Majesty, this servant deserves to die! This servant deserves to die!"

The Emperor did not open his eyes, just frowned.

He didn't like women talking loudly to him suddenly. It reminded him of the women who wanted to kill him two years ago.

A guard nearby stepped forward quickly and struck the palace maid on the back of the neck with his palm.

Crack.

The palace maid fell softly and was dragged out by two young eunuchs.

After a while, a eunuch wearing a python robe walked in quickly, picked up the silk fan on the ground, squatted down, and fanned the charcoal brazier under the Emperor.

The surrounding guards and palace maids understood and retreated from the room one after another.

"Your Majesty."

The python-robed eunuch said.

The Emperor opened his eyes, glanced at him, closed them again, and said unhurriedly.

"Wang, what is it?"

The python-robed eunuch replied.

"The elixir offered by the alchemist yesterday has been investigated clearly. Although it was disguised very cleverly, the base is the Great Return Pill of Shaolin."

"Oh?"

The Emperor closed his eyes and pondered for a moment.

"The Ming Sect's work?"

"Yes, the Ming Sect breached the Shaolin mountain gate a few days ago; it should have been something they snatched at that time."

"Heh... the Yang family, they really are like ghosts that won't go away."

After the Emperor said this, he didn't speak again.

The python-robed eunuch pondered for a moment, but continued to speak.

"Zhu Zai, the Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, sent a message saying two things."

"Speak."

"Yes, the first thing: Bu Lei, the Pacification Commissioner of the Northern Internal Security Division, was killed by the bandit leader Ji Tianrui while pursuing the Ming Sect bandits, and his body has been sent back to the capital. Upon examination, it was indeed confirmed that he died from being struck in the heart meridian by the 'Great Nine Heavens Palm'."

"Zhu Zai submitted a memorial to have Li Miao, a Company Commander of the Northern Internal Security Division, succeed as Pacification Commissioner."

The Emperor pondered for a moment.

"Li Miao... the name sounds familiar."

"Fifteen years ago, he killed the Ming Sect bandits who came to cause trouble in Shuntian Prefecture and was rewarded with a flying fish robe; that's him, right?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, it is indeed him."

"He is a man who is brave in taking responsibility... approved. You all take people to check his background and build a file."

"Yes. The second thing: The Embroidered Uniform Guard received definitive news that the Ming Sect bandit leader Ji Tianrui is bringing Ming Sect bandits toward the capital. Zhu Zai is pursuing them, but the results are minimal, and I fear he cannot stop them."

The Emperor opened his eyes.

"Ji Tianrui, didn't he already die?"

The python-robed eunuch was also confused for a moment.

"Yes, I also examined his body back then; he was indeed dead. I don't know who the Ji Tianrui is now."

The Emperor waved his hand.

"Let him be. You go and wake up a few of the offerings to be on guard; kill them when they arrive."

"Is there anything else?"

"There is one more thing."

A look of fear appeared on the python-robed eunuch's face, his lips trembling, as if he was extremely unwilling but had to speak.

"Your Majesty... the 'furnace cauldrons'... are not enough..."

The Emperor suddenly shifted his gaze to the python-robed eunuch.

He didn't speak, just watched quietly.

Cold sweat slowly seeped from the python-robed eunuch's face, gathering into drops and falling in front of him.

He had been serving by the Emperor's side since the Emperor was a prince. He understood the Emperor better than he understood himself.

The Emperor was not cruel, had no extreme hobbies, and did not like killing.

He just liked quiet and didn't like anyone disturbing his mood. And the news he was telling the Emperor now... would make the Emperor's mood extremely, extremely bad.

So bad that he might kill him.

After a long while, the carpet in front of the python-robed eunuch was soaked with sweat, and even his fingers were trembling involuntarily, before the Emperor spoke faintly.

"Wang, you wouldn't want to see me die, would you?"

The python-robed eunuch gripped the carpet tightly and replied loudly.

"This servant will never fail your trust, Your Majesty!"

"That's good... replenish them before the new year, otherwise, you will be the 'furnace cauldron'."

"Yes!"

"Retire."

"Yes!"

The Emperor closed his eyes again.

The python-robed eunuch backed out and closed the door gently.

Blown by the cold wind of the twelfth lunar month, he felt cold all over. The clothes on his body were already soaked with sweat. The collar stuck to his neck as if it were a noose that was slowly tightening.

He tugged at his collar and turned to leave.

After many twists and turns, he arrived at a remote courtyard in the Forbidden City.

The guards at the door saw him and hurriedly stepped forward to salute.

"Eunuch Wang."

"Hmm."

The python-robed eunuch named Wang Zhi nodded, walked into the courtyard, said a few words to the guards standing in front of the room, and stepped into the room.

In this room, the windows were all sealed with iron plates, leaving only a few slits at the top for ventilation. It was pitch black, and the fire in the brazier in the corner flickered, faintly illuminating a human figure.

It was a woman.

A woman whose shoulder blades were pierced by iron hooks and whose hands and feet were nailed to an iron frame.

Hearing someone enter, she raised her head, revealing a face full of heroic spirit.

If there were Jianghu people here, they would probably gasp in shock immediately.

Because this person was none other than the famous Peak expert of the martial arts world more than twenty years ago, "Lingxiao Sword" Xue Jinxi.

At that time, Ji Tianrui suppressed the Jianghu, and only this person could vaguely contend with him. She disappeared inexplicably a few years later, and Jianghu people guessed she had died at Ji Tianrui's hands, but they didn't expect her to be imprisoned in the imperial palace!

Xue Jinxi squinted, saw Wang Zhi's face clearly, and gave a bitter laugh.

"Eunuch Wang, it's been twenty years."

"I no longer hope to leave, but, at the very least, give me a quick death, how about that?"

Wang Zhi shook his head.

"I cannot give you a quick death."

"But, you can indeed die. Before the new year."

Xue Jinxi laughed bitterly.

"Before the new year?"

"I have been imprisoned here for twenty years, how would I know what time it is now."

"Today is the twenty-third year of Jiajing, the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month."

Wang Zhi replied.

Xue Jinxi showed a look of realization.

"The twenty-third year of Jiajing... the twelfth lunar month... the twenty-third?"

"I have actually been captured for twenty-one years."

"I counted the days wrong... I counted wrong... counted wrong..."

She kept muttering to herself, as if she had gone mad.

Wang Zhi watched her quietly, without saying a word.

After a long while, Xue Jinxi sighed.

"Eunuch Wang, my daughter..."

"Dead."

Wang Zhi said coldly.

"Dead...?"

"After you 'died', she practiced your martial arts and searched for you everywhere. She was inadvertently drawn into the struggle between Green Willow Manor and Hidden Sword Manor and died at the hands of a Green Willow Manor assassin."

"The body was collected by the Shaolin abbot Xingchi and buried at the ruins of Hidden Sword Manor."

Xue Jinxi was devastated.

Imprisoned here for twenty-one years without seeing the light of day, the only thought that kept her going was her daughter.

Now that she knew the news of her daughter's death, her mind collapsed instantly.

In the cold courtyard, a wail like weeping blood rang out.

"If I had known this, why did I bother to cultivate this 'Sumeru'!"

"Wan'er! Mother has failed you!"

"Wan—"

A muffled sound came from the room.

There was no more sound.

(End of chapter)