Chapter 113

Inside the hall, wind and rain lashed against the windows and doors. Nine-tiered candlestands held tallow candles flickering as if about to die.

Zhao Xu slowly closed his eyes.

His hands, like his eyes, were snow-white; not a single vein or knuckle could be seen.

“Wrong, still wrong—why won’t it be right?!”

Before him stood a bronze mirror, reflecting his body—he had just seen the change in his eyes, his appearance like a paper doll.

He muttered to himself: “Thirty-three postures are missing one form; the state lacks—”

A sovereign seated high above bears pressures no ordinary man could imagine. Yang Kuang’s burden had eased somewhat over these three years of peace, yet the vacant empress seat instantly plunged him back into turmoil.

“That stone falling with such weight—even a martial master would be slain instantly,” Kong Zong’s face turned grim.

The stone demon’s aura was utterly tranquil, its speech neither warm nor cold—indeed, even above Bai Long Wang and Ye Changqing.

“Would you truly be content with this realm? What if I could help you ascend one step further?” Ye Lang unleashed his greatest temptation.

Has Tu Yang not yet dispelled his suspicion of us? Did he bring us here solely to capture us?

I had already resolved: if Zhu Tongguang dared show his face again, I’d teach him a brutal lesson—even if it meant offending Zhu Sifang—to crush him utterly.

“I support the monkey’s proposal—that’s precisely why I woke him first,” Xiang Tiange immediately agreed.

My heart ached. I never knew I had a child—my child lived only three hours.

“Miss Gu, thank you for saving me. This grace and virtue, every soul in Guanxing City will remember forever. Should you ever need aid, Miss Gu, speak freely—Guangxing City will spare no effort to help.”

“Your humble servant pays homage to Your Majesty. May Your Majesty live ten thousand years, ten thousand years, ten thousand times ten thousand years!” Fei Yu gritted his teeth, suppressing the numb pain as he knelt and bowed low.

“What do you want me to do?” Though Zhang Nianzu half-doubted Liu Laoliu’s words, he saw no reason for deception—after all, the man had saved his life.

The defeated need not be mentioned; the final victor became the First Emperor of Liang—the historian’s title: Liu Di.

One of the black-clad men suddenly spat bile and collapsed; from his bosom fell a jade vial—the very one Wang Xu had been deceived into accepting.

The core of all mysteries converged into one point: What is the Ten Ghost Seal? That is, what were the nine golden crows shot down by Hou Yi?

There were Thales, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Democritus, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Descartes, Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche—upon seeing these philosophers’ works.

Yet this sensation carried a strong unreality, like a dream. I wondered: had I, in the instant I turned my head, lost my soul again—arrived somewhere I’d never been?

The imperial carriage was ten zhang wide and ten zhang long, paved with the most precious black obsidian; hundreds of layers of petals, carved by some master’s hand, resembled a lotus throne.

“First time riding in my car—how does it feel?” Zhao Weiming asked Zhang Nianzu inside the half-new, half-used taxi.

Someone who could fight Xu Shiyan so long, force him to draw his sword, and still win in a way that seemed less than honorable—I didn’t believe I could match him evenly.

Ayi glanced at Qin Wuyou lying in bed, then at Qin Bonan who had already stepped into the courtyard; after a moment’s hesitation, she followed.

Chen Xi has always been known to the public; and during that trip to Europe, though the media never directly photographed Chen Xi, many must still have learned of this detail.