"Sister! Sister!"
A sweet, bell-like voice rang out from outside the pavilion.
Qing's calm face softened, a warm, loving smile spreading across it.
She turned to see a small figure skipping toward her.
"Careful, little princess! Slow down!" an old nanny called, hurrying behind the girl.
This was Li, Ren's youngest daughter.
Unlike her older sister, who shone like a distant moon, Li was petite but curvy. Her breasts were like budding lotus flowers, her waist slim as a willow branch.
Her pretty face glowed like the summer sun. Her brows had a peach-blossom tint, her cheeks like ripe apricots, her lips cherry-red. Her almond eyes sparkled, fresh and shy like spring buds after rain.
Li threw herself into Qing's arms, nuzzling her pink face against her sister's full breasts, making Qing giggle from the tickling.
Li's snowy neck showed creamy skin, and her cleavage peeked out now and then, a quick glimpse that could charm anyone.
The sisters laughed and played, one tall, one small, their beauty and innocence a private joy. Only the old nannies saw, and it was a shame no one else could.
After a while, Qing gently pushed Li away, smoothing their wrinkled dresses. "Li, no lessons today? Why are you here?"
At the word "lessons," Li's bright smile faded. Her sly eyes darted, twinkling like a clever fox. "Forget that, sister! Sister!"
"Feng's here."
Feng?
Qing's eyes softened, picturing that stubborn boy with tight lips and fierce eyes.
In her months training away from the mountain, she'd met him several times, each moment unforgettable.
Whether facing five enemies alone at the Tomb of the Scattered Immortal without faltering, or cutting through thousands of demon troops in Sky Rift Valley like a peerless warrior…
But her clearest memory was atop the Lunar Tower under moonlight, when Feng said, "Cultivating immortality isn't freedom. Gods aren't carefree. I'd rather go home and shovel shit."
Free-spirited, loyal, casual yet grounded, not a hero in name but always acting like one.
That was Qing's view of Feng.
"What's he here for?" she asked lightly, though her moon-like eyes shimmered like rippling water.
At Feng's name, Li brightened. "Feng's amazing at alchemy! He can make that lost… um, what's it called… Innate Return… something…"
"Innate Return Origin Pill," Qing said.
"Yes, yes! Innate Return Origin Pill," Li nodded. "Father made a deal with him. Give him materials to make one. It can heal Marshal Jun's old wound. If Marshal Jun helps Father, um… supports him, right?"
Though grown and quick-witted, Li knew little of politics, thanks to Ren's pampering. In a normal family, she'd already be a mother running a household.
But now was a tense time. The capital's officials and factions clashed, one side rising as another fell. Only Qing and Li could still laugh freely here. Outside, a storm was brewing.
Marshal Jun, a founding hero and one of the last, held great influence among the military nobles. His support could tip the scales. If he backed Ren, Ren's path to the throne would be nearly secure, unless Ming's will said otherwise.
* Feng, I owe you one, * Qing thought with a sigh.
But then, her heart stirred. The barrier blocking her cultivation, unmoved for so long, began to crack.
"A breakthrough!" she said.
Her aura shifted, turning cold and sharp. She became the lofty moon again, her eyes fierce and commanding.
"Sister!" Li said, worried by the change.
"It's fine. My chance has come," Qing said, her voice like moonlight on a frosty night, so striking that the nannies knelt, bowing to her radiant presence.
"It's in the palace!" Qing declared.
She stepped forward, and the pond's surface rippled. Her figure vanished.
"Sister…" Li whispered, anxious.
"Who dares trespass in the palace?" stern voices boomed, laced with magical power.
The palace guards were on high alert during this tense time.
"Qing Jiang of Bright Hua!" Qing announced.
Her moonlike aura glowed over the palace, her identity clear. She showed the emperor's personal token, its dragon energy unmistakable.
The palace's hidden guardians paused, sensing the token's authenticity and the lack of resistance from Bright Hua's dragon aura. They retreated quietly.
In Yong Row, the outer servants lay dead, blood pooling, bodies scattered across the ground, their faces frozen in terror.
A group of guards surrounded a rotting shack, exchanging nervous glances.
The stench was unbearable, like decades of waste and decay trapped inside. Even ten steps away, it made the guards gag, their stomachs twisting.
Kai Sun walked past the blood-streaked walls, his sharp eyes checking each corpse to ensure no one lived.
When he reached the shack, he saw the guards hesitating. "What's wrong? Why aren't you killing?" he demanded.
"Lord Kai, it's not that we don't want to… it's just too foul," a guard admitted.
Kai stepped closer, and the stench hit him like a wave. He vomited on the spot, and the guards quickly pulled him back several steps.
He retched until his stomach was empty, then gritted his teeth and pointed at a guard. "You! Drag him out. I want to see him dead!"
The chosen guard froze, his face pale. With no choice, he tore a strip of cloth, stuffed it in his nose, and rushed into the shack.
Inside, the smell was blinding. Tears streamed down his face, and he could barely see. Squinting, he spotted the old eunuch cowering on a ruined bed, filthier than the worst beggar.
Fighting the urge to vomit, the guard grabbed the struggling eunuch.
"Don't kill me! Please!" the eunuch begged.
As he dragged him out, the guard's eyes caught the eunuch's torn pants. Even soft, the eunuch's dick was massive, larger than most men's, enough to spark envy.
* Damn, that's huge. Good thing he's a eunuch! * the guard thought.
Then he saw the empty space where the eunuch's balls should have been, and his jealousy faded.
He hauled the eunuch outside, throwing him before the others.
The stench hit like a fist. The guards turned away, some retching, while Kai, already emptied, nearly fainted from the smell.
Dizzy and reeling, Kai waved a hand, refusing to look at the eunuch. "Kill him!" he gasped.
The guard raised his sword, ready to strike the frail, skeletal eunuch.
"Stop!" a clear, cold voice rang out.
A force knocked the sword from the guard's hand.
Everyone turned to see a young woman in flowing white robes, her skirt swaying in the breeze.
Her figure was perfect, full breasts subtly outlined, a slender waist, and rounded hips, neither too much nor too little. Her long legs stood gracefully, and a glimpse of her pale calves shone like jade in the wind.
Qing's beauty was stunning, like an immortal descended to earth. Even the guard, stopped mid-swing, hesitated to disrupt her presence.
Her brows furrowed at the sight of blood and bodies, like clouds dimming the moon, adding a touch of delicate anger to her charm.
"Qing, the princess!" Kai recovered first.
As Ming's favored granddaughter and Ren's daughter, Qing had visited the palace often recently. Kai knew her well. Supported by two guards, he bowed and spoke plainly.
"Princess, this is the emperor's command. Even you can't interfere. Let me finish his final order, and I'll face your judgment after."
But Qing didn't look at him. Her moonlike eyes gazed past the palace walls, filled with quiet sorrow.
"Dong! Dong! Dong…"
A heavy bell tolled, each strike echoing with cries and wails from the palace. The timekeeper struck the bell nine times.
In Bright Hua, the imperial bell had clear meanings: one for time, two for a summons, three for court, four for seasons, five for ceremonies, six for an empress's death, seven for war, eight for national crisis.
Nine meant the emperor had died.
Ming Jiang, Bright Hua's founding emperor, the time-traveler who had conquered the world, was gone.
Kai's face turned pale, and he collapsed to the ground.
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