Lin Xiyao walked toward the entrance of the Garden of Veiled Petals with her cedar medical chest held tightly against her side. The massive vermilion gates stood open but four guards in heavy armor blocked the path with their polearms. The air in this part of the palace was different from the slums because it smelled of heavy floral scents and expensive charcoal. Lin Xiyao stopped and told the guards that she was an Imperial Physician summoned to inspect the Empress's rare peonies. She showed them the bronze medical seal she had recovered from her father's laboratory. One guard took the seal and inspected the carvings before he signaled for her to enter the grounds.
The Garden of Veiled Petals was a large space filled with stone walkways and hundreds of white flowers that glowed under the moonlight. Lin Xiyao used her forensic system to analyze the soil as she moved deeper into the greenery.
Heavenly Forensic System: Active Environmental Scan
Current Status: High levels of mercury and sulfur detected in the groundwater. Anomaly: The root systems of the peonies are absorbing an alchemical catalyst. Warning: High tier martial signatures are positioned in the trees above.
Lin Xiyao looked up briefly but saw only the movement of leaves in the night air. She knew that Lu Yan was positioned in the shadows of the eaves to provide protection. Her heart rate increased as she approached a large pavilion made of white jade where Empress Chen sat on a raised platform. The Empress wore robes made of silver silk that shimmered like water and her face was covered by a thin veil of lace.
The Empress told the physician to approach and kneel. Lin Xiyao obeyed the command and lowered her head to the stone floor. The Empress stated that the flowers in her garden had begun to wilt from the center and that the other physicians had failed to find a cause. Lin Xiyao replied that the cause was not a disease of nature but a reaction to the substances in the earth. The Empress shifted her position and the sound of her silk robes was the only noise in the quiet garden.
Lin Xiyao stood up when she was permitted and walked toward the center of the peony beds. She used her forensic insight to look past the surface of the soil.
Heavenly Forensic System: Subterranean Mapping Detection: A jade structure exists three feet below the primary peony bed.
Function: An alchemical altar designed to concentrate lunar radiation into a liquid catalyst. Hazard: The altar is currently active and emitting a low frequency vibration.
Lin Xiyao reached down and touched the soil near a dying flower. The dirt was unnaturally warm to the touch and felt greasy against her fingers. She told the Empress that the water supply to the garden was contaminated with a mineral that caused the plants to grow rapidly before they collapsed. The Empress asked if the physician could provide a solution to preserve the garden.
As Lin Xiyao began to explain the chemical properties of the soil her system provided a visceral warning about a change in the environment.
System Alert: Proximity Hazard Detection: A shadow guard is moving toward the physician's back. Action: A weapon is being unsheathed.
The Empress stated that if the physician was lying she would be executed in the garden. At that moment a sharp sound of metal hitting metal came from the darkness behind Lin Xiyao. A shadow guard had attempted to strike but was intercepted by a black lacquered spring saber that appeared out of the night.
Lu Yan stepped out from behind a stone pillar with his amber eyes focused on the guards. He was the Brocade Clad Beast in a human form but his presence caused the Empress's guards to hesitate. He told the Empress that the physician was under the protection of the Jinyiwei and that her life was linked to the safety of the throne.
The Empress stood up and the veil on her face fluttered. She told the guards to lower their weapons and stated that she wanted to see the monster that everyone in the palace was talking about. Lin Xiyao stood between the Alpha and the Empress because she knew that this meeting was the first step in uncovering the ritual that would destroy the Ming Dynasty.
The garden was no longer a place of beauty but a laboratory of horror where the truth was hidden beneath the petals.