[ Tae Hua's POV ]
We retreated from the pristine ivory halls of the apex as if nothing out of the ordinary had transpired. The celestial illusion had vanished, but the baseline reality of our campaign had completely shifted. The core mandate was now absolute: I had to locate Xie'en before my mother's shadow network managed to execute her. It was entirely settled within my mind. I needed to pull Ji Wok aside for a highly confidential strategic briefing the moment we reunited with the larger vanguard platoon on the outer fields, ensuring we could map our coordinates ahead of time. Once that baseline was established, my intention was to immediately take our trusted inner circle and break away from the main camp entirely, leaving the remaining provincial candidates behind so we could mount a rapid, uninhibited advance directly toward the desolate Northern border.
Upon clearing the final landing and reaching the ground floor of the tower, my fingers instinctively coiled around the smooth, freezing weight of the jade-tipped hairpin tucked deep within my heavy silk sleeves.
I will find you, Xie'en, I swore silently, my jaw locking into a rigid line. No matter what cosmic terrors or imperial armies stand in my path.
The massive mahogany doors at the threshold stood wide open, the framework deceptively welcoming as if the exit to the tall grass fields would be entirely accessible. But the exact microsecond my boots cleared the threshold and met the outside air, my mouth gaped in absolute, paralyzed disbelief.
Behind me, I heard the rapid, stumbling footsteps of Eun Jo and Weicheng as they rushed to close the distance, their breathing violently hitching as the sheer, reality-defying shock of the perimeter struck their senses.
The vast, undulating grass field we had traversed to reach the threshold had completely vanished. In its place lay a deep, churning, and violently surging expanse of dark abyss. We were completely and entirely surrounded by cruel, thunderous waves that lashed against the stone foundations of the tower with localized ferocity.
The pale light of the high full moon reflected across the black surface of the water as my mind frantically raced to calculate a possible method to get our group past the sudden aquatic chasm. I dropped to one knee, extending a hand to lightly skim the surface from where I stood, desperately trying to determine if the environment was merely another psychological illusion manufactured by the architecture—but before my fingertips could even break the tension, a violent vibration shuddered through the stone.
I looked back over my shoulder, my eyes widening as the five-story pagoda of the Night Pavilion began to literally float upon the surface of the churning water. The ancient, iron-reinforced timber and massive columns began to structurally crumble and buckle, dissolving outward into the dark tide as if the entire colossal fortress were nothing but a fragile piece of discarded parchment.
"You have got to be absolutely kidding me!" I heard Lady Suan Ming roar toward the stormy sky, her blind face tilting upward as if she could physically pierce the clouds to glare at her master. "This is literal saltwater! We are stranded in the middle of an open ocean!"
Lord Dame had entirely evaporated from our presence the moment he had distributed those strange celestial crystals to our palms at the apex, leaving us to navigate his final structural exit entirely unassisted.
"What in the heavens is happening?!" Eun Jo shouted over the deafening roar of the tide as the grand architecture of the pavilion suddenly disintegrated completely, reforming beneath our boots into a crude, violently unstable floating raft of raw timber and shattered planks.
A jagged streak of blue thunder violently struck the horizon, the concussive boom vibrating through our chest cavities as a torrential, freezing rain started pouring down upon our heads with absolute vengeance. We held onto the rough logs of the raft with desperate strength, the sheer momentum of the surging waves throwing our bodies back and forth across the slick wood. The water was a chaotic, churning beast; it was glaringly obvious that this was no easy transitional task—it was a final, lethal crucible designed to drown those who lacked the structural balance to survive the descent.
"Hold on to the core timber!" Lady Suan Ming screamed, her voice cracking as the localized rain rapidly escalated into a full-scale maritime storm.
We were brutally tossed from side to side by the mountainous waves, the raw force of the impact threatening to tear our fingers from the wood. I wrapped my arms fiercely around the thickest, most solid log at the center of the small raft, my muscles screaming from the strain.
My dark eyes instantly dropped toward the opposite end of the timber, tracking Weicheng's position. The commoner scholar had tightly closed his eyes, his face completely pale as the massive, freezing waves repeatedly breached the perimeter of the raft, throwing his slighter frame across the deck. A particularly violent swell crested over the side, knocking him completely off his balance; his head struck the jagged edge of a shattered stone anchoring block with a sickening thud, and he began to slip helplessly into the dark, churning water, his limbs completely uncoordinated as he struggled against the undercurrent.
Fortunately, the momentum of the waves briefly slowed for a fraction of a second as I saw his fingers frantically clawing to maintain a loose grip on the very edge of the raft.
Without a single drop of hesitation, I abandoned my secure position at the center log, lunging across the slick, rain-slicked timber to reach him. My eyes caught sight of a thick, heavy mooring rope securely tied to the main structural frame of the raft. Utilizing my jade blade, I cleanly severed the remaining length of the cord from the wreckage just as another torrential wave began to pour over our heads. Weicheng's face was slick with a mixture of saltwater and fresh, dark crimson blood; the impact with the stone had opened a severe laceration along the side of his temple.
Moving with practiced, military velocity despite the violent shaking of the platform, I wrapped the rough hemp rope securely around his waist, tying a tight, unbreakable knot.
"Weicheng!" I roared into the wind, trying to force his glazed eyes to lock onto mine.
Before he could even register my voice, a massive, suffocating surge of water swept completely across the deck, violently ripping his fingers away from the edge. He was dragged backward into the dark abyss. I lunged forward over the lip of the raft, my hand shooting into the foam until my fingers clamped tightly around his forearm like an iron vise.
Before the powerful undercurrent could violently swallow his body under the hull, I reached back with my left hand, catching the last remaining strand of the secured rope as I shouted back toward the other side of the platform where Lady Suan Ming and Eun Jo were fiercely struggling to maintain their own structural balance against the tilt of the timber. The waves started surging with renewed, predatory fury as thick, black storm clouds completely blocked out the silver light of the moon, plunging the chasm into absolute darkness.
I aggressively hauled Weicheng's limp frame upward, dragging him out of the freezing water and pulling his torso onto the center of the logs. His head was bleeding profusely now, the dark crimson wash mixing with the saltwater as it ran down his pale cheek.
Suddenly, a sharp, blinding wave of heat radiated through the palm of my right hand, searing my nerve endings. I had been holding onto the rough, friction-burned hemp rope with such intense, desperate pressure that the fibers had literally sliced deep into my flesh, peeling back the skin. I hadn't even been consciously aware of the injury until I noticed the bright royal blood actively soaking into the coarse fibers of the rope. Shrugging off the agonizing sting with a sharp grunt, I aggressively tapped the wet fabric of my heavy sleeve against the palm, trying to manually stanch the continuous bleeding before it compromised my grip entirely.
The localized storm and the towering waves finally began to subside, the unnatural maritime magic bleeding out of the sky as the dark clouds parted, allowing the full moon to illuminate the water once more.
Beside us, Lady Suan Ming lay flat against the wood, her pale fingers frantically tracing complex defensive incantations into the wet timber—but the sheer density of the saltwater caused the glowing red runes to violently fracture and snap into useless sparks the moment they touched the deck. Her ancient spiritual magic was completely useless within an ocean environment.
I cradled Weicheng's shoulders against my chest, using my own body weight to anchor him to the raft as I carefully slapped the uninjured side of his face with my palm, trying to force his consciousness back to the surface. The blood continued to trace a dark line down his cheek. I carefully turned his head to the side, my fingers gently parting his dark, wet hair to locate the exact origin of the trauma. A massive, deep cut had opened up along his left temple, the flesh raw and exposed to the salt.
Before I could even extract a clean strip of linen from my inner uniform to bind the wound, the heavy gray clouds surged forward again, completely blocking out the moon as continuous, blinding streaks of lightning flashed across the sky.
"Weicheng is entirely unconscious!" I shouted across the raft, my voice laced with a sudden, rare note of panic as I felt the water beneath the logs violently drop—the telltale sign of an impending, massive surge.
"Eun Jo!" Lady Suan Ming cried out, her blind face twisting in desperation. "Hold onto their coordinates! I am going to attempt another high-level grounding rune!"
Due to the rapid, unforgiving turn of the events, none of us had been granted a single second to draw a proper breath. Eun Jo threw his entire body weight forward, his hands aggressively reaching out to clamp onto the severed end of the rope just as the ultimate, mountain-sized wave crested directly over our heads.
The impact was absolute. The massive wall of water swept completely across the raft, lifting our bodies into the air. Weicheng and I were violently thrown from the timber, plunged directly into the deep, surging abyss of the open water.
The dark sea devoured us whole like a living monster, swallowing our frames into the freezing depth. I refused to let go of the line; I coiled the rope tightly around my forearms, manually anchoring the knot around my own waist as the pressure dragged us under. Whatever happens to the two of us within this void, I thought as the darkness began to claim the edges of my vision, I will personally guarantee that we return to the living world together—dead or alive.
I squinted through the stinging, dark saltwater, tracking his limp form hovering at the opposite end of the line as his body began to sink deeper into the drowning current. I reached down, my fingers desperately locking onto the jade hairpin inside my sleeve, holding it like a talisman as my own conscious thoughts were violently torn away by the freezing tide.
"Ugh!"
A violent, racking cough ripped through my chest cavity. I slowly, agonizingly forced my heavy eyelids to snap open, a sharp groan escaping my lips as the crisp, freezing morning breeze swept brutally through my damp system.
I was lying face-down on the coarse sand of what appeared to be a desolate, sun-drenched island perimeter. It was already early morning, the bright light of dawn piercing my eyes. I immediately pushed myself up onto my elbows, frantically scanning the surrounding shoreline until my eyes locked onto another human being washed up by the gentle waves a few yards down the beach. I couldn't remember the exact moment the heavy hemp rope had structurally snapped under the pressure of the vortex—but at the very least, the sea had seen fit to cast us onto the same shore.
"Weicheng!" I shouted, my voice hoarse and raw from the saltwater as I scrambled across the sand toward the unmoving figure.
I hurriedly knelt beside him, checking his vital signs. The frayed, broken end of the rope was still securely tied around his waist. Retrieving my imperial dagger from my belt, I cleanly sliced through the sodden knots, setting the restraint aside as I carefully pressed my hand against his shoulder, trying to shake him awake.
Weicheng's eyes flew open with an immediate, sharp gasp. His hand instinctively flew to his left temple, his fingers pressing hard against the deep laceration as his jaw clenched and he gritted his teeth in immense pain. He pulled his hand back, staring down at his fingers, which were coated in fresh, sticky blood, his brow twitching violently.
"What in the heavens happened...?" he muttered, his voice raspy as he struggled to pull himself up into a sitting posture, his eyes scanning the horizon as he attempted to piece together the fractured events of the night. He let out a low, agonizing groan, tilting his head back to glare at the sky. "You are a remarkably cruel, underhanded man, Lord Dame."
I sat down heavily on the sand beside him, my dark eyes tracking the calm, serene movement of the sea under the warm sun that was slowly rising over the water. The contrast was utterly bizarre. "Lord Dame manufactured a secondary, hidden trap within the exit mechanism," I explained flatly, keeping my tone measured. "The moment we cleared the doors, he surrounded the pavilion with open water and created an artificial storm surge to test our resilience. You completely lost consciousness due to the physical impact of the initial wave, hitting your head against the stonework. All throughout the maritime journey, your body was manually tied to mine by this rope."
I watched as his features grimaced from the lingering headache. I abruptly cut my explanation short when I noticed his sharp, analytical eyes were intently gazing down at the front of my royal robe.
"Do not tell me..." Weicheng started, his voice dropping into a cautious, probing register as he eyed my hands. "The excessive amount of blood staining your uniform and the raw cuts across your palms... was that because you actively helped me survive the current?"
"O-Of course it was not!" I blurted out instantly, my voice coming off far more defensive and hurried than I had originally intended as a flush of heat hit my neck. "I simply scratched my hands against the shattered stonework somewhere during the initial capsizing."
A look of deep, calculating doubt flickered across Weicheng's features as he analyzed my rapid denial, but after a tense moment, he chose to simply let the matter drop. He let out a weary, quiet sigh and pushed himself up from the sand, standing completely upright despite the visible tremor in his legs, seemingly entirely unbothered by the severe wound on his head.
He nonchalantly wiped the residual blood from his jawline with the back of his sleeve, retrieved his damp linen bandages, and began to tightly re-bind his raw fingers as if nothing extraordinary had occurred.
"Alright," he said smoothly, rolling his shoulders. "Since we are both functionally good and breathing, let us find our way back to the primary camp."
I simply shrugged my shoulders to conceal my thoughts, stepping into line behind him as we turned our backs on the serene sea and entered the thick perimeter of the coastal forest.
[ The Northern Kingdom — Capital Courtroom ]
"This officially marks the fourth day of the provincial candidate search," Chancellor Ba's authoritative voice echoed through the vast stone chamber, his expression remarkably grim. "Every independent border unit must remain fully guarded and alert at all times."
The atmosphere inside the grand courtroom was suffocatingly dense. Soon, Prince Tae Hua and the elite vanguard platoon would return from their sanctuary expedition, meaning the high Yun officials needed to drastically speed up the operational process before the prince could return to interfere. The expansive floor was packed to the absolute brim with regional officials holding stacks of legal appeals and census documents; they had been explicitly summoned to the palace today under an emergency imperial mandate tasked with searching every single hidden nook and cranny of the entire empire.
Chancellor Ba stepped forward, offering a deep, formal bow toward the elevated dais as he directed his sharp gaze toward the throne. He cleared his throat, deliberately questioning the Queen on a highly sensitive matter. "Your Highness, the court must respectfully inquire as to the current whereabouts of the State's King. The high officials require his royal signature to finalize the provincial detention orders."
Chancellor Ba and the senior ministers had been especially called into the chamber today to expedite the processing of the searches under the direct, absolute command of the Crown.
"The King of the North unfortunately fell severely ill precisely three days ago," Queen Ni Xua announced from behind her ornate silk screen, her voice trembling slightly as she held a silk handkerchief to her eyes, seemingly holding back a torrent of royal tears. "His Highness explicitly commanded me to supervise the search for our missing daughter while he remains entirely bedridden within the inner sanctuary."
Chancellor Ba's eyes narrowed instantly, his posture turning to rigid steel. "How exactly can the King of the North fall so suddenly ill, without a formal, public announcement being distributed to the state? This is a critical administrative matter directly concerning the safety of the entire realm and its citizens."
"The onset of the ailment was remarkably sudden, Chancellor," the Queen countered, her voice hardening subtly under the scrutiny. "The royal physician explicitly stated that His Highness cannot entertain any external visitations until his internal core has been completely stabilized."
The Minister of Finance immediately took the floor, stepping alongside Chancellor Ba to offer a sharp bow. "What is the exact medical diagnosis of the royal physician?"
The Queen's knuckles turned white against her silk fan, her irritation mounting visibly based on the tight line of her jaw, but she had been thoroughly prepared for this specific line of interrogation. She raised her hand, her voice ringing cold through the rafters.
"Xu Ming, summon Royal Physician Rou into the courtroom immediately."
A heartbeat later, the heavy oak doors of the chamber parted. Physician Rou entered the space with hurried steps, accompanied closely by Dan Mu Lin, who was carrying a heavy leather medicine satchel across his shoulder.
"Physician Rou," the Queen commanded, gesturing toward the gathered ministers. "Please clearly detail your official medical findings to the high officials. I am deeply concerned for the administrative peace of the state, and although I originally desired for this painful matter to remain entirely private within the family, it is true as Chancellor Ba stated that our citizens possess a right to know the truth."
Physician Rou dropped to both knees, bowing his head until it brushed the stone floor. "The King has been entirely bedridden for the past three days, Ministers."
"How can that be?" the Minister of Rites asked, his brow furrowing in deep suspicion. "His Highness appeared exceptionally full of life and health during the formal departure ceremony for the academy students just a few days ago."
"The King has secretly been suffering from chronic, advanced bradycardia for several winters," Physician Rou started, his voice steady but carrying a rehearsed weight. "But with the bitter winter frost fast approaching the northern border, his physical frame is becoming drastically more frail. His heart rate has dropped to a critical frequency. He cannot accept any external visitors for the foreseeable future until his physical body has been completely stabilized by our treatments."
Dan Mu Lin stepped forward, bowing respectfully as he added to the testimony. "We have strongly suggested that the King must completely stop worrying about the administrative matters of the court for the time being, focusing entirely on his personal wellness. Bradycardia can become entirely life-threatening if the heart muscle is unable to maintain a consistent rate that pumps enough oxygen-rich blood throughout the internal system. If His Highness happens to be subjected to a sudden shock, or if an immense, uncontrolled emotion breaks loose within his chambers, it could instantly cause his heart rate to fail entirely. I must deeply apologize to the court for my own medical incompetence."
A wave of deep, murmurous worry instantly rippled through the rows of officials as the ministers exchanged troubled glances.
Sensing the shift in the room's momentum, the Queen smoothly stood up from her seat, reaching into her silk robes to extract the massive, heavy gold Kingdom Seal of the North.
"For the meantime," she announced, her voice carrying an absolute, unyielding note of authority, "I shall personally hold the administrative affairs of the state in my hands. However, the inner court will always explicitly consider His Highness's prior opinions before passing judgment. The final, absolute call regarding the laws of this land will always remain the call of King Su Cao of the North."
The Queen formally promised the assembly that she would never directly interfere with the baseline court discussions unless the King explicitly issued a disagreement from his sickbed.
Meanwhile, standing at the front of the line, Chancellor Ba's sharp gut instinct and seasoned political intuition told him something entirely different.
The pieces of the puzzle were far too convenient. The sudden, unannounced illness of a healthy king the exact moment a high-stakes search mandate was passed across the provinces, pointed toward a singular, terrifying reality.
There is undoubtedly a foul, murderous play occurring deep within the shadows of the inner palace, the Chancellor thought, his eyes tracking the cold smile on the Queen's face.