Xiao Qiu looked at Xiao Yi, whose face was as pale as a mourner's, and said, "Your Highness, please remain here for now. As for what happened just now, His Majesty will make his own decision after seeing the heir apparent."
Not only had he failed to teach Gu Fangchen a lesson, he had managed to drag himself into trouble as well.
Xiao Yi wilted like a frostbitten cabbage, losing all confidence, yet he still couldn't figure it out.
Why?
Hadn't it been verified in open court only a few days ago that Zhang Yuandao, the top scholar, was the Northern Garrison Prince's biological son?
Even Gu Fangchen's true father had been found and interrogated. So why, after three days, had Gu Fangchen still not been convicted?
Unbelievable!
Xiao Yi glared at Gu Fangchen's back.
This must be another plot by the Demonic Sect. For even someone as brilliant as himself to have been fooled, their power truly couldn't be underestimated!
Xiao Qiu clapped his hands, and Blood-Robe Guards dressed in dark crimson uniforms appeared silently from the shadows. They carefully inspected the broken sword on the ground before taking it away.
The eunuch's face remained kindly, but his gaze toward Gu Fangchen shimmered with calculation.
Overnight, the boy had gone from a cripple to reaching the seventh rank.
This heir apparent had hidden himself well indeed.
...
Gu Fangchen lifted his head. The Purple Extremity Hall towered above, so high its peak could not be seen. Even compared to its rendering in the game, the real sight was far more awe-inspiring.
The Great Wei Empire had many architectural marvels, but its three main citadels were the most renowned —
Heaven-Shadow Huangtian, Goldscale of Divine Craft, and the Floating Pagoda of Divine Artistry.
Huangtian City symbolized imperial power at its peak; Goldscale City guarded the northern frontier; and Floating Pagoda City, standing in Jiangnan, was a Buddhist kingdom built upon the earth.
Goldscale City was the base of Gu Yuye's Xuanhuang Army, its streets lined with banners bearing the Gu family insignia, a city fully under his control.
Floating Pagoda City, by contrast, was established by the Garan Temple, a Buddhist realm of four hundred and eighty temples, crowned by a hundred-zhang golden Buddha overlooking the mortal world below.
These three cities were the favorite landmarks of players to visit and take screenshots of.
Of course, reaching the best vantage points in any of them was notoriously difficult.
But that didn't matter, the art of save-loading was almighty.
Although the cursed game only gave three save slots, those who focused on strategic play had to be extremely cautious. Casual players, however, had no such worries.
He remembered those players who used to squat on the Purple Extremity Hall's rooftop to defecate for screenshots. The thought made him recall every humiliating memory of his life just to keep himself from laughing.
He cleared his throat twice, then climbed the marble steps. Under the watchful gaze of the palace guards, he entered the Purple Extremity Hall.
The hall was vast, but empty.
Where ministers and generals once crowded during morning court, now there was only silence so heavy one could hear a pin drop, still, cold, and oppressive.
Looking up, he could see only the black dragon-embroidered banners cascading layer after layer from the dais. Behind them loomed the faint silhouette of a massive dragon throne. Not even the shadow of Emperor Yong'an could be seen.
Gu Fangchen took a deep breath.
Only he knew that what awaited him next was the game's final boss.
Here, now, in this very place..
Just before his transmigration, he had defeated this very figure, watched him laugh as his body disintegrated, scattering into ash upon the wind.
Emperor Yong'an, Xiao Ding, the ruler who had held the highest authority in Great Wei for one hundred and seventy years.
Or rather..
The Dao Lord of Constancy, the Primordial Human Emperor.
Yes, Emperor Yong'an Xiao Ding was none other than the Dao Lord of Constancy, one of the Tenfold Dao's demonic leaders.
The reason most players never reached the true ending was because they failed to uncover this identity, the final boss behind everything.
Whether one killed Emperor Yong'an or the Dao Lord Hengchang, both were merely his avatars.
And beneath those two faces, Xiao Ding possessed yet another, hidden identity.
Without unmasking that final self, no matter how hard one fought, all endings were false. That was why when Gu Fangchen had posted his final guide video, he'd declared with certainty that all other endings were fake.
Only Six Dusts Return to Purity was the one true ending.
In the lore of Mirror in the Dust, five dynasties had ruled the Central Plains since ancient times, Zhou, Qi, Xia, Ning, and Wei.
After piecing together all clues from the game's five endings, Gu Fangchen had realized a shocking truth, every founding emperor and every final emperor of these dynasties were the same person.
Including Great Wei.
Thirteen hundred years ago, the founding emperor of Great Wei had forged a covenant with the Sage of Confucianism and established the empire with great vigor. That same man now clung to his throne with unyielding grasp, Emperor Yong'an himself.
The tyrant who began the chaos and the human emperor who ended it were one and the same.
Dynasties rose and fell, righteousness and evil clashed in endless cycles, yet all of it remained within one man's grasp.
That was Constancy.
Gu Fangchen could still remember the chill that ran down his spine the moment he arranged all the clues and reached that conclusion.
That instant of shock still lingered vividly in his memory.
It was also one of the reasons he had felt uneasy even after reaching the so-called true ending, as though even Six Dusts Return to Purity still lacked something crucial.
Had the new order he built truly broken free from that parasitic shadow?
Was the hero who returned truly the same hero anymore?
All players, including Gu Fangchen himself, had once believed Emperor Yong'an to be merely a cunning ruler skilled in balancing political factions, his reign sustained not by achievement but by manipulation and fortune.
He maintained stability through shrewd political equilibrium, pitting powers against each other.
Yet his obsession with control sometimes made him appear weak or indecisive.
For example, to elevate the Tara Sect and counterbalance the Garan Temple, he had once performed purification rites and incense offerings in person to show reverence, gradually restoring the Tara Sect's public image.
Players had mocked him for it.
In the early endings, killing Emperor Yong'an was not difficult; once chaos erupted, his head would soon roll.
Only later did Gu Fangchen realize, the man was an endless onion.
No matter how many layers you peeled, there was always another beneath.
Sweat dampened his palms. He clenched his fist and stepped forward.
After a brief hesitation, instinct told him it was safest to kneel.
But before he could, Emperor Yong'an's amused voice sounded from behind the curtain of banners, echoing through the empty hall, distorted by the vastness.
"Come forward, let me take a look."
Take a look at what?
Gu Fangchen froze, then walked to the base of the dais. Hearing no further words, he gritted his teeth and climbed the remaining steps, stopping before the curtain.
Any closer would have been disrespectful.
He stood still, feeling the gaze from beyond the banners quietly studying him. His heart filled with doubt.
Leaving aside his identity and Gu Yuye's schemes, what exactly was Emperor Yong'an planning?
Wait...
A rumor flashed through his mind, one of those obscure bits of lore about the Dao Lord of Constancy.
"The Dao Lord of Constancy represents the unchanging, and thus should have no offspring. Yet during one debate of the Dao, Constancy was broken."
Notably, this rumor pertained to the Dao Lord of Constancy, not Emperor Yong'an.
And it was the only one of its kind in the entire game.
The implication: the Dao Lord of Constancy had once sired a child, but that child no longer existed.
A strange feeling crept over Gu Fangchen.
He thought of his own origins.
He had been switched at birth by the Demonic Sect. The horse groom who performed the exchange had also been one of them.
Could it be that the rumor referred to...
Him?