Li Fei hadn't yet had time to tidy up the murder scene when Nie Yunyi caught sight of the corpses of Zhao Bing, Chang Bin, and the others, and instantly understood what had happened here.
His icy gaze swept over Li Fei without lingering, and he walked straight to Chang Bin's side, closing the eyes of this informant and comrade-in-arms.
Chancellor Liu strode forward as if flying, hurrying out through the temple gate. For the first time, Li Fei heard the old man roar.
"Silence!"
Chancellor Liu's prestige and reputation had long been ingrained in people's minds. At the sound of his bellow, the chaotic scene instantly fell still.
He pulled the temple doors shut, sealing off the interior from the outside once more, then grabbed a palace guard by the collar, sharp light flashing in his old eyes.
"Quick—go to Prince Rong's residence!"
The guards exchanged glances, frozen in place for a moment.
"A traitor has risen in rebellion. General Nie has gone in to deal with it. All you need do is seal off the ancestral temple tightly and not act rashly, lest you get in General Nie's way."
Chancellor Liu spoke in a rapid stream: "This old man suspects the traitors mean harm to Prince Rong. Send reinforcements at once!"
Facing this three-reign veteran minister, the guards traded a look and finally yielded.
One Innate-realm guard leapt toward Lin'an like a soaring bird, while the rest sealed the ancestral temple so tightly not even a fly could get in or out, a ring of grim, murderous aura closing around it.
"Chancellor Liu, what happened?"
"Is His Majesty unwell?"
"Who are the traitors?"
"..."
Facing the ministers' questions, Chancellor Liu only drew a jade slip from his sleeve, wrote a single character on it, and then said nothing more.
A great tempest had already risen, and the Song Emperor, first to be swept up in it, could not be saved. All this old minister could do now was steady the situation before the final curtain fell.
As for how the history books would record it—that, of course, would be decided by the victor, once the dust had settled.
...
"You've worked hard," Nie Yunyi said softly, wiping the blood from Chang Bin's face. When he rose to his feet, his sword intent alone made everyone present feel a chill down their spine.
Shing—
He drew his three-foot blade slowly, its cold light illuminating his grim, icy eyes.
"Why?"
That was the only question Nie Yunyi had.
"Heaven's way is impartial."
Li Fei shrugged. "If petty officials can run wild and prey upon a whole region, plunging common folk into misery, how much more so an emperor? A muddleheaded ruler brings ruin upon the state and its people. Killing this one benighted lord alone earns merit no less than clearing out a hundred thousand demons."
"If everyone in the world bears some sin, would you then kill every soul under heaven?" Nie Yunyi pressed.
"Hero Nie misunderstands me."
Li Fei said earnestly, "Heaven has a love for life. How could I ever act as a demon lord would?"
As she spoke, she stepped forward and extended a hand. "Hero Nie, the benighted ruler is gone, but the dragon's heir still lives. With the Empress—a woman fit to guide the realm, gentle and wise—to raise her, she will surely become an enlightened ruler in time."
"If Hero Nie doesn't mind, why not join hands with me to support the Crown Prince? Working together in good faith, we can surely bring down corrupt officials and restore order to the court, laying the groundwork early for the Great Song's revival."
"And once the princess is born, you could even become her teacher—with Hero Nie's sword guarding her path and me teaching her statecraft, when the clouds finally part and peace returns to the realm, some of that merit will belong to us both."
"By then, Hero Nie could follow me to the immortal realm with an easy heart, behold the Immortal Venerable's glory, and pursue the path of immortality single-mindedly—surely to leap the dragon gate and ascend from mortal to immortal, an achievement unmatched in this age. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"
"Silence! A scarlet-faced disaster, a traitor to the nation, a rebel against sovereign and kin—you assassinated His Majesty, destroyed the loyal, allied with corrupt power, and still dare wag your tongue before me with such endless prattle!"
Nie Yunyi barked, slashing his own sleeve hem with his sword. "If immortals were all like you, then to hell with immortality! I only regret that I was blind to your true nature, and let the wolf into the house myself!"
The severed cloth drifted slowly to the ground, like the bond of shared meals and water between the two of them, buried together in the pooling blood.
"Hero Nie, what are you saying?" Li Fei asked, feigning disbelief.
But this time, no matter how flawless Li Fei's performance, she could no longer deceive Nie Yunyi.
Setting aside that his assassination attempt on Lu Qianfan had failed and returned nothing—clearly someone had tipped him off—the sworn sons of Lu Qianfan standing at Li Fei's side were proof enough of everything.
He raised his sword and took a step toward Li Fei, a muffled thunderclap seeming to burst beneath his feet.
Li Fei let out a long, faint sigh, then suddenly widened her eyes in shock, staring past Nie Yunyi.
"Immortal Venerable, why have you come here?" she said, sounding utterly astonished.
Every hair on Nie Yunyi's body stood on end. He whirled around—only to find nothing behind him but a stone wall hung with jade tablets.
Full Transformation — Succubus Empress!
Charm Mark Reconfiguration—Mind Melt!
Depravity!
Bliss!
In the split second Nie Yunyi's head was turned, Li Fei unleashed a pseudo-spell ability, raising the Blood Demon Scripture in her hand.
A colossal churning ball of molten rock surged forward in a wide sweep, sulfurous fumes flooding the air, as if some demon lord had woken from slumber, ready to melt the world itself.
—Die!
Li Fei roared inwardly, gambling everything on that instant.
Spells carried within a spellbook could benefit from the caster's personal abilities!
Fourth-tier Meditation, an absurdly high Intelligence stat, the Blood Demon Scripture's equipment bonus—though Li Fei remained at a low Sequence, her spell damage stood out even at the level of Sequence 6.
Abyssal Lava, a Tier-Six spell with outstanding damage, but leveled up to an absurd Tier Ten, further boosted by her Succubus class!
Stacked together, if Li Fei faced off in a direct clash against a mage of Sequence 4, she would lose without question. But against a Sequence 5 caster, her burst damage might well exceed theirs.
Now, catching him off guard, even a Heaven-Man Realm martial artist struck unaware by a killing move of Sequence 5 caliber—combined with the fleeting, unpredictable nature of pseudo-spell abilities—could plausibly be killed outright.
Watching Nie Yunyi's figure about to be swallowed by the flames, Li Fei didn't let her guard down for a moment. Her whole body stayed taut, one hand gripping her sword, ready to rush in and finish him off at any second. A sliver of her attention stayed fixed on her System Panel, ready to purchase a stockpile of Tier-Three Spell Scrolls the instant she needed them.
Shing—
Another crisp ring of steel sounded, drowning out even the roar of the Abyssal Lava.
The boiling, churning mass of molten rock suddenly froze solid, and then a flash of sword-light appeared, cleaving the Abyssal Lava clean in two.
A few more flashes of sword-light followed, sharp intent shredding the now-weakened lava into scattering fireflies, snuffing out the chaotic, violent mana within.
Li Fei's all-or-nothing killing move had been broken with effortless ease, reduced to scattered sparks burning out in the pooled blood—it hadn't even scratched the temple wall.
—Eh?
Enveloped by the sword-wielding man's unmatched, crushing presence, Li Fei felt as though she'd fallen into an ice cellar, cold spreading from her tailbone through her entire body, freezing her hands and feet stiff.
A moment later, Li Fei came back to her senses.
Nie Yunyi was nothing so mundane as a Heaven-Man Realm martial artist.
This former commander of the Demon Suppression Bureau, this hero revered by tens of thousands, this guardian of the common people—he had already stepped into the Saint Realm!
A false saint crowned by a benighted ruler now stood face to face with a living, breathing Martial Saint.
Facing Nie Yunyi's now-undisguised edge, the crushing pressure born of such an enormous gap in transcendent power welled up in Li Fei's heart like instinct, extinguishing every last shred of her will to fight.
Boom!
Another flash of sword-light—just a single, seemingly effortless strike—sent Li Fei flying back more than ten zhang, slamming her spine into the stone wall.
Though she was left without a scratch, Li Fei's losses were severe.
[Guardian's Amulet]
Description: Consume one point of mana to trigger a shield lasting 10 seconds, capable of blocking five instances of damage at Sequence-V or lower level; upon activation, the amulet is consumed.
The amulet her stepdaughter had given her before setting out burned itself out irreversibly, a faint glow enveloping Li Fei.
"Nie Yunyi! I am a close confidant of the Immortal Venerable, come here to save the world!" Li Fei snarled low. "Your rash fury has already destroyed my immortal treasure—that's forgivable enough. But take one more step, and the heavens themselves will turn upside down!"
"I won't trust you again," Nie Yunyi said, striking once more. The glow around Li Fei's body wavered, on the verge of collapse.
The Guardian's Amulet could withstand ten strikes at Sequence-5 level, but Nie Yunyi was a Martial Saint, only a single step away from the high Sequences.
Had he not been holding back, two strikes would have already been the end of Li Fei.
Knocked flat by the impact, Li Fei's face was dark as water by the time she climbed back to her feet.
—Damn it! That useless brat Tingbao's gear never works when I need it! When I get back, I swear I'll—
Before she could even finish the thought, the follow-up sword-light shattered the last of the glow completely. Sword intent pierced her body, and a wave of agony hit her—she coughed up blood.
Clearly, with just two distant strikes, Nie Yunyi had already gauged the exact defensive limits of the Guardian's Amulet, dismantling it with the precision of a master butcher parting flesh from bone, and wounding Li Fei in the process.
"Why not just kill me, you little bastard*," Li Fei said, spitting a mouthful of blood at him, sneering.
"A woman of such grace, and yet a traitor," Nie Yunyi said, expressionless, raising his sword and walking toward her. His chilling presence made every onlooker freeze where they stood, afraid even to move.
In the end, this Hero Nie still feared the mysterious, unfathomable immortal realm standing behind Li Fei.
He meant to capture her alive and slowly interrogate her about her origins—in truth, before deciding to cooperate with Li Fei and travel to the capital together, Nie Yunyi had already used one of Perfected Ge's talisman papers to "test" her for lies.
At the time, Nie Yunyi had known full well that Li Fei's words held things left unsaid, but out of trust and respect for her, and because their broader goals aligned, he hadn't pressed further.
But this time, he would no longer bother with any gentlemanly restraint. He would use cold, merciless means to wring out every last piece of information, and only then decide what to do with Li Fei.
This Hero Nie, after all, had once been the Demon Suppression Bureau's commander, punishing and eliminating countless evils. He was no soft-hearted saint himself.
Splash, splash...
Nie Yunyi waded through the pooled blood, expressionless, closing in on Li Fei.
Li Fei kept her chin stubbornly raised, her heart pounding like a war drum.
If she truly fell into his hands, death likely wouldn't come—she did, after all, have real backing. But being tortured for information by a man, forced to confess her most secret information about Miss System and the rest—that, Li Fei could not endure no matter what.
Suddenly a faint scent of plum blossoms drifted by, and a swaying golden skirt blocked her path in front of Li Fei.
Blood seeped from the corner of Li Fei's mouth, and in her ear came the pained cry of Miss Demon.
Clearly, forcing a mortal body to break free and move against the transcendent aura of a Sequence 4 powerhouse came at a cost, even when the latter hadn't been targeting her and had, in fact, held back somewhat.
But the Empress seemed entirely unaware of this. Tall, cool, and composed, she silently blocked Nie Yunyi's path, gripping a dagger of unknown origin against her own throat.
She said nothing, but her intent was unmistakable.
If Nie Yunyi took one more step forward, it would mean two lives lost at once.
"You..." Nie Yunyi stopped in his tracks, his face a mix of pain and shock.
He truly could not understand why the Empress, always so aloof, cold, and dignified, would now be willing to stake her life to protect a traitor harboring such wicked designs.
How long had the two of them even known each other?!
Nie Yunyi paused for a moment, then drew a [Clear Mind Talisman] from his robe. The yellow talisman paper burned, dissolving into a shower of light that rained down over the Empress.
This talisman had the power to drive out demonic influence and settle the spirit; if Su Wen's mind had been controlled by some sinister method, it would surely wake her.
But the light rained down over the Empress like a gentle breeze passing over her face—only the faint whimper of Miss Demon in the mirror, audible to her alone, stirred at all.
Su Wen stood rooted in front of Li Fei without moving an inch, her expression calm and resolute.
"This is my own will," she said.
Nie Yunyi gazed deeply at the woman he'd loved at first sight, years of buried feeling now condensed into a look of pure grief in his eyes.
He sighed. "Does the Empress truly believe she can end her own life in front of me?"
"If I truly wished to do something, you could stop me for a moment, but not forever... and certainly not for ten months," Su Wen said, her voice as flat and indifferent as ever, betraying neither joy nor sorrow.
"So you'd drag the imperial heir down with you into the grave?" Nie Yunyi's voice turned hoarse. "What you're doing disgraces the royal household, and makes a mockery of being a model for women across the realm."
The corner of Su Wen's lips curved, faintly mocking.
The moment she'd donned the crimson wedding gown, the honor and disgrace of the royal house had already been cast to the winds.
They were fated to walk a path outside all propriety, unacceptable to the world. When Su Wen had pursued the female imperial physician, she had already made peace with facing the condemnation of ten thousand tongues.
After all these years as mistress of the Empress's palace, Su Wen now wanted only to live for herself—and to die for her own will, if it came to that.
"Everyone else sees only the Empress. She was the only one who ever saw me as a person," Su Wen said—and then said nothing more.
Li Fei bowed her head deeply, the corner of her mouth curling up.
Her combat strength alone had never been enough to overpower this world. Behind what looked like her desperate, all-in gambit with the Abyssal Lava, there was still another move waiting.
Watching Nie Yunyi witness the Empress's unshakable resolve, Li Fei coughed up another mouthful of blood and staggered to her feet, stepping in front of her wife and daughter.
Nie Yunyi only turned to glance once more at the jade tablets on the stone wall, sighed deeply, and raised his sword, stepping forward.
"I'm sorry."
"I'm not dead yet," Li Fei said, grabbing Su Wen's wrist and gently taking the dagger from her hand, while her other hand pulled out a small jade disc.
Watching Nie Yunyi close in like death itself, she smiled with her eyes and lifted the jade disc to her lips.
"Lilith, I'm about to die."
...
Inside Prince Rong's residence, a golden-haired girl sat in a pavilion with an old woman of elegant bearing and kindly features.
On the stone table sat a few bowls of steaming rice cakes, soft and chewy—but Lilith had taken only one bite before setting down her chopsticks, unable to swallow another.
Prince Rong and his children were also in the pavilion, while two of Lu Qianfan's sworn sons led a bloodthirsty band of soldiers, surrounding the pavilion so tightly not even a fly could escape.
The girl bowed her head, wiping away tears, while the young prince clung to Dowager Consort Tong, his voice trembling with sobs.
"Grandmother, I'm scared..."
"Scared, my foot. Eat," Prince Rong said, slurping down his rice cake without even looking up. "A scar the size of a bowl on your head means nothing—eighteen years from now, you'll be a hero again."
Dowager Consort Tong gently stroked the little boy's forehead. Beside her hand lay a token, in the center of which a single blood-red character was written:
Danger.
After reaching the ancestral temple, Chancellor Liu had sent word to Dowager Consort Tong at the first opportunity, but it had come too late—the murderous forces of the Demon Suppression Bureau had already trampled over the threshold of the princely residence.
Li Fei had asked Lilith to come stand guard here—this place mattered too much. If anything went wrong, she might well end up run through by Nie Yunyi's sword, and without someone she trusted watching over things, she couldn't rest easy.
"The children are innocent. Might this old woman offer her life for theirs..." the old woman said, her bearing as composed as ever even now, gripping Lilith's wrist, her tone earnest and almost humble, the words cutting into Lilith's heart like a blade.
"I'm sorry. I don't yet have the power to change any of this..." Lilith said, head bowed, fingers twisting the hem of her skirt.
Suddenly, the jade disc in her embrace lit up, and her stepmother's distant voice reached her:
"Lilith, I'm about to die."
Lilith's head snapped up, a staff appearing in her hand.
"Time to go, then. Wouldn't want to hold up someone else's important business," Prince Rong said, downing the rice porridge from his bowl like a man drinking wine. He wiped his mouth and drew a knife.
He grinned at Lilith.
"Thanks."
Then he walked to the edge of the pavilion, drew the blade across his own throat, and let his blood spill into the pond, splashing bright drops of light across the water.
Prince Rong, his hands stained with the blood of countless purges and executions he himself had carried out, understood better than anyone that if not for this golden-haired, blue-eyed woman watching over them, they would not even have gotten one last full meal before the end—and any of the women in the household who moved too slowly in taking their own lives would have met a far more horrific fate, their screams echoing to heaven. Even Dowager Consort Tong, elegant and composed despite her advanced age, and his young daughter in the bloom of youth, would have been no exception.
Having offered his sincere thanks, the old prince died with a faint smile on his face.
Lilith looked down at the young boy in silence, black and white energy swirling faintly in her eyes.
The young prince suddenly felt drowsiness wash over him.
"Grandmother, I'm so sleepy..."
"Sleep, then. Sleep..." Dowager Consort Tong hastily wiped away her tears, gently patting the boy's back as she watched her grandson drift off in her lap, never to wake again.
Finally, Lilith rose and walked over to the young girl.
Unlike the men of the family, only consorts of imperial concubine rank or above, and daughters born of the emperor himself, were normally permitted to enter the ancestral temple and receive even the lowest-ranked spirit tablet. But to be safe, Li Fei had made the request of her anyway—it concerned her stepmother's very life, so Lilith had no choice but to comply.
The girl's eyes brimmed with tears, but she didn't dare move.
Death energy gathered at Lilith's fingertip, forming a needle, which she gently pressed into the girl's belly.
The girl felt no pain at all—just a faint coolness beneath her skin—as, helpless and afraid, she was stripped of an important ability.
"I've severed her Crimson Dragon for her. Beyond that, there shouldn't be any other effects... Next time we meet, I can restore it. It won't take long," Lilith murmured, sounding like a child who'd done something wrong. "I'm sorry."
"You're a good child. This old woman knows you had no choice," Dowager Consort Tong said, gripping Lilith's wrist, tears streaming down her aged face even as her tone remained gentle. "This old woman asks only one thing of you..."
"No..." Lilith heard the intent to die in her words, her eyes going wide as she gripped the old woman's hand, but she could not save that fading candle-flame of a life.
...
The sword's edge was mere inches away.
Suddenly Nie Yunyi sensed movement behind him and turned—
On the stone wall, the jade tablets bearing the names of Prince Rong and the young prince suddenly dimmed, their light fading just as the life of father and son had utterly vanished.
A moment later, Dowager Consort Tong's jade tablet dimmed as well—clearly, the entire family of Prince Rong had met with disaster.
He stared in horror, then turned back to look at the woman before him—her features radiant and captivating, her heart venomous as a serpent.
"How could you be so cruel!" Nie Yunyi roared, fury blazing in his eyes, raising his sword to Li Fei's throat.
Li Fei no longer bothered to hide her smile. Instead, she lifted her chin defiantly, her eyes full of mockery.
A gentleman can always be deceived through righteousness!
Just as Nie Yunyi, back then, could have spared a little more time to kill the Tree Demon outright, yet had struck only once before rushing off to save people in Luyuan County without a moment's delay.
The destruction of Prince Rong's entire family meant that the child in the Empress's womb was now, at least in name, the last surviving bloodline of the royal house.
And the Great Song, riddled with a thousand wounds, could not withstand the further attrition that a change of dynasty would bring.
Clearly, the daughter of Su Wen and the imperial physician was both the anchor stabilizing the realm and the Great Song's last lifeline.
Facing Nie Yunyi's sword, still hesitating to fall, Li Fei showed not a trace of fear. She took another step forward, her voice sharp and severe.
"You fool, Nie! Do you want to see the royal bloodline severed and the Great Song's very foundations collapse? Do you want to become the man history remembers as the one who destroyed the nation?!"
____
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