The sound of hurried footsteps shattered the silence like stones thrown into still water.
From the far end of the road, the Head Eunuch came stumbling through the rain, his rotund figure swaying with each labored step.
Eight little eunuchs scattered behind him in disarray, their lanterns swinging wildly, casting restless shadows across wet street.
The moment they caught sight of the Emperor and Lord Xuanji locked in an embrace, one cloaked in black and gold, the other drenched in bloodstained white, they froze, shocked.
Time suspended. Mist shrouded the narrow road, curling around their feet like breath held too long.
Then, as one, the eunuchs dropped to their knees. Their foreheads pressed against damp stone, trembling like leaves before a storm.
"Junshang! Lord Xuanji!" The Head Eunuch gasped, his words trembling with terror.
They were all wet after running through the empty roads for hours in search of their Emperor. Water streamed from their deep blue robes, pooling beneath them in dark mirrors.
Without releasing Xiangge, Mingxuan threw them a cold glance. "Return to the palace. Now."
The Head Eunuch looked paralyzed. "But... but Junshang..."
The Emperor's response was immediate. He whistled, a sharp, shrill note that pierced the night like a hawk's hunting cry.
Hooves thundered through the darkness. An enormous black stallion broke through the mist, moving like violent wind along the deserted road.
It skidded to a halt beside Mingxuan, rearing with a frightening neigh, powerful front legs striking the air. Half the eunuchs toppled backward in fright.
It was Heisha, the Emperor's personal steed, fierce and utterly untamable. It answered to no one but its master.
Mingxuan lifted Xiangge as if he weighed nothing, as if he were still that small child who once fit in the crook of one arm, and placed him onto the saddle.
Then he mounted behind him. His movements were as graceful as a blade drawn in silence.
Xiangge felt his entire back press against Mingxuan's blood-soaked chest. The warmth of it seeped through wet silk, intimate and damning.
Mingxuan's jaw tightened as he circulated qi through his meridians, forcing the wound to seal. Jinghuo poison resisted, searing through his channels, but he held it back through sheer will.
It would spread faster this way. But Xiangge didn't need to know that yet.
The Head Eunuch's eyes widened when he spotted the dark stain across Xiangge's white lapels, like ink dropped into water. Blood. So much blood.
"Lord Xuanji! You–"
"Zhu!" Mingxuan interrupted him coldly. "You dare to refuse Zhen's command? If you fail to reach the palace before Zhen does, you'll be punished accordingly."
With that, he pressed his legs into Heisha's sides. The stallion responded at once, trotting a short distance before surging into its familiar, blinding speed.
Black mist trailed from its hooves. Mingxuan's dragon robe whipped behind him like a stream of twilight silk, gold threads catching distant lightning.
The eunuchs' frightened cries faded into the storm.
***
Eunuch Zhu stood rooted in the middle of the road, mouth agape, staring after where the horse had disappeared. Rain poured down over his round face, dripping from his chin.
The little eunuchs exchanged nervous looks, their young faces pale with shared dread.
They all knew what he was thinking: How in all the hells was he supposed to reach the palace before Junshang?
That stallion was legend. It could cross the thirty-leagues-wide Yunshan City in the time it took to burn a single stick of incense.
Eunuch Zhu would be lucky to make it back before dawn on foot.
Suddenly, someone laughed, low and thoroughly amused. A tall young man stepped into the lamplight, dressed head to toe in black.
Leather wrist guards shielded his forearms, tall boots wrapped his long legs, and the night clung to him like a second skin.
In his hand was a half-eaten raw radish.
The little eunuchs gasped when they saw it.
"L-Lord Rumeng!" They immediately sank into deep bows.
There was a saying at Yunshan City: there was a man so devastatingly handsome even palace courtesans would kneel for a glance.
A man who drank Lotus Wine, flirted with palace guards, and ate raw radishes like they were imperial delicacies.
Offer him wine? He'd take it. Offer him a beauty? He'd wink. But offer him a raw radish? He'd follow you home, and ask if you're single.
Lord Rumeng was twenty-seven, with fox-like eyes and a playful smile that promised only trouble.
As Lord of Lianyi Peak and Commander of Yunshan's most secret and terrifying military force, he ruled Yunshan's shadows.
From lowly scouts in back alleys to assassins on high towers, from informants in teahouses to spies in foreign courts, all served under him.
It was said he knew every secret whispered in Yunshan before the speaker themselves remembered saying it.
But while most generals wore heavy armor and barked orders from war tables, Lord Rumeng strolled midnight streets with that ridiculous root in hand, dressed like a wandering flirt and grinning at every passing lantern.
Rumeng had a mischievous habit of teasing Zhu every time they met, like a cat batting at a particularly round mouse.
Eunuch Zhu's face darkened the moment he saw this grandson appear.
Rumeng chuckled, his eyes gleaming with mischief. "Zhu, shouldn't you be running for your life instead of standing here like a pig?"
Zhu's face turned plum-dark. "You were listening?!"
"Obviously." Rumeng said, crunching into the raw radish with an audible snap. "Saw everything from Junshang's arrival."
He smirked. "You're the one who charged in like a startled ox. Don't you know of Junshang and Lord Xuanji's relationship?"
He paused, letting the words sink in. "Pure luck you caught them merely hugging. If it'd been anything steamier, Junshang might've personally castrated you."
Zhu looked at him darkly. "I'm already castrated."
"Oh, right!" Rumeng said cheerfully, then let his gaze drift somewhere it definitely shouldn't, tilting his head with exaggerated curiosity.
Zhu immediately clutched his baggy robes shut with both hands, face flaming. "You! You're too much!"
Rumeng extended the half-eaten radish with mock sincerity, like offering a sacred treasure. "Here. Radish calms the mind. Settles the spirit. Very medicinal."
Zhu glared daggers. This brat did it on purpose!
Rumeng blinked innocently. First at Zhu. Then at the radish. Then back at Zhu. A look of exaggerated realization crossed his face.
"Oh! Right." He solemnly withdrew the radish and wiped the chewed part across his chest lapel like it was some sacred cleansing ritual. Then he beamed and stretched it back out with both hands.
"There. Now it's clean."
Zhu: "... ..." He really wanted to strangle him.
"I'm not an animal," he muttered, clenching his teeth and staring at the radish like it had just crawled out of a sewer.
Rumeng laughed. "See? Pigs never eat radish."
"!!!" Zhu's face was black. Humiliating him in front of his own juniors?
Not. A. Good. Idea.
Zhu spun on the trembling eunuchs. "What are you staring at?! Scram!"
The little eunuchs, frozen like frogs under lightning, scattered like headless flies into the night, robes flapping, lanterns swinging wildly as they fled.
Rumeng sighed dramatically, smiling after the fleeing eunuchs. "Shouldn't I hurry back to the palace now, just to witness Junshang punish you?"
"Very happy, aren't you?" Zhu clenched his teeth and turned away, sulking.
But Rumeng blocked his path effortlessly, his tone calm yet mocking. "I'm not finished speaking."
He chuckled. "Last time, didn't Junshang make you herd the Crown Prince's sacred geese? In full court robes? While chanting their names respectfully one by one? 'Your Excellency Feather No. Three, please, this humble servant begs you to stop pecking–"
"... ..." Zhu swallowed hard.
Rumeng flicked the radish aside. "Zhu-gonggong, at this rate, even a bat demon wouldn't give you a ride."
His shaded his eyes as he looked toward the mist-wrapped peak. "Though, I suppose Junshang is already halfway up the mountain by now..."
Zhu's lips twitched under the weight of silent grievance. Junshang's punishments were legendary.
Rumeng watched Zhu's complexion shift into red, green, purple, then pale before satisfaction flickered across his face.
Folding his arms, he teased, "Tell you what: since I'm feeling generous today, I'll help you reach Jade Palace before Junshang does. Deal?"
Zhu cast a doubtful glare. "You don't have wings."
Rumeng's eyes shone. "But I have a sword."
Zhu frowned. A sword?
Still, he was desperate.
Rumeng turned away. "Your suffering depends on how much time you waste now. Think about it. I'll give you a few moments."
He strode off, vanishing into the mist, then stopped, his smile disappearing like blown-out candlelight. His expression shifted, playful mask dropping into something cold, sharp, and utterly focused. He whistled once.
From three directions, three shadow guards appeared.
"Lifeng. Zhengmin. Wuyan." Rumeng's voice dropped low.
The shadow guards bowed, fists to chests. "Master."
"Find me Fox Mandrake, Lingshi Mushrooms, Green Lotus seeds, Jue Mingzi, and thousand-year-old Ginseng. Sweep the entire city if you have to. Empty every apothecary, threaten every physician who might be hoarding rare medicines. I don't care how you do it."
The guards exchanged bewildered looks, rain streaming down their masked faces.
Lifeng, the tallest, said flatly, "Ginseng is manageable, my lord. But the rest are exceedingly rare. Even the Imperial Department of Medicines lacks half that list."
"Then find them anyway!" Rumeng snapped, all trace of playfulness burned away. "Junshang was poisoned by Jinghuo. If the poison isn't detoxified, it will destroy his cultivation within three days, and his life soon after." He paused, letting the weight sink in.
"Bring them before dawn. Fail, and we'll all be attending an imperial funeral."
The words fell like knives.
The guards were stunned. Then they bowed once more and vanished into the night, dissolving into rain and darkness.
Rumeng stood watching them disappear. His robes were were drenched from the drizzle. Water dripped from his hair, tracing down sharp cheekbones.
Then he looked back at Zhu, still standing in the distance, shivering like a stray dog left in a thunderstorm, and the playful smile slid back into place.
He approached. "Zhu gong gong, have you decided? If we don't leave now, I can't promise you'll reach the palace in time. Junshang's punishment for tardiness is... creative."
"Take me!" Zhu blurted out at once. "Any way you can!"
"Wise choice." Rumeng's grin widened. "Lianshang, summon!"
A long, glimmering silver sword materialized beside him in a cascade of glowing mist, brimming with spiritual energy. The blade gleamed like frozen moonlight.
Before Zhu could cry out, or reconsider, Rumeng grabbed his collar and hoisted him onto the narrow blade, then leapt lightly behind him.
The sword shot upward at lightning speed, piercing the veils of mists and clouds
The city spun below them, rooftops and courtyards blurring into black and yellow smears, lanterns streaking like falling stars.
Eunuch Zhu was horrified when he gazed below and found the streets minimized into silk threads.
His legs shook violently. He immediately clung to Rumeng's throat like a drowning man to driftwood, his scream tearing through the night. "Aaaaaaah! F@#k–!"
Rumeng laughed excitedly, rain whipping past his face. "Let go of my throat, you old pig! How is your carelessness my fault? Besides, who hasn't fallen from a flying sword once or twice?"
He didn't forget to a bit of flavor to it.
Zhu: "!!!"
Rumeng's laughter echoed like thunder as Zhu howled at the top of his throat.
"You–! You scoundrel!! Quickly let me down–no! Aaaaaaaaaah!"
***
Glossary.
• Cloud Mountain (云山): The highest mountain range in the Capital of Yunshan, consisting of more than three thousand peaks that rise into the clouds.
• Heisha (黑煞): The personal steed of Emperor Mingxuan. A spirit beast that appears only when summoned and cannot be tamed by others.
• Yunshan Jade Palace (云山玉宫): The main imperial palace of the Xuan Huang Empire, located atop one of the tallest peaks of Cloud Mountain.
• Eunuch Zhu (朱公公): The Chief Eunuch serving Emperor Mingxuan.
• Rumeng (如梦): One of the nine Martials of Xuan Huang, Commander of the Xuanjia Army stationed at Lianyi Peak. Protector of the Capital and personal bodyguard to the Emperor.