"I really don't get it. A person's life is but a hundred years, and even a Grandmaster is no different. Eunuchs like us can no longer enjoy the company of beautiful women. Power and strength are what we should truly desire."
"You have no talent, so you can't practice cultivation, yet you don't covet power. I really don't understand what goes through your mind..."
Zhang Gui let out a sigh.
He was about to leave.
Su Chen hadn't chosen to leave the Imperial Palace. 'I woke up in this place, and I don't know anything about the world outside. Where else could I go?'
Zhang Gui didn't know.
He was immortal.
To him, power and beautiful women were merely fleeting clouds.
He just wanted to live a quiet life.
As the three Cyan-robed Eunuchs prepared to carry the sedan chair away, Su Chen had a feeling.
'By contacting the Black Lotus Saint, Zhang Gui is clearly planning to get involved in the Black Abyss's conspiracy.'
'Third Grade Marrow Cleansing Realm.'
'Coupled with his status as the Vice Chief Steward of the Martial Arts Bureau.'
'With immense wealth at his command and the backing of the Fifth Prince, Zhang Gui is now qualified to be one of the chess players.'
'Once you leave and get involved, will today be the last time we ever see each other?'
Su Chen stopped the sedan chair.
From his sleeve, he took out a plump, verdant ear of grass. Even in the dead of winter, without its roots, it still seemed full of life. It came from the Dogtail Grass.
Inside was a strand of Su Chen's Longevity True Qi.
"There's not much I can do for you."
"In a crisis, if you face a great disaster, chew on this. It might be more effective than any Spiritual Pill."
Su Chen said.
Upon hearing this, the three Cyan-robed Eunuchs looked at the ear of grass curiously. No matter how they looked, it seemed like an ordinary ear of grass, just a bit thicker. They were inwardly scornful but didn't dare let it show in the slightest.
Although this Su Chen before them was a bottom-tier, non-cultivating Black-robed Eunuch, he held a significant place in the Vice Chief Steward's heart. The death of the Cyan-robed Eunuch just moments ago was the best proof of that.
"This ear of grass..."
Zhang Gui stepped out of his sedan and walked over. He took the grass and toyed with it in his hands, but he couldn't see anything special about it. It was clearly an ordinary object. He carefully tucked it into his robes, then smiled.
"It's the thought that counts."
"Since it's a gift from you, I will naturally treasure it..."
Then, the sedan was lifted, and Zhang Gui gradually disappeared into the distance.
Leaving only Su Chen, who watched him depart, and the silent Library Pavilion.
'I hope...'
'...that this strand of Longevity Qi can save your life at a critical moment.'
Su Chen sighed and turned back into the Library Pavilion. The pavilion returned to its usual silence.
「Several more days passed.」
The Library Pavilion returned to its usual silence.
There were no more uninvited guests like the Seventh Prince.
Apparently, Zhang Gui had either conceded some benefits or made some arrangements, so that even someone as distinguished as the White-clothed Prince could no longer come to the Library Pavilion to disturb Su Chen's peace.
This day, it wasn't the Little Black-robed Eunuch who came to deliver food, but a heavily preoccupied Xu Xiaohan.
Just as Xu Xiaohan picked up the food box and was about to leave,
Su Chen called out to him.
"Master Su wants to know what's happening outside the palace?"
Xu Xiaohan hesitated.
"Godfather doesn't want Master Su to know too much, lest you get dragged into this. The matter is immense, he..."
"Then just tell me what you can."
In the courtyard, Su Chen was turning over the frozen soil, trying to loosen it. He hoped the two main ingredients for the Heart-devouring Powder would take root and sprout quickly. As long as the rudiments of the roots appeared, he could accelerate their growth and prepare the concoction.
'Once I have a poison that can kill a Second-Grade Expert, I'll be considered a dangerous figure even within the Great Liang Imperial Palace.'
"Yes."
Xu Xiaohan gritted his teeth and finally spoke.
"The night before last, Noble Consort Zhang attended to the Old Emperor. She seemed dazed, and overnight, she fell ill."
"And then."
"At court, the two Princes who had been fighting to the death have now both ceased their struggles, as if by unspoken agreement."
"Today, a First-Grade Expert will enter the Imperial Palace!"
Xu Xiaohan knew very well.
He had only just reached the Fifth Grade. The reason he was able to surpass his peers and become Zhang Gui's most trusted confidant wasn't because he was particularly clever or talented, but because of the weight Master Su held in Zhang Gui's heart.
Zhang Gui owed Su Chen too much.
Simply because he had successfully served Su Chen, Zhang Gui's favor extended to him. He had soared to heights he couldn't have imagined before.
He couldn't refuse to answer whatever Master Su wanted to know, because all his wealth and status were thanks to Master Su.
'So it's tonight?'
Su Chen's hand, which was loosening the soil, trembled slightly.
Perhaps.
Tonight, they might hear the good news of a new dynasty, or the news of a prince's death.
"You may go."
Su Chen sighed and shuffled unsteadily toward the Library Pavilion.
「Twenty-fourth Year of Tianwu, the first day of the first month.」
Night.
Heavy snow fell.
Sleeping in his clothes, Su Chen suddenly awoke from his dreams. His eyes shone like stars as he peered through the snowy night toward the heart of the Inner Imperial Palace.
Even with the sky full of white snow, blanketing thousands of palace halls in silver, the cold flakes couldn't conceal the scent of blood in the air, nor could they extinguish the towering flames.
BOOM!
A terrifying sonic boom erupted in that instant.
"Qingxu, a First-Grade Daoist of the Celestial Master's Mansion, invites His Majesty the Emperor to meet his death!"
Battle cries shook the heavens.
This night was destined to be anything but calm.
From the depths of the Inner Palace, an ancient, white-haired eunuch with cloudy eyes, looking to be on the verge of death, appeared. Dressed in a Purple Robe, he crossed a hundred zhang in an instant, rising to meet the First-Grade Daoist Qingxu.
"Father Emperor!"
"A Thousand-Year Treasure Medicine appears but once in a millennium! How could you be so lucky as to have a Daoist present you with one?"
"To save your own life, you transplanted the Demon Heart of a First-Grade Demon Fiend into your body! You have long since become a half-Evil Demon, surviving only by eating human hearts and livers each day. How can this world still be ruled by you?"
"Return the world to the hands of the Righteous Dao."
The battle cries thundered.
Wrapped in a thick quilt, Su Chen walked out of the Library Pavilion.
'A Thousand-Year Treasure Medicine only appears once every thousand years?'
Listening to the prince's shouts, which seemed intended for the entire Imperial Palace to hear, Su Chen couldn't help but frown.
He subconsciously glanced toward the hidden compartment.
'So Thousand-Year Treasure Medicines are that rare.'
'And here I thought they were common.'
'After all, not only do I have a Thousand-year-old Treasure Medicine King, I also ate two of them before just to reach the entry level of the Eighteen Golden Body Technique.'
'It's none of my business.'
'Even the rise and fall of a Dynasty, a change of rulers, has nothing to do with me.'
'But Zhang Gui... I hope I'll see you again, alive.'
Su Chen sat in the courtyard, fetched a teapot, and used chopsticks to pick up fine charcoal to boil water for tea, quietly waiting for the battle to conclude.
The snow fell harder and harder.
The scent of blood amidst the cold ice and snow grew stronger and stronger.
'How many people will die tonight?'
Su Chen didn't know.
Nor did he care.
"This tea is still lacking a bit of flavor."
A figure floated down and sat on the other side of the tea table. Without any politeness, he snatched the teacup from Su Chen's side and drained the strong tea within.
"The Library Pavilion is in a remote corner, so we don't have any good tea leaves. My apologies."
Su Chen poured himself a new cup of tea.
"No matter!"
"After all, I didn't come here to drink tea."
The figure finished speaking.
BAM!
A brilliant flash of a blade shone.
The attacker struck without hesitation, a single sword strike aimed at Su Chen's head.
"Huang Jiu! The one who kills you is Huang Yi!"