[Royal Court Decree - Special]
[Whoever delivers Gu Chengming before This Emperor shall be granted by This Emperor a chance at Emperorhood.]
Gu Chengming stared at the red-gold characters on the jade token and said nothing for three breaths.
This was bad. There was an anti-Hundred-Bones-Resonance clause too?
They say nobody knows you better than yourself. Love's Hundred Bones Resonance wouldn't be using this as a chance to drive a wedge between me and Old Hundred, would she?
His gaze drifted slowly toward the Hundred Bones Resonance beside him.
Old Hundred, you wouldn't sell me out, would you?
After all, this was someone who had "This Emperor" on her lips every waking hour. With a chance at Emperorhood laid out right in front of her, if her head got hot for even a second—
But Hundred Bones Resonance reacted faster than he expected. The white-haired girl shot to her feet. "That counterfeit—!!"
Watching her bristle like an angry cat, most of the weight lifted off his chest.
Hundred Bones Resonance turned her head and met his eyes, and seemed to catch that flicker of hesitation from a moment ago.
She froze, then went red to the ears.
"Heavenly Emperor Gu! You didn't actually think This Emperor would trade you away just to become an Emperor—"
"No," Gu Chengming said flatly.
Hundred Bones Resonance huffed and looked away, muttering, "This Emperor does want to become an Emperor. But Heavenly Emperor Gu is far more important than that."
Sorry, Old Hundred. I measured an Emperor's heart with a petty man's ruler.
When the Royal Court's decree spread through the Secret Realm, Yu Wenqiu was squatting at the edge of a cliff, gnawing on dry rations.
Primordial Divine Domain Myriad Dharma Dominion Origin Nine Heavens Hundred Bones Royal Court… what kind of garbage name is that?
Then her eyes landed on that last special clause.
[Whoever delivers Gu Chengming before This Emperor shall be granted by This Emperor a chance at Emperorhood.]
The rations dropped out of her hand.
Who dares touch Little Gu?!
Yu Wenqiu stood, kicked the crumbled rations off the cliff, formed a seal with both hands, and activated the Clairvoyant Eye.
The Fourth Realm Clairvoyant Eye was genuinely overbearing; even in a place where the laws governing it had been severed, it could still peer into causality.
The process was far from smooth, though. Every time the Clairvoyant Eye tried to look deeper, something pushed back against it.
Yu Wenqiu gritted her teeth and forced it. Her spiritual sense twisted and turned several times, and the image gradually sharpened.
Beneath a red-gold firmament, dozens of ancient projections stood ranked along both sides like courtiers at audience, and at the highest point, atop the remains of some colossal beast, a figure sat.
Hair white as snow, features sharp and spirited, dressed in white training robes, standing on bones — a rather beautiful woman.
Yu Wenqiu's heart sank half an inch. She was preparing to look deeper into the woman's cultivation when the white-haired woman turned her head.
Across a distance she couldn't even measure, those eyes looked straight toward the vantage point of her Clairvoyant Eye.
Then the white-haired woman smiled, and the smile carried a distinct note of looking down from above.
Yu Wenqiu's eyes snapped open. Her back was already soaked.
Strong. Terrifyingly strong.
There was no question about it — the woman in that vision was unfathomable.
She drew a deep breath, forced herself calm, and read the decree again.
"Deliver Gu Chengming before This Emperor."
That wording…
Yu Wenqiu's brows knit. If the point were simply to kill him or take something from him, "capture him" would have sufficed. And offering a chance at Emperorhood as the bounty meant the other party took this matter very seriously indeed.
But if Gu Chengming were merely an enemy or a threat to the Royal Court, why go to all that trouble to post a reward?
After that, Yu Wenqiu used the Clairvoyant Eye to probe a variety of situations, and finally, from the chatter of countless cultivators and the news leaking out of the Royal Court, she confirmed one fact.
The master of the Primordial Divine Domain Myriad Dharma Dominion Origin Nine Heavens Hundred Bones Royal Court was looking for an Imperial Consort.
Her brain short-circuited for two breaths. Then she shot upright, her face flushing crimson.
So this white-haired woman out of nowhere was publicly offering a bounty to every cultivator in the Secret Realm to seize Little Gu — so she could carry him off and make him her Imperial Consort?
Good news: Little Gu's life was probably safe.
Bad news: his chastity was not.
From the Capital until now, she'd missed one opening after another.
First she'd lost her nerve. Then she'd been half killed by rage over the residue of that Red Dust Art. Then the upheaval in the Secret Realm had shattered every plan she had.
And now even Heaven itself was hurrying her along. If she didn't move, someone else was going to take him.
Yu Wenqiu opened her eyes again, her gaze frighteningly resolute.
She had to reach Little Gu before that white-haired woman — and before every cultivator seduced by the promise of Emperorhood.
Whatever happened, as long as Yu Wenqiu drew breath, nobody was laying a scheming hand on Little Gu.
The Defense of Little Gu's Chastity officially begins!
The most pressing matter was obviously finding him first, and with the Clairvoyant Eye, that part was considerably easier.
The bigger trouble wasn't locating him, though — it was the other cultivators along the way. She had no idea what this so-called "chance at Emperorhood" actually entailed, but judging by the earlier Bestowals, it clearly wouldn't be small, and it was more than enough to send a whole crowd charging into desperate risks.
Sure enough, while crossing a stretch of dead forest, Yu Wenqiu ran into exactly that sort.
A squad of five cultivators crouched in a clearing around a crude spiritual power map, jabbing fingers at it, their conversation not the least bit guarded—
"Gu Chengming's from the Wenjian Sect, mid Third Realm, third on the Hidden Dragon List. Someone like that definitely has experts guarding him."
"We pin down his position first, then round up more people and—"
He never finished. A blade of sword-light tore out of the depths of the dead forest.
With a sharp thwip, the spiritual power map in the lead cultivator's hands was cleaved in two, scraps of paper whirling into the air.
Yu Wenqiu stepped out from behind a withered trunk, Dharma Sword held level before her, peach-blossom eyes half-lidded, her tone perfectly mild. "Looking for someone?"
All five went rigid at once.
Fourth Realm spiritual pressure spread out with no attempt at concealment. To Second and Third Realm cultivators, it was enough to shake the soul.
The lead cultivator went bloodless, his lips trembling twice. "Senior, we were just — just idly looking at a map—"
Yu Wenqiu took one step forward. All five retreated three.
"We're not looking, we're not looking anymore!"
She sheathed her sword, watched them scatter like startled birds, and nodded, satisfied.
But she knew perfectly well that one person couldn't stop everyone.
Hundreds, thousands of cultivators were trapped in the Secret Realm, and these were only scattered small fry. If the disciples of the truly great sects got ideas too, she alone couldn't possibly hold the line.
On top of which, the Royal Court was searching as well, and its projections were high in realm and absurd in number.
Thinking it through, Yu Wenqiu quickened her pace.
And then she ran into an old acquaintance from the Wenjian Sect.
At a bend in the valley road, two figures sensed each other's aura almost simultaneously. Yu Wenqiu's Dharma Sword was already half drawn; Su Qingmeng's hand had settled on her hilt.
"Elder Yu." Su Qingmeng let go first and inclined her head slightly.
Yu Wenqiu sheathed her blade as well and looked her over: plain white sword robes, black hair pinned with a wooden hairpin, that cool, remote face. Apart from the dust on her hem, she was no different from the Dao-Child who showed up at Little Gu's door back at the sect every day, punctual to the minute, to practice swordwork.
"Little Su? What are you doing here?" Yu Wenqiu went straight to the point.
"Reporting to the Elder — I'm looking for someone." Su Qingmeng's answer was just as blunt.
The two of them looked at each other, and each immediately knew what the other was after.
Su Qingmeng was the first to explain. "The Secret Realm has changed. Cultivators from every faction are hunting for Fellow Daoist Gu, and not a few of them harbor ill intent. As Dao-Child of the Wenjian Sect and his fellow disciple, I ought to find him, join him, and stand watch at his side."
"If Fellow Daoist Gu were gone, the Wenjian Sect would have no one left who could walk abreast of me."
Yu Wenqiu didn't believe a word of that speech, naturally.
Who was it that turned up outside Little Gu's courtyard before dawn every single day to wait for sword practice? Who was it that lingered afterward, refusing to leave, just to sit there and watch him drink tea? Who was it that Elder Jingxuan caught red-handed on the road back to the Daoning Gate, grinning like an idiot?
As things stood, wasting time here probing each other was pointless. Better to find him first. After all, once they did, with Yu Wenqiu standing right there watching, this girl wouldn't be able to pull anything.
And so the Alliance for the Protection of Little Gu's Chastity took its embryonic form.
Elsewhere.
Su Qiuzhi had seen the decree too, of course, and she'd known almost instantly that the "Gu Chengming" written on it was the Gu Chengming she knew.
Her thinking, though, was admirably clear. Rather than run around outside like a headless fly, the most important thing was to get inside the enemy's camp and find out exactly what the master of this Royal Court intended to do with Gu Chengming.
If the other party really did mean him harm, being inside the Royal Court would let her act in concert with him at the critical moment.
And if it turned out to be a false alarm, the trip still wouldn't be a loss. Who knew — she might even squeeze some benefits out of the Royal Court.
Su Qiuzhi set off toward that distant curtain of red-gold light in rather buoyant spirits.
Then she hit a wall.
Su Qiuzhi had underestimated the difficulty of joining the Primordial Divine Domain Myriad Dharma Dominion Origin Nine Heavens Hundred Bones Royal Court.
The core region was ringed by layer after layer of projection guards. From the outer perimeter to the inner hall there were at least seven or eight checkpoints, each manned by Fourth Realm projections that tested every cultivator who tried to approach. Su Qiuzhi's cultivation stood out among the younger generation, but against Fourth Realm projections she simply wasn't enough.
She sat down on a rock, looked at that red-gold curtain of light over the Royal Court's core, propped both hands on her knees, and let out a long sigh.
What kind of lousy Royal Court is this? It's harder to get into than the Eternal Life Sect's headquarters.
Chin in hand, she thought for a while — and then remembered the key words in that decree.
The master of this Royal Court had named Gu Chengming specifically. Which meant any information related to Gu Chengming ought to have value to the Royal Court.
And what if she happened to be holding intelligence weighty enough?
Su Qiuzhi hopped off the rock, stopped a hundred feet out, and raised her voice. "I have intelligence concerning Gu Chengming. I request an audience with the Heavenly Emperor."
The projection at the Royal Court's gate stepped respectfully aside and cleared the way.
Su Qiuzhi blinked.
Two more projections emerged from behind it and took up positions on either side of her, forming an honor escort.
Flanked by two Fourth Realm projections, Su Qiuzhi passed through every remaining checkpoint without a single obstruction.
The Court Guard members who had blocked her earlier watched from a distance, jaws nearly hitting the ground.
Su Qiuzhi kept her composure on the surface the whole way, her steps unhurried, while inside she was thoroughly dazed.
Those three words, "Gu Chengming" — the access clearance around here is way too high.
If Gu Chengming himself stood here, he could probably ride in on a projection's shoulders.
The core of the Royal Court was a broad open space woven from red-gold spirit veins. No halls, no towers, no carved beams or painted rafters — only spirit patterns crisscrossing the earth in a vast net, light rolling through them until the whole space was steeped in red-gold.
At the very center stood a throne built from the bones of an ancient behemoth, the remains massive and stacked in layer upon layer, the highest point a good several yards above the ground. From a distance it looked like a small white hill.
And at the summit of that throne of bone, a figure sat cross-legged, dozens of projections ranked along both sides of the platform, heads bowed in silence like courtiers in formation.
Su Qiuzhi stood below the platform, looking up at that figure, and it took no small effort to force the weakness out of her legs.
She bowed, keeping her voice as composed and proper as she could manage. "This one is Su Qiuzhi of the Harmonious Joy Sect. I have intelligence concerning Gu Chengming, which I would offer to the Heavenly Emperor."
The white-haired Heavenly Emperor on the platform opened her eyes, and the instant she saw Su Qiuzhi, interest flickered across them.
"You know him?"
She seemed to have confirmed as much already through some other channel, and was merely waiting for Su Qiuzhi to admit it herself.
Su Qiuzhi nodded. "This one has met Fellow Daoist Gu on several occasions and is rather familiar with his movements and his manner of doing things."
That was half true and half not. The several occasions were real, but as for familiarity — Su Qiuzhi's understanding of Gu Chengming centered mainly on the dimensions of "he's good-looking" and "he agreed to Dual Cultivation with me."
His movements? If she knew where Gu Chengming was, she wouldn't have gone to all this trouble to sneak in here.
But Su Qiuzhi's face was thick enough to carry the whole performance in front of a Heavenly Emperor with total conviction.
She launched into a stream of half-truths and invention.
Gu Chengming's cultivation habits, the characteristics of the techniques he favored, his daily routine during his stay at the Harmonious Joy Sect, then a few vaguely worded speculations mixed in — barely enough to assemble something that looked like weighty "intelligence."
Love's Hundred Bones Resonance listened through it in silence, neither interrupting nor pressing for details.
When Su Qiuzhi finished, she had already braced herself to be exposed on the spot. The being before her controlled the entire Secret Realm, after all — if she had some means of detecting lies—
The reaction that followed was nothing she'd anticipated.
The white-haired Heavenly Emperor studied her for a moment, and the corner of her mouth curved up.
"You've got nerve."
Su Qiuzhi thought, this is bad — she's seen through me, hasn't she?
"Keep working for This Emperor," Love's Hundred Bones Resonance said, her tone as casual as if she were instructing an errand servant. "Help This Emperor find the Imperial Consort, and This Emperor will not treat you poorly."
With that, she waved a hand, and a ball of spiritual qi drifted toward Su Qiuzhi.
Su Qiuzhi caught it. The moment the qi entered her body, a warm current ran through her meridians — hot but not scorching — seeping slowly along the channels into her dantian.
Under that washing warmth, her spiritual power vortex expanded outright by a full ring, her foundation tamped down by more than one minor step.
Her pupils dilated.
This was a Bestowal that directly raised the foundation of one's cultivation?
She'd spun a pile of nonsense, and not only had the other party failed to call her out, she'd handed over a reward on the spot worth several months of bitter cultivation?
"That's enough. Go."
The white-haired figure waved again. Su Qiuzhi's vision blurred, and only in the next moment did she realize she was already outside the Royal Court.
Looking at the red-gold earth and the distant sky, Su Qiuzhi felt slightly stunned.
I came here to be a mole. How did I end up turning a profit?
Once she'd calmed down, Su Qiuzhi began sorting through the gains of the trip.
First, she had confirmed that Love's Hundred Bones Resonance did not intend to kill Gu Chengming.
Judging by her words and manner, the title "Imperial Consort" had not been thrown out carelessly. When the white-haired Heavenly Emperor mentioned Gu Chengming, the possessiveness in her voice was thick enough that she hadn't bothered to disguise it in the slightest.
Su Qiuzhi felt out the red-gold spiritual qi still not fully digested inside her, and found herself torn.
On one hand, she had the intelligence she'd wanted. By rights she should extract herself immediately, find Gu Chengming, and pass the news along.
On the other hand…
If she kept working for the Royal Court, she could get more.
And judging by her performance just now, the white-haired Heavenly Emperor's trust in her was hardly low — at minimum she'd been granted free passage through the outer regions and an escort of two projections.
Su Qiuzhi stared at the ground for a good long while.
No!
She shook her head hard, flinging all those messy thoughts out of it.
She was here to help Gu Chengming. She wasn't going to be bought off by a few mouthfuls of spiritual qi.
What's more, Gu Chengming had promised to Dual Cultivate with her.
Su Qiuzhi's expression turned serious.
She, Su Qiuzhi, could bend at the waist for a while in exchange for benefits — but she would never hand her own man over to somebody else.
She patted her cheeks and made her decision.
On the surface, she'd keep supplying the Royal Court with intelligence. All of it fabricated, of course, or the sort of harmless drivel that made no difference whether it was verified or not. She'd trade that scrap material for trust and resources, and in passing, get a better read on the Royal Court's internal workings.
In secret, she'd find a way to get word to Gu Chengming.
…
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
What Su Qiuzhi didn't know was that the causal link between her and Gu Chengming had already been caught by Love's Hundred Bones Resonance.
After issuing the decree, Love's Hundred Bones Resonance hadn't simply sat waiting.
She was neither skilled at nor fond of any method beyond pure force, but she had to admit that when it came to finding people, the power of causality really was far more useful than fists.
The Secret Realm's spirit vein network lay entirely within her control. Every cultivator who had entered the Secret Realm carried karmic threads on them, some faint, some deep — like invisible strands of silk.
Gu Chengming, as an existence with causality of extreme complexity, should in theory have been easy to pinpoint. In practice, she'd run into trouble.
His karmic threads were absurdly blurred, as though something had deliberately obscured them. No matter how she searched, all she could grasp was a scattered, broken phantom.
Until Su Qiuzhi showed up.
After that Harmonious Joy Sect cultivator left the core region, Love's Hundred Bones Resonance closed her eyes again.
Following that one karmic thread, she let her perception sink in like silk into water, drifting naturally toward whatever lay at the other end.
The red-gold perception passed through layer after layer of the Secret Realm's space, skimming over wasteland, ravine and dead forest, and finally came to rest at the Secret Realm's outer margin.
The edge of the Fallen Immortal Abyss. Near a collapsed cavern.
Love's Hundred Bones Resonance smiled.
She pointed a finger, and more than ten Fourth Realm projections moved as one, streaking away toward the Fallen Immortal Abyss.
And on the receiving end of all this—
Gu Chengming was the first to sense the disturbance, and inwardly he groaned.
You've got to be kidding. What's going on? They got here this fast?
Dozens of Fourth Realm spiritual pressures were closing in, heading straight for their hiding place.
For the two of them as they were now, it wasn't a fight they couldn't take. The problem was that after the fight, their position would inevitably be exposed, drawing more pursuers. With the Royal Court holding the spirit veins of the entire Secret Realm, exposure meant being hunted without end.
[The Huiyuan Sword Formula immediately began circulating at full support: Chengming, don't be afraid, I'm here!]
[The Red Dust Phantom Body Formula frowned: Fellow Daoist Gu, don't be rash. Let's see what they want first.]
Gu Chengming gripped his Dharma Sword, the pink glow of his Sword Domain flickering in and out of sight around him. Hundred Bones Resonance clenched her fists, crimson blood-and-qi force creeping up her arms and tinting her fair skin a pale gold.
The two of them stood back to back, facing the cavern mouth.
The projections touched down outside one after another. They did not attack.
Gu Chengming's brows drew together. Their behavior was nothing like the earlier hunt — before, it had been strike on sight, no mercy. Now they'd arranged themselves as though welcoming someone?
Then the lead projection spoke.
Its voice was low, its tone respectful, even faintly careful.
"Your Highness the Imperial Consort, by the Heavenly Emperor's order, please return to the palace with us."
The cavern went quiet for two breaths, and Gu Chengming's expression traveled from confusion to shock to speechlessness.
Hundred Bones Resonance beside him reacted faster than he did, and far more violently.
"Who's an Imperial Consort?!" The white-haired girl charged a step forward, her voice climbing an octave. "Heavenly Emperor Gu is a Heavenly Emperor! Not anybody's consort! That counterfeit of yours is the one who—"
She threw her arms wide, shielding Gu Chengming completely behind her, and declared at full volume, "If you want to carry off Heavenly Emperor Gu — you'll have to get past This Emperor first!"
The projections froze in place as one, apparently at a loss.
The Heavenly Emperor? When did she get here?
Not only was the appearance identical, the aura overlapped almost perfectly. As if their Heavenly Emperor had suddenly split into two — one seated on the high platform of the Royal Court issuing commands, the other standing here with her arms spread, shielding a man.
Hundred Bones Resonance noticed their reaction too.
She blanked for a beat. Then a flash of inspiration went off in her head.
Oh. Right.
She and that counterfeit looked exactly the same.
Her mind raced, running through shock, realization, disgust, calculation and teeth-gritting resolve inside of two breaths.
Impersonating myself… no, impersonating the counterfeit…
It was humiliating. But if it would protect Heavenly Emperor Gu—
Hundred Bones Resonance drew a deep breath, then turned to face the projections, straightened her spine, lifted her chin, and pushed her presence as far in the direction of "looking down from on high" as she could manage.
"Stand down."
She lowered her voice, tone majestic. "This Emperor has already found the Imperial Consort personally. Your hands are not required."
Gu Chengming's eyes went wide.
Hundred Emperor, what are you doing?!
"Lord Heavenly Emperor?" The lead projection took a tentative half-step forward, confusion in its voice. "Were you not at the Royal Court—"
"This Emperor grew tired of sitting still and came in person." Hundred Bones Resonance waved a hand, letting a note of impatience creep in. "What, does This Emperor need to file a report with you lot before coming to the front line to seize the Imperial Consort herself?"
The words came out with such righteous confidence that the projections fell silent.
Then, as one, they stepped back and lowered their heads.
"Yes, Lord Heavenly Emperor."
Standing behind her, Gu Chengming's eyes said one thing only: This actually works?
Hundred Bones Resonance kept her face locked down while inside she was cheering. It worked!!! As expected of This Emperor! My acting talent is one in ten thousand too!
However—
"Though, Lord Heavenly Emperor…"
The lead projection spoke again. Its tone was as respectful as ever, but layered now with a subtle note of reminder.
"You previously issued an order that upon finding the Imperial Consort, you would, on the spot, ██—"
It paused, apparently weighing its words.
"—to proclaim the Imperial Consort's belonging."
Hundred Bones Resonance's expression locked up.
"You also said—" another projection added, "'This Emperor will let the entire Secret Realm know that the Imperial Consort belongs to This Emperor.'"
Her face went scarlet in an instant.
Every projection's gaze fixed on her at once. If she didn't do it, they would spot the flaw.
Hundred Bones Resonance stood frozen, two voices brawling inside her skull.
One said: That was the counterfeit's order! What does it have to do with me?
The other said: But if you don't do it, the projections will realize you're a fake, and then Heavenly Emperor Gu really will be carried off.
And the one carrying him off wouldn't be you. It'd be that counterfeit.
And what that counterfeit would do to Heavenly Emperor Gu — you already saw with your own eyes back in the Love Laboratory.
Hundred Bones Resonance turned around, and Gu Chengming saw shame, conflict, resentment and barely concealed delight churning in her eyes.
"Hundred Emperor, you—"
Hundred Bones Resonance seized him by the collar.
"Heavenly Emperor Gu." Her voice dropped so low only the two of them could hear it, the words rattling out fast as an incantation. "So you don't get carried off — there's no other way."
Gu Chengming looked at that flushed face a hand's breadth from his own and those eyes shining far too brightly, and started to speak.
What kind of mysterious development is this now?
In the next instant, he watched the girl's face grow larger and larger.
And then came the softness.
Hold on — Hundred Emperor, who taught you to use your tongue this time?
…
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