Chapter 266: Engagement (2)

The black dragon carriage raced down Calm Sky Avenue, speeding away in the opposite direction from which it had come.

Inside, the atmosphere was deathly silent.

Xu Yinhe sat cross-legged, his face expressionless.

Xu Yuan sat just as quietly across from him, several bruises darkening his face.

A small incense burner rested on the tea table between father and son, thin wisps of smoke curling lazily upward.

They stared at each other. Neither spoke.

After an unknown amount of time, Xu Yinhe finally asked in a faint voice, “How badly are you hurt?”

It was a pointless opening question. With his father’s cultivation, there was no possible way he could not tell that Xu Yuan had suffered nothing more than superficial injuries.

Xu Yuan smiled. “She knew when to stop.”

Xu Yinhe nodded. “How did the two of you end up fighting beside the lake?”

Xu Yuan shrugged and gave a deliberately vague answer. “I made a few jokes at her expense. Apparently, that woman doesn’t have much of a sense of humor.”

Xu Yinhe offered no comment. Whether his son’s outburst had been genuine or merely an act made no difference to the marriage. After all, from beginning to end, his third son had never once said that he was unwilling to marry her.

Xu Yuan sighed, then suddenly asked, “Father, I’ll ask you directly. Qingyan was the intended marriage partner from the very beginning, wasn’t she?”

Xu Yinhe raised an eyebrow. “Why do you ask, Changtian?”

Xu Yuan gave him an inscrutable smile. “The excuse His Majesty gave earlier was far too clumsy. Mu Zhiyun is timid and soft-hearted. She would never threaten suicide over something like this.”

Xu Yinhe gave him an odd look. “You seem to know that girl rather well.”

“On our way to the palace, you mentioned that you had not seen the Emperor in a very long time. You previously discussed this matter with Marquis Wucheng, but I suspect he was merely passing along the Emperor’s message. And when you spoke of their side, you were probably referring to the imperial faction, not Marquis Wucheng’s estate”.

Xu Yuan cleared his throat and continued at an unhurried pace.

“Besides from beginning to end, you never said that Mu Zhiyun was the woman I was supposed to marry. You only ever said that you had discussed a marriage with Marquis Wucheng.

The matter of marrying into the bride’s family was strange as well. Even if the marriage was part of an exchange of interests, Marquis Wucheng’s estate would hardly be important enough to demand that I marry into their household. I didn’t think too deeply about it before, but now that I look back, the whole thing was indeed rather suspicious.”

Xu Yinhe listened quietly from across the table until his son finished. “Changtian, you are only half right.”

“Half?” Xu Yuan asked.

Xu Yinhe glanced in the direction of the Imperial Palace. “The person I originally wanted you to marry was indeed Qingyan. But the Emperor refused, so I had no choice but to settle for the next best option. All those vague answers earlier were born of necessity.”

Xu Yuan hesitated for a moment before asking softly, “Why did the Emperor refuse?”

Xu Yinhe explained in a calm, measured voice, “If you become the prince consort and later have children with her, then I will no longer be merely the Chancellor. I will also become an imperial in-law. Li Yaoxuan can tolerate a great deal, but even he has a line that cannot be crossed. The imperial throne and the continuation of his dynasty are that line. And if I were willing, then after his death, I could use that connection, make the proper arrangements step by step, and change the surname of the family ruling this palace. It would not actually be all that difficult.”

Imperial power allowed no retreat. One either advanced or was crushed beneath it.

Xu Yuan quietly digested those words for a while before asking, “Father, is His Majesty truly running out of time?”

Xu Yinhe gave an ambiguous answer. “I do not know for certain, but it should not be long. Before he dies, however, he will undoubtedly do everything in his power to provoke a war between the Chancellor's Manor and the sects.”

Xu Yuan understood almost immediately. “Then His Majesty agreed to this marriage now because of the war in the north?”

Xu Yinhe nodded. “Mhm. The sects of the three northern provinces are continuously sending reinforcements, and the scale of the war keeps expanding. Li Yaoxuan likely intends to use this marriage to bind our two sides together completely… or at the very least, keep us firmly bound together until his death.”

After hearing this, Xu Yuan asked quietly, “So we are simply letting him drag us onto the same boat?”

“Why not? Eight or nine times out of ten, life does not go as one wishes. I would have preferred to wait a little longer, but the tide of events will wait for no one.” Xu Yinhe laughed. “Besides… Li Yaoxuan and I have pursued the same goal since we were young. There may be disagreements between us now, but our ultimate aim remains the same. Since what he intends to do benefits that cause, he is still walking the same road as I am.”

Xu Yuan realized that his own perspective had still been far too narrow.

Xu Yinhe looked directly at him and gave his warning one deliberate word at a time. “Changtian, the imperial family is not our enemy. Unless there is absolutely no other choice, you must never move against them.”

Xu Yuan studied his father’s grave expression and sensed the deep helplessness buried beneath it.

Two comrades who had walked the same path for an entire lifetime were now being forced to turn on each other at the very end. It was cruel. But it was also unavoidable. No emperor would ever allow himself to die while leaving behind a Chancellor this powerful for his heirs to deal with.

If Xu Yinhe refused to act, he would simply be surrendering without a fight. Had Li Yaoxuan been able to live a little longer, the tension between the imperial family and the Chancellor's Manor would never have become so severe. Even if conflict eventually arose, it would certainly have been after the threat of the sects had been eliminated.

At that thought, Xu Yuan briefly considered using the information from Azure Point to find some way to save the Emperor.

Then he suddenly realized that it was already too late.

Whether Azure Point contained a cure was beside the point. At this stage, the Emperor could no longer possibly reveal the truth of his condition to them.

Doing so would be no different from giving the Chancellor's Manor an exact date to begin the war.

After a long silence, Xu Yuan gave a faint laugh. “Yes, Father. I understand.”

??

Celeste Mountain, the bamboo forest behind the mountain.

The constant clang of steel rang through the bamboo forest. Every sweep of the enormous sword unleashed such crushing wind pressure that the surrounding bamboo nearly bent flat against the ground.

The burly old man wielded the massive blade with astonishing speed. With one deft flick, he sent a black sword spinning high into the air, then immediately changed his stance and brought his weapon crashing down.

The woman in black robes had nowhere left to dodge.

She blinked, faint disappointment crossing her face.

The enormous sword stopped dead an inch from her cool, delicate features. The violent gust from the blow sent her long black hair whipping wildly through the air.

Ran Jianli withdrew his sword and burst into hearty laughter. He casually clapped the girl on the shoulder. “Hahahaha! Qingmo, you’ve improved quite a bit. Neither of us used source qi, but you still managed to last five exchanges against your master. Want another round?”

Ran Qingmo pursed her lips but said nothing. She silently turned around, walked over to retrieve her black sword, then headed straight for her little bamboo cottage.

The wild grin on Ran Jianli’s face instantly froze. He planted his enormous sword in the ground, hurried after her, and cautiously leaned sideways to study her expression.

“Qingmo… your master can’t deliberately go easy on you during a spar, can he?”

“Qingmo, are you angry?”

“Don’t be angry. We only called you back because my wife missed you.”

“Say something, won’t you? When your mistress comes back, she’ll accuse me of bullying you again.”

…

“I’m not angry with you, Master.” Ran Qingmo stopped and shook her head. She continued toward the bamboo cottage and slammed the wooden door shut behind her.

Ran Jianli scratched the back of his head, grimacing as he sucked in a breath. “What’s gotten into that girl? She never used to get this upset after losing a spar.”

“You foolish old man, why are you standing around outside Qingmo’s door?” A clear, graceful voice suddenly came from the bamboo path outside.

Ran Jianli glanced back and saw a middle-aged woman walking toward him. Time had left a few marks upon her face, but she remained beautiful and gentle.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Ran Jianli returned to pull his enormous sword from the ground, then asked hesitantly, “Xiaowei, you came at just the right time. Our dear disciple went out earlier, and she’s been acting strangely ever since she returned.”

Luo Wei glanced at Ran Jianli, then toward their disciple’s little bamboo cottage. “What happened?”

Ran Jianli began rambling, “After Qingmo came back, she kept demanding that I spar with her. She lost about a hundred times, then got angry and stormed off.”

Luo Wei stared at him.

Ran Jianli hurriedly explained himself. “Xiaowei, you know what Qingmo is like. She could lose to me all day before and never get angry.”

Luo Wei rolled her eyes. She took an official bulletin from her storage ring and slapped it against Ran Jianli’s broad chest. “Read it.”

Ran Jianli took it with a puzzled expression and glanced over the contents.

The easygoing look on his face vanished at once, replaced by a trace of gravity. “So Li Yaoxuan and Xu Yinhe are still going to make their move…”

While the silent war in the frozen northern frontier dragged on, one piece of news spread swiftly throughout the Great Flame Empire by way of the Imperial Gazette.

Li Qingyan and Xu Changtian were engaged.