Chapter 68: Chapter 61: Xu Ge Returns to the Capital (Part 2)

Cyan Sparrow figured as much. ’This Master Xu is only in his twenties, just an ordinary eunuch. He was probably kicked out of the Imperial Palace for being lazy and greedy. Living in a rundown courtyard like this, how could he possibly be some reclusive master? It seems my desperation to cultivate is driving me mad.’

Cyan Sparrow went back inside.

A moment later.

She poked her head back out and said.

"I’ll boil some water for you. You should wash up."

"It’s gotten cold."

"Don’t catch a chill."

Su Chen nodded and turned to go back inside. He had only taken two steps when he felt something hard in the dirt under his feet. He looked down and saw a bright yellow brocade scroll.

’This looks a bit like...’

’An Imperial Decree?’

He unrolled it. Sure enough, it was the Xuanlong Emperor’s final decree concerning his succession.

At the same time.

It was also an imperial decree ordering the death of the Crown Prince.

The reason given was that the Crown Prince had committed treason!

As for the chosen successor...

’Interesting.’

’He’s passing the throne to him?’

’If this Imperial Decree were to surface, Great Zhou would be thrown into chaos.’

Su Chen casually rolled up the Late Emperor’s Decree—a document capable of bringing immense change to Great Zhou, its Six Prefectures and Ten Commanderies, and all the great powers under heaven—and tossed it into his Storage Ring.

Elsewhere.

The Princess of Qii, who had fled to the Jinjiang Riverfront, found her expression changing. Reaching for her waist, she discovered a hole torn in her robe—she had no idea when it had happened.

The Late Emperor’s Decree was gone.

’Could I... have lost it in that bamboo forest?’

’Damn it.’

’Who on earth was that man? A Peak First Grade expert, yet why have I never heard of him? I didn’t even get a clear look at his face...’

She didn’t dare return to the bamboo forest. The Life-Protecting Jade Token was exceptionally precious; this particular one had been a gift from the late emperor to her father, King Qii.

’If all else fails, I’ll ask Long Xuanjun to intervene. He’s a Supreme First Grade expert. Getting the decree back would be as easy as turning over his hand...’

’I bet as soon as he sees Long Xuanjun, before a single move is made, that man will drop to his knees and beg for mercy, presenting the Late Emperor’s Decree with both hands.’

Yes.

She would go find Long Xuanjun.

The Princess of Qii gritted her teeth. She looked at the Black and White Elders, their breathing as faint as a silk thread. They had become a burden. A ruthless glint flashed in her eyes.

’My apologies.’

The Princess of Qii left alone.

The churning Nujiang River surged, and two streaks of blood appeared on its surface.

...

...

"Let’s go pay our respects."

The sky was dark and gloomy.

A torrential rain was still pouring down.

Su Chen, wearing a straw cloak, and Cyan Sparrow, holding a bamboo umbrella, walked together deep into the courtyard’s bamboo forest. There, they found a lone grave.

"Aren’t we going to the capital?"

Cyan Sparrow’s face was full of suspicion.

Su Chen extended his hand and opened his palm. Lying within was half of a broken jade pendant.

In an instant.

Cyan Sparrow froze as if struck by lightning. She stared at Su Chen in disbelief, her voice trembling as the bamboo umbrella slipped from her grasp and fell to the ground.

"You... How do you have this?"

Flustered, she took off the half-pendant she had worn against her skin for fifteen years. She stumbled forward, and when the two pieces of broken jade touched, they fit together seamlessly, becoming a perfect whole.

"This is your mother’s grave..."

Cyan Sparrow looked at the lone grave, her eyes turning red.

Back on the painted boat.

She had imagined countless times what it would be like to find her parents. She had imagined countless times how she would tell them how much she hated them for abandoning her.

But she had never, ever imagined it would be like this.

This feeling...

She was heartbroken.

"Mother!"

Cyan Sparrow wailed. Before the lone grave, she hugged the tombstone, letting go of all her defenses. For the first time, she was like a helpless girl of fifteen or sixteen.

Even back on the tower ship, when facing the Marquis of Jiangling with no escape in sight, she hadn’t been this helpless. Back then, she had resolutely chosen to leap into the river to her death.

The rain poured, thunder roared, and the downpour only grew heavier.

The rain soaked Cyan Sparrow’s clothes.

"You’ll catch a chill."

A bamboo umbrella opened over Cyan Sparrow’s head.

Cyan Sparrow looked up, her red-rimmed eyes meeting a pair of clear, bright ones.

She was still crying.

A curtain of rain.

The bamboo forest.

Before the lone grave.

A figure in a profound robe held an umbrella for the weeping, plainly dressed girl for a long, long time.

The sound of her crying stopped.

But the rain only fell harder.

Yet for some reason, no matter how the wild winds blew or the torrential rain poured, not a single corner of the girl’s robes was dampened again.

"What... what kind of person was she?"

the girl asked.

"A very good person."

"She loved you very much. She was willing to give her life to secure a peaceful and happy future for you."

Su Chen murmured.

In a daze.

He recalled the old woman in the abandoned house in the bamboo forest. He remembered her resolute march to death, sacrificing her own life to nurture the growth of the Miracle Medicine for the Internal Organs.

It was a death that gave his promise the weight of a mountain.

It was also her death that had propelled him into the Internal Organ realm, into the Nine Refining Realm, and onto the Third Layer. It was because of her that he had, for a friend from eight years past, buried Great Liang with a single sword strike. It was because of her that he had shattered the chains of suffering in the heart of another friend from those bygone days...

"And my... my father?"

the girl continued to ask.

"I don’t know."

"He and I didn’t quite see eye to eye."

"But if he’s still alive, I’m sure he would treat you wonderfully. You deserve all the good things in this world..."

The girl didn’t answer.

She fainted, slumping against the tombstone.

’She pushed herself too hard, after all.’

With her injuries only just healed, her emotions running wild, and on top of that, the chill of the early autumn rain, Cyan Sparrow had caught a severe cold.

’She seems so strong.’

’But in the end, she’s just a little girl of fifteen or sixteen.’

’It’s about time I let her begin her cultivation.’

Strands of Longevity Qi flowed into her body.

Su Chen picked up Cyan Sparrow, packed up their things simply, placed her inside a wooden chest, and, carrying the chest on his back, set off for the capital.

By his feet, a translucent Ink Jade Little Turtle scampered out of the house on its four short legs, terrified of being left behind again.

The breakthrough to First Grade felt impossibly distant.

He had been stuck at Second-Grade Vital Organs Perfection, the Third Layer of the Nine Refining Realm—Vital Organ Integration and Qi Merging—for far too long.

He had a feeling.

Perhaps.

Perhaps the countless ancient texts in the Great Zhou Imperial Palace, within the secret treasures passed down from the ancient Great Yu, held the opportunity he needed to step into First Grade.

As for the Immortal Footprint on Cloud Concealment Mountain...

Su Chen didn’t dare to go.

At least, not before reaching First Grade.

And even after becoming First Grade, he would have to consider it very, very carefully.

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