The blood mist rose from the cold palace.
From a distance so far away, countless women’s mournful cries echoed faintly.
Besides that, within the imperial city, from well after well, the sound of women’s weeping also drifted out.
The inner palace of the imperial city had always been the most filthy and dangerous place under the heavens.
Living deep in the palace was no easy matter.
Countless concubines, noblewomen, palace maids, and female servants had either been locked away to die lonely deaths in the cold palace or had mysteriously fallen into deep wells.
The city of Haojing had witnessed the rise and fall of eighteen dynasties.
This imperial city had seen eighteen changes of regime.
In the eighteen hundred years since the founding of the Dayin dynasty, the palace attendants who died in the cold palace or those who perished in the deep wells—whether their status was high or low—numbered over one hundred thousand.
Some unknown force stirred the countless years of accumulated evil qi, filth qi, yin qi, and hostile qi within the imperial city.
A blood-red cold mist spread across the sky, sweeping toward the lake.
Wherever it passed, statues of Buddha shattered, and statues of deities crumbled.
Inside the lake, at the Xianyu Pavilion, Qi Shen, Liu Wu, He Jun—the Anle Ward magistrate—and Liu Wu’s seven brothers-in-law and sisters, along with many elders from the Liu family village—in short, everyone who had some connection to the ghost disturbances and those female ghosts whose identities had been exposed—were all locked inside Xianyu Pavilion.
They saw the blood-colored cold mist rolling in, each one terrified to the point of shrieking, sticking their bodies out the window, waving, and yelling toward the lakeside.
Especially He Jun, his face pale and body weak, somehow mustering strength to leap three feet high.
His loud voice clearly carried to the shore:
“I am loyal to Dayin; my loyalty is as clear as the sun in the sky! If I die here tonight, killed without cause, that is tyranny!”
“I have meritorious service to Dayin!”
“I am loyal to the emperor!”
“I cannot die here… I am unwilling!”
He Jun howled in desperation: “Why? Why?”
The blood-colored cold mist rolled in.
He Jun’s cries grew more frantic: “Yes, I do hold a share in the human teeth trade… but who doesn’t? Who doesn’t do this?”
“Not just me. There are over a hundred largest human teeth establishments within Haojing city, selling millions of slaves and maids every year… Am I the only one? All the high officials in the court have a share too!”
Yinyuan tightly wrapped the thick fur coat around himself and shifted closer to Lu Qian.
His face pale with fright, but upon hearing He Jun’s cries, he found the spirit to joke: “Distinguished ministers, all the gentlemen in the court, they have all meddled in the human trafficking business… But unlucky you, huh? You sold a Green Sparrow, so now they’re coming after you.”
“Ah, seems like you’re just out of luck. Looks like the Anle Ward magistrate’s position needs a new occupant!”
Yinyuan laughed happily.
He Jun was the typical literati disciple, a standard scholarly gentleman, especially close with the Bai family.
He was exactly the kind of official Yinyuan disliked most.
Whether He Jun was a good man or a bad man mattered little.
After all, an official who wasn’t to Yinyuan’s liking, dead was dead, pleasing to the eye… Hm, might as well put this to good use.
An official magistrate of a second-rank ward with real power? Tsk, this position, if sold off well, would be quite valuable.
However, a magistrate of a real, second-rank ward office was very different from an honorary post.
To appoint such an official, one inevitably had to share a cut with the Empress Dowager; otherwise, the appointment would not be approved.
Yinyuan glanced at Le Wu.
As the ghostly qi surged toward them, in this critical moment, Le Wu looked at Yinyuan knowingly.
The two shared a deep gaze, and Yinyuan made a hand sign: ‘70/30.’
Le Wu firmly shook his head and gestured with his hands: ‘50/50.’
Yinyuan hesitated briefly, then nodded and pointed at Le Wu, indicating that fifty-fifty was acceptable but Le Wu must contribute.
Le Wu glanced at a row of young warriors clad in armor behind him and blinked at Le Shan.
Le Shan expressionlessly picked up a powerful bow, raised the curtain, and walked out.
Yinyuan and Le Wu exchanged a smile, their tacit understanding clear.
Good.
Even if those female ghosts fail to deal with He Jun, our Anle Ward magistrate is definitely doomed tonight.
With the young prodigy of the Le family, Le Shan himself taking action, a weak, bookish official stands no chance of survival.
Alas, pity the dignified scholarly gentleman!
That said, if He Jun had truly been a gentleman, would female ghosts have come looking for him?
Therefore, Yinyuan and Le Wu felt no guilt at all about ‘wrongfully killing a loyal official’—He Jun was clearly no gentleman.
Killing him was cleansing the nation of traitors!
Lu Qian stood beside Yinyuan, catching the subtle exchange between Yinyuan and Le Wu.
In the blink of an eye, the two had completed a dirty and bloody agreement.
Around them, apart from the silent Yu Sandou twitching the corner of his eyes, the benevolent smile on Yu Changle’s face, and even the Empress Dowager, nobody noticed.
All of Lady Le’s attention was fixed on the blood-red mist rapidly sweeping across the lake.
She grabbed a tall palace maid nearby, whispering hoarsely: “It’s coming, it’s coming. That wretched Qi consort… I shouldn’t have spared her life back then… While she lived, she corrupted the emperor, and now that she’s dead, she still brings disaster to the world… Truly…”
Gritting her teeth, Lady Le yelled fiercely: “It was only because she slaughtered her entire family that she escaped my wrath! Otherwise, with the maliciousness of a ghost who causes chaos after death, I would have exterminated her entire nine clans!”
Outside the curtain, by the broken Buddha and deity statues, the monks and Taoist priests all stood with dazed faces, watching the rapidly approaching blood mist.
Some monks and priests were so terrified they were paralyzed, their minds blank, completely uncertain what to do.
Others had a bit more composure.
They chanted scriptures and mantras over and over, shaking various Buddhist beads, bells, and talismans wildly toward the mist—but all to no avail.
A few experienced monks and priests took off their cassocks and robes, tossed them aside, and turned to flee.
Surprisingly, many of the fleeing monks and priests were quite well cultivated, most at the Peiyuan realm, with quite a few even at the Tuo Mai realm.
They each launched their secret lightness arts—one reed crossing the river, eight steps catching cicadas, lazy donkey somersault, turtle rolling—and in three swift moves shot far away from the Buddha and deity statues, about to dash into the woods behind.
“Inner imperial city, who dares to trespass?”
A rough voice sounded from the woods: “By order of the Grand General, if any masters cannot exorcise these ghosts, return to your posts immediately!”
The sharp clang of battalion drums sounded.
From the woods, countless imperial soldiers nocked arrows, releasing a concentrated volley like a hailstorm that swept along the lake shore for over ten miles in length.
The religious world of Haojing suffered a disaster of bloodshed today.
Many masters, highly regarded by the common people, screamed in agony and were shot dead on the spot by the dense arrow rain.
King Yinxing of Lancang suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
Although he clearly knew of Lu Qian’s special identity, he rushed to Lu Qian’s side and pressed close.
He also wore a heavy fur coat.
Alongside Yinyuan, they looked like two furry bears flanking Lu Qian.
“Lu Qian, today you have protected me well. I will not forget your good deeds…” Yinxing tightly gripped the lotus secret treasure he had snatched from Liu Wu, trembling as he promised Lu Qian various rewards.
When the blood mist coming from the cold palace was still twenty to thirty miles from Guanyu Pavilion, Yinxing promised Lu Qian tens of thousands of mu of good farmland in some seventh-rank ward within Haojing City.
When the blood mist closed to just over ten miles from Guanyu Pavilion, blood energy surged from deep wells one after another, and countless women’s piercing cries echoed throughout the imperial city.
Yinxing’s offers increased to one hundred thousand mu of farmland, plus several tea mountains.
When the blood mist neared Guanyu Pavilion within less than ten miles, priests on rafts in the lake collapsed one after another, their bodies sealed in thick ice crystals; monks on the dock bled from all seven orifices, quickly turning into shriveled corpses.
Scared out of his wits, Yinxing raised his offer to Lu Qian: one million mu of farmland, plus a mansion in Wuyin Ward.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The air grew intensely cold.
In Lu Qian’s eyes, a cyan glow flickered as he clearly saw countless blood-red streaks of light that the naked eye could not perceive enveloping half the imperial city.
The terrifying cold qi battered the Buddha and deity statues, emitting low, rumbling roars.
Those Buddha and deity statues truly held some mystery.
Some of the seemingly drab wooden or clay statues emitted a faint, moist glow.
These glows clashed with the blood-red cold mist, erupting sparks of light like fireworks.
Monks and Taoists sitting cross-legged near the statues were enveloped by rippling waves of light, and the blood mist could not immediately invade their bodies.
They were temporarily safe.
But some golden-inlaid jade-encrusted statues, and others made entirely of gold, silver, and precious gems, although expensive, had no spiritual energy.
Once the blood mist struck, these statues either cracked or shattered, some melting like candles in a fire.
Nearby monks and Taoists chanted scriptures, cut seals, and waved talismans, but none of it prevented them from turning into dry corpses, falling to the ground.
Countless graceful, translucent figures emerged on the lake’s surface.
At a glance, at least a thousand blood-colored apparitions shimmered faintly in the mist.
The crisp, sweet voice of Consort Qi echoed from afar:
“Big sister’s setup is truly impressive… You want me out today, then I’ll come out… Heh, it’s been more than ten years since we had an honest sisterly chat.”
“Oh, when the former emperor was still alive, sister was so close to me… Never thought that just as the former emperor met with disaster, and sister just took the Empress Dowager’s throne, you immediately switched faces…”
“I do not resent the former emperor. He has been kind to me; I will remember his goodness all my life.”
“His misfortune was for the realm’s grand plan—I do not blame him, I still feel heartache for him.”
“But you… little Le b*tch, how do you want to die?”
Consort Qi’s tone sharply shifted, and she began hurling curses at the Empress Dowager like a common street scold.
(End of Chapter)