Life in White Jade City was far from peaceful. After just one quiet night, trouble struck again on the second. Another unknown faction made a move against the Cyan Yuan Pavilion.

The Three Major Sects mobilized their forces to counter them. Fortunately, the attacking faction didn’t have many experts this time. Realizing they couldn’t defeat the Three Major Sects, they didn’t force a fight and slowly retreated.

It turned out to be little more than a scare.

Elder Ji Feng, however, looked grim. He had not received the prearranged message from Elder Yan and Qi Yuansheng. This meant it was either intercepted, or the two of them had met with disaster.

He wanted to investigate, but his hands were tied. If he left, there would be no one to watch over the Cyan Yuan Pavilion. Forgetting for a moment the other factions in White Jade City that might target them, he couldn’t even trust the other two Major Sects.

After all, these sects were no saints. If the Cyan Yuan Sect was left without an expert to hold the line, they would very likely make a move behind the scenes. That was a very real possibility.

Cooperation between sects was always predicated on a balance of power. If that balance was broken, it was no longer cooperation, but subordination.

The situation with the Xuanqing Palace in Yu State was a prime example. They had nearly been reduced to one of the Affiliated Forces. If the Court hadn’t intervened, the Xuanqing Palace’s situation would be far worse now; they might not have even been able to enter White Jade City.

If he left, the Cyan Yuan Pavilion would find itself in much the same predicament. He could only arrange for others to conduct the investigation. As for the outcome, he would just have to wait and see. For now, it was a problem he couldn’t solve.

Besides, even if he went to investigate personally, there was no guarantee he would find anything. Elder Yan and Qi Yuansheng had most likely already left White Jade City. To follow them, he would have to leave the city as well, and getting past the gates was no easy feat, especially after dark.

Ever since the troubles in White Jade City began, security for entering and exiting the city had become extremely strict. Some people were forbidden from passing through at all. For Elder Yan and Qi Yuansheng to have left, they must have paid a heavy price.

Yang Chan, for his part, remained busy. This time, however, very few disciples were severely wounded; most had only minor injuries because the fighting hadn’t lasted long. The attacking force had given up the moment they sensed victory was out of reach.

During the battle, Yang Chan had been hiding in the shadows. ’If things look bad,’ he thought, ’I’ll just run. The Cyan Yuan Pavilion isn’t that safe anymore. I’ll find a spot, dig a tunnel, and use the Meditation and Breath Holding Technique to conceal my breath and hide.’

’I’ve prepared some food to subsist on, and the medicinal herbs I have can supplement my needs. I could hide for ten days, maybe half a month, then peek outside. If it’s still not safe, I’ll just go back into hiding.’

This was Yang Chan’s worst-case plan. He’d overheard Elder Ji Feng dispatching men to investigate what happened to Elder Yan and Qi Yuansheng. Clearly, the two Inner Masters’ escape had not gone smoothly. That’s why his own plan was to hide somewhere within White Jade City.

’This is the worst-case scenario,’ Yang Chan thought. ’I hope it doesn’t come to this. My options would become severely limited, I’d have no one to protect me, and I’d stand out like a sore thumb.’

’That would be very bad.’

’It’s better to hide in a crowd, where I won’t be so conspicuous. If I’m the only one left alive later, I’ll attract way too much attention.’

So, unless the situation became truly dire, he wouldn’t resort to that plan.

However, the outcome for now was positive. The Three Major Sects had stood united against an outside threat and resolved the crisis. It was a good start.

Treating the injured disciples might be tiring, but it exposed him to little danger, a fact with which Yang Chan was quite content.

Xu Gaocen was still taking shifts with him. After all, the current situation was bound to continue for some time. With no end in sight, they couldn’t afford to both collapse from exhaustion.

There was no need to overwork themselves.

Yang Chan was more than happy with this arrangement; he disliked that kind of intense grind to begin with.

...

「Imperial Palace.」

"Your Majesty, how should the Crown Prince and the others be dealt with?"

The eunuch from the Eastern Palace, Xu Lianhua, posed the question to the aging Old Emperor. Although the Emperor’s cultivation as a Bone Marrow Cleansing Grandmaster kept his face from looking too old, his hair and beard had long since turned white—a state that countless tonics and lifespan-extending medicines could not reverse. Only if his cultivation broke through once more, allowing him to become a National Guardian Martial Saint, would these signs of age vanish. But the difficulty of such a feat was immense.

The Old Emperor, Yang Yu, had just experienced a palace coup, but he had ultimately suppressed it. He had been able to do so because his preparations were extensive; he had planted his own people in key positions within every major faction involved.

On the surface, these agents appeared to bear a deep-seated, irreconcilable hatred for him. In reality, he had deliberately placed them there to play their part at a moment just like this.

Crown Prince Yang Qian, the Twenty-Fifth Prince Yang You, the Thirty-Third Prince Yang Yu, the Thirty-Sixth Prince Yang Yi, the Forty-Fifth Prince Yang Pu, and the Fifty-Third Prince Yang Bo—these six princes had joined forces to launch a coup, but in the end, they all failed. The Emperor’s hidden trump cards were simply too numerous.

For instance, Crown Prince Yang Qian had successfully won over the seemingly neglected Six Gates, who appeared to have developed rebellious intent. In reality, this was a deliberate ploy by the Emperor. At the critical moment, the Six Gates moved to block the roads, preventing the Crown Prince’s troops from entering the Imperial Palace.

The commander of the Imperial Army, placed by the Twenty-Fifth Prince Yang You, had been stripped of his authority by the Emperor before the coup even began. The moment the rebellion started, that commander was eliminated—stabbed to death by one of the Emperor’s trusted agents. The whole affair was over in an instant, causing no disruption.

The Thirty-Third Prince, Yang Yu, tried to leverage the power of the inner palace eunuchs. The Old Emperor had already stationed his own eunuchs in waiting. The prince’s forces were silently eliminated, becoming nourishment for the palace gardens.

The Thirty-Sixth Prince, Yang Yi...

Each of these princes had the resources to make a move. Combined, their power could have toppled the heavens. Unfortunately for them, the Emperor had laid his plans long ago—some of them even before these princes were born—specifically for the day they might attempt a coup.

A coup involving so many princes acting in concert was unprecedented, yet he had still managed to resolve the entire affair without deploying much of his true power.

Some simply bared their necks for the blade, requiring no effort from him at all. He had become the Emperor of the Great Zhou Imperial Dynasty precisely because he possessed a ruthless heart. Whether it was his own brothers or his own sons, he would not hesitate to strike.

He knew of Crown Prince Yang Qian’s every move from the very beginning, and in great detail, because the East Palace Chief Steward, the eunuch Xu Lianhua, had always been his man.

Crown Prince Yang Qian’s decision to appoint Xu Lianhua as the East Palace Chief Steward had been part of the Emperor’s design. As a result, he was aware of every move made by the Crown Prince and his allies. The situation with the other princes was much the same.

He would never show mercy to these sons of his—the ones who sought to steal his throne and sever his path to eternal life.

"Kill!"

Old Emperor Yang Yu looked at Xu Lianhua, his face a mask of murder. He spat out a single word, yet it radiated such a pervasive killing intent that even Xu Lianhua could feel the overwhelming murderous aura.

This was the aura of a peak Bone Marrow Cleansing Grandmaster—immensely powerful. An Inner Master would tremble under its pressure. And right now, that was exactly what was happening to Xu Lianhua, whose legs had begun to shake.