Shangjing City was chilling and forbidding, as if the eaves were all armed with blades.

The glazed roofs of the Ning Dynasty were golden, but the roof tiles of the Jing Dynasty were all black. When heavy snow covered Shangjing, the city lost its color completely, leaving only black and white.

The carriage of Princess Liyang, adorned with crimson silk, slowly traversed the world of black and white, as if it was the only vivid color left in this realm.

Inside the carriage, Princess Liyang held a copper hand warmer, looking earnestly at Old Yao: "Old Master, what I said just now was not false. It's still not too late for you to take them away."

Old Yao smiled: "You have a kind heart, thinking of others when you can barely protect yourself. You've been back in the capital for so many days, yet your emperor father still refuses to see you, clearly harboring resentment in his heart. Weren't you his treasured pearl? What did you do back then to fall to such a state?"

Princess Liyang remained silent, unwilling to bring up old matters.

Old Yao glanced at her: "If I weren't Wu Temple Mountain People, how would you get through this?"

Princess Liyang pondered: "Yuan Xiang has realized Lu Jin's ambitious nature and may speak for me, but it's still not assured..."

Old Yao smiled: "That's why you want to ascend Wu Temple Mountain Gate, isn't it?"

She sighed deeply, turning to gaze at the snowstorm outside the window, as if trying to see the Wu Temple Mountain Gate, forever shrouded in clouds on Changbai Mountain: "That's Wu Temple... Even when Lu Jin went up the mountain, he only traded news about the Sword Seed Path for four masters to descend the mountain and a close aide to ascend for practice. The Mountain Master never gave him a direct look."

Wu Temple holds an exalted status, not just because of the legendary plaque.

In the Jing Dynasty's Yonghe Sixteenth Year, Emperor Wu was rampant and extravagant, forcing each province to send young women from the populace into the palace, calling it beauty collection. The emissaries for beauty collection roamed freely across counties, taking away those with good looks, parents weeping along the roads, countless throwing themselves into rivers or hanging themselves.

Extravagance in the palace had no bounds, and Guanglu Temple spent five thousand silver taels daily on vegetables, fruits, meat, and poultry. The Food and Drink Supervisor maintained three hundred sheep, two hundred pigs, and one hundred cattle year-round, exclusively for Emperor Wu's consumption, most ending up in slop buckets.

Unsatisfied with the national treasury, Emperor Wu imposed taxes on weddings: when a daughter was married, a thirty percent tax was levied based on dowries; for a bride, a twenty percent tax based on wedding gifts. Thereafter came bridge tolls, ferry tolls, mill tolls, and drying grain tolls. Tax officials roamed the countryside like tigers, binding any who delayed with shackles.

The common folk across the land had no means to live.

Out of ten households, nine were empty, famine victims were everywhere.

Yonghe Seventeenth Year.

Lu Ji, the Mountain Master of Wu Temple, entered the capital alone with his sword, standing before the Danfeng Gate of the Great Ming Palace, calling Emperor Wu to leave the palace and ascend Changbai Mountain for reclusive practice.

Emperor Wu kept the palace gates tightly shut and refused to come out.

Lu Ji sat at Changle Square in front of the Great Ming Palace, found a small noodle shop, and ate nine bowls of bland vegetarian noodles. Only when the Central Forbidden Army surrounded the noodle shop did he leisurely rise, toss a silver ingot, and enter the palace with his sword.

The sword seed shone like the fierce sun, neither Left nor Right Brave Guards, nor Left nor Right Imperial Guards could withstand.

Mountain Master Lu Ji pierced through the palace gates, killed from Hanyuan Hall to Hanguang Hall, then from Hanguang Hall to Zichen Hall, ultimately finding Emperor Wu hiding in the grove of the West Garden.

Lu Ji sat under a willow tree, gave Emperor Wu the time it takes to drink a cup of tea to draft an abdication letter, then took Emperor Wu to Changbai Mountain for diligent cultivation.

Before departing.

The Mountain Master cut through the plaque inscribed with "Yuan Hengli Zhen" from Zhou Yi at the front of Hanyuan Hall with one sword, leaving behind the words, "Let those who follow take care of themselves" before leaving.

This is the story repeatedly told by storytellers and cherished by the common people. Some say the Mountain Master is the unrivaled master of the world, even the Central Forbidden Army could not oppose him. Others say Emperor Wu had lost the hearts of the people, and the Central Forbidden Army actually didn't fight, but made way to let the Mountain Master enter the palace.

As for the historical truth, nobody cares anymore.

In the Great Ming Palace, the record of daily events for September in Yonghe Seventeenth Year is blank; no one knows how the Mountain Master entered the palace, nor if he truly gave Emperor Wu the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

Princess Liyang continued her story, speaking of past events: "Legend has it that forty-one years ago, when the late Emperor passed away, my father, being the Crown Prince at the time, was still in Yingkou supervising shipbuilding. The Second Prince ordered the Left Brave Guard to seal off Shangjing City, attempting to change the edict and usurp the throne, then dispatched his Right Brave Guard to Yingkou to kill my father."

"My father secretly left Yingkou to enter the capital, dodging pursuit along the way. When passing through Pan Shan County, he happened upon Mountain Master Lu Yang drinking in the peach blossom forest and asked the Master to escort him to the capital to stabilize Society. The Mountain Master refused. My father, gathering his courage, seized a wine jar from the Master's table and drank half a jar, challenging the Master to a guessing game. They agreed, if my father won, the Mountain Master would escort him. My father won."

Princess Liyang looked at Old Yao with a smile and said, "The Mountain Master made my father promise not to raise taxes for sixty years, and my father agreed. The Master truly kept his word, escorting my father to the capital, breaking the city gate with one sword and forcing the Central Forbidden Army to retreat, delivering my father into the Great Ming Palace... These were tales my father used to tell when drunk, and whether they are true or not, I don't know."

Old Yao responded calmly: "True."

Princess Liyang was stunned: "Hmm? What did you say, old master?"

At this moment, the carriage came to a stop before the Great Ming Palace.

The eunuch lifted the curtain for her: "Your Highness, His Majesty has already arrived at Zichen Hall."

The New Year's Day, the Winter Solstice, the grand ceremony, and other assemblies of officials take place in Hanyuan Hall.

The daily imperial audience for discussing governance occurs in Xuanzheng Hall.

The close confidants and high-ranking ministers hold discussions in Zichen Hall.

Matters discussed in Hanyuan Hall and Xuanzheng Hall always have room for negotiation, but those decided in Zichen Hall are irrevocable, deciding life and death.

Princess Liyang scrutinized Old Yao repeatedly and, seeing his calm demeanor, finally took a deep breath and lifted her dress to step down from the carriage.

Jiang Pan wanted to drape a mink fur cloak over her, but she found it bothersome and raised her hand to stop him, entering the palace dressed in men's attire with her head held high.

She hastened through the snow toward the Great Ming Palace, braving the snow as she traversed the long and wide palace paths. Old Yao leisurely followed behind, unhurried.

As Princess Liyang passed by Hanyuan Hall, she suddenly paused and looked up at the plaque of Hanyuan Hall, which had a crack running through it, as if it had been split by a sword and rejoined with molten gold, leaving a golden thread across the plaque.

Urged by the eunuch, Princess Liyang then proceeded further into the deep palace.

Before entering Zichen Hall, she heard Yuan Hengli Zhen's voice from inside: "Your Majesty, I have never heard of any Mr. Yao in my eighteen years of cultivation at the Temple of Martial Arts."

Then, the voice of Assistant Minister of the Secretariat Yuan Zhu came through: "Your Majesty, Princess Liyang sought someone to impersonate a Wu Temple Mountain Person to cover up her murder of Council Chief Executive Officer Yuan Cheng. Her intentions are insidious, and her crimes deserve execution!"

Inside Zichen Hall, discussions were rampant until the eunuch loudly announced: "Princess Liyang seeks audience."

Only then did the hall briefly fall silent.

The eunuch instructed Old Yao to wait outside the hall, while Princess Liyang brought the wind and snow from outside the hall, stepping over the high threshold and into the hall.

Without shifting her gaze, she walked to the imperial throne and knelt, loudly declaring: "Your daughter greets Father Emperor, wishing Father Emperor eternal longevity, stability of the realm, and peace across the land."

She always referred to herself as "your daughter," long granted as a special privilege by Emperor Jing.

At this moment, Yuan Xiang was sitting on a golden nanmu chair, elderly and sleepy, only raising his eyes briefly at Princess Liyang before closing them again.

The civil servants behind him remained eighty percent silent and twenty percent condemning.

On the other side of the hall, Yuan Hengli Zhen and other martial officials loudly rebuked Princess Liyang, while Lu Jin kept his hands in his sleeves, remaining silent, seemingly uninvolved with the matters of the hall.

Princess Liyang paid no heed, looking up at Emperor Jing upon the throne.

At a certain moment, she suddenly realized her father had truly aged, even finding it difficult to lift his eyes. The dragon robe draped over him was loose, like a borrowed garment.

Emperor Jing slowly spoke: "Liyang, is what the ministers say true?"

The hall abruptly quieted, everyone waiting for her response.

Princess Liyang remained silent for a long time, then loudly declared: "It is true. Mr. Yao is not a Wu Temple Mountain Person; it was a mistake on my part."

The hall erupted in reprimands, and someone behind Lu Jin stepped out to stand in the center of the hall: "I request Your Majesty to once again deprive Princess Liyang of her title and exile her to Ningguta!"

Assistant Minister of the Secretariat also emerged from the crowd, loudly stating: "Your Majesty, Princess Liyang has acted recklessly for years, associating with foreign ministers, secretly amassing death soldiers, and colluding with border generals, each matter substantiated. Today, she again deceives the sovereign, false using the name of the Temple of Martial Arts for deception. She must not be allowed to roam free any longer!"

"Council Chief Executive Officer Yuan Cheng died an unremarkable death; this matter still requires thorough investigation. Princess Liyang claims Yuan Cheng was killed by pirates, yet why is she unharmed while Yuan Cheng is dead?"

"Our envoy Jiang Xiansheng died outside Chongli Pass; Princess Liyang cannot eschew responsibility!"

"When Princess Liyang was dispatched to the Ning Dynasty, she charmed others and colluded with Chen Ji, the Wu Xiangjun of the Ning Dynasty. How can our princess demean herself to Southern Dynasty traitors, profaning our national dignity?"

Among the ministers, some loudly echoed, some bowed their heads in silence, some discreetly observed Emperor Jing's expression upon the throne.

However, at this moment, there was a sharp and anxious voice from the eunuch outside the hall: "Hey, you cannot enter, wait outside the hall..."

Everyone turned their heads in unison.

In the light outside the hall, a stooped figure slowly stepped into the hall.