Wuxia: Become the 100-Victory Sword King at the Beginning

As the bronze cranes of Luoyang Palace gleamed coldly in the morning mist, a lingzhi mushroom suddenly sprouted on the steps of the Golden Palace.

The mushroom's cap was a deep purple, and its stem a fiery red, growing precisely where Shi Nianchang had been standing. When Zhao Qu (a distant cousin of Shi Nianchang, recently promoted) presented the lingzhi to the emperor, his voice echoed throughout the hall: "This is an auspicious omen from heaven, signifying that a holy emperor has ascended to the throne in our Great Tang!"

Shi Nian's crimson palace dress was particularly dazzling in the morning light. She gently stroked the cap of the Ganoderma lucidum, and a pearl from her phoenix hairpin fell, landing right in front of the young emperor Shi Nianyun's dragon boots. "Your Majesty," her voice was clear and melodious, full of profound meaning, "The Book of Changes says, 'When the flying dragon is in the sky, it is advantageous to see a great man.' This Ganoderma lucidum growing on the imperial steps, could it be a warning from heaven?"

Shi Nianyun's hands trembled as she gripped the armrest of the dragon throne. Liu Dan quickly stepped forward and mustered her courage to say, "It's just a weed, why must the princess take it so seriously?" Her phoenix crown was askew, and the clinking of her pearls and jade betrayed her panic.

Zhao Qingyi suddenly coughed, the pearl hairpin at her temple trembling, and said fiercely, "Your Majesty is mistaken."

She pointed to the historian outside the hall and said meaningfully, "In the third year of the Qiande era, during the reign of Emperor Xizong of our Great Tang Dynasty, a lingzhi mushroom appeared, and the following year we recovered the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun. Now that the lingzhi mushroom has reappeared, I'm afraid it's Heaven's will for our Great Tang to revitalize its land."

Whispers began to rise among the civil and military officials. The Minister of Revenue stepped forward, trembling, and said, "In my humble opinion, we should ask the Imperial Observatory to perform divination." He had barely finished speaking when he was struck in the lower back by the scabbard of a Jinyiwei guard—a "shock and awe" maneuver that Shi Nian had specially ordered the previous night to intimidate those who hesitated.

When the Imperial Astronomical Bureau Chief stepped forward with the tortoise shell in his hands, the sweat on his palms soaked through the patterns on the shell.

As the cracks in the scorched tortoise shell began to appear, Shi Nian suddenly picked up a fragment with her phoenix hairpin and loudly explained, "This pattern resembles the character '女' (woman), with a 'dragon' coiled beside it, which is the image of 'phoenix riding a dragon.'" She threw the fragment at Liu Dan's feet and then said viciously, "What does the Empress Dowager think this foretells?"

Liu Dan's face was ashen, and she stammered, unable to speak.

Shi Nianyun suddenly burst into tears: "I...I want to go back to the palace to eat sweet cakes!" This cry completely shattered the solemnity of the court. A cold smile appeared on Shi Nianyun's lips—this was what his mother called "removing the ladder after climbing to the roof," first making Shi Nianyun lose his dignity, and then using the name of auspicious omens to shake people's hearts.

Three days later, the streets and alleys of Luoyang were plastered with notices from the Embroidered Uniform Guard. They depicted auspicious lingzhi mushrooms, accompanied by the prophecy "The Empress will prosper," and were stamped with Shi Nianyun's personal seal. Zhao Qingyi sat in the warm pavilion of the Phoenix Palace, watching her daughter revise the "Daily Records of the Emperor's Activities," exaggerating Shi Nianyun's "ill health" to an even more serious degree, even recording "the Emperor spilling soup during the imperial meal" as "the Emperor's countenance has lost its virtue, Heaven is showing its punishment."

Zhao Qingyi pointed out, "This is 'flowers blooming on a tree'," and dipped her cinnabar brush in it, making a dot next to the three characters "Shi Nian," and then pointed out, "Using auspicious omens to create momentum, so that the civil and military officials will feel that your ascension to the throne is the will of Heaven."

Her fingertips traced the name of the Minister of War, and she said viciously, "This man is He Yao's uncle, and he holds military power. He must be eliminated."

Shi Nian circled the character "计" (plan/scheme) on the register with her phoenix hairpin and said sinisterly, "I have already had someone hide the Jin Dynasty's wolf flag in his cellar. We'll just wait until midnight to 'find' it, and that will be irrefutable evidence of treason." She suddenly lowered her voice and said, "Mother, do you still remember the Song Dynasty's 'releasing military power over a cup of wine'? I want all the military generals in Luoyang to taste the bitterness of 'when the birds are all gone, the good bow is put away'."

Zhao Qingyi felt quite heavy-hearted. This was not the situation she wanted to see, but since things had come to this point, she had to support her daughter.

On the night of the White Dew solar term, the sound of the night watchman's drum in Luoyang Palace was swallowed by the torrential rain. Shi Nian stood at Xuanwu Gate, wearing a black cloak and clutching the token of the Embroidered Uniform Guard in her hand—the guards changing shifts tonight were all her trusted confidants, their armor linings embroidered with the Song Dynasty's intertwined floral patterns.

"Princess, Empress Dowager Liu's bedchamber is surrounded." Zhao Qu's voice mingled with the sound of rain, and the knife in his hand was still dripping blood—the blood of the eunuch who had just killed Liu Dan. Shi Nian nodded, the hem of her cloak sweeping across the puddles on the threshold, reflecting the cold light in her eyes.

In Liu Dan's bedchamber, the candlelight flickered precariously in the fierce wind. She huddled under the bed, clutching Shi Nianyun, weeping uncontrollably as she listened to the sounds of battle outside. She said sorrowfully, "Nianyun, Mother shouldn't have let you hand over the power of the Embroidered Uniform Guard to that wolf-poison mother and daughter..."

Before he could finish speaking, the palace door was kicked open, and Shi Nian's phoenix hairpin gleamed with murderous intent in the firelight.

She said coldly, "Empress Dowager, Your Majesty, it's time to move." Her cloak dripped water, and the Imperial Guards behind her held torches, illuminating the corpses scattered on the ground—all of them Liu Dan's former subordinates. Shi Nianyun was so frightened that she collapsed to the ground, her dragon robe's belt loosening to reveal a bib embroidered with a small bear underneath.

"Shi Nian! How dare you murder the emperor and usurp the throne?" Liu Dan suddenly lunged forward, her nails scratching at Shi Nian's face, but she was held down firmly by the Imperial Guards. Her jewels scattered all over the ground, and a pearl rolled to Shi Nian's feet, where she crushed it to dust with her foot.

Liu Dan, having gone all out, angrily retorted, "If I hadn't agreed to hand over command of the Embroidered Uniform Guard to you, how could you and your mother have succeeded!" Shi Nian squatted down, pinched Shi Nianyun's chin, and said sarcastically, "The victor is king, the loser is a bandit. Little brother, do you know how to write the words 'abdication'?" She stuffed paper and pen into the young emperor's hand and instructed, "Write 'voluntarily abdicate, passing the throne to my sister,' and I will let you and the Empress Dowager go to Mount Song to cultivate Taoism, guaranteeing your safety."

Shi Nianyun's hands trembled so much that he could not hold the pen, and the ink smeared into a black blotch on the paper. Zhao Qingyi appeared at the palace gate at some unknown time, holding a cup of poisoned wine in her hands, and said in a sinister tone: "If Your Majesty refuses, this cup of 'Qianji Yin' will be the Song Dynasty's 'way of hospitality'."

She swirled her wine cup, then gritted her teeth and said, "Li Yu drank this back then, and died peacefully." Suddenly, Shi Nian's phoenix hairpin was pressed against Shi Nianyun's throat, threatening, "Write it or not?"

The razor-sharp chill made the young emperor scream and nod. The crooked handwriting spread out on the paper, and the last stroke cut through his palm, a drop of blood dripping onto the character "位" (position), like an ugly period.

When the gong sounded at dawn, civil and military officials were escorted to the Golden Palace by the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Shi Nian had changed into a robe embroidered with twelve imperial symbols, and the nine phoenixes and the sun on her phoenix crown shone brightly throughout the hall. She looked at the trembling officials below the steps, then glanced at Liu Dan and her son, who were being held captive in a corner, and raised her voice: "His Majesty is unwell and has voluntarily abdicated. Do any of you have any objections?"

Just as the Minister of War was about to step forward, Zhao Qu's blade pierced his chest. Blood splattered onto the auspicious lingzhi mushroom painting on the imperial steps, but Shi Nian's voice remained calm: "Who else?" In the deathly silence of the hall, only Zhao Qingyi's voice rang out: "I second that!"

Then came a chorus of "I second your opinion," which overwhelmed the last resistance like a tidal wave.

When Shi Nian stepped onto the dragon throne, the gold bricks beneath his feet still bore traces of Shi Nianyun's tears.

Looking down at the kneeling officials, she suddenly recalled Bianjing, a city she had seen in her grandfather's paintings years ago, the bronze mirror her mother had smashed, and the dissidents executed by the Embroidered Uniform Guard. The weight of the phoenix crown pressed down on her shoulders, yet she felt a lightness she had never felt before.

"Issue my decree," her voice echoed in the hall, the twelve imperial symbols on her robes shimmering in the morning light, and she proclaimed in a loud voice: "The reign title shall be changed to 'Shengwu,' Zhao Qingyi shall be honored as Empress Dowager, and Lady Liu and Shi Nianyun shall be moved to Mount Song and shall not return to the capital without an imperial edict."

She paused, her gaze sweeping over the empty seats of He Yao and Guo Biyu—those two imperial concubines had been "invited" to the Cold Palace for "tainting the palace."

As the drums and music of her coronation ceremony resounded throughout Luoyang, Shi Nian stood atop Yingtian Gate, receiving the homage of the people. Her phoenix robe trailed on the ground, and the sun, moon, mountains, and rivers embroidered on the hem shone brightly in the sunlight, making her even more majestic than Empress Wu Zetian in her Zichen Palace.

Standing behind her, Zhao Qingyi watched her daughter raise the Imperial Seal of the State and suddenly remembered Emperor Huizong's words: "My daughters are no less than men."

The secret agents of the Embroidered Uniform Guard had spread throughout the land. Anyone who dared to say "the empress should not interfere in politics" was either exiled or their entire family was exterminated. Shi Nian hung a painting of "Empress Wu's procession" on the wall of the imperial study and practiced Wu Zetian's handwriting every day, turning the memorials on the "Reign of Zhenguan" until the edges were worn out.

"Your Majesty, the Tibetan king has sent envoys to request a marriage alliance." Zhao Qingyi held the letter of state, her tone filled with relief. "They have recognized your imperial throne and are willing to pay tribute annually." Shi Nian circled the letter with his vermilion brush: "The marriage is granted, but Tibet must cede three cities in the Hexi Corridor." She looked out the window, resentfully saying, "My father refused to save the Song Dynasty back then, but now I want the world to know that the Tang Dynasty, ruled by a woman, understands 'territorial expansion' better than any man."

Zhao Qu suddenly burst in, holding a secret report: "Your Majesty, Empress Dowager Liu passed away on Mount Song, and Shi Nianyun... hanged herself." His voice trembled, and he dared not look up. Shi Nian's pen paused, and ink dripped onto the memorial, spreading two characters: "A grand funeral." Her gaze did not leave the map, where the territory of the Tang Dynasty was being expanded little by little with her vermilion brush. She added coldly, "Tell the Ministry of Rites to bury her according to the rites for a prince, so as to fulfill the bond between siblings."

Looking at her daughter's indifferent profile, Zhao Qingyi suddenly realized that the power struggles of the past three years had worn away the last bit of softness in her.

But when Shi Nian turned around and stuffed a jade pendant from the Song Dynasty into her hand, she felt that it was all worth it—the jade pendant was a gift from Emperor Huizong, and now it could finally see the light of day again in the palace of the Tang Dynasty.

In the stillness of the night, Shi Nian often climbed the corner tower of the Ziwei Palace alone.

She wore a black cloak, gazing at the myriad lights of Luoyang. Her phoenix crown rested at her feet, as if a thousand-pound burden had been lifted. In the distance, the Jinyiwei headquarters still burned brightly; the bloodstains in the files, the purged dissidents—all became embellishments on her phoenix robe.

"What Wu Zetian could do, I can do even better." She whispered to the night sky, her fingertips tracing the Song Dynasty jade pendant at her waist. The wind carried her voice through the palace walls, startling the night herons perched on the bronze cranes. The silhouette of the birds flying over the Golden Palace was just like the hatred that swirled in her heart when she watched her father and the new concubine laughing in the side corridor.

Now, the hatred is a thing of the past. The peonies in Luoyang Palace still bloom every year, only the people who come to see them have changed.

Shi Nian's phoenix robe unfurled in the wind, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, dyeing the sky of the Tang Dynasty a crimson hue belonging to a woman.

The peonies in Luoyang bloomed more beautifully than in previous years, but they were always beaten to the ground by wind and rain in the middle of the night, much like the undercurrent of murderous intent in the imperial court.

Those opposing forces that Shi Nian had trampled underfoot were gradually revealing their fangs from the cracks in the palace walls, the beacon towers on the border, and even behind the broken steles in the old Song Dynasty territory. The first to jump out was Shi Chengyu, the great-grandson of Emperor Taizong and the Prince of Xiangzhou.

This prince, nearing sixty, held military power in Xiangyang. The four characters "Imperial Relative" on his waist badge carried more weight than Shi Nian's phoenix seal. When he raised the banner of "Purge the Emperor's Poisonous Men" on the city wall of Xiangyang, he held aloft the "Imperial Model" written by his great-grandfather, Shi Feiyang. Every word in it seemed to accuse Shi Nian of "being a hen crowing at dawn, disrupting our Great Tang Dynasty."

"What kind of holy ruler is she?" Shi Chengyu's denunciation was posted all over Jianghan, the ink mixed with the vermilion of Xiangyang. "She is nothing but a vixen who killed her own brother and imprisoned the Empress Dowager with a poisonous scheme! If the late emperor were here, he would have personally beheaded this rebellious woman!"

Most of his generals were former subordinates of Shi Feiyang. They were already furious when they saw Shi Nian purging the old ministers. Now, under the banner of the imperial family, they gathered 30,000 troops, claiming that they would "return power to the rightful rule of the Tang Dynasty".

The imperial family members in the capital are even more troublesome.

Those princes and dukes whose titles were stripped by Shi Nian hid in teahouses and taverns in Luoyang, using sandalwood tablets to pass messages.

Although they did not hold military power, they wielded the soft weapon of "patriarchal clan law"—on the first and fifteenth of each month, they would lead the elderly women of the clan to kneel and weep before the ancestral temple, lamenting that "our ancestors were disturbed by a witch," attracting crowds of onlookers and gossip. A seventy-year-old Minister of the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs even smashed his head against a pillar outside the Golden Palace to express his resolve, his blood splattering on the stone tablet bearing the "Sacred Martial" reign title, which angered Shi Nian so much that he smashed three sets of jade cups.

Zhao Qingyi's dressing table always had a half-finished bronze mirror on it—she had rescued it from the fire when Bianjing fell, and the back of the mirror was engraved with "May the Song Dynasty prosper forever." She originally thought that with the bloodline of the Song Dynasty, she could ensure that her old subordinates would steadfastly support her daughter, but she never expected that there were two opposing forces hidden among these old subordinates.

One faction was the "Restoration Song Faction," led by Li Zhiyi, the former Imperial Censor of the Song Dynasty. They followed Zhao Qingyi to the Tang Dynasty with the intention of restoring the country with the help of Shi Feiyang's troops. However, seeing Shi Nian ascend the throne and change the era name to "Shengwu," and claiming to be the legitimate successor of the Tang Dynasty, they were already dissatisfied.

Li Zhiyi's disciples secretly made contact in Jiangnan and wrote a proclamation in the thin gold script of Emperor Huizong, denouncing Shi Nian for "forgetting his ancestors and recognizing a thief as his father." They even secretly supported a distant relative of the Song dynasty who had fallen into exile, calling him "Emperor Zhao of Song," and raised the Song dynasty's dragon flag in Chang'an.

The other faction consisted of Zhao Qingyi's dowry retainers, who also harbored disloyal intentions. When Shi Nian used a "beauty trap" to eliminate Qu Cheng and his grandson, he promised these retainers "fiefdoms in the old Song Dynasty territory," but after ascending the throne, he only gave them honorary titles.

An old general who had escorted Zhao Qingyi to Luoyang had a painting of "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" hanging in his mansion. After drinking, he slammed his fist on the table and angrily shouted, "We are protecting a princess of the Song Dynasty, not an empress of the Tang Dynasty!" When these words reached Shi Nian's ears, the old general "died suddenly from illness" that very night. This chilled the hearts of many former Song Dynasty officials, who secretly colluded with Li Zhiyi's men.

After Shi Nian ascended the throne, to prevent military rebellion, he used the pretext of "rectifying military discipline" to strip seven generals of their military power and replace them with trusted confidants from the Embroidered Uniform Guard. However, the swords on the border could not be tamed by the words of Luoyang.

Qin Yue, the military governor of Shuofang, was a descendant of Qin Qiong and commanded the most elite "Xuanjia Army" of the Tang Dynasty.

When Shi Feiyang led his western expedition against the Western Xia, Qin Yue's father died in battle at Helan Mountain. Shi Feiyang personally bestowed upon him a golden plaque inscribed with "Loyalty and Bravery." Now, Shi Nian intends to recall the Xuanjia Army to Luoyang to "protect the Empress." Qin Yue angrily slams down the golden plaque in his military tent, shouting, "The Empress ascended the throne, slaughtered civil officials, imprisoned members of the imperial family, and now she wants to disarm the border troops? I, Qin Yue, would rather die than be a caged bird in Luoyang!"

He sent his son with a secret letter to the military governor of Yunzhong that very night, agreeing to "jointly protect the territory of the Great Tang and not obey the chaotic orders of Luoyang." From then on, the beacon towers on the Hetao Plain only issued warnings to the Jin Dynasty and no longer paid attention to the edicts of Luoyang.

Even more troublesome was the Governor-General of Lingnan, Guo Chong.

He was a distant relative of Guo Biyu. When Guo Biyu was banished to the cold palace, Guo Chong had written a letter directly criticizing her, and was demoted to Lingnan by Shi Nian. Although this place was shrouded in miasma, it was rich in pearls and spices. Under the guise of "trade," Guo Chong secretly contacted Dali and Jiaozhi, and even secretly built warships.

A secret agent from the Embroidered Uniform Guard reported that Guo Chong had a portrait of Guo Biyu hanging in his military tent, and he would weep in front of the portrait on every festival: "My Guo family has been loyal and virtuous for generations, yet we have been humiliated by the Empress. If we do not avenge this, we are not worthy of being men!"

The Chongwen Hall in the south of Luoyang was where Shi Feiyang gathered Confucian scholars from all over the country to compile the "Great Tang Code".

After Shi Nian ascended the throne, he demoted the three chief editors of the academy to Qiongzhou and replaced them with cruel officials from the Embroidered Uniform Guard who were literate, which aroused dissatisfaction among Confucian scholars throughout the country.

Kong Yingda, a Doctor of the Imperial Academy and a 31st-generation descendant of Confucius, held the "voice" of Confucian scholars throughout the land. In the imperial court, he slammed down his court tablet and pointed at Shi Nian's phoenix crown, rebuking him: "The Rites of Zhou say, 'The Son of Heaven is male.' You, a woman, have usurped the throne, disrupted the moral order, and disgraced the sages!" As he was dragged out of the Golden Palace by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, he still shouted from below the steps: "A scholar can be killed but not humiliated! I, Kong Yingda, will die to uphold the righteous spirit of the Tang Dynasty!" His disciples posted imitations of the "Proclamation Against Wu Zetian" in Luoyang, comparing Shi Nian to "Empress Lü and Wu Zetian," each word like a knife, shaking the hearts of the people.

The Donglin Society in Jiangnan was especially lively.

This was a group of disillusioned scholars who gathered on a painted boat on the Qinhuai River to criticize the government through poetry.

A scholar named Qian Qian wrote "The Peony's Lament," comparing Shi Nian to "an evil flower that steals away the spring light." This poem became widely circulated in Jiangnan, and even storytellers in teahouses adapted it into lyrics.

Shi Nian dispatched the Imperial Guards to arrest them, but they were hidden behind the shrine in the ancestral hall by local gentry. These scholars, though unarmed, could move people's hearts with their writings, and their influence even surpassed that of the border troops' swords, making her wary.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard was the sharpest blade that enabled Shi Nian to ascend the throne. However, a blade used for too long will inevitably injure itself. Qu Shangwen's cousin, Qu Shangde, had entered the Embroidered Uniform Guard through Qu Shangwen's connections, but he always felt suppressed.

He secretly contacted Qu Cheng's former subordinates and set up a "Hall of Loyalty and Righteousness" in the torture chamber of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, where Qu Cheng's memorial tablet was enshrined. Each time torture was inflicted, he would chant before the tablet, "Old Commander, I will avenge you." Under the guise of "investigating a case," they deliberately released Li Zhiyi's messenger and even secretly passed on Shi Nian's secret order to purge the military to Qin Yue's son. Even more dangerous was Wei Zhong, the Deputy Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. He was personally promoted by Shi Nian, yet he secretly colluded with Zhao Qingyi.

Zhao Qingyi attempted to control the Embroidered Uniform Guard through Wei Zhong, while Wei Zhong wanted to use the Empress Dowager's name to sideline Shi Nian.

On one occasion, Shi Nian ordered Wei Zhong to search Kong Yingda's house, but he deliberately omitted Kong Yingda's "Memorial Rebuking the Empress," causing this book to circulate wildly in Luoyang's bookstores. Shi Nian smashed the "loyalty" jade pendant given to him by Wei Zhong in the Fengyi Palace, but dared not take action against him for the time being—because Wei Zhong held too many bloody secrets about her ascension to the throne.

Deep within the "Embers" Cold Palace, within the palace walls, He Yao and Guo Biyu seemed to have turned to ashes, yet faint sparks still flickered in the darkness.

He Yao, the daughter of the former head of the Tai Chi Sword Sect, survives in this harsh environment by practicing the "Tai Chi Breathing Method," and inscribes the Wudang mental cultivation manual on the wall every day with her hairpin. A young eunuch who had once received favors from the He family secretly transmits the manual back to the Tai Chi Sword Sect under the guise of delivering water.

The Tai Chi Sword Master deciphered the hidden meaning in the manual and learned that He Yao was still alive. He then sent his disciples to sneak into Luoyang overnight and buried a dagger under the pomegranate tree outside the Cold Palace. It was the dagger that He Yao used when practicing Tai Chi Sword, and the words "Uphold Righteousness" were engraved on the hilt.

Guo Biyu was even more cunning. In the cold palace, she pretended to be insane, ground her pearl hairpin into powder, and secretly mixed it into the "greeting letter" sent to Liu Dan—even though Liu Dan was under house arrest in Songshan, he was still able to receive letters from the palace.

The pearl powder was mixed with "love potion," and after taking it for six months, Liu Dan had an affair with a young Taoist priest at a Taoist temple on Mount Song.

This scandal was eventually reported to Shi Nian by the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Shi Nian, who intended to use this to completely eliminate Liu Dan, did not expect that Guo Biyu had already sent the news to Jiangnan through a eunuch. As a result, the Confucian scholars in Jiangnan composed a poem called "Lament of Mount Song," rebuking Shi Nian for "not even being able to tolerate his own mother, how can he talk about to tolerate the world," which infuriated her.

The rain in Luoyang continued incessantly. Shi Nian stood atop Yingtian Gate, gazing at the beacon fires outside the city—this time it wasn't a Jin invasion, but Qin Yue's Xuanjia Army raising the banner of "Purge the Emperor's Corrupt Officials" across the Yellow River. She gripped the nine-phoenix hairpin on her phoenix crown tightly, its cold gleam reflecting on her face, as if she had returned to the moment when she told Shi Nianyun, "I will become the second Wu Zetian." Only then, she hadn't foreseen that when the dragon throne truly belonged to her, the swords and spears clashing from all sides would be more intense and colder than the rain in Luoyang.

……

After conquering Tibet, Shi Feiyang led his troops back to the capital. Upon arriving at the Helan Mountains, he ordered his troops to set up camp and rest for a few days before returning to Luoyang.

The snow on the top of Helan Mountain gleamed coldly in the moonlight.

Shi Feiyang's black armor was covered in ice crystals, and his Seven Star Sword was stuck diagonally in the snow, the red silk tassel of the sword fluttering in the mountain wind. He looked at the churning sea of ​​clouds below the cliff, when he suddenly heard a soft sound of silver threads cutting through the air behind him—he knew that sound well, it was Li Ruitong's "Cold Sleeves Brushing Acupoints".

A beautiful woman in a pure white dress walked through the snow, and where her skirt swept, the accumulated snow froze into tiny ice flowers.

Her silver threads spun into a spiderweb between her fingers, moonlight filtering through the fabric and casting dappled shadows on Shi Feiyang's black armor. She teased, "The Emperor Emeritus of the Tang Dynasty certainly has a good time, enjoying the moon alone here. Aren't you afraid I'll take your life?"

Shi Feiyang quietly activated his Mingyu Gong, the jade-like color of his skin shimmering in the moonlight. He teased, "If you wanted to kill me, you should have done it in the jujube forest long ago." With that, he pulled Li Ruitong into his arms.

At this moment, Li Tieniu ran up breathlessly and said, "Your Majesty, something terrible has happened!" He then reported in detail to Shi Feiyang the news that Shi Nian had usurped the throne. Li Ruitong was so shocked that her cherry-like mouth formed an "O" shape.

Upon hearing the news, Shi Feiyang wept bitterly, lamenting, "I have lived for a thousand years, fought for a thousand years, yet my wealth has never lasted more than three generations. Whether it's the Yihua Palace or the Great Tang Empire, every few generations, people slaughter each other, vying for power and profit. Why? Why is human nature like this? Why?" He then looked up to the sky and roared, "Heavens, why are you so unjust to me, Shi? Why?" A wave of chest tightness and shortness of breath washed over him, followed by vomiting blood. His vision went black, and he lurched forward, hanging precariously. He heard the cries of Li Ruitong, Li Tieniu, and the soldiers: "Your Majesty!"

Bang! Shi Feiyang crashed headfirst into the ice and plunged into the frozen lake.

Qi Mingyu instinctively protected his body, forming an ice coffin that tightly enveloped Shi Feiyang, making it airtight and waterproof.

……

On the day of the Awakening of Insects, a century later, the frozen lake in the Helan Mountains finally cracked. The cracks on the ice resembled the patterns on Shi Feiyang's black armor, spreading from the center of the lake to the shore, and the "crack" sound caused the snow on the cliff to fall in a flurry.

As the last piece of ice bounced up, the moment he broke through the ice, the ice patterns on his Xuanjia armor suddenly burst forth with a pale golden light—a sign that the Mingyu Gong had reached its peak. However, upon contact with the air, the patterns solidified into fossil-like designs, embedded in the gaps of the dragon scales on the armor, never to fade away again.

"Cough...cough cough...Shi Feiyang's chest heaved violently, the cold air from the bottom of the icy lake choking him and causing him to cough painfully."

He looked down at his hands; his skin gleamed like jade, yet was even more translucent than it had been in Xingqing Prefecture, as if it would shatter at the slightest pressure. The deerskin pouch at his waist pressed against his skin, its warmth a reminder of the countless treasures hidden within—the Imperial Seal of the Tang Dynasty, the Sun Pendant of the Western Xia, the Golden Bell Scepter of the Tibetan Empire, and the half-silver thread that Li Ruitong had given him.

But at this moment, these treasures that could drive the world crazy felt as heavy as lead, making it almost impossible for him to stand.

He staggered up the icy shore, and the Seven Star Sword flew out of the frozen lake on its own, with icicles still hanging from the red silk tassel of the sword.

He gazed at the empty valley. The traces of Li Ruitong's journey through the snow had long been worn away by the wind and snow. The green bamboo staff that Li Tieniu had planted on the cliff had turned into half a dead tree. Even the campfire pit where the soldiers had camped had become a rabbit's den.

Only the whistling sound of the wind passing through the cliff face was reminiscent of the soft rustling of Li Ruitong's silver threads cutting through the air in the jujube forest back then.

“A hundred years…a hundred years…” Shi Feiyang’s voice was hoarse as if it had been sanded. He had lived for so long that he could not remember which dynasty he had started his wars from, but the pain of losing his home and country every time was as fresh as if it had just happened.

The destruction of Yihua Palace, the collapse of the first dynasty, the present Tang Dynasty... He thought he had long since hardened his heart of stone, but when the words "wealth does not last three generations" crashed into his mind, his knees suddenly buckled, and he knelt heavily on the ice.

"Splash!" The dull thud as the armored vehicle collided with the ice surface startled the water birds below the cliff.

Shi Feiyang covered his face, and what seeped through his fingers was not tears, but blood mixed with ice crystals—the Mingyu Gong had protected his body for a hundred years, even his tears had been frozen into ice crystals, and now that it had broken through his blood vessels, it was able to be released.

He recalled the way Shi Nian's chubby little hands gripped the Seven Star Sword tightly during her first birthday celebration. Zhao Qingyi smiled and said, "This girl has the look of an emperor." At that time, he stroked his daughter's head and said, "Daddy's empire will all be yours in the future."

"I was wrong... I was so wrong..." Shi Feiyang suddenly slammed his forehead against the ice, the dragon pattern on his armor dented. He roared to the sky, sighed, and wept bitterly: "I shouldn't have let you learn those political schemes! I shouldn't have let you read Wu Zetian's biography! You are my daughter..."

The ice surface was cracked like a spiderweb, and in each crack was reflected Shi Nian's face—the innocence of childhood, the stubbornness of youth, the ruthlessness when he ascended the throne, and the madness when he shouted "I am the second Wu Zetian" before he was hanged.

He suddenly looked up and roared at the sky, "Why! Why!" His voice echoed in the valley, and an avalanche was triggered, crashing down from the mountaintop. Snow chunks grazed his black armor and shattered into dust.

"I have fought for a thousand years, shed blood for a thousand years, only to watch my descendants kill each other?!" His "Emperor's Thunderous Fury" divine skill erupted uncontrollably, the icy lake suddenly exploded, water columns shot into the sky, condensed into countless ice arrows in the air, and shot towards himself—but the ice armor formed by Mingyu Gong protected him, and those ice arrows shattered into mist around him, like a desperate sacrifice.

After venting his anger, Shi Feiyang slumped down by the frozen lake, looking at his reflection in the water. His eighteen-year-old face, with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, and his old yet imposing black armor, though worn, still exuded power. But the weariness in his eyes was deeper than the rings of an ancient tree.

He untied the deerskin bag, poured out a pile of treasures, and casually grabbed a luminous pearl the size of a pigeon's egg, then tossed it into the icy lake like a pebble. "A vast empire, countless treasures... in the end, it's all for naught..."

When Shi Feiyang used his "Leave No Trace for a Thousand Miles" lightness skill to fly back to Luoyang, his black armor was still covered with ice shards from the Helan Mountains. But the closer he got to the capital, the stronger the smell of blood in the air became, eventually overpowering the chill on his armor.

As the outline of Luoyang appeared on the horizon, he abruptly stopped in his tracks—the banner fluttering above the city was no longer the dragon flag of the Tang Dynasty, but a Mongolian banner embroidered with a wolf's head, its edges still stained with undried blood.

"No...impossible..." Shi Feiyang's fingertips dug into his palm, and drops of blood dripped onto the black armor, instantly freezing into ice patterns.

He charged toward the city gate like a madman. The Mongol soldiers guarding the city raised their scimitars and shouted to stop him, but he didn't even blink. With a flick of his "Transferring Flowers and Jade" skill, the scimitars turned and slashed at his comrades' necks.

Blood splattered on his face, the warm touch jolting him awake—this was no dream, his Tang Dynasty was truly gone.

The scene in the city was even more tragic than he had imagined. On Zhuque Street, Mongol soldiers were driving a group of ragged civilians, including elderly people with white hair, women holding children, and scholars whose heads were bleeding from being beaten.

A Mongol centurion snatched the baby from the woman's arms and threw it into the nearby fire like a ball. The baby's cries stopped abruptly, and the woman rushed over like a madwoman, only to be cleaved in two by the centurion's sword.

"Ah—!" Shi Feiyang's roar made the shop signs on both sides rattle.

His Seven Star Sword had been drawn at some point, its light cascading like a silver river.

Before the centurion's head had even hit the ground, Shi Feiyang's "Hundred Victories Blade Technique" had already swept across the surrounding Mongol soldiers. Those curved swords were like toys in front of him, and the ice patterns on his black armor surged, freezing the splattered blood droplets into red ice crystals that gleamed eerily in the sunlight.

"Is...is it a deity?" The surviving people knelt on the ground, looking at the dragon pattern on Shi Feiyang's black armor, thinking it was a manifestation of the gods of the Tang Dynasty.

Shi Feiyang ignored him, his gaze sweeping over the burned-down shops, one of which was the rouge shop that Guo Biyu had loved most back then. Now only ruins remained, with several charred corpses piled up in the corner.

He walked along Zhuque Street, each step treading on blood. The once prosperous Luoyang had become a living hell: pharmacies were looted, and the corpses of their owners hung on the lintels; silk shops were engulfed in flames, the flames licking at the "Hu Qing Yu Tang" signboard.

What pained him most was the sound of Mongol soldiers laughing wildly from the direction of the Zichen Palace. They were using Shi Feiyang's dragon throne as a trough to feed their warhorses.

Shi Feiyang cursed angrily, "Beast!" His "Shocking Calamity" divine skill was activated instantly. His gaze swept across the Zichen Palace, and his icy gaze froze the Mongol soldiers inside. His Seven Star Sword lifted up a Mongol centurion and nailed his corpse to a pillar beside the dragon throne. The red silk tassel of the sword was wrapped around the dragon carving on the pillar, like a blood-stained ribbon tied around the giant dragon.

He roared like a madman, "Anyone who dares to touch a single brick or tile of the Great Tang Dynasty will suffer this fate!" But the Mongol soldiers kept pouring in, and their "throat-locking skills" carried the ferocity of the grasslands, but they were frozen by Ming Yu Gong within three zhang of Shi Feiyang.

Shi Feiyang, caught up in the frenzy of the killing, had fragments of flesh and bone embedded in the ice patterns of his Xuanjia armor, and the Seven Star Sword's light was tinged with dark red, yet his inner torment remained undiminished. He recalled the scene of fighting side by side with Li Ruitong in the jujube forest years ago; back then, the killing was for protection, but now, it was merely for venting his anger. At dusk, he stormed into the Ziwei Palace.

The locust tree where Shi Nian was hanged is still there, with rope marks still visible on the trunk, and a stone tablet next to it inscribed with "The Place Where the Traitor Shi Nian Was Executed".

Shi Feiyang stroked the rough bark of the tree and suddenly laughed. The laughter grew louder and louder until it turned into a wail: "My daughter... my Tang Dynasty..." He wailed and slammed his head against the locust tree. The dull thud of the black armor hitting the trunk startled the crows on the tree and made them scatter and fly away.

A shepherd boy hiding behind a rockery was startled by the crying and timidly peeked out.

Shi Feiyang wiped the blood and tears from his face and beckoned him over.

The child, clutching half a wheat cake in his hand, stammered, "Big...big brother, are you...are you a soldier of the Tang Dynasty?"

“I am… the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty,” Shi Feiyang’s voice was hoarse. The child’s eyes suddenly lit up, and he said, “My grandfather said that thirty years ago, the Empress was hanged on this tree by the Yuan people. Before she died, she was shouting that she wanted to be the second Wu Zetian!”

The child pointed towards the Ziwei Palace and said sadly, "The Yuan people said that she sent all the Tang soldiers to fight her own people, which allowed the Yuan people to take advantage of the situation..." Shi Feiyang's heart felt like it was being violently gripped. He remembered Shi Nian's childhood vow, her ruthlessness in gathering power, and her triumph when she ascended the throne. It turned out that she had truly become "the second Wu Zetian," but she had also destroyed everything with her own hands.

"Why...why..." He roared to the sky, and the despair in his voice frightened the child into tears.

……

For the next three months, Shi Feiyang became a "ghost" in Luoyang. During the day, he hid in the ruins, taking out the grain from the deerskin bag, but often couldn't eat a single bite; at night, he transformed into a demon, killing those wicked Mongol soldiers.

His assassinations were never swift or drawn out.

A group of Mongol soldiers were harassing a woman in a tavern. Shi Feiyang used his mysterious "Hidden Identity" lightness skill to break through the window. The tassel of his Seven Star Sword wrapped around the neck of the leader, and with a gentle pull, the man fell down silently.

Before the others could react, they were tricked into using their own swords to kill each other by the "transfer of flowers and jade".

That day, Mongol soldiers looted villages on the outskirts of the city, herding the villagers into threshing grounds, intending to burn them alive. (End of Chapter)