The mad princess forces love upon him, and the aloof imperial advisor trembles every night.

Si Chen suddenly raised his eyes, a hint of near-obsessive light flashing in them: "Yes, perhaps I made a mistake in choosing my heir, perhaps..."

He seemed to be convincing himself, even though his divination had never been wrong in four hundred years. "Shirakawa, go and fetch the yarrow stalks."

"Grand Preceptor, you still want to divine? You can't! Your health—"

"go."

Shirakawa gritted his teeth and took fifty dried yarrow stalks—the oldest and most mentally taxing method of divination, and also the deepest way to glimpse the secrets of heaven.

Si Chen took it, his fingertips brushing against the grass stem with unbelievably gentle movements, like stroking a lover's hair—but he had no lover.

He possessed only the ruthless path, four hundred years of solitude, and the girl he had personally sent away for a political marriage seven years ago.

He began to divide the data into groups, perform calculations, and deduce the hexagrams.

The movements were slow and steady, like a sacred ritual.

The candlelight fell on him, turning his silver hair golden and his purple robes blood-red. He sat before the vast star map, not as if he were divining, but as if he were a god offering himself as a sacrifice in exchange for some answer.

One line, two lines, three lines...

The six lines form a hexagram.

The moving line changes the hexagram.

The hexagram name appears: Fire over Lake (Li) - Dragon Hidden, Phoenix Clear.

Si Chen stared at the divination chart for a very long time.

It went on for so long that Shirakawa almost thought he was about to vomit blood again.

After a long silence, he spoke calmly: "I did not make a mistake in appointing Chu Xuanche as the crown prince. He... should be the crown prince."

But after saying that, he slowly stood up and walked to the edge of the observatory.

There, the world outside the railing was pitch black from the torrential rain.

Her purple robes fluttered in the wind, and her silver hair danced wildly like a demon.

He looked up at the sky, where a star should have been shining brightly—that was Chu Qingyue's destiny star.

For seven years, he looked up at it every night, watching it go from dim to bright, dim to near death sixteen times, and then stubbornly lighting up again time and time again.

Every time the light dimmed, he sensed that she was facing a life-or-death crisis;

Every time the lights came on, he knew she had crawled back from the brink of death.

He sensed it every time, even across mountains and seas.

Every time, he wanted to tear through space to save her.

Each time, he could only sit on this observatory, watching her destiny star sway precariously, and then wait for her to struggle back to life.

The Heartless Path forbids him from having feelings.

Fate forbade him to interfere.

He could only watch, like an outsider, as the girl he had personally pushed into the abyss died and came back to life again and again in the abyss.

He murmured to himself, his voice so soft that only he and the raging wind and rain could hear it:

"The Crown Prince is right, but... what about her...?"

"If it's her, and the fate of the Great Chu Kingdom, only one can survive..."

"If it's her, and the crown prince I personally chose, only one can live..."

Shirakawa vaguely heard the word "she," his heart clenched, and a chill ran up his spine.

"Then... what about the Eldest Princess? Does the divination offer any solution? Even the slightest glimmer of hope?"

Si Chen did not answer.

He simply stood there, his back straight and solitary, like a lone peak about to collapse.

He secluded himself for seven years, deduced the solution 84,000 times, and exhausted all his knowledge, but all he found was this unsolvable dead end—

Either she dies, or the Great Chu Kingdom perishes.

He was the imperial advisor, the guardian deity of the nation, and... the one who personally sent her to her death.

------------

Just then—

"BOOM—!!!"

"BOOM—!!!"

The series of deafening explosions did not come from thunder in the sky, but from the direction of the imperial city!

The sound was deep and violent, carrying pure destructive power; even at the top of the Star-Picking Tower, the ground could be felt trembling.

Bai Chuan cried out in alarm, lunging towards the railing: "It's lightning! It struck Fengyi Palace! And... the First Prince's residence?!"

Si Chen's gray eyes narrowed sharply, and his divine sense spread out instantly, like a spider web covering the entire imperial city.

The residual shockwaves from the explosion, the precisely targeted destructive power... it was definitely not a natural lightning strike!

He pictured Chu Qingyue's stunningly beautiful face with that bewitching smile, and the madness and hatred in her upturned phoenix eyes that seemed to overflow.

"I shouldn't have... harbored even the slightest bit of kindness towards her."

He murmured, a bitter smile curving his lips—a bitterness that had seeped into his four hundred years of cultivation, causing even his Dao heart to tremble.

"She has always been that bloodthirsty, ruthless little madwoman; when she strikes... it's a fatal blow."

She was indeed putting her vow into practice step by step: to pull him down from his pedestal and destroy everything he protected.

"Heavenly lightning? Not necessarily..." Si Chen muttered to himself, he could even clearly picture her expression at that moment—

She must have tilted her head slightly, a bewitching and insane smirk playing on her lips, anticipating his reaction, waiting to see him break down, to see him make a choice, to see his Dao heart shatter completely.

Almost without hesitation, he rolled up his purple robe, and a faint purple light emanated from his body.

"Grand Preceptor! Your injuries...!" Shirakawa cried out urgently, trying to stop him.

Si Chen, however, had already transformed into a slightly dim purple streak of light, piercing through the heavy rain and shooting towards the direction from which the explosion came, so fast that he left only a blur in the air.

Injuries? Backlash? Cracks in the foundation of one's Dao?

At this moment, everything seems irrelevant.

He feared that if he arrived even a moment too late, she would already be stained with blood and there would be no turning back.

————Phoenix Palace———

The Phoenix Palace is half destroyed.

Exquisite carved beams and painted rafters have turned into charred and broken wood, glazed tiles are scattered all over the ground, and rainwater mixed with dust flows into filthy mud.

The palace servants ran around in panic, their cries, pleas for help, and shouts mingling together, creating a particularly desolate scene in the rainy night.

The empress was carried out of the ruins, her phoenix crown askew, her hairpins scattered, her gorgeous clothes covered in mud, and her face as pale as a ghost. She had long lost her former grace and majesty.

The situation was even worse for the eldest prince, Chu Xuanche—his right leg was broken by a falling beam, the bone piercing through the flesh and protruding, the white flesh reflecting the blood, a shocking sight.

He was in so much pain that his whole body convulsed, tears and snot streaming down his face, howling in a completely unseemly manner:

"Imperial Advisor...Imperial Advisor, save me! Help me! Father! Mother! Save me!"

The Chu Emperor rushed over, his dragon robe splattered with mud.

He was first taken aback by the horrific scene before him, then flew into a rage, pointing at Chu Xuanche and the Empress and cursing:

"You bastards! What heinous things have you done behind the scenes that have brought divine punishment upon the world?!"

The Empress and Chu Xuanche cried out in unison, their voices filled with sorrow and indignation.

"Imperial Preceptor!" The Chu Emperor turned to look at Si Chen, who had just landed, his brows furrowed.

"Quickly determine whether this is truly divine punishment, or... a man-made disaster?"

Si Chen slowly turned his head, his gaze sweeping over the ruins, his gray eyes filled with dim light and shadow.

"I have already sensed it. This is no ordinary heavenly lightning, but... a man-made disaster, using the name of heavenly might."

As he spoke, his divine sense had already detected that familiar internal energy fluctuation—Chu Qingyue.

She didn't even try to hide it.

Arrogant, rampant, like a silent declaration of war against him:

"Look, Si Chen, the country you're trying to protect, the peace you're trying to maintain, the crown prince you're trying to assist... I'm going to tear them all apart and show them to you, one by one."

Upon hearing this, the Emperor of Chu's anger intensified: "Man-made disaster?! Who is so audacious as to dare commit such a heinous act in the imperial palace?!"

Then he said urgently,

"Let's not talk about that now."

"The sacrificial ceremony is imminent, and Che'er must not be harmed. Please, Imperial Preceptor, treat Che'er's injuries first."