I was a mineral prospector in Chengdu, who transmigrated into the body of a mortal sword immortal.

Li Bai's figure rose and fell across the rooftops of Chang'an, like a lone goose soaring through the night sky. He no longer bothered to completely conceal his tracks; his speed increased to a mere afterimage, almost imperceptible to the naked eye, as he raced northeast towards the cluster of mansions shrouded in the shadow of the palace. The night wind whistled in his ears, carrying the faint scent of sandalwood and lamplight drifting from the direction of the capital. His heartbeat was steady and strong, but his eyes were colder and more profound than the deep autumn night. The outline of the Prince Shou's mansion gradually came into focus: its towering walls, upturned eaves, and sparse yet persistent lights resembled a colossal beast crouching in the darkness, silently guarding (or rather, imprisoning) the person he could never let go of, a person he could not relinquish across two lifetimes. The distance was rapidly closing.

He stopped on the roof of a three-story restaurant about a hundred feet from the outer wall of the Prince's Mansion and crouched down.

This is the best spot to observe the outer perimeter of the Prince's Palace.

The Prince Shou's Mansion occupied a vast area, almost encompassing an entire northeastern district. The surrounding walls, over three zhang high, were constructed of smooth, blue bricks topped with dark glazed tiles that reflected a dim luster under the moonlight. The main gate was tightly shut, guarded by two enormous stone lions. Beside the lions stood four armored guards, wielding halberds, their figures upright and motionless, like sculptures. Along the wall, every twenty paces or so, there was a protruding corner tower, its lamps lit, and the shadows of people could be faintly seen moving about. Inside the wall, the rhythmic sound of footsteps could be heard—the sound of patrols.

The security was extremely tight, and its reputation was well-deserved.

But Li Bai's gaze did not linger on these visible guards for long. He closed his eyes and carefully, as gently as the softest spider silk, extended his divine sense toward the direction of the Prince's mansion.

The moment his divine sense touched the wall, he felt a slight resistance.

Formation.

It wasn't some profound and mysterious grand formation, but rather a warning and sensing array covering the entire perimeter of the royal palace. The array's energy fluctuations were very subtle; had Li Bai not already been a Golden Core cultivator with a divine sense far exceeding that of ordinary people, he probably wouldn't have been able to detect it. Its function was simple—any unauthorized object carrying spiritual power or a powerful life force would trigger an alarm if it passed through this invisible barrier.

A cold smile curved the corners of Li Bai's lips.

An ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator might be stumped by this formation. But he was a Golden Core cultivator.

The Golden Core and Foundation Establishment represent leaps in the essence of life. The difference in their control over spiritual power, themselves, and the rules of heaven and earth is like heaven and earth.

He took a deep breath, and the slowly rotating golden core within his body suddenly solidified. On the surface of the golden core, the faintly visible illusory image of a blue lotus swayed slightly. An extremely pure yet extremely restrained spiritual power surged from the golden core, instantly flowing through every inch of his meridians and every acupoint. His life force and spiritual energy fluctuations were forcibly suppressed and restrained at this moment, as if he had transformed from a lurking tiger into a lifeless rock, a weed swaying in the wind.

Concealing one's aura and transforming into mortal form is one of the signature abilities of a Golden Core cultivator. At this moment, he was using it to its fullest extent.

He opened his eyes, but the light in them vanished, leaving only a deep, still gaze.

opportunity.

He observed the rhythm of the patrol teams inside and outside the walls, the blind spots in the eyes of the guards on the corner towers, and the patterns of the night wind blowing through the leaves and casting shadows. Although the defenses of the Prince's Palace were tight, they were ultimately carried out by ordinary people, and there were always oversights and recurring, predictable patterns.

It's now!

He moved.

There was no earth-shattering sound of air being torn apart, no fluctuation of spiritual energy, not even the sound of wind stirred by his clothes. He simply slid down from the roof, like a wisp of shadow exhaled by the night itself, skimming the ground, almost flying close to the ground, shooting towards a relatively dark corner of the palace wall in the northeast.

It was incredibly fast, yet eerily quiet.

Thirty zhang, twenty zhang, ten zhang...

Just as his body was about to crash into the wall, it arched upwards like a boneless fish, his toes lightly touching the smooth surface. This tiny bit of force was just enough to propel him upwards again, clearing the wall.

The instant he passed over the wall, he clearly "felt" that the invisible warning array swept over his body like ripples on water. The array rippled slightly, as if sensing something, but the fluctuation was too weak. Compared to his deliberately suppressed state, which was almost "nothing," it was like a drop of water falling into a pond, the ripples instantly calmed by the larger body of water.

The formation was not triggered.

His figure silently fell into the shadows at the base of the inner wall of the Prince's mansion, landing without disturbing even a withered leaf.

Successful.

Li Bai lay motionless in the shadows, his consciousness slowly extending outwards from himself like the most cautious tentacles.

The first thing you notice is the completely different atmosphere inside the Prince's Palace.

The air was filled with a faint scent of precious wood and spices, a fragrance reserved only for the wealthiest of the wealthy. In the distance, the sound of flowing water and faint, intermittent music drifted by, as if from another distant world. The ground beneath their feet was paved with smooth bluestone slabs, so fine that even weeds were scarce in the cracks.

He stood in what appeared to be a corner of the Prince's mansion's back garden. Before him lay a meticulously manicured garden, with craggy rockeries, a mirror-like pond, and winding corridors. Although it was late autumn, some hardy plants still dotted the garden, their sparse outlines appearing in the moonlight. In the distance, the eaves and brackets of pavilions and towers were outlined intricate and ornate silhouettes against the night, most of the windows dark, with only a few still lit.

Li Bai did not rush into action. Like a true stone, he remained in the shadows for the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, carefully perceiving everything around him with his divine sense.

The patrolling guards passed by approximately every fifteen minutes, following a fixed route. Several regular sentry posts were lurking in the shadows, their auras steady; they were likely skilled guards kept by the royal palace, but their cultivation was at most at the peak of the Acquired Realm, not even reaching the Innate Realm, let alone becoming immortal cultivators. Aside from the outer perimeter of the royal palace's security array, there were no other array fluctuations within the palace grounds. At least, not within the range of his divine sense.

This relieved him slightly. It seemed that although the Tang Dynasty court monitored the Prince's residence, it did not regard it as a military fortress requiring heavy defense, nor did it expect that a Golden Core cultivator would infiltrate it.

So, where is she?

Li Bai's heart skipped a beat uncontrollably.

He closed his eyes, slowly expanding the scope of his divine sense's probe while simultaneously maximizing its "precision." He no longer focused on the guards, buildings, or gardens, but instead concentrated on finding the aura of "humanity," especially that unique aura that had been deeply imprinted in his soul and could not be forgotten even after a thousand years.

His divine sense, like mercury spilling onto the ground, silently permeated the pavilions and rooms.

He "saw" the sleeping servants and maids, the eunuchs still dozing on night duty, the officials of the Prince's mansion checking accounts in the study, and the magnificent halls that were empty... The Prince's mansion was very large and had many people, but most of them had an ordinary and vague aura, like background noise.

suddenly.

His consciousness paused slightly at a certain point.

It was a separate three-story embroidered building, located deep within the inner garden of the Prince's Mansion. It was surrounded by a private courtyard with several tall osmanthus trees, their blossoms now past, leaving only dense, dark green leaves. The building was exquisitely constructed, with soaring eaves, vermilion pillars, and intricately carved floral and bird patterns on the window frames. Inside, a soft light still shone in the second-floor room by the window.

And that aura... was right there.

It was cold and lonely, with an indescribable weariness and emptiness, yet deep within, it faintly revealed a very faint, familiar gentleness.

It was her scent. Yang Yuhuan.

Li Bai's heart clenched suddenly, as if gripped tightly by an invisible hand. A surge of emotion, a mixture of ecstasy, pain, and bitterness, rushed to his head, making him tremble uncontrollably. He clenched his teeth, forcing himself to calm down and suppressing all his emotional turmoil deep within his heart.

He moved silently.

This time, his movements were more cautious and nimble. Using the shadows of the artificial hills, trees, and pillars in the garden as cover, he moved like a true ghost through the complex buildings of the inner palace. Avoiding patrols and bypassing lit rooms, his target was clear and singular—the embroidered tower.

The distance is getting shorter.

One hundred zhang, fifty zhang, thirty zhang...

He finally arrived at the outer wall of the courtyard where the embroidered pavilion was located. The wall was not high, only a little over a person's height, and there was a moon gate in the wall, the door ajar. He did not go through the gate, but instead lightly leaped, pressed his palm on the top of the wall, and his body floated into the courtyard like a feather, landing behind a clump of dense nandina.

From this angle, he could clearly see the lit window on the second floor of the embroidered building.

The window was half-open, and the pale yellow curtains fluttered gently in the night breeze. Inside, soft candlelight cast a silhouette onto the curtains.

It was a woman's profile.

She sat before her dressing table, her figure slender, her neck long, her hair styled in a high bun, the outline of which swayed in the light and shadow. She seemed to be facing a bronze mirror, motionless.

Li Bai held his breath, focused his consciousness into a single line, and cautiously, like the softest feather, peered towards the window.

My consciousness passed through the window screen and entered the room.

The first thing you notice is the warm yet slightly stuffy air in the room, mixed with the faint scent of perfume and incense unique to a woman's boudoir. The room is large and luxuriously furnished. The rosewood furniture gleams with a soft light, the display cabinet is filled with various treasures, thick Western-style carpets cover the floor, and exquisite paintings of ladies hang on the walls. On the dressing table, the bronze mirror is polished to a shine, reflecting the candlelight and the person in front of it.

Then, he "saw" it clearly.

Yang Yuhuan.

She wore a pale purple royal robe, made of the finest Shu brocade, embroidered with intricate lotus scroll patterns, which shimmered softly in the candlelight. Her long hair, like clouds, was styled in the fashionable "Jinghong" bun, popular among noblewomen of the time, adorned with pearl and jade hairpins. Her beauty… Li Bai found no words to describe it. Her skin was as white as snow, her eyebrows like distant mountains, her eyes like autumn waters, her nose straight, and her lips a deep red. Any adjective describing beauty seemed inadequate to describe her. It was a beauty that transcended worldly standards, a near-perfect, breathtaking beauty.

However, there was not a trace of joy on that stunningly beautiful face.

She stood before the bronze mirror, her gaze empty as she stared at her reflection, as if looking at a stranger. Those eyes, which should have been bright and expressive, were now filled with weariness, a hint of confusion, and a bottomless, suppressed sorrow. Her lips were slightly pursed, the corners turned down, carrying a resigned helplessness.

She sat there, motionless, like a meticulously sculpted jade statue that had lost its soul.

The room was quiet, with only the occasional soft crackling of the candlelight and the faint whistling of the night wind coming from afar outside the window.

Time seemed to stand still.

After an unknown amount of time, she finally made a move.

She slowly raised her right hand. Her fingers were long and slender, white, like those carved from the finest mutton-fat jade. In her hand, she held a jade hairpin.

The jade hairpin was quite ordinary. It was made of common green jade, and the carving was simple; it was just a plain hairpin with the tip slightly polished into a rounded arc, without even a single pattern. Surrounded by glittering jewels and precious objects, this jade hairpin seemed out of place, even somewhat shabby.

But Yang Yuhuan held it with extremely gentle fingers, as if she were holding the most precious treasure in the world.

Her thumb unconsciously stroked the smooth surface of the jade hairpin again and again. The movement was slow and gentle, with an almost reverent tenderness.

The moment Li Bai's divine sense "saw" the jade hairpin, he was struck as if by lightning.

He recognized that jade hairpin.

Many years ago, when he was still the spirited but penniless young Li Bai from Sichuan, he won a prize at a poetry gathering. It wasn't anything valuable, just an ordinary jade hairpin. Later, he met a girl with bright, smiling eyes and a sweet smile like a mountain spring. On a whim, he gave her the hairpin and casually recited a silly poem: "Like a lotus emerging from clear water, naturally beautiful without adornment. I present you with this jade hairpin to express my admiration for you."

The girl blushed, took the hairpin, and carefully put it away.

He had long forgotten about it. To him, that hairpin was nothing more than a trivial interlude in his long life, a little trinket given away casually.

He hadn't expected... that she would still keep it.

Even after becoming the Princess Consort of Shou and possessing countless priceless jewels, she still kept this most ordinary and least valuable jade hairpin. Moreover, on such a lonely night, when she was alone in front of the mirror, she would take it out and gently caress it.

An indescribable bitterness and excruciating pain, like the sharpest ice pick, pierced Li Bai's heart. The pain was so sharp, so real, that he almost groaned. He bit his lower lip hard, and a metallic taste of blood instantly filled his mouth. His eyes burned, and his vision blurred.

Before the mirror, Yang Yuhuan seemed to have rubbed herself enough. She held the jade hairpin to her eyes, facing the candlelight, and looked at it quietly. The candlelight refracted through the jade, casting a warm and hazy halo, which reflected in her clear yet empty eyes.

After a long while, she sighed softly.

The sigh was extremely soft and low, like an autumn leaf falling on the water, almost inaudible. But in Li Bai's heightened spiritual perception, it was as clear as a thunderclap.

"A caged bird, a fairy in a painting..." She murmured almost inaudibly to the jade hairpin and to her reflection in the mirror, her voice filled with a deep weariness and a resigned desolation, "Is this fate?"

As she finished speaking, she clutched the jade hairpin tightly in her palm, pressed it against her chest, and closed her eyes. Her long eyelashes cast a small shadow beneath her eyelids, trembling slightly. A single, crystal-clear tear silently slid from the corner of her eye, rolling down her fair cheek and onto her clothes, leaving a small, dark, damp stain.

boom--!

Li Bai felt as if something had exploded in his mind. Boundless rage, overwhelming pity, heart-wrenching resentment, an obsession spanning two lifetimes… all the emotions he had forcibly suppressed burst forth like a flood, instantly overturning the dam of his reason. The golden core within his body spun wildly, the illusory image of the azure lotus swayed violently, and boundless spiritual power began to surge uncontrollably. A sharp, incomparable sword intent, capable of severing metal, almost pierced through his body!

Take her away! Take her away now! What Princess Shou! What royal dignity! What historical tides! To hell with it! I am a Golden Core Sword Immortal! I can kill one person in ten steps, leaving no trace for a thousand miles! Who can stop me! Who dares to stop me!

This insane thought burned like wildfire in his heart, instantly consuming all reason.

His aura showed an extremely subtle fluctuation, but to a true master, it was like a beacon in the darkness.

In that very instant!

Another powerful divine sense, like a cold tide, swept in without warning from a certain direction outside the Prince's mansion! This divine sense covered an extremely wide area. Although its intensity was not as refined as Li Bai's Golden Core stage divine sense, it carried an aura of grandeur, authority, and unquestionable official majesty, like an emperor inspecting his territory, with a sense of scrutiny and surveillance. It swept over the walls, gardens, and buildings of the Prince's mansion, and naturally, it also swept over the area where Li Bai was located!

Li Bai felt his hair stand on end!

Almost at the same instant he sensed that divine consciousness, all his instincts and cultivation achievements were unleashed to their fullest potential! The golden core circulating wildly within his body was forcibly suppressed, the illusory image of the azure lotus vanished instantly, and all the leaking spiritual power, sword energy, and even life force retreated into the deepest part of his body like a receding tide. He unleashed an even more extreme version of "Concealing Breath and Transforming into Mortal" than when he had previously infiltrated, as if his entire being had been instantly erased from the world, becoming an inconspicuous, moss-covered stone in the shadows of a corner, a fallen leaf blown by the night wind, and a wisp of ordinary fragrance carrying the lingering scent of osmanthus in the air.

That official divine sense swept over like a tidal wave.

As it passed Li Bai's location, it seemed to pause for a fleeting moment, as if sensing a highly discordant "blank" or "abnormality." But Li Bai's concealment was too perfect; the pause lasted less than a tenth of a breath before its divine sense continued to sweep forward, covering the entire inner garden of the Prince's mansion. It lingered for a moment near the brightly lit embroidered pavilion before slowly receding like the receding tide and disappearing in a certain direction outside the Prince's mansion.

Everything returned to silence.

Only the night wind remained, rustling the leaves in the courtyard.

Li Bai remained motionless in the shadows, his breathing and heartbeat almost stopped. Cold sweat had soaked through his inner shirt, clinging to his skin with a chilling touch. The risk of exposure he had just faced was far more perilous than when he confronted the guardian beasts of the Shu Mountain Secret Realm. The owner of that official divine sense was at least at the late Foundation Establishment stage, possibly even the Golden Core stage! Moreover, the majestic and righteous aura contained within that divine sense was not that of an ordinary rogue cultivator or sect member; it could only belong to a powerful figure from the imperial court's inner circle or a similar institution!

The imperial court was indeed monitoring the Prince Shou's residence! Or rather, monitoring this special Princess Shou!

This realization instantly cooled Li Bai's boiling blood, as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over him from head to toe.

The almost destructive impulse was forcefully suppressed. In its place came a deeper, colder anger and... apprehension.

He slowly raised his head and looked again at the window with the light on.

Inside the window, Yang Yuhuan had already put away her jade hairpin and was gently wiping away the tears from the corners of her eyes with a silk handkerchief. Her figure remained slender and lonely, casting a long shadow in the candlelight.

Li Bai stared at that figure for a very long time.

Finally, he retreated silently, just as he had come, blending into the shadows, crossing the courtyard, scaling the wall, and leaving the magnificent yet cold cage.

He didn't make a sound from beginning to end.

But as he looked back at the direction of that embroidered building for the last time, something in his deep, calm eyes froze completely, hard as iron and cold as ice.