The moonlight that night was just right. Soft halos of glow misted the skies, yet the view remained good. From above, one could make out the landscape for several miles around.
Under this clear night sky, Li Xun, supported by He Mulan, descended directly into the imperial palace by sword flight.
It was a strange feeling.
Among this group, he alone knew that hidden somewhere in this vast imperial palace lurked a fearsome demonic figure. He Mulan, crashing in like this, bold as brass, was no different than banging drums in front of a sleeping tiger.
…And the tiger was pretending to sleep.
They quickly arrived above the imperial vault. Li Xun gave He Mulan a look, and He Mulan responded with a faint smile. Then, just like a few days ago, he stomped down hard with one foot. A rippling shockwave swept underground, and the guards and eunuchs below were instantly knocked unconscious again.
Watching such clean and efficient methods, Li Xun couldn't help feeling a bit envious. But that feeling quickly turned into a touch of sorrow. After all, everyone was watching his expression closely.
The shift in his mood was perfectly timed and smoothly done. The others glanced at one another and began to feel a twinge of sympathy for him.
Li Xun chuckled inwardly as he led them down into the underground passage toward the inner vault. Naturally, he made sure to act unfamiliar with the route. Several times almost turning the wrong way, his embarrassment quite convincingly on display.
Only after they reached the vault did Li Xun appear to "finally" get his bearings. He began explaining the vault's layout, though whether anyone actually listened was none of his concern.
Clearly, He Mulan and the others weren't interested in the vault's structure. They headed straight to the lowest level: the pill chamber.
Li Xun led them to where tribute herbs were stored and pointed to the neatly categorized materials.
"These are the prized medicinal herbs from the tributes. This is where the National Preceptor mentioned the 'Peach Blossom Blood' that time."
He Mulan stared at the thousands of herbs, his face completely unreadable. Then, he uttered a single word:
"Search."
They searched for nearly an hour, but came up empty-handed.
Of course they did. The Peach Blossom Blood and that mysterious iron plate had long since been moved by Li Xun. This whole excursion was just a trap, meant to feed them the wrong conclusions.
Gu Pin'er was starting to doubt. "Senior Brother… could that person have already stolen it?"
Two others agreed immediately. One was Senior Brother Liu, who never thought much of Li Xun, and the other was a man named Dong.
But He Mulan wasn't so quick to admit defeat. He turned to Li Xun. "Junior Brother Xun, has anyone taken herbs from this place in the last few days?"
Li Xun shook his head. "No. If anyone wants to remove anything through official channels, they have to report to the National Preceptor and the managing eunuch. There's a record for everything. I actually checked today. Since this batch of tribute herbs arrived, nothing has been removed."
That was practically confirmation that the Peach Blossom Blood had been stolen. Upon hearing it, disappointment flickered across everyone's faces.
Except for He Mulan.
Eyes half-closed, he fell into deep thought again. No one dared interrupt. Li Xun smirked inside, but remained alert, thinking carefully if he had overlooked anything.
Silence fell over the pill chamber.
Finally, He Mulan opened his eyes. "Junior Brother Xun, are there still any batches of tribute yet to be stored?"
Li Xun was taken aback, but then he understood where He Mulan was going. Stubborn guy just won't stop chasing the wrong lead, huh? Still, he had to answer.
"There should be two batches left. After that, nothing more."
He Mulan leaned in slightly, enunciating each word slowly: "Do they contain Peach Blossom Blood?"
Li Xun scratched his head, pretending uncertainty. "I'm not sure. We'd need to check the tribute lists. There are two copies; one with the Ministry of Revenue, the other with the National Preceptor."
Everyone understood what he meant now. Gu Pin'er even laughed, her mood visibly lifted. "Right! If the upcoming tributes include more Peach Blossom Blood, they'll have to show up again."
He Mulan nodded. "This substance isn't easy to gather. It's all about accumulating drop by drop. For those kinds of demonic cultivators, even a single drop is worth the risk. Junior Brother Xun, can you get us a copy of the list?"
Li Xun had no choice but to nod.
He Mulan added, "Regardless of whether the upcoming batches contain any, we'll be keeping this area under strict surveillance."
Li Xun quietly calculated how this new development might affect him. In the end, he concluded: As long as I'm careful, nothing will go wrong.
With that, his heart settled. No matter what He Mulan planned, Li Xun just led them back to the upper level. As they were about to leave, He Mulan suddenly asked, "What's that room?"
Li Xun followed his finger and replied casually, "That's the mechanism room. It controls all the mechanisms in the inner vault."
He Mulan gave a slight nod and said no more. The six of them disappeared into the tunnel once again, leaving behind a pile of unconscious guards and eunuchs.
....
Back on the palace path, Li Xun strolled beneath the darkening sky, the last light of day fading in the west, his mind racing with calculations.
It had been five days since the disciples from Heavenly Vigorous Sect obtained the tribute list. That morning, the final batch of tributes had been delivered, and sure enough, it contained over two hundred drops of Peach Blossom Blood; a sizable amount. He Mulan and the others were now on high alert.
And rightly so. Over the past five days, three groups of rogue cultivators had tried to steal the Peach Blossom Blood and were slain on the spot.
The five sect members worked with impeccable coordination and impressive strength. All three battles had ended quickly and decisively.
Unfortunately, battles between cultivators are anything but ordinary. In the end, there were two instances where the force wasn't properly controlled, collapsing over ten sections of the dense underground tunnel network and triggering a partial earthquake in the Forbidden Palace.
Longqing summoned Yin Wanderer for an explanation… only to be scared out of his wits when she claimed the commotion was due to an elixir about to be refined—one that had attracted the covetous attention of demons and monsters.
With this turn of events, not only was Yin Wanderer invited to take up permanent residence in the palace, even Li Xun could not escape. He got summoned into the palace to protect the emperor.
Imagine it: inside the palace, you've got Yin Wanderer, disciples from Heavenly Vigorous Sect, rogue cultivators from all over, and then someone like him, barely worthy of mention, thrown together in one big mess. The whole situation was tangled up tighter than a ball of yarn. Just thinking about all the alliances and grudges gave him a headache.
Li Xun knew himself well; there was no way he could navigate something this complicated. So all he could do was tread carefully, keeping his head down and playing it safe every single day. Still, he couldn't help but count on his fingers, wondering, When will this all be over?
Luckily, Yin Wanderer had already promised Longqing that once the Lantern Festival was over, she'd start refining the pill. Once the Peach Blossom Blood was mixed with other ingredients, its power would be greatly diminished. After that, even if someone got their hands on it, it would be useless.
If all went well, maybe all this chaos would finally die down.
Li Xun was really looking forward to that day. He even dared to hope that once the pill refining started, Yin Wanderer would make her escape. Best case? She runs off with Blood Wanderer too—the farther the better. And while they're at it, that whole bunch from He Mulan's side could leave as well! Then maybe, just maybe, he could finally take a proper breath of air under this sky.
Of course… at this point, that was just wishful thinking.
Like now, while he was sighing to himself, a girl's voice suddenly piped up: "Why the long face?"
Li Xun felt the urge to sigh again. Out popped Gu Pin'er, as unpredictable as ever; she really didn't act like someone from the rule-obsessed Heavenly Vigorous Sect.
She was lively, energetic, nosy as hell, and honestly didn't care too much about etiquette. Honestly, she didn't seem like a cultivator at all. And yet, somehow, all of that came together with her sweet, innocent vibe, making her whole presence feel oddly natural.
How can there be a cultivator like this?
Thinking this, Li Xun paused and forced a smile. "Senior Sister Pin'er, you looking for me?"
Gu Pin'er was dressed in a flowing purple dress, landing lightly at his side. Her eyes sparkled like twin crescent moons. Most of her spiritual charm came from those eyes. They were always smiling, like the world never gave her anything to worry about.
"Can't I look for you if there's nothing going on? I've been wandering around the inner treasury all day; it's exhausting!"
If you're tired, then go away already… Li Xun cursed inwardly.
He scratched his head. A move he'd been doing more and more lately. It looked just a bit silly, which helped mask his mature and composed look he usually carried. Honestly, it had become one of his best defense mechanisms.
"Well… if you say you're tired, then sure. Want to find somewhere to sit?"
He glanced around before saying this. After all, they were still in the palace, and a beautiful young woman suddenly appearing at his side? That was more than enough gossip fuel for the eunuchs and palace maids.
Gu Pin'er caught on right away. Smart girl. She giggled, then quickly shook her head. "Junior Brother Xun, look at you! You've cultivated in the sect all these years and still can't relax? Did living down in the mortal realm shrink your courage too?"
The first half of her sentence sounded all wise and mature, but the second half blew her cover completely. Li Xun could only shake his head and smile bitterly. He didn't dare follow up on that topic, quickly changing it instead:
"Senior Sister, there's a pavilion up ahead. How about we go sit there for a bit?"
"Nope!" Gu Pin'er shook her head decisively. "Sitting's too boring!"
"Then let's just walk…" Li Xun sighed inwardly. He knew exactly what she wanted. She was just looking to have some fun with him. Just a playful, curious girl. Who knows what kind of teachings the Heavenly Vigorous Sect gave her…
So the two of them wandered aimlessly through the royal gardens.
Of course, these palace gardens didn't compare to what you'd find in the Tongxuan Realm. And since it was winter, all the trees were bare, giving everything a bleak and chilly vibe. Still, Li Xun managed to pull out all sorts of quirky palace tales and anecdotes at just the right moments, keeping the mood light and lively. He had Gu Pin'er laughing so hard she almost doubled over.
Watching her laugh so freely, Li Xun finally let out a silent breath of relief.
If he could earn more of her trust, that could only be a good thing. With just a few days left, he couldn't afford any more mistakes.
As those thoughts turned in his head, his mouth didn't stop moving. When he got to a story about Longqing making a complete fool of himself while trying to cultivate, Gu Pin'er laughed so hard she had to stop walking. Li Xun chuckled along with her.
But just then, his ears caught a faint crack; it was the sound of a dry branch breaking. Footsteps followed closely behind.
He turned his head and saw a few palace maids carrying baskets of fresh fruit, walking down a side path. He quickly warned Gu Pin'er to keep her voice down.
Startled, Gu Pin'er immediately covered her mouth, wide-eyed as she looked in that direction. The look on her face was way too cute. But she soon realized how ungraceful she must've looked, quickly straightened her clothes, adjusted the short sword at her side, and composed herself with a demure, ladylike expression.
Still, under Li Xun's amused gaze, she shot him a fierce glare, completely betraying her real personality.
It was only then that the palace maids spotted them. They froze, clearly startled, then quickly put down the fruit baskets and knelt in greeting. Li Xun felt like a few of them looked familiar. And sure enough, one of them was Xing'er.
From the Lanxie Court…
Li Xun couldn't quite describe how he felt in that moment. His face stiffened slightly, but he quickly pulled it back to normal. He nodded at them to get up and motioned for Gu Pin'er to keep walking.
Gu Pin'er's curious eyes scanned the maids before turning to Li Xun. "Are you usually super mean to them? They look terrified of you."
Li Xun's heart skipped a beat, but he calmed down quickly. He knew saying too much now would only make things worse. So he just smiled, a warm and gentle smile with no trace of malice.
To Gu Pin'er, that smile was soft and kind.
But to the palace maids, under that same warm face, they could feel the unspoken warning and hostility.
The maids lowered their heads even further. Li Xun was quite pleased with how quick-witted they were.
"Senior Sister Pin'er…"
Li Xun was just about to gesture for Gu Pin'er to move along when she suddenly turned her head, as if something had caught her attention. Li Xun felt a flicker of unease and followed her gaze…. only to spot Xing'er, right there among the bowing palace maids, suddenly ducking her head in a fluster. She stood out like a sore thumb.
Li Xun's heart sank.
A smile could hide problems for a moment. But more expressions? They could dig the problems back up! In that instant, Li Xun had the impulse to strangle Xing'er right then and there. But as Gu Pin'er turned back to him, he had to force his expression to stay exactly the same, like nothing was wrong.
Sure enough, Gu Pin'er's face had changed, just slightly. She tried to play it off, but she was never the type who could hide her thoughts. The more she tried to cover it up, the more obvious it became.
Li Xun kept his mind cool, icy cold. He locked eyes with Gu Pin'er and gave a small smile, even shrugged a little, putting on a look of helpless innocence.
Her eyes flickered with confusion. She instinctively glanced again in Xing'er's direction, but of course, Xing'er didn't dare lift her head again, so Gu Pin'er couldn't get a read on her intent.
She threw one last cold glance that way, then Li Xun led her off down the path.