After a long, exhausting walk through the darkening streets, we finally reached the imposing Blade Palace. It was nighttime now, the sky completely dark, but the palace didn't need any artificial light whatsoever. The brilliant moonlight was more than enough for it to shine bright silver, reflecting off its metallic architecture in an almost ethereal way.
It looked simultaneously magnificent and scary to be honest, like something out of a legend that would either save you or kill you. The heavily armed guards stationed at the front entrance instantly opened the massive gates upon seeing the king, and we were immediately greeted by a small group of soldiers waiting inside the courtyard. Among them, guess who was fucking present.
Zhang.
That asshole.
He, along with a few other soldiers, bowed deeply before the king in perfect synchronized formation.
"Stand up," King Cangyuan ordered them.
"Welcome back, my king," Zhang said with barely concealed smugness in his voice. "It is truly a great sight to see our enemies captured and defeated by your unparalleled skill and power."
"Thank you for the kind words," the king replied coolly. "And you would be...?"
"Zhang, my lord," he said. "And please don't mention it. You are far too humble and modest."
Ass-kissing fuck.
The king then turned to order one of the other soldiers standing nearby, "Bring me some heavy shackles to put on these prisoners immediately."
Zhang kept staring at us for an uncomfortably long while, his gaze lingering on each of us. At me, to be more precise. I had clearly pissed him off the most out of everyone. In my defense, he was being the annoying one first with all his whipping and general assholery. I just smiled a little at him, which only seemed to make him angrier. Worth it.
"So, my lord," Zhang said, finally tearing his hateful gaze away from me to look at the king instead, "would you like me to personally take them to the torture chambers?"
"The what now?" Liangyu's eyes shot up in alarm.
"I'd be happy to supervise their... questioning," Zhang continued.
"There's no need for that, Zhang," the King said firmly, waving off the suggestion. "I will be taking them inside the palace to see to their fate personally. They require special attention."
"As you wish, my lord," Zhang said, bowing again though he looked disappointed.
We were then "neatly decorated" in our heavy metal shackles, which were surprisingly uncomfortable and way heavier than they looked, and began walking deeper into the palace grounds. The king led us through several corridors and courtyards, past curious servants and stationed guards, until we finally arrived at his personal chambers. Nope, not his bedroom. I meant his personal official court room.
There was a single man already waiting there for us, standing near the throne. Wen Qian, the king's grand chancellor. He quickly bowed down respectfully to the king and then gave us all a long, scrutinizing look with his calculating eyes.
"The perpetrators have been caught, I see," he said as he began walking around us in a slow circle, carefully scanning each one of us like we were some kind of interesting showcase in a museum or rare specimens to be studied. "May I ask, King Cangyuan, which one of these young troublemakers is the one called Han?"
"None of them, unfortunately," the king replied with frustration. "Han managed to escape during the confrontation."
"Ah, he's escaped from even the great King Cangyuan himself?" Qian raised an eyebrow, sounding impressed despite himself. "A very powerful foe indeed, then. Would you like me to send our best soldiers out for an immediate search of the surrounding areas?"
"No, not yet," the king replied as he walked over and sat down on his throne. "I would first like to seal the fate of these hooligans before dealing with their escaped leader."
"Hmm," Qian nodded thoughtfully as he looked at us while slowly brushing his impressively long beard with his wrinkled hands. "They seem so young, and yet they've caused such a significant ruckus and disruption. So... prison, or torture, my lord? What would you prefer?"
"What is up with these guys torture?" Liangyu muttered under his breath, looking genuinely concerned.
"Neither," the king replied, leaning back on his throne. "These are some fine young cultivators with obvious talent. We can use them for the kingdom's benefit. For now, let's toy around with them a little, break their spirits. Two of them are earth cultivators," he pointed directly towards Jian and Liangyu, "so put them on garden duty immediately. I'd like to see them properly humiliated as they cut grass with scissors instead of commanding it to grow. And the girl? She's a fire cultivator, so-"
"Kitchen duty, my lord?" Qian interrupted with a knowing smirk, clearly pleased with his own cleverness.
"Yes. Kitchen duty," the king confirmed. He then looked directly at me for a long, intense moment and said, "As for this one who's left, leave him here with me for a while. I'd like to speak to him personally about a few things."
King Cangyuan gave a dark frown like he was absolutely about to torture the living shit out of me as soon as everyone else left the room. Qian clearly understood the threatening look and promptly took my friends away, leading them out through a side door.
As soon as the heavy doors closed behind them and we were completely alone, the king let out a long, relieved breath and his entire posture relaxed.
"That was some seriously great acting," I said, genuinely impressed. "How long till she graces us with her presence?"
"Should be here in around thirty minutes," the king replied, his voice returning to normal.
He tossed me the keys to my shackles so I could unlock myself, and I then paced around the impressive room for a while, looking at the elaborate court paintings on the walls depicting various historical battles and legendary heroes. "So, your chancellor seemed pretty sweet," I said.
"He is, isn't he?" the King said with a knowing smile. The sarcasm wasn't lost on him at all. "What can I say about Qian? He's seen enough political backstabbings and betrayals in his long life to completely lose trust in all. He just automatically assumes the worst in everyone now as a survival mechanism."
"Mhm… fair enough," I replied. "You know, speaking of personalities and behavior, Han told me earlier that you're normally pretty chill and easygoing with your people. How come none of your soldiers or advisors doubted your decisions and sudden personality change over the past month, given how your whole vibe probably did a complete one-eighty degree shift?"
"Well, even though I honestly don't remember much of what I did during that time," the king said thoughtfully, "I can tell you from experience that people don't exactly question your morality or decision-making when you're a king. They just blindly follow orders without thinking too much about it."
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense," I agreed.
"Is that why you think our mystery man hasn't given the mind control potion to anyone else?" the king asked perceptively.
"No, actually," I said, shaking my head. "If he had more of that potion at his disposal, and he's obviously come this far with his plan, he would've definitely used it on others as insurance and backup. But he only specifically targeted you. Which means he probably only had one shot with it and he had to make it count. And who else but the king himself to pull all the strings?"
As we were talking and theorizing, we suddenly heard someone knocking politely at the doors.
"Come in," said the king, straightening up slightly.
Then she entered the room. Mei Lian. The poor girl looked absolutely exhausted, like she'd been working day and night without any breaks or rest for weeks. She kept walking slowly toward us with her head lowered submissively, not making eye contact. Her physique looked surprisingly strong and refined though, clearly someone who practiced cultivation regularly, but her overall demeanor and energy, it was just like a walking corpse. Completely drained of all life and hope.
She bowed deeply before the king and then finally looked up at me with tired, suspicious eyes.
Now was the perfect time for me to give her some courage. Some hope. A goddamn ray of sunlight in her depressed and miserable life! I'm a hero afterall, and so I gave her the brightest, most reassuring smile I could possibly manage. "You must be Mei."