Martial Cultivator

Before the encirclement was completely over, a horse carriage had already slowly left the city, heading toward a certain location outside the Divine Capital. The coachman had a blood vitality as deep as an abyss, which clearly showed he was a formidable martial artist. Hence, there was nothing to worry about. Besides, the destination was not far. After a little more than two hours, they arrived at the foot of a mountain.

The carriage stopped, and the curtain of the carriage was lifted. A figure, cloaked entirely in a black robe, stepped out. The coachman respectfully handed over a lantern, which the person silently accepted before walking up the mountain path.

The coachman did not follow, staying by the carriage while gently stroking the mane of the fine horse beside him.

The mountain was not tall, but it was quite famous in the Divine Capital. Its renown did not come from the mountain itself but from a nunnery at its peak.

The nunnery was called Pure Heart Nunnery, and many nuns lived in the nunnery...

To be precise, it housed many women of noble birth who, after seeing through worldly affairs, chose to become nuns here.

Many of the nuns had high social status before ordaining, so even after becoming nuns, they lived comfortable lives.

Perhaps due to their extraordinary backgrounds, the nuns in the nunnery were very well-mannered, making it easy to serve them. But, as with everything, there were exceptions.

There was an old nun in the nunnery known for being particularly difficult to serve. To be accurate, she was not actually that old; she just always kept a stern expression, which made her appear quite aged. Her temperament was also rather eccentric, so none of the younger nuns wanted to serve her.

Now deep into the night, the nunnery had long since extinguished its lights, but one meditation room remained illuminated. The candle made from mermaid tears sent from the North Sea was far superior to ordinary candles, lighting up the entire room brightly.

A young nun crouched by the door, trying her best to pinch her arm to stay awake.

It was already midnight, and she had not slept much during the day. No matter how hard she tried, her eyes refused to stay open.

As she was drifting off, she vaguely saw a figure approaching. Just as she was about to speak up to warn, that person waved gently, and the young nun immediately collapsed.

The figure then pushed the door open and entered.

The old nun sitting on the meditation mat narrowed her eyes slightly, glancing at the visitor.

But she did not speak.

The visitor slowly sat cross-legged on the mat opposite the old nun and removed the black robe, revealing his face.

"Greetings, Aunt."

Everyone in the nunnery knew that the old nun was the younger sister of the current dynasty's Empress, the daughter of the former, former Great General, a genuine member of the imperial family. However, due to certain past events, she had become a nun at the Divine Capital's Pure Heart Nunnery early in the Emperor's reign. For over ten years, she had rarely left this Pure Heart Nunnery.

The last time she left this Pure Heart Nunnery was on the day of the Empress' passing, but after that, she never left again.

Given her status, there were very few people who could address her as "Aunt."

At most, there could only be four people - His Majesty the Emperor’s three princes, plus Chen Chao.

Chen Chao definitely would not come, nor would he address her like this, so it could only be one of the three princes.

Which one of them was this person in front of her?

The old nun said mockingly, “How could I be worthy of you, someone with the surname Chen, calling me 'Aunt'?”

Perhaps due to the falling out with the Empress, the old nun did not hold much affection for the princes.

The visitor smiled and said, “Since you're my Imperial Mother's younger sister, you're naturally my Aunt. This is something that cannot be changed, no matter how you look at it.”

The old nun snorted coldly, “Do you really think she ever considered me her sister?”

Her words were filled with deep resentment, without any attempt to hide it.

The visitor said, “Of course Imperial Mother saw you as her sister. Blood is thicker than water, and family ties can never truly be severed.”

The old nun let out a cold laugh, “In her heart, there was only that dead girl!”

The visitor thought for a moment, then nodded and said, “Indeed, compared to her, Aunt should have been the one closest to Imperial Mother. In this, Imperial Mother was wrong.”

The old nun's expression softened slightly but still said coldly, “The matters of the past can no longer be made clear. Both she and that dead girl are already dead.”

“But her child is still alive.”

The visitor stared at the old nun and said seriously, “Aunt, you must have heard how Imperial Father treats him.”

At the mention of Chen Chao, a trace of murderous intent flashed across the old nun's eyes, but she also sneered at the same time, “Before she died, I'm sure she must have instructed your imperial father well. Your Imperial Father has always followed her words to the letter, so how could he ever harm him? I've heard that not only did he grant him the right to bear arms, but he even handed over that Thousand Year Glacial Stone. He's probably treated that bastard child better than his own sons.”

The visitor nodded, “I don't know why, but Imperial Father indeed holds him in special regard. Perhaps it's out of guilt?”

The old nun laughed coldly but said nothing.

“Imperial Father doesn't like us, perhaps because we aren't the kind of children Imperial Father wanted, but Imperial Father is so fond of him that he wants to give him everything. That's a bit too much.”

The visitor sighed, “In the end, the son can't compare to the nephew.”

“So pitiful, truly pitiful.”

The old nun mocked, “Born into the best family in the world, and yet so pitiful.”

The visitor said, “It's one thing for Imperial Father to give him some things, but now, Imperial Father is even looking to give him the entire empire.”

The old nun frowned, “Has he lost his mind?”

The visitor smiled bitterly, “Imperial Father has always been autocratic in his decisions; he never cares about these things. He does whatever he pleases.”

"Ridiculous! After all the effort he put into snatching this empire and sitting on the throne for over a decade, instead of leaving it to his own sons, he's thinking about returning it. Is there anything more absurd in this world?"

The old nun said angrily, "If he never wanted it in the first place, why did he bother snatching it back then? Wouldn't it have been better to just wait for them to come and slaughter your entire family?"

During that war back then, she had done many things to support the current emperor. The reason was quite simple: her dearest sister was his prince consort.

But that process was not easy. Many people had died before they finally succeeded in accomplishing that.

The fact that this empire was taken, one might not say half the credit belonged to her, but she had certainly made many contributions.

And now, she had heard that he was planning to give the empire away again. If it were to anyone else, it would not have mattered, but the fact that he wanted to give it to the son of that dead girl made it unbearable.

The old nun was furious. She did not want to see such a situation unfold.

"I'm going to kill him."

The old nun stood up, intending to leave, to head to the Divine Capital to find that young man and kill him.

The visitor sighed and said, "I already sent someone to kill him tonight, but they failed."

The old nun cursed, "Useless thing."

The visitor said helplessly, "I don't have many cards on hand. I can't use the cultivators from foreign lands at this moment, and in fact, I can't use them at all. Imperial Father can tolerate them doing certain things, but he absolutely won't allow us to get involved with the foreign lands. If Imperial Father finds out about this, then none of these plans will ever come to fruition."

"He's very strong, absurdly strong. I sent five or six assassins at the Great Beyond Realm, along with a group of others at the Bitter Sea Realm, yet they still couldn't kill him. I suppose even Aunt wouldn't be able to kill him."

The visitor continued, "When I failed, I came to understand something: it's impossible to kill him in the shadows."

The old nun asked, "Since you can't kill him in secret, and you won't kill him yourself, what else can you do?"

The visitor shook his head, "It's not necessarily true that Imperial Father won't kill him."

After pausing for a moment, the visitor said very seriously, "I feel that Imperial Father will kill him."

The old nun looked at the visitor without speaking for a while, not fully understanding his meaning.

"Right now, Imperial Father doesn't kill him because everything is under his control. But once things slip out of his control, the decision to kill or not kill him will no longer be solely in Imperial Father's hands. Imperial Father has never known what his sons are thinking, but as his son, how could I not know what kind of man he is?"

"He wants to be an emperor unlike any in history. He wants to surpass all the previous Great Liang emperors. He wants to be the greatest emperor in human history."

"For the sake of this ambition, he can let him live, use him, protect him, even hand the world over to him. But I will make Imperial Father understand that if he wants to be such an emperor, he cannot give the empire to him - he must kill him."

The visitor took a deep breath and said seriously, "Aunt, I understand. Imperial Father wants to become that kind of emperor, and in doing so, he will surely abandon us, his sons. But I'll make him realize that, between becoming that kind of emperor and keeping him, Imperial Father can only choose to forsake him."

"I want Imperial Father to kill him with his own hands."

Looking at the old nun before him, the visitor said, "I need your help."

……

……

Song Lian looked at Li Heng for a long time before finally retracting his foot. He was well aware that the Eunuch Li standing before him was no ordinary court eunuch, but a cultivator with a highly profound cultivation realm, likely someone who had long reached the Nepenthe Realm.

Even if Song Lian was at the peak of his strength as a martial artist, he still was not his match.

Thus, at this moment, he could only choose to compromise because he knew that even if he did not want to, he had no other choice.

Many times, people have to lower their heads, whether willingly or not.

Li Heng looked at Song Lian and sighed, "It seems I've made Commander Song hold a grudge."

Song Lian did not say much else, only asking, "Will he die?"

Li Heng thought for a moment, then shook his head, "Hard to say, but I think someone like him won't die that easily."

Song Lian asked, "Eunuch Li, will I be able to see him again?"

Li Heng shook his head once more. "I don't know either, but I think that if he no longer wishes to be seen, then no one will be able to find him."

Song Lian thought for a moment and said, "That choice doesn't seem so bad."

Li Heng responded, "In the coming days, Commander Song, you should remain behind closed doors and reflect. There needs to be an explanation, whether for the Right Guard or for His Majesty."

Song Lian nodded, not saying anything more.

Ye Dayuan struggled to get up and was about to speak when Li Heng had already turned to look at this Right Guard Commander. In a soft voice, he asked, "Commander Ye, do you have anything more to say?"

Ye Dayuan was stunned, looking at this chief eunuch. He remained silent for a long time.

Even though Li Heng claimed he was not acting on His Majesty's orders, since he had come and as the most influential eunuch in the court, whether or not he represented His Majesty's will was hard to say.

"Today's matter, this official report it to His Majesty in a memorial."

After thinking for a long time, Ye Dayuan finally spoke.

Li Heng smiled without saying a word.

Then, he lifted his lantern and slowly left.

……

……

The Divine Capital was too vast, and the commotion caused by the Left Guard officials barely disturbed many places. Once Song Lian sent the officials of the Left Guard back, it became even quieter.

However, the quietest place was probably that elegant little courtyard.

Earlier, a young man had knocked on the door and entered the residence. After some time, the entire courtyard fell silent.

The moonlight was quite beautiful at this moment, its bright glow spilling over the scene. In the courtyard, many corpses could be seen.

Blood slowly flowed, soundlessly, gathering at the lowest points and gradually pooling.

The scene looked somewhat gruesome.

On the rooftop, a young man in black casually tossed down a head. The head rolled across the green tiles, making a crisp sound, but no one was around to hear it. Eventually, the head fell into the courtyard's pond, splashing water and startling the fish into scattering.

The young man pulled out a flask of wine and drank alone under the moonlight. It should have been an elegant scene, especially in such a refined courtyard.

But at this time, it felt rather lonely.

The young man took a sip of wine and said mockingly to himself, "This is lame."