"After more than two hundred years of preparations, you finally took the bait!"
No joy or sorrow showed on Bai Yujun's face, as though she were merely stating some trivial matter, yet her faintly trembling body revealed that she was thrilled beyond measure.
The once-clear sky suddenly filled with ink-dark clouds, rolling black masses shrouding Chang'an and blotting out the Mid-Autumn moon!
Li Zhang watched the green lotus rapidly wither and die, like autumn giving way to winter, and was seized by boundless terror.
"Th-that golden talisman..."
"Oh, that golden talisman? It was merely a lightning-incantation talisman I made from gold back then. It was just a little bigger and prettier. If you like it, I can give it to you."
Bai Yujun, seated upon the dragon throne, wore a mocking expression.
By now, Li Zhang understood everything. It had all been a scam!
"That golden talisman was a fake! The true treasure suppressing you was the green lotus in that pool! When you were struck by the golden talisman's lightning before, it was all an elaborate act put on for me! I thought everything had been under my control, never imagining that I was the greatest joke of all!"
Bai Yujun smiled from the dragon throne.
"Oh? Not bad. You actually realized that green lotus was the thing suppressing me."
Yet Li Zhang felt cold all over, as though he had fallen into an ice pit. Recalling how the Chunyang Palace Master had ascended in broad daylight not long ago, followed by this true dragon beginning to break her seal, he finally understood that she had been waiting all along...
The flowers and leaves fell away. The green lotus was gone, leaving behind only a pool of dead water.
She had not only deceived him, this so-called Crown Prince,