Ever since the Lu Clan's rebellion had failed, Tiandu City had entered an era of bloody purges.
In the thousand-year imperial capital, rumors flew like startled birds. Every day, people who had once occupied lofty positions or whose names were known far and wide were dragged before Meridian Gate and beheaded. Their homes were confiscated and their lineages exterminated, while their children and family members were reduced to lowly status. Those banished to remote, savage lands suffered even more miserably. Shackled and chained, they marched in long lines down Chang'an's main street. Many of them would likely die on the road, never to return to Tiandu in this lifetime.
These matters should have had nothing to do with ordinary commoners, but for some unknown reason, the people of Tiandu still felt dark clouds hanging over their heads. Everyone felt as if their nerves were stretched taut. Even their voices and hearty laughter were deliberately lowered, as though they might disturb someone if they were not careful.
It was like a pot of oil on the verge of boiling, like a summer sky on the brink of a torrential storm.
Everyone felt as though they could not breathe properly, as if the air itself had become impossible to draw into their lungs.
Over the past two days, Tiandu City had suddenly grown lively again.
It all began when Song Fuxiao of the Song Family injured Yan Xiangma of the Yan Family. Not only had the Yan Family failed to seek an explanation from the Song Family, they had instead expelled Yan Xiangma from the family. In a fit of rage, Yan Xiangma had left home and vanished without a trace.
Just as everyone was discussing the Song Family's overwhelming power and the Yan Family's feebleness and incompetence, Song Fuxiao suddenly knelt