After Gu Yin left the Royal Palace, Yan Xuanyu stood in the hall, his face dark. He did not move for a long time.
He stared in the direction Gu Yin had disappeared, a tangle of emotions flashing through his eyes—displeasure, suspicion, and a chill he could not put into words.
"Someone."
A dark figure appeared soundlessly in the hall and knelt.
He was an elderly eunuch with snow-white hair, a withered face, and a hunched frame that looked as though a gust of wind could knock him over.
But his eyes were like two ghostly lamps, their depths unfathomable.
"Your Majesty." The eunuch's voice rasped like dry branches rubbing together.
Yan Xuanyu kept his back to him. "Watch Gu Yin personally. I want to know his every move."
The eunuch raised his head, a strange look crossing his eyes. "Your Majesty means..."
"I gave him a month to retrieve the Dragon Soul. But I could tell he was unwilling."
Yan Xuanyu turned, his gaze cold and sharp. "If he carries out the task in earnest, well and good. But if he dares obey me to my face while defying me behind my back, or even collude with Lin Zishan—"
He paused, then spoke each word with deliberate force.
"Kill them both. The Dragon Soul must be brought back to Great Yan."
The eunuch fell silent for a moment, then slowly bowed his head. "This old servant understands."
His figure vanished without a sound, as though he had never been there.
Yan Xuanyu stood with his hands behind his back and looked out at the night sky. Dark clouds covered the moon, and the night was deep.
He murmured, "Gu Yin, don't disappoint me."
Crouching Dragon Mountains, Eastern Splendor Stronghold.
It was late at night when Li Yun returned