Night lay over Chang'an like ink, with only a lone moon hanging high, as though it meant to witness all the joys and sorrows of the mortal world.
Within the Imperial City, lights blazed.
The golden light that had torn across the sky did not linger above the city walls, but descended straight into the palace's inner depths.
As its radiance faded, several figures emerged.
The emperor came stumbling over from afar, with the old eunuch close behind him, panting for breath.
"Guyue!"
The emperor barely stopped ten paces before her, his outstretched hand hanging in midair.
Only when he saw the young woman's face, as cool and aloof as ever, did the shoulders of the Emperor of Great Tang, held taut for days, suddenly slump.
"You're back... that's all that matters."
Jiang Yuechu stood where she was, looking at the man before her, who seemed somewhat haggard after a sleepless night. Much of the savagery she had brought back from Five Immortals Mountain quietly dissipated.
She casually straightened her cuffs and called softly, "Brother."
That single word made the Li emperor's nose sting all the more.
Only then did he notice the people behind Jiang Yuechu.
A Daoist boy who looked no more than seven or eight stood with his hands behind his back, surveying the palace's sweeping eaves and interlocking brackets with the air of a wizened elder.
A burly, dark-faced man with a bronze ring through his nose had hunched his neck into his shoulders, seemingly rather intimidated by the place.
As for the last one...
It was Old Flood Dragon, stooped over and wearing a thoroughly ingratiating expression.
He had seen the Daoist boy and Old Flood Dragon before.
But this dark-faced man...
"And this is...?" the emperor asked hesitantly.
*Why does Guyue bring back such