Long Night

Among ordinary mortals, male superiority and female inferiority were customs determined by strength. But from the moment one set foot upon the path of cultivation, that gap in power was bridged.

Though the notions and customs of the lower ranks influenced the upper ranks to a certain extent in turn, that influence was ultimately limited. In the world of sects, in the realm of dynasties, there was no lack of women among the upper echelons.

Xu Yinhe had not failed to anticipate Li Yaoxuan's desire to establish a female emperor. Or rather, he had considered every imperial descendant who might inherit the throne.

Li Yaoxuan had been contemplating the future—how could Xu Yinhe not have done the same?

It was simply that Xu Yinhe truly had not seen through Li Yaoxuan's decisiveness in making such a certain choice.

This old friend had hidden it too well.

The way he had supported Wu Yuan was like storing water in a reservoir: a slow, steady trickle. Every move that strengthened Li Qingyan's authority had been concealed beneath grander national policies.

When the Rebellion of the Empress Mu ended, Li Qingyan's military authority had not been reclaimed—for the sake of stability, and to send a message to the natal family of the imperial couple, the Marquis of Martial Achievement Estate, that it ended there.

The Crown Prince remained the Crown Prince.

Wu Yuan still commanded troops beyond the capital.

One within, one without.

And severing the channels through which the Crown Prince could contact Wu Yuan—isolating the inner from the outer—was naturally to prevent the "Rebellion of the Empress Mu" from happening again.

When they had risked the blizzard calamity and used the imperial clan's national fortune to force the Prime Minister's Mansion into waging war at the Northern Border, Xu Yinhe should