Long Night

Among ordinary mortals, men being honored and women demeaned was a custom determined by strength. But from the moment one embarked upon the path of cultivation, that disparity in strength was bridged.

Though the concepts and customs of the lower classes had, to a certain extent, influenced those at the top in turn, that influence was ultimately limited. Within the worlds of sects and imperial dynasties, the upper echelons were hardly lacking in heroic women.

Xu Yinhe had not failed to anticipate Li Yaoxuan's desire to establish an empress—or rather, he had considered every imperial descendant who might inherit the throne.

While Li Yaoxuan contemplated the future, how could he not have done the same?

It was simply that Xu Yinhe truly had not seen through Li Yaoxuan's decision, made with such utter certainty.

This old friend of his had hidden it too well.

The way he had supported Wu Yuan was like filling a reservoir: a steady trickle over time. Every move that strengthened Li Qingyan's authority had been concealed beneath grander national policies.

After the chaos caused by the Empress's kin had ended, not reclaiming Li Qingyan's military authority had been for the sake of stability—for the sake of sending the Empress's maternal family, the Marquis of Martial Achievement Estate, a message that matters ended there.

The Crown Prince was still 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, cutting off communication between inside and out, was naturally meant to prevent the "chaos caused by the Empress's kin" from happening again.

When Li Yaoxuan had braved the blizzard disaster and used the imperial clan's national fortune to bind the Prime Minister's Mansion into deploying troops at the Northern