Breaking Off

Li Yaoxuan turned and headed toward the military formation, utterly decisive, never looking back.

With the death of State Preceptor Ran Jianli, this was no longer the time to tear off all pretenses completely. For the time being, the Emperor and Prime Minister needed to stand closely united on the surface against the sects. Yet the moment Xu Yinhe refused Li Yaoxuan, the rift between them had, in truth, already become irreparable.

Treading across the rain-dampened grass, Li Yaoxuan walked forward slowly. On the horizon ahead stood the grim military formation, drawn up in full readiness.

Nearly a hundred years old and at the end of his days, Li Yaoxuan, a man with one foot in the grave, no longer viewed things with the childishness of his younger years. He had become clear-sighted. Yet even after turning the matter over a thousand times, he had never imagined that the Imperial and Prime Ministerial Factions would ultimately collapse and split over their children.

When they were young, the two had drunk and talked merrily together about many things. Among them was the fact that Xu Yinhe's attitude toward his own family did not make him a qualified ruler.

Man is not wood or stone—how could he be without feeling? Li Yaoxuan had not never wished for the same household joy enjoyed by the Prime Minister's Mansion, but the lonely heights of power demanded that he suppress such emotions.

One's children were the continuation of one's bloodline, the extension of one's own existence, and a vessel for one's feelings.

But every generation of the imperial clan faced people who had risen to the absolute pinnacle from among billions! Without cold-blooded training, without painstaking instruction, what right did they have to contend with such people?

Xu Yinhe was fortunate that all three of