Deep within the imperial palace, inside Heart Nourishing Hall.
Unlike the oppressive atmosphere outside, where a storm seemed ready to break, this place was utterly silent.
The air was thick with the smell of medicine, mingled with the fragrance of sandalwood.
Yet even that could not conceal the decaying stench of a life nearing its end.
The elderly Gan Emperor, Li De, lay quietly on the broad, ornate dragon bed.
His life was like a candle guttering in the wind, ready to go out at any moment.
His eyes, once filled with authority and wisdom, had grown cloudy.
Through the lattice window, he gazed at the moon veiled by dark clouds, his eyes full of disappointment and weariness.
He knew that his sons were outside, fighting each other to the death for the throne.
To that end, they had even thrown the realm he had won with his own hands into chaos.
In recent days, they had taken turns coming to "visit" their dying father.
One by one, they had knelt before his bed, weeping and wailing as they spoke of their boundless filial devotion.
But Li De's eyes, though cloudy, could still see straight through people.
He saw clearly the eagerness and greed hidden beneath their sorrowful expressions.
Not one of them had come to see him out of genuine concern.
And what they had brought him was no life-prolonging medicine, but bowl after bowl of medicinal broth meant to hurry him on his way.
How bitterly ironic!
He was the emperor of the Great Gan Dynasty, the ruler of all under Heaven!
Yet now, he did not even have the power to decide whether he lived or died.
"Cough... cough, cough..."
A violent fit of coughing made his already failing body shudder.
He could feel his life draining away at a rapid pace.
He knew he would not last through the night.
Alas, back in his day, he had been a Grandmaster who kept the whole realm in check. How glorious he had been.
But even one as powerful as a Grandmaster, with the strength to destroy heaven and earth, could not achieve immortality.
Grandmasters and Great Grandmasters alike lived for three hundred years, yet immortality remained as distant as ever.
"Come... someone..."
Li De summoned the last of his strength to call out weakly.
An old eunuch who had been waiting nearby hurried forward and dropped to his knees.
"Your Majesty, this old servant is here."
"Convey... convey My verbal decree..."
The Gan Emperor panted between each word.
"Summon the commander of the Imperial Guard, Wang Jian... and... and the Ninth Princess... Yue Chan... to come before Me at once... do not... delay..."
At his words, the old eunuch's body jolted.
The commander of the Imperial Guard, Wang Jian, was the most loyal confidant the emperor had personally raised.
But... the Ninth Princess?
The Ninth Princess, whose mother had died when she was young and who had been all but forgotten by everyone in the palace?
Why would His Majesty summon her on his deathbed?
Though the old eunuch was full of questions, he did not dare delay. He bowed and withdrew at once to deliver the decree himself.
Half an hour later, the commander of the Imperial Guard, Wang Jian, and the Ninth Princess, Li Yuechan, entered the palace hall, one after the other, into the air of death that filled it.
Li Yuechan looked at her father on the dragon bed, on the verge of death—familiar, yet a stranger to her—and her delicate body began to tremble uncontrollably.
Perhaps it was excitement, perhaps reluctance. Her feelings were tangled and complex.
"Wang Jian... Yue Chan... you're... here..."
The Gan Emperor's voice was so faint it could barely be heard.
"Your subject pays his respects to Your Majesty!"
"This daughter pays her respects to Father."
The two knelt together.
"Both... rise..."
"Wang Jian, stand guard outside the door. No one is to come near."
"I... have some words... to speak to Yue Chan alone."
The Gan Emperor gestured.
"I obey, Your Majesty!"
Without the slightest hesitation, Wang Jian rose and withdrew beyond the hall, standing guard at the entrance like a door god.
Only the father and daughter remained inside, alone together for the first time in any true sense—and only on the eve of his death.
The Gan Emperor's clouded gaze fell upon his youngest daughter.
He saw the fear and unease in her eyes, and a flicker of guilt crossed his heart.
All these years, he had been so consumed by his pursuit of that ethereal realm that he had neglected his daughter.
He slowly reached out toward Li Yuechan with a hand as withered as a chicken's claw.
Li Yuechan hesitated, then stepped forward and knelt beside the bed. With her warm, delicate hand, she clasped Li De's cold palm.
"Yue Chan... Father... has wronged you..."
The Gan Emperor's voice was full of boundless regret.
"Father..."
At his words, Li Yuechan's eyes reddened at once.
"Listen, Yue Chan..."
As though granted a final burst of life, the Gan Emperor's spirits seemed to improve.
He gripped his daughter's hand tightly and spoke with a gravity unlike any she had ever heard from him.
"Not one of your elder brothers is fit to rule. They would even ally themselves with the feudal lords for the throne."
"I... cannot hand over this vast realm to them."
"So..."
At this, he stared hard into Li Yuechan's eyes.
"Father is going to pass the throne to you!"
Boom!
The words exploded in Li Yuechan's mind like a thunderclap from a clear sky.
She... a woman, a princess who had never taken part in the affairs of state—how could she inherit the throne?!
"Father! You can't! This... this goes against our ancestral rites! I... I'm not worthy of it!"
She spoke in panic.
"Nothing is more important than the realm."
"Besides, haven't you reached the pinnacle of the first-rate martial realm?"
"With that, and what I leave you, you have a chance to hold this position."
The Gan Emperor's voice suddenly turned stern.
With the last of his strength, he reached beneath his pillow and pulled out a pure-white jade seal.
The Imperial Seal of State!
He pressed into Li Yuechan's hands the token that represented the empire's highest authority.
"Yue Chan, listen. Wang Jian and the hundred thousand Imperial Guards in the Capital City will be loyal to you."
"Given Wang Jian's cultivation as an unparalleled Grandmaster, he can just about help you secure the throne."
"But that still won't be enough. Your elder brothers and the Three Feudal Lords will never accept this quietly."
"They'll question you, resist you, and even... kill you."
"You must survive and hold on to this throne."
"There's one more thing. The Imperial Seal of State is..."
At this point, the Gan Emperor's voice grew fainter and fainter.
The light in his eyes began to fade just as quickly.
Having entrusted her with all his final affairs, a cloudy tear slowly slid from his eye.
"Perhaps... perhaps I shouldn't have pursued that ethereal realm. I've lived nearly three hundred years, and only now do I understand..."
Those were the last words he left behind in this world.
Then his hand fell limply to his side.
A generation of emperors had passed away.
The vast palace hall fell silent as death.
Sixteen-year-old Li Yuechan knelt alone on the cold floor.
She clutched the cold Imperial Seal of State in her hands, its weight like a mountain.
Confusion, helplessness, fear...
A tide of emotions swept over her and dragged her under.
What was she supposed to do?
In that endless darkness and despair, a figure surfaced in her mind without warning.
The black-clad young man who had slain a Grandmaster in Black Wind Gorge with just two moves.
Where was he now?
Before you continue