The Gan Emperor's Sigh, The Elusive Immortality

Deep within the Imperial Palace, inside the Heart Nourishing Hall.

Unlike the oppressive, storm-breathing atmosphere outside, this place was deathly silent.

The air was thick with the pungent scent of medicine, mingled with the aroma of sandalwood.

Yet, even this could not mask the decaying stench of a life nearing its end.

The aged ruler of the Great Gan Dynasty, Li De, lay quietly upon that vast and ornate dragon bed.

His life was like a candle flickering in the wind, liable to be extinguished at any moment.

Those eyes, once filled with majesty and wisdom, had now become hopelessly clouded.

Through the lattice window, he watched the moon obscured by dark clouds, his eyes brimming with disappointment and exhaustion.

He knew that his sons were currently outside, fighting tooth and nail for the throne.

For this, they had even plunged the empire he had built with his own hands into chaos and filth.

For days, they had taken turns "visiting" him, their dying father.

One by one, they knelt before the bed, shedding tears and speaking words of filial piety that could move the heavens.

But Li De's eyes, though clouded, still possessed the insight to see through hearts clearly.

Beneath their expressions of grief lay such intense urgency and greed.

Not a single one of them had come to visit him with a sincere heart.

What they brought were not life-extending medicines, but bowl after bowl of decoctions meant to hasten his departure.

How ironic!

He was the Emperor of the Great Gan Dynasty, the master of all under heaven!

Yet now, he did not even possess the power to decide his own life and death.

"Cough... cough, cough..."

A violent fit of coughing caused his already failing body to tremble intensely.

He felt his life slipping away at a rapid pace.

He knew he likely would not survive the night.

Alas, in his prime, as a Grandmaster, how glorious he had been, suppressing the entire world.

Yet, even as powerful as a Grandmaster, possessing the strength to destroy heaven and earth, he could not achieve immortality.

The lifespan of both Masters and Grandmasters was three hundred years; immortality remained a distant, unreachable dream.

"Come... someone..."

Li De used his last ounce of strength to issue a weak call.

An old eunuch, who had been waiting by his side, hurried forward and knelt on the ground.

"Your Majesty, this old servant is here."

"Transmit... transmit my imperial decree..."

The Gan Emperor gasped for air, speaking one word at a time.

"Summon the Commander of the Imperial Guard, Wang Jian... and... and the Ninth Princess... Li Yuechan... immediately, come to see me... there must be... no delay..."

Upon hearing this, the old eunuch's body jolted violently.

The Commander of the Imperial Guard, Wang Jian, was the most loyal confidant the Emperor had personally promoted.

But... the Ninth Princess?

That Ninth Princess who had lost her mother at a young age and had been almost forgotten by everyone in the deep palace?

Why would the Emperor summon her on his deathbed?

Though the old eunuch's heart was filled with confusion, he dared not show the slightest hesitation, bowing and retreating to deliver the decree himself.

Half an hour later, the Commander of the Imperial Guard, Wang Jian, and the Ninth Princess, Li Yuechan, walked one after the other into the palace chamber filled with the scent of death.

As Li Yuechan looked at the dying man on the dragon bed—a father both familiar and strange—her delicate body trembled involuntarily.

Perhaps it was agitation, perhaps it was reluctance; it was a complex emotion.

"Wang Jian... Yue Chan... you... have come..."

The Gan Emperor's voice was so faint it was almost inaudible.

"This subject pays respects to Your Majesty!"

"This daughter pays respects to Imperial Father."

The two knelt on the ground in unison.

"Both... both rise..."

"Wang Jian, you... guard the door; no one... is to approach."

"I... have some words I need to say to Yue Chan alone."

The Gan Emperor gestured slightly.

"Your subject obeys!"

Wang Jian did not hesitate in the slightest, rising to retreat outside the hall, standing guard at the entrance like a door god.

Inside the hall, only this father and daughter remained, truly alone for the first time in the face of death.

The Gan Emperor's clouded gaze fell upon his youngest daughter.

Seeing the timidity and unease in her eyes, a flicker of guilt crossed his heart.

All these years, he had been so busy pursuing that ethereal realm that he had completely neglected this daughter.

He slowly reached out a hand, withered and claw-like, toward Li Yue Chan.

Li Yue Chan hesitated for a moment before stepping forward to kneel by the bedside, taking Li De's icy palm into her own warm, small hand.

"Yue Chan... Father... has failed you..."

The Gan Emperor's voice was heavy with endless regret.

"Father..."

Hearing this, Li Yue Chan's eyes instantly turned red.

"Listen to me, Yue Chan..."

The Gan Emperor's spirit seemed to brighten, as if by a final flash of vitality.

He gripped his daughter's hand tightly, speaking with an unprecedented gravity.

"None of your imperial brothers are qualified monarchs; they would even collude with the vassal kings for the sake of the throne."

"I... cannot entrust this vast empire to their hands."

"Therefore..."

At this point, he stared intensely into Li Yue Chan's eyes.

"Father intends to pass this throne to you!"

BOOM!

These words exploded in Li Yue Chan's mind like a bolt of lightning from a clear sky.

She... she was a woman, a princess who had never participated in any political affairs—how could she inherit the throne?!

"Father! No! This... this goes against the ancestral rites! This daughter... this daughter cannot bear such a burden!"

She said in a panic.

"Nothing is more important than the state and the people."

"Besides, do you not currently possess the cultivation of a peak first-rate martial artist?"

"With this, plus the things I am leaving to you, you have a chance to secure this position."

The Gan Emperor's voice suddenly turned stern.

Using his final ounce of strength, he reached under his pillow and pulled out a pure white jade seal.

The Imperial Seal of State!

He shoved this token, which symbolized the highest authority of the empire, into Li Yue Chan's hands.

"Yue Chan, listen: Wang Jian and the one hundred thousand Imperial Guard in the Capital City will pledge their loyalty to you."

"With Wang Jian's cultivation as a supreme grandmaster, he can barely help you stabilize the throne."

"However, this is not enough. Your imperial brothers and those three great vassal kings will never let this go."

"They will question you, they will rebel against you, and they might even... kill you."

"You must survive, and you must hold this position firmly."

"There is one more thing, the Imperial Seal of State is..."

At this point, the Gan Emperor's voice grew weaker and weaker.

The light in his eyes began to fade rapidly.

Having finished his final arrangements, a single clouded tear slowly rolled down from his eye.

"Perhaps... perhaps I should not have pursued that ethereal realm. I have lived for nearly three hundred years, and only now do I understand..."

These were the last words he left in this world.

Immediately after, his hand fell limply to his side.

A generation of emperors had passed away.

In the vast, empty palace, there was a deathly silence.

Sixteen-year-old Li Yue Chan knelt alone on the cold floor.

In her hands, she clutched the Imperial Seal of State, cold to the touch yet heavy as a mountain.

Bewilderment, helplessness, fear...

All manner of emotions surged like a tide, drowning her.

What was she to do?

Right in the midst of this endless darkness and despair, a figure appeared in her mind without warning.

The young man in black who had slain a grandmaster expert in two moves back at Black Wind Gorge.

Where was he now?