I Understand This

Above the great hall.

The Crown Prince steadied himself. "Father Emperor, this son is willing to yield this opportunity to bring glory to the nation to Fourth Brother and Fifth Brother. This son will withdraw behind the scenes and give my full support to everything they need.

"If things are handled well, the credit will all go to my younger brothers. This son shall claim no merit... If things are handled poorly, this son will bear all blame alone!

"This is precisely the duty this son must fulfill as the heir apparent! To share Father Emperor's burdens!"

What a speech... Xiao Fan inwardly exclaimed, Good heavens, whether it succeeds or fails, you get to play the virtuous one all by yourself, huh?

Emperor Hongwu's expression remained unchanged. He merely nodded lightly. "Mm. You are the Crown Prince. Handle it as you see fit."

"This son obeys the decree!"

The Crown Prince sighed softly, thinking that no matter what, he had finally recovered some ground. At the very least, he had not let Fourth Brother gain an advantage...

Emperor Hongwu paused, his gaze sweeping across the three princes. "Great Liang was founded upon martial might. This Nine Provinces Martial Tournament concerns the dignity of the state, and it is also the time for you all to share the burden of the realm. The people you recommend... are your eyes, and likewise your responsibility."

The fingers resting on the dragon throne's armrest had gone faintly white at the knuckles from exertion, as though he were suppressing something. A thread of deep, nearly imperceptible exhaustion seeped into his voice. "I hope you will... take this to heart, and do not disappoint my expectations."

"This son obeys the decree!" the three princes answered in unison.

Emperor Hongwu nodded lightly, rose, and left the hall... Yan Qing, head of the Shadow Pivot Court, who had remained silent all this while, also rose and followed the Emperor out.

As though granted a reprieve, everyone finally let out a breath. One after another, they carefully withdrew from Purple Zenith Hall, practically holding their breaths as they did.

Outside the hall, everything appeared to have returned to calm, but Xiao Fan noticed that something seemed off about Ji Xuanyuan.

He wore a strange expression as he looked toward Purple Zenith Hall, a trace of worry in his eyes...

Xiao Fan heard him muttering softly to himself, "Strange... Father Emperor today..."

Uh... had the young master suddenly been praised and gotten so excited that he had lost his mind? Xiao Fan grumbled inwardly.

Very soon, the Crown Prince's words caught Xiao Fan's attention.

"Xuanyuan, you felt it too, didn't you?" The Crown Prince lightly patted Ji Xuanyuan's shoulder.

Ji Xuanyuan nodded. "Mm... Though I'm very happy to have received Father Emperor's praise..."

At that moment, the Fourth Prince stepped forward as well. "Father Emperor has been moody of late. Sometimes he is mild, like today... and sometimes irritable, like yesterday."

"Ah... Father Emperor's temperament is becoming more and more impossible to fathom. Your Highness the Crown Prince, Fifth Brother, there are still matters to attend to at my residence, so I'll take my leave first."

With that, the Fourth Prince gave a simple salute, turned, and departed in grand fashion with Yao Yuxiang.

After only a few steps, Yao Yuxiang suddenly stopped. She turned back and glared at Xiao Fan once more before following the Fourth Prince away...

Xiao Fan was speechless. Miss, could you just say what you mean and fart if you need to fart? What's with always glaring at me?!

After leaving the palace, Xiao Fan first accompanied Ji Xuanyuan to Cloud Rest Garden in the southern part of the city.

Ji Xuanyuan had the old steward stand guard in the courtyard and forbade anyone from entering...

"Old Xiao! I finally understand what you said yesterday!" All along the way, Ji Xuanyuan had been immersed in Emperor Hongwu's praise.

Seeing that the young master was getting a little carried away, Xiao Fan's mouth twitched. "Your Highness truly understands?"

"I understand perfectly! So doing this really can earn Father Emperor's attention and praise! Old Xiao, you truly are my lucky star!"

No, no, you're the precious one... Xiao Fan grumbled inwardly. It seemed the young master had not truly understood. He was still just that innocent child who wanted his father's recognition.

Seeing how excited the young master was, Xiao Fan feared he might go from great joy to great sorrow, so he reminded him, "It is naturally a good thing that His Majesty praised Your Highness today, but Your Highness must learn to listen beneath the words... Sometimes His Majesty's praise is indeed praise, but at other times, His Majesty's praise may not truly be praise..."

To Ji Xuanyuan's ears, those words were no different from a riddle...

"What does that mean?"

Xiao Fan had expected the question. "It means that if Your Highness wishes to continue receiving praise, you must learn from His Highness the Crown Prince or His Highness the Fourth Prince how to understand what is implied between the lines and beyond the words. Otherwise... if you misunderstand His Majesty's intentions, it can be very dangerous."

"Mm... uh..." The young master scratched his head, indicating that it was starting to itch again.

Afraid that he would burn his brain dry, Xiao Fan simply stopped there and changed the subject. "Right, I have some questions I would like to ask Your Highness concerning the Sovereign True Dragon Heart Seal you gave me yesterday."

"What questions? Go ahead and ask." The young master looked immensely relieved. At last, he did not need to think about those troublesome matters anymore.

Xiao Fan recollected for a moment and organized his thoughts. "Last night, I carefully studied the cultivation formula for the first realm of the Sovereign True Dragon Heart Seal. It is basically all centered around cultivating with the dragon qi of the earth veins. And this so-called dragon qi of the earth veins seems to require one to sense it through a place called the 'Bright Hall'?"

Xiao Fan already had his own guess about this, and he had successfully sensed dragon qi in what was called the "Bright Hall"—that was, outside the palace's Heaven-Bearing Hall.

Yet even so, he still needed to verify his guess with Ji Xuanyuan. Better still, he wanted to understand the origins and flow of this dragon qi.

Rarely encountering a subject within his own expertise, the young master immediately launched into an enthusiastic explanation. "Ah! I know this!"

"Father Emperor taught us that the 'Bright Hall' mentioned in the formula does not refer to any specific building, but rather to a region..."

"That region is roughly the entire capital! It is simply that the closer one gets to the imperial palace, the denser the dragon qi becomes. Heaven-Bearing Hall in particular is where the dragon vein of the entire capital—and indeed all of Great Liang—is located."

Mm... it was more or less the same as my guess last night... Xiao Fan propped up his chin in thought.

"I understand... Next question: Your Highness said yesterday that the dragon scales cultivated by all members of the imperial family are black. Does that include His Majesty and His Majesty's brothers?"

What Xiao Fan truly wanted to know was whether the Ji Clan had branches aside from Emperor Hongwu's bloodline, and if so, what color the dragon scales they cultivated would be...

The moment the question came out, Ji Xuanyuan answered without much thought, "They're all black. Father Emperor has eight brothers in total. Three are still alive today, and none of them possesses transcendent cultivation..."

Huh?

Xiao Fan quickly spotted the flaw. "Your Highness, I recall you saying that all imperial princes must cultivate the Sovereign True Dragon Heart Seal. Could it be that this rule did not exist during the late emperor's reign?"

The question struck straight into Ji Xuanyuan's blind spot... leaving him momentarily speechless.

The rule requiring all imperial princes to cultivate the Sovereign True Dragon Heart Seal had been orally conveyed to the princes by Emperor Hongwu, who claimed it was a clan rule passed down through generations of the Ji Clan's imperial family.

Yet this clan rule had never been recorded in writing; each successive emperor personally passed it down only to his own sons.

That raised a grave question: was this so-called family rule genuine, or had Emperor Hongwu established it on his own authority?

In truth, when Ji Xuanyuan had first learned of this rule, he had harbored doubts as well. But he had not dared question the emperor, so he had not dwelled on it further.

Now that Xiao Fan had brought it up again, Ji Xuanyuan's old doubts were stirred awake once more.