For the Crown Prince to leave the palace was no simple matter. The dangers of a white dragon disguised as a fish had been mentioned before; even within the capital, one could not afford to let down one's guard, much less in the outskirts of the Imperial City.
Yet the Crown Prince had still managed to arrive, which showed that the Emperor had tacitly approved it. Moreover, guards accompanied him, including quite a few experts, not to mention several consecrated masters watching over him.
On the surface, however, there were few signs of it.
The Crown Prince arrived but did not immediately enter the courtyard. Instead, he moved with familiar steps, pacing and hopping back and forth across an open patch outside. At last, he sprang sharply into the air, carrying a faint air of lightness like a swallow. Clearly, he had practiced martial arts, though he had not yet mastered them.
His leap kicked up dust, and he landed some distance away. He let out a long breath, and sweat immediately poured down his body like rain.
At the side, two pale-faced, beardless attendants hurried over to wipe Li Yan's sweat. As for his earlier strange actions, they had long ceased to find them unusual.
"All right, withdraw for now." Li Yan took the cloth from their hands, draped it around his neck, and sent the attendants away.
The attendants obeyed at once. They still remembered how, half a year ago, Li Yinglian, once the favored man constantly at the Crown Prince's side, had enraged the Crown Prince over a trivial matter. Before long, he had been demoted again and again, and had now been sent to some corner of the palace, with no word of him ever heard again. A splendid future had been ruined in a single