Such Forbearance

Chang'an, Daming Palace.

At the pinnacle of power beneath heaven, all within the four seas and myriad lands came to pay homage.

Every brick and tile here had been steeped in eight hundred years of wind, frost, and blood.

Within Changle Palace, a woman dressed in bright yellow court robes, her cloudlike hair piled high, sat upright upon a phoenix couch.

She was around forty, well cared for. Traces of the peerless beauty of her youth could still be seen between her brows, but the faint lines at the corners of her eyes and those calm, rippleless pupils betrayed the marks of time.

She was the current Empress Dowager, Lady Liu.

"Mother, your son has recently acquired several fine Duan inkstones and has come especially to present them to you."

Below the couch, a young man in a prince's dragon-patterned robe stood with his body bent respectfully. His features resembled the Empress Dowager's by seven parts, though they carried a touch more feminine softness.

The Empress Dowager did not look at the precious inkstones presented by the eunuchs. She merely took a light sip of tea.

"You are thoughtful."

"If Mother likes them, your son will gather more for you."

"No need."

The Empress Dowager set down her teacup with a soft clink. "This one now worships Buddha and recites sutras. I have long ceased using such things."

"But you, all day long, are either cockfighting and chasing dogs or collecting these useless trinkets. Have you made even the slightest progress?"

The young man's smile stiffened before he quickly put on an aggrieved expression. "Mother, it is not as though you do not know, your son..."

"Your son what?" the Empress Dowager interrupted. "Now that you are an idle prince with neither power nor influence, you may simply abandon yourself to depravity?"

"Your son would not dare!"

For a moment, the atmosphere in the palace hall congealed.

The old eunuch standing to one side watched his nose, and his nose watched his heart. He did not even dare breathe loudly.

After a long while.

The Empress Dowager finally gave a faint sigh. "Rise."

She waved a hand, signaling the eunuchs to take away the inkstones.

"This one is not blaming you." Her voice softened somewhat. "It is only... seeing you like this leaves me ill at ease."

"Back then... if not for him, why would you have ended up like this? You were born the Crown Prince. The realm of Great Tang should have been yours."

"Mother... speak carefully."

"Speak carefully?" The Empress Dowager suddenly laughed. "At this point, what words are there that this one cannot say?"

"This one raised him through bitter hardship, taught him to read and write... I ask myself, I had already done all that benevolence and duty required of me."

"But how did he repay this one?"

The young man remained silent and did not respond.

Naturally, he was unwilling to accept it.

But at this point, what use was there in saying such things?

"Enough..."

The harshness in the Empress Dowager's eyes gradually receded, leaving behind only weariness.

"Withdraw."

"Your son... takes his leave."

Watching that figure disappear beyond the palace doors, she waved her hand, indicating for all the palace maids and eunuchs within the hall to leave.

Only she remained in the vast, empty palace.

"Come in."

She spoke calmly toward an empty corner.

A shadow slowly emerged.

"Your Majesty."

"Speak."

"Jiang Xun's daughter, Jiang Yuechu, not only did not die, but has now... become a member of the Demon Suppression Office in Longyou Circuit."

"Hmm?"

The Empress Dowager lifted her eyes, a flicker of surprise passing through them.

"How could this be? Where is Pei Changqing, who was escorting her?"

"Pei Changqing and a squad of Demon-Suppression Guards under his command have all vanished. The Longyou Circuit commandery office sent people to investigate, but only said that they had... encountered a great demon."

"Encountered a great demon?" The Empress Dowager sneered. "Pei Changqing was a String Hearing Realm martial artist at the very least, and his squad was elite among the Demon Suppression Office. Even if they encountered a Bone-Chiming Great Demon, they should not have been unable to send back even a single message."

"This matter... is indeed suspicious."

"The Demon Suppression Office seems to still be investigating. Yet according to reports from our people, the Longyou Circuit commandery office has not made a great fuss over it. Instead... it directly recruited Jiang Yuechu into Xuan Camp."

The Empress Dowager furrowed her brows.

Strange.

The Demon Suppression Office had always been fiercely protective of its own.

Now that an entire squad of its people had vanished without explanation, Jiang Yuechu, as the sole survivor, would already be incredibly fortunate not to be seized and interrogated with all eighteen tortures until the heavens and earth turned upside down.

Yet she was not merely unharmed—she had even entered the Demon Suppression Office?

To make the people of the Demon Suppression Office set aside the blood feud of their comrades' miserable deaths and exceptionally recruit her into their ranks...

This girl was likely rather unusual.

Naturally, the Empress Dowager remembered Jiang Yuechu.

Raised in the inner chambers, never stepping beyond the main gate or the second gate, her greatest hobbies were ordinarily reading poetry and painting a few strokes of ink.

Her temperament had also been timid and gentle; she would blush upon seeing strangers.

How had such a weak woman, unable even to truss a chicken, survived a deathtrap of that sort?

And what had earned her the Demon Suppression Office's special regard?

Besides, one's abilities could not possibly be forged overnight.

This girl likely knew something long ago and had been enduring in silence all along.

The Empress Dowager narrowed her eyes and suddenly began to laugh.

"What a Jiang Yuechu... such forbearance... what exactly are you plotting?"

Gan Prefecture.

Upon the official road, eight Scarlet-eyed Steeds kicked up clouds of dust as they galloped at full speed.

Scarlet-eyed Steeds were demon horses bred specifically by the Demon Suppression Office. They were exceptionally swift, yet even so, the journey from Liangzhou Prefecture to Zhangye in Gan Prefecture had taken a full three days.

Three days without sleep or rest, traveling day and night.

Even the men of the Demon Suppression Office, all strong and sturdy, could not help showing traces of fatigue on their faces by now.

Liu Chen reined in his horse, pulled out a waterskin from his robes, and tipped back his head for a drink. Then he turned, his gaze instinctively falling upon the figure at the very end of the group.

The windblown sand was fierce, making it difficult to keep one's eyes open.

The girl wore fitted black clothes patterned with crimson lines, making her figure appear all the more slender, as though a slightly stronger gust could blow her away.

Yet she sat firmly upon the horse's back, her posture as straight as a spear. One hand held the reins, while the other rested casually on the hilt of the blade at her waist.

The windblown sand swept over her fair face but failed to leave behind the slightest trace. Instead, it lifted several stray strands of her disheveled hair, revealing her smooth forehead.

"Cough..."

Liu Chen cleared his throat and deliberately fell back several positions, riding alongside Jiang Yuechu.

"Are you getting used to it?"

It was her first mission, after all. Traveling day and night like this was difficult even for veterans of the Demon Suppression Office.

Let alone a girl.

But then he suddenly remembered that this seemingly frail body had punched a Bone-Resonance Realm great demon to death with a single blow.

Asking that had truly been unnecessary...

For a moment, he even felt somewhat embarrassed.

Jiang Yuechu replied indifferently, "It's fine."

Her attitude was neither warm nor cold.

Liu Chen nodded, unbothered. He had already grown accustomed to her manner.

The group continued onward.

Amid the silence, Jiang Yuechu suddenly spoke.

"At Jincheng County that day, what happened afterward to the one who drew his blade?"

Several men who had been hurrying along with their heads lowered instinctively slowed their horses and pricked up their ears.

Liu Chen turned his head in surprise.

He had not expected Jiang Yuechu to take the initiative to ask about someone else.

"You mean... Lord Xu?"

"Mm."

The small trace of surprise on Liu Chen's face was swiftly replaced by gloom.

"He's crippled."

Crippled.

Two simple words, yet they told the whole story.

"His meridians were severed, his qi and blood withered. The finest medicine in the commandery office was used. His life was saved, but his cultivation..."

"Lord Wei visited him several times and wanted him to remain at the commandery office as a clerk, living out the rest of his life in peace and stability."

"But he refused."

Liu Chen gave a bitter laugh. "A few days ago, he submitted his papers and resigned, returning home."

The mood within the group grew ever more oppressive.

Even Zhao Hu wore a face full of sighs and regret.

Xu Nian had been something of a figure in the Longyou Circuit Demon Suppression Office.

He had entered the String-Hearing Realm in his twenties and broken into the Bone-Resonance Realm at forty. His Hell-Suppressing Blade had slain countless demons and saved countless commoners.

Yet even a man like that, with one misstep, had ended up like this.