Imperial Palace · Palace gate
The main gate was painted vermilion and studded with bronze nails, its fierce beast-head fittings holding bronze rings as large as wicker baskets in their jaws. After showing his token, Liu Zhan slowed his steps and waited for the other man to catch up, then they went inside shoulder to shoulder.
Along the empty palace thoroughfare, from the passageway to every connecting road, saber-bearing guards stood like nails driven into the ground, one every three paces. Liu Zhan and Yu Qianzhi walked slowly, their long sleeves fluttering. In the winter air, they even seemed like lofty masters beyond the mortal world.
The eunuch guiding them walked ahead. Not daring to hurry either man, he could only keep his head down and lead the way.
With a faint smile on his face, Yu Qianzhi lowered his voice and asked, "I heard you just went to the prison. What happened? Did someone turn into a malevolent ghost?"
Yu Qianzhi had been shocked when he heard about it. This was the Capital City. Never mind the dead turning into malevolent ghosts-even a great monster would be detected if it used demonic power here.
What exactly had happened?
Was there something special about the person who died?
"He was merely one man, and I hear he was the steward of the Duan Residence. He didn't even hold an official post. How could someone like that wreak havoc beneath layer upon layer of imperial might?"
No matter how Yu Qianzhi thought about it, he could not make sense of it. But he had not handled the matter, so when he met Liu Zhan, who had, he asked.
Liu Zhan frowned. In truth, he could not make sense of it either.
Today, he had suddenly received word that someone had died