Page 11

After the shadow guard left, Shi Changyuan dusted off his sleeves and returned to where he had been sitting, only to see Lin Ling curled up in the corner, clutching the thing in his arms tightly.

"What are you afraid of?"

Seeing this, Shi Changyuan lowered his lashes and softened his tone as he lifted him out. "I wasn't even harsh with you."

Lin Ling grunted and began counting Shi Changyuan's past offenses. "You've never been harsh with me, but you did smash my flowerpot."

Shi Changyuan paused, looked at the flowerpot in Lin Ling's arms, and the lingering emotion in his eyes faded. He reached out and tapped Lin Ling's forehead. "You hold grudges."

When the Son of Heaven was enraged, corpses lay strewn for a thousand miles.

No one knew where the others had gotten the news, but from high-ranking officials and ministers to eunuchs and palace servants, all trembled in fear, terrified of displeasing the one seated upon the dragon throne and bringing disaster upon their families.

Meanwhile, security throughout the Capital City had quietly tightened. Guards patrolled by day and night, and the curfew had been moved up by half an hour. As soon as dusk fell, the city's residents had already shut their doors and windows tight.

For a time, it felt as though a storm was imminent.

Yet Lin Ling, who stood at the very center of the "storm" and closest to Shi Changyuan, felt nothing out of the ordinary. Everything remained as usual.

Except Shi Changyuan had been so busy that he had not watered the little fungus for a long time, and it was nearly dried to death.

Lin Ling calculated the time. Shi Changyuan should be leaving court soon, so he carried the flowerpot over, intending to wait for him and remind him.

Mushroom liked shade and moisture. It would not do to leave him unwatered.

Lin Ling had thought that, by slowly wandering over, he would run into everyone leaving court. Yet strangely, the path to the Golden Luan Hall was silent. No palace servants passed by, and the guards on duty all kept their heads lowered, taciturn and dejected.

"Your Majesty, spare me! Spare me, Your Majesty—"

The screams from the Golden Luan Hall could be heard even outside the side hall.

"I know my crime, and I accept punishment! But my loyalty to Great Li and to Your Majesty has never wavered. I have absolutely no disloyal intentions. Your Majesty, see the truth—"

With a thud, the minister dropped to his knees and repeatedly kowtowed until his head was split open and bleeding, blood staining the marble floor of the Golden Luan Hall.

"Spare you?"

Shi Changyuan descended the steps that symbolized his status one step at a time, walking to the center of the Golden Luan Hall and stopping before the minister. His voice was icy. "You embezzled and took bribes, concealed the matter without reporting it, and gave the rebels an opportunity to exploit."

"How should I spare you?"

Then came a tremendous scream. From behind the side door of the hall, even through several layers of screens and hanging curtains, Lin Ling could see that glaring splash of blood.

His footsteps halted, and he froze where he stood.

Several Imperial Guards in battle armor immediately stepped forward and dragged the barely conscious prisoner out of the hall.

Mottled bloodstains trailed alongside choked whimpers and groans that could no longer form pleas for mercy, dragged all the way from the Golden Luan Hall to the palace gates.

The blood stained the hall's threshold and the blue stone steps, a blatant warning and an absolute deterrent.

Shi Changyuan flicked the blood from his hands. Shunde raised both hands above his head to offer him a handkerchief, but Shi Changyuan did not take it.

He walked back up to the dais step by step. Blood stained the white jade railing, stained the armrest of power, and finally fell upon the dragon throne.

"Regarding this case, if any of my beloved ministers have matters to report, speak. If not, court is dismissed."

The entire hall was filled with kneeling figures. No one answered.

Reading Shi Changyuan's expression, Shunde shouted, "Court is dismissed!" Then he followed behind the emperor, leaving the ministers behind as they departed through the side hall.

But the moment the two of them rounded the screen and lifted the hanging curtain, they saw Lin Ling standing blankly behind the door, holding a flowerpot in his arms—

Shi Changyuan's body stiffened. "What are you doing here?"

Lin Ling blinked slowly and answered as usual, "I came to find you."

As he spoke, Lin Ling held the flowerpot out before Shi Changyuan. "You haven't watered him in ages. You're going to raise Mushroom to death."

Shi Changyuan lowered his eyes to the youth before him. Lin Ling himself did not seem to feel anything, but Shunde at the side was incredibly tense.

Though His Majesty was quite tolerant of this young man before him, he had come right when His Majesty was at the height of his anger...

Shunde secretly observed them. Sure enough, the emperor before him did not take the flowerpot, instead asking coldly, "What happens if he dies?"

"I don't know." Lin Ling seemed stumped by the question and stared blankly at the little fungus in his hands. "I've never given my spores to anyone else before."

Seeing Lin Ling hesitate, Shi Changyuan deliberately dismissed everyone, waiting for Mushroom to continue.

"Um... maybe I'd lose my cultivation and revert to my original form." With only himself and Shi Changyuan remaining, Lin Ling quietly guessed, "Or get hurt?"

"Anyway, something would definitely go wrong, so you absolutely can't... can't be careless!"

Shi Changyuan had not expected that a spirit creature could so easily hand over his weakness. After a moment of silence, he said, "Then you still dare let me raise him?"

"It's fine!" Lin Ling spoke almost without hesitation and pushed the flowerpot forward again. "If you're just a little careful, you won't raise him to death."

Shi Changyuan instinctively wanted to reach out and take it, but the moment he lifted his hand, the bloodstains on it were exposed. They were horrifyingly conspicuous, and he froze at once.

"Aren't you afraid?"

After holding that position for two or three seconds, Shi Changyuan asked.

Lin Ling tilted his head, still waiting for him to take the flowerpot, not quite understanding Shi Changyuan's abrupt question. "Afraid of what?"

Afraid of a brutal ruler who took pleasure in stripping others of their lives with harsh punishments.

Or perhaps afraid of placing his own weakness in the hands of someone unworthy of trust—

Shi Changyuan thought of many things, but said none of them. He merely sighed soundlessly.

"Forget it."

He would not understand even if it were explained.

Once such a simple spirit creature trusted someone, even if that person truly raised Mushroom to death and left him with all his cultivation ruined, he would probably still think it had been an accident.

Shi Changyuan beckoned for Shunde to offer the handkerchief again, then carefully wiped the filth from his hands in front of Lin Ling, making no attempt to hide it from him.