Chapter 11

After the shadow guard left, Shi Changyuan dusted off his sleeves and returned to where he had been sitting, only to find 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 gently pulled him out. "I wasn't even harsh with you."

Lin Ling gave a dissatisfied hum and began listing Shi Changyuan's past offenses. "You weren't harsh with me, but you smashed my flowerpot."

Shi Changyuan paused and looked at the flowerpot in Lin Ling's arms. The lingering emotion in his eyes faded away. He reached out and tapped Lin Ling on the forehead. "Holding a grudge."

When the Son of Heaven grew angry, corpses lay for miles.

Somehow, everyone else had gotten word as well. From high-ranking officials and ministers to eunuchs and palace servants, all of them trembled in fear, terrified of displeasing the man on the dragon throne and bringing disaster upon their families.

Without anyone noticing, security throughout the capital had tightened. Guards patrolled by day and night, and the curfew was 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, a storm seemed 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. It was nearly dried to death.

After calculating the time, Lin Ling figured Shi Changyuan should be leaving court soon. Holding the flowerpot, he decided to go wait for him and remind him.

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

Lin Ling had thought that if he slowly wandered over, he would run into everyone leaving court. But strangely, the path leading to the Golden Luan Hall was utterly silent. No palace servants came and went, and the guards on duty all kept their heads lowered, silent and dejected.

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

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

"Your servant knows his crime and accepts punishment! But your servant has been utterly loyal to Great Li and to Your Majesty, without the slightest disloyalty! Your Majesty, see clearly—"

The minister dropped to his knees with a thud and repeatedly slammed his head against the floor until it was split open and bleeding, blood staining the marble 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 accepted bribes, concealed the matter instead of reporting it, and gave the rebels an opening."

"How should I spare you?"

Then came an enormous scream. Behind the side door of the hall, even through several folding screens and hanging curtains, Lin Ling could see that glaring blood-red color.

His steps halted, and he froze where he stood.

Several Imperial Guards clad in armor immediately stepped forward and dragged the semi-conscious prisoner from the hall.

Mottled trails of blood, accompanied by whimpers and groans from a man who could no longer beg for mercy, were 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 glaring warning and an absolute deterrent.

Shi Changyuan flicked the blood from his hands. Shunde raised both hands above his head and offered 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 railings, stained the armrests of power, and finally fell upon the dragon throne.

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

The hall was filled with kneeling officials, but no one answered.

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

But the two had only just rounded the screen and lifted the hanging curtain when they saw Lin Ling standing stupidly behind the door, hugging a flowerpot—

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

Lin Ling blinked sluggishly and answered in his usual tone, "I came to find you."

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

Shi Changyuan lowered his eyes to look at the youth before him. Lin Ling himself felt nothing, but Shunde beside him was tense with fear.

Although His Majesty had always been quite tolerant of this young man, he had come right when His Majesty was angry...

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

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

Seeing the hesitation on Lin Ling's face, Shi Changyuan deliberately dismissed everyone and waited for Mushroom to continue.

"Um... maybe I'll lose my cultivation and return to my original form." With only himself and Shi Changyuan left, Lin Ling answered softly, guessing. "Or maybe get hurt?"

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

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

"It's fine!" Lin Ling spoke almost without hesitation, pushing the flowerpot closer. "Just be a little careful. You won't raise him to death."

Shi Changyuan instinctively wanted to reach out and take it, but the instant his hand lifted, the bloodstains on it were revealed. They were shocking to behold, and he froze.

"Aren't you afraid?"

After maintaining that posture for two or three seconds, Shi Changyuan asked.

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

Afraid of a brutal ruler who took pleasure in stripping others of their lives through severe punishments and cruel torture.

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

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

"Forget it."

Even if he said it, Lin Ling would not understand.

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

Shi Changyuan beckoned for Shunde to offer the handkerchief again. Before Lin Ling, he carefully wiped the filth from his hands, making no effort to hide it from him.