The Eastern Palace.
Azure Thunder flashed, and Qin Tianyi appeared before the gates of the Eastern Palace.
He knew the Eastern Palace was empty at this hour. Most of the important figures under Tan Yuming were in the Golden Throne Hall; at most, a few scattered servants and maids remained here.
Even so, Qin Tianyi erred on the side of caution, lightening his footsteps as he sneaked furtively into the Eastern Palace.
Geng Metal, this old man has come for you.
Thinking cheerfully, Qin Tianyi followed his faint celestial intuition, turning this way and that through the Eastern Palace until he reached Tan Yuming's bedchamber.
Tan Yuming had even hidden the Geng Metal in his bedchamber. He was cautious, but unfortunately, not cautious enough. If it were Qin Tianyi, he would certainly have carried something as important as Geng Metal, one of the five aggregates and ten natures, on his person.
And there it was: by failing to carry it with him, Tan Yuming had handed Qin Tianyi a windfall for nothing.
Qin Tianyi stroked his beard with a smile and pushed open the bedchamber door. He had barely stepped one foot inside when his entire body froze, his pupils abruptly contracting as he stared into the room.
Unlike the empty chamber he had imagined, someone was sitting inside Tan Yuming's bedchamber.
A woman wearing an imperial crown and golden dragon robes.
The woman in imperial robes had exactly the same face as Tan Yuming, Tan Chengcheng, and the other three princes and princesses. Her gaze was cold, and an emperor's imposing presence faintly emanated from her.
Who was she?
Was she human?
Qin Tianyi did not dare move a muscle.
There was a living person in the bedchamber, yet as a Foundation Establishment Celestial, he had not sensed her