Silence returned to the hall.
Vast Marsh's figure manifested. He took out the black jade wine vessel and looked at the sword mark on it. Gone was his earlier bearing, unfathomable as an abyssal sea. Looking utterly heartbroken, he abandoned all dignity and began wiping it with his black sleeve.
Only when that little sword mark slowly faded did he draw a hissing breath and say:
"He doesn't know how to hold back. He nearly ruined it with that slash. [Heavenly River] would have come looking for trouble with me."
An infant's cries suddenly sounded within the hall. Dim light surged, and a beautiful woman in a moon-white palace gown emerged. Her figure was graceful, her features serene and lovely. She merely glanced at Vast Marsh before asking softly:
"Now that you've met this son you left behind, was he affectionate toward you?"
"Hardly." Vast Marsh reclined sideways on the jade throne and sighed. "I brought him into being through Ren Marsh as well. Though it wasn't as wondrous as Sun Lake's birth, he is still a pureblood of our race. He naturally knows what matters."
"Changliu is your trueborn son. Even when he attained Purple Mansion, you couldn't bear to give him [profound yin mist-chaos blood], yet you gave it to Youdu while he was still at Foundation Establishment. You..."
"Enough. I have no desire to quarrel with you over this. You swallowed Zhu Ying, and I did not hold it against you. Matters concerning my offspring, and the inheritance of Heaven's Eclipse's lineage, are not yours to discuss."
Vast Marsh's voice grew colder, the greater yin mysterious radiance on his reverse scale dazzlingly bright. "In the imperial household of any dynasty, interference in government by the inner palace is a grave crime."
At those words, Li Wen dared