Hu Guangsheng nodded emphatically. The image of his master in white, sword in hand, like a god descended from heaven, had long since been branded into the depths of his soul. He turned and asked, "Just as Master predicted, experts from Unknown Island slipped into the Imperial Palace to assassinate His Majesty. Master went there himself, so... everything over there should have settled by now, shouldn't it?"
Deep within the Imperial Palace, inside the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
The cries of battle and clash of weapons had surged over the palace walls like a tide. Now they finally began to ebb, until all fell into deathly silence. Yet this sudden quiet only made the heart quail all the more.
Liu Jingtian, emperor of the Eastern Yang Kingdom, wore a casual robe of bright yellow rather than his ceremonial dragon robes. He was around fifty, with a lean face and a scholar's refinement and weariness in his features. He paced anxiously through the hall, his hands clasped so tightly that his knuckles had turned white.
He was a sovereign renowned for benevolent rule, who did not compete with his people for profit and excelled at tending to their welfare. Under his reign, his subjects lived and worked in peace, so he had scarcely ever experienced such scenes of blood and slaughter. Every scream outside the palace made him tremble, his face etched with fear and helplessness.
At last, the heavy palace doors were slowly pushed open a crack.
Liu Jingtian stopped abruptly and stared nervously toward the entrance. With a barely perceptible tremor in his voice, he hurriedly asked, "Has... has Master Dongfang arrived?"
Thin mist and lingering gunsmoke drifted slowly into the hall. Bathed in cold moonlight, a figure quietly appeared in that narrow shaft of light.
The newcomer wore