Cloud Clear sat upright on the couch, her expression serene. After pondering for a long time, she finally brought up the subject they had tacitly avoided all along. "You want to ask whether the person I'm doing this for... is Eldest Brother, don't you?"
The Second Seat's expression stiffened. His voice trembled. "Isn't it?!"
"No."
Cloud Clear shook her head and answered unequivocally, "He isn't part of this."
"Then who is?" the Second Seat pressed.
"Ah...!"
Cloud Clear gave a long, weary sigh. As though she had spent a long time weighing the consequences, she finally gave the Second Seat a direct answer while preserving the secrets she could not yet reveal. "Who is involved doesn't matter. You only need to know that the person who laid out this plan will become the Tomorrow Emperor of the Migration Land. He will inherit the destiny and blessings of heaven and earth, surmount divine prohibition, open his fate wheel, nurture divine void, attain divine advent, and ultimately ascend to the other shore, proving his Dao as the Imperial Sovereign Heavenly Venerable and ushering in an unprecedented golden age."
"Although I'm part of this plan, I haven't done everything for the Tomorrow Emperor. I've done it for myself, to leave my name through the ages and not live this life in vain."
Her expression was utterly devout as she spoke, like a fanatical believer of some religious sect.
The Second Seat's brow was tightly furrowed. He seemed only half convinced.
Cloud Clear turned toward him and asked, her gaze clear, "Was Eldest Brother in the mountains today? Or rather, when that sinister wind rose from the Imperial Mausoleum's Ancestral Land just now, was he inside the Dao Palace?"
The Second Seat looked up at her and answered gravely, "Yes. He was teaching the