Not far away, at the Blessings and Longevity Palace.
The sun had only just risen. The Empress Dowager, who usually went to bed late and rose late, had been sent back before dawn after attending Li Ren in bed the night before, so she was awake now.
But there was nothing to do deep within the palace. The Empress Dowager remained seated cross-legged on the Phoenix Bed, practicing her utterly useless Flame-Rebirth Diagram.
The bedchamber was neat and elegant, solemn and dignified, but also lifeless. Fortunately, the Peddler Selling Chickens hanging on the wall lent the overall composition a touch of unusual humor.
Just as the Empress Dowager was quietly cultivating immortality, footsteps suddenly sounded outside. Hongyu hurried in and knocked on the door.
"Your Majesty... Your Majesty..."
The Empress Dowager's eyelashes stirred, and she opened her eyes.
"Hmm?"
"Young Master Ye seems to have entered the palace. I went to the Palace of Eternal Joy to fetch the chilled melons sent as tribute from Shazhou and saw Prince Jing and Young Master Ye heading to Cheng'an Hall..."
?
The Empress Dowager blinked and looked toward the Handsome Man Painting on the wall. Then she sat up, brought a stool over from beside the dressing table, set it against the wall, and took down the scroll...
Inside the Waterside Pavilion at Dragon-Mingling Pool.
Holding the 108-jin Junshan Heavy Saber, Ye Jingtang slowly practiced the moves of the Dragon-Slaying Order.
With Ye Jingtang's physique, lifting a hundred-jin object in one hand was no problem, but picking something up and wielding it like an extension of his own arm were two different things.
The Chi Dragon Ring-Pommel Saber weighed only a little over four jin, and its explosive force came entirely from his physique. If he held a hundred-jin heavy saber