Entering the imperial palace, Chen Yi followed a eunuch down a long stretch of road into the inner court, finally arriving at Jingren Palace. Ever since the empress dowager began ruling from behind the curtain, Jingren Palace had become where she handled affairs of state, both internal and external.
"Your Majesty, Chen Yi, Thousand Household of the Western Depot, requests an audience."
The eunuch called respectfully into the palace.
"Granted."
Chen Yi followed the eunuch into Jingren Palace. Raising his eyes, he saw a graceful, richly adorned woman sitting alone behind a desk.
She wore a gold hairpin and informal court attire, with a gold-trimmed ceremonial cape over her shoulders. Her figure was slightly full, her lovely brows carrying a hint of gloom. When she bent forward, her long, snowy neck showed beneath a peach-petal bun that gave off a soft sheen. She was a woman one could look at for a long time. Though only twenty-eight, she had cultivated a grand, elegant bearing within the secluded palace.
Some women possessed beauty that could topple kingdoms and cities at fifteen or sixteen, while others approached thirty with dignified, classical grace.
Yin Tingxue was the former; she was the latter.
Empress Dowager An of Great Yu was one of the female leads in Beyond the Heavens. Since An had no son, and there were no imperial princes at court either, Yin Qi, formerly Prince Hengshou, had succeeded to the throne. A grandson of Emperor Wuzong, he had been only three when crowned. With the emperor still young, An monopolized power, ruling from behind the curtain and holding supreme authority alone. Her ruthless methods, masterful political maneuvering, and the An Household's influence left every civil and military official at court in awe.
And his greatest connection to the empress dowager lay in-
The mere three years he had left to live, and the strange poison in his body.
That had happened ten hours before he began playing this save, and also a month ago.
"Leave us."
Empress An spoke to the eunuch.
After the eunuch left, Chen Yi lowered his head and saluted.
"Chen Yi, Thousand Household of the Western Depot, pays his respects to Your Majesty the Grand Empress Dowager."
Empress An rested her gaze on him and spoke gently.
"Chen Yi, Grand Secretary Lin has recommended you as acting director of the Eastern Depot. Can you shoulder this responsibility?"
Without raising his head, Chen Yi replied:
"I shall do my utmost. I wish only to ease the burden of the mother of our sovereign."
If he remembered correctly-
At the start of this save, he had followed the official perfect-start walkthrough and claimed to be a descendant of the Chen Clan of Jin. Grand Secretary Lin had then taken him aside for a secret conversation. After that, Grand Secretary Lin had brought him before the empress dowager, who had made him drink a medicinal decoction.
In the end, he had received the position of Hundred Household in the Western Depot.
Looking at Chen Yi, Empress An smiled.
"Your utmost, indeed.
Such loyalty and filial devotion are truly comforting."
Empress An picked up a memorial from her desk.
"Wu Qingsheng intercepted a memorial from the Directorate of Ceremonial for you.
It says you took a maidservant from the Xiang Prince's Residence?"
Chen Yi's pupils contracted slightly.
A moment later, he understood.
Wu Qingsheng had previously intercepted Xue Youge's memorial for him. That memorial should never have reached Empress An, but circumstances had changed abruptly. Xue Youge was dead, the Lin Residence had come to exert pressure, and he was about to become acting director of the Eastern Depot.
Thus Wu Qingsheng, loyal to the imperial house and belonging to no faction, would naturally report everything about his background to Empress An.
Within the vast hall, the golden floor seemed to give off threads of chill.
Empress An asked calmly:
"Chen Yi, did you take that maidservant as your lawful wife, or as a concubine?"
...Why would she ask that?
As he considered it, Chen Yi occasionally glanced at Empress An's expression.
He could hear no emotion in her words, nor glean any information from her face...
After considering it, Chen Yi answered truthfully:
"Your Majesty, she is my concubine."
Empress An lowered her eyes in thought and said:
"Pick up the memorial and burn it.
Remember, do not give others another chance to impeach you.
Especially... members of the Ding'an faction."
Chen Yi narrowed his eyes.
He counted as a member of the Lin faction, and Empress An's mention of the Ding'an faction was a hint... that they would move against him.
Chen Yi naturally caught that implication.
He rose, picked up the bright red memorial from the floor, walked to the brazier, lifted its lid, and tossed the memorial into the flames.
Wisps of black smoke drifted out through the window.
"A concubine is fine.
I have other arrangements for your wife."
As the black smoke drifted out, Empress An suddenly spoke.
With his back to her, Chen Yi frowned.
What did that mean now?
This plot... I've never seen it before...
He had never triggered this part of the story before.
Because in his original save, he would have fled the Capital City with the money shortly after Grand Secretary Lin's downfall.
Empress An has other arrangements for my wife.
Could this be... some hidden storyline in Beyond the Heavens?
To avoid spoilers, the official perfect-start walkthrough had told players only what to do, not why.
And later on.
So... he could not work out the reason either.
He could only investigate it gradually after taking over as director of the Eastern Depot.
Thus, Chen Yi could only reply respectfully:
"Thank you for your boundless grace, Your Majesty.
I have no way to repay the kindness of the mother of our sovereign."
"If everyone were as loyal and filial as you, my role as mother of our sovereign would not be in vain."
Her voice softening, Empress An said with a light laugh:
"Go to the Medicinal Cuisine Room for your medicine, then return home."
Chen Yi immediately turned and left Jingren Palace. Empress An silently watched the young man's slight figure recede. Every trace of warmth vanished from her face, her phoenix eyes sharp as knives and filled with icy loathing.
How could a blood feud as deep as the sea allow them to look upon each other?
She kept this boy penned up only so that, one day, this son of her enemy would personally slaughter his enemy clan to the last member.
A son slaying his father, kin exterminating their own household.
"But this is not enough."
Merely making her enemy's son personally exterminate his enemy clan was not enough, not enough to wash away her hatred.
What could kill flesh and blood could not kill the spirit.
Only humiliation... would be enough to wash away her hatred.
Empress An turned, her robes swaying, and slowly sat down behind her desk again.
Lifting her brush, she wrote a name on the rice paper.
The senior branch of the Chen Clan of Jin had an only daughter, a beauty like a celestial maiden. Even within the Jin Kingdom's six palaces, she had long since been privately chosen as the future crown princess...
Empress An had heard of this long ago.
A union between brother and sister violated human morality and was also rebellious and unfilial.
Your Chen clan destroyed the main lineage of my An clan. Then I, An, shall naturally repay you double. Not only will I exterminate your entire household, I will also destroy your moral order.
As for whether you, Chen Yi, truly descend from the Chen Clan of Jin...
As long as your Chen clan believes you do, then you do.
"Matron."
Empress An turned her gaze toward the screen inside the hall.
An elderly matron with snowy hair and a kindly face stepped out.
Throughout the martial world, it was widely rumored that a Second-Rank Grandmaster, the Nameless Old Matron, guarded Great Yu's Capital City. Her presence so terrified the city's four major martial halls, six princely residences, and even martial-world experts of fifth rank and above that none dared act recklessly within the city.
A third-rank martial artist could be called a minor grandmaster, while a second-rank martial artist was called a grandmaster. Every grandmaster was someone capable of founding a sect and dominating a region of the martial world. Entering the second rank meant placing half a foot among the Top Ten of the Martial Ranking. Even the court had to treat such figures cautiously.
"Have you uncovered anything about Xue Youge's death?"
Empress An asked.
"Your Majesty, the Magpie spies investigated among the populace. They say the rumors of Xue Youge colluding with the Demonic Cult were spread by the Do Not Use Tower."
The Nameless Old Matron transmitted her voice privately.
"Heh. The Do Not Use Tower has some nerve."
Empress An sneered.
"I allowed them to take root, and now they dare bring trouble upon the Directorate of Ceremonial."
Although Empress An did not heavily rely on eunuch groups such as the Directorate of Ceremonial, favoring her own maternal relatives instead, the Do Not Use Tower's actions were still like digging up the earth over the head of the god of calamity.
"Give them a warning. Clear out some of their spies."
Empress An ordered.
The Nameless Old Matron nodded, and her figure soon vanished from Jingren Palace.
Looking at the place where Chen Yi had stood, Empress An said with disgust:
"Someone come. The place where Thousand Household Chen stood just now...
Wash it clean. Spotlessly clean."
"Thousand Household Chen, come drink your medicine."
Inside the Medicinal Cuisine Room, an elderly palace maid with snowy hair brought out the decoction and set it before Chen Yi.
"This is a powerful tonic."
Looking at the ink-black medicine, Chen Yi's heart sank slightly.
What tonic...
It was clearly identical to the decoction he had been made to drink a month ago.
The strange poison in his body had come from this medicine.
Despite his inward complaints, Chen Yi still drank the decoction.
After all, he knew how to neutralize the poison. Although it was somewhat complicated and required various Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, that was all.
Otherwise, he could never have survived until Yin Tingxue, after becoming the Demonic Cult's Holy Maiden, came seeking revenge.
As the bitter medicine went down his throat, Chen Yi felt his limbs weaken, followed by an intense, burning pain.
It was as though something inside him was shattering.
Chen Yi's face went pale, but he recovered and slowly set down the bowl.
Seeing Chen Yi finish the medicine, the elderly palace maid's smile deepened.
"Then I shall take my leave."
With that, Chen Yi stepped out of the Medicinal Cuisine Room.
Eastern Depot Drill Ground.
"If you want it, then think carefully about what you'll give me in exchange."
Those words kept echoing in Min Ning's ears.
Her grip on the saber inevitably loosened.
The blade struck down against the wooden post. With Min Ning's loosened grip, it lost force, slipped straight out of her hand, and flew away.
Fortunately, it hit no one.
Min Ning came back to herself, drew a breath, and pressed her forehead.
She picked up her Embroidered Spring Saber and looked around, making herself calm down.
Not far away, beneath the shade of a locust tree, Wang Gu, a Thousand Household of the Eastern Depot, stood with his saber cradled in his arms. Several Eastern Depot chief constables surrounded him, apparently discussing something during their break.
"That Thousand Household from the Western Depot is coming to take over the Eastern Depot."
"What are the higher-ups thinking, having someone from the Western Depot take over the Eastern Depot?"
"He's a Thousand Household, but Thousand Household Wang is one too. Even if someone has to take charge, it shouldn't be his turn."
"Heh, who knows? Maybe he's actually a eunuch from the Directorate of Ceremonial."
"Haha, that makes sense. With that pretty face, he doesn't look like much of a man."
The disgruntled Eastern Depot chief constables talked among themselves.
Wang Gu spoke coldly:
"No matter what, someone from the Western Depot should not be put in charge of the Eastern Depot.
The Lin faction is backing this. The Lin faction brought it about single-handedly.
You all... understand, don't you?"
Before you continue