Unfettered

"When have I ever drifted with the passing waters? Why surrender my fragrance to the dust?"

Meng Yuan had only just achieved his grand undertaking and accomplished what he had long yearned for. Brimming with satisfaction, he could not bear such dispirited words. "Senior Pei, immortals, immortals-even mortals who gaze up at lofty mountains have a chance to become immortal. Though willow fluff is light and frail, it too can ride the wind into the heavens."

With that, Meng Yuan cupped his hands in a bow. "I wish to see the Immortal Mausoleum and witness the methods of immortals."

"Having become emperor, now you want to become immortal. Your greed knows no bounds," Pei Huasheng said with a laugh.

She looked at Meng Yuan with her one remaining clouded old eye. "If I refuse, will you kill us all?"

"You two are my beloved wife's friends and kin. She acted as intermediary to invite you here. How could I disregard our marital bond?" Meng Yuan truly had no intention of resorting to violence. He only said, "Senior Pei, if you have any demands, please state them. I once heard that if one hears the Dao in the morning, one may die content that evening. All I have yearned for is a glimpse of the wonders of the Immortal Mausoleum."

"This old woman is near death, and Bai Xingshuang's heart is already dead. Violence would do you no good." Pei Huasheng smiled. "I watched Yuyin grow up. In her letters, she went on and on about your deep schemes and excessive calculations, yet could name no other fault of yours. Clearly, your character is indeed not bad."

She actually said this right in front of Chen Yuyin.

"You flatter me, Senior. My wife was merely shielding me," Meng Yuan said with a smile.

"You are Yuyin's husband, so you hardly count as an outsider." Pei Huasheng kept her gaze fixed on Meng Yuan. "But by the rules, no one outside the Three Surnames may be privy to our secrets. Still, times change. Whether or not you were scheming against Yuyin, this old woman respects your boldness in staking an empire on a single throw, and is willing to take you into the mountains."

Having said that, she added, "However, I have three things to ask of you."

Before Meng Yuan could agree, Chen Yuyin said with a smug air, "Now is now, and then was then."

She was referring to when Meng Yuan had laid down his conditions.

Chen Yuyin had always been composed. That she behaved this way now showed how much she had bottled up over the years.

"My wife, I respected the hardship of shouldering your father's and brother's dying wishes. I never mocked you for overestimating yourself. On the contrary, I threw more than a decade of my life into helping you." Meng Yuan spared Chen Yuyin no dignity. "We have been husband and wife for years. Though we have schemed against each other, we have also understood each other and stood by each other. We are spouses, not enemies."

"..." Chen Yuyin fell silent. After more than a decade of marriage to this man, she had long since seen through it all: he would always have the upper hand over her. Only at night could she sit on top for a change.

"Yuyin, he is right. Without him, you would probably be hiding from the world in the Immortal Mausoleum with your two nephews right now," Pei Huasheng said.

Chen Yuyin closed her eyes and said nothing more.

Meng Yuan smiled. "What are the three things you wish to ask, Senior? I am all ears."

"First, paying homage at the Immortal Mausoleum requires two or three months of travel, with many dangers along the way. Whether you live or die is of no concern. Second, we must leave this very moment, and you may bring no one else. Third, you may never return to the mortal world for the rest of your life," Pei Huasheng said calmly.

This was an open stratagem, exploiting Meng Yuan's desire to seek out immortals, just as Meng Yuan had once coerced Chen Yuyin by exploiting her desire to accomplish her grand undertaking.

By now, Meng Yuan knew that the Immortal Mausoleum lay deep in the mountains to the south. But among those overlapping peaks and ridges, finding it would be a hundred or a thousand times harder than Yang Dayong's search for the snake den in his previous life. Even sending in a hundred thousand men might not get them anywhere near it.

As for force, if Meng Yuan had intended to use it, he would have done so long ago. Their earlier words had made it clear that they had not planned on leaving once they came. Thus, if he resorted to force and they chose to shatter like jade on the spot, all his efforts in this lifetime would have been wasted.

At this very moment, the two sides were fundamentally unequal.

To enter the game himself meant putting his flesh and blood into the game as well!

Meng Yuan had already made his decision. Even if he died in this life-even if he did not die before the Immortal Mausoleum-he would die on the road to it.

Pei Huasheng's hollow eyes stared fixedly at Meng Yuan. "Here and now, Yuyin's lifelong wish has been fulfilled. The only question is whether His Majesty the Emperor dares to make this journey with us!"

"Royal ambitions and imperial conquests, all amid talk and laughter." Meng Yuan rose. "If I could stake an empire on a single throw, why not my life?"

"Good! Yuyin's letters said you wove mats and sold shoes, that you came from lowly origins yet were full of deep schemes. Yuyin looked down on you and would not even leave you an heir. To my eyes, Yuyin is even blinder than this old blind woman." Pei Huasheng sighed. "If Liuguang were still alive, I would advise you to divorce Yuyin and have Liuguang bear you a child."

You descendants of immortals, show some propriety! Meng Yuan had no idea what to say.

"Please." Bai Xingshuang took out a black-and-yellow pill. "These are a thousand years of our Lineage's secrets. The Pei family's elderly aunt and I are not afraid of you, but we must still take precautions."

Meng Yuan shook his head. "I will not take it now. Once I see the Immortal Mausoleum, I will not refuse."

"Then everything we just said was wasted. Let's go our separate ways!" Bai Xingshuang snapped.

Meng Yuan said nothing, merely looking toward his worthy wife, his guarantor.

"I have been completely open and aboveboard today. You had best put away whatever fallback schemes you have!" Chen Yuyin said.

"If my wife is a woman of her word, naturally I have no fallback schemes," Meng Yuan said with a smile.

"You had better not!" Chen Yuyin said.

In truth, Meng Yuan really had no fallback plan.

Even though Meng Yuan's prestige was now unrivaled, if he went into the wilderness and remained far from the center of power for a long time, power would inevitably drift away from him.

Thus, even if he left some contingency in place, it might not be of any use.

Of course, if Meng Yuan returned as a king, he could still rally his former followers and stir up the winds and clouds anew.

Sure enough, after a long silence, Chen Yuyin finally looked at Pei Huasheng and Bai Xingshuang. "Auntie, Brother Bai, he is indeed despicable and shameless, but he is also a man of his word. If we do not harm him, he will have no intention of harming us."

Her words contradicted themselves, yet they were what Chen Yuyin truly felt.

Bai Xingshuang said nothing and looked at Pei Huasheng.

Pei Huasheng scrutinized Meng Yuan with her single eye. Only after a long while did she say, "Anyone who can keep Yuyin in hand clearly has real ability. Let him go. Perhaps he can even be of some help. Yuyin says he can do anything, so why not let him take a look? For another hero to be buried in the Immortal Mausoleum would do him no dishonor."

Meng Yuan rose and bowed to Pei Huasheng and Bai Xingshuang. Then he clapped his hands, and Yang Dayong came over.

"Dayong." Meng Yuan took a wooden box from inside his robe and tossed it to Yang Dayong. "I am going on a long journey. Go back and give this wooden box to Huaixian. I raised Huaixian from childhood. He is steady by nature and mild in his dealings. He will not treat you poorly in the days to come. Live well. Someday I will take you out with the dogs to chase rabbits."

"..." Yang Dayong caught the wooden box in bewilderment. Hearing that Meng Yuan had not used the imperial "we," he felt something was not quite right and asked quietly, "Then when will you be back?"

"Give it three years." Meng Yuan smiled. "If I have not returned in three years, do not wait for me."

In his previous life, when Yang Dayong had gone to search for the snake den, he too had set a term of three years.

"Three years?" Yang Dayong still did not understand. "Then who will govern the realm we just conquered?"

"Huaixian, naturally. He is my adopted son. I have already made the arrangements," Meng Yuan said with a smile.

"..." Yang Dayong was still a little bewildered. He looked up at Chen Yuyin and saw her with her head lowered, saying nothing. Then he looked at the two guests: a one-eyed old woman and an effeminate man. Neither looked like a good person.

"Your Majesty, are you being held hostage?" Yang Dayong pressed a hand to the saber at his waist and asked quietly.

"No." Meng Yuan rose and patted Yang Dayong's shoulder. "I am the one insisting on leaving."

"But..." Yang Dayong was utterly at a loss. "You don't want this magnificent empire anymore?"

"It is precisely because the realm is so magnificent and full of wonders that my resolve is all the firmer." Meng Yuan laughed heartily.

Without another word, the four immediately left Clear Wind Temple and headed south.

Meng Yuan cast aside his ceremonial escort and his power, taking only a light robe, a longsword, and a gourd of aged wine.

At that moment, it felt just like his previous life, when he had left the martial arts school, bid farewell to the widow, and set out to take the pulse of the world.