Qixue glared fiercely: “Don’t shift the blame to me. You deceived me first. Are you trying to pin it on me? I—”
Before he finished, Xie Shu pulled him into an embrace and kissed his lips.
“You…”
Now, Qixue couldn’t withstand Xie Shu’s closeness at all. A simple kiss was enough to make his eyes misty as he melted into Xie Shu’s arms.
Xie Shu gazed down at him: “The Marriage Certificate is sealed. You have no chance to regret it.”
Qixue fell silent, lying quietly in his arms, listening to his heartbeat. Suddenly, he didn’t want to argue with Xie Shu anymore.
Their arguments would lead nowhere. He could never be Xie Shu’s wife.
He had resolved to trade himself for His Majesty’s full recovery. He would become the Holy Monarch’s divine spouse. Even if he shared a Heavenly Destined Marriage with Xie Shu, even if he harbored feelings for him, they paled against his love for His Majesty. No one could compare to His Majesty.
Since they were fated not to be together, what harm was there in yielding to Xie Shu occasionally? He was about to leave anyway; there was no need to clash with him.
With that thought, Qixue felt inexplicably sad. He reached up to stroke Xie Shu’s face and took the initiative to kiss his lips.
“…” Xie Shu stiffened slightly, his gaze falling on Qixue’s face. “What do you mean by this?”
Qixue’s fingers trailed through his silver hair: “What do you mean?”
“Why did you kiss me?”
Xie Shu grasped his fingers. “Do you want to beg me not to separate you from Helan Ji?”
“It’s not that…” Qixue said softly. “You’re my lover. I kiss you because I want to. Why do I need so many reasons?”
He lifted his face and kissed the corner of Xie Shu’s lips again. Xie Shu suddenly gripped his lower back, his five fingers tightening and crumpling the fabric around his waist into wrinkles.
Qixue hadn’t expected that after so many intimate encounters, a mere light kiss could still excite Xie Shu so much. His body stiffened involuntarily, afraid that Xie Shu’s draconic nature would flare up and press him down for a round inside the Jade Carriage.
But unexpectedly, Xie Shu did nothing more, merely returning the kiss very gently.
This kiss held no desire, yet it inexplicably made Qixue’s face flush. He couldn’t help but quietly hug Xie Shu, curling up contentedly in the other’s warm embrace.
Xie Shu whispered in his ear, “I love you, Qixue.”
The Jade Carriage arrived at the Imperial Palace without any obstruction.
Everyone in the palace recognized Xie Shu’s carriage. Wherever the Jade Carriage went, the palace servants knelt down one after another, performing grand salutes toward it.
The Jade Carriage stopped in front of Helan Ji’s Chang Le Palace.
Qixue lifted the carriage curtain and vaguely saw a figure sitting on the jade steps of Chang Le Palace.
Heavy troops guarded both sides of the jade steps, making the person sitting in the center seem rather abrupt.
He wore silver armor that gleamed with chilling light under the sunlight. Qixue squinted for a moment. Though he couldn’t make out the face clearly, he quickly recognized the familiar figure—it was Wei Huai.
Why was Seventh Brother sitting there? Was he guarding His Majesty?
It had been a long time since he’d seen Wei Huai, and Qixue certainly missed him. He immediately waved toward the window. “Seventh Brother, I’m here!”
“…”
Wei Huai, sitting on the jade steps, looked up at the sound. Spotting Qixue in the Jade Carriage at once, his pupils contracted sharply, and he abruptly stood up.
More than a month ago, Qixue had disappeared from Cloud Moon Temple. The Emperor fell ill, and tensions between the court and Cloud Moon Temple escalated sharply. But Xie Shu never appeared, and Xuan Yang, who controlled Cloud Moon Temple, refused to hand over the Ancient Mirror. He even cited guarding the Ancient Mirror and being too occupied to descend the mountain to treat Helan Ji.
In his rage, Wei Huai personally led his army to besiege Cloud Moon Temple, forbidding anyone from entering even half a step—especially cutting off Cloud Moon Temple’s grain supply route to force Xuan Yang to surrender the Ancient Mirror.
His actions drew opposition from many court officials, who argued that amid the Emperor’s grave illness and the resulting unrest, the court should not worsen relations with Cloud Moon Temple.
However, some of these people were in cahoots, attacking and impeaching Wei Huai in court not out of true concern for the nation, but to eliminate him through Ji Yuheng before Helan Ji awoke or passed away. Then they could shift all blame onto Ji Yuheng and select a new emperor from the imperial clan.
Faced with these people, Wei Huai’s response was to draw his blade and chop them down on the spot. Blood splattered across the smooth jade floor, and the blade in his hand dripped with scarlet drops continuously.
The grand hall filled with a thick stench of blood, pierced by incessant wails of agony, like a scene from the asura hell.
Wei Huai unhurriedly wiped his sword clean, lifted his eyelids, and chuckled lightly. “Do the lords have anything else to say?”
The hall fell into dead silence at once. Even the severely wounded officials clamped their mouths shut in extreme pain, not daring to make a sound no matter how twisted their faces became.
Perhaps the peaceful days had lasted too long, making them forget how Wei Huai had risen to power.
Wei Huai had entered the military camp at thirteen, starting from the lowest ranks. All his military achievements were carved out by him from mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
At that time, demons ravaged the Great Yong borders wildly. Of the armies sent, scarcely one in ten soldiers survived. Yet Wei Huai endured battle after battle. Not only that, he personally trained a force capable of controlling demons—invincible and unstoppable. It later became Great Yong’s most indestructible cavalry, the Demon Cavalry.
Wei Huai was the only general who could lead this Demon Cavalry. He pacified the borders and cleared the demon scourge for Great Yong, becoming the supreme war god in the people’s hearts—especially those on the borders, where every household had set up longevity tablets for him.
The late emperor greatly admired Wei Huai, enfeoffing him as a young general. Before twenty, Wei Huai wielded immense power and prestige, the hottest figure in court.
But Wei Huai felt no gratitude for the late emperor’s promotion. It was only because he and Helan Ji were close friends.
With his abilities, he would have risen high regardless, no matter who sat on the throne.
Three years ago, Wei Huai and Helan Ji joined forces to force a palace coup, slaughtering the vast Imperial Palace overnight. Before the corpses were fully disposed of, Wei Huai dragged the officials from their homes, forcing them to kowtow to Helan Ji.
Disloyal ones—kill.
With a swing of the blade, several heads thudded to the ground, blood spurting from the necks. To Wei Huai, killing people was no different from slaughtering pigs or dogs: one chop, head separated. He even smiled as gently as a spring breeze while killing.
Today’s tragedy finally awakened those long-buried memories in the officials’ minds, sending chills down their spines.
Over these three years, Wei Huai had sheathed his edge, letting them remember only Helan Ji’s thunderous methods while forgetting his own brutality and terror. They should have remembered sooner, instead of waiting until death was upon them…
That day, two officials died in court, and seven or eight were wounded. After investigation, the two dead had been wicked in daily life, their crimes notorious. The Crown Prince Ji Yuheng, acting as regent, temporarily shelved the inquiry into Wei Huai and permitted the siege on Cloud Moon Temple to demand the Life-Saving Spiritual Medicine and Ancient Mirror.
Wei Huai led his army to Cang Mountain and immediately set up the blockade. On one hand, he sent the Demon Cavalry to surround Cloud Moon Temple—ordinary soldiers couldn’t contain the daoists skilled in spells, so they were dispatched to search nearby Cang Mountain for Qixue.
Qixue’s entrapment in the Ancient Mirror was merely Xuan Yang’s word; no one could verify it. Wei Huai prepared for both possibilities: pressuring Cloud Moon Temple to hand him over while searching Cang Mountain and surrounding areas for clues.
Unlike Xu Taifei, who wept her heart out, or Helan Ji, who lay bedridden and gasping, or Ji Yuheng, who self-harmed as punishment, Wei Huai neither cried nor collapsed emotionally.
He hadn’t shed a tear or broken down. Instead, he relentlessly searched for Qixue. For the over a month Qixue was missing, he searched without sleep or rest.
Apricot had also heard of Qixue’s disappearance. The little girl cried all night, then approached Wei Huai the next day with swollen red eyes, volunteering to join the search team.
“I believe Young Master will definitely return.”
Like Wei Huai, Apricot firmly believed Qixue was fine—he had merely vanished temporarily.
Just like when Qixue had left their wedding without a word, only to reappear at the consort enfeoffment ceremony. Wei Huai thought self-mockingly that perhaps because Qixue had already abandoned him once, he could remain steadier than the others, without going mad or breaking down.
His A Xue could bear to abandon him, but surely not Helan Ji.
With Helan Ji there, how could he bear to leave? He wouldn’t.
A Xue would definitely return.
Clinging to this conviction, Wei Huai mostly held position on Cang Mountain, occasionally returning to the palace to check on Helan Ji.
Seeing the once supremely majestic emperor turn white-haired overnight and lie gravely ill filled him with sorrow. He and Helan Ji were old friends after all; even with the grudge of stolen wife, his hatred didn’t extend to wishing Helan Ji dead.
He walked out silently and overheard two eunuchs whispering outside the door, mentioning “Noble Consort.” He lightened his steps to listen.
“I wonder how the Noble Consort is doing. It’s almost been a month—does he really still alive? Or has he already…”
“Shh…” The other eunuch cut him off, lowering his voice. “Don’t speak nonsense. The Noble Consort is blessed with fortune; he’ll be safe and sound.”
“I’m not saying inauspicious things on purpose. I hope Her Ladyship is safe too! Since the Noble Consort entered the palace, His Majesty’s temper has improved so much. I’ve even seen him smile. And to make the Noble Consort comfortable, all the fierce beasts and poisons in Chang Le Palace were removed. I no longer fear being bitten to death. We owe this to the Noble Consort.”
“Sigh, after all that, I’m truly afraid something happened to the Noble Consort. He’s carrying His Majesty’s dragon heir. If anything happens to him and the heir…”
At this, Wei Huai’s face changed drastically. He shoved the door open.
The two young eunuchs startled to see him eavesdropping at the door. Instinctively wondering if they’d badmouthed him, they knelt hastily. “Greetings, Great General!”
“What did you just say?”
Wei Huai gripped the doorframe tightly, his knuckles whitening until the wood creaked harshly and deformed. “You said the Noble Consort is pregnant? With His Majesty’s child?”
“Yes…”
The two young eunuchs dared not look up, thinking the Great General’s question redundant—the Noble Consort’s child was obviously His Majesty’s, or there’d be trouble. “In response to the Great General, the Noble Consort is indeed with child, nearly two months along.”
“Two months?”
Wei Huai repeated lowly, “Two months?”
But why had he only learned today that A Xue was pregnant?
