"Her Imperial Highness the Empress wishes to speak with you. I have been instructed to lead you to the empress's palace, so I request this honored guest to please follow me," a maidservant courteously spoke.
Standing by the opened door, Qinghe blinked curiously.
"I see. Please give me a moment," he replied politely before closing the door again.
Turning to his lover, Qinghe asked, "What do you think?"
Sitting lazily by the window, Wei Xiang shrugged uncaringly. "You can refuse if you want to, but I'm guessing that you plan to go. Do you want me to shadow you?"
Qinghe smiled and shook his head. "There is no need. I'll go see what schemes they've prepared for me. In the meantime, if someone comes for you, play along and go with them, alright?"
With a raised eyebrow, Wei Xiang looked at Qinghe, a question apparent in his gaze.
Chuckling, Qinghe explained, "I'm just curious about what interesting tricks they're going to come up with, that's all."
Wei Xiang sighed and relented, "Alright then, as you wish."
Qinghe walked up to his lover and bent down to give him a quick peck on the cheek before exiting the room and walking away, following behind the maidservant.
Leaving the guest's residential courtyards, they walked for quite a while before reaching the empress's palace. The maidservant escorted Qinghe all the way to the empress's receiving room before departing.
As the doors to the receiving room opened, thick smoke billowed out from within.
Qinghe smiled and entered through the doorway, a look of anticipation on his face.
...
Seeing the white-robed cultivator entering the empress's receiving room, a manservant hurried to relay this to his master.
In one of the palace's opulent courtyards sat Jing Hao, listening seriously to the manservant's report. Once he was done hearing everything, Jing Hao impatiently waved his hand to dismiss him. The servant bowed low before taking off quickly, trying his best not to look at the other person in the room.
Jing Hao frowned. "It seems the empress is making her move. If she succeeds in convincing this cultivator to help her and somehow manages to force Jing Shui to stay back in the palace, that old fool of an emperor will definitely have him reinstated as the crown prince. Then as the crown prince's mother, the empress's value will naturally increase."
Sudden, sharp giggles sounded from the side in answer. The harsh sounds spilled from the mouth of a young man who looked almost similar to Jing Shui, but only if one could ignore the eccentric expression on his face.
"Is there any need to worry? Brother, the empress is only a doddering old woman, nothing but a defanged tigress. Her influence is already one of the lowest," Jing Rui reassured before continuing, "I'm more interested in this pretty-faced cultivator. Tell me, compared to my current dolls, how is his beauty"
Jing Hao looked at his younger half-brother while trying to hide his disgust and disdain.
Jing Rui sat reclined comfortably on a couch, his posture lacking even the slightest of a royal's bearing. Behind him stood a naked, well-built man with bronze skin, his arms tenderly encircling the seated Jing Rui from behind. But the muscled man's eyes looked hollow and dead, without the slightest will to live, his spirit already broken.
At the side, another naked person, a slim young woman, was expressionlessly feeding Jing Rui from a plate of peaches. Rough ropes were tied around her body, aiming to cause maximum discomfort as they ran over sensitive places in such a way that her every movement would cause the rope to chafe against the tender, intimate skin.
By Jing Rui's feet was a young teen, his unclothed body constantly shivering, his eyes revealing unfathomable terror. Thick restraints were placed around his throat, wrists, and ankles, his fair skin scattered with countless small, red marks.
All three of them had stunning good looks, exactly Jing Rui's type.
Pressing down a sneer, Jing Hao ran his disdainful gaze over his younger brother's 'dolls' and spoke, "That cultivator's beauty is extraordinary, it far exceeds your slaves'. Compared to him, they are not even worth mentioning."
Jing Rui's eyes widened in astonishment at such unreserved high praise, especially since it came from this boring older brother of his. "Oh? Now I really want to own him. Brother, why don't we kill his lover and directly capture him."
His mouth twitching with intolerance, Jing Hao snapped, "That dratted old emperor has forbidden anyone from acting openly against those cultivators. Though he also doesn't believe in their so-called cultivation, even the emperor cannot match their influence. Say what you will, but it's undeniable that those cultivators have lived far longer than us, so they are bound to have more connections and a deeper wealth of influence. It's best if we don't act rashly."
Pouting, Jing Rui groused, "But I want that man."
To vent his displeasure, Jing Rui casually reached out his hand to brutally pull at the rope wound around the young woman who was feeding him. The woman gasped out in pain, revealing the cut and cauterized stump of her tongue within her mouth before she panickingly managed to clamp her lips shut.
Jing Hao sighed at his younger brother's willfulness. "Fine, a petty scheme or two ought to separate that person from his lover. Then you can take your time to seduce him the way you usually like to do before you trap your prey in your palace. Just make sure to cover your tracks well."
Hearing this, Jing Rui laughed in delight. He licked his lips in anticipation as he wondered curiously: Just how many days would it take to completely break this pretty cultivator?
Jing Rui was very eager to find out.
...
Meanwhile, Qinghe entered the empress's receiving room with steady steps.
The inside was covered with gauzy and shimmering red silk, lending the room an elegant and lavish look. All of the upholstery was also of the same vivid shade, while the furniture was made of rich brown wood.
A thick, translucent red curtain hung in the middle, bisecting the room into two halves. On the other side of the curtain, the vague figure of the empress could be seen. Though not many details were visible, she seemed to be seated gracefully, a fully opened fan in her hand held up so that it covered the lower half of her face.
In the room, smoke from several incense burners swam freely in the air, impeding one's vision and making everything look hazy and indistinct. The heavy and slightly acrid aroma of the smoke invaded Qinghe's nostrils, seeming to congeal in his throat.
All of a sudden, Qinghe sensed that his perception seemed to have become blunted by an infinitesimal amount. His pupils shrunk in awareness as he immediately circulated his spiritual energy through his body to locate any abnormalities, and sure enough, he found traces of a hallucinogenic agent in his bloodstream.
It seemed that the incense had been drugged with some sort of medicine that would cause one's senses to become dull, making their mind vulnerable enough to be planted with suggestions.
Qinghe suppressed his disdain for such a cheap tactic and swiftly used the wind to gradually clear the air only around him. The smoke swirling in his vicinity seemed to stop when it reached about a finger's breadth near his outline, unable to approach further due to a subtle wind barrier. But from a distance, this effect was completely invisible.
Continuing to circulate his spiritual energy, Qinghe quickly got rid of the minute traces of the hallucinogenic drug that had managed to enter his system while he walked forward sedately.
Just before the curtain bisecting the room, a chair and a table were placed, clearly meant to accommodate one person. Reaching it, Qinghe gestured to the chair politely. "Your Majesty, may I?"
The figure on the other side of the curtain shifted. "After your argument with our esteemed husband, we did not think that you would stand on courtesy," the empress spoke in a regal voice that barely showed her age.
Raising an eyebrow, Qinghe refuted, "It is only good manners to not sit down in another's house until the host offers a seat."
A light laugh floated from the other side of the curtain. Gently waving the fan in front of her face and with a slight note of smugness creeping into her tone, the empress asked, "Then if I do not permit it, will you stand for the entire duration of our talk?"
One side of his lip curling up, Qinghe replied in a casual tone, "If my host does not show even such a common courtesy, then I will of course be terribly hurt and offended to the point of leaving." But though Qinghe said this, it was as if he were amusedly reciting the lines of a play rather than stating his opinion.
On the other side of the curtain, the empress frowned. She felt that no matter how much she probed, she was unable to get a grasp on this cultivator's personality. Of all the people who had accompanied her son back, this person was clearly the youngest, and as such, he must be the easiest nut to crack.
Her son was already stubbornly set in his decision to not return to the palace, and since he didn't even take a step out of his room till now, she had no way of trying to influence him.
The other two cultivators―the two tallest ones―looked very uncompromising and difficult to handle, refusing to expose even the slightest hint of their true thoughts. On top of that, despite their young and handsome looks, those two were clearly very old and experienced cultivators who had probably weathered many centuries or even millennia of life. The discernible pressure they exuded attested to that.
Compared to them, the young cultivator in front of her had been hotheaded and brash enough to speak up against the emperor in full view of the imperial court. He should clearly be the easiest target to persuade. So why did it not seem to be the case?
Forcibly clearing the uncertainty from her thoughts, the empress finally calmed. No, she still had a card to play. As long as this cultivator stayed under the incense's influence for a while, she could plant her suggestions into his subconscious. Even if he refused to help her, he would still have to follow her suggestions whether he wanted to or not.
Thus regaining her stability, the empress spoke, "We would of course not be discourteous towards our honored guest. Please have a seat."
And so, Qinghe sat down and found that the chair was extremely comfortable. One couldn't help but settle deeper into it, their body ridding itself of all tension as it seemed to slowly melt into the plushly padded seat. It would be all too easy to relax the vigilance of one's mind while being cradled in such a comfortable chair.
Deciding to take out his acting skills and play along with the ploy for now, Qinghe assumed a drowsy look as he leaned back into his seat. His eyes seemed to grow heavy, his lids weighed down. He lightly massaged the middle of his forehead with an unsure look on his face as the corners of his lips slightly turned downward.
Seeing that the incense finally seemed to be working, the empress firmly put to rest her worries.
"Young Cultivator, may we know your name?" the empress asked.
Qinghe frowned and spoke with difficulty in a slightly thick voice, "Feng."
The empress nodded in satisfaction. Yes, everything was proceeding perfectly. She opened her mouth and began, "Then Cultivator Feng, do you know why we wished to speak with you?"
In apparent confusion, Qinghe shook his head.
"It is because we hope for you to grant us your cooperation. We desire your help in convincing our son to stay here with us, not as a visitor in his own home, but as the rightful crown prince of the Yong Dynasty. We miss our son and only wish the best for him. Rather than toiling away in a sect so far away from home, wouldn't it be better if he could live his life happily among his family?"
The empress's voice sounded melancholy yet wistful, her words compelling and convincing. If the person sitting on the other side of the curtain was really addled by the drug, then they would surely agree to her demands without question.
But Qinghe merely frowned hazily as if in discomfort. His voice sounded strained as he forced out, "No…he…doesn't want to."
Her eyes narrowing, the empress felt faint appreciation for this young cultivator's willpower. To be able to consider her son's wishes even in such a situation, he must be greatly fond of Jing Shui.
But not relenting, the empress continued to speak, trying to convince Qinghe to help her detain Jing Shui in the imperial palace. Though Qinghe's refusals were vocal at first, as time passed, he seemed to only be able to shake his head uncertainly, and soon, his eyes closed as if unable to even stay open.
The empress was greatly displeased at being resisted to this degree. She motioned with her hand to one of the maids.
Standing quietly by the walls of the room were several maidservants, all of them with opaque veils covering their noses and mouths. Though these veils looked decorative and added a mysterious charm to their graceful forms, their true function was to block them from inhaling the incense.
The maid beckoned by the empress obeyed the silent command and walked to Qinghe with a cup of fragrant liquid in her hand. She gently placed the rim of the cup near Qinghe's lips as the empress said, "Cultivator Feng, why don't you have a sip of tea to refresh yourself?"
Qinghe opened his eyes blearily and took the cup in his unsteady hands. He put it to his mouth as if taking a sip, but was in fact assessing it. He took in a deep breath to parse through its scent and carefully looked at the texture and quality of the liquid through half-lidded eyes. He dipped the tip of his tongue into it to analyze its taste and flavor. He carefully studied the weight of the liquid over his tongue and evaluated its thickness and viscosity while taking care not to swallow even a drop of it.
Within moments, he had successfully determined the nature of this 'tea'.
"Cuimian Qu, is it?" Qinghe asked in a pleasant and clear voice that seemed to cut through the air thickened with incense smoke. "And you've brought out such a large quantity of it too. I'm flattered."
This Cuimian Qu was a very rare and potent drug. Though 'cuimian qu', as a whole, could mean lullaby, the characters for 'cuimian' by themselves could also mean 'hypnotizing'. And unlike the incense, Cuimian Qu was very difficult to resist against, its effects on the mind far more devastating.
Fortunately, it was a very difficult drug to make and its cost of production was also very high, so it was almost impossible to obtain in significant quantities. Even for the empress, it must be a very precious commodity, only to be used sparingly.
And yet she had brought it out to use against Qinghe, so one could gather just how important she deemed it was to drag Qinghe over to her side.
Her reasoning for this was simple. Since her influence was already slipping quickly from between her fingers at a steady rate, the empress knew that if Jing Shui did not return to the palace and garner her a bit more power, then her authority in the palace would drop to below that of even a concubine. She had to prevent this from happening at all costs, even if she had to use her own son as a pawn!
But all her planning was clearly for naught.
Startling at how lucid Qinghe's voice sounded, the empress looked carefully at him. She was alarmed to find that unlike before, Qinghe's eyes looked sharp and aware, his lips curled in amusement. He had clearly only been pretending to be under the incense's effects before!
The servant who had brought the cup also looked surprised, her eyes widening. She hastily retreated back to stand near the wall again, trying to hide herself among the other servants.
But Qinghe didn't care about any of this. Placing the cup down on the table nearby, he calmly rose from the chair and stepped towards the curtain in the middle of the room.
Watching him approaching closer, the empress stiffened but did not have enough time to react before Qinghe reached the partition. Extending his hand to clutch the curtain, Qinghe pulled, and the thick and heavy red material easily tore under his strength. Following the motions of his hand, the fabric of the curtain billowed out, covering their vision in a layer of fluttering red for a moment before it came away to reveal the other half of the room.
After both sides were opened to each other, smoke flowed from the outer half and into the inner area that had been hidden beyond the heavy curtain till now. The maids on the other side were without veils to protect them, so they swiftly used their sleeves to cover their nose and mouth to prevent getting drugged. The empress also hurried to follow suit.
Looking at the still seated empress, Qinghe spoke casually, "I expected more from you, Your Majesty. Were you not aware that poisons and drugs simply do not work on cultivators?"
Hearing this, the empress revealed shock in her eyes.
Of course, Qinghe was simply bluffing. He thought that if the empress believed it, then she would at least hesitate before using such insidious methods on him and his group. And when word of this eventually spread outside, as it inevitably would, the other people of the court and palace would also have to put away any such plans. Consequently, it would be very convenient for Qinghe and his group if they did not have to constantly test everything around them for poison or drugs whenever they stepped out of their rooms.
Hearing that her plan had been futile from the beginning, the empress looked up at Qinghe with dismay.
Leaning down, Qinghe looked into the empress's eyes and spoke, each word crisp and distinct, "No matter what, you are still my friend's mother, so I will warn you once. Stay out of our way. If you try to embroil us in any more of your schemes, then don't blame me for destroying you and everything of yours. If you think it's such a terrible thing to be an unfavored empress, then I wonder how you'll feel about being a beggar struggling on the streets, with neither arms nor feet to support yourself with, neither eyes to witness the world nor a tongue to express yourself, caked in grime and filth for the rest of your miserable life. When you reach that point, I wonder just how much you'll curse your current self for being greedy and reaching beyond your limits. If you wish to spare yourself from such a fate, then do not offend me by targeting my friend."
The hand still holding up the fan trembled as the empress forced herself to meet the gaze of this beautiful cultivator. Though his voice was pleasant, though his smile looked warm, his eyes only held cold indifference as he spoke such vicious words. His gaze as he looked at her was sharp and heavy, like the edge of a blade sinking into her heart.
A feeling of thick dread and jagged alarm pierced through her. The empress was absolutely sure that if she ever interfered with this man again, or if she so much as looked wrongly at Jing Shui, then this cultivator would make good on every one of his threats while not even putting her in his eyes.
Seeing the empress's eyes slowly widen in terror, Qinghe straightened and turned to leave without ceremony. His work here was done. If the empress tried anything despite this, then he wouldn't show any mercy.
In truth, what he had said to the empress was just a threat that was made to precisely aim at her worst fears. Qinghe had no intention of behaving so cruelly. But that did not mean that he wouldn't make her regret it if she ever even thought of targeting his friend again.
Every single person who had hurt Jing Shui should just tuck in their tails and stay out of his sight to escape his wrath. But if they attempted to hurt his friend in any way, directly or indirectly, then Qinghe would make them rue ever being born into this world while making sure that he didn't break a single law while doing it.
With such thoughts churning in his mind, Qinghe finally stepped out of the empress's receiving room, only to be greeted with another unwelcome face.
"Hello, do you remember me?" Jing Hao spoke, smiling amiably. "I was wondering if you would do me the honor of accompanying me while I give you a little tour around the place."
Qinghe sighed inwardly. Out of one scheme and into another. Hopefully, this plot would at least keep him entertained for a while.
Thinking like this, Qinghe smiled, hiding his sharp demeanor and piercing gaze behind his usual pleasant expression, his eyes radiating harmlessness and warmth. "Of course, I would be glad to. Please lead the way."
And so Qinghe followed Jing Hao, hoping to be entertained at last.