Dah dah dah…
The sound of galloping horse hooves from the front lines dashed into the Imperial Capital, and reports from the battle three thousand miles away entered the palace.
However, to the rest of the people, it was but a normal winter night, because they were not made aware of this war report.
…
The next day.
The palace was unusually noisy. The guards were particularly fidgety and did not stay still, and the sounds of items being moved were incessant.
By mid-afternoon, the bronze carriages left the palace one by one, seemingly in a great hurry.
Xia Ji walked to the courtyard of the archive chamber and looked upward. It was late winter in December, the winds and clouds were changing rapidly, and everyone's fate was something only time could tell.
He spread out his fingers and a fresh snowflake landed on his palm, but it did not melt. With a wave of his hand, the snowflake drifted away again.
He had finished reading the "Future Maitreya Sutra" last night and had returned the scripture to Xiaosu this morning. Xiaosu then returned to the mountains.
The golden skill bead "Dhyana of the Future" had reacted with the skill beads "Dhyana of the Past" and "Dhyana of the Present". The three had combined to form a red skill bead—Trailokya Dhyana.
Naturally, he had immediately attained the ninth level of this Dhyana.
Xia Ji had yet to grasp the nature of the red skill bead, but he at least knew that it was not weak.
The reason being that he could already feel a qualitative transformation within his spirituality. He had reached a whole new level, one that he could never have attained by using the Dhyana of the Past, Present, or Future individually.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that his spirituality felt like that of the Buddha when he descended into the mortal world.
Standing beneath the strip of sky that was the size of a palm, three giant images of Buddha appeared around him. The images showed them standing, then bowing in respect to him. They appeared only for an instance, immediately fading back to nothingness.
Xia Ji bowed his head slightly in return.
The door opened.
Eunuch Mei barged in with an imperial edict in hand, then bellowed, "Xia Ji, Seventh Imperial Prince, please receive this decree!"
He shot a peculiar look at the prince who was standing alone in the courtyard. The prince seemed to be slightly odd today, but Eunuch Mei did not give it much thought and merely repeated urgently, "Please receive this decree!"
Without bowing or kneeling, Xia Ji turned around, fixed the man with a cool look, and said nonchalantly, "Declare it."
Eunuch Mei grunted at the prince's attitude but did not retort as he unfurled the imperial edict and recited, "The edict proclaims that the enemy has invaded the Central Plain. The Seventh Imperial Prince, Xia Ji, is hereby bestowed the title of War Admiral to defend the Imperial City against the foreigners, respect this."
Eunuch Mei expected the prince to be ecstatic after he relayed the message, but he did not see any reaction.
Xia Ji asked shortly, "Where is the Imperial Emperor?"
Eunuch Mei answered, "Naturally, the Imperial Emperor would not stay in an endangered city."
Xia Ji asked again, "What about the Heir Apparent?"
Eunuch Mei did not have anything to fear as the Imperial Emperor had already sent all the imperial relatives who were important to him out of the Imperial Capital. That included the Imperial Empress, Imperial Concubine Wan, the Third Imperial Prince, the Fifth Imperial Prince, and the princesses. They should have met up with the 50,000 troops and were heading south by now. He declared without hesitation, "The Heir Apparent has died in the war."
Xia Ji pressed, "Where are the 100,000 elites under the Heir Apparent?"
Eunuch Mei had nothing to lose. He was not afraid to let the Seventh Imperial Prince know that he was nothing more than a scapegoat now. He stated blandly, "They're all dead."
"How did they die?"
Eunuch Mei explained, "The enemy sent over three thousand Frost Giants on a sneak attack when it snowed last night. That was when the Heir Apparent perished in battle."
"Hahahaha…"
Xia Ji tilted his head and laughed out loud.
What happened from now on was all decided by destiny.
It seemed that his destiny was not to be uneventful either.
Besides, when he saw Xiaosu again, he could score one over her and gloat to her, "See, you said that the Heir Apparent took 100,000 troops to war against the enemy. They had the finest armor and immense power, even the ministers were unanimously optimistic that an immortal achievement would make its way into the history books. Now look what happened, and you say that you're not
Thinking of Xia Xiaosu, he questioned again, "Where is the Ninth Imperial Princess?"
Eunuch Mei replied, "To be honest, the steward is waiting for the Ninth Imperial Princess. The minute she returns, she'll be brought down south to catch up with the rest of our troops. After all, the Ninth Imperial Princess will be married to Tujue."
Xia Ji asked, "What about my authority seal and tiger tally?"
Eunuch Mei screeched in laughter. "The steward thought that the Seventh Imperial Prince would have no use for them, so he has taken them for safekeeping. The Imperial Prince needs to keep guard on the city gate to preserve the dignity of the Dashang Dynasty, and what the Seventh Imperial Prince needs to do is extremely easy."
Xia Ji gave a shout of laughter and snapped, "How easy is it?"
Eunuch Mei said, "All you need to do is stand on the city walls and boost everyone's morale, that's it."
Xia Ji said, "In that case, take me to the steward first."
Eunuch Mei gave another hoot of laughter and said, "I believe that the Seventh Imperial Prince is still not clear of the situation at hand."
Xia Ji smiled and asked, "What situation?"
Eunuch Mei was not shameless enough to say "You are a scapegoat" to the prince. In the end, they were all members of the palace and had to be mindful of what was said to others. He did not say anything else as he dragged the prince along with a scornful look on his face. The naive prince might fancy himself a legitimate War Admiral if the elder man did not show him what he had up his sleeve.
Eunuch Mei's grip, driven by several cold bursts of power, caused a bluish hue to appear on his knuckles, which carried an even more insidious force within it.
The moment he latched on to the prince, the toxic inner vitality would seep into his body, and cause him so much pain he would wish he was dead. When that happened, the Seventh Imperial Prince would obey him and be compliant.
However, Eunuch Mei was confused. He had been in close contact with the Seventh Imperial Prince for two years, and the youngster was nothing a loser who took things as they came and recited Buddhist sutras, yet today… the prince was a bit strange.
He could not even explain the anomaly.
Yet, nothing happened.
His clutch which contained the cold and toxic inner vitality had found its way onto the Seventh Imperial Prince's shoulder joint.
With this clasp, the malevolent inner vitality found an outlet and immediately made its way into the boy's body.
If things went as they should, the prince should be screaming out in agony at the next second.
However, Eunuch Mei did not hear any such sounds.
He smiled darkly in response. "I've been with you for two years, but I never would have guessed that you were so tough."
This was the first time Xia Ji fought someone since he obtained his powers. After experiencing the true power of one of the experts of the palace, he did a mental assessment. Then, a beam of light appeared on his shoulder joint, and a burst of burning inner vitality traveled straight along with the five fingers that were holding on to his shoulder.
Eunuch Mei's five fingers abruptly expanded several times in size, like a thin tube under the strain of a large amount of water gushing through it.
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!
The majestic inner vitality of the Nine Suns expelled the icy vitality and rushed through Eunuch Mei's veins. Then, it burst through the man's blood vessels, skin, and bone of his hand.
Eunuch Mei felt nothing but excruciating pain coursing through his body. Then, when he looked at his right hand, he saw that it had been blown to pieces and was now a bloody mess of flesh.
Screaming miserably, his eyes widened in disbelief. The pain he felt, mixed with the shock of the unexpected turn of events, caused him to forget what he should do next. Instinctively, he knelt onto the ground.
When he raised his head, he saw the Seventh Imperial Prince, who he had always dismissed as a loser, staring down from above him.
The prince's face had become unrecognizable. The former docility in his eyes had vanished, and when he raised his left and right hands, the nine blazing suns were strung together in a row. The sun was shining so brightly and with such power that Eunuch Mei felt unable to breathe.
The eunuch was stunned, unable to even react.
Suddenly, a verse from a poem appeared in his head: