The Imperial palace of Western Liang.
Xiang Ziwei felt a great force pull his soul out of his body, he looked above his body for a few seconds before his feet finally made contact with the cold ground.
He watched as Shen Xiaoriu held him tearfully for a few minutes before carefully laying him face up. His heart tugged as he watched his most trusted commander kowtow respectively three times before leaving the prison.
Xiang Ziwei looked down at his lifeless body then at his hands, 'was this how it felt to be dead', he thought flexing his hands and looking around the room.
'Why am I still here", he glanced around once again and did not see any ripper around, 'I guess whoever would escort me to the underworld is delayed", he gazed longingly at the entrance of the prison 'Can I leave here or am I bound here'.
When there was no response, he smiled 'I guess I will have to find that out", taking a deep breath, he walked through the narrow entranceway. His body was surprisingly lightweight and a little translucent.
He touched the rocky wall as expected, his hands went through the wall. 'I guess some myths are true", He squinted his eyes as he left the dim prison and stepped into the bright daylight. He felt an overflow of joy at the prospect of walking out in the sun.
He had never appreciated the privilege until he was thrown in here, he stretched his hands wide, shut his eyes and looked up in the sky.
Although he couldn't feel the rays of the sun, he brought up the memories of the sensation of hot sunlight. This feeling was short-lived as he quickly heard the sounds of fighting.
it sounded like it came from a distance yet, he could hear it clearly, he followed the sound to a concrete partway a short distance away.
Xiang Ziwei gasped and rushed forward as one of the four masked men attacking Shen Xiaoriu rushed forward sword raised from behind Shen Xiaoriu as he was distracted by his other attackers.
"No!" He rushed forwards to grab the sword but he couldn't grab onto the sword, his eyes widened as his hand phased through the sword.
He turned around just as the man ran Shen Xiaoriu through, "Xiaoriu!" He ran forward as his friend fell backwards but his hands phased through Shen Xiaoriu's shoulders.
Shen Xiaoriu Fell with a 'thud', as his head hit the ground hard. He quickly blacked out, Xiang Ziwei looked down at his hands and fell on his knees, "why," He muttered turning his hands continuously. He looked up as one of the marked men instructed his partners to grab Shen Xiaoriu.
He stood and followed them, they carried Shen Xiaoriu through the back entrance and threw him into the back of a waiting carriage.
Xiang Ziwei wire as he looked up to check who's carriage it was only to discover that it was an unmarked carriage.
When he attempted to follow the carriage, he was suddenly pulled back into the palace by a strong force. He looked around eyes wide as he landed on his butt.
"Wha-what!" He checked his body for any visible rope but found none, he hit an invincible wall as he rushed forward in an attempt to catch up with the men.
He was pushed back by the same force at once again fell on his butt, this time it was much harder than before. He hissed and rubbed his butt as he stood.
"Looks like I can't leave", he turned around at the spot but saw no one, he looked down at his hand and his pinky finger was almost fully transparent.
"It wasn't like this before, what is going on", he muttered and walked back into the palace, he planned on walking aimless but changed his mind.
When he suddenly remembered that a servant had rushed in while he was being tortured to report that the Emperor's study was on fire.
He had found Zhao Ronglei's reaction to the news of a fire breaking out in there a little weird since he was not visible to them. He decided to check that out.
The fire was put out by the time he got there and the servants had already begun to clean up the scene. He looked around the scene, apart from the low-ranked cleaning maids and eunuchs.
None of the traitors was in sight, he continued moving, he paused suddenly as a low-toned conversation filtered into his ears as he walked through the household department.
He looked around and there was no one in sight as if drawn to the conversation. His head snapped up and his eye fell I'm the open window at the top of the building.
His senses had sharpened since he had died. Before he could take a step, he was dragged into the room. Eunuch Zhang one of his longtime servants stood opposite his former brother-in-law and friend, Zhao Haoyu.
He had a long history with both men one was his mother's personal eunuch and raised him since his mother died while the other was his senior.
He had trained under the late Imperial tutor Nie Hong since they were 5 years old. Zhao Haoyu was his study partner and friend. They were so close that he never believed that Zhao Haoyu would ever betray him.
"Eldest Master, Her Majesty has escorted Prince Feng to her side room", Eunuch Zhang said.
"You did well", Zhao Haoyu took out a small pouch of silver coined and threw it at Eunuch Zhang's feet, "make sure that everyone that was associated with this is taken care of. No one must speak a word of this".
"Yes", Eunuch Zhang replied, he bent over, picked up the pouch and put it in his sleeves without counting the coins.
He knew that Zhao Haoyu was not stingy with his money. He bit his lips as he remembered that the Emperor was still alive, "er, eldest master... about the Emperor_"
"Don't worry, I will take care of him. Just keep my dear sister in check".
"Yes", he replied bowing. He stood straight as soon as Zhao Haoyu left and hurriedly threw the coun pouch into his small save under his bed. Xiang Ziwei glared at him silently for some minutes before leaving.