Lu Yuandi’s path to the throne consisted of three steps.
Step one: descend the mountain.
Step two: kill Li Li.
Step three: ascend the throne.
This joke of a plan was Lu Yuandi’s genuine intention. Only step two was somewhat involved.
But that was no problem.
Lu Yuandi disguised herself as a man and slipped into the military camp.
The first thing she needed to do was earn Li Li’s favor.
Li Li was a suspicious man. He advanced with caution at every turn, never trusted anyone lightly, and placed his greatest confidence in his military advisor.
The first person Lu Yuandi approached was the advisor’s nephew-a simple-minded young man.
She engineered a scheme to lure him into an enemy trap, then personally rescued him, even feigning injury. The whole sequence flowed like water.
The gullible nephew fell for it completely and went to his uncle singing Lu Yuandi’s praises to the heavens.
The military advisor was a crafty man. He knew his nephew’s nature and wouldn’t trust Lu Yuandi so easily.
But he couldn’t help noticing this selfless “young man.”
Soon, Lu Yuandi’s next opportunity arrived.
A small squad was trapped in a valley, enemies closing in from both sides. Just as it seemed the entire group would be wiped out, an unremarkable soldier miraculously led them all through the encirclement.
That soldier was Lu Yuandi.
Brave and resourceful-Lu Yuandi had made her presence known twice over. What followed came naturally. She first won the military advisor’s trust, and before long, Li Li himself took notice of this young man.
But winning Li Li’s trust was far more difficult. She had taken a blade for him, tasted poisons on his behalf, and offered sound strategies time and again, yet Li Li’s attitude remained lukewarm at best.
Lu Yuandi lay on her side in the camp, back turned, biting down hard on her thumbnail.
She and her enemy were separated by a single tent, yet she could do nothing.
The battle was nearing its end. Once Li Li returned to the royal city, getting close to him would be harder than ascending to heaven.
Lu Yuandi was at her wit’s end. She had even lost weight, the flesh on her cheeks visibly thinner.
The military advisor’s nephew, a young man named Wu Yueren, had unilaterally declared himself her good friend and liked to hover around her at every opportunity.
Lu Yuandi had previously humored him like one would humor a fool, but now she was growing impatient.
Wu Yueren looked simple, but at certain moments he could display startling perceptiveness. He sensed that Lu Yuandi was troubled by something and took it upon himself to ask.
“Xiao Er”-Lu Yuandi went by the alias Wang Er in the camp-“if you’ve got any troubles, come to me.”
“And what exactly can you solve?”
“I can help you see things differently!”
“…”
Perhaps spoiled at home, Wu Yueren was the sort of person who couldn’t be bothered about anything. Problems that could be solved would sort themselves out sooner or later; problems that couldn’t be solved weren’t worth fretting over.
He couldn’t help Xiao Er with his troubles, but he could help Xiao Er find a bit of fun.
“In a couple of days, the general’s holding a victory feast. The local officials are sending over a batch of beauties-they dance wonderfully.” Wu Yueren was innocent; his imagination of beautiful women extended no further than how well they danced. “I’ll have a word with my uncle and get you in too. He thinks highly of you-he’ll agree.”
“Beauties?”
Wu Yueren’s words sent Lu Yuandi into deep thought.
Li Li was an extremely self-disciplined man, free of any weakness for women-otherwise he could never have seized power so swiftly. But after months of bitter fighting, the soldiers had been grumbling in private. Li Li allowing outsiders in this time was likely meant to settle the mood in camp.
Outsiders…
A gleam turned in Lu Yuandi’s eyes. A plan took shape.
Wu Yueren was still chattering away about how beautiful those women were. Lu Yuandi cut him off.
“Which camp are they staying in?” Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
“Huh?”
Wu Yueren instinctively glanced westward, then quickly looked away.
“Now look here, Xiao Er, you can’t go getting any funny ideas! Those beauties are definitely for the general first-“
“The west side?”
Lu Yuandi laughed at Wu Yueren’s utter lack of guile, stood up, and brushed the dust from her knees.
“Relax. I’ll definitely defer to the general.”
The victory feast in the military camp was a rough affair. After the beauties danced a round, they would be claimed by the officers and led off to their respective quarters.
These dancing girls were tributes from the local region. Compared to the songstresses of the royal city, their looks were naturally a step below.
But tonight, there was one who was exceptionally beautiful.
She wore a light veil across her face, with a willow waist and a lotus complexion, approaching in delicate, measured steps. Her dancing was not as polished as the others, yet her exquisite figure lent it a charm all its own.
Her eyes shimmered as they swept the room, like stars tumbling from the sky. One sweep of her long sleeves, and she had stolen the soul of every man present.
Including Li Li.
One dance ended. Another was yet to begin. But Li Li could not wait-he went straight for the beauty at the center. She lowered her head in feigned shyness and followed the general with quick, mincing steps.
This “shy” woman was none other than Lu Yuandi.
Her plan for the evening had been simple: she knocked out one of the dancing girls, changed into her costume, and slipped in. As for the dancing-she copied every move from the girls beside her on the spot. The lead dancer had long noticed something off about her but found no opportunity to say so.
If Li Li hadn’t chosen her, she would have found a way to swap in. If he did choose her, then everything after would be even easier.
Fortunately, she was chosen.
Li Li brought her back to his tent but made no further move. Instead, he had her stand in the center while he took up a wine flask and cup, settled behind the low table, and drank at his leisure.
Lu Yuandi kept her eyelids lowered, not daring to act rashly.
Something was wrong.
The grand general who had appeared thoroughly drunk at the feast was now perfectly sober. He studied the “beauty” for a long time, then spoke in a flat tone.
“Remove your clothes.”
Lu Yuandi’s hand, hidden inside her sleeve, clenched so tight her nails bit deep into her flesh.
Li Li was humiliating her.
In his eyes, she was not even a person-merely an object to be smashed to pieces on a whim. Lu Yuandi did not know how a real dancing girl would respond, but she would never obey Li Li’s command.
Pressed against the inside of her arm was a dagger-one of Tao Mian’s parting gifts.
Tonight, she would use this blade to cut down her enemy with her own hands.
She only needed the right moment.
The standoff held. Neither of them moved. Li Li’s manner was strange-he neither forced her nor drove her out.
He simply smiled, calm and unhurried, as though peeling away a lie that had gone on far too long.
“You are of the Lu clan.”
Lu Yuandi’s lowered lashes trembled.
Li Li rose again, clasped his hands behind his back, walked toward her, and stopped a few paces away.
“The imperial Lu clan. The Lu family’s eyes are lighter in color than ordinary people’s. Others might not notice, but I know every last member of your bloodline.”
Li Li seemed to recall something from the past. He chuckled softly, undisguised pride threading through the sound.
“Back then, to exterminate your entire clan, I gathered everyone with unusual eye color. I pried open their eyes, confirmed them one by one, and killed them one by one.
“Were there innocents among them? Perhaps. But what of it?
“A pity, though-even with such thoroughness, one fish slipped through the net. Your Highness, the Eldest Princess. I truly never imagined we would meet again under such circumstances.
“If the late emperor knew, down in the Nine Springs, he would surely heave a long sigh. The daughter he endured every cruelty to protect turned out to be this foolish-walking straight into the trap of her own accord.”
Lu Yuandi raised her face.
Her expression was frost and snow, her gaze like ice.
“Old man. Are you finished? Then it’s time to see you off.”
The dagger slid from her sleeve and landed perfectly in her palm, its blade surging three feet long. Lu Yuandi drove it straight for Li Li’s vital point without a heartbeat’s hesitation.
Li Li was no easy mark. He dispersed the oncoming sword wind with a palm strike, then drove his right fist straight at her. Lu Yuandi dodged, but the cumbersome costume caught her-the force of his fist grazed her right side, sending her stumbling.
“Cough…”
Lu Yuandi coughed lightly, pushing through the dull ache.
What followed was a true clash between masters.
The Fei Lian Sword Technique excelled in speed. Its forms were intricate, dizzying to follow, and every strike was lethal. Once caught in the sword wind, one would be shredded apart by countless threads of sword intent.
But Li Li’s fist arts were equally transcendent. His advantage lay in experience-and that was Lu Yuandi’s true weakness. In talent and technique, she far surpassed Li Li, but the gap in experience was fatal. A fledgling fresh from the mountain against a man forged in a hundred battles-the outcome of this fight seemed already written.
Li Li threw a straight punch aimed squarely at her face. Already battered by injuries large and small, Lu Yuandi had no strength left to dodge. Her body staggered backward beyond her control.
She drove her sword into the ground to hold herself upright, pressed one hand over her heart, and between ragged breaths, let out a mocking laugh.
“What a pity.”
Li Li took it as surrender. He stepped forward, stood over her, and looked down from on high.
“A pity? That your skills fell short? That you couldn’t avenge the Lu clan? That the last drop of imperial blood is about to wither here? Your kind aren’t pitiful-you’re pathetic.”
Lu Yuandi shook her head and laughed again.
“What are you to me? My pity has nothing to do with you.”
Li Li’s face twitched.
“At death’s door, and still running your mouth.”
Lu Yuandi said nothing more. Her hand, half-curled inside her sleeve, quietly closed around a Heavenly Thunder Talisman.
The Heavenly Thunder Talisman used the caster’s own body as the fuse. Those caught in its blast would lose their lives if unlucky, or suffer grievous wounds if fortune favored them. But for the caster-once the arrow left the bow, there was no turning back. The backlash would shatter even the soul. No next life. No reincarnation.
Once this talisman was unleashed, there was no road back. She and Li Li would descend to the underworld together.
“I only pity that I won’t see this year’s flowers bloom.”
Lu Yuandi murmured the words, and Li Li, who hadn’t heard clearly, bent down.
Her finger hooked the talisman paper, revealing a corner of yellow.
Li Li’s eyes went wide.
“You-“
Blood stained the corners of Lu Yuandi’s mouth. She curled her lips into a ghostly, bewitching smile. Her eyes brimmed with tears, yet her gaze was utterly mad.
She would make herself the pyre and burn her enemy to nothing.
Even if it meant becoming a wretched, wandering ghost-she would not hesitate.
“You’re insane! That’s a Heavenly Thunder Talisman!!”
Li Li tried to flee, but Lu Yuandi clung to his right leg with everything she had. Blow after blow hammered into her chest; she ignored them all. Her fingers scraped across the sword’s edge, leaving a line of blood.
The Heavenly Thunder Talisman slipped from her grasp during the struggle and fell to the ground. Lu Yuandi stretched out her arm. The light in her eyes was fading. Tears slid down her face, yet the smile never left her lips.
A slender hand-belonging to neither of them-appeared in her line of sight and gently picked up the Heavenly Thunder Talisman.
“Yuandi…”
At the sound of that sighing voice, Lu Yuandi’s eyes flew wide in disbelief. Tears she thought had run dry surged forth again. Like a child who had been bullied beyond endurance, she buried her face in her arms, collapsed against the ground, and wailed.
Master.