Yan Fuwei slid his sword back into its scabbard and stood motionless inside the ruined temple.
The shrine had been smashed, and the temple’s statue had been reduced to a pile of broken stone.
The events of his previous life felt like a dream of millet. After unifying the realm, he had ascended the throne as emperor. With the new dynasty just founded and everything waiting to be rebuilt, he had labored for twenty years until peace reigned throughout the land—only to die suddenly at his desk.
He had no harem and no children. He had, however, drawn up an edict of succession early on, passing the throne to his third younger brother.
He had thought that when a person died, all went dark. Who could have guessed that when he opened his eyes again, he would find himself three hundred years in the future—and not only that, but among his own descendants?
The foundations he had worked so hard to build had nearly been handed back in their entirety to the barbarian tribes by those worthless descendants!
He had been reborn on his wedding night. Yan Fuwei had meant to go straight to the palace and kill the useless fool on the throne, but just after he left the prince’s residence, he heard that an urgent dispatch from the frontier had arrived: the barbarian tribes had invaded and slaughtered five cities.
Yan Fuwei had let that worthless descendant stay on the throne a little longer and headed for the frontier instead. He was gone for five years.
After five years, he had finally driven those barbarians back to the grasslands beyond the northern passes.
Three hundred years had changed everything.
The Yan descendants had become stupider than words could describe. Even a pig on the throne would have been better than the current good-for-nothing, who knew only how to concoct pills, take drugs, build a harem, and play with eunuchs!
Yan Fuwei walked out of the ruined temple and dropped the bloodstained silk handkerchief onto the ground. “Leave no trace. Burn it.”
His personal guard obeyed and set fire to the temple.
Qi Yun came over, looking uneasy, and lowered his voice. “Your Highness, word just came in: the Princess Regent has left the residence with Second Master Yan Ze. They’ve gone to…the Xuanzhao Spirit Temple.”
A storm gathered in Yan Fuwei’s eyes. “The Xuanzhao Spirit Temple in the capital is still standing?!”
Qi Yun’s scalp tightened. “Forgive me, Your Highness. The Xuanzhao Spirit Temple in the capital is thriving, and there are too many eyes and ears from all sides. It’s truly difficult to make a move.”
Qi Yun’s mouth was dry with dread, and he was genuinely afraid.
He had no idea what had come over His Highness. Ever since they had seen the first Xuanzhao Spirit Temple at the frontier, he had been acting strangely.
It was as if he had some deep-seated hatred for the Xuanzhao Temple. Whenever they came across one, he ordered it smashed and burned.
A squad of the secret guards had been assigned to do nothing but that. So many Xuanzhao Temples had been destroyed that it had attracted the court’s attention. At some point, word had spread throughout the realm that the Xuanzhao Temples concealed a treasure left behind by the King of Xuanzhao.
At first, Qi Yun had believed the King of Xuanzhao really had left behind some treasure. After all, the histories described the King of Xuanzhao as the ruler who had once unified the north, and his death had been sudden and mysterious.
Especially since Yan Fuwei had kept ordering them to investigate the King of Xuanzhao’s relic.
But there was something odd about it. The Black Phoenix Iron Hairpin was clearly a woman’s hair ornament. How could a great man like the King of Xuanzhao have used such a thing?
Before long, though, Qi Yun had begun to doubt himself. They had smashed so many Xuanzhao Temples without finding any treasure map, and His Highness seemed to destroy them simply to vent his anger. Oh—and the statue of the King of Xuanzhao in particular. Every time His Highness saw it, his mood soured.
Qi Yun had assumed His Highness simply hated the King of Xuanzhao. That was understandable, after all. If the King of Xuanzhao hadn’t died before crossing the river, he and His Majesty Emperor Baisheng would surely have fought to the death.
But then…His Highness had also made great use of that boy, Chu Nanxing.
Still, they had kept the destruction of the Chu family’s ancestral temples hidden from Chu Nanxing.
It had been nothing to worry about before. But now the Princess Regent had received the protection of her ancestor, who had touched her head and enlightened her in a dream. Chu Nanxing had said it too: that was the ancestor of the Chu Family…Most likely, it really was the King of Xuanzhao manifesting!
How could Qi Yun not be afraid?
His Highness had sent people to smash one Xuanzhao Temple after another! How was that any different from digging up someone’s grave and whipping the corpse?
“Y-Your Highness…could it be that the King of Xuanzhao learned the temples had been smashed, and so manifested to send the Princess Regent a dream?” Qi Yun was soaked in sweat. Good heavens, ever since he learned that the King of Xuanzhao truly had a spirit in the afterlife, he hadn’t slept well in ages!
He was genuinely afraid the King of Xuanzhao would appear in his dreams and kill him as an accomplice!
Yan Fuwei’s eyes were dark. He hoped it really was the King of Xuanzhao manifesting!
He swung onto his horse. “The rest of you, return to the residence. Qi Yun, come with me to the Xuanzhao Temple.”
Yan Fuwei galloped away, wind and snow whipping past his face and lifting his fox-fur cloak. No one saw the blazing fire in his eyes.
He had once wondered: if he could be reborn three hundred years later, was it possible that Chu Zhao had also “come back to life”?
He had kept Chu Nanxing close and investigated every member of Madam Chu’s family, but not one of them resembled her!
Until this return to the capital…
That Shen Zhaozhao did not look like her, but now and then, her expressions and gestures were so like hers. He had tested her, too, and the answer had disappointed him.
But she had also said her ancestor had manifested and taught her in a dream.
Some things seemed to make sense now.
Could the ancestor in that dream have been Chu Zhao?
Knowing Chu Zhao’s temper, if she learned that after her death she had been changed from a woman into a man, she would claw her way out of the Netherworld and punch through the Nine Hells to return to the living world, skinning and stuffing every person responsible before she was satisfied!
Thinking of the Xuanzhao Temples, where the sexes had been reversed, and the histories and Chu family genealogy that had been altered, murderous intent surged in Yan Fuwei’s eyes.
Back then, he had thought his third brother was slow-witted, but just barely capable of keeping the realm stable. That was why he had passed the throne to him.
But that fool and his descendants had been bold enough to alter the histories and turn Chu Zhao into a man! They had even ordered the Chu family genealogy revised. The statues in the temples he had built for Chu Zhao had been smashed, and some incomprehensible thing had been installed in their place!
A pack of unfilial descendants. They deserved to die!
They deserved to be skinned and stuffed!
The warhorse charged through the bustling streets and pulled up outside the temple.
Beside the clay-figure stall at the temple gate, a woman was arguing with the old man who made the figurines.
“I’m paying. I can have whatever I want made. Old man, why do you have so much to say?” Her words were blunt, but she wore a smile.
“My lady, you may not fear divine retribution, but this old man does! This is right in front of the temple of the Divine Lord of Xuanzhao. If you make him into a woman at my stall, I’m truly afraid Heaven will strike me down!”
The old man groaned in dismay. His livelihood depended on the Divine Lord of Xuanzhao, so he didn’t dare do anything so blasphemous.
Chu Nanxing and Chu Chengbi, father and son, stood off to the side, wearing the same strange expression.
The former looked uncertain; the latter was numb with resignation.
A gold ingot landed on the clay-figure stall. A man came up, his breath carrying the wind and snow. “Will this buy your stall?”
The old man gaped. He could make clay figures for the rest of his life and still never earn a gold ingot! But…he didn’t dare take it.
“Take it,” Yan Fuwei said evenly, though his voice seemed to hide something beneath a layer of restraint.
Only then did the old man take the gold, thanking him profusely before hurrying away.
Chu Zhao glanced sideways at the man beside her, her smile not reaching her eyes. “You’ve come at just the right time.”
Yan Fuwei looked at her as though he were seeing someone else through her. His greed was buried deep in his eyes, beneath a tumult of emotions held tightly in check.
In this world, no one but him knew the King of Xuanzhao had been a woman. Unless…
“Shen Zhaozhao” had truly seen the King of Xuanzhao!
The thought struck him like a bolt of lightning, and a sea of flames seemed to erupt before his eyes.
Yan Fuwei could almost hear his own heartbeat. He couldn’t suppress the wild joy; it welled up from his very bones until his throat tightened and his fingertips went numb.
Chu Zhao was still here…Her soul really was still in this world!
She had entered a dream—the dream of Shen Zhaozhao. She had spoken with the girl and grown close to her. Even the supernatural means the girl had used not long ago to deal with the people of Shen Residence had drawn on Chu Zhao’s power!
But why?
She was only some great-grandniece, generations removed!
Why would Chu Zhao enter her dreams, but never his?
In his previous life, after Chu Zhao died, he had built temples for her, carved statues, and offered devotional incense. He had carved and fashioned every one of the original gilded statues in those Xuanzhao Temples with his own hands, stroke by stroke.
He had named the new dynasty Great Xuan because half of the realm had belonged to her.
She should have ruled it alongside him.
But her soul had never manifested before him—not once. She had never entered his dreams or left behind even the faintest trace of her presence. He had searched every text in the realm, sought out every Taoist and strange adept, and tried every means at his disposal, all to find some thread of hope that she was still out there. But there had been nothing.
And she?
Some unknown great-grandniece had so easily won her favor, received her in a dream, gained her guidance, and even…
Yan Fuwei’s hand, hanging at his side, slowly clenched. His nails dug into his palm. Though tumultuous emotions crashed within him, his expression remained as composed as ever.
“What are you making?” he asked, though he already knew.
“The King of Xuanzhao.” Chu Zhao picked up the figurine.
Yan Fuwei’s eyes were dark as the abyss. He stared at the clay figure in her hand without blinking. To be honest, it was terribly ugly. The only thing he could tell was that it was a woman.
How could Chu Zhao be so ugly!
She had always loved beautiful things. If she knew someone had made her look like this, she would cut off that person’s hands!
If you couldn’t make one, you shouldn’t have tried!
Yan Fuwei hid it well, but Chu Zhao was who she was. She sensed a trace of killing intent from him.
She laughed coldly to herself. What, had he found out that his dog of an ancestor had twisted the truth and flown into a rage?
“His Highness the Prince of You is a member of the imperial family. Why don’t you tell us—is the King of Xuanzhao a man or a woman?”
Killing intent flashed in Yan Fuwei’s eyes. The King of Xuanzhao was naturally a woman!
The Xuanzhao Temples still stood, but every gilded statue he had carved for her had been smashed. In their place, the temples now enshrined some incomprehensible monstrosity.
“The official histories say the King of Xuanzhao was a man.” Yan Fuwei’s voice was laced with mockery. It sounded like an answer, but also like he was mocking someone.
The official histories. Laughable.
He still hadn’t discovered which generation of emperors of the Great Xuan Dynasty had altered the histories and the Chu family genealogy, “changing” the King of Xuanzhao into a man.
But he didn’t need to find out. Either way, he was going to destroy the Imperial Mausoleum, dig up the bones of those unfilial descendants, and grind them to dust!
Yet to those around him, Yan Fuwei’s attitude meant something else.
Chu Chengbi curled his lip to himself. Even the Prince of You says the King of Xuanzhao was a man. Let’s see how that old ghost keeps spreading her nonsense now.
Chu Zhao smiled, staring into the face of the man before her—a face identical to Yan Fuwei’s. Her eyes turned utterly cold.
She had actually thought Yan Fuwei a worthy rival in her previous life, someone who could stand on equal footing with her. She had thought too highly of him.
That bastard had sired a whole litter of bastards.
“Your Yan Family’s official histories don’t speak for the King of Xuanzhao.”
Chu Zhao curled her lips and tossed the figurine from her hand. “If the King of Xuanzhao truly has a spirit in the heavens, then every one of That Bastard’s ilk who dared reverse man and woman had better wait and see. Heaven will strike them down!”
Almost as soon as her words fell—
Rumble—
As everyone watched in shock or terror, a bolt of silver lightning plunged down in broad daylight and smashed the roof of the bustling Xuanzhao Temple to pieces.
Amid the panicked crowd, the woman curled her lips and clapped. “Look at that. The King of Xuanzhao has manifested, hasn’t she~”