In the Ji Jin Dynasty, winter of the third year of Wenkang.
The palace eaves were deep and quiet, and thick snow pressed against the bright green branches.
A howling wind blew like the wails of ghosts, sounding as though enemy troops were about to arrive. While in a feverish, semi-conscious state of delirium on her bed, Yan Lingyi faintly heard Ji Mingshan roar:
“I never wanted to be emperor in the first place! All I want is my Li Niang!”
“Li Niang and I are a match made in heaven! How innocent is she to be trapped in this cage because of me?”
“If it weren’t for all of you, how could Li Niang have grown distant from me?”
“Get out of here! No one is going to kill my Li Niang!”
Her mind was entirely muddled, her throat burned with agony, and Yan Lingyi struggled to open her eyes.
Icicles hung upside down under the eaves of the Fengyi Palace like sharp knives stabbing diagonally into the doorway, as if trying to cut off the very last breath of life within her. Crouched by the bed was a palace maid holding a bowl of medicine. Seeing Yan Lingyi open her eyes, the maid’s eyes were red and swollen, and she cried out in sheer panic: “Empress, Your Majesty refuses to kill Beauty Li.”
Lying on the bed, Yan Lingyi felt a surge of rage rush straight to her head.
Beauty Li, Beauty Li, Ji Mingshan could only fit Beauty Li in his heart! The entire country was on the verge of ruin because of Beauty Li! Yan Lingyi wished she could pull out a sword and chop Beauty Li into minced meat to feed to the dogs!
Past events rushed back to her mind, filling Yan Lingyi with deep regret.
Her name was Yan Lingyi. She came from a distinguished family of military generals and was the niece of the late Empress Dowager. When the late Emperor was still alive, it was only natural that she married Ji Mingshan, who was then the Crown Prince.
Later on, Ji Mingshan ascended the throne, adopting the era name Emperor Wenkang.
Her relationship with Emperor Wenkang was ordinary, not particularly good, but she hadn’t married him for the sake of a man. She did it for the honor and disgrace of the Yan family and for the common people of the Jin. Being the empress was her duty, and it had nothing to do with romance.
It would have been enough as long as Emperor Wenkang could grant the Jin a century of peace and prosperity.
Yet stubbornly, Emperor Wenkang fell in love with a woman.
This woman, called Li Niang, came from the countryside. She had quite a strong personality, claiming that people should be in a monogamous relationship for a lifetime, declaring that love could not be defiled, and swearing that she would never share Emperor Wenkang with other women. She believed that being with anyone else meant he was failing her, and she would drag out a rope to hang herself at the drop of a hat.
Yet Emperor Wenkang actually fell for this routine! He was so infatuated with her that he was driven half-mad, even feeling guilty towards her because he couldn’t maintain a strictly monogamous relationship with her alone. To make it up to her in every possible way, not only did he bestow upon her the title of Beauty Li, but he also neglected state affairs on her account. When she forbade Emperor Wenkang from attending court, he simply wouldn’t go; when she wanted to eat fresh lychees from Beizhao, Emperor Wenkang made a massive fuss and ordered people to retrieve them, wasting countless national resources in the process.
What was worse, when the Nanxue Kingdom sent a princess for a political marriage, Beauty Li grew jealous and brutally pushed the visiting princess into a lake, causing the princess to drown.
At that time, the Empress Dowager had already passed away, and the Prince Regent was dead. State affairs in the court were extremely heavy, and Yan Lingyi was too busy to break away. By the time she learned the news and rushed over, there was only a corpse left, yet Emperor Wenkang still protected Beauty Li in every possible way.
“Beauty Li only loves me. She doesn’t know any better, why bother bickering with her?”
Yan Lingyi was almost choked to death with anger.
Two brain-damaged fools had collided, specializing in tormenting everyone else! The princess had also come for the sake of her own country, why make things difficult for her?
An emperor’s harem was inextricably linked to the imperial court, how could it be settled by a mere word of love? The Jin State was surrounded by countries on all sides: Beizhao to the north, Nanxue to the south, Dajin to the west, and Dongwo to the east. Each nation had established peace treaties with one another only through the battles of the previous generation. But now, because of a single word of love, they disregarded everything.
This was going to lead to disaster!
Sure enough, the Nanxue Kingdom was in an uproar over the tragic death of their princess. The ruler of Nanxue, the deceased princess’s older brother Xiao Yunling, personally led an army to launch a punitive expedition.
At that time, Jianye City was right in the midst of the New Year celebrations.
While the entire country was immersed in festive joy, the Nanxue Kingdom invaded with an army, and the chaos of the Dajin Dynasty erupted abruptly at the very start of the New Year.
Perhaps even the heavens could no longer stomach Emperor Wenkang: the moment Xiao Yunling started fighting the Jin, he seemed divinely aided, winning every single battle. He led the divine troops of Nanxue straight to the gates of Jianye. Not a single military general in the entire Jin court could put up a fight, and even Yan Lingyi’s father and brothers died on the battlefield.
In a mere two months, the entire city of Jianye plunged abruptly from the warmth of welcoming the new year into a state of panic and chaos.
Snow fell from the clouds in the sky, chilling the very bones of the Jin.
Blood flowed from beneath the blades of the southern state, drowning the common people of the Jin.
By today, mid-February, enemy forces were already pressing against the city walls.
The Nanxue monarch Xiao Yunling demanded that Emperor Wenkang deliver the head of Beauty Li in exchange for the lives of everyone in Jianye City.
And Emperor Wenkang still refused to hand her over! Could the lives of all the citizens of Jianye not even outweigh a single person?
Yan Lingyi stood up, took a deep breath, and said, “Go invite His Majesty here, fetch my sword, and this palace will guard the city gates alongside him. Since that Beauty Li is so deeply in love with him, she can die for the country right alongside us!”
Since he refused to hand her down, they would die together. A monarch dying for the altars of state, and the Son of Heaven guarding the national gates, this was only right.
Things having reached this point, she had failed the late Empress Dowager and the ancestors of the Yan family. Only by standing side by side with Emperor Wenkang to guard the national gates and dying for the country could she preserve the very last shred of dignity.
Even though the emperor and empress were on bad terms, if they were going to die, they would die together.
“You all, find a chance to escape.”
The palace maid tearfully agreed and sorrowfully turned to leave, but after departing, she never actually returned. After waiting for nearly half an hour, Yan Lingyi regained some of her strength. As she ordered someone to help her put on her armor, she asked, “Why haven’t they come yet?”
She was the daughter of a military general and knew some martial arts. Presumably, she wouldn’t look too unsightly when she died shortly. If she could kill a couple of rebels, she would at least dare to plead guilty to her parents down in the underworld.
While Yan Lingyi was asking, a commotion broke out outside. Raising her gaze, she saw a crowd escorting a bright yellow figure running over.
Wearing a yellow robe, it had to be Emperor Wenkang.
After Emperor Wenkang entered, the rest of the crowd stayed outside to wait. Yan Lingyi walked out to meet him, bypassed the screen, and came face-to-face with a serene-looking face.
With apricot eyes, a gentle expression, and a delicate willow-like frame, he looked just like a fine woman with smooth, gentle features, and this was Emperor Wenkang.
Thanks to this fine face of his, people assumed his heart was equally kind because he looked good. But after Emperor Wenkang ascended the throne, they learned the truth: was Emperor Wenkang ever a kind person? He was a puddle of toxic mud, arrogant, self-indulgent, and absurdly reckless. Not only could he not be propped up on a wall, but he smeared mud over everyone’s eyes, leaving them wailing in agony as they watched the Jin perish with their own eyes.
Yet no matter how hopeless he was, he remained the orthodox ruler of the state, and was not someone for rebellious thieves to humiliate. Guarding the national gates to the death today would at least uphold his dignity as a monarch.
“Come here, I have already made proper arrangements for the rest,” Yan Lingyi tossed a sword over and said, “The city gates are about to break, and you and I will go guard them together.”
“If we die in battle at the city gates today, all past grievances are wiped clean. When we reach the underworld, our Yan family won’t blame you.”
She was two years older than him and had the backing of the late Empress Dowager, so she had always kept him under strict control. She had never been polite with her words in the past, and now that the Jin was perishing, she certainly wouldn’t be polite now.
The sharp sword collided with Emperor Wenkang. Fumbling clumsily in a panic, he actually managed to have his arm sliced open by the blade, causing him to cry out tremulously, “Imperial Sister-in-law!”
“What?” Yan Lingyi suspected she was so sick she was dying, as she actually heard Emperor Wenkang call her Imperial Sister-in-law.
“Imperial Sister-in-law,” Emperor Wenkang called out again, clutching his wound as tears streamed down his face in a flash, “Imperial Elder Brother has fled.”
Yan Lingyi’s head gave a loud buzz, and the sharp sword in her hand was almost too heavy to hold: “Ningyue?”
Emperor Wenkang had a twin sister; the two of them had practically identical faces, except one was male and the other female. The sister held the title of Princess Ningyue.
She truly must have been sick out of her mind not to have realized the emperor had been switched!
“You!” Yan Lingyi felt a wave of irritation burn up to her throat. Staggering back two steps, she collided with the beaded curtain behind her and roared angrily, “Why are you here? This palace already arranged for someone to take you out of Jianye!”
“Imperial Elder Brother asked me to stay,” Ningyue possessed a spoiled, sweet, and soft-natured disposition. Terrified to the point of tears streaming down her face, she trembled as she replied, “Imperial Elder Brother said he would find a way to make a comeback, and told me to take his place in committing suicide to atone for our sins. He has already taken Li Niang and fled out of Jianye. I don’t know where he went.”
This was clearly an escape plan Emperor Wenkang had temporarily devised after listening to the words of the rebels outside. Knowing that Yan Lingyi would never agree, he had secretly fled and forced Ningyue to come in his place.
At that time, the gates of Jianye City had already been broken, and the rebel army had charged into the imperial city. The shouts of eunuchs and the screams of palace maids outside the door mingled with the crying of Ningyue inside, sounding like a resounding slap fiercely striking Yan Lingyi across the face.
First anger, then hatred!
A monarch who refused to guard the national gates to the death, an elder brother who wanted to sacrifice his younger sister, a husband who wanted to abandon his wife, what utter incompetence.
She had thought Emperor Wenkang’s worst trait was at most lust and debauchery, having his mind addled by women; but now look at that, there was an even worse side!
Beauty Li was a self-willed woman who understood no rules or propriety, but this Emperor Wenkang was a genuine coward!
Compared to Beauty Li, she hated Emperor Wenkang even more.
A mouthful of blood rushed up to Yan Lingyi’s throat, and with a puff, she spat it out, collapsing weakly to the ground amidst Ningyue’s panicked cries.
The cold Fengyi Palace tilted sideways into her field of vision. She stared fixedly at the snowy sky outside the door, as if looking at the rebel army, and as if looking at Emperor Wenkang, who had fled with a woman and abandoned a boundless realm.
At this very moment, she hated Emperor Wenkang, and she hated herself even more.
Death was at hand, everything was irreversible, the grand game was over, and she was forced to see Emperor Wenkang for what he truly was.
Why had she sworn absolute loyalty to such a scoundrel? The century-old foundation of the Jin and the lives of the entire Yan family had actually been buried for the sake of such a person! Choosing an emperor like this was the ultimate shame of her life.
She could have died for an emperor; she was willing to be the sharp blade of a sovereign, but Emperor Wenkang was unworthy.
Emperor Wenkang was unworthy of being an emperor! He was unworthy, unworthy, unworthy, unworthy!
“Imperial Sister-in-law!” Ningyue lunged forward, kneeling and crying before her, “Please don’t die! I will go outside the city to commit suicide and atone for our sins. If you escape from this place with everyone right now, there will still be a chance to make a comeback in the future! Imperial Sister-in-law!”
Ningyue was of a cowardly disposition, but she was kind-hearted and affectionate towards her family. She couldn’t bear to see her elder brother in peril, so she was willing to take the blame in his place; she couldn’t bear to see her sister-in-law vomiting blood, so she hurriedly knelt down and said through tears, “All of this is my own doing; Sister-in-law, please stop scolding. My brother is the Supreme Sovereign; one day, he will surely avenge me! Sister-in-law, Sister-in-law! Hurry up and get up and run!”
But Yan Lingyi could no longer stand up.
The imperial lineage of the Jin was withered, with no close relatives or imperial heirs remaining. After the Empress Dowager passed away, the Nanxue Kingdom invaded. Every day, Emperor Wenkang only cared about eating, drinking, making merry, and indulging in female beauty, paying no mind to state affairs and dumping all the burdens directly onto Yan Lingyi. By today, her very last ounce of heartblood had been completely exhausted. Upon hearing that Emperor Wenkang had fled, her vital energy reversed, and she suffered fatal exhaustion and collapse. Without needing anyone else to kill her, she had reached her dead end.
At the very last moment before her death, Yan Lingyi wanted to reach for the sword in front of her.
If she was going to die, she should die outside the door, dying beneath a sword rather than perishing in such a cowardly manner. But she could no longer reach it.
Amidst Ningyue’s weeping and the earth-shattering sounds of slaughter outside the hall, Yan Lingyi kept her eyes wide open, staring unblinkingly out the door in death.
The heavy snow outside was falling furiously, the howling wind whipped through the branches, and a cold flash of snow refracted beneath the eaves, mirroring her reluctant pupils. At the final moment before her death, she seemed to see a young maiden practicing swordplay and reading books, full of vigorous heroic spirit.
That was an eighteen-year-old Yan Lingyi.
At that time, she hadn’t yet married into the royal family; she was full of hope for the Jin, and loyalty flowed through her bones and blood.
Whereas the twenty-year-old Yan Lingyi collapsed onto the ground, coughing up her final mouthful of blood, and died full of hatred.
If, if she could do it all over again, she truly should have killed Emperor Wenkang first! She would have dug out his eyes, cut off his tongue, sliced off that piece of troublemaking flesh on his body, and chewed raw that scoundrel’s heart!
Let her do it all over again.
That hand made one final reluctant upward reach in midair, and then plummeted heavily. Ningyue burst into a scream beside her, seeming to still be shouting something, but Yan Lingyi could no longer hear it.
She lay prostrate on the cold floor of the Fengyi Palace, gradually losing all signs of life.
The last bloodline of the Yan family of Jin was drowned in the tide of blood.
After Yan Lingyi’s death, Ningyue picked up the sword at her side and staggered out of the Fengyi Palace. She wanted to commit suicide before the imperial palace for the sake of her elder brother, hoping her death would stop the massacre of the rebel army and buy a little time for her brother.
As it happened, however, Ningyue was captured alive by the rebel army. The rebel leader originally intended to capture her alive, but unexpectedly discovered Ningyue’s female identity. He subsequently imprisoned Ningyue in the inner palace, and ultimately, Ningyue died a tragic death.
Until her death, Ningyue was still waiting for her elder brother.
She never once resented her elder brother; she only knew that a poetic and artistic princess could not read human hearts. Like a foolish moth, she thought her death had value, so she willingly gave herself to it, completely unaware that it was merely the cowardly lie of Emperor Wenkang.
The dynasty collapsed, and Emperor Wenkang sacrificed the blood of two women in exchange for a path to survival.
And death, what did it feel like?
It felt like drifting in a warm bath, floating along with the current, being rolled towards the deepest, deepest parts. One should have forgotten everything, gradually growing lighter and lighter, sinking down and down along the whirlpool in the water.
Yet stubbornly, Yan Lingyi could not sink.
All that hatred, all those grievances entangled her. The smell of blood choked her throat, making her remember it over and over again. She spun around and around in the whirlpools of the water, simply refusing to go down.
Until at a certain moment, the blood in her throat violently surged back up, fiercely shocking Yan Lingyi awake. After a violent fit of coughing, she slowly opened her eyes and looked around in a daze.
She was lying inside bed curtains. Above her head was blue water-silk embroidered with white cranes, and gauze curtains swayed gently in the breeze, blowing Yan Lingyi into a state of greater clarity.
When she first woke up, her chest was still oppressed by anger and sorrow, and the chill of winter snow was deeply soaked into her bones. When she moved, her entire body clicked and cracked, just like the remains of an ancient corpse crawling out from beneath the earth to demand someone’s life, filled with fierce hostility yet bewildered and at a loss as she slowly sat up in place, looking around the surroundings in disbelief.
This was a simple side room, devoid of gold-piled screens and luxurious beaded curtains; there was only a wooden floor and a bed covered with damask and thick silk. The moment she saw all of this, the bloody taste in her throat vanished without a trace, and the chill inside her body dissipated along with it, as if she had never been injured at all.
What was going on here? Wasn’t she dead?!
With trembling hands, she felt herself.
Taut, powerful arms, a body not yet worn dry, and an unfamiliar place.
Yan Lingyi raised her head to look out the window of the side room, catching sight of rolling mountain ranges in the distance and overlapping green trees nearby.
No, not unfamiliar.
She had been to this place before.
This place was called Sanling Mountain, rumored to be where immortals practiced cultivation. There was a temple here said to be extremely efficacious. The late emperor had once rebuilt and constructed a palace atop the mountain temple, named the Sanling Palace, and frequently came here to pray for blessings for all under heaven.
The Ji Jin Dynasty, summer of the second year of Wenkang, early June, the Prince Regent was gravely ill.
The Prince Regent was the younger brother of the late emperor and the biological uncle of Emperor Wenkang, holding the peerage title Qi.
Prince Qi valued martial arts. In order to defend the borders of the Ji Jin Dynasty in the past, he fought numerous battles with the neighboring Beigu people, and ever since the wars, he had been suffering from lingering, unhealed severe wounds. With him falling gravely ill this time, it was feared he didn’t have much time left. Consequently, the Empress Dowager ordered both the Emperor and Empress to bring Princess Ningyue out of the palace to stay within the Sanling Palace, praying for blessings for the Prince Regent day after day, kneeling for a full hour every night at the time of the alternation between the sun and moon, for a duration of thirty days.
In her memory, several things happened during this prayer period.
Emperor Wenkang caused trouble, completely as expected. Being mischievous by nature, he was entirely unwilling to come pray for blessings. Although he was already emperor, his temperament remained that of an unruly child, and he deliberately wanted to go against everyone. After arriving at Sanling Mountain, he constantly roamed about the mountains and happened to encounter a country girl in the hills.
This girl had a willful and unruly temperament, but Emperor Wenkang inexplicably took a liking to her. Concealing his identity, he came to know and fall in love with her, making a vow of monogamy for a lifetime together. However, unable to remain in the countryside for long, he took the initiative to expose his identity, wanting to bring this girl back to the imperial palace.
Upon learning he was the emperor, the girl abruptly flipped her attitude, declaring that she refused to share a husband with others, stating she wanted to be a free soaring bird in this world.
Incited by her, Emperor Wenkang actually ran away with her in the middle of the night.
Guards discovered them and hurriedly gave chase. Just then, torrential rain fell, triggering mountain mudslides. The two of them were nearly buried alive in the mountains, and it was only thanks to Yan Lingyi, who learned of the news later and risked her life to rescue them, that Emperor Wenkang and Li Niang’s lives were barely preserved. As a result, Yan Lingyi also contracted a lingering illness, and half of her martial arts prowess was crippled.
Yet Emperor Wenkang didn’t know how to thank her; day in and day out, he continued to stage his romance drama with Li Niang, almost infuriating Yan Lingyi to death.
Yan Lingyi truly couldn’t understand: what on earth was so lovable about it?! What kind of love was this even?!
No matter how much they bickered, this blessing still had to be prayed for. While Emperor Wenkang was down there caught up in deeply passionate love with Li Niang, she forced herself to brace her body and go pray, and naturally, she was the only one doing the praying.
Yan Lingyi’s father was likewise a military general, and Yan Lingyi understood how much the Prince Regent had contributed to the Ji Jin Dynasty, which was why she was willing to pray for this person.
As for Emperor Wenkang, he continued his endless grand romance and bitter hatred with Li Niang as usual.
Thirty days later, when she and Emperor Wenkang left the spirit mountain, the Prince Regent had still passed away.
Following the Prince Regent’s death, the Empress Dowager also fell gravely ill, not living much longer either. After that came Emperor Wenkang’s reckless antics everywhere, with Yan Lingyi playing the role of firefighter day after day.
Right up until the very end, when Yan Lingyi could no longer put out the fires, the Ji Jin Dynasty perished.
Yan Lingyi recalled all these past events in a daze. Just then, a gust of wind blew past outside the window, causing the cloud-pines outside to sway, as if asking her: Yan Lingyi, you have lived your life over again, what do you want to do?
Living it over again, living it over again, over and over again, what did she want to do?
Her father, brothers, mother, and the entire Yan family were not dead yet, and the Ji Jin Dynasty had not perished either. Right now, the country was at peace and the world was tranquil; what did she want to do?
Yan Lingyi trembled inside the sleeping couch, tears bursting from her eyes. Her round face twisted entirely out of shape, looking like someone who had struck it rich yet dared not cheer out loud. Her whole face was contorted and ferocious, until finally, a series of laughs burst out from between her teeth.
A bold thought surged into her mind.
“Your Majesty!” When Yan Lingyi’s personal maid ran in from outside, she happened to see the Empress inside the beaded curtain crying and laughing on the bed, clutching the bed silk with a ferocious expression.
She looked like a crazed concubine in the cold palace, making anyone who saw her break out in a cold sweat.
Startled, the maid tripped over her own words, and what she wanted to say took a tumble, tumbling out in a stammer: “Emperor has arrived!”
Yan Lingyi snapped back to reality from her wild ecstasy, raised her sleeve to wipe the tears from the corners of her eyes, and said, “This palace knows.”
She slowly got down from the couch. Barely had she steadied herself when a rush of hurried footsteps sounded from outside. Someone charged through the carved wooden door, yet the moment they rushed in, they slowed their pace, walking in slowly, and came to a halt just behind a layer of beaded curtain.
Raising her eyes, she saw a bright yellow figure charge through the door with aggressive momentum, shouting from the very doorway: “Yan Lingyi! Li Niang comes from a humble background and has a straightforward personality. Why on earth do you insist on making things difficult for Li Niang and sending people to torment her?”
Some days ago, Emperor Wenkang encountered a cute country girl. Falling in love at first sight, they had already pledged their lives to one another. He had managed with great difficulty to coax her and bring her into the hall, but before he even had time to bestow a status upon her, she was detained by Yan Lingyi, who claimed her identity was unknown and required careful investigation. When Emperor Wenkang received the news and arrived, he found Li Niang crying inside the hall.
Li Niang said that the Empress’s people had bullied her and insisted on teaching her some rules, purely because they looked down on her humble background.
Li Niang said she only wanted a husband dedicated to a lifelong monogamous relationship, not an emperor, and she certainly didn’t want to be bullied by others.
Li Niang said Emperor Wenkang had failed her, and as long as another woman existed for even a single day, Emperor Wenkang was failing her for a day.
Distressed for Li Niang, Emperor Wenkang angrily came to find trouble with Yan Lingyi.
The moment Emperor Wenkang saw Yan Lingyi’s face, he felt annoyed. He roared loudly: “I have said it many times! Li Niang did not come for my status, nor does she only care about the power of the inner palace like you do. Do not use the rules of the inner palace to suppress her; she only loves me! If you dare touch her again, I will depose you sooner or later!”