Outside Purple Qi City at night, a rickshaw puller’s steps grew slower and slower, the expression on his face growing more and more peculiar.
After another moment, the rickshaw puller stole a glance at the old gentleman sitting in the cart. He then looked ahead at the towering, dark silhouette drawing ever closer and couldn’t help but feel uneasy.
’In all his thirty years, this was the first time he’d ever brought a customer to this place.’
Back when the previous dynasty was still in power, this would have been an act of grave disrespect—an offense punishable by beheading.
Indeed, not far ahead was Purple Qi City.
The palace city that once symbolized supreme imperial authority now stood silently in the darkness.
Its towering walls cast a vast shadow in the moonlight, and below the gatehouse, the occasional flicker of torchlight revealed patrolling soldiers.
Outside the main gate in particular, squads of guards with loaded rifles patrolled back and forth.
Behind those walls was the Imperial Palace, home to the people who once ruled the land of Daxia: the corrupt and incompetent remnants of the Yin Court.
Now, however, if they wanted to leave, they needed the approval of the President.
This was especially true for the Yin Court’s princes and the Empress Dowager in the inner palace.
Interestingly enough, the last Emperor, whom Lu Yun had once met, had vanished without a trace after his abdication.
Some said he was dead. Some said he had fled to Wa Country. Others claimed he was still hiding in some corner of Purple Qi City.
Who knew? In any case, aside from the Yin Court remnants, no one cared to know the last Emperor’s whereabouts.
The rickshaw finally came to a stop.
The puller turned to the silent old gentleman in the seat and said cautiously, "Sir, we’ve reached Purple Qi City. We can’t go any closer. The soldiers up there are watching."
Lu Yun nodded slightly and pulled the rest of his paper money from his coat, handing it over.
"Thank you."
After quickly taking the money, the puller began nodding and bowing. "Thank you, sir! Thank you, sir!"
With that, he didn’t dare linger a moment longer. He immediately took up the rickshaw’s handles and fled, moving many times faster than he had on the way there.
Purple Qi City. Lu Yun spoke the name softly.
Thirty years had passed in a flash. He still remembered entering this palace city at the age of thirty as the Martial Champion Scholar to have an audience with the last emperor of the Yin Dynasty.
Emperor Yongxi, Yin Che.
Back then, Lu Yun had been young and ambitious. And he hadn’t been from this world.
He had stood in Jinluan Hall, looking at the young Emperor on the Dragon Throne, but what he was thinking was...
’Are kings and nobles born to their high stations?’
Lu Yun had never believed in the imperial system, much less in the "Mandate of Heaven."
The only reason he had taken the exam to become the Martial Champion Scholar and entered the Yin Dynasty’s system was to leverage its authority for his own practical gain.
Take the docks in Yun Port City, for example. Since ancient times, places like docks have always been of critical importance.
No matter the dynasty, the government would never easily relinquish control over them.
But Lu Yun, relying solely on his "Martial Champion Scholar" title, had managed to lease three docks in Yun Port City right on the eve of the Yin Dynasty’s collapse.
The lease was for ninety-nine years—a feat that only he, Lu Yun, had ever accomplished in Yun Port City.
Anyone who came later hoping to imitate him? Not a chance. The Yin Dynasty was gone. The authority he had used was now expired and invalid!
Lu Yun pulled himself from his thoughts and gazed at the enormous palace city before him. Of course, he had a reason for coming here tonight.
His visit to Brother Chu the previous night had been for more than just reminiscing; more importantly, it was to gather information.
Although Chu Baoshen was only a former Imperial Guard, different blood flowed through his veins.
As it turned out, Brother Chu was a descendant of the imperial family’s relatives.
His great-great-grandfather had once been the Emperor’s father-in-law, the so-called Lord Imperial Father-in-law.
But his family’s fortunes had since declined, and over several generations, they had been reduced from imperial relatives to mere Imperial Guards.
Even so, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse. Having spent decades in the palace, Chu Baoshen had seen and heard far more secrets than any of the so-called "insiders" on the outside.
And right now, what Lu Yun needed most were those secrets: about the Immortal Flesh, the origins of those bizarre foreign monstrosities, and the Realm beyond that of a Grandmaster of Divine Intent.
And the answers to these questions, Brother Chu had deduced, were most likely located in the Imperial Palace’s Celestial Secret Pavilion.
What was hidden inside? No one knew.
But the Yin Dynasty had ruled this land for several hundred years, after all. The accumulations and secrets of all those centuries were surely hidden there.
Lu Yun glanced toward the main gate at the squad of soldiers patrolling back and forth, then looked up at the high city walls.
He did not head for the main gate. Instead, he turned and, leaning on his Wisteria Spirit Staff, walked toward a more secluded corner.
At the foot of the wall ran a quiet path overgrown with weeds. Clearly, few people ever came this way.
After walking for about fifteen minutes, four figures appeared ahead. They were four soldiers in military uniforms, holding rifles and chatting idly at a corner.
When Lu Yun appeared, the oldest of the group subconsciously tightened his grip on his rifle, his gaze sweeping over warily.
As the figure drew closer, the older soldier hesitated for a moment before visibly relaxing.
’It’s just an old man with a cane.’
He waved a hand, signaling the others to relax. The four of them had seen this sort of thing plenty of times, after all.
’The Yin Dynasty may have fallen thirty years ago, but there were always people who were natural-born bootlickers.’

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