Inside Ningshou Palace.
The Imperial Physicians all knelt down in unison, their heads bowed to the ground, trembling.
"Your Majesty, Prince Jin, Retired Emperor—"
"Deceased."
"Your servants are incompetent!"
On the bed, the Retired Emperor's hand slowly fell.
Shen Xiangjun also knelt on the ground, not daring to look up. At this moment, she suddenly felt some regret, regretting getting involved at such a time.
Who knew the Retired Emperor would pass away at this moment? She thought he could at least hold on a bit longer!
The Empress Dowager began to cry.
Could she now call herself 'Aijia' (the mourning empress)?
The Emperor tightly closed his eyes, a tear rolling down from the corner of his eye.
"I have no Imperial Father now."
He swept up his robes and knelt down.
Cries spread out, and everyone in Ningshou Palace knelt and wept.
Prince Jin looked at the lifeless Retired Emperor on the bed, only feeling a piercing pain in his knees, his bones aching numbly.
He couldn't stand up at all right now.
"Imperial Father…" Prince Jin's voice was extremely soft.
The Retired Emperor had passed away.
The entire Imperial Palace began to hang white banners and white lanterns.
By imperial decree, the Great Zhou Dynasty forbade music, entertainment, marriages, and funerals for three months.
Qingfeng entered Ningshou Palace, and in just a moment, the palace was covered in white, everywhere shrouded in a mournful atmosphere.
The Empress Dowager cried until she fainted and was helped back by people sent by the Emperor.
Only the Emperor and Prince Jin remained in the bedchamber.
The Emperor had already stood up. He patted Prince Jin's shoulder, his voice sorrowful, "A-Yue, from now on, we brothers will support each other…"
"Pfft!"
Prince Jin spat out a mouthful of blood.
The blood splattered on the ground, creating blood flowers.
"A-Yue!" The Emperor cried out in alarm, nearly scared to death.
He hadn't used any force! He just patted him lightly, so how did Prince Jin spit blood?
"Imperial Physician!"
He shouted for the Imperial Physician, but Prince Jin grabbed his hand, suppressing the metallic sweetness in his throat, "Imperial Brother, I'm fine. It was just too rushed on the way back to the capital, and I got tired."
"Are you really, really fine?"
The Emperor's face turned pale.
If the Retired Emperor just passed away, and Prince Jin fell ill right after, others would definitely suspect that he couldn't wait to harm Prince Jin.
His reputation must not be damaged!
"I'm fine. It was just accumulated stale blood from before; it's actually better now that it's out."
The Emperor looked at his complexion, which indeed seemed a little better than before, and breathed a sigh of relief. "A-Yue, you must be overwhelmed by this blow. Don't be afraid, you still have me in the future."
"Imperial Brother, please go attend to your duties first. I'll stay here a bit longer with Imperial Father," Prince Jin said.
With the Retired Emperor gone, the funeral arrangements were complicated, and the Emperor indeed had many things to attend to now.
"Then I'll go arrange Imperial Father's funeral. You, don't be too sad. Imperial Father loved you the most."
The Emperor wiped his tear marks and left Ningshou Palace.
Prince Jin dismissed all palace servants.
He clutched his chest and spat out another mouthful of blood. He looked up, his eyes bloodshot, red like blood-red pupils.
If anyone had seen him here, they would have been terrified.
His chest felt like a small snake was twisting and burrowing desperately, the pain making him instantly drenched in cold sweat.
"Ugh—"
Prince Jin clutched his chest with one hand and propped himself on the ground with the other, looking at the Retired Emperor on the bed.
His Imperial Father had once invited a high monk to pray at the ancestral temple, using a secret technique to transfer ten years of his lifespan to him. This matter was originally kept from Prince Jin,
but the young Prince Jin was intelligent and noticed something was amiss. He secretly swapped the prayer scroll used in the secret technique, temporarily changing the life transfer to a shared life.
If his strange illness couldn't be cured, the Retired Emperor would also not survive. That's why he had been seeking talented individuals and recluses outside all these years, to save himself and also to save the Retired Emperor.
However, if the Retired Emperor died, he too would not be able to live.
The Retired Emperor had no idea about this.
No one knew.
Now, Prince Jin already felt his vision darkening, his consciousness on the verge of sinking into oblivion.
At this critical moment, Prince Jin bizarrely thought of Lu Zhaoling.
Fortunately, the imperial marriage hadn't been bestowed yet.
Otherwise, that girl would be truly unlucky. Just returned to the capital, and she might become a widow.
"And she said she could save this Prince…" Prince Jin slowly collapsed.
"Your Highness!"
Qingfeng had just brought Lu Zhaoling to the entrance when he saw this scene, his face changing drastically in terror, and he immediately rushed over.
He thought his speed was fast enough, but an figure flashed past him like the wind, two steps quicker than him.
Lu Zhaoling supported Prince Jin's head with one hand and swiftly patted his forehead with the other.
"Profound Heaven Condensing Qi, Gather!"
Instantly, the purple energy that had been continuously dissipating from the entire Ningshou Palace suddenly gathered back as if summoned.
It was like a rewind.
However, Qingfeng could not see these, nor could anyone else.
He stood by anxiously, but dared not move.
Prince Jin's body temperature had been rapidly dropping, and he was already icy cold. Now, however, it was slowly rising.
Qingfeng could see this, though.
Because he clearly saw that the Prince's originally pale, grayish-black complexion gradually returned to normal, even becoming a little ruddy.
When he first came in, the Prince's breathing was imperceptible, but now his breathing had slowly stabilized.
Even without seeing the purple energy, Qingfeng could tell that the Prince, at the brink of death, had been pulled back by Miss Lu!
He stared at Lu Zhaoling with wide eyes.
"Hold him."
Lu Zhaoling told him.
Qingfeng instinctively obeyed, "Yes!"
He immediately stepped forward and supported Prince Jin.
Then he saw Lu Zhaoling reach out and pinch His Highness's chin, lifting his face.
Qingfeng: ?
That action was particularly rakish!
Lu Zhaoling had no improper intentions whatsoever; she was simply observing Prince Jin's face, then lowered her head and pulled open his collar slightly.
Qingfeng: Hiss!
He wouldn't dare to look down! If His Highness knew he looked at his chest, wouldn't His Highness have him flayed?
But how dare Miss Lu do that!
Lu Zhaoling not only dared to look but also to touch.
She placed her hand on Prince Jin's chest.
A mass of black energy under his chest skin, which had been swirling and crashing like a raging sea within his chest, was instantly suppressed by Lu Zhaoling's palm. The speed of its swirling, crashing, and entanglement gradually slowed down.
It was also at this moment that Qingfeng felt His Highness's previously rigid body relax.
Prince Jin slowly opened his eyes.
His gaze immediately fell on a face close to his.
His lips moved, and his voice was very low, "Why is your face as pale as a ghost?"
Qingfeng abruptly looked at Lu Zhaoling, and indeed found that in just a moment, her face had lost all color, and even her lips were devoid of any tint, truly as pale as a ghost!
It was enough to make someone cry upon first sight.
"I suddenly feel this cooperation with you is a bit of a loss!"
Lu Zhaoling glared at Prince Jin. She hadn't realized before that he had been cursed with a shared fate secret technique, almost dying!
"One step later, you would have entered the gates of hell with the Retired Emperor."
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