The true dragon's death was a calamity for the nation — the whole realm grieved together.
Every household in Lin'an hung white silk banners. Here and there in the streets, common folk could be seen spontaneously burning paper offerings to mourn the emperor — the former was mandated by the court, but the latter left Li Fei rather puzzled.
Times were hard enough already, and people still found the energy to mourn that muddleheaded ruler?
Li Fei stopped surveying the city draped in white and flew straight out to the imperial mausoleum beyond the walls. The Great Song held to certain geomantic beliefs — successive emperors were buried together in one place, their remains said to suppress the dragon's aura and protect the nation's peace and prosperity.
Before long, the young Chiliarch arrived at a place of lush mountains and clear water.
Here, ranges encircled a lake like an old dragon lying on its side, coiled atop a vast jade platter, suffused everywhere with an aura of serenity — a rare feng shui treasure ground. An emperor buried here would bless his descendants and extend good fortune to the four seas.
After the business with the imperial edict of sainthood, Li Fei understood that the Great Song's customs held real substance — they could genuinely draw on Fortune. According to Miss System, it was likely that when ancestors were buried in such a place, their descendants' luck value would rise accordingly.
Pity, then, that aside from the little princess who'd just had her red dragon slain, the Zhao line had already run out of heirs...
Li Fei glanced at her System Panel, the corner of her mouth curling up.
Morality: -38 → -42
Charm: 587 (585) → 627 (625)
Achievements:
Regicide: Backstab damage +10%.
Epicure on the Tip of the Tongue: Oral sensitivity +100%; when the mouth makes contact with another person, that person's sensitivity +100% (Description: A bowl of rice topped with meat is the greatest culinary invention in human history.)
The Spell Damage bonus from the Blood Demon Scripture had risen another 6%, and the two newly acquired achievements offered a vivid and thorough explanation for the increase.
The former had been anticipated — as a subject who'd brazenly struck down the sovereign who'd trusted her, it would hardly make sense not to lose some Morality Value for that. The latter, meanwhile, had simply followed naturally from events.
Li Fei narrowed her eyes, savoring the striking scenery within the mausoleum grounds, strolling at ease toward the site of the dragon coffin.
Everywhere she looked was draped in white. The assembled ministers had come to observe mourning, all dressed in plain mourning robes; even the armored, sword-bearing palace guards had white cords tied at their waists.
"Is His Majesty's final edict finished?"
She spotted Xu Yuzhong at a glance and stepped forward to ask.
Xu Yuzhong instinctively glanced left and right before lowering his voice.
"I had people work through the night to finish it. Everything Lord Li requested is in there."
"Good."
Li Fei nodded, satisfied.
The reason she hadn't rushed to kill Lu Qianfan too — had even tipped him off in advance — was precisely so the aftermath could be handled smoothly.
If Li Fei had done everything herself, never mind drafting the edict, simply figuring out how to silence the temple keepers' lineage alone would have given her a headache. Killing them all to seal their mouths would be too wasteful — Li Fei still had plans to mass-produce false saints, after all, and she needed to keep some people who knew the trade.
She patted Xu Yuzhong's shoulder, meaning to say something more, when a sudden stirring of awareness made her turn toward a line of women in plain white robes approaching in slow procession.
Naturally, since the emperor had passed only yesterday and was to be interred today, not only would the ministers come to pay respects — the consorts too would have to see him off.
The widows wore no makeup, yet looked all the more delicate and elegant for it, like lotus blossoms fresh from the water. Their pure white mourning robes made their skin seem even more snow-fair, lending them a pitiable, heart-tugging widow's charm.
Su Wen walked at the very front. Even surrounded by women of stunning beauty, this Empress Dowager — resplendent, dignified, composed — stood out all the more. Her bearing, befitting the mother of the realm, filled out the white robe, and with each sway of her skirts one glimpsed plain white grass sandals, each step like a lotus blooming beneath her feet.
Wanting to look striking, dressed all in mourning — the ancients truly hadn't lied about that!
Watching them, Li Fei couldn't stop herself recalling her first time with Lady Annie. That day, too, had been the day Diana passed. As Lady Annie mourned her vanished wife, she'd changed into somber, grieving attire — though hers had been black dress, black stockings, black hairnet, quite unlike the all-white mourning customs on display here in the Great Song.
Having contemplated the cultural difference between East and West, Li Fei arranged her face into an expression of grief and cupped her fists toward the dragon coffin.
"Your Majesty, this humble servant shall spare no effort in caring for your widows. Rest easy on your journey."
— Who are you kidding, you damned rebel dog.
Xu Yuzhong silently spat the crude words in his mind, all while bowing three times to the dragon coffin along with everyone else.
The tall, coolly beautiful woman came to a stop beside the coffin, casting a lingering glance at the young Chiliarch, her fingertips trembling faintly — but the two of them stood too far apart for her to reach the warmth she craved.
"Your Majesty, the auspicious hour approaches."
A palace maid reminded her in a low voice.
"This one understands."
Su Wen glanced at the gilded catalpa-wood coffin, her gaze showing neither joy nor sorrow.
An official took the final edict from a Hanlin scholar and hurried over to kneel before the Empress Dowager, presenting it with both hands.
Su Wen nodded and accepted it, slowly unrolling the imperial edict.
The palace maid glanced at it by chance and her knees instantly buckled, her whole body drenched in cold sweat, dropping to her knees beside the Empress Dowager, who was in the prime of her beauty, with a heavy thud.
— His Majesty had passed only yesterday, so why was the ink on this final edict still wet, as though... it had only just been written?
The maid, having stumbled onto this earth-shaking secret, trembled violently, her heart pounding wildly.
"Bow to the late Emperor—"
At the eunuch's ringing call, all the assembled ministers knelt as one before the dragon coffin.
The Empress Dowager's gaze swept over the ministers as she read the edict aloud herself.
"By the mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: We received the mandate of August Heaven, and ascended to the throne in this world..."
"With the nation in crisis, let there be no extravagance..."
"Li Fei is hereby appointed..."
"Lu Qianfan is hereby appointed..."
The Empress Dowager looked down over the ministers, reciting the imperial edict without expression, her clear, phoenix-like voice echoing endlessly through the mausoleum grounds.
A full incense stick's time later, the edict finally drew to its close:
"...Lady Su, the Empress, descends from an eminent line, her fortune resounding through her clan, her virtue flowing through generations of noble records. Long renowned for her admirable character, ever diligent and frugal within the women's quarters, ever devoted and filial before the palace gates, it is fitting that she preside behind the curtain and govern the realm. The eldest imperial son, Zhao Zetian, born bearing the mandate of Heaven, in whom the hopes of all rest, is hereby designated Crown Prince. All matters of state shall first be presented to the Grand Empress Dowager before being carried out. We further appoint Li Fei, Lu Qianfan, and Liu Gongming as regent ministers — they are all pillars of the state, in whom We place Our deepest trust; let them serve with utmost loyalty and integrity, protect and guide the young sovereign, and assist in the governance of the realm. Let this be proclaimed to all, within the court and without, that all may know it."
"By imperial decree."
"This..."
When the reading finished, the whole gathering fell silent, the ministers exchanging glances, their eyes unreadable.
The edict had been long, but there was little real substance to it — only a handful of key points.
Naming the dragon child in the Empress's womb as Crown Prince was only to be expected, given that the imperial bloodline had withered until the Zhao family had but this one remaining heir.
The funeral rites were to be simplified, compressing the minor and major encoffinments, the mourning period, and the burial into seven days. This, too, raised no real objection — after all, hadn't the Minister of Rites, Minister Wen, himself offered no dissent?
Chancellor Liu would continue as prime minister, moving from a veteran of three reigns to a veteran of four — cause for celebration indeed.
But what followed was far more entertaining.
Li Fei was granted the title of Commander of the Demon Suppression Bureau — that a mere woman had been canonized as a saint was already earth-shattering enough, but now to place the nation's sharpest blade in her hands as well was truly beyond scandalous.
Lu Qianfan, a eunuch, was not only enfeoffed as a prince of a different surname but granted vast territories carved straight from the Great Song's own map, along with military authority beyond the court's control — an act tantamount to handing over the realm on a platter, a rather ironic way to bring honor to one's ancestors.
The Empress herself, though only a woman, was granted the authority to rule from behind the curtain in imitation of foreign customs, an unprecedented first in the history of the Great Song.
The Great Song, it seemed, was about to change beyond recognition...
The ministers' thoughts scattered in confusion; for a moment, no one spoke.
An elderly official, trembling, tried to rise in protest, but a colleague yanked him back down, shooting him a fearful and sharp warning glare.
The palace guards, sworn to serve the imperial house, naturally deferred now to the Empress Dowager's word.
The old and new commanders of the Demon Suppression Bureau were now on the same side, too.
Even Chancellor Liu had accepted it, and Hero Nie had already been driven off — did this old man really dare to stick his neck out now? Was he tired of living?
A few nearby officials shifted their knees away discreetly, lest the old man's blood splatter onto them if he did something foolish.
The old official looked around, saw the ministers all kneeling in cowed silence, and felt his resolve crumble all at once. His futile impulse dissolved into a weary, defeated sigh, and he bent his back low in submission.
In the deathly silence, Li Fei raised her head.
She knew that the unborn Crown Prince, Zhao Zetian, had another name too — one given by her, the child's mother. Surnamed Li, given name Zhao.
Miss Li's eldest daughter was destined, from this day forward, to rule the world as its sun and moon.
Not only that — the moment the edict finished being read, Li Fei clearly felt a thrill of transcendent inspiration ripple through her. She'd drawn one step closer to the laws hidden in the unknowable, her magic and battle qi both stirring to life, brimming with vigor.
Sequence 6, Witch of Distortion.
Ascension Ritual: Commit an act of fraud that deceives the world, one that affects an entire nation.
Stealing the sun to change the sky, usurping the realm — Li Fei had completed her Ascension Ritual, now only a single step away from the mid-Sequence she'd longed for.
— He who steals a nation becomes a lord!
A roar echoed somewhere inside her skull. Li Fei trembled faintly, then turned to bow toward her wife and daughter, declaring in a clear voice:
"This servant accepts the decree!"
...
With the outcome settled, Li Fei sat facing the lake, her back to a secluded courtyard.
She seemed absorbed in the beauty of the lake and mountains, but her eyes were fixed intently on the silent Miss System, watching her unmoving experience counter with a furrowed brow.
By rights, now that she headed the Demon Suppression Bureau, any demons killed by her direct subordinates should all count toward the Commander's tally.
But this time, she'd been wrong.
"So it's not enough to hold nominal authority — I need actual control too, for the transcendent lives my subordinates kill to count toward me?"
Li Fei murmured to herself, quickly pinpointing the problem.
To the sprites of Turtle Island, Li Fei was, in every practical sense, their empress, holding power over life and death. But this Commander's seat at the Demon Suppression Bureau was, for now, an empty shell — the men within still took their orders from Lu Qianfan.
That was why the sprites' hunting of transcendent creatures earned her experience, while the Demon Suppression Bureau's recent kills hadn't moved her counter at all.
If her reasoning held, only once she truly took over the Bureau would Li Fei get her hands on the experience ATM she so craved.
As for her earlier misjudgment, it wasn't a matter of Li Fei being slow-witted — simply that there hadn't been enough cases to draw conclusions from. The sprites of Turtle Island harvesting sea-dwelling creatures had been her only sample, with no point of comparison, so she'd drawn a flawed, one-sided conclusion.
Now, clad in her new red robes, Li Fei had only to compare the two situations to spot the error easily enough.
As for correcting the mistake, that was simple enough too — nothing more than kicking away the ladder once it had served its purpose. She'd never intended to keep him around anyway. After all, when the Empress's pregnancy had been confirmed, the green leaf that had drifted down onto the emperor's head — Zhao Bing had treasured it as an auspicious omen while alive, and even after his death, that same green leaf had been placed into the dragon coffin as a burial offering, to be interred alongside the imperial remains.
With such a clear lesson from the past staring her in the face, how could Li Fei possibly allow the late emperor's lonely, lovely widows to coexist with a straight, powerful minister who had a history of rape and murder for silence's sake?
Cows, fine!
Bulls, dead!
"This official has always kept her word. I promised the late Emperor I'd care for them well, and I intend to follow through..."
The devoted Commander propped her chin on her hand, gazing across the lake, killing intent colder than the water's own glimmer in her eyes.
Suddenly, she sensed a powerful gust rushing at her from behind.
Clang!
Li Fei's sword flicked out and knocked the dagger aside; she turned to find a disheveled-looking censor staring back at her.
The censor snatched the dagger back up and lunged stumbling toward Li Fei, driven by a desperate, reckless will to die fighting.
But his cultivation base was far too weak — how could he ever be a match for the Commander of the Demon Suppression Bureau?
Li Fei kicked out once, and he toppled backward, coughing up blood without pause.
"Purging the sovereign's side of corruption? Not bad."
The Commander strolled over, smiling, and planted a boot on his chest, leaning down.
"You've got more guts than Nie Yunyi. At least you dared to think it and do it."
"Traitor! You'll die a horrible death!"
The censor glared with fury, cursing without pause.
"This official was personally canonized Saint of Merit and Virtue by the late Emperor himself, and wields the authority of the Demon Suppression Bureau!"
Li Fei's expression turned cold as flipping a page. "Ignorant fool. You attempted to assassinate a saint, tried to murder a court official, and still dare to twist the blame back on me? You must be truly sick of living."
"You, a wicked enchantress, throwing the court into chaos, deceiving those above and below — and you still dare call yourself an official?"
The censor, clearly resolved to die, spat back.
"The drunk survive; the awakened perish."
Li Fei said softly. "Why couldn't you have learned from other, wiser men?"
"If my blood can light up the clear sky, why fear death?"
The censor laughed loudly. "The drunk live as slaves; the awakened die fighting!"
"What a joke."
Li Fei sneered, eyes full of contempt and mockery. "And after all that fighting, what's left besides the emperor? Just servants. Oh, my mistake — more precisely, the powerful and privileged, and everyone else, the oxen and horses."
"You! How dare you spread such wicked nonsense here!"
The censor spat furiously.
"Ah, right, I have another question."
Li Fei asked, curious. "Seeking your own death is one thing, but don't you have any family?"
"If it can awaken tens of thousands of my fellow countrymen, what does it matter if my whole family dies with me?!"
The censor declared with righteous fervor.
"Ha? You don't even care about your own family's fate, and you're playing the man who bears the world's burdens in front of me."
Li Fei lost interest in the conversation, pressed her boot down, and his chest caved in instantly, blood splattering several feet.
She looked toward the palace guards who'd arrived at the commotion and waved a hand.
"This man attempted rebellion. He has been executed by my own hand."
"Find out everything about his background. No need to exterminate his whole family — the late Emperor was benevolent, after all, and it wouldn't be fitting to spill too much blood during the national mourning. Hmm... confiscate his property into the treasury, send the men to the mines, and send the women to my residence. Go see to it."
The palace guards said nothing.
"Ah, right, you guards answer to the throne — I can't very well command you."
Li Fei chuckled softly, her tone gentle. "Then would you mind running an errand for me, and passing this matter along to the Demon Suppression Bureau to handle? That shouldn't be a problem, should it?"
"This lowly soldier obeys."
With that, the guards hurried off.
Li Fei continued sitting by the pond in a daze until the sky began to dim, when she caught the faint scent of plum blossom drifting from behind her.
"Your Majesty, this humble servant has an urgent matter to report."
Li Fei said, perfectly composed.
"Come inside with this one."
The Empress Dowager, dressed all in white, her expression unchanged, stepped into the courtyard first.
The palace maid, sensibly, closed the courtyard gate and stood guard alone outside, so that no one would disturb the Commander and the Empress Dowager as they [discussed matters of state].
The moment the door shut, cool porcelain-smooth hands clasped Li Fei's, as though desperate to feel the Commander's warmth.
"What urgent matter brings you to me?"
Though holding her hand, Su Wen kept her eyes fixed ahead, wearing a cool, composed expression.
In front of others, Su Wen now called herself this one, and the crown prince in her belly was named Zhao Zetian.
But alone with Li Fei, she still called herself this palace — whether she thought of those words as a term of endearment shared only between the two of them, or because during recent meditation the Empress Dowager had repeatedly found her spirit merging with a white-robed, black-haired woman of striking beauty, using those very words to declare something to that fellow traveler who always cradled her belly and rivaled her own splendor — for now, only the two of them knew that the future empress who would rule over the martial Song was named Li Zhao.
"This official wishes to see her own daughter. Would that count as urgent?"
Li Fei rose on her toes and wrapped her arms around her gently, whispering into her ear.
"Don't be absurd."
Su Wen frowned, likewise pressing a palm to the back of Li Fei's head, fingers threading through her hair as she pulled her into a deep embrace.
This gay man's wife, lonely for so many years within the cold palace walls, treasured this sense of hearts joined above all else. She craved the imperial physician's warmth and heartbeat, as though only that could wake her heart from its forgotten rhythm and restore its pulse and warmth.
But this time, it truly went no further.
No amount of coaxing from Li Fei worked — Su Wen simply would not let her [visit] the future empress.
In truth, it wasn't that Su Wen didn't want to. After all, once the frozen lake of her heart had thawed, ripples were easily stirred up in the presence of such a [tormenting] sprite.
Not to mention that Li Fei's charm was without equal, her fundamentals honed to perfection, and with so many transcendent abilities bolstering her allure besides, her appeal alone could make everything else in the world seem dull by comparison.
But Su Wen was a mother.
Her nominal husband's body hadn't even gone cold, and here she was, about to commit such an unforgivable act at his very grave — with their daughter watching, no less. She had every reason to fear her daughter might be led astray, growing up without proper manners, perhaps even ending up a ruler more depraved than Zhao Bing himself, harming both herself and others.
This left the palace maid outside, ears pricked to listen, feeling disappointed as well.
An hour later, the sulking Commander, trailing the scent of plum blossom, took her leave.
But clearly, the Empress Dowager had forgotten the wisdom Li Fei had once shared with her: pick the flower while it blooms, don't wait until it's gone.
A beautiful camellia in bloom, left unpicked by its owner — someone else would gladly step in to pluck it instead.
As it happened, all the late emperor's widows were gathered right here, bound to keep vigil at his grave for seven days.
Most of them, unlike Su Wen, harbored no such calm indifference — instead, deep resentment toward the gay man's wife.
And so, with Consort Hui and Consort Xiang pulling the strings behind the scenes, the widows, still dressed in their mourning white, turned their predatory attentions toward the Commander — so loyal to the throne, so devoted to the memory of the late emperor's kindness — luring her into an act of betraying the very trust placed in her.
Li Fei, who prided herself on her chastity, wanted none of it. But she held too little standing to refuse — the widows of the inner palace were each a star fallen from heaven, of a nobility beyond question, and how could a mere Commander of the Demon Suppression Bureau and Saint of Merit and Virtue dare defy them?
Utterly helpless, the Commander had no choice but to swallow her pride and yield, committing an act that shamed the late Emperor, disgraced the imperial house, and left the court's dignity in tatters.
They wept, they laughed, they clamored — wielding a widow's virtue like a whip to lash at the still-warm bones inside the dragon coffin; wielding their chastity like spittle to spit upon the moss-green grave of their husband.
Stars scattered across the sky above, and the towering mausoleum stood as solemn as ever. Yet the Commander's hard-won purity and chastity, so carefully preserved that day by the Empress Dowager's own hand, lay buried deep within the somber mausoleum grounds — just like the imperial ancestors who slept on undisturbed, even after suffering this unspeakable disgrace.
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