Chapter 10 – Framed

Li Mao had submitted several petitions requesting an audience with Li Yunqiu, but each one was rejected. This left him with a creeping unease — could something have happened inside the palace?

Li Yunqiu was not one of the Emperor’s consorts, so palace intrigues could hardly harm her. The only real possibility was that it had something to do with the Crown Prince or Chonghua.

These past few days, the Crown Prince had still been attending morning court to handle state affairs. If that was the case, then it was Chonghua who had run into trouble.

The expression in Li Mao’s eyes turned murky and unreadable. He stood at the palace gate for a long while, then flicked his sleeve and mounted his horse. “Head to the Right Chancellor’s manor.”

“Cough, cough.”

Zhan Changfeng closed the memorial she had been reviewing and looked up at the elderly Emperor. “Imperial Grandfather, please go and rest for now.”

The old Emperor sat in his high seat, his frame hunched beneath his imperial robes, dark circles rimming his eyes. His health had been deteriorating more and more.

He took the medicine bowl from the attendant’s hands and drained it. “It is nothing serious.”

Facing Zhan Changfeng, the old Emperor’s feelings were tangled and complex.

If only she had been born a man — then none of these troubles would arise. But now, in this realm that the Yi Family held, only she could carry the burden forward. Li Chonghua was, in the end, merely a whetstone.

The old Emperor pressed a hand to his chest as waves of sharp, twisting pain welled up inside him. His complexion grew a shade paler. “I will go rest first. Keep watch here.”

The old Emperor took hold of an attendant’s arm. He had not taken two steps when his mouth flooded with the sweet, metallic taste of blood.

Fresh blood spilled from his lips, and everyone fell into a panic.

Zhan Changfeng leapt to her feet in alarm and seized his wrist, channeling her true qi to smooth and clear his meridians. “Grandfather, hold on! Someone, summon the imperial physicians at once!”

“Your Highness, His Majesty has overexerted himself — heart spasms, asthma, many ailments have accumulated upon his body. I fear… I fear…” Several imperial physicians prostrated themselves on the ground, not daring to raise their heads, yet the grief in their words needed no elaboration.

“Summon Shen Yushu, Ling Sheng, Wei Liangzhi, and Li Mao. I… I have matters to entrust.” The old Emperor lying on the dragon bed sensed that his days were numbered and prepared to arrange his final affairs. These four men were undoubtedly the ones he had chosen as regent ministers.

The Left and Right Chancellors, the Grand Preceptor, and the Duke of An.

Yet the Duke of An had originally been on the old Emperor’s list of those whose power was to be curtailed — and now, unexpectedly, he had been chosen as one of the regent ministers.

Whether it was out of consideration for his relationship as the Crown Prince’s maternal uncle, or because of Li Chonghua, no one could say.

“Summon them to the palace.” Zhan Changfeng gave the order, then walked to the side of the dragon bed. She set aside a handkerchief soaked in blood and something felt slightly off — why did this blood carry a foul stench?

“Zhan…” The old Emperor’s breath was as faint as a wisp of smoke. He gripped her hand tightly. “I will give you the Son of Heaven’s Sword. From this day forward, you are the Emperor of the Yin Dynasty. Do not act rashly at first. Do not scatter military authority. Bide your time, and build up your own inner circle. Cough…”

The old Emperor coughed up another mouthful of blood — and this mouthful was threaded with dark, black filaments.

Zhan Changfeng’s expression shifted sharply. “Someone, seize these physicians!”

“Who gave you the audacity to poison my Imperial Grandfather?!” Her piercing gaze fixed onto each of them, her fury absolute.

They had guarded against so many things, yet they had never guarded against the imperial physicians administering poison. It was laughable.

“We have been wronged, Your Highness! This servant’s loyalty is as clear as the sun and moon!”

“His Majesty has not been poisoned — it is merely exhaustion from overwork. We beg Your Highness to see clearly!”

Zhan Changfeng’s voice was ice-cold. “Take them away. I want to know who is behind this.”

“Your Highness, Your Highness!” One portly imperial physician suddenly broke free from the guards and crawled to Zhan Changfeng’s feet. “Your Highness, you cannot burn your bridges! All of this was done on Your Highness’s own orders!”

The old Emperor coughed up another mouthful of blood, his eyes wide with disbelief.

Zhan Changfeng was furious. “What nonsense are you spouting? Don’t think you can muddy the waters by turning truth on its head.”

“Drag him away!”

“Hold!”

At that very moment, Right Chancellor Ling Sheng and Duke of An Li Mao came bursting through the doors.

It would take at least half an incense stick’s worth of time to travel from their residences to the palace — there was no reasonable explanation for their arriving so quickly. But at this moment, no one aside from Zhan Changfeng had any attention to spare for that detail.

Ling Sheng’s face was grim. “Is the Crown Prince feeling guilty? If not guilty, why not let him finish speaking?”

His tone already seemed to have concluded that she was the one who had ordered the physicians to administer the poison.

“What benefit would poisoning my Imperial Grandfather bring me?” Zhan Changfeng sneered coldly. “The two of you arrived with such perfect timing — could it be that you were already prepared?”

“Crown Prince, do not falsely accuse others. I, Ling Sheng, have a clear conscience. Only those with guilt lash out and bite people at random.”

The imperial physician followed seamlessly: “Your Highness, it was you who, one year ago, ordered this servant to administer poison into His Majesty’s medicinal food — to let His Majesty die slowly from accumulated toxin!”

“Come quickly — the Crown Prince has harmed His Majesty and intends to usurp the throne!” No one could say who cried out first, but inside and outside the hall, all was chaos and pandemonium.

Among the guards, someone suddenly drew a blade against a fellow soldier; among the imperial guard, swords were likewise turned on comrades.

The clash of blades rang out intermittently, making Zhan Changfeng realize that this long-premeditated scheme was designed to bring down both her and the Emperor in a single stroke.

“Very well. Very well indeed.” Zhan Changfeng stepped back. “Move.”

A line of blood appeared across Ling Sheng’s throat. Before he could even react, his vision began to sink downward.

Li Mao’s expression tightened. Clang — two daggers locked against each other.

This Duke of An, who had always presented himself as a frail and bookish scholar, turned out to be a master of martial arts. He fought against the shadow guard Zero-Three and held his own without any sign of weakness.

“Yi Zhan has harmed His Majesty, persecuted loyal subjects, and is devoid of benevolence, filial piety, and fraternal duty — how can such a person be fit to rule as Emperor?!” Li Mao channeled his inner power, and these words rang out like a great bronze bell, resonating so far that even the guards at the palace gate could hear them.

The Grand Preceptor and the Left Chancellor, who had just stepped through the palace gates, were startled. “What — what on earth has happened?”

Soldiers who had been waiting in readiness rushed out in apparent panic. “My lords, please hurry and summon the Imperial City garrison to rescue His Majesty! The Crown Prince is staging a coup — His Majesty’s life hangs by a thread!”

“This is the tiger tally that Lord Ling passed out at the cost of his life.” He presented half a bloodstained tiger tally before the Left Chancellor, his eyes urgent.

The Imperial City garrison answered directly to the Son of Heaven, but as a precaution for times when the Son of Heaven could not issue a summons in time, tiger tallies had been created — split in two, held in keeping by the Left and Right Chancellors. In a crisis, reuniting the two halves carried the same authority as the Emperor’s personal presence.

“This…”

The Left Chancellor and Grand Preceptor both hesitated.

“The Crown Prince would never do such a thing. There must be something in between…” The Grand Preceptor had not even finished speaking when a group of imperial guards came charging out from the right.

“By the Crown Prince’s order — seal the palace gates! Do not let them escape!”

The palace gate guards indeed shut the gates.

“Run!”

The Left Chancellor and Grand Preceptor realized something was terribly wrong. There was no time to think carefully — they fled toward the palace exterior in a flustered rush.

Whatever had happened inside the palace, riding to the rescue could never be the wrong call.

The Left Chancellor drove his carriage at full speed toward the outer reaches of the Imperial City, while the Grand Preceptor gathered civil and military officials and advanced toward the palace.

Sword unsheathed, Zhan Changfeng called out in a steeled voice: “Ling Sheng and Li Mao have plotted treason! The nation is in peril — all soldiers, follow me and fight!”

She felt that something was not right. Li Mao’s ancestors had commanded the Li Family Army, but that army had been weakened and dispersed layer by layer until it was nearly annihilated. Among the imperial guard and the Imperial City garrison, there were no longer any former disciples or subordinates of the Li Family — so how had he managed to turn them against the throne?

Moreover, while half of the imperial guard’s defection had plunged the palace into internal chaos, Zhan Changfeng was surrounded by shadow guards and protected by loyal soldiers — breaking through to strike her down would be no easy feat.

Li Mao’s heart burned with anxiety. Although he had already fabricated a charge against the Crown Prince and the Imperial City garrison would soon be entering the palace, there was no guarantee that something would not go wrong in the interim, giving her a chance to turn the situation around.

Zhan Changfeng’s sword was drenched in blood. This was the first time she had ever killed anyone with her own hands — and the first time she had killed so many.

The thick, heavy smell of blood nearly made her retch.

Yet her expression remained as unmoved as ever — cold, composed, and detached.

Zhan Changfeng’s side drove Li Mao out past the inner gate, and both factions fell into a standoff.

She flicked the blood from her sword, then stepped into the Hall of Mental Cultivation and came to stand before the old Emperor. “Grandfather, I will not let you die.”

She drew a porcelain vial from her sleeve. “This is a medicinal pill my master gave me. It is said to neutralize a hundred poisons. I will give it to you now.”

The old Emperor clutched her wrist, breathing in ragged gasps, his gaze sharp and piercing. “Was it you?!”

He had been poisoned, and she just so happened to have the antidote?

Zhan Changfeng’s eyes lowered slightly. “Is that truly what you think of me?”