Gong Sang Mo looks at the stone inscription before asking her, “Have you memorized them?”
Yun Qian Yu nods.
“You first.” Gong Sang Mo gives her a heavy look.
“We go together.” Yun Qian Yu knows that Gong Sang Mo does not want her to see the sight of him being in pain, but the same thing goes for her too.
The two of them sits on the floor before aiming their hands at their own dantian. The moment they does that, both of them grimace in pain. But they have no time to think about their pain, they need to master the art that is on the stone inscription before they finish crippling their inner power. They need inner power to master this art, but the said inner power is leaving their dantian like water flowing through a river, right now. The newly cultivated inner power flows into their dantian in return; this is the most important point of all, one that determines their life and death. It comes to whether you can draw in the newly cultivated energy in time, as your inner power flows out.
The two of them sit cross-legged, their eyes shut. Sweats are forming on their foreheads while their faces are pale like paper.
Gong Sang Mo’s inner power is very little at the moment, so the time he has is even shorter than Yun Qian Yu. That is what worry her the most.
Yun Qian Yu’s inner power is forming a purple lotus in her dantian, it’s petals flowing out of her one by one. She concentrates on what was written on the stone inscription. Because she already has experiences with Zi Yu Xin Jing, the rate in which she cultivates is not slow. But the rate of the lotus petals leaving her is not slow either. The very last petal left is the ninth level of Zi Yu Xin Jing that she hasn’t completely mastered. It disintegrates pretty fast.
She is rushing through the last stage of cultivation, she only needs to gather the newly cultivated inner power together and push it through her dantian.
She is particularly careful in this step. She can see golden light forming near her dantian. She knows it is her newly cultivated inner power. Ecstatic, she draws the golden light into her.
As it rumbles into her dantian, she can feel her dantian getting warmer. Even it’s inner power is that impactful, just imagine if she manage to master the entire art.
Yun Qian Yu knows that she has successfully passed the thin bridge that separates life and death. She does not stop and continues cultivating, aiming to recultivate the lost Zi Yu Xin Jing.
Since she has mastered Zi Yu Xin Jing before, the speed in which she is cultivating is particularly fast.
Once she finished mastering the first level of Zi Yu Xin Jing, she finally realize how strong the new art is. The current first level of Zi Yu Xin Jing is equivalent to the third level of the old Zi Yu Xin Jing. She continues cultivating in silence.
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Yu Jian kneels on the cushion, his lips chanting some Buddhist scriptures. He has memorized the scriptures after reading it again and again for three days.
He prays to Buddha to protect his imperial sister and his Brother Sang Mo.
Princess Ming Zhu does not ask or say anything, she simply keeps Yu Jian company in the Great Hall.
Hua Man Xi is leaning against the entrance of the hall. He looks at the sun that is sinking in the west. They are running out of time.
After eating dinner, Long Jin walks to the Great Hall. Bei Tang Yun, Jiu Xiao Kingdom’s 3rd wangye heads towards the same destination.
Before long, all the young masters and misses that are waiting for Yun Qian Yu to finish copying scriptures gather at the Great Hall.
Grandmaster Tian Yi sits in his own room, closing his eyes while chanting Buddhist scriptures.
The day is starting to turn dark and more and more people have arrived at the Great Hall.
“Why isn’t she coming out?”
“Don’t tell me the princess is dead from not eating, drinking and sleeping?”
“She probably fell asleep and lost track of time.”
The corner of Long Jin’s lips curls up as he looks at the door to the back-hall. He is more and more reassured as time pass.
“The Grandmaster Tian Yi has arrived!”
Everyone quietens down. The Grandmaster carries a serene air with him, wherever he goes, his surrounding turns peaceful. Nobody dares to make a fuss in front of him. When they see him, they will naturally realize that they are in a sacred prayer land.
Long Jin turns around to look at him, and the moment he does that, he freezes. A pale blue silhouette can be seen walking next to the grandmaster. That familiar figure is the unparalleled Xian Wang, Gong Sang Mo!
How is he here? Long Jin rubs his eyes to make sure he is seeing right. That’s right, that is Gong Sang Mo with his customary warm smile.
Long Jin’s face suddenly turns white.
The pale blue silhouette gradually gets closer to him and once Gong Sang Mo is right next to him, he gives him a glance, “Are you sick, Crown Prince Jin? Why is the expression on your face so horrible?”
Long Jin chokes on his own breath. He fists his hands underneath his sleeves.
“I didn’t sleep well. Thank you for your worry, Xian Wang.”
“Health is very important, you need to take better care of your body,” Gong Sang Mo’s smile is really beautiful. The air radiating from him feels really extraordinary. He leisurely walks away from Long Jin.
Long Jin stares at him tensely; what happened? Did they never entered the trap on the first place or did they fell into it but managed to get out? No matter what, neither of the two is something that Long Jin wants.
At that moment, the door of the back-hall is opened. The Grandmaster stands near it to welcome the watery blue silhouette that is Yun Qian Yu. She is clutching thick scriptures in her hands as she walks out. 3 days of not eating seems to have taken it’s toll on her, she looks a little pale.
Yu Jian who is kneeling on the cushion slowly gets up. When he sees Gong Sang Mo walking in with the Grandmaster, he is happy beyond words. His brother has returned, and that means his sister has returned as well.
When he sees Yun Qian Yu’s face, his heart is in an uproar. His imperial sister is really here. She kept her promise!
Yun Qian Yu stops in front of the shrine before respectfully kneeling, the copied scripture is raised high above her head. Then, she gets up and place the scripture on the altar. She turns around and kneels again, paying her respect, before going to stand next to Gong Sang Mo.
Yu Jian tries to keep his heart under control. He needs to offer incense to the altar. Just as he stands up, the Buddhist statue suddenly emits a golden light. At the same time, a streak of golden light can be seen outside the hall. It’s golden light penetrates through the hall’s ceiling and falls on Yu Jian’s body.
He looks up in surprise. The golden light envelops his body for a long time. Everyone are surprised by what is happening.
An even more surprising event unfolds. Purple mists flow out of Yu Jian’s head, forming the shape of a dragon.
The Grandmaster is shocked, “Jin Guang Zi Long! This is the sign from the heavens, they have bestowed us a wise ruler!”
(TN: Jin Guang Zi Long (金光紫龙) = Golden light, purple dragon.)
When everyone hears that, they kneel on the ground.
Hua Man Xi who is outside the hall is shocked when he sees this.
He originally thought that the golden light on the Buddhist statue was Yun Qian Yu’s doing, but it is impossible for her to orchestrate the golden light from the sky. Is this really a sign from the heavens?
Long Jin and Bei Tang Yun’s faces turn ugly. He is a country’s Crown Prince, yet he did not get this kind of signs. Does that mean that he is inferior to this little kid?
The heavenly sign gradually disappears, but the shock it inflicted on people remains.
In the future, these people will become officials while the womenfolk will marry officials. The impression that Yu Jian gave them today, will live forever. Yu Jian’s road to the throne is getting smoother.
Yun Qian Yu and Gong Sang Mo exchange a look. With just that, they manage to understand each other’s hearts. This kind of tacit understanding can only be obtained from going through life and death together.
Yu Jian walks over to Yun Qian Yu, giving her a thankful look.
He knows, everything that happens today are because of his sister and Brother Sang Mo. He is not naïve enough to believe that he has indeed obtained the heaven’s blessing. If the heavens are indeed fond of him, he wouldn’t have lost his parents. He wouldn’t have to watch his own grandfather dying.
Yun Qian Yu’s eyes have lost its’ iciness. They have gotten a lot warmer. Almost losing her life this time made her realize the value of life.
There are so many beautiful things in life that are waiting for her out there.
“Imperial sister did not sleep, drink or eat for the past three days, did you prepare anything good for me?”
“Ah?” Yu Jian freezes for a moment, “Yes! Hong Su has long prepared them for you!”
After excusing themselves from the Grandmaster, they return to the imperial courtyard. All eyes inside the hall are admiring them as they leave.
After entering his room, Yu Jian hugs Yun Qian Yu and Gong Sang Mo together. He silently cries.
The two of them know how hard things were for Yu Jian. Even Gong Sang Mo who dislikes physical contact does not push him away. None of them speaks, they simply hold Yu Jian together, letting him cry in silence.
Yu Jian has no idea how long he cried. When he finally lets them go, he looks pretty embarrassed.
“Imperial sister, I know I promised you I will not cry, but I simply cannot stop myself.”
“Men do not cry unless they are absolutely sad,” Gong Sang Mo coaxes him, patting him in the shoulders.
Yun Qian Yu gives him a smile, “Our Yu Jian is strong now, the Grandmaster Tian Yi told me everything. Yu Jian has become a real man.”
“Really?” Yu Jian finally raises his head.
Yun Qian Yu looks at Yu Jian’s swollen eyes. She pushes his forehead with her fingertip, “Probably will look more like it if your eyes aren’t like this.”
Yu Jian immediately rub his eyes, “Imperial sister, what was it that you saw down there?”
Gong Sang Mo pulls him to sit in front of a table, “Eat first. Brother Sang Mo will tell you everything later. Let your imperial sister rest.”
“Alright!”
Since Hong Su knows that they haven’t eaten for days, she specifically made them vegetable porridge.
Even though it is only porridge, Yun Qian Yu is more than satisfied with it. One must know that she had never suffered from hunger before, be it in this lifetime or the previous one. Although hunger was something she didn’t even consider down there, it is a completely different matter once she passed through everything. She almost steal the offerings in the Great Hall.
After eating, Gong Sang Mo lets Yun Qian Yu return to her own room to rest. Gong Sang Mo stays in Yu Jian room, telling him what he and Yun Qian Yu encountered down at the pit.
Once Yun Qian Yu returns to her room, she can see Chen Xiang and the rest sporting swollen eyes. Feng Ran and Hong Su are in the room too.
Looking at the silent six people, Yun Qian Yu heaves a long sigh, “It was an accident.”
They remain quiet.
“I will be more careful in the future.”
None of them speaks.
Yun Qian Yu lowers her head.
Feng Ran suddenly speaks up, “Yun Clan only has you as the remaining bloodline.”
Yun Qian Yu is momentarily frozen. She naturally knows that the Yun Valley people cares for her. She also knows that the reason for that is because she is the only remaining successor of Yun Clan.
“I understand, this will no longer happen in the future. This time, it is considered as me getting lucky in the midst of calamity.”
Feng Ran looks at her for a long time, not saying anything. He lets Chen Xiang and the rest prepare her water bath. They rest early tonight since they will return to the capital tomorrow.
Yun Qian Yu sleeps the earliest out of them.
As for Long Jin, needless to say, he does not get any sleep tonight. When Long Xiang Luo hears that Yun Qian Yu and Gong Sang Mo have returned softly, she throws a huge fuss that everything in her room is turned upside down.
Hua Man Xi stands in the courtyard the entire night while Princess Ming Zhu looks at him from the window. She sighs. Why does the gods tease them so?
After coaxing Yu Jian, Gong Sang Mo leaves his room. On the way out, he looks at Yun Qian Yu’s dark room, an extremely warm expression forming on his face.
He recalls the incident inside the cave.
Honestly, he had less than one level of inner power left, back then. Although Yun Qian Yu healed his wound and channelled him a lot of inner power later, he only had around 2 levels of inner power at that moment. It was impossible for even a genius, to cultivate the new art at such a short amount of time. He knew he was going to die, but he did not want her to give up on the idea of life, that was why he cultivated with her back then.
Sure enough, the inner power in his dantian was too little. There was not enough time for him to finish cultivating the new art.
He opened his eyes at the very last moment and could see golden light shining from Yun Qian Yu. That means that she had succeeded. He gave her a bitter smile: Yatou, I am going to rest. I will continue protecting you from another place.
As he closed his eyes again, his heart was really pained. He tried so hard to obtain her, but he did not have the fortune to be with her.
Not long later, he could suddenly feel his dantian turning warm. He slowly opened his eyes and saw a sobbing Yun Qian Yu peering at him like a cat.
She was transferring golden light from her own dantian to his. “Sang Mo, you broke your promise! Hurry and get up!”
He outstretched his hand, trying to stop her from channelling the golden light to him.
She seemed pleasantly surprised by the fact that he was moving. She rushed into his chest and cried. She suddenly thought of something; she got up and pulled him up with her. “Go and check if you can use it!”
At that moment, the joy of seeing her alive way exceeded the joy of having passed this trial.
Under her prompt, he realized that he indeed could practice that art. They finally realized that people who successfully mastered the art could channel their inner power to help others who were failing.
He concentrated fully in cultivating because only once he was successful could they leave that place together.
She simply sat by the side-line, watching him cultivate. When golden light started to radiate out of him later, she jumped up in happiness, “You did it, Sang Mo!”
And now, Gong Sang Mo stands in front of her room for a very long time. San Qiu guards him, not far away. Even he, this grown man, cannot help from shedding tears. His master finally managed to obtain what he wants!
He, as Gong Sang Mo’s subordinate is really touched by Yun Qian Yu when she jumped after him back then. Yun Qian Yu has gotten their recognition!
Yun Qian Yu sleeps until the sun is up.
When she goes out of the door, she is greeted with the sight of Gong Sang Mo teaching Yu Jian swordsmanship.
She smiles, grateful that she gets the see the people that she cares for the moment she wakes up.
“Imperial sister, you are up!” Yu Jian happily walks over to her. Gong Sang Mo smiles as he too walks over to her.
“After breakfast, we will return to the capital,” his voice is warm as ever, but upon closer inspection, Yun Qian Yu can sense a lot of things from his tone. If Gong Sang Mo used to love her with his life, he now loves her with his entire soul.
She nods.
After eating breakfast, all three of them bid the Grandmaster Tian Yi farewell.
The journey back to the capital is smooth. The entire capital is in an uproar.
A lot of people went in and out of Rui Qinwang’s manor since yesterday.
After the people from the temple returned, the news about yesterday’s heavenly sign spreads even further. Everyone in the capital gathers to welcome the one who is blessed by the heavens.
During the morning court, Murong Cang looks so pleased.
All of the ministers have their own ideas, some of them are starting to waver, wondering which sides they should choose.
The winds and waves in the capital have changed. The most important thing is to follow the person who is leading the game.
In the blink of an eye, Murong Cang’s birthday comes.
Red silks are hung everywhere. Shops are hanging red lanterns with the word ‘birthday’ written on it.
The palace is even merrier. There are the colour red and lanterns everywhere. The officials all think that this resemble a coronation more than a birthday celebration.
Yu Jian goes to Yun Qian Yu’s palace early in the morning. He is really nervous ah! From today onwards, he will become the emperor. Let’s not say Nan Lou Kingdom, even Jiu Xiao Kingdom and Mo Dai Kingdom does not have an emperor as young as him.
“Let everything flow on it’s own pace, have you forgotten what imperial sister told you when we were at your Brother Sang Mo’s place?” Yun Qian Yu says while helping him fix his dragon robe.
“I remember. Other than imperial grandfather, no one is more esteemed than me in Nan Lou Kingdom. No one has the right to reject what I say,” Yu Jian repeats what she told him.
“Still scared?”
“A little,” Yu Jian honestly replies. Chen Xiang and the rest cannot stop themselves from laughing.
“Fear is a natural thing. Once time pass, you will get used to it.”
During court, when Murong Cang leads Yu Jian to sit on the throne together, all the ministers are stupefied. What is going on?
Even Gong Sang Mo who rarely attends court is here today. How can he miss Yu Jian’s coronation day?
Li Jin Tian suddenly opens an imperial edict before reading it out loud.
“Zhen has ruled for over 40 years. The seas and lands are in peace. The government is efficient and the ruler and the ministers are wise. The imperial grandson, Murong Yu Jian is a person of esteemed value. His heart is with the people. With the blessing of Jin Huang Zi Long, zhen believes that he can protect Nan Lou Kingdom and it’s populace. Zhen decrees that the imperial grandson is to be renamed as Tian Yuan. He is to manage the court and is to be helped by Princess Hu Guo, Yun Qian Yu, until he reaches 18 years of age.”
“Please think twice, Your Majesty!”
“Your Majesty, you are still healthy, why are you abdicating in favour of the imperial grandson? His Highness is only 10 years old.”
“Even if he is to become the emperor, the court should still be managed by the Retired Emperor!”
“Your Majesty, please…..”
“Zhen has made this decision. Murong Yu Jian is to ascend the throne and zhen will abdicate to be the Retired Emperor,” Murong Cang firmly rejects the officials’ pleas.
Rui Qinwang who has been standing in a corner suddenly speaks up, “Your Majesty, it is too hasty if we are to have the ascension today. It is better if we move it to another auspicious day.”
Yun Qian Yu who is standing next to Yu Jian glances at him. It is too late for him to speak up right now. Not much can be done to deny Yu Jian from the throne. After all, he is the one with the heaven’s blessing.
Murong Cang looks at him, “Today is zhen’s birthday, are you saying that today is not an auspicious day?”
“His Highness can only ascend the throne after he makes offering to the heavens!” Rui Qinwang continues arguing.
“The Grandmaster Tian Yi seeks attendance!”
The Grandmaster is dressed in a golden jiasha as he walks in. He is carrying a brocade box.
“The Guardian of Tian En Temple, Tian Yi greets the emperor and the Retired Emperor.”
“Get up!” Murong Cang wave his arm away.
“Your Majesty, this is the current emperor’s scripture from his sacrificial ceremony. This monk has bound them together to celebrate His Majesty’s coronation,” the Grandmaster respectfully says.
The ministers are stunned. Turns out, the imperial grandson went to Tian En Temple for another purpose. This entire thing has been planned from the start!
“It was hard on you, Grandmaster. We will have the coronation today, so we will have to trouble you again,” Murong Yu Jian says with the imposing air of a king.
Murong Cang nods in satisfaction. Seems like he made the right decision.
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