The Dragon Vein’s True Face

Standing at the periphery of the coffin chamber, Li Huowang stared at the bizarre sight within the great casket. A feeling of dread crawled up his spine—he had seen something he probably wasn’t meant to see.

“Is the Great Liang royal family going to kill me to keep their secret?” After all the ordeals he had endured, his mind naturally gravitated toward the worst-case scenario.

He raised his guard, his thoughts churning as he tried to anticipate every possible development and prepare countermeasures in advance.

Zhuge Yuan offered reassurance from beside him. “Brother Li, do not be alarmed. That the royal family possesses a dragon vein is common knowledge. I simply never imagined this was what the Great Liang dragon vein actually looked like. Perhaps this is why this false Liang was able to overpower Great Qi back then.”

Whatever Li Huowang’s internal thoughts, the golden, solemn imperial temple before him showed no sign of anything amiss.

The only change was the Great Liang emperor’s increasingly frantic shouting. “Are you all deaf?! Get my father down from there! I am the emperor now! Are you going to defy my command?!”

Yet faced with his orders, the old eunuchs only prostrated themselves on the ground, trembling, doing nothing.

“Cough, cough… Lin’er…” A voice, pained and thick with exhaustion, drew the tear-streaked face of the Great Liang emperor toward the very top of the “dragon vein”—toward his father.

“Lin’er, don’t blame them. I ordered them to do this. Cough, cough, cough…”

It was only at this moment that Li Huowang learned the name of this young Great Liang emperor. The royal family of Liang bore the surname Ji, and his name was Ji Lin.

When escorting the previous Great Liang emperor to the execution ground, Li Huowang remembered that man cursing the emperor on the dragon vein. His name had been Ji Song.

“But, Father, why? You’re still alive!” Ji Lin stared at the chains embedded in his own father’s flesh, as if he could feel the pain himself. Tears of heartache swirled in his eyes.

Ji Song’s voice grew softer, as if he wanted to keep certain things from the outsiders present. But Li Huowang’s sharp hearing could still catch what they were saying.

“You don’t understand… To preserve the fate of our Great Liang dynasty, this is the only way… This is our destiny. When you reach my age, you’ll understand…”

“Father, but… but…” The young Ji Lin was at a loss. He wanted to say something but didn’t know how to express it.

“I was already dead long ago. This dragon qi is the only thing forcing me to keep moving. Only when I am dead can you ascend the throne. You should be happy.”

As he spoke, Ji Song, who was spread-eagled, grabbed the chain by his hand and yanked hard, pulling the remaining stack of emperors closer to the coffin.

He reached out his scaled, dragon-clawed hand, grabbed Ji Lin, and pulled him close, his voice turning harsh. “Do you know why, before my death, I passed the throne to you, and not to the upright eldest prince?”

“I do not, Father.” Ji Lin’s voice was choked with sobs.

“Because you are ruthless enough! At the age of six, just to win favor, you dared to feed your own brother castor beans! None of the other princes could match that! But it’s still not enough. If it were me, I would have used crane-top poison!”

His tone turned ice-cold in an instant. “Lin’er, after you return, kill all your brothers.”

“Wha—what?!” Ji Lin’s face turned ashen. If his father hadn’t been gripping his collar, he would have collapsed to the ground on the spot.

“Of course, you can choose not to act. But then don’t blame others for acting first. They all have people helping them. You may be the emperor, but the ascension ceremony hasn’t been held yet. Everything is still in flux. Remember: if you want to accomplish great things, even your closest kin can be killed!”

Li Huowang frowned deeply at these words. It seemed the Great Liang emperor was planning to use his own sons like a venom-fighting ritual.

Only the strongest and most poisonous would become the next Great Liang emperor. But would someone chosen this way ever be a wise ruler?

“Remember, Lin’er. ‘The exalted one is the isolated one.’ If you want to be emperor, trust no one but yourself. Not even your mother…”

As Ji Song released Ji Lin’s imperial robe, the heavy golden coffin lid slowly closed with a booming rumble.

For a moment, the vast mausoleum fell silent, leaving only Ji Lin’s rapid, ragged breathing. Though the air here was cold, cold sweat still dripped continuously from his brow.

“Greet the spirits~ Remove the offerings~~!” An old eunuch’s chant broke the silence. The eunuchs, who had been standing like wooden statues, began to move, performing the complex and elaborate sacrificial rites before the Nine-Dragon-Pulling-Coffin with synchronized precision. Li Huowang stood like a spectator, silently watching it all.

After a while, when the ceremony concluded, the eunuchs filed out in neat rows, saying nothing, not waiting for the emperor on the ground to get up.

Li Huowang glanced at Ji Lin, who was still slumped on the floor, then followed the eunuchs out.

He believed that faced with such a life-shattering change and decision, the new emperor would be busy for quite some time and would have no time to pay attention to a nobody like him, who had only met him once.

Stepping out of the cold, oppressive mausoleum into the warm imperial temple lit by hanging candles, Li Huowang felt as if he had crossed from the underworld back to the world of the living.

He was just about to walk toward Lian Zhibei, who was waiting by the door, when a voice thick with authority came from behind him. “Ji Zai!”

“Ji Zai?” Li Huowang was momentarily stunned. When he saw Zhuge Yuan beside him, he immediately understood. This was the name Zhuge Yuan had made up for him earlier. “He’s calling me.”

“Brother Li, do not panic. This Great Liang state preceptor cannot see through my ruse. He cannot know your true name, and therefore cannot calculate anything about your past.”

Li Huowang shot Zhuge Yuan a grateful look, then turned and walked toward the Great Liang state preceptor, who was standing there with his hands behind his back.

“Ji Zai pays respects to the State Preceptor!” Li Huowang performed a very solemn Daoist salute to the man’s back.

“Since you are a G-Grade Ensign of the Supervisory Heavenly Office, there are certain things you should understand. You know what to say and what not to say, correct?” The state preceptor raised a wrinkled hand and continuously made divinatory calculations.

“I understand, sir.” Li Huowang stood there, his gaze lowered, his breath steady. He wasn’t at all surprised that the man was testing him.

On the contrary, if the man had said nothing at all, that would have made Li Huowang more uneasy.

“Ji Zai. Since you are a follower of the Ao-Jing Sect, why did you join the Supervisory Heavenly Office? I thought you deluded fools spent your days shunning the mortal world and dreaming of becoming immortals?”

Li Huowang thought it over carefully and repeated the same explanation he had given before.

Faced with this man, he didn’t even intend to lie. With all his heart, he fully believed he was Ji Zai, who had joined the Supervisory Heavenly Office to avenge the fallen great elder against the Zuowandao.