The Cold Palace of Great Qi

Because the fissure from the Spine Sword wasn’t static—it flew forward like a sword’s own qi.

If Li Huowang wanted to get inside, he had to be faster than it. And right now, he was just barely falling short.

“I can be faster! I can still be faster!”

With his shout, his speed surged. He plunged headfirst into the shrinking gap.

The moment he landed in Great Qi, Li Huowang threw himself to the left. The fissure behind him shredded his cloak, then vanished.

He let out a long breath. Only then did he take a moment to look around.

This place had been a prince’s bedchamber in Great Liang. In Great Qi, it wasn’t much different—a large, empty room.

But the broken tiles overhead, the weeds creeping in from the walls, and the dust-covered furniture all told the same story: whatever glory this place once had was long gone.

“Looks like it’s been abandoned a while.” His voice echoed through the room as he stood.

“Dad, where is this?” Li Sui’s eye pushed out from his navel, peering curiously at the decayed surroundings.

“Doesn’t matter where. We’re not done yet.” Li Huowang tightened his grip on the sword and charged in the direction the Ren King had fled.

Inside was bad. Outside was just as bad. The whole complex looked completely abandoned.

Li Huowang chased through Great Qi for about the time it takes two sticks of incense to burn. He pulled out the Spine Sword again.

He had to admit—at least with a little use, this weapon forged from a Heart-Pivot was genuinely practical.

It could kill enemies, it could save his own life. Li Huowang was very glad he hadn’t just dug a hole and buried it.

“I should be out of their encirclement. Let’s go back and check.” Saying this, he slashed open another fissure and repeated the trick.

When he returned to Great Qi, he found himself standing on a rooftop. In the courtyard below, the Ren King’s eight-carrier palanquin was racing east.

“Got you!” Li Huowang’s talisman-charged legs launched him into the air. He dove toward the palanquin like a hawk.

Just as he was about to succeed, a woman with a black cloth covering her face appeared on his back by some unknown means.

She raised an obsidian dagger toward his neck—but Li Sui’s tentacles stopped her in time.

Then Li Huowang saw the character on her black cloth: a large “sorcerer” (巫). His pupils shrank to pinpricks. Shock hit him hard.

“No! This is the Fa Sect! The Ren King has ties to the Fa Sect!”

This was far bigger than a succession struggle. You couldn’t just shrug this off as some rogue cultivator’s trick. The Fa Sect was a cult that worshipped the Heavenly Calamity, the Child-God Yú’er Shén.

In that instant, Li Huowang made a decision in midair.

“Bam!” He kicked off the woman. Instead of continuing his pursuit of the Ren King, he used the recoil to veer toward the rooftop on the left.

“Dad, the palanquin is getting away! Aren’t we chasing it?” Li Sui asked, watching the rapidly shrinking carriage.

“No need anymore. In this mutual-slaughter match, the Ren King crossed the line. All we have to do is report this to the Supervisory Heavenly Office.”

A Great Liang prince with a claim to the throne had help from the Fa Sect. It was hard to imagine what would happen if this man actually became emperor.

Even in a power struggle for the throne, you could never allow the Fa Sect—a group born for rebellion—to be involved. The Supervisory Heavenly Office might look the other way on other matters, but on this, they would not sit idle.

Since the Office was sure to step in, Li Huowang figured he didn’t need to risk his neck fighting the Ren King. Especially not when two of those Cultured and Martial Wealth Gods had already given him a tough time.

The familiar sound of gongs rang out again. Li Huowang knew the Ren King’s pursuit had caught up. Without hesitation, he carved another Great Qi fissure and slipped through.

The ruined courtyard was thick with fallen leaves. Cobwebs hung between the branches and the beams. It was so still even the wind seemed dead.

Li Huowang tilted his head back to look at the half-moon, shrouded by dark clouds. The sudden shift from frantic motion to deep stillness left him feeling a little off-balance.

“Let’s go.” He got his bearings and started walking toward the Supervisory Heavenly Office.

Once he reached the Office’s location, he could return to Great Liang, make his report, and the job would be done.

He was willing to throw everything into this task, but he wasn’t stupid enough to refuse outside help.

“Dad, the sword I had earlier—it came over here too. We need to pick it up.”

“Oh, right. Almost forgot.” Li Huowang turned and headed back toward where he’d fought the Cultured Wealth God.

“Brother Zhuge,” he called up to Zhuge Yuan, who hovered in the air. “What is this place in Great Qi, exactly?”

Zhuge Yuan frowned, his expression heavy. “Hm… it should be the Cold Palace.”

“How can a Cold Palace be this cold? There’s not a single person around. Did something happen to Great Qi?”

Faced with Li Huowang’s question, Zhuge Yuan clutched his folded fan and pondered in silence.

No one blocked him. Li Huowang soon found the bronze coin sword stuck in a broken water vat. He picked it up, slid it back onto his back, and prepared to return the way he’d come.

But the next moment, his eyes snapped open. His sword tip pointed straight at a run-down side room in the distance. “Who’s there! Get out here!”

“Aaaah… aaaah…”

In the dead of night, in an empty, ruined palace, a broken, intermittent scream rang out. It was deeply unsettling.

But Li Huowang wasn’t buying it. Sword in hand, he charged.

A large section of the wall was sent to Great Liang. As the dust cleared, Li Huowang saw the source of the sound.

It was a bald old eunuch, lying naked on a bamboo mat, clutching his swollen belly and screaming in agony.

His enormous abdomen was covered in bulging veins. It twitched from time to time. The skin was already splitting at the edges, oozing bloodstained fluid.

“Parasitized by some evil spirit?” Once Li Huowang remembered he was in Great Qi, he immediately understood what was going on with this eunuch.

A while back in Great Qi, the Buddhas at Zhengde Temple could make childless eunuchs conceive sons. Judging by the situation, this eunuch was about to give birth.

Now that he understood, Li Huowang’s eyes showed a flicker of recognition. He turned to leave.

“Save me! Milord, save me! I… I’m having a difficult labor!” The screaming old eunuch noticed Li Huowang.

“No kidding. You don’t even have the right hole. Of course it’s a difficult labor.” But as Li Huowang quickened his pace, the begging monk blocked his path.

“Daoist, please help him. If this goes wrong, it could be two lives lost!”

“Easy for you to say. Leave aside whether he’s setting a trap for us. Just think—do any of the things I know how to do have any use in delivering a baby? When did I ever learn midwifery? Especially for a man giving birth?”