The Emperor

“Dad, are you here?” Li Sui pushed open a dusty wood shed, her face falling with disappointment.

She was about to search the next room, but Gao Zhijian stopped her. “Don’t… don’t… don’t look… look like this!”

Li Sui wrinkled her nose, somewhat dissatisfied. “You talk so slow. Can I just burrow into your body and hear what you’re saying directly?”

Gao Zhijian shook his head vigorously, pulling Li Sui along as he walked into the now-unsealed Shangjing City.

Senior Brother Li’s daughter looked human now, but she wasn’t. Having something like that in Shangjing was far too dangerous. Better to send her back to Niuxin Village first.

As for Senior Brother Li… he would have to figure something out after she was sent back.

Truth be told, Gao Zhijian felt a little deflated right now. He had thought his identity was something important, that he could be useful to Senior Brother. But in the end, he was nothing.

He brought out his horse cart, loaded Li Sui onto it, and headed for the city gates. As he was still lost in thought, a familiar figure appeared before him, blocking his path.

“Dad!” Li Sui, trembling with excitement, leaped off the cart and threw herself into Li Huowang’s arms, burrowing her head into his chest.

Li Huowang gently stroked Li Sui’s hair and said softly, “I’m sorry. Too much has happened lately. I didn’t come find you in time.”

Li Sui lifted her head from his chest and gave him a wide, brilliant smile.

“Dad, how did you find me?”

“I followed the hexagrams all the way here. Remember, next time something like this happens, don’t go running around looking everywhere. Come home first, okay?”

“Dad, where is home?”

“Home is in Niuxin Village. Niuxin Village is our home.”

He held Li Sui, soothing her for a good while, then looked at Gao Zhijian. He hadn’t even needed to go looking; the big man had come to him instead. What a coincidence.

Leading his horse with one hand, Gao Zhijian walked over to Li Huowang, thumped his chest hard, and broke into a wide grin. Then, haltingly, he began to ask where Bai Lingmiao was.

“The Dice is dead. She should be safe for now. Once I’ve dealt with your matter, I’ll go find Bai Lingmiao immediately.”

With that, Li Huowang led Gao Zhijian into an inn and rented a top-tier room.

Facing his junior brother, Li Huowang decided not to hide anything. He explained the whole story from beginning to end, sparing no detail—even including the bizarre method of imperial succession the royal family used, akin to raising bugs in a jar.

Gao Zhijian was stunned by this sudden shift in his identity. There was another world? He wasn’t the emperor of this side, but the emperor of that side?

And he was about to become emperor again, to save both worlds all by himself?

His hands trembled slightly as he lifted his clothes, revealing the clearly visible sword scar on his chest, a wound Li Huowang had given him earlier.

As wild as Senior Brother Li’s story was, he wasn’t insane. It was all true. Gao Zhijian had the memory of Senior Brother Li killing him in his own mind.

Clap. A round jade pendant was slapped onto the table by Li Huowang and slid over to him. It was the one he had traded for a horse earlier, now traded back.

“I don’t know if this is good or bad for you, but this is your identity.” There was a hint of melancholy in Li Huowang’s voice.

To be the emperor ruling the world… if it were anyone else, they’d probably agree immediately. But after all this time in Shangjing, Li Huowang had seen every rotten, twisted thing the royal family had to offer.

To put it bluntly, he was pushing his own brother into the fire. But there was no other way. It was the only way to save Great Liang… and the Great Qi that Zhuge Yuan wanted to save, too.

Gao Zhijian stared at the jade pendant for a full half hour. Finally, he reached out his large hand and gripped the pendant firmly. “Sen… Senior Brother Li! If I… I can… can help you… I’m… I’m happy!”

With that, Gao Zhijian stood up and, with unwavering resolve, pushed open the door and walked out. He figured that if he was going to be emperor, then he would be emperor.

Being emperor was good. If he was emperor, no one would ever dare bully Xiaoman and the others again.

“Now that I’m the emperor… Xiaoman should be willing to marry me, right?”

Li Huowang took Li Sui’s hand and followed, ready to see his brother ascend the throne.

Gao Zhijian walked along the straight main road. As he got closer and closer to the imperial city, it was as if some kind of memory was being awakened. His gait grew straighter, and the simple, honest look on his face began to change.

“You again! Tired of living, are you?! Prepare the ballista bolts!”

When Gao Zhijian raised the jade pendant high before the massive palace gates, they slowly swung open with a grinding creak.

A crowd of eunuchs and maids poured out from within, swarming around Gao Zhijian, dressing his hair, coiling it up, and draping him in a dragon robe.

“You’re the one who found him?” The Grand Preceptor of Great Liang, his face grave, stood beside Li Huowang and asked.

Clearly, he had already confirmed Gao Zhijian’s identity through some method.

Li Huowang didn’t answer. He watched his brother transform from a simple-minded brute into a revered emperor.

“There were originally nine members of the Great Liang royal family. But you killed so many of them. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have had to seek out a man from Great Qi to continue the dragon vein! Tell me! What exactly is your motive in all this!” Huangfu Tiangang flipped his hand, and the Star-Lodge Sword crackling with purple lightning appeared in his grasp.

Just as the Grand Preceptor was about to make his next move, Gao Zhijian noticed. He spun around instantly, his face flushed with anger, and pointed a single finger at the Grand Preceptor. “You… you… what… what do you think you’re doing!”

The Grand Preceptor, who had been about to act, looked at Gao Zhijian in his dragon robes. He lowered his hand reluctantly and made a Daoist salute. “Your servant, Huangfu Tiangang, pays homage to Your Majesty.”

Gao Zhijian let out a cold snort, gave his sleeve a heavy flick, and strode inside, followed by a retinue of eunuchs and maids.

Li Huowang shot a glance at the Grand Preceptor, then took Li Sui’s hand and followed.

As Gao Zhijian moved deeper into the palace, his honor guard grew larger and larger. By the time they reached the main hall, a throng of several hundred people was flowing before and behind him. Gao Zhijian himself was carried on a lofty dragon palanquin.

Just as Gao Zhijian, surrounded by the crowd, was ascending the white marble steps towards the main hall, a heart-wrenching scream rang out from the top of the stairs.

“I am the emperor! I am!! Why won’t you let me be the emperor! You said that when nine people were left, and only one remained alive, that person would be emperor! You lied! You’re all liars! All of you!”

Li Huowang looked up and saw Ji Lin, hair disheveled, a sword clutched in her hand, charging towards Gao Zhijian in utter despair.

Before Li Huowang could even move, a group of old eunuchs rushed out from somewhere and pinned Ji Lin firmly to the ground.

Struggling wildly, Ji Lin screamed like a madwoman in despair. “Why!! I gave everything! I gave so much! I killed my mother, I killed my sister, I killed my whole family! I became so evil! Why won’t you let me be emperor!!”

Gao Zhijian gave her a cold, indifferent glance, then turned and walked towards the main hall. The others followed him, not even sparing her a look.

Even though, not long ago, these same eunuchs and maids had followed Ji Lin’s every command.

Now, the only one who still noticed Ji Lin was Li Huowang. He stopped beside her, bent down, and helped her up from the ground, brushing the dust off her clothes. “You told me before that you didn’t want to be emperor. You didn’t want to die. You just wanted to live.”

“Now, you’ve achieved your goal. You’re not the emperor anymore. No one wants your life. You should be happy.”

Ji Lin shoved Li Huowang away, hopping about helplessly like a child, wailing in despair. “I’ve thrown everything away for the throne! If you take it away from me now, I have nothing left!”

Li Huowang remembered Ji Lin from the Shangsi Festival. He’d had a decent impression of her then. But seeing what she had become now was truly a pity.

He wrapped his arms around her and patted her back gently in comfort. “If you don’t know where to go, you can come find me. I can help you one more time.”

With that, Li Huowang took Li Sui and continued toward the main hall.

But when he reached the top of the steps, his keen sense of smell caught a whiff of blood.

When he turned around, he saw Ji Lin lying in a pool of blood. The piercing scarlet liquid flowed slowly down the gleaming white jade steps, finally gathering into a small lake at the very bottom.

“Dad, she’s dead.”

“Yeah… she’s dead.”