Beyond the Divine States

Chapter 17 A Dark Figure Down the Imperial Palace

In the dark attic, holding a copper wand which was about half a meter long and fully carved with inscriptions, Song Ce scurried across the murky corridor of the imperial palace.

When he took the wand, the emperor ordered the others to retreat, so this place was still quiet.

As he didn't have the imperial blood, his palm had turned red and swollen due to the burning of the wand. However, Song Ce still held it tightly with an indifferently calm face.

At the thought of the emperor's shocked and flurried expression, he couldn't help grinning.

"As the emperor for over ten years, he has learned nothing but some shallow techniques of imperial calculation."

The corner of his mouth curled up coldly. Everything went quite well, so it did save him the trouble of unnecessary killings.

He walked towards the rear of the imperial palace according to the route he had planned numerous times.

After walking for tens of steps, he took out a ring from his clothes. There were four keys hung on the ring, which could be used to open the doors of the palaces in the rear.

This morning, he got the keys from the hidden guards in the outer city in the name of receiving the immortal.

At that time, when he looked at the replicates of the keys, he realized that this event had been planned secretly for long.

Yet, the young emperor had no idea at all.

As long as no one came to stop him, the following path would be unobstructed for him.

Noises didn't come from behind until he walked past the first door.

"Song Ce, you don't have the imperial blood. Seizing the Flame Wand does no good but harm to you. Don't be so crazy!"

"His Majesty is lenient. It is still not too late if you give in now."

A deep voice came from behind him. The speaker was still a long distance away from Song Ce but due to his deep internal strength, the voice came into the latter's ears.

Not swayed at all, Song Ce walked through the Dark Chamber, opened a door, went inside and bolted the door.

Most of the masters were the hidden guards of the imperial palace, but in terms of the familiarity with the structure of the palace, they were no match for him. Maybe a lot of the delicately designed hidden doors and hidden paths in the imperial palace were even unknown to the emperor.

Behind the door, the noises of guards chasing him came from afar.

Song Ce walked across the corridor, at the end of which was a room. He opened the door, counted the sequence of the tiles quickly and accurately, lifted a tile with the pointed end of the Flame Wand and stepped on the hidden path.

Now, the emperor was slumping in the rain. Several palace maids crowded around him, helped him up and escorted him into the palace carefully.

His clothes were wet by the rain. The emperor was muttering to himself with a pale face.

He always trusted Song Ce. Why did this official revolt? Was it because he was asked to take the wand?

Impossible... Was it that...

With a facepalm, the emperor only felt a headache. He got up staggeringly, pushed the palace maids away and shouted, "Bring Song Ce to me. I must interrogate him on my own!"

A palace maid hastened to answer, "Your Majesty, the royal guards have gone to capture him. The rebel has no martial art skills. Supposedly, he will be arrested soon."

A master who was protecting the emperor also said, "Is Song Ce a bastard of a prince? Otherwise, how can he operate that thing without the imperial blood?"

The emperor was dumbfounded and then kept shaking his head, saying, "No... No, Song Ce, Song Ce can't be. He must work for somebody..."

"Who can that be..."

The emperor held his head with a grimace. "Aren't the masters said to be very strong? Why do they turn out to be so useless? They can't capture Song Ce after such a long time."

The emperor was gasping heavily. The pain of being betrayed suppressed his heart. Rage just consumed him with his eyes getting red. "Rubbish... Since you can't capture him, I shall go and do it myself!"

The young emperor got up with a hoarse voice and tried to walk out of the palace.

The palace maids wanted to stop him when an official who arrived upon hearing the news waved his hand, gesturing for them not to move.

The emperor came out of the palace door and turned around only to find that those who were watching him before either lowered their heads or looked aside. Faint sighs resounded throughout the whole palace.

The emperor finally became somewhat sober. With his sleeves billowing in the air, he sneered and said, "Are...you going to betray me too?"

The official sighed, "We only hope that you can calm down. Now that the imperial city is facing domestic strife and foreign aggression. We shouldn't flurry ourselves. Song Ce has taken the Flame Wand, but he can never run far away. Your Majesty, you shouldn't be so worried."

The emperor looked at him and yelled, "If the wand falls into the hands of others... If the wand falls into the hands of a brother or an uncle of mine... Alas, I should have killed them all."

The royal guard replied, "The imperial palace has been strictly guarded today. There are definitely no other people around the imperial palace."

The emperor snorted, "Then why does Song Ce do that? Is he a fool?"

No one responded in the imperial palace anymore.

The emperor looked at the heavy rain outside. The lightning reflected on his face, making his face appear so pale. As thunder crashed in the sky, the emperor's muttering could hardly be heard.

"Do you know what Rosefinch Flame Wand means? Do you know...what is under the imperial palace? Don't push me too far. Otherwise, I will unleash that thing. By then, the hell with the state of Jin or the state of Rong! The state of Zhao shall perish with the South Continent!"

As the thunder faded away, the latter part of what he said resounded in the palace clearly.

He suddenly found that everybody was looking at him. Even the palace maids also raised their heads in fear.

He realized that he had said something wrong.

Even an emperor shouldn't have said things like that.

He wanted to say something to make up for his majesty but at that moment, an idea flashed through his mind.

"Old monster... The imperial palace is strictly guarded..." He suddenly shouted, "Strictly guarded? That place, that place is not guarded at all!"

"Your Majesty, you mean..."

"There is a well at the rear of the main palace!" The emperor clenched his fists. "Any guards over there?"

The rest of the people got even more confused. "Your Majesty, you are talking about the well on Road Zhenghuang?"

"Exactly!" The emperor said with absolute certainty.

The official couldn't help laughing. "The well is situated in the middle of the road. A lot of people walk past it. What's strange about it?"

The emperor finally calmed down. He let out a breath and said with a deep voice, "What do you know? Somebody come! Let's go to arrest Song Ce."

...

...

The back door of the imperial palace was opened. Two guards standing there with a spear put on a gesture to fight with the enemy at first and then retreated, saying respectfully, "Greetings, Lord Song."

The chaos hadn't spread here. They didn't know Song Ce was wanted in the imperial palace.

Song Ce nodded his head and walked forward.

One of the guards looked at him and knitted the brows. "Lord Song, where are you going? Why did you come out of there?"

Song Ce answered with a casual air, "His Majesty has ordered me to do something. Don't ask what you shouldn't ask."

"Lord Song, do you need me to hold an umbrella for you?"

Song Ce waved his hand. "No need. Just stick to your post. Mind your mouth."

The guard hastened to shut his mouth while the other guard noticed his hand and whispered, "Look. What is Lord Song holding?"

That guard lowered his voice. "It should be the valuable treasure of the imperial palace..."

"No. The door hasn't been opened for many years. Back then, the commander once told us that only His Majesty could open it with the supreme instrument. How can Lord Song..."

"Is there anything wrong?" The other guard was immediately shocked.

Song Ce paid no attention to their whispering. While they were talking, he had gone far away. Then he arrived at the ancient well in the middle of the road.

In order to prevent the palace maids from falling into the well, the mouth of the well was very high, surrounded by the jade fence. As this place was near Changxiang Palace, the palace maids in the palace often came here to fetch water. Nothing had happened over the past decades.

It was fair enough to say that the well was just an ordinary well.

Lord Song, who was kind to everybody, put on a stern face and knelt by the well. His knees were saturated by the rain. He raised the copper wand with both hands.

The two guards finally felt that something was wrong. Just when they were about to check what Song Ce was doing, there was the clatter of horses' hoofs just like the patter of the rain at the lateral side of the imperial palace.

Song Ce raised his head and felt slightly surprised to see the arriving troops through the misty autumn rain.

Upon seeing Song Ce, the emperor, wearing an imperial robe and leading the troops, clapped hands in delight, got off the horse and glared at Song Ce. "Great. There you are!"

"Your Majesty is so wise and resolute," someone chimed in.

The emperor said harshly, "Stop talking nonsense. Take him down for me!"

The following troops charged forward shortly.

The emperor looked at him with a sneer. "Song Ce, who are you working for? Humph. Let me guess. Zhao Shiqiu is good at martial arts but he is far away in Min City; Zhao An is smart indeed. I've asked agents to watch him all the time but no information has been sent. Zhao Shisong is my uncle and has promised to be a good-for-nothing prince... I'm so curious whom you are waiting for."

Song Ce looked at him and chuckled. "Since Your Majesty can guess I'm here, it seems that you are not too silly."

The emperor frowned with his pupils simmering with rage. "Kill him and take back the Rosefinch Flame Wand. I will wait for the person you are waiting for!"

No one took action.

The emperor turned around and looked at them, saying in confusion and anger, "What? Are you revolting too?"

"Hey, Zhao Fu..."

The raindrops, just like beans, pattered on the ground, causing the noises.

A voice suddenly came, which was clear and faint. At that time, the emperor felt that he couldn't hear the rain. He turned around dully and saw a beautiful young girl in a black dress sitting at the edge of the ancient well. She was staring at him indifferently and shaking her fair-skinned legs gently, with a soft smile on her pretty face.

"Zhao Fu, I called you an i***t when we were little. Now, as far as I can see, what I said did hurt your feelings. For so many years, you've still been considering yourself clever and acting accordingly. Compared with your two younger brothers, what have you got apart from being older than them?"

The young girl said calmly. Her tone was quite plain, which was neither questioning nor scolding. She seemed to be like chatting.

The emperor looked at her and reminisced that many years ago, he was called an i***t with an innocent tone by a little girl ten years younger than him.

He kept telling himself that this sister was still too young and ignorant though she was hailed as the daughter of a god's descendent. Besides, children always said what they liked. How could he take her words seriously?

Until now, he found that he had taken her words seriously for so many years. All the time he tried to prove that he was not inferior to his father and the two younger brothers.

Looking at the young girl, he was still confused. "Zhao Xiang'er... Aren't you in the imperial preceptor's mansion? Why..."

The legend of the well suddenly occurred to him. He also muttered a curse at himself for his stupidity in his heart. These years, he had been doubtful about the secret his father told him at the deathbed. Now, those shouldn't be his father's balderdash before dying.

Zhao Xiang'er blinked at him as if saying she could go anywhere in the imperial palace.

Song Ce raised his head and looked at the young girl before him, saying with a bitter smile, "Your Highness, it is too demanding for me to keep holding this."

Zhao Xiang'er snorted, "More than 20 days ago, you couldn't save my mother. What's wrong about making you kneel for a while?"

Song Ce heaved a sigh. "Yes, Your Highness."

The emperor still couldn't understand. "Since when Song Ce started to work for you? Were you two acting before?"

Song Ce said, "Your Majesty, you are wrong. For so many years, I've never betrayed the goddess. You laid a siege to Qianyu Palace before. I did have the heart to rescue her but I was too weak to do that. Now that Her Highness is back, surely I should pledge loyalty to Her Highness."

The emperor said, "I've sent people to watch you; so has the wizard patriarch. However, none of our efforts worked. Your scheme is so thorough. When did you start to conspire to do this?"

Song Ce replied, "Days ago, in the junior general's mansion, Her Highness once came to me. Before leaving, she helped adjust my clothes in public."

At that time, she stuck a note beneath the front of my clothes.

Everything happened beyond words.

Zhao Xiang'er looked at the pitiful emperor saturated by the heavy rain and then asked with a smile, "Any other questions?"

The emperor looked at her and said, "You must know only the imperial blood can actuate the wand. Are you an illegitimate daughter of the late emperor?"

"The imperial blood..." Zhao Xiang'er blinked her eyes. She finally fetched the Rosefinch Flame Wand from Song Ce's hand and held it in her palm. Staring at the pointed end of the Flame Wand, she said, "Do you know what the imperial blood is?"

The emperor was stunned. He didn't expect Zhao Xiang'er would ask such a question. Then, he said, "The imperial blood is certainly the blood of the Zhao Family inherited since the foundation of the state."

Zhao Xiang'er slightly shook her head and slit her palm with the pointed end of the Flame Wand. The blood dripped on the copper wand and seeped into it. Then, the copper wand just shone, and every word of the inscriptions was glistening with the scarlet light. The wand was like a mini hollow copper furnace, the coal in which was lit by her blood.

The emperor was dumbfounded. "How...is this possible? Who on earth are you?"

Zhao Xiang'er looked at the wand in her hand and then smiled with satisfaction. She turned her gaze from it to the emperor, saying calmly, "The imperial blood is the blood granted by the immortal to the Zhao Family. I am the daughter of the immortal. Surely my blood is the imperial blood."

As she said, the people present were all speechless in astonishment. Only Song Ce bent down. He finally dispelled the last doubt in his heart and felt sincerely convinced.

The emperor staggered backward and pointed at her tremblingly. "You... The goddess is really... We killed..."

The emperor covered his heart and spluttered.

Zhao Xiang'er walked down while holding the burning Flame Wand. Behind her back, a pair of burning wings faintly showed up. The heavy rain falling around her was heated into the fog. No more rain could drop on her.

"The late emperor had wanted to abolish your title but he was too kind..." She walked past the emperor and looked at him disdainfully, saying indifferently, "The state of Zhao is temporarily lent to you by my mother. Now the state is in danger. Since you are incompetent, I shall take it back on behalf of her. Zhao Fu, go to your Changxiang Palace and rest well. Don't bother me."

In the heavy rain, they passed each other. The emperor stood in situ in shock. His brightly yellow robe appeared increasingly bleak in the wind and rain.

Zhao Xiang'er stopped and looked at the people still standing in the rain, asking, "What about you?"

Almost all the people thought of what happened three years ago.

Now there was only heavy rain but no setting sun. The young girl's dress was not stained with blood either.

However, they all couldn't help making way for her.

Zhao Xiang'er walked through the crowd and went into the palace.

"I would like to work for Your Highness forever," Song Ce shouted, bent down and kowtowed on knees.

The scene looked as if the frosty wind blew off the grass. The people facing the back of the young girl all fell like the reed.