Deep within the imperial palace of the Great Xia, golden halls and jade palaces shone with magnificent splendor under the sun.
Steps of pure white marble soared high into the clouds, surrounded by countless magnificent palaces, so numerous they defied counting.
The mighty Xia Dynasty had reached the absolute pinnacle of its glory.
This was a supreme achievement, yet in the eyes of discerning observers, it was the very sign of a grand pavilion on the verge of collapse.
Great Xia was too powerful.
The past millennium had belonged entirely to Great Xia.
This imperial dynasty held sway over Shenzhou, unmatched by any rival.
Across the vast lands of Shenzhou, over a hundred dynasties had risen and fallen, yet Great Xia alone stood tall for a thousand years, immortal and prosperous to the absolute extreme.
That extreme prosperity must lead to decline was an immutable law.
The invincible Great Xia could not remain invincible forever.
Over the past century, the signs of decline had begun to show.
Wise rulers no longer emerged, and virtuous ministers withered away.
Meanwhile, the Gumeng Court of the north grew stronger by the day, and the Yongye Cult, silent for a millennium, had once again emerged in the mortal realm.
No matter how splendid the present day seemed, the future of the Xia Dynasty appeared exceedingly bleak.
The current Son of Heaven of Great Xia was not a particularly brilliant ruler, falling far short of the emperors of old who had expanded the empire's borders.
Fortunately, the foundation laid by Great Xia's ancestors was solid enough, and the current Son of Heaven was not so incompetent as to be utterly useless.
Though he had no great achievements to his name, he had committed no major blunders either.
The iron cavalry of the northern Gumeng Court had repeatedly crossed the border at Beizhangyuan, flouting the majesty of Great Xia.
Within the imperial court, the war and peace factions clashed fiercely. With the Son of Heaven advancing in years, his mind had grown increasingly hesitant and indecisive.
His stance toward the Gumeng Court remained ambiguous—neither waging war nor suing for peace.
Yet, rather than the northern Gumeng Court, the greatest headache for the Son of Heaven of Great Xia was the resurgence of the Yongye Cult.
The origins of this cult were so ancient they could no longer be traced.
It was a force that every dynasty of the Central Plains had deeply feared.
In the past, during the height of Great Xia's power, the late emperors had dispatched armies to ruthlessly suppress the Yongye Cult, nearly wiping them out. Yet, after a millennium of silence and recovery, the return of Yongye was an inevitable catastrophe.
The terror of the Yongye Cult lay not only in its thousand-year-old belief system, but also in its unfathomably profound martial power.
In those days, Great Xia was so mighty that when it issued a decree banning martial arts across Shenzhou, the entire realm had no choice but to submit.
Even so, they had still failed to completely eradicate the Yongye Cult.
The cult had merely avoided the brunt of the empire's wrath, hiding in the shadows, only to begin their return to the mortal realm today.
…!
Under the shroud of night, Tianyu Hall remained as bright as day.
The Three Dukes stood in silence, and the high officials lay prostrate on the floor, while the Son of Heaven of Great Xia sat upon his dragon throne, his brow furrowed in a deep, grim scowl.
“Your Majesty, we can wait no longer.”
The pleas from the northern soldiers to march to battle are growing more and more fervent.
"If the court does not take a stand and continues to endure in silence, it will freeze the hearts of the soldiers who shed their blood for the state."
"Impossible! Once war breaks out, things will spiral out of control, plunging the common people into misery.
Furthermore, the Yongye Divine Sect has emerged.
If they take this opportunity to fish in troubled waters, the court will have to fight on two fronts."
"Humph! Appeasing and tolerating wrongdoers will only make the Gumeng Royal Court even more arrogant.
The soldiers of our Celestial Dynasty are brave and fierce in battle. How can we allow others to bully us at our very borders just because of some Yongye Divine Sect?"
"..."
The debate in the palace raged with extreme intensity.
Arguments flew back and forth as neither side would yield; at this moment, only the Three Dukes remained silent, not uttering a single word.
Since the founding of the Great Xia, the Three Dukes had rarely participated in state discussions.
It was not that they could not, but that they chose not to.
Unless it was an absolute necessity, the Three Dukes would not speak.
This was a tacit understanding.
For this reason, even though the ministers were still debating fiercely in the main hall, no one dared to ask the Three Dukes to make a decision.
On the dragon throne, the Emperor of Great Xia showed clear hesitation in his eyes.
Whether to deploy troops or not was not a decision that could be made by sheer decisiveness alone.
"Whoosh!!!"
Suddenly, a fierce streak of silver light flashed across the palace, brushing past the ministers and shooting straight toward the Emperor on the dragon throne.
Because there was no warning whatsoever, everyone's vision blurred, and they were unable to react in time.
A breathtakingly brilliant arrow had appeared without making a single sound or releasing any aura.
In the Tianyu Hall, from the Emperor to the ministers, everyone was dazed by the sheer sharpness of this arrow.
Yet, such an unstoppable arrow was caught by a withered hand.
Behind the Emperor of Great Xia, the inconspicuous old eunuch, who had been quiet since the start of the court session, had somehow already stepped in front of the dragon throne.
It was as if he had covered the sky with a single hand, blocking all the wind and rain before the Emperor.
"An assassin! Quickly, capture the assassin for me!" At this moment, everyone in the hall finally reacted.
Their faces turned pale as they shouted in unison.
The Three Dukes, the leaders of the ministers, also stood up abruptly after their long silence.
They stared coldly in the direction the arrow had come from, recognizing this as an extremely outrageous act.
For hundreds of thousands of years, this was the first time someone had dared to enter the palace to commit assassination.
What was more, they had done it right in front of them.
On the dragon throne, the Emperor suppressed his anger and stood up. His face was pale as he roared fiercely, "Investigate this thoroughly!"
"As you command!"
The Emperor was furious, and the ministers were anxious.
Everyone was wondering why this assassination attempt had occurred at such a coincidental moment. The timing was simply too perfect!
Immediately afterward, a series of orders were issued, such as imposing a curfew in the palace and locking the palace gates.
The entire imperial palace was surrounded by tens of thousands of imperial guards. With a sentry every five paces and a patrol every ten steps, not even a fly could escape.
"What is going on?"
Inside the imperial palace, watching the squads of guards march past, Ning Chen felt extremely bewildered.
But when he thought of his own impending fate, he lost all interest.
Not far away, several youths around Ning Chen's age were also anxious and uneasy.
They were all from poor families, having chosen this path only because they had no other option.
"Sigh... What should I do now?" Ning Chen thought to himself, resting his chin on his right hand. If he was forced to become a eunuch, he would rather die.
Although he had to accept his reality now that he was here, going from a strong, outstanding young man to a mutilated little eunuch was simply too drastic a downfall.
"How utterly depressing..."
Ning Chen sighed softly. He wanted to run away, he really did.
But with just a glance, he could see pairs of imperial guards patrolling back and forth outside. He immediately dismissed that suicidal idea.
He had no desire to be chopped into mincemeat.
Rumor had it that in this era, punishments like death by a thousand cuts, dismemberment by five horses, flaying and tendon-pulling, being buried alive, or being crushed by carriages still existed... No, no! He didn't want to think about it anymore.
"Once you enter the palace gates, they are as deep as the sea.
From now on, I can only be a passerby."
He sighed softly, only to draw contemptuous looks from those around him.
Ning Chen looked up and offered an embarrassed smile in return.
He had almost forgotten that everyone here was in a terrible mood.
The clanking of the imperial guards' armor grew louder and more frequent.
This indicated that even more guards had been mobilized within the palace.
The assassination attempt on the Emperor was an incredibly grave matter. Urgent orders were being dispatched one after another from Tianyu Hall, and even the Three Lords and the various ministers were waiting anxiously for a clear outcome.
Watching the youths from the adjacent line being led away one by one to be castrated, Ning Chen felt an anxiety that clawed at his heart like a cat.
But with so many imperial guards outside and his own limbs being so scrawny, he didn't dare make a peep.
"Oh, Heavens! Why don't you just strike me dead and get it over with?"
Finally, the last youth before him was carried away by two young eunuchs.
Ning Chen looked out the window and screamed silently in his mind.
*RUMBLE!!!*
The moment his silent plea ended, the pitch-black night sky above the imperial palace suddenly lit up.
A blinding streak of lightning tore through the nine heavens, accompanied by a deafening roar of thunder that made everyone's heart skip a beat.
"Holy shit..."
Ning Chen was also startled by the thunder. "Heavens! I was just joking! Don't take it seriously!!!"
*CRACK!!!*
Another massive clap of thunder shook the air, followed immediately by a torrential downpour.
The torches used by the patrolling imperial guards to light their way were instantly snuffed out.
In that brief moment of darkness, a dark figure suddenly leaped from a distant corner of the wall straight into the room.
A flash of sword light sliced through the air. The old eunuch, who had been washing the castration knife, widened his eyes in shock and collapsed limply to the floor.
In the spacious castration room, only Ning Chen remained, standing there in a complete daze.
The black-clad assassin wanted nothing more than to silence all witnesses, but he had been wounded by a hidden expert among the imperial guards during his escape. With his movements severely hindered, he had only been able to muster enough strength for a single strike to kill the old eunuch closest to him.
As for Ning Chen, if he could have called out a warning in time, he would have done so.
"I can get you out of here."
As the two stared at each other, Ning Chen blurted out those words, catching the black-clad assassin completely off guard.
Seeing the assassin hesitate, Ning Chen, desperate to save his own skin, hurriedly pressed on, "There are imperial guards everywhere outside. You can't escape.
They'll be searching this area soon, and you have nowhere left to hide.
Whether you run or hide, it's a dead end.
You've run out of options."
Having blurted this all out in one breath, Ning Chen almost choked himself to death.
Taking a quick, deep breath, he said, "You have no other choice but to trust me."
"Who are you?" the assassin spoke, her voice cold and unwavering.
*A woman?* Ning Chen was stunned, replying instinctively, "I'm a eunuch."
Damn it! What terrible luck!
As soon as the words left his mouth, Ning Chen's eyes instinctively drifted toward the woman's chest.
Sure enough... flat as a board! Was she binding her chest, or was she just naturally flat?
*Clang...*
A flash of sword light gleamed mere inches away, forcing Ning Chen to quickly avert his gaze.
Still, he couldn't help but despise himself.
What kind of situation was this? How could he still be letting his mind wander to such nonsense?
"Calm down, calm down! But before I help you, you need to help me take care of a small matter first."
Having temporarily pacified the girl, Ning Chen let out a breath. He suddenly took a few steps forward and stripped the clothes off the old eunuch. "Put these on, quick! We're running out of time!"
As he spoke, Ning Chen dabbed some blood from the cut on the old eunuch's neck and smeared it all over the lower half of his pants.
He soaked the crucial area between his thighs in blood, making it look particularly gruesome.
Once that was done, Ning Chen blew out almost all the lamps in the room.
Instantly, the entire room was plunged into a gloomy, dim twilight.
While the surrounding layout was still visible, it was barely so.
Not far away, the woman had already changed into the old eunuch's clothes.
She glanced at Ning Chen's actions but said nothing.
She could see that this youth possessed a certain quick-witted cleverness, and she hoped it would be enough to help her escape this disaster.
She did not fear death, but if there was a way to survive, who would willingly choose to die?
Ning Chen turned his head and finally got a clear look at the woman's face.
His eyes widened as he stared at her. *Hmm...* She was in the bloom of youth, enchanting and deeply feminine...
But if she was already like this now, she would be an absolute headache once she fully matured.
Ning Chen thought for a moment, then reached down to dab some blood from his body before rubbing his hand hard against the ground.
He then approached the girl with a radiant smile, before swiftly smearing his blood-and-dirt-covered hand all over her face.
Of course, Ning Chen still gave her a warning look, his eyes filled with a mix of caution and smug satisfaction—and truth be told, he was thoroughly enjoying himself.
The girl remained silent. Her cold, beautiful face had been completely transformed, now looking utterly wretched.