Legend of Fu Yao

“Quickly report this to the Regent King! Someone has attempted to assassinate the emperor!”

Assassinate the emperor.

Xuanyuan’s emperor, Xuanyuan Min.

Xuanyuan Min’s shoulders were actually shaking slightly. His guards kneeled down, gazing at each other, all at a loss of what to do. In this lonely palace, the only thing that he could do for leisure was to sing opera. The only places he could go other than his own palace would be the last inner court. Yet, today, he came all the way to the third inner court and was even so badly beaten up. Could it be that this fragile majesty is crying?

A guard carefully reached out to help Xuanyuan Min up but was very surprised when he lifted his head.

He had a face full of dirt and bits and pieces of dried leaves stuck on his exquisite skin. A thin trail of blood trickled down his nose with half his lips swollen. All these made him look a lot more disheveled than the guards were expecting before he turned around.

Yet, there was not a single drop of tear on his face.

He was laughing.

He laughed to the point where his shoulders trembled, to the point where he rocked back and forth, to the point where… he had let loose—where tears of joy speckled in his eyes, the emotion of surprise written all over his face.

‘Today… Is really a happy day…’

He was used to the lonely palace with the quiet and never-ending corridor, the tall and unreachable dome, the uniform curtains around his bed that seemed to follow him like a nightmare and those zombie-like eunuchs and servants that always had the same tone, same expressions… how many nights did he spend walking barefooted around the huge and magnificent palace, singing an opera only heard by one, walking to the point of exhaustion at the first glimpse of sunlight only to fall asleep on the throne when he went to court.

Not only that, how could he, a serious insomniac, sleep at the hours that one would expect?

And the breeze that entered his room at night was heavy like a metal board, forcing the curtains around his bed to inch closer and closer with one another, barely allowing one to breathe. In such a dark prison, it almost drove one to yell and scream, and yet, everyone else seemed to go nothing above a whisper. Even as he sang to himself, he could not get used to the gazes that were given to him, and so, in his huge room that could accommodate a thousand people, he hummed to himself softly.

Riches were limitless, yet dreams were bleak and desolate.

But today, with an accidental entrance to the third inner court, he had met such a young lad.

Bright and vibrant, he even punched people with such tyranny, not the least bothered by the rich and powerful in the regent king’s residence. In the residence more important than the imperial palace, that young lad had continued his opera performance, casually “toasted him wine” and even punched him as he pleased.

‘Interesting, interesting.’

Xuanyuan laughed in surprise as he ordered his guards, “Come, invite the Regent King over!”

Meng Fuyao was naturally oblivious to her “good luck”, where just a random punch from her could hit the emperor.

If she had known, she’d definitely lament over the fact that she was cursed to meet the imperial family.

Her thoughts were still on Zong Yue. Since Xuanyuan Yun had no intentions of making life hard for Zong Yue, naturally, Meng Fuyao should find a chance to discuss this with Xuanyuan Yun, convincing her to help.

It had been a while since Zong Yue was kidnapped. She had searched the entire residence yet found nothing suspicious. Then, the only place left would be the building behind the red door, probably where the imperial palace was, and probably where she could find Zong Yue.

So tonight… she would enter the red door.

Whoever stopped her, death awaited them.

The sky gradually darkened. Bringing the guinea pig along, she took the chance and made her way to the big red door.

Meng Fuyao had already familiarized herself with the regent king’s residence and had managed to make her way past the inner courts in a jiffy. When she passed by Xuanyuan Yun’s court, she carefully slowed down as she could vaguely hear Xuanyuan Yun ordering her servants, “Bring out the incense burner table, I want to burn some incense.”

‘Ay… silly child, prayers are not always helpful. Things like God, sometimes they only make things worse. If you really want to reach your goal, you would have to take action when there’s an opportunity.’

Meng Fuyao had raised her hand and tried to grab the stars with all her might.

She suddenly stopped. In front of her was the big red door.

The security was certainly… secure.

There were close to a thousand guards patrolling near the wall. Their weapons gleamed under the winter moonlight as the soldiers passed by each other in groups. There was no room or space for Meng Fuyao to make use of. To enter the red door lit up by those lanterns, forget about two adults, even if it was just Lord Yuan Bao, it would need to lose at least 180 times of its current weight.

‘Charge in head-on? Just trespass directly? Really… going in like this?

‘Let’s just force our way in.’

Meng Fuyao whispered into Tie Cheng’s ear. Before the unwilling Tie Cheng could reject her proposition, she slapped him and pushed him out.

What followed was her jumping up and shrieking.

“Thief! Where do you think you are going!”

One could hear the pittering and pattering of the rocks being thrown around, hitting the surrounding plants falling left and right as though plenty of people had stomped across that area.

Meng Fuyao yelled, “Adulterer! Stop there!

“Ah! How dare you run towards the princess’ room! Are you looking for death!”

Tie Cheng, being pushed out by Meng Fuyao, had no choice but to turn around halfway and hide amongst the bushes. By this time, the guards near the red door had already been alerted of the commotion as they looked at each other in dismay. The Regent king’s order was that they had to patrol the entrance to the palace, and no one was allowed to leave their position without an order. But the person currently in danger was not just anyone, it is the apple of Regent King’s eyes. And the person was even an “adulterer”. If anything happened to her, and the Regent King demanded someone to be responsible, it would be a death penalty for all of them if they did nothing.

The leader of these guards thought about it for a moment and commanded, “Half of the guards to chase the thief!”

Immediately, the guards in front of the red door were halved, and now the leader had to relocate the guards patrolling when suddenly, there was another commotion from the other side.

“Assassins!”

“Protect His Majesty!”

Meng Fuyao perked up immediately. Who had such great chemistry with her to try to trespass the palace at the same time? She was still racking her brains to think of a method to move the other half of the people away, but by the looks of it, there was no need to worry—the leader had already ordered the doors to be opened to communicate the situation to the guards patrolling in the palace. They were positioned throughout the palace, and by this time, Meng Fuyao had already sealed the acupuncture point of the last guard, dumped him in a bush, and taken over his role.

Her outfit was originally a stolen guard uniform. Following the troop, she had entered into another side door. Bending down, she clutched her stomach and snuck into a bush.

Behind her, a soldier laughed and commented, “An Zi? You are always like this. Once there’s any commotion, you would always have a stomach ache. Hey, come back quickly, now is not the time for a stomach ache!”

Meng Fuyao waved one of her hands without turning her head and ran into the bushes. That soldier teased, “Careful you meet the assassin, and he’ll stab you to death.”

Beside him was the vice-leader of the third platoon. With a tone of annoyance, he ordered, “What kind situation are we in, still running away! Old Liu, drag him back, we have to search the entire Sixth East Palace. Seriously, this is so odd. I remember seeing a black figure passing.”

“Anyways, we have confirmed that the assassin is not anywhere near the emperor’s residence.” Old Liu giggled as he made his way through the bushes. “As for His Majesty… we might not even be able to find him, would the assassin be able to?”

“Talk less!” The leader yelled.

Old Liu stuck out his tongue and quickly shut up. Amongst the dimmed bushes, he laughed and kicked. “An Zi, are you done pooping! Come out!”

Realizing that he kicked nothing but the air, he looked around confused.

“Where’s he?”

Meng Fuyao had long flipped over the wall and entered the center of the Xuanyuan Palace.

Places like the palace, it could be said that she was very familiar with them. The Taiyuan Palace was small and elegant, the Wuji Palace was exquisite and luxurious, the Tiansha Palace was simple yet generous in its design, the Xuanyuan Palace… Xuanyuan Palace was really odd…

There wasn’t much architecture. A dark yellow palace wall with green encaustic tiles. It was well-organized, and the decorations were simple. That being said, the entire palace was extremely spacious, and the ceiling was high up—it was twice the size of a normal palace. In such a palace, even if someone were to break their neck trying to see the ceiling, they might not see it. Living in such a space, wouldn’t it make one feel smaller than they were?

Meng Fuyao squatted on the tallest roof, observing her surrounding as she guessed which place Zong Yue was locked up in. Suddenly, she spotted a small dark place where the lights flickered.

The light flickered profusely. In this palace where all lights were dimmed, that was definitely strange.

Meng Fuyao immediately flew over.

The light resembled a ghost with its greenish hue, appearing in a desolated part of the palace. Meng Fuyao silently landed in the courtyard. She realized that this place was not occupied by anyone and seemed as though there was no one, yet, guards and eunuchs were positioned around it. And in the room, there was a bit of light and quiet breathing.

‘It seems like this is the place used to lock someone up…’

Meng Fuyao flew over without hesitation, sealing the acupuncture points of the guards around it. She jumped into the courtyard like a withered leaf, gently fluttering down to the ground.

The courtyard was deadly silent. The beginning of the winter brought with it a light blanket of fog, surrounding the building. On its walls, condensation formed, causing the walls to be wet to the touch.

The night was foggy. Meng Fuyao swiftly made her way across the courtyard, and in a jiffy, she was in front of the room.

The light from just now suddenly dimmed.

Meng Fuyao heart begun to thump, and she immediately focused all her consciousness and energy on sensing what was happening around her. Unfortunately, she could not sense anything and that “danger ranger” was too sleeping soundly in her arms. Everything looked normal.

But at such a place, at such a timing, normal was the synonym of abnormal.

If it was any other careful person, they would contemplate before entering, some would even turn to leave. But for animals like Sir Meng, she never knew the word fear, nor did she understand the concept of giving up halfway. Like now, after hearing the soft breathing in the room, she would definitely not give up if she didn’t take a look herself.

She opened the door directly and walked in.

It was a normal palace, empty, surrounded by the four walls.

Meng Fuyao’s eyes scanned the place. She touched a painting on one of the walls and as expected, one of the walls begun to move.