Chapter 47

At the mention of the God of Glory, the Earth Immortal's eyes went wide. Who in this world had more believers than the God of Wealth?

In the heavens, the Gods of War had always held higher status, for their magical power was great. These were not prosperous times—the world was in chaos, wars raging everywhere—and so the standing of the Gods of War naturally rose with the tide.

The God of Glory was not a God of War, but whether in magic power or prestige, he surpassed the Gods of War of the Nine Heavens by a wide margin.

What's more, the Earth Immortal had long heard that the God of Glory had a mortal wife.

He studied Lin Yu's features, and his heart beat faster and faster. A powerful divine aura lingered around her, almost enveloping him. Surely she must be the God of Glory's wife!

If only he could curry favor with this woman, getting close to the God of Glory would be within reach!

The Earth Immortal's eyes lit up, and a fawning smile crept onto his face. Seeing that Lin Yu was about to leave, he nearly rushed forward to help her along, eager to leave a good impression.

Lin Yu glanced back with a faint smile. "Then I'll trouble you, Elder Earth Immortal, to pass along this believer's regards to the God of Glory. I hope he…"

She emphasized her words, "I hope he watches over this believer's journey without mishap."

That tone—anyone familiar with Lin Yu, like Zhang Yulin, would have caught the gritted teeth beneath it, and a hint of… inexplicable excitement?

But the Earth Immortal understood nothing. He took it as Lin Yu deliberately reminding him, which only further confirmed her connection to the God of Glory!

At that thought, the Earth Immortal began to regret his earlier behavior. Such a big fish, and he hadn't even been courteous at first—he'd frightened her when killing the living souls. She wouldn't go and tattle on him, would she?

The Earth Immortal suddenly wanted to slap himself twice. Damn it all!

After sending Lin Yu off with a beaming smile, he returned to the towering statue. He looked up at the great image—the god sat cross-legged, smiling amiably like a Maitreya Buddha, one hand stroking the beard at his temple, the very picture of a kindly old man.

That old man had nothing to do with the red-robed youth standing before the statue. The youth looked at it silently for a long while. Then, as if remembering something pleasant, the corners of his mouth curled up, and he burst into laughter he couldn't hold back.

"Didn't see this coming, did you? Soon—very soon—I'll have my roots in the Nine Heavens, and you'll be left to rot underground."

"I always said I was more fit for this seat than you."

...

By the time Lin Yu returned to the Heaven's Mandate Tower, it was already the hour of the tiger, and the sky was black with not a sliver of light—like a thick fog pressed down over Cang Mountain.

The front of the tower was silent as death. The towering stone steps cascading down from the Heavenly Gate radiated a bone-chilling cold, so Lin Yu took a small path beside the stairs and made her way up the mountain.

Several gatekeeping disciples were fast asleep below the Heavenly Gate. Lin Yu didn't disturb them and passed straight through. When she reached the terrace halfway up the mountain, she finally saw flecks of light, and the murmur of voices grew louder.

Lin Yu looked down. The noise came from the mountainside below her—many disciples had gathered to release sky lanterns. Her spot was a full story above them, so she could see clearly.

Dots of light rested in the hands of the disciples, all wrapped in pure white winter coats, then gradually rose into the air and drifted off into the dark, misty night.

Lin Yu paused behind the crowd and watched them laugh as they released their lanterns. Amid the swaying light and shadow, she spotted a familiar figure in the distance.

He stood tall and straight on a few stone steps above, dressed in ink-black casual robes. The fine dark-gold patterns on his clothing caught the lantern light and glimmered faintly, bathing him in a thin layer of pale gold. His silhouette in the darkness was hard to make out.

Lin Yu called out softly, "Your Majesty?"

At the sound, Fu Ming was startled for a moment, then turned to look at Lin Yu. Only then did she notice that tonight, Fu Ming hadn't bound his hair.

On ordinary days, Fu Ming always gathered his hair with a crown, looking meticulous and upright, exuding an unspoken authority—so much so that Lin Yu often forgot his age.

But tonight, his long black hair spilled over his shoulders and down his back, lending him a boyish air.

Lin Yu was a little surprised. "Why are you here?"

Fu Ming's voice was clear and crisp, reaching her ears like rain-washed pine and bamboo. He answered succinctly, "Today is the anniversary festival."

Lin Yu had never been sensitive to festivals and holidays; she often only remembered them long after the day had passed.

The anniversary festival fell seven days before New Year's Eve. It counted as the Little New Year, and also marked the start of the coming year, so people placed great importance on it.

On this day, people had to rise before dawn to release sky lanterns, offering sacrifices to the gods of heaven and their ancestors. At noon, they had to go pay respects to the local Earth God, presenting their wishes for the coming year. By night, they released river lanterns to honor their forebears and seek blessings from their spirits.

Lin Yu had initially wondered why so many people were releasing lanterns in the dead of night. Now she understood.

Temple of Ten Thousand Gods Mountain sat right behind the Heaven's Mandate Tower—the two peaks were close together—and the Grand Empress Dowager's memorial hall was built within that temple. So Lin Yu asked, "Were you just paying respects to the late emperor and empress, Your Majesty?"

In the eyes of the world, after the deaths of the Grand Emperor and Grand Empress Dowager of the Yu Kingdom, the two had ascended to become the God of War and the Wind God in heaven. But only Fu Ming and Lin Yu knew that the two had not shone as brilliantly as the people believed. Instead, they had fallen and been buried long ago.

Fu Ming didn't know what had happened back then, but in his eyes, they were simply his father and mother—not any God of War or Wind God. That was why he'd built a memorial hall for them and visited often.

Fu Ming nodded to Lin Yu. "Yes." He was about to say more when he caught sight of something bright red in Lin Yu's hand. He instinctively looked at the prayer charm.

Fu Ming lifted his gaze to Lin Yu's nose, red from the cold. "You went to the Earth Immortal Temple?"

Lin Yu touched the tip of her nose. "Mm—went to… pray."

She deliberately steered past the topic. The Earth Immortal Temple was tied to Prince Dai's death, and to the cruel practice of harming infants to reverse fate. Lin Yu hadn't gotten to the bottom of it yet, so she had no intention of telling Fu Ming.

"Pray?" Fu Ming said skeptically, because he knew well that Lin Yu had never believed in gods and would never go begging for a prayer charm in the middle of the night.

Lin Yu had spoken too quickly and realized the slip. But the words were already out… She coughed awkwardly.

Her gaze fell on the hair resting on Fu Ming's shoulder, and a new excuse came to her in an instant. "Zhou Yuan believes in the Earth Immortal. Today is the anniversary festival—by custom, she should have gone to pay respects to the Earth God, but she's in the prison and can't come out. So I went to ask for a prayer on her behalf."

That way, the topic shifted neatly onto Zhou Yuan.

Fu Zheng had died horribly, corrupted by evil. With such a scandal in the royal family, Zhou Yuan—as a witness and as Prince Dai's consort—was the perfect scapegoat to cover it up. Everyone wanted to pin it on her and close the case. Zhou Yuan would inevitably be buried with the dead.

So Lin Yu was very curious how Fu Ming would handle Zhou Yuan. His decision would determine whether the Immortal Venerable would insist on taking Zhou Yuan as bone fodder, and whether Lin Yu could save her.

But Fu Ming's focus was, as always, somewhere else entirely. He stepped forward, closing the distance until the two of them were nearly touching from a distance, and parted his thin lips. "Since when did you two get so close?"

The hour of the tiger was the coldest time of day. The damp chill seemed to seep into the marrow, and a cold wind howled around the mountaintop.

In Fu Ming's eyes, only a deep bond could make someone who didn't believe in gods or spirits brave the freezing wind in the dead of night, trek out to the outskirts of town for nothing more than a useless prayer charm.

Lin Yu: "Ah?"

Lin Yu: …Is that really the point here?

She forced a smile and tried to steer the conversation back on track. "Your Majesty… has the prince's case been investigated?"

Fu Ming's tone remained unchanged, still that indifferent expression he wore for everything. "It can't be solved."

A prince who coveted immortality, who'd walked down a dark path to get it, dying so miserably at such a young age, leaving behind a corpse neither human nor ghost—even if the truth were found, it had to be declared unsolvable.

"That brother of mine was frail and sickly since childhood. Tomorrow, I'll announce that he died of illness."

Lin Yu looked at Fu Ming, still uncertain. "Just like that? Then what about Zhou Yuan?"

Lin Yu had always thought Fu Ming was easy to deal with. But the dead man was Fu Zheng—she'd assumed no one would want to investigate, that no one cared whether Zhou Yuan was innocent, and that Fu Ming wouldn't just let her off easily either.

That was why she'd rushed around all night for Zhou Yuan, traced her way to the Earth Immortal Temple, found the long-life fruit—only for Fu Ming to wave off Fu Zheng's death without a second thought.

Fu Ming looked at Lin Yu. "You don't want her dead."

Lin Yu was briefly stunned, then let out a soft "Ah?"

"Then she won't die."

Lin Yu's heart skipped a beat. A smile curved onto her lips, and she instinctively leaned a little closer to Fu Ming. "Your Majesty is generous!"

"You're the wisest emperor I've ever met—truly perceptive, leading by example, never wronging the innocent! So, can Zhou Yuan be released from prison tomorrow?"

Fu Ming: …

Lin Yu looked at him expectantly. For no apparent reason, Fu Ming let out a soft laugh. After a long pause, he said, "On my way down the mountain, I met the Xianzun. He seems to intend for her to enter the Heaven's Mandate Tower."

Fu Ming's words struck Lin Yu's mind like a thunderbolt. The smile froze on her face. Well, then—out of the tiger's den, straight into the dragon's lair.

"She doesn't want to enter the Heaven's Mandate Tower."

Fu Ming frowned slightly. "Why?"

If Zhou Yuan were released from prison, where could she go with her identity? Living in obscurity in the Heaven's Mandate Tower alongside Lin Yu would be perfect. Why wouldn't she want to?

Lin Yu was just about to speak when, for some reason, she felt a strange sense of being watched. She looked ahead—the white-robed disciples hadn't noticed them in the shadows. They were playfully gathered at the foot of the mountain.

A chill wind swept past, rattling the branches with a series of crackling sounds, making the light and shadow sway and tangle. The stone steps where Lin Yu stood were a bit higher than where the disciples were. From her angle, the bamboo grove almost wrapped around the clearing below.

The crowd at play shivered and gritted their teeth against the cold gust.

"How many lanterns are left? Bring them all out and release them. Once they're gone, we head back!"

"Fine, come grab them yourselves. A few dozen left."

"Wait, I need to write something on mine first—don't crowd me!"

Noticing Lin Yu suddenly grow wary, Fu Ming followed her gaze. "What's wrong?"

Lin Yu frowned. "It feels like there's someone."

She felt something strange in the air around her—an unfamiliar, dangerous aura. Her eyes swept over the disciples on the flat ground and the bamboo grove around them. "Someone's sneaked in."

Just then, a fresh batch of sky lanterns rose into the ink-black sky, twinkling like stars in the darkness.

Fu Ming instinctively rested his hand on the hilt of his sword, but there was no one else around. Only the rustling of bamboo leaves could be heard.

The two exchanged a look, confused, when suddenly—one swaying sky lantern plummeted toward the ground and fell into the bamboo grove! Then another, and another, and another!

Countless sky lanterns, faster than the eye could follow, all fell into the grove at once. The stars of light came crashing down. Bamboo was highly flammable, and the grove surrounding the clearing caught fire instantly, forming a ring of flames!

A gust of wind blew, and the wildfire stretched to the heavens.

"Fire! Run!"