Passing through the entire wedding scene.

Ye Que and Ye Zhengru stared at each other.

Ye Que caught Ye Zhengru’s gaze earnestly. Reflected in his eyes were a sense of inquiry, curiosity, bewilderment, and even hatred. Even after dominating the Three Realms in his previous life, one regret remained in him: he never managed to meet Ye Zhengru. It was also his heartache.

Ye Que’s eyeballs remained motionless. Ever since he started looking at the old man, it felt as if his gaze had become frozen.

On the other hand, the faraway Ye Zhengru didn’t harbor many thoughts. In Luoyang City, even in the entire glorious Tang Empire, there were countless people who admired him or even considered him their target. He had gotten used to this kind of gaze a long time ago.

His gaze was no longer as sharp as it had been in the past—in fact, his eyesight had worsened.

Even so, it took him one glance for a faint voice to tell him that the youngster wasn’t a spy for the Demon Race, definitely not.

Two intense coughs later, Ye Zhengru looked away from Ye Que. “You accuse him of being a spy for the Demon Race. Do you have any proof?”

Ye Yunhai looked at Lin Shan. “Esteemed Father-in-law.”

“He admitted it himself!” Lin Shan pointed to Ye Que.

“He admitted it himself?” Ye Zhengru coughed again. “There are people who would admit to being a spy for the Demon Race? Would that make them mad or foolish? Or perhaps suicidal?”

“You people must think I’ve become unable to distinguish right from wrong because of my age.” Ye Zhengru’s voice suddenly became severe. “I don’t care if he’s a spy for the Demon Race now. That’s for the Judicature to decide. What I’m concerned about is the demonic beasts outside the city.”

“Did you people not think about this possibility? Their siege is outside the city today, but what if they surround our city tomorrow?”

“How should we deal with that?”

“We can only put our lives on the line and go all out in slaying demons and ridding of devils.”

“Have I not make myself clear? What are you people still doing, standing around like fools?” Ye Zhengru once again slammed his steel on the ground with all his strength, making a resounding sound.

In an instant.

Chaos swept everyone in the General’s Manor. The guests who were still around stood up from their seats in the banquet in a panic and walked toward the door helplessly. Ye Yunhai was no longer standing in the frontal part of the banquet. With a grim face, he also walked toward the door without saying a word. One of the imperial guards had run off to bring him his horse.

“Husband, is this proper? There are so many great generals in the court, why do you insist on Yunhai going? Today is our Yunhai’s wedding, after all,” Xiao Huating said softly. She was supporting Ye Zhengru by holding onto his arm.

“The Ye family doesn’t nurture flowers in the greenhouse. He can only be successful if he can survive tempering and beatings.”

Ye Zhengru then turned around and slowly walked to Lin Mei’er, who had been standing on the sidelines in a daze all along. He reached out and gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder. “Girl, you’re called Mei’er, yes? We’ve wronged you today. However, seeing as you’ve walked past that door today, you’re a member of the family now. You must be prepared yourself for this truth: the men of the Ye family don’t belong to their families. Their lives belong to the nation and His Highness.”

Following the crowd, Ye Que and Qian Shuxiao swiftly made their way out of the General’s Manor.

However, before they could go far, Ye Que stopped in his tracks. “Go home without me. I have something to do.”

He didn’t wait for Qian Shuxiao’s reply. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared out of sight.

15 minutes later, the middle gate of the West Gate of the Luoyang City opened wide. A whopping five thousand valiant mounted soldiers stormed out the gate with their pikes pointed at the Extinctive Sword Manor House. The leader of these soldiers was the mounted military officer of the capital, Ye Yunhai.

The five thousand valiant mounted soldiers had just moved on when a little monk who looked about eight or nine entered Luoyang through the same West Gate.

The little monk was dressed in a pale green kasaya. He had thick eyebrows, large ears, and a vibrant gaze. He looked no more than eight or nine years old and yet he walked like an old man. With his hands clasped behind his back and his head raised, he resembled a monk who had obtained the Truth. It made him look completely adorable. If those noble young ladies caught sight of him, they would likely run over, give him hugs, and plant a big kiss on his shaved head.

It seemed to be the little monk’s first time in Luoyang. He exclaimed inwardly at his surroundings as he walked and even ended up muttering of himself. His voice was too small, however, making it difficult for others to hear him.

After walking past an intersection, a horse-drawn carriage abruptly sped past him. Perhaps the little monk was simply too small in stature but the carriage driver failed to see him. The carriage whizzed past and was so close to knocking him down.

It was too late for the carriage driver to change the path of the horses by then. He had no choice but to pull on the reins as hard as he could.

The horses raised their legs high up in the air before planting them on the ground with force.

Oddly, the bloody scene that the others were expecting didn’t happen. The little monk, who had been walking at a constant speed, had crossed the intersection safely. He was like air or water. Perhaps, he didn’t exist within the same time and space as the horse-drawn carriage. Or perhaps, there was something wrong with everyone’s vision?

The scene was so strange and unfathomable yet had an odd sense of harmony to it.

A green bird who had flown from the end of the street happened to witness this scene and uttered two loud caws.

Moments later, when the little monk was walking down the street, the ground under him shook without warning. The stall vendors on the street turned to look at the far end of the street in surprise. “Ye Yunhai has just led five thousand soldiers past this street. How long has it been since then? Why is there commotion again?”

At the far end of the street, a large troop of imperial guards, cavalries, white horses, white-armored soldiers, white feathers, and white robes, trod on dirty grounds from the direction of the Imperial City to this place. Foreigners might be unaware but it was impossible for locals not to recognize them. This was obviously the Emperor’s Imperial Army of Guards!

The troop consisted of 320 men.

The battalion arrived majestically. The sounds of their footsteps ended in unison as the soldiers unmounted their horses uniformly. The commander leading the Imperial Army of Guards knelt on one knee with great deference.” Wan Youchang, the battalion commander of the Emperor’s Imperial Army of Guards, pays respect to Immortality Master Zhai Xingzi.”

“His Highness requests your presence.”

As chill waters of the night enveloped the palace steps, she sat down to watch the Herdsman and Weaver Maid (T/N: an excerpt from the poem “Autumn Evening” by Du Mu).

On the seventh day of the seventh month, what caused the biggest commotion and what most widely talked about among the inhabitants of Luoyang City was marriage. However, what everyone talked about this year wasn’t whose family’s daughter fell in love with some penniless scholar or which family’s son had a crush on a brothel entertainer. Rather, it was about a wedding that should have been grand and majestic.

The Second Young Master of the General’s Manor, Ye Yunhai, was turned into a laughing stock overnight. The bride married into the family without even kneeling to heaven and earth. The groom hadn’t returned home since then.

It was said that he was still battling the demonic beasts at the Extinctive Sword Manor House outside the city until now. Whether he was dead or alive remained uncertain. Meanwhile, his father, Old General Ye Zhengru, was lying on the wooden platform with tightly knitted eyebrows and a frail expression.

Ever since Ye Zhengru fell gravely ill, his wife Xiao Huating came here less and less often. Sometimes, she wouldn’t come here even once for the whole day. It seemed like she always had something to do at any given time and busier than even the court officials.

“Cough, cough. Cough, cough.” Ye Zhengru abruptly woke up after a violent fit of coughing.

The old steward, that had been standing by the bed all along, immediately walked up to him. “Sir, are you alright?”

“Not enough to die.” Ye Zhengru propped up his body with great difficulty and leaned against the bedframe. He first calmed down his breathing before opening his eyes to look at the old steward. “Has the problem with the demonic beasts outside the city been solved?”

“News has just come that they’re at the completion stage. There shouldn’t be any twists,” the old steward answered softly. After thinking about it, he added, “Young Master Yunhai is there as well. I heard he’s active on the frontlines and has killed quite a few demonic beasts.”

“He’s a mounted military officer of the Ye family army. That’s his responsibility.”

For a moment, the room was completely silent.

Moments later, the old steward suddenly said, “Sir, there’s something else. I don’t know if I should tell you.”

Ye Zhengru raised his head to glance at the old steward. “Speak.”

“After the wedding today ended, someone gave me an item and told me to pass it to you no matter what. I recognize the item. I didn’t want to add to your sorrow; I can just keep quiet about it. But after thinking about it, I thought that I should hand it to you, Sir.”

“What is it?” Ye Zhengru asked, confused.

“It’s a jade pendant.”

“The person said it’s his mother’s relic. Before his mother died, she told him to hand the item to you.”

“What’s the person’s name?”

“Ye Que. His mother is called Tang Wanru.”