The Unruly Immortals

An hour later, the towering imperial red walls of the palace reappeared before Li Huowang. Standing at the corner of the wall and looking up at it, he felt an oppressive sensation, like that of a looming mountain.

Li Huowang held no fond memories of this place, and now his only desire was to finish his task as quickly as possible.

Guided by a eunuch, they continued deeper into the palace. Although Li Huowang had been here once before, the labyrinth-like depths of the palace still managed to make him feel somewhat dizzy.

This time, the Golden Hall was nowhere to be seen. Li Huowang guessed that they were not headed to the core where the Emperor resided but to a peripheral complex of supporting buildings.

Speaking of the Emperor of Da Liang, Li Huowang still remembered the news he received last time from Liu Zongyuan—that the Emperor of Da Liang was dying. If that information was reliable, by now, the Emperor should have long been buried.

As Li Huowang's thoughts wandered, the guiding eunuch halted in front of a round arched gateway and said with a voice neither male nor female, "This is the place, the Grand Steward is inside."

"My dear, let me tell you, you can talk to this Grand Steward. He used to be part of the Astrological Bureau too, so he is somewhat one of us. Easy to speak with," Lian Zhibei, with the air of an experienced insider, shared this inside information with Li Huowang.

The two stepped into the round archway and Lian Zhibei, looking as though she knew the way, led Li Huowang deeper inside.

Soon, in a storage room, they found the so-called Grand Steward eunuch.

Upon learning why Li Huowang and his companion had come, the square-faced eunuch complained discontentedly in a pinched voice.

"Oh dear, what kind of work is this from the Astrological Bureau, huh? Almost three months and only now you deliver it; it's just this we were waiting for. The State Preceptor has been anxious to the point of death, leaving me to be punished along with him!"

"Eunuch Cao, you were once an elder in the Astrological Bureau, you know how difficult it is to get this thing, don't you? We really spent quite an effort to capture it, just look how fresh it is," said Lian Zhibei.

Lian Zhibei seemed very adept at dealing with eunuchs, and in just a few words, she had the eunuch, surnamed Cao, beaming with joy.

In a little while, a piece of paper stamped with a red seal was placed in Lian Zhibei's trembling hands. "Which department is this for, so that I don't waste my breath?"

Having said this, Eunuch Cao lost interest in entertaining Li Huowang and his companion further, proceeded to write something down, and then burned it in a copper basin.

Watching the ashes rise and drift out of the window, Eunuch Cao's expression instantly relaxed a great deal.

He then turned to instruct other eunuchs, using a jade dishware inlaid with agate to pack the content from the box, a spiritual abomination.

"Eunuch, You are busy, so we won't disturb you any longer." With a smile, Lian Zhibei, holding the paper, gently backed away with her derriere facing outward.

"This place doesn't provide Yangshou directly?" Li Huowang asked softly.

"Of course, of course, we should get it from the storage. Hurry, let's go. We have another trip to the storage room to make. Do you have any Silver Fragments? King Yama is easy to handle, but his little demons are troublesome. Use some Silver Fragments to tip the eunuchs in the storage."

"What a troublesome place this is!" Li Huowang couldn't help but frown.

Just as Lian Zhibei was nervously reminding Li Huowang to keep his voice down, a long, drawn-out roll call pierced through the many gates and passed by. "The Emperor arrives~!"

Upon hearing this, Lian Zhibei's face changed, and she quickly moved to the corner and knelt down dutifully, forehead pressed hard against the ground.

At that moment, Li Huowang, who truly could not resist the urge to curse, was too lazy to kneel for this new Emperor of Da Liang, and instead went next to Lian Zhibei and moved his body color to the ground, going invisible.

"The Emperor has arrived~!"

"The Emperor has arrived~!"

After hearing his name announced three times in a row, Li Huowang finally saw the true protagonist, the new Emperor of Da Liang dressed in a black robe, with a golden crown on his head, slowly approaching amidst the hustle of palace maids and eunuchs calling out before and behind him.

When Li Huowang used his excellent vision to take a clear look at the person's face, his pupils shrank instantly. He had actually seen the Emperor of Da Liang before.

The young man whom he had been with Miaomiao during the Shangsi Festival, who was tricked into buying a fake jade cat for five hundred Silver, was him!

Gradually, the Emperor's entourage came closer, and as they walked by, upon closer inspection, Li Huowang was sure that it was indeed the same person he had encountered that night.

"He's actually the new Emperor of Da Liang?!" Li Huowang truly hadn't expected that the new Emperor of Da Liang would slip out of the palace on the day of the Shangsi Festival to glimpse the maidens who had not yet left their families' protective fold.

However, on second thought, this seemed like something absurd that someone of his young age could do.

Even though Li Huowang knew this person was the Emperor of Da Liang, he had no intention of trying to gain favor. In just a few months, the throne had changed hands three times. It did not seem so easy to sit on the throne of the Emperor of Da Liang.

In his invisibility, Li Huowang watched silently, but just when he thought he was going to get through this safely, a white-haired, closed-eyed old Taoist by the Emperor's side suddenly opened his eyes and swept his gaze toward him. "Who's there!"

At that shout, the Emperor was swiftly overwhelmed by the surrounding eunuchs and palace maids. Guards, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, surrounded the spot where Li Huowang was standing.

Just as the guards were about to jab their weapons towards him, Li Huowang instantly revealed himself, holding up the Astrological Bureau waist token.

The atmosphere immediately became tense; the guards were visibly hesitant. This person didn't seem like an assassin bent on killing the Emperor, but if he belonged to the Astrological Bureau, why was he hiding here upon encountering His Majesty? They all turned their heads to look at the State Preceptor, waiting for his command.

"Who are you! And why are you here?!" A simple question made Li Huowang feel as if it were hard to breathe, hard to even move his body.

This person's strength was definitely terrifying. Ever since attaining the identity of Hong Zhong, he hadn't felt this kind of oppression in a long time.

Li Huowang looked up at the old Taoist who had spoken. He had been present during the great battle between the Astrological Bureau and the Oblivion Path, and this man was the Da Liang National Master, who had continuously cast spells with the Constellation Sword in his hand.

At that moment, Lian Zhibei quickly reacted, passing forward the papers he held in his hand to prove their innocence.

"We are only here on official duty for our department, to have startled His Majesty is a crime deserving death!!"

Once it was understood that this was a misunderstanding, everyone present let out a sigh of relief.

The Da Liang National Master, with an unsatisfied look on his face, said to an old eunuch, "How do you manage your duties! How dare you let an appointed official of the Astrological Bureau into the palace?"

Just as he was about to say more, he was interrupted by a cry of surprise, "It's you!!"

The Emperor of Da Liang walked out of the crowd happily, heading towards Li Huowang.

Of course, he was stopped before he could reach him, blocked by two old eunuchs.