Rising Phoenix

After the Crown Prince failed to capture the Imperial Palace, he was gradually forced back to his Eastern Palace. The Tian Sheng Emperor wanted to keep the fighting contained to this area, preferring to stain the Eastern Palace than allow blood to be spilled in the Zhao Hua main palace.

At the moment, the Emperor seemed very calm, and was playing Go with Feng Zhiwei in a large tent in the middle of camp. Feng Zhiwei would win one game after losing two, and the Emperor was content.

Military reports were brought in from time to time, and the Tian Sheng Emperor would read each with an indecipherable expression. His eyes were calm in the candle light, and every wrinkle on his face seemed furrowed with experienced.

Feng Zhiwei’s heart was chilled, like the clear-jade Go piece she held in her fingers.

The Imperial Family had been sucked into an abyss.

The two played Go late into the night until a galloping horse broke the tranquility of the night. A voice could be heard crying out for the Emperor, and though the Tian Sheng Emperor remained sitting and played his piece, he seemed to lose control of his strength and shook the table, causing the candle’s flame to shiver and wane.

Feng Zhiwei silently sighed, stood, and saluted. “This Minor Minister cannot compete, Your Majesty, mercy!”

The Tian Sheng Emperor smiled and swept the Go pieces together. Feng Zhiwei begged leave, but was interrupted by a sigh as she retreated to the door.” Let us hear it together.”

Her heart jumped, but she could not refuse, so she lowered her eyes and bowed. “Yes.”

Feng Zhiwei glanced upwards and saw the Emperor’s weary eyes, and suddenly she was brought back to that day when she had watched from behind the screen as the princes attacked Ning Yi. That day, the Emperor had worn the same look.

A sealed military report was presented, and the Tian Sheng Emperor broke the seal. His eyebrows shook, and he angrily slapped the table.

“Bastard!”

No one knew what kind of madness the Crown Prince had descended into, but he had brought in artillery equipment to bring down the walls of the Eastern Palace. This palace was also known as the Ming Yi Palace, and had originally been part of the Imperial ground and had been symbolically isolated by newly erected walls.

This explosion allowed him to advance in his desperation, and opened up a path into the Imperial Palace. The Crown Prince’s surviving guards and the soldiers of the Shu Wei army already knew their miserable fates, and burst forward ferociously, burning and killing as they went, even seizing the Tenth Prince and the Shao Ning Princess as hostages, howling for the Emperor to give justice.

The Emperor’s slapped knocked the candle over and it soon rolled across the table, lighting the military report on fire. In smoke, the Tian Sheng Emperor looked furious —he thought his son only had mediocre courage and would not venture anything outrageous, and had thought that Shao Ning’s close relationship with the Crown Prince might help her persuade her brother. He had intentionally left his daughter behind, but now the Crown Prince had been so enraged that he had not even spared his own little sister!

Several old ministers rushed to the tent, faces shocked at the news. No one tried to excuse the Crown Prince’s inexplicable boldness, and they could only say that man’s mind was an unpredictable thing, and that the Crown Prince had despicable men surrounding him, lamenting that the Crown Prince should be such an unreasonable disappointment after His Majesty had bestowed such favor onto him.

Feng Zhiwei watched calmly, thinking back to that scion of the Eastern Palace’s Great Secretariat, the young master Yao who had had his finger broken by Gu Nanyi. She had seen him by Ning Yi’s side several times.

The Tian Sheng Emperor raged, gradually calming down. Finally, he spoke quietly. “Mister Wei.”

It had come to this… Feng Zhiwei sighed silently, but she could not avoid the task. After being pulled so quickly from Qing Ming Academy and then summoned to accompany the Emperor in a military camp, she had hoped that the ten thousand soldiers at the Emperor’s side would mean that she was not needed, but now this surprising matter had happened.

Young Master Gu should not have revealed his hand that day, for it would not be forgotten.

A quarter of an hour later, a thousand Hu Wei soldiers stood ready to depart as Feng Zhiwei unwillingly climbed atop a horse, coaxing Gu Nanyi. “Let’s go get some alcohol.”

Young Master Gu already disliked climbing out of bed in the middle of the night, and immediately demanded, “Same as that day’s.”

“Chunyu Meng has it, I will bring you to him.” Feng Zhiwei replied.

Young Master Gu seemed pleased, and reached out a hand to grab a piece of grass, broke it in two, and handed her half as a reward.

Feng Zhiwei took a bite — bitter.

Holding the bitter grass in her lips, Feng Zhiwei bounced atop the horse as they moved out, thinking back to the Sheng Tian Emperor’s parting words. The immeasurable and ever calm Emperor had had worry in his eyes as he earnestly urged her again and again, “You must save the princess.”

She had not thought that the Tian Sheng Emperor might actually have a father’s heart for Shao Ning; perhaps in the Ning Imperial Family, there remained some last ties of kinship?

The horses rushed to the city. Dijing was on lockdown, and the Hu Wei Army was stationed at every Yamen throughout the Imperial City. This army had been the Tian Sheng Emperor’s command when he had been a mere royal relation, distantly tied to the Da Cheng Dynasty. Now, the force was led by Commander-in-Chief Xu Yuanliang and Deputy Commander Chunyu Hong, both descendants of founding ministers with illustrious contributions to the dynasty.

Smoke billowed from the West Gate, and shouting and clashing shook the skies. Ning Yi and Xu Yuan Liang had received an Imperial Edict to fight the remainders of the Crown Prince’s armies, and had the Crown Prince himself surrounded by the Tian Bo Pagoda at the Southern Palace where he was trapped with Shao Ning and the Tenth Prince.

Feng Zhiwei sat on her horse, hands tucked in her sleeves, looking over at this bloody and fiery corner of the Imperial City. The dark red glow flickered over her face and eyes, giving her face a shimmering, watery glint.

She did not have the thousand Hu Wei soldiers join the battlefield, and did not send Gu Nanyi to rescue the hostages. For now, she quietly waited.

After some time, Ning Yi rode over as she expected, silently stopping by her side.

The man and woman pair sat silently, turning to look at the bloody battle.

“Some people cannot be allowed to live.” After a long moment, Ning Yi slowly opened his mouth.

“Some people also cannot be allowed to die.” Feng Zhiwei smiled. “For instance, the hostages.”

“You can rescue Ning Ji.” Ning Yi furrowed his brows. “This is enough for His Majesty.” He stopped, and then calmly continued. “I can help you.”

Feng Zhiwei believed his words, but did not reply. This was the first time she could negotiate an exchange of favors with Ning Yi, and her heart seemed to chill.

A few words would determine the outcome of lives, and though it was natural for Ning Yi to face this without trepidation, how was she herself facing it so calmly?

The Old Emperor’s heartlessness; Prince Chu’s hidden depths, and since she herself had entered the fighting ring, her first care could only be herself.

And it turned how that she was naturally a heartless being.

“Do not disappoint me.” Ning Yi’s smile was beautiful in the dark, shifting night. “Or else you will despair.”

The smile was full of meaning, and the dark eyes above them unreadable.

Feng Zhiwei flicked her horse’s reigns.

“Don’t make push me to despair.” She returned a smile.”

“Or else I will be crazy.”

She approached, stopping at the outermost layer of the troops surrounding the Tian Bo Pagoda. The Crown Prince was putting up stiff resistance, but with the military forces Ning Yi had, it would be easy to conquer the building, but in order to spare the rats to save the dishes, Ning Yi held back, choosing to harry the Crown Prince’s forces, slowly tearing away at his heart until he showed his final madness and was driven to a final gambit. In Ning Yi’s eyes, it would be best if Shao Ning was taken along and died with him.

If she did not guess wrongly, Ning Yi had eyes and ears among the Crown Prince’s trusted followers. The man had countless hidden cards to play, and the negotiation just now had only been because he was worried she and Gu Nanyi would interfere with his plans.

If it weren’t for the fact that the Tian Bo Pagoda was open on all four sides with everything in plain view, the Crown Prince and Shao Ning would have long since been killed.