In the Imperial City on a spring night, when the lamps were lit in the evening, Chi Lian was in the Lingxu Pavilion of the Zixiao Academy, sleeves rolled up, personally lighting the hundred glass lamps before the divine statue one by one.

“Grand Preceptor.”

A middle-aged man with a gaunt face and the air of an immortal hurried into the main hall. It was none other than the recently favored State Preceptor, Ye Jintan. “Jinghui sent a Daoist acolyte with a message, saying he wishes to see you.”

Chi Lian's hand was steady. As the fire starter moved from one wick to another, the flame barely flickered. Without raising his head, he said lightly, “He wants to see me—does he still think he calls the shots in the Zixiao Academy?”

Ye Jintan was initially a little uncertain, but seeing Chi Lian's attitude of not giving a damn about anyone, he inexplicably relaxed. “Alright, I'll have someone refuse him right away.”

Chi Lian said slowly, “Jinghui's luck has run out. Even if he begs before The Emperor, he won't be able to turn things around. Instead of wasting time relaying messages for him, you should go back and cultivate properly. Once you achieve your own fruition, why would you fear him making trouble?”

More than half of the Daoists in the Zixiao Academy were frauds just making up the numbers, which was how a half-baked person like Jinghui could muddle his way into the position of Grand Preceptor. Ye Jintan's aptitude was far better than his, but just because he was a being transformed from a plant, he had been cruelly suppressed by Jinghui for over a decade, forced to do all the hard work for another's benefit.

“The State Preceptor's teachings are correct.” Ye Jintan was no longer anxious. He watched Chi Lian light the lamps and recalled a rumor he'd heard after the palace banquet two days ago. He couldn't restrain his curiosity. “Senior, why do you dislike Jinghui? Is it because he has no real ability?”

“Of course not.”

Chi Lian lit the last lamp, extinguished the fire starter with a flick of his hand, and placed his palms together, bowing to the divine statue surrounded by the bright lamps. While tidying his sleeves, he answered, “His incompetence doesn't affect me.”

“Then it's because…?”

With a hint of a smile, Chi Lian made a hushing gesture and said, “I'm afraid even Jinghui himself hasn't figured it out yet. When he does, it won't be too late to talk about it.”

Night fell.

The Hanfeng Palace was patrolled day and night by the Imperial Guard. Twenty eunuchs and palace maids took turns on night duty inside and outside the palace, where bright lamps shone, never extinguished throughout the night. Deep within the layers of curtains and among the carved beams and painted rafters, the master of the Imperial City was sleeping soundly—no consort was attending him tonight. Sparse white hair was scattered on the bright yellow pillow. Stripped of his magnificent robes and crown, the supreme ruler of the world was merely an old man past fifty.

An ominous wind of unknown origin swept through the hall, extinguishing the flames on the candlesticks. The chill of the spring night suddenly became bone-piercing. Outside the hall, the Imperial Guard were at their drowsiest, and most of the palace attendants in the duty room also had hazy eyes. The subtle change in the surrounding temperature and the faint fishy smell of water rising in the air all slipped by under their very noses, transforming into a bizarrely long black shadow that slithered up the coiling dragon pillar to the roof beams.

Emperor Qiansheng was growing old; his vitality was far from what it used to be. He slept lightly at night and was easily startled awake. In a drowsy dream, he felt a cold presence and subconsciously opened his blurry, presbyopic eyes. In the indistinct dimness, two pearl-like yellow lights lit up.

Emperor Qiansheng suspected he was still dreaming and muttered, “Light the lamps.”

There was no answer from outside the canopy, only a very faint 'shh, shh' sound. The two yellow lights seemed to be alive, roaming in mid-air, gradually approaching his bed. Emperor Qiansheng was still muddled at first, but now he gradually sensed something was wrong. He wanted to sit up, but his body wouldn't move. He could only lie stiffly in bed, staring blankly as the two points of light came before him.

All the candles in the hall were extinguished, and it was eerily quiet all around. Anxious, Emperor Qiansheng broke out in a sweat on his forehead. Alarms blared in his mind, yet he subconsciously held his breath, trying to hide himself in the darkness.

The yellow lights moved to a position above his bed, close enough for him to touch if he raised a hand. Emperor Qiansheng feigned sleep, mustered his courage, and lifted his eyelid just a crack, intending to see what was so strange about this thing.

Even at this moment, he felt no particularly urgent sense of fear, still muddle-headedly believing he was in a dream.

Suddenly, a flash of lightning, like a crack in the heavens, streaked across the long night. The snow-bright light pierced through the window, instantly illuminating the entire palace. The two yellow lights flinched back as if startled, and at that very moment, Emperor Qiansheng opened one eye—

A giant, bluish-black snake was coiled around the roof beam. Its body was thicker than the load-bearing pillars in the hall, almost filling the entire ceiling. Its blue-gray scales reflected a blade-like glint. A pair of bestial, yellow vertical pupils stared coldly at him, and its fang-filled, dragon-like mouth and sharp claws hung right above his bed canopy.

Emperor Qiansheng felt a chill rise from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head. For a moment, he even forgot to breathe, his withered fingers unknowingly tearing a hole in the bright yellow silk.

The instant the lightning vanished, a rolling, muffled thunder boomed from above, shaking the roof tiles and causing the entire palace to tremble.

The thunderclap startled Emperor Qiansheng so much he almost jumped. The vivid, terrifying scene from moments ago was still seared into his vision. However, as the thunder faded, he held his breath for a long time, but the behemoth remained motionless. The roof beam returned to darkness, and the pair of yellow snake eyes seemed to have never existed in the first place.

“Guards…”

The Emperor began to tremble. Straining his old, decaying voice, he shouted sternly towards the outside of the hall, “Guards!!”

“Summon the Grand Preceptor… Go, go bring Chi Lian to Us!!”

Eastern Palace.

The new candles from dusk had already burned more than halfway. The Crown Prince, Wei Ye, had just finished discussing official matters with his subordinates in the Eastern Palace and had personally risen to see his guests to the door. Suddenly, a great clap of thunder sounded. Everyone looked up to see that in the vast night, dark clouds obscured the moon. In an instant, a snow-white flash of lightning brightly lit the courtyard. Under a nearby tree, a giant snake as thick as a pillar was coiled, rearing up to face the people at the hall entrance.

“What is that!”

the Crown Prince's legs went soft with fright, and he nearly fell to the ground. He was barely caught by the officials beside him, stumbling back onto his subordinates as he cried out, “Th-this is…”

However, in the blink of an eye, the lightning faded, and the giant snake vanished into the darkness. Someone immediately ran back into the hall to fetch a lamp, but when light was brought again, the courtyard was completely empty.

the Crown Prince gasped for several breaths, his heart pounding wildly. Unable to keep his footing, he plopped down on the threshold. A few of his trusted advisors exchanged bewildered glances, then suddenly knelt down in unison.

“What's wrong?” the Crown Prince asked blankly. “What are you all doing?”

“Your Highness!” An old official's beard trembled like a candle flame in the wind, his eyes bursting with an indescribable, fervent light. He lowered his voice and exclaimed, “A true dragon has appeared! This is an auspicious omen!”

East Yongxing Ward of the Imperial City, Prince Kang's Manor.

The Second Prince, Wei Shi, woke up in his concubine's bed, feeling a draft inside the bed canopy and suspecting the window wasn't closed properly. He groggily pushed at the person beside him, but his hand touched something cold and slippery that seemed to be trembling slightly, as if he had accidentally touched a live fish.

He opened his eyes in horror to find he was clutching a scaly tail, and the owner of the tail was coiled before his bed, opening its giant mouth at him—

“Ah—a ghost!!”

Jianning Ward, Prince Ning's Manor.

The Sixth Prince, Wei Ying, had gotten blind drunk in the evening and was woken up by a powerful thirst in the middle of the night. There was no water by the bed, and no one answered his calls. He had no choice but to endure his headache and get out of bed. Just as he was cursing and about to walk out, he was suddenly tripped by something.

It was a hard fall. Wei Ying was dizzy and almost threw up. He managed to turn over from his stomach to his back. Before he could fully adjust to the pain, he saw the “culprit” that had tripped him by the dim candlelight from the bedside.

The giant snake hissed, its forked, scarlet tongue flickering mere millimeters from the tip of his nose. Before Wei Ying could even scream, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted without a sound.

Yanshou Ward, Prince Duan's Manor.

The night was deep and quiet. Distant thunder rumbled from beyond the heavens, and thick clouds gathered. A heavy, fishy smell of water gradually permeated the oppressive air. A moment later, an ominous wind rose, rustling the flowers and trees in the courtyard. The surface of the pond rippled, layer upon layer, like fine scales.

The giant snake's massive body lingered on the roof of the Prince's Manor's main building. Its ugly, bluish-black head extended from above the eaves, silently and nimbly reaching toward the central courtyard. Its forked tongue flicked in and out, about to touch the locked door—

Boom!

A stream of golden-red light shot into the sky, like a cloud-piercing arrow breaking through the endless night. It illuminated the giant snake's bluish-black figure on the roof. The golden light swept outward with the force of an avalanche, instantly sending the snake's head and an entire section of roof tiles flying.

The sleeping Wei Ming was abruptly startled awake. The moment he opened his eyes, the courtyard was as bright as day. He saw a black shadow flash across the window paper, followed by a clattering racket on the roof. 'Is it raining heavily outside?' he thought. 'But the sound of the rain is a bit too loud, it sounds more like hail.'

He sat up, wrapped in his quilt, for a moment, shaking off the heavy sleepiness. He finally decided to go out and investigate. He draped a robe over his shoulders, got out of bed, and had just put on his shoes when he heard stumbling footsteps and shouts approaching from afar. The servant on night watch practically collapsed at his door, shouting in alarm, “Prince! Prince, it's bad! There's a demon!”

With a “creak,” the door opened. The servant, whose legs had gone soft with fear, lost his support and pitched forward into the room, but he did not hit the ground hard. It was as if a gentle force had softly caught him. In his terror, he looked up in confusion, only managing to see the light hem of a spring robe flutter by. The departing footsteps were as calm and steady as the voice, “I know. Go back to your post. Tell them not to panic and not to run around.”

The giant snake was sent flying more than thirty feet away. For a moment, it was dazed by the incomparably powerful golden light, but then it furiously counterattacked its origin. However, the golden light was even more relentless. After circling half a turn in the sky, it changed direction as if it had eyes, elongated by three feet out of thin air, transformed into a giant sword glinting with cold light, and cleaved through the air, clang, pinning the snake from mid-air directly into the manor's rear courtyard!

The bluish-black snake body thrashed and struggled frantically, its basin-sized mouth wide open. Although it couldn't make a sound, it was clearly in extreme pain and fury. When Wei Ming hurried over, he arrived just in time to witness this astonishing scene. He was stunned for a moment, then saw the giant snake's body rapidly shrink and quickly transform into a cloud of black mist, fleeing for its life.

The fierce wind in the inner courtyard gradually subsided.

The sword stuck in the ground retracted its sharp edge, transforming into a streak of golden light that flew toward the center of the lotus pond, landing in the hand of a person standing distantly on the water's surface.

Through the indistinct night mist and water vapor, Wei Ming could only see the person's slender, tall back. He calmly sheathed his sword, and seeming to have noticed the person on the bank, he began to walk this way.

Wei Ming was at a loss for words. “You…”

Chi Lian wasn't wearing his Daoist robes tonight. Because he had come in such a hurry, he only had a black robe loosely draped over his white shirt, but it looked even better on him. It perfectly complemented his half-black, half-silver long hair, making him look like a celestial immortal treading on moonlight.

“Greetings, Your Highness.” He bowed to Wei Ming in salute. “I have alarmed you late at night. I beg Your Highness's forgiveness.”

Author's Note:

And there we have it, the hero saving the damsel~