Chapter 8: Chaos

"I really don't understand. A person lives but a hundred years, even a Grandmaster is no exception. Eunuchs like you and me can no longer enjoy the pleasures of the flesh; power and strength are what we should truly crave."

"You have no talent, cannot cultivate, yet you aren't greedy for power. I truly don't understand what you're thinking..."

Zhang Gui left behind a sigh.

He was about to depart.

Su Chen did not choose to leave the Imperial Palace. He had woken up here, and he knew nothing of the world outside; where else could he go?

Zhang Gui did not know.

He was immortal.

Power and beauty were, to him, nothing more than passing clouds.

He only wanted to live a stable life.

Seeing the three green-clad eunuchs lifting the palanquin, ready to leave, Su Chen had a feeling.

By getting involved with the Black Lotus Saint, it was clear that Zhang Gui intended to participate in the conspiracy of the Black Abyss.

A Third-Rank Marrow Cleansing Realm expert.

Coupled with his status as the Deputy Superintendent of the Martial Affairs Bureau.

Holding vast financial resources and backed by the Fifth Prince, Zhang Gui was already qualified to be one of the chess players.

"Once you leave and get involved, could today be the last time we see each other?"

Su Chen stopped the palanquin.

From his sleeve, he took out that plump, verdant stalk of grass—even in the depths of winter, stripped of its roots, it still appeared full of vitality. It came from that single blade of foxtail grass.

Inside it was a strand of Su Chen’s longevity essence.

"There isn't much I can do for you."

"If you encounter a great crisis, chew this stalk. It might be more effective than any other elixir or medicine."

Su Chen spoke.

The three green-clad eunuchs heard this and looked curiously at the grass stalk, but no matter how they looked at it, it was just an ordinary stalk, perhaps a bit thicker than usual. They felt disdain in their hearts, but dared not show the slightest bit of it.

Although this Su Chen was at the very bottom and a black-clad eunuch who couldn't cultivate, he held immense weight in the Deputy Superintendent's heart. The death of the green-clad eunuch earlier was the best proof of that.

"This grass stalk..."

Zhang Gui stepped off the palanquin and walked over, personally holding the stalk to examine it. He couldn't see anything special about it; it was clearly just an ordinary object. He tucked it into his lapel with care and then smiled.

"You have a kind heart."

"Since it is a gift from you, I will keep it close..."

Then, the palanquin was lifted, and Zhang Gui gradually moved further away.

Only Su Chen, who watched him leave, and the silent Library remained.

"I hope..."

"This strand of longevity essence can save your life at a critical moment."

Su Chen sighed and turned back into the Library. The Library returned to its usual silence.

Several more days passed.

The Library remained as quiet as ever.

There were no more uninvited guests like the Seventh Prince.

Clearly, Zhang Gui had ceded some interests or made certain arrangements, ensuring that even someone as noble as a white-clad prince could no longer come to the Library to disturb Su Chen's peace.

That day, it wasn't the little black-clad eunuch who came to deliver food, but a troubled Xu Xiaohan.

Just as Xu Xiaohan was about to leave with the food box, Su Chen called out to him.

"Master Su wants to know about things outside the palace?"

Xu Xiaohan hesitated.

"Godfather doesn't want Master Su to know too much, lest you get dragged into this. This matter is huge, he..."

"Then just tell me what you can."

In the courtyard, Su Chen poked at the frozen soil, trying to loosen it as much as possible, hoping that the two main ingredients for the Heart-Devouring Powder would take root and sprout soon. As long as he could grow the rudimentary roots, he could hasten their maturity and prepare the poison.

If he could kill a Second-Rank expert with poison, he would be considered a dangerous figure, even in the Great Liang Imperial Palace.

"Yes."

Xu Xiaohan gritted his teeth and spoke.

"The night before last, Imperial Concubine Zhang was serving the old Emperor when she suddenly became delirious and fell ill overnight."

"And then."

"The court was in an uproar. The two princes who were previously at each other's throats suddenly stopped."

"Today, a First-Rank expert will enter the Imperial Palace!"

Xu Xiaohan knew very well.

He had only just stepped into the Fifth Rank. The reason he was able to surpass others and become the most trusted of Zhang Gui's confidants wasn't because he was particularly clever or talented, but because of the weight Master Su held in Zhang Gui's heart.

Zhang Gui owed Su Chen too much.

Because he had served Su Chen well, Zhang Gui loved him by extension, and he had soared to the skies, no longer the person he once was.

If Master Su wanted to know something, he couldn't refuse, for all his wealth and status were given to him by Master Su.

"So it's tonight?"

Su Chen's hand, which was loosening the soil, trembled slightly.

Perhaps.

Tonight, he would hear the good news of a change in dynasty, or the news of a prince's death.

"You may go."

Su Chen sighed and walked toward the Library with a stumbling gait.

The twenty-fourth year of Tianwu, the first day of the first lunar month.

Night.

Heavy snow fell.

In his sleep, Su Chen, who had slept in his clothes, woke up abruptly. His eyes shone like stars as he looked toward the heart of the Imperial Palace through the snowy night.

Even with the sky full of snow covering thousands of palaces, the cold snow could not mask the bloody scent in the air, nor could it extinguish the towering flames.

Boom!

A terrifying sound wave exploded in that instant.

"The Celestial Master's Mansion, First-Rank Daoist, Qingxu, requests His Majesty the Emperor to die!"

The shouts of battle shook the heavens.

This night was destined to be anything but peaceful.

In the deepest part of the palace, an old eunuch with white hair and beard, frail and with cloudy eyes, dressed in purple robes, stepped forward. In an instant, he covered a hundred zhang, rising to meet the First-Rank Daoist Qingxu.

"Father Emperor!"

"A thousand-year treasure herb appears only once in a millennium. Where did you get such good luck that a Daoist would offer you medicine?"

"To save your life, you replaced your heart with that of a First-Rank demon, becoming half-demon yourself, living only by eating human hearts every day. How can you still rule this world?"

"Hand this world back to the righteous path!"

The shouts of battle rang out thunderously.

Su Chen wrapped himself in a thick quilt and walked out of the Library.

"A thousand-year treasure herb, it only appears once in a millennium?"

Listening to the prince's shouts, which he seemed to want the entire palace to hear, Su Chen couldn't help but frown.

He subconsciously looked toward the hidden compartment.

So, thousand-year treasure herbs were that rare.

He had thought they were quite common.

After all, not only did he have a King of Thousand-Year Treasure Herbs, but he had also consumed two others previously to initiate his "Sixteen-Foot Golden Body" technique.

"None of my business."

"Even if the dynasty rises and falls, or changes hands, it has nothing to do with me."

"It's just... Zhang Gui, I hope I can still see you alive."

Su Chen sat in the courtyard, took a teapot, used chopsticks to pick up refined charcoal to boil water for tea, and waited for the end of the battle.

The snow fell heavier and heavier.

The bloody scent in the cold snow grew stronger as well.

How many people would die tonight?

Su Chen did not know.

Nor did he care.

"This tea still lacks a bit of flavor."

A figure drifted down and sat at the other end of the tea table. Without standing on ceremony, he reached out, took the teacup from Su Chen's hand, and drank the strong tea inside in one gulp.

"The Library is in a remote location, so there isn't any good tea. My apologies."

Su Chen poured himself another cup of tea.

"No matter!"

"After all, I didn't come here to drink tea."

After the figure finished speaking.

Bang!

A brilliant blade light flashed.

The opponent struck fiercely, a sword slashing toward Su Chen's head.

"Huang Jiu! The one who kills you is Huang Yi!"