Chapter 71.2 Waver

*****

Nian Muning worriedly asked, “Baiyu, how’s His Majesty?”

Nian Baiyu shook his head with a heavy expression.

“When he returned this morning, he vomited a mouthful of blood and hasn’t woken up yet. The imperial physician said that his heart meridian is damaged and he won’t live past this winter.”

Nian Muning staggered back, “How could this happen? It’s all my fault, if I had watched over Third Miss Ye properly, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Nian Baiyu supported her, “It’s useless to say more. Perhaps His Majesty might have a solution when he wakes up.”

Since a long time ago, someone had claimed that Tantai Jin wouldn’t live past the age of sixteen, but over the years, at an unknown cost, he’d lived well to this day.

If so, there might be ways to change his fate.

Nian Baiyu didn’t tell his sister about the scene with His Majesty this morning, and he still had mixed feelings when he recalled it.

There had been blood at the corner of His Majesty’s mouth, his eyes were hollow and wooden, but his dark pupils were filled with monstrous resentment.

A dark mark appeared on his chest.

He pressed firmly on his heart and returned to Chengqian Hall as if fleeing, then vomited a mouthful of blood before passing out.

The Zhou Kingdom had a rainy summer.

The afternoon drizzle didn’t look like it would stop any time soon, and Madame Zhaohua came to visit Tantai Jin. Nian Baiyu was like a shadow in the dark, silently following Ye Bing Shang.

Ye Bing Shang said, “Lord Nian, I want to speak to His Majesty alone.”

Nian Baiyu shook his head slightly, his gaze fixed ¹ 目不斜视 (mùbùxiéshì) – not to glance sideways (idiom); refused to be distracted; to be fully concentrated; focused on the ground.

Ye Bing Shang had no choice but to let the Night Shadow Guards keep an eye on her. She took out her handkerchief to wipe Tantai Jin’s sweat.

Beside him, she saw the cracked heart protecting scale.

Her expression changed and she hurriedly picked it up.

Sure enough, the originally silver heart protecting scale was densely veined with golden lines. She tried to feel it and found that it was unresponsive.

In an instant, Ye Bing Shang’s expression turned extremely bad as she realized an irreversible fact, the heart protecting scale has shattered!

What actually happened to Tantai Jin’s body!

How could the Hidden Dragon Guards actually break the heart protecting scale?

Her expression changed several times, and she was so distressed that she gasped. However, under the stare of Nian Baiyu and the others, she could only force herself to regain her composure. The wood was already made into a boat ² 木已成舟 (mùyǐchéngzhōu) – fig. what is done cannot be undone , even if she had regrets, there was nothing she could do.

The heart protecting scale had shattered in exchange for the threat of Su Su being removed.

Now, to Tantai Jin, Su Su was a traitor that had the Hidden Dragon Guards in hand. She herself was a mortal, so she couldn’t use the heart protecting scale to its fullest potential even if she had it, and it would also attract demonic creatures.

The current situation wasn’t too bad.

After persuading herself, Ye Bing Shang wanted to tuck in Tantai Jin’s quilt for him, but her hand was blocked by a sword.

“Madame should return after visiting His Majesty,” Nian Baiyu said.

Embarrassment flashed across Ye Bing Shang’s face, and she nodded with a smile.

Tantai Jin woke up in the afternoon of the second day. He’d also realized that his body wasn’t well, and he called out the old Daoist in the Soul Eating Flag.

“These things inside my heart, can you get them out?”

The old Daoist tried for a while, then shook his head, “Your Majesty, forgive this poor Daoist for being incompetent and powerless. I’ve never seen such an evil thing before. It seemed to be embedded in Your Majesty’s heart and cannot be taken out.”

With this knowledge, he touched his hand to his chest, his expression cold.

Just when the old Daoist thought he would get angry, he curled up his lips indifferently and said, “Then leave it.”

It’s just pain anyway.

It just hurts a little more.

“Find more monsters for me, if you encounter immortal cultivators, capture them too.”

The old Daoist priest hurriedly agreed, understanding that Tantai Jin wanted to rely on the monsters’ inner cores to prolong his lifespan. Back then, with his lifespan, he needed to kill a demon a year, but now, he was afraid that he’d have to gouge out demonic creatures’ inner cores monthly to make up for the lifespan that he’d lost.

Nian Baiyu was about to take the Soul Eating Flag and leave when Tantai Jin coldly said, “Let Ye Chufeng go.”

“Your Majesty?”

Tantai Jin said, “Ye Chufeng has half of the fox demon’s inner core on him, he’s more useful in catching great demons than all of you.”

Nian Baiyu and the old Daoist looked at each other, their eyes filled with disbelief.

Ye Chufeng actually has half of the fox demon, Pian Ran’s, inner core in his body?

It was no wonder that His Majesty had wanted to keep this person to serve him. Nian Baiyu nodded and took the Soul Eating Flag to find Ye Chufeng.

Tantai Jin was silent, his face pale and cold.

Nian Muning remained in the hall, looking at the ground with her head down, and she felt a little uncomfortable inside. A few days ago, His Majesty, who was preparing for the enthronement and empress conferring ceremony, had a bright glow in his eyes, but now, there was nothing left in his gaze.

She thought that His Majesty would ask about news of the young girl in the Secret Chamber of Chaos, but unexpectedly he just coldly turned away, not caring about anything.

It seemed like, even if that person was dead, it had nothing to do with him at all.

Nian Muning waited until dusk, but His Majesty still didn’t ask about her.

She could only hesitantly whisper, “Your Majesty, she’s sick. She’s only drunk some rainwater since yesterday.”

The youth opened his eyes and looked at the silver patterns on the dragon bed ³ emperor’s bed , then laughed in a low voice, “Send someone to check on her. Don’t let her die, she doesn’t deserve to die so easily.”

“Yes,” Nian Muning said.

*****

Su Su was sick for a long time.

She couldn’t wield the power of the World Toppling Flower, and she had become completely mortal. She’d lost her connection with Curved Jade and the assistance of magical skills and techniques. She was muddled and couldn’t distinguish between day and night.

At a fixed time, a maidservant would come in to clean her body and feed her medicine.

The spoon was handed over to her and she swallowed unconsciously.

Her tenacious willpower made her try hard to survive, but the backlash of the World Toppling Flower caused her body to start worsening.

She couldn’t eat, and her stomach ached with emptiness.

The maidservant thought she didn’t want to eat and coldly glanced at her, “Still think you’re the future empress? That you can get His Majesty’s pity if you don’t eat? I advise you to save it. His Majesty said that you can just starve to death if you don’t want to eat.”

The maidservant took the food box and left.

No one would listen to Su Su’s explanation or let her see a physician.

Day after day, Su Su became more and more haggard. Occasionally, when she was awake, she would engrave the character ‘正’ ⁴ zhèng – straight/upright/proper; As you can see, the character 正 is formed by 5 strokes, so each stroke can count as one day/vote/anything else until it forms the whole character. when the daylight shone in, until there were six ‘正’ characters.

In a trance, she realized that she’d already been imprisoned by Tantai Jin for at least a month.

It was already the seventh month in the mortal realm.

Unable to bear the fear of the darkness and silence, sometimes, Su Su would hysterically bang on the door, “Let me out! Let me out……”

She was born in the magnificent and radiant Heavenly Pond. The invisible torment of the endless claustrophobia and World Toppling Flower made her shiver. The divine weapon lurking in her body began to gradually mentally destroy her, causing her to have nightmares all day long.

Just like Tantai Jin who’d once gotten the World Toppling Flower, she fell into a nightmare and had trouble waking up.

Her original body was born with freedom, and such claustrophobic captivity with no hope in sight destroyed her determination day by day.

But she didn’t want to die, she still wanted to live. The wavering heart of Dao wasn’t enough to destroy a person. Every time she woke up from the nightmares of World Toppling Flower, she used all her willpower, hoping for a moment of daylight to shine in and let her have a breather.

Tantai Jin hadn’t visited her once, as if he’d forgotten that in this world, there was a young girl who he loved so much he wanted her to live, and hated so much he wanted her to die ⁵ 爱之欲其生，恶之欲其死 (Ài zhī yù qí shēng, è zhī yù qí sǐ) – Originated from The Analects of Confucius by Yan Yuan (disciple of Confucius); Indicating someone that treats a person based on how much they like or hate them .

Su Su grew thin and pallid at a rate visible to the naked eye.

One day, she woke up and found that she wasn’t able to clearly see out of her right eye.

The maidservant handed her water, but Su Su fumbled to take it, so the bowl shattered on the ground.

“You!” The maidservant wanted to be angry at first, but when she saw her spiritless eyes, she said with alarm, “You…… you can’t see anymore?”

Su Su pursed her lips and didn’t speak. The maidservant ran out in a panic, not even taking time to clean up the broken porcelain fragments.

Su Su’s eyes were wide open, and all she saw was darkness, but she didn’t dare to sleep.

Once there was a rift in her heart of Dao and she had something to be afraid of, the World Toppling Flower began to show its effect. In the endless time spent inside, every time she fell asleep, she was afraid she would never wake up again.

She hugged herself tightly and thought to herself, actually, I still have one last chance.

Either live, or die.

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The author has something to say:

The foreshadowing is almost done. For those who want to read the jumping tower scene, you’ll probably have to wait a few more chapters. I need to write out that feeling of anger and empathy, set the mood or the little angels will find it tasteless.

Writing is meant to be foreshadowed like this, please be more understanding qwq

Edited by: Gaze