The Monster Emperor let out a long sigh and turned to walk away. “You may spend the night in Sweet Spring Hall. But tomorrow morning, you will go up the mountain with me and turn yourself in.”

“After this, I will no longer be able to enter the palace to visit you.” State Preceptor Qing Yang remained kneeling, tears streaming down her face. “Please, take good care of yourself!”

* * *

Lingxu City passed through its most turbulent night in nearly a century.

The Heavenly Palace guards who usually defended Mount Xu entered the city without a word, openly armed and carrying torches as they besieged the Spring Palace.

In the hearts of the common people, those two places were almost equally sacred, equally lofty, and unreachable. Yet today, they had staged a scene of their own kind attacking their own.

It was simply unbelievable.

For some people, a monument in their hearts collapsed all at once.

Moreover, it was rumored that the Heavenly Palace guards had launched an assault, while the disciples of the Spring Palace held the gates and refused to come out. Cannon fire boomed over the small mountain, and though the onlookers at the foot of the mountain stretched their necks as far as they could, all they could see was half the sky lit red by the blasts.

Fushan Yue maintained the belief that those who accepted advice would live well and would simply return...