Chapter 1361: Yao Chi
For the imperial court, the impact of this battle was extremely severe.
A major criminal had dared to brazenly break into the imperial city to commit murder, defying the law, defying the court, as if slapping the imperial court in the face, utterly lawless.
If Zhang Ruochen was not captured, where would the imperial court's dignity be?
A city-protecting grand formation in the Central Imperial City was activated, with countless chains of light patterns shooting up into the sky, connecting heaven and earth, sealing off the entire city to prevent Zhang Ruochen and Ling Feiyu from escaping.
Zhang Ruochen had no intention of fleeing the imperial city at this moment. After all, everyone expected him to flee. If he actually did, it would only be more dangerous.
Instead, staying within the imperial city was relatively safer.
Clearly, he absolutely could not return to the Realm Son Residence. He had to find another hiding place.
Zhang Ruochen left the Seventh City Domain, walking along a snow-covered street. His mind had long since calmed down. Even though the Heavenly Mandate Corpse King had escaped, the Ghost-Raising Ancient Clan and the Corpse-Driving Ancient Clan had paid a heavy price.
Through this battle, any other forces that wanted to deal with him would have to carefully consider whether they could bear the cost of offending him.
On the street, the voice of a seven or eight-year-old child rang out: "Dad, look! There's a moon in the sky."
"In this kind of ghostly weather, how could there be a moon... Eh, there really is a moon, and it seems to be moving." The middle-aged man beside the child felt a sense of surprise.
Zhang Ruochen also looked up. In the pitch-black sky, a brilliant bright moon was indeed hanging, its light only illuminating one city domain.
That city domain... was the Seventh City Domain.
Suddenly, that bright moon began to move, flying towards another city domain.
Only those who had reached the Saint Realm could see clearly that it was not a moon, but an extremely large mirror.
"Could it be the Confucian Path's supreme sacred artifact, the Guizhen Mirror?"
Zhang Ruochen's expression tightened slightly, sensing something was wrong.
Legend had it that the Guizhen Mirror could see through all falsehoods in the world. Zhang Ruochen's skill in the Thirty-Six Transformations of Formlessness was not particularly high. Once illuminated by the Guizhen Mirror, he would likely be exposed in an instant.
"To capture Ling Feiyu and me, those old gentlemen of the Confucian Path have actually mobilized a supreme sacred artifact. What a grand gesture."
The Guizhen Mirror's detection speed was extremely fast. It could scan an entire city domain in the time it takes to breathe once, then move on to the next.
On the ground, the army was also coordinating with their actions.
After a city domain was scanned and confirmed that Zhang Ruochen was not hiding there, the city-protecting formation was immediately activated to isolate that domain.
With such a carpet search, it wouldn't be long before they found Zhang Ruochen.
"The search speed is so fast. The spiritual power of the person controlling the Guizhen Mirror must have reached an astonishing level. What should I do now?"
Zhang Ruochen's brows were tightly furrowed. He was well aware that once captured, no one could save him.
Where could he possibly hide?
Suddenly, an idea struck Zhang Ruochen. He thought of a place and muttered to himself, "Yao Chi."
At that moment, a deep and distant memory surfaced in Zhang Ruochen's mind.
Eight hundred years ago, Yao Chi was a manor belonging to the imperial clan of the Chi Qing Central Empire, located in the suburbs outside the imperial city. It was a garden bestowed by Emperor Qing upon Princess Chi Yao. The first meeting between Zhang Ruochen and Chi Yao took place there.
Every time Emperor Qing and Emperor Ming gathered, it was also at Yao Chi.
Therefore, Yao Chi was not just a simple manor; it held extraordinary significance. There, formations jointly laid out by Emperor Qing and Emperor Ming could block external prying and detection.
The two great emperors were both close friends and rulers of their respective central empires. Every meeting involved many confidential discussions. Naturally, Zhang Ruochen and Chi Yao also had many opportunities to be together, leaving many beautiful memories at Yao Chi.
If not forced by circumstances, Zhang Ruochen would not have wanted to go there at all, because the more beautiful the memories, the deeper the pain in his heart.
Ultimately, threatened by the Guizhen Mirror, Zhang Ruochen still arrived outside that ancient manor, standing in the snow, gazing at the manor's gate.
What was once the imperial city's suburbs had now become the inner city.
The manor was still the same manor, and even the plaque on the gate had not been changed, bearing two familiar characters — Yao Chi.
Unfortunately, Yao Chi was now extremely desolate, without a single guard or servant in sight. On the gate, two old sealing strips were pasted, respectively inscribed with "No Entry" and "Kill Without Mercy."
A forbidden area.
Cultivators passing by this place also showed expressions of wariness, retreating far away, not daring to approach.
The two sealing strips seemed to seal away the secrets that the manor's owner least wanted to be uncovered. Anyone who entered would be killed without mercy.
Zhang Ruochen's gaze was somewhat deep. He walked over step by step, arriving outside the gate. After a moment of silence, he reached out a hand and touched the sealing strip.
"Boom."
A vast and boundless force surged from the sealing strip, sending Zhang Ruochen flying backward. He fell into the snow, kicking up a flurry of snowflakes.
Zhang Ruochen stood up again, looked at his bloody arm, then at the two yellowed, worn-out sealing strips, and muttered to himself, "Is this a warning?"
Zhang Ruochen took a deep breath. Sacred Qi circulated within his body, and the wound on his arm slowly healed.
Then, with his hands behind his back, he walked to the left side of the manor, circling around to the back gate.
There were no sealing strips on the back gate, but there were formation barriers laid by the two great emperors.
This was not Zhang Ruochen's first time entering Yao Chi, so he naturally knew how to break the formation barrier. He extended a finger and drew lines on the vermilion gate.
"Creak."
The formation barrier receded, and Zhang Ruochen pushed open the gate, stepping inside.
Inside the manor, it was overgrown with dense, withered yellow grass, with thick snow piled on top. Looking around, there was no sign of any living thing, only the sound of howling wind.
Desolate, dilapidated, devoid of any vitality.
The door to memory was opened. Before Zhang Ruochen's eyes, the scene became magnificent and beautiful: pavilions and towers, a lake with spirit cranes, white mist forming bridges, every step a new view.
At this moment, it seemed he could hear the laughter of a young boy and girl, their figures practicing swords under a tree, meditating by the lake, and watching the stars and moon from the rooftop.
Every dilapidated spot was a memory.
"Chen Ge, with your talent, you will surely reach the Great Saint Realm in the future and become the next Emperor Ming of the Sacred Bright Central Empire. My talent is somewhat inferior; I may never reach that realm in this lifetime, so I'm afraid I can't succeed to the throne of the Chi Qing Central Empire."
"Who says only those with high talent can cultivate to the Great Saint Realm? You should know that many Great Saints and gods in history had mediocre talent, but their inner hearts were extremely strong."
"Why are you so stubborn? Can't you just tell this princess not to cultivate so hard, and just live a carefree life as the empress of the next Emperor Ming?"
"So that's it... Wait, don't go, Yao Yao, let me tell you again now."
"I don't want to hear it anymore!"
...
The figures of the young boy and girl gradually faded away, vanishing before Zhang Ruochen's eyes, leaving only a moss-covered stone path and withered branches and vines hanging down.
Zhang Ruochen gently shook his head, a bitter smile on his lips.
Then, Zhang Ruochen walked into a dilapidated viewing pavilion, covered in spiderwebs. At the center of the web was a chess table.
On the chess table was an unfinished game, with black and white stones interwoven.
In Zhang Ruochen's memory, Emperor Ming had brought him to Yao Chi three times. Each time, he would play this game with Emperor Qing, and each time it would take three days.
One game, played three times, a total of nine days, yet they had never determined a winner.
Before Zhang Ruochen's eyes, it seemed as if Emperor Ming and Emperor Qing were still sitting there, Emperor Ming with white stones, Emperor Qing with black. Their expressions were extremely grave, each move like making a major decision.
Zhang Ruochen brushed away the spiderwebs and walked over to the chess table, looking at the unfinished game.
After a moment, Zhang Ruochen's eyes sharply contracted. "No, this isn't an unfinished game... The outcome has already been decided. White lost. Father actually lost? How is that possible?"
Zhang Ruochen remembered very clearly that the last time they played, no winner had been determined.
Given Emperor Qing's status, it was impossible for him to play this game with anyone else.
So, there was only one possibility: the last game Zhang Ruochen knew of was not the final one. At some point he didn't know about, Emperor Ming and Emperor Qing had finished the game and determined the outcome.
"Such a strange style of play."
Zhang Ruochen understood chess, but he was not an expert.
Even so, he could tell that the two emperors' playing style was extremely peculiar, though he couldn't pinpoint exactly what was strange about it.
"Could it be that when Father played the final game with Emperor Qing, Emperor Qing harmed him, leading to his disappearance?"
Zhang Ruochen's hands clenched tightly together, a surge of intense anger rising within him. He had a feeling that this chess game might be related to his father's disappearance.
"Such a strange playing style must hide some secret. Could it be a clue left by Father?"
Zhang Ruochen extended his arms, trying to lift the chess table and store it in his space ring.
But the chess table was interwoven with strands of sacred dao rules, and each chess piece contained the power of a Great Saint, heavier than a mountain.
Zhang Ruochen couldn't lift the chess table, nor could he even pick up a single piece.
In the end, he had to give up, memorizing the game by heart, planning to find a chess master in the future to help him unravel the secrets within the game.
This manor was too quiet, giving Zhang Ruochen an eerie, chilling feeling.
"Maybe I really shouldn't have come here."
Zhang Ruochen sat beside the chess table, in the seat where Emperor Ming had once sat, feeling a profound loneliness. He let out a long sigh, then immersed his spiritual power into the Qiankun Realm.
At this moment, he desperately wanted to find someone to confide in, to pour out the bitterness in his heart.
The first person that came to mind was Huang Yanchen.