Chapter 484
Chapter 484
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 484
>Chapter Title: Dragon
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Through the eunuchs, the Great Liang Emperor wore a smug look on his face as he boasted to Li Huowang.
“Hey brother, surprised? Didn’t expect it, did you? That I’m actually the emperor!”
“Greetings, Your Majesty.”
Li Huowang bowed to him with a Taoist salute. He had originally planned to head back peacefully, but it was clear this young emperor had other ideas.
“Hey! Thanks for the heads-up last time. If you hadn’t warned me, I’d have been fooled by that guy! You’re a good man, a real decent fellow. Stick around and be an official by my side from now on! You can name any position you want.”
“Absurd! These are the words of a foolish ruler!”
The National Preceptor’s single remark made the Great Liang Emperor’s expression change instantly, and he immediately toned it down.
Though he was the emperor of Great Liang, some things were beyond even his control.
“Your Majesty, have you forgotten what we must do today?”
The Great Liang Emperor stood obediently straight and replied solemnly, “The offerings are prepared, so I shall proceed to the imperial temple today to pay respects to the late emperors.”
“Indeed.”
The National Preceptor’s heavy eyelids drooped, and he said no more.
Startled by the National Preceptor, the Great Liang Emperor didn’t dare delay official business any longer. Still, it was obvious he was thrilled by Li Huowang’s appearance.
“You follow behind for now. Come with me, and once we’re done with this, we can have a proper chat!”
The National Preceptor’s lips twitched, but in the end, he held his tongue. Though he didn’t scold him then and there, he resolved to have a serious talk with the Empress Dowager upon their return.
Li Huowang wanted to refuse, but a group of old eunuchs surrounded him completely, leaving him no way out. Glancing at the National Preceptor’s retreating back, Li Huowang decided against any rash actions.
Though this was somewhat outside his expectations, befriending the emperor wasn’t a bad thing by any means—it was just happening at an inconvenient time.
Following the Great Liang Emperor’s grand procession, Li Huowang began touring the Great Liang palace.
Throughout, the Great Liang Emperor kept glancing back, clearly brimming with curiosity about Li Huowang—especially after Li Huowang had helped him during the Shangsi Festival last time.
But Li Huowang didn’t share his enthusiasm. He just wanted to get through this quickly without any more complications—Miao Miao was still waiting outside.
Li Huowang had assumed they’d head straight to this so-called imperial temple and be done with it, but to his surprise, they turned back and entered that round-arched gate from before.
The eunuch who had been called the Grand Director was already kneeling in a neat row with a group of lesser eunuchs, respectfully welcoming the Great Liang Emperor’s arrival.
Before them, on a Eight Immortals table, seven jade dishes the size of basins were lined up in a row, each holding a different item.
Among them were crystalline flower buds yet to bloom, smooth white eggs that writhed ceaselessly, and a piece of meat carved into a ruoyi shape.
All sorts of different things were presented uniquely in their bowls—except for the very last jade dish, which stood empty. Nothing was placed there aside from wisps of black smoke drifting out from time to time.
Li Huowang immediately understood. The last jade dish was meant to hold the spirit aberration he had captured. After all his hardship to catch it, it turned out to be an offering for the deceased emperors—merely for display.
For a moment, Li Huowang felt his previous efforts had been utterly pointless.
No wonder the Great Liang Emperor had shown up right after he handed over the spirit aberration—he’d been waiting all along.
“Take them all.”
The eunuchs beside Li Huowang bowed their heads and stepped forward, lifting the jade dishes with both hands held high above their heads. They followed behind the Great Liang Emperor as they headed toward the imperial temple.
They walked for another quarter of an hour until Li Huowang’s sharp nose caught the scent of sandalwood incense—he knew they had arrived at the imperial temple.
From the outside, Great Liang’s imperial temple looked no different from an ordinary temple, just larger and more solemn.
Upon reaching the place, the usually irreverent Great Liang Emperor sobered up noticeably. He bowed solemnly to the imperial temple before leading the eunuchs and palace maids inside.
The imperial temple was vast, surrounded by neat rows of candles that made the interior sweltering. Some eyeless, earless old eunuchs knelt in the corners, endlessly chanting sutras while striking wooden fish.
As the Great Liang Emperor knelt on a cushion before the rows of orderly spirit tablets in the center of the temple, he was suddenly pulled to his feet by an old eunuch.
“Hm? What’s wrong? Not here today?”
Li Huowang caught the surprise in the Great Liang Emperor’s voice. He seemed genuinely caught off guard by this.
After the old eunuch whispered something in his ear, he stood up somewhat helplessly and led the group toward the back of the spirit tablets.
A bright yellow silk curtain on the wall was drawn aside, revealing a majestic black stone door. Carved upon it were nine ferocious, clawing giant dragons, rendered with lifelike detail.
As the eunuchs slowly pulled open the massive stone door, a chill that made the nape of one’s neck prickle rushed out to meet them.
The palace maids halted, and only the men proceeded inside—even the female attendants from the north were held back.
Seeing this protocol, Li Huowang couldn’t help but wonder to himself, “Is this the ancestral hall of the Great Liang imperial family?”
Amid his questions, they entered. The space inside was enormous and empty, so vast that even footsteps echoed back.
The chamber was shaped like an inverted funnel, high walls sloping down to a low center, its opulent decorations screaming imperial extravagance.
Gold gleamed everywhere—even the enormous coffin at the lowest point, the size of a house, was made of solid gold. Nine golden dragons in varied poses strained against chains, pulling in all directions as if trying to tear the golden coffin apart.
The sight shocked Li Huowang the moment he stepped in.
“Nine dragons pulling a coffin?”
Li Huowang pondered it carefully and realized it wasn’t quite right. It wasn’t nine dragons hauling a coffin—it was more like they were trying to dismember it.
“Wow~! This place is huge!”
The Great Liang Emperor looked around in wonder.
But after a brief gawk, guided by an old eunuch, he placed the seven offerings on the ground and performed three bows and nine kowtows before the central coffin.
Li Huowang thought he’d have to bow as well, but he noticed even the surrounding eunuchs hadn’t moved. Clearly, they weren’t worthy of paying respects here.
“So the late Great Liang Emperor is buried inside that? I figured he’d be in a mausoleum.”
The hallucination of the Sitting Oblivion Daoist spoke up beside him.
As Li Huowang closely examined the coffin’s extravagantly ornate patterns, he suddenly sensed something off.
With each successive bow and kowtow from the Great Liang Emperor, the massive golden coffin slowly began to open.
“Father Emperor?”
The Great Liang Emperor froze for a moment. Since the coffin was at the lowest point in the center, he could see right inside from the outer circle.
“Father Emperor!!”
The Great Liang Emperor rushed forward in agitation, but several old eunuchs held him back firmly.
“What are you doing!! My father emperor is still moving!! He’s still alive! Why are you locking him up!”
“Your Majesty, this is the dragon vein! The foundation of our Great Liang— it must not be desecrated!”
Li Huowang saw what the Great Liang Emperor saw. The Great Liang Emperor who had once fought to the death against the Sitting Oblivion Dao was bound tight by chains engraved with dragon patterns.
Though he wore a vast imperial robe embroidered with dragons, it couldn’t hide the bizarre changes on his body—the dull golden dragon scales, the writhing dragon whiskers like tentacles.
What chilled Li Huowang to the core was that he wasn’t alone. This Great Liang Emperor was stacked atop another, and that one atop yet another, layer upon layer, seemingly endless.
The coffin’s interior looked impossibly deep and black. Generations of Great Liang emperors were nailed in midair by chains, neatly stacked into a vertical pillar of corpses.
Li Huowang also noticed that this pillar of corpses wasn’t still. It twisted with a certain wailing from the coffin’s depths, as if struggling to break free of the chains—like a dragon bound in captivity?