With the information that Qi Longhai had given them, the tide was hurriedly turned. The imperial family of Li Nation turned against one another, generals fighting against one another. The fight for the throne had broke out between the two princes. In a matter of two weeks, the Li Nation had crumbled in its defenses, allowing Mo Nation to achieve a devastating victory.

"Cheers! To the victory over the Li's!" Within the camp, thousands of soldiers were gather around one another, each with their own cup of wine as they hurriedly drunk it with this voice.

Standing and watching them, Lu Fengmian gently shook his head. But he didn't stop them, he understood that they needed this break.

Without a moment to rest, someone laid his arm on Lu Fengmian's shoulders. Lu Fengmian turned to see Jiang Nianzhen who smiled brightly and asked, "Are you not drinking with them?"

Jiang Nianzhen shook his head. "This day of rest is solely for the soldiers. I also don't like to drink so I'll refuse for now." Staring at the soldiers, some wrapped in bandages but still drinking heavily, Jiang Nianzhen shook his head. Then he said, "Yingyue asked for you. She said that she wanted to talk with you. She's currently in your tent preparing some things."

Lu Fengmian nodded his head, "Alright, I'll take my leave first." Taking one final look at the soldiers, Lu Fengmian began to walk away first.

Jiang Nianzhen took off his arm, staring at Lu Fengmian for a second longer than normal. He needed to find some way to get closer to his future brother-in-law...

Lu Fengmian didn't know why Lu Yingyue suddenly wanted to meet him, but knowing her, if it wasn't something important, she wouldn't have called for him. As he stood in front of the tent, he called out, "Sister, I'm coming in." Then he opened the flaps.

Revealed to him was Lu Yingyue, only this time, she was more tensed and abnormal. Lu Fengmian noticed right away. "Is something wrong?" He walked closer to her.

Lu Yingyue turned her head to Lu Fengmian, fear and death loomed within her eyes. With Lu Fengmian only one step away from her, she whispered, "There's a Taoist priest here."

"What? That's impossible, how would they be able to sneak in?" Lu Fengmian questioned softly, his brows knitted in confusion.

"No, he's meeting with someone. A soldier who is most likely his family. Be careful and make sure you do nothing suspicious. I will see what I can do." Saying this, Lu Yingyue bit her lips. As if recalling something, Lu Yingyue looked at Lu Fengmian. "Where is the General?"

"Oh, Qingshan is meeting the Emperor. As our camp is near the palace, he said that he had something to discuss with the Emperor and left while everyone was busy. He should be back by morning as the palace is nearby." Lu Fengmian hurriedly said, a small smile on his lips.

Lu Yingyue carefully scanned her brother. Her eyes looking over the way he smiled, how his eyes lighted up gently while saying that man's name. Then, it clicked. I see...

-

"I have to hurry, you know that I don't have much time." Tang Qingshan explained to the man who sat at a desk. The Emperor, or Mo Chou was carefully reading through the scrolls while listening to him.

Mo Chou raised a brow at Tang Qingshan. "You're leaving as soon as you came?" He didn't even mind the fact that he was not speaking formally to Tang Qingshan or that the latter also wasn't doing the same.

"Yes, I left without telling the soldiers because the palace was close. The soldiers are returning back to our post with Qi Yue and Hou Li leading them." Tang Qingshan began grabbing the scroll he was told to send. "And I was also ordered to bring this to you." Then he threw the bamboo scroll towards Mo Chou.

Mo Chou caught it easily, looking at it incredulously. "You came because of this?"

Tang Qingshan merely nodded his head, "I owe a promise. Well, it's more fair to say that it's a debt."

Mo Chou set the scroll onto his desk for the moment, "Who is it from?"

"He said that he was an old friend." Tang Qingshan merely said what he was told to say. Since Qi Longhai had helped him, he wouldn't want to push past the man's boundaries.

Mo Chou merely set the scroll on his desk before he resumed his conversation with Tang Qingshan. "Are you entering the city tomorrow?"

Tang Qingshan nodded his head. "Yes, since the war is officially finished, I have someone waiting for me. I also need to go back soon and visit my mother."

Mo Chou cracked a smile, picking up his brush once more as he looked over the scrolls. "Then I will prepare the banquet. I've heard that you accepted two new subordinates under your hand and that both of them are talented in their own way. Do you want me to bestow a title upon them?"

Hearing this question, Tang Qingshan caught Mo Chou's eyes and kept his silence. Thinking over it carefully, he finally said, "Both of them have sworn their loyalty to me. That being said, it is the same as swearing to following you. While the title will be desirable, it will only bring more attention to both of us." Tang Qingshan wasn't afraid to speak his mind, knowing that Mo Chou was a diligent and harsh ruler, but he was also benevolent to his citizens and to those who belonged in his faction.

With this reply, Mo Chou merely nodded his head, picking up another scroll and looking at it. There was an incense being burned in the room, a few candles lit to bring light into the dark room. "I see, then I will merely bestow upon them a few rewards. I take it that you have a place prepared for them already?" Mo Chou didn't push the matter. While he held the world in his hand, he was not egotistical.

"I have a manor near the one that I live in that I have already prepared for them. There is no need for you to worry." Tang Qingshan's eyes lifted towards Mo Chou, biting his lips before he finally asked. "Do you already know about their plan?" It was very ambiguous, even if someone overheard them, they wouldn't be able to pinpoint what exactly it was that they were speaking of.

Mo Chou paused in his action, blue eyes flickering before he resumed his action, merely saying in a nonchalant tone, "Of course, I am not a fool who will fall for presumptuous lies. If I was so foolish, I wouldn't have been able to claim this throne." His brush dipped into black ink, writing on the scroll in an elegant yet fierce calligraphy.

Hearing this, Tang Qingshan was definitely relieved. "Then it seems that I was the foolish one. Having spent some time in the mountain, it seems that I have gotten duller."

"Speaking of, were you able to find what you were seeking of? When you requested some time to leave for that mountain, I was skeptical of what exactly it was you were trying to find." Mo Chou continued on with the conversation, not lingering too long on the past subject.

With this question, Tang Qingshan noticeably got silenced. His hands rubbed against one another, eyes flickering before he said in a solemn tone, "Chouyi, you know that my father was killed by a fox demon. I found traces that he had entered that mountain, so I had took a chance and went there. Unfortunately, all the traces stopped, as if someone had took everything and erased all traces that were left behind." Saying this, there was a severe tone of anger behind his words.

Mo Chou didn't say anything to his friend who was slowly boiling with anger. Who didn't know? The famous General Tang had died under the hands of a fox demon, leaving behind his son who wasn't even five years old at the time and his wife, Shan Mingxia. It was a devastating lose for Mo Nation, the nation had mourned the lose of a great general. There were almost no traces to who had done it, but Mo Chou's father had found some evidence that it was a fox demon.

Suddenly, Tang Qingshan said, "Chouyi, I will have to take my leave first." Saying this, he stood up at once and headed towards the opened window.

"Be careful on your way out." Mo Chou didn't say anything else as Tang Qingshan jumped out of the window, his figure quickly disappearing within the sleeves of darkness.

With Tang Qingshan leaving, Mo Chou turned to look at the bamboo scroll on his desk with curiosity. Setting down his brush, he picked up the scroll with his right hand, opening it up gently. An old friend, huh?

With the first words that appeared, it was enough to send his heart into a turbulence.

'I will be returning soon. How have you been after all these years?'

It was very simple. There were no names, nothing that should have sent him into a panic, but still, Mo Chou's hand shook as he carefully reread every single word carefully.

Then, after a brief moment of silence in the room, the sound of something falling to the ground was heard.

From outside the room, Li Yu's worried voice called out, "Your Majesty, is there something wrong?"

"No, it was merely a slip of hand. Stay out there for now."

Mo Chou's hand shook, his eyes filled with pain as he collapsed back into his chair. Why? Why now?

'My name is Qi Longhai, you must be the prince!'

'Shhh, let me take you somewhere.'

'Chouyi, I have something to tell you.'

'I promise to love you. I will give you the world so long as you allow me this chance to stand by your side until the end.'

'I did everything for you, I gave you everything I had. For all these years, I stood by your side and ended the lives of thousands, destructed seven nations all for you. I cleared the way so that you would become Emperor without worry, shed the lives of many with these two hands, with a simple brush of mine. So why? It could've been anyone, so why her?'

'Your Majesty, I wish to resign from my position.'

'Blossoming Flowers, that is the name of the wine I've made. Your Majesty, we had met when the flower bloomed. Now that the flowers have bloomed once more, it is time for us to bid farewell.'

-

Qi Longhai stared outside of the window. His gray eyes look on coldly, a cup of wine in his hand as he twirled it, the wine moving within the cup. His gaze was deep, like a bottomless pit, no one could decipher the emotions within them yet one could easily see that he was going through a turbulent storm. He suddenly closed his eyes, as if he had something he wanted to forget. His hand set down the cup, a loud noise in the silence.

"Longhai?" Standing by Qi Longhai's side, Wu Fan called for him.

It took a while for Qi Longhai to say anything. From his lips, a voice devoid of emotions were heard. "Wu Fan, it seems that my time to return has come." Saying this, he smirked, memories rushing in his head, reminding him of the reason why he had left everything behind. His power, his fame, his position, he had left everything behind and became who he was today.

Wu Fan didn't say anything. Having been by Qi Longhai's side all his life, from when they were just children to this day, he knew Qi Longhai well enough. He knew why Qi Longhai had left, of course he did. He knew how much pain it had caused Qi Longhai.

"You are returning sooner than what was planned. Are you sure that you will be fine?" Wu Fan treated Qi Longhai like a younger brother. Although their positions were still different, Qi Longhai thought of Wu Fan as an older brother who he could confide in.

Qi Longhai knew that Wu Fan was only worried about him. He smiled, albeit, a smile without happiness. "Who knows? I don't want to return back so soon, but I also don't want them to lose everything. Even if that person had done such things, it is only understandable. Six years have passed, I believe that I will be able to handle it."

Wu Fan watched Qi Longhai's reaction carefully. "She has two children with him, a son and a daughter." Saying this, Wu Fan watched as Qi Longhai smiled while looking out.

"I know, I know everything. I still can't let go. Till this day, the wound is still as fresh as before, and the pain is even worse. I thought that I could finally be happy, I thought that..." Saying this, Qi Longhai stopped for a moment. His face grimaced as he began coughing, red blood sputtering from his mouth with every movement.

Wu Fan had predicted this already. In his hand, a handkerchief was already prepared and he hurriedly gave it to Qi Longhai.

Qi Longhai grabbed the cloth, suppressing his coughs as he wiped his mouth harshly. The red blood was vivid against the white cloth, standing out like blood on the pure white snow. And then, he smiled.

"Wu Fan, I don't have much time left. Even the Great Doctor Chang Wushu wasn't able to cure me. Since this life of mine is to end soon, I merely want to see how his life is like now, how many people he has brought into his harem." Saying this, he wiped his mouth and dropped the handkerchief onto the table. Qi Longhai rested into his chair, a small smile on his lips.

"Longhai, returning will only mean that your condition will worsen. To return and see him once more, to look at his harem filled with many and the children that he now has, you know that it will only worsen your heart." Wu Fan sent out a scold, his eyes filled with worry.

"This life of mine is ending soon. I might as well use it to secure the safety of this nation. After all, in the past, I had sworn that I would protect this nation for him."

Qi Longhai closed his eyes, memories resurfacing from the past, a time where he was much younger and not so sickly, a time where he was truly happy and content. As these memories replayed in his head, he couldn't help but smile.

"I loved him... I loved him too much. That is why I still can't forget him even after everything he has done."

-

A woman stood over a dead body. Within her hand, she held what resembled a heart. Long claws protruded from her fingers, blood dripping down them as a body fell to the ground. As the body fell to the ground, the woman looked at the body, her hand opening with her palm facing the heart. Slowly, a white mist escaped from the heart, flying towards the woman's own chest. The woman looked at her hand, at the heart that had turned into ashes scattering away. Slowly, she looked down at the body and smiled, cruelty flashing through. Her claws retracted, shaking them as the blood scattered away. Fixing her outfit, she walked away, leaving a dead body on the ground.

On the ground, a Taoist robe was left in scratchers and torn, blood marring the material.

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