Imperial Cultivation

Chapter 616: Chapter 612: Decision

After she stood up, her curvaceous figure immediately became light and graceful.

As she walked, the gold and silver threads in the flowing cloud silk highlighted her nobility, and the gentle sway of the gold hairpin on her temples made her look like a celestial fairy.

The elderly eunuch with white hair and a youthful face followed her quietly and whispered, ”Your Highness, should the guards accompany you?”

Consort Hui snorted, ”With me and my junior sister here, who dares to act recklessly?”

”Yes, then we’ll take fewer Imperial Guards,” the elderly eunuch bowed.

He waved a little eunuch over, who approached quietly.

The elderly eunuch whispered a few words, and the little eunuch nodded repeatedly, then quickly went ahead.

Qin Ruolan said, ”Elder sister, you should be guarding the Ninth Prince’s Mansion.”

”Little Seventeen and Little Eighteen are guarding it,” Consort Hui said indifferently, ”If I stay there, he won’t be happy when he wakes up, it’ll just make him sick of me.”

”...Rumors are fearful,” Qin Ruolan shook her head, ”The trouble between you two is real.”

She understood why the Ninth Prince wasn’t close to his foster mother.

The mother and son had an unresolved issue over the Ninth Prince’s early deceased birth mother.

There was always a rumor that she was harmed by the elder sister.

And the Ninth Prince apparently believed this rumor, always seeing the elder sister as an enemy.

Thinking that the elder sister’s concern was only for show, for the Emperor, to clear her name.

Or that it was compensation out of guilt, not true concern.

Even if she did care, he could never forgive her; otherwise, it would be a betrayal of his birth mother.

He was three years old at the time and had some memory, clearly remembering his birth mother very deeply, unable to forget.

This shows that the Ninth Prince wasn’t as dull as he seemed.

Most children have their memories repressed by the time they are three, hard to recall.

Consort Hui snorted, ”This trouble will soon not be trouble anymore, eventually I’m ashamed of Sister Mo.”

Qin Ruolan said, ”Actually, elder sister, you have done your best, more than enough, without guilt to Consort Mo.”

”Indeed,” Consort Hui nodded lightly, ”That foolish bloke!”

She kept walking, exiting the harem and moving forward, bypassing several large halls, arriving at the palace gate.

Two little eunuchs were waiting there, presenting a veil hat.

Consort Hui put it on directly, the white gauze drooping down, covering her lotus-like face.

——

Chu Zhiyuan had been restraining his spirit, the insight range only within ten meters, to avoid being discovered.

He already felt an invisible force sweep over him, realizing him but didn’t stay.

It seemed not to notice him.

Still, he dared not relax because of this, keeping his nerves tense, cautiously restraining his spirit.

He was quite surprised to see Consort Hui so easily reach the palace gate.

He hadn’t expected that the Imperial Palace of the Yujing Dynasty to be so lax, that a harem consort could leave the palace so easily.

This was impossible in Yujing City.

For harem consorts to leave the city, several procedures were required, extremely cumbersome.

Outside the palace gate was a large purple sedan, adorned with various fine patterns and decorations, exuding grandeur and luxury.

The luxurious sedan had four sedan bearers, dressed in embroidered clothes.

Standing on both sides were eight men in golden armor, surrounding the sedan in front, back, left, and right.

”Junior sister, and the three senior nephews, get on the sedan.”

Consort Hui held Qin Ruolan’s hand, inviting Xiao Ruoling and the others to get on the sedan.

The middle-aged woman in blue, along with two maids of Consort Hui and the elderly eunuch with white hair and a youthful face, and a young eunuch, stayed outside the sedan.

Once the sedan was lifted, it moved forward smoothly without a jolt, extremely balanced.

Golden-armored guards in front, back, left, and right cleared the crowd, quickly arriving at a residence five hundred meters away.

A little eunuch went forward to knock on the door before the sedan stopped.

Quickly, the residence gates swung open, and the sedan entered, stopping with the five women disembarking.

The sedan halted in the backyard of the residence, and under Consort Hui’s lead, they entered a courtyard.

From afar, there was a strange fragrance, along with a strong medicinal scent.

Chu Zhiyuan, after leaving the Imperial Palace, immediately felt a lightness all around, like being featherweight.

The range of the Super Sensing Illumination rapidly expanded to a hundred meters, revealing the situation inside and outside the courtyard.

Standing outside the steps of the main hall within the courtyard was a group of people.

A dozen maids and guards in plain clothes waited outside the door, ready to follow the orders from within at any moment.

Their expressions were solemn yet numb, revealing a sense of panic.

Not far away, around a small pavilion next to the flowerbed, a group of men gathered in threes and twos.

Some wore court official robes, others purple robes, and some in golden armor, each silent and solemn, not speaking among themselves.

The courtyard was so quiet that a pin drop could be heard.

Chu Zhiyuan also illuminated that beyond the main hall was a bedroom.

Two flower-like young girls in flowing cloud brocade sat on embroidery stools, shoulder to shoulder, staring intently at the young man lying on the bed.

The young man had sharp brows and a straight nose, extremely handsome, with a waxy yellow pallor on his face as if coated with powder.

His breathing was sometimes rapid, sometimes slow.

The alternation of rapid and slow strained his breathing, giving the impression he might stop breathing at any moment.

”Sister, when will big brother wake up?” a young girl asked sweetly, ”He has already slept so long.”

The other young girl softly replied, ”He’ll wake up soon, see us, and smile at us.”

The two girls were pure and beautiful, their looks alike, like twin lotus blossoms.

”But I heard them say that big brother won’t wake up.”

”Don’t listen to their nonsense, big brother will wake up soon!”

”Sister, but you have said this several times, and big brother still hasn’t woken up!”

”This time it’s true!”

...

Consort Hui waved her hand.

The elderly eunuch with white hair and a youthful face stepped forward to open the courtyard door, and Consort Hui walked in, glancing coldly through the veil at the crowd beside the flowerbed.

”Greetings to Her Highness the Princess Consort.”

They all cupped their hands in salute.

Consort Hui ignored them, holding Qin Ruolan’s hand as she went straight inside, entering the main hall and then the bedroom.

”Mother—!”

The two girls stood up in unison.

Consort Hui asked, ”How is it?”

The two girls shook their heads sadly, their big water-clear eyes turning red, on the verge of tears.

Consort Hui said gruffly, ”Don’t cry!...Have you not greeted your aunt yet?”

”Aunt, you’re here.” The two girls forced a smile at Qin Ruolan.

Qin Ruolan patted their fragrant shoulders, came closer, and looked at the young man on the bed.

She placed her hand on his shoulder and closed her bright eyes.

After a moment, she withdrew her jade hand, her expression calm as usual, no signs of anything strange.

Consort Hui asked, ”Is there a way?”

Qin Ruolan gently shook her head.

”No way at all?”

”Only the energy of the Great Bright Heart Protecting Pill is sustaining him,” Qin Ruolan said, ”Even if the Spirit Venerable himself came, he might not be able to save him.”

This body was destroyed by the power of the Spirit Venerable; otherwise, the Great Bright Heart Protecting Pill could have saved it.

What was damaged by the Spirit Venerable’s power cannot be repaired by the same power.

”Aunt—” The two young girls glared at her with dissatisfaction.

Qin Ruolan said, ”The meridians are utterly destroyed, the five viscera are lifeless, it’s only the Dan Qi sustaining him, but the Dan Qi of the Great Bright Heart Protecting Pill is limited, ...when the Dan Qi is exhausted, it will be his time.”

”Aunt, doesn’t the Profound Yin Palace have rare treasures that can save our big brother?”

”Even if it does, it’s not better than the Great Bright Heart Protecting Pill,” Qin Ruolan shook her head, ”Human power is sometimes inadequate, everyone has their destiny.”

Xiao Ruoling suddenly heard Chu Zhiyuan’s voice in her ear, ”Ruoling, I want to reincarnate in his body.”

Xiao Ruoling was taken aback, her expression slightly changing.

She didn’t think it was a good idea.

But the long-formed perception made her trust Chu Zhiyuan immensely.

Feeling that he surely saw the endless trouble within this.

”Ruoling, this is just my avatar, it’s unwarranted not to care, don’t worry so much, the secret technique of the Imperial Family is the most important.”