Three days passed.

As soon as the crown prince was appointed, the old emperor, who had previous seemed remarkably healthy, immediately reverted to the sluggish state he had been in before Yin Zhaoxian’s return, or perhaps even worse.

Two years ago, the old emperor had been confident that he could live for at least another decade, and even more confident that he would be able to find an immortal and obtain the elixir of longevity within that time.

The old emperor considered himself to have quite the good fortune, and devoted himself to the search for immortality. Most of the information he learned showed some traces of immortals. Although it seemed out of reach, it was enough to confirm their existence.

This fueled the old emperor’s desire for eternal life and eternal imperial power. While his two sons, Prince Wu and Prince Jin, were certainly no ordinary talents, they were both a nuisance to him from this standpoint.

However, he didn’t expect that the Water and Land Assembly that was full of opportunities would deal the old emperor a severe blow, causing his health to collapse and seemingly severing his path to immortality.

Although some of the Heavenly Masters who stayed in the capital had some skills, the old emperor, who had witnessed a true immortal’s methods, could no longer bear their utmost respect. He knew very well that they could not make the elixir of immortality.

What made the old emperor even more desperate was that his physical condition was worse than he imagined. It had been fine when Yin Zhaoxian made drastic changes to Wan Province, but after that it had gotten worse.

At this moment, in the inner palace of the Capital Prefecture, in the emperor’s bedroom, Emperor Yuan De was lying on the bed, resting with his eyes closed.

Although the weather was not too cold, Emperor Yuan De was very apprehensive of any chill now, so the entire bedroom was heated by a charcoal brazier.

Although Emperor Yuan De was very tired as he had just finished drinking medicine, he could not fall asleep, even with his eyes closed due to his neurasthenia.¹

Ji Yuan was in the palace bedroom at this moment, standing beside the old emperor’s bed, watching him.

The various guards in the imperial palace naturally had no impact on a figure like Ji Yuan. However, the emperor who sat on the throne held the fate of humanity and his nation in his hands. The emperor also possessed the Royal Purple aura, which to some extent warded off evil, though now it was much weaker.

“Haah…haah…haah…”

The old emperor, unable to fall asleep, opened his eyes again. He panted in a daze as he stared at the top of his bed.

Ji Yuan was curious about what he was thinking.

In his previous life, Ji Yuan had likely encountered few people in such a position. Now, looking at him, he realized that regardless of whether one was a farmer who toiled their entire life, or an emperor whose destiny decided the fate of a nation, they all died in the same state. Perhaps the latter was even worse off.

“Haah…is anyone… there?”

The old emperor suddenly asked in a hoarse voice.

The old eunuch, who had been dozing off beside him, immediately woke up, walked to the bed with small steps, and whispered in response.

“Your Majesty, this servant is here!”

The emperor looked at him and shook his head, his eyes bleak. In truth, Ji Yuan was standing next to the old eunuch. The latter was hunched over, leaning closer to teh emperor, while Ji Yuan stood with his hands behind his back.

“Your Majesty, what do you need?”

​​

The old eunuch asked again carefully. Even a dying tiger retained its power, and the emperor was not dead yet.²

But the old emperor didn’t look at the old eunuch. Instead, his eyes widened slightly, and he looked to the old eunuch’s side, stretching out a trembling hand as if to grasp something.

The head eunuch, Li Sizhe, glanced to the side, then scanned the rest of the room. There was no one else in the room besides him.

“Your Majesty, may I ask you a question?”

Ji Yuan’s calm and gentle voice suddenly reached Emperor Yuan De’s ears, causing the latter’s eyes to widen and his breathing to quicken slightly.

“Haah…haah…haah…please, please!”

Ji Yuan smiled and spoke.

“Old Master Lu likely asked you a question in front of the palace, but you two ultimately were not fated to be together. I can bring him here again. Would you like to see him?”

“Haah, haah, haah… Can he… can he… restore me to life?”

Hearing the old emperor’s question, Ji Yuan shook his head.

“Life and death are laws of nature. Your Majesty, you are now at the end of your thread of life. You may endure a little longer, but it is too late to recover.”

“Then…then why…”

Ji Yuan knew what the old emperor wanted to ask, and smiled again as he answered.

“It’s alright if I bring him here and let you scold him a few times. It’ll at least ease some of the knots in your heart. Given your current state, he should still be willing to see you.”

As the old emperor spoke to Ji Yuan in a daze, the head eunuch Li Sizhe beside him looked from the emperor to the empty space in the room around him, and a trace of panic rose in his heart.

“Your Majesty, what’s wrong? Your Majesty?”

The old eunuch waved his hand in front of the old emperor’s eyes, but the latter’s gaze was completely unfocused on him, as if he couldn’t see him at all.

“Your Majesty, who are you talking to? Your Majesty…”

The old eunuch’s voice involuntarily became louder, startling the palace maids and eunuchs who were waiting outside. Two palace maids and two eunuchs hurried in.

“Eunuch Li, what happened?”

Li Sizhe looked at the emperor’s bed, and said to them with a very grim expression.

“Prepare the king ginseng soup. His Majesty may be dying. Go and summon the princes, the lords, and the concubines! Quickly!”

“Yes!”

“Yes!”

The group of eunuchs and palace maids all looked shocked, and ran out in a hurry. After receiving the news, the palace servants and guards outside also hurriedly dispersed to pass on the message.

Ji Yuan looked at the direction the eunuchs and palace maid had left, then back at head eunuch Li Sizhe, who still stood beside him with a look of concern.

“Your Majesty, do you want me to find him?”

The old emperor looked at Ji Yuan in a trance, took a few breaths, and asked.

“You… who are you?”

The old eunuch Li Sizhe hurriedly walked in front of the old emperor’s line of sight and responded in a loud voice.

“Your Majesty, it’s your old servant, this old servant is Li Sizhe! Your Majesty, don’t you recognize me? This old servant…”

The old emperor furious, and in his agitation he stretched out a hand and swept it in Li Sizhe’s side.

“You… get out of the way…”

The old eunuch was frightened by the old emperor’s glare, so he shrank and hid to the side.

Ji Yuan glanced at the old eunuch.

“Your Majesty, given your current situation, don’t be angry. Eunuch Li is merely concerned and confused. He cannot see me. As for who I am? Haha…”

Ji Yuan couldn’t help but laugh again.

“Your Majesty, do you still remember the mooncake that you could not catch in the imperial court?”

Ji Yuan also wanted to tease him by saying, “did Your Majesty drink mooncake soup?” but after thinking it over, he decided not to stimulate the old emperor too much.

“Oh… I see… Immortal Master, you…”

“Since I had appeared before Your Majesty, it is natural that I have some connection to you, but it is not what Your Majesty thinks.”

At this stage, Emperor Yuan De understood. He raised his trembling hands and bowed.

“Please, Immortal Master, I must trouble you to please invite Immortal Master Lu…”

Ji Yuan returned the bow.

“Then, Your Majesty, please hold on. Mr. Lu is a master of the immortal way in the mortal world, and he may not be easy to find. I will take my leave.”

After saying this, Ji Yuan walked out. Under the old emperor’s gaze, Ji Yuan’s figure faded away after a few steps, and soon completely disappeared.

“Haah…haah…hahah…”

The old emperor lay back on his bed again, gasping for breath from physical exhaustion caused by the excessive excitement just now.

…

Time passed slowly, and people inside and outside the palace received the news and rushed over.

“Father!”

“Your Majesty–“

“Your Majesty!”

…

As a mix of voices filled with both genuine and false concern reached the emperor, many royal relatives and ministers rushed over.

Previously, Emperor Yuan De had been too stubborn to allow anyone to accompany him. Even Imperial Concubine Ren only visited in the morning and evening. Now, upon hearing the sudden news in the palace, everyone rushed over.

This was only the first few to arrive; many more were on their way.

The old emperor glanced at the crowd, then closed his eyes again and didn’t say anything more.

A eunuch carefully brought over a bowl of century-old ginseng soup. Concubine Ren took the initiative to pick up a spoon and prepared to feed the emperor the ginseng soup, but the old emperor waved his hand, indicating that it was not yet necessary.

Outside the palace, Ji Yuan strode purposefully to the Land God Temple. Although he had told the old emperor that locating the old beggar would be difficult, Ji Yuan had already anticipated his whereabouts.

If the old beggar had already left Dazhen, it would have been hard to find him, but since he knew that they were definitely within Dazhen’s territory,³ then Ji Yuan was certain that Lu Niansheng would be in the Capital Prefecture during Emperor Yuan De’s final moments.

Perhaps after their previous visit to Ju’an Pavilion in Ji Province, the two beggars had headed directly to the capital.

In the Capital Prefecture, the deity with whim Ji Yuan had the best rapport was the burly Land God of the Capital Prefecture. He was arguably the most physically imposing Land God that Ji Yuan had encountered over the years.

Ji Yuan did not bother entering the building as he arrived at the temple, but simply sent a telepathic message. Moments later, the Land God appeared to greet Ji Yuan.

He was still the same burly, tall, sturdy figure, with the same dark curly beard and dark eyes, and the same rattan staff that looked like it could be used as a club. The Land God smiled to Ji Yuan as soon as he appeared.

“Mr. Ji, what can I do for you?”

Ji Yuan quickly returned the greeting.

“Please, Land God, I must trouble you to help me find someone. It’s that old beggar, and he should be in the Capital Prefecture.”

“Oh, that is quite simple!”

The Land God slammed his cane on the ground and a circle of ripples immediately spread out from the tip. It was somewhat similar to what it looked like when Ji Yuan used his Spirit Binding technique, yet still different.

“I found him. He is not hiding. Mr. Ji, please follow me!”

The Land God placed his hand on Ji Yuan’s shoulder, and the two of them vanished into the earth in a blur. A moment later, they emerged from a bridge west of the city just in time to see the two beggars, one old and one young, taking a nap under the bridge.

“Uh… Mr. Ji is also in the Capital?”

The old beggar rubbed his eyes and asked in surprise.

“Hey, Mr. Lu, come with me.”

“Where to?”

Ji Yuan looked from the young beggar back to the old beggar, asking teasingly but still with a grain of seriousness.

“The imperial palace. I’m here to invite you there. Will you afford me this honor?”⁴

“Mr. Ji’s honor… of course I will!”

The old beggar hesitated for a while, but finally stood up.

Half an hour later, inside the imperial palace, the bedroom had already been occupied by several princes, concubines, and some important officials, including Yin Zhaoxian. Many ministers and royal relatives were still standing outside.

Ji Yuan led the old beggar into the palace, while the young beggar stayed in the Land God Temple.

When the two walked to the bedroom, they saw that there were already underworld officials waiting outside. It seemed that the old emperor was truly nearing his end.

However, the old emperor would not enter the underworld after his death. Due to the influence of carrying the fate of Dazhen, he would first enter the Imperial Ancestral Temple, and then the Imperial Mausoleum.

However, this meant that his residence in the afterlife would be more spacious, and he would still be held accountable for the things he had done during his lifetime. It was simply that due to the fact that his spirit tablet⁵ would be placed in the Imperial Ancestral Temple, it would be protected by the fate of the Dazhen Dynasty, and would not be directly destroyed by any punishments in the underworld, but would instead be guaranteed to survive any disaster.

He would of course have advantages compared to ordinary people. So long as Dahzen was not destroyed, the royal family in the underworld would definitely never lack things like tributes or paper money. However, when their Yin lifespan in the underworld was over, their earth soul would still be returned to the earth, and their heavenly soul would still return to heaven. The so-called eternal bliss in the Imperial Ancestral Temple was just a fantasy of the imperial family of this world.

No one else could see them when Ji Yuan and the old beggar entered, aside from the old emperor, who could see two figures go from blurry to clear. They slowly walked to the bedside.

However, the old emperor’s condition was much worse than before, and he couldn’t muster up much energy to speak.

“Ginseng… ginseng soup!”

The old emperor finally spoke. Concubine Ren carefully brought the ginseng soup, that had been kept warm all this time, up to the emperor’s mouth.

The century-old-ginseng soup was swallowed in a single breath, and the old emperor’s face suddenly became rosy.

T/n: JY’s entire relationship with Beggar Lu is just JY asking him to do something and then calling him chicken to get him to do it when he doesn’t want to

JY: Hmm, I wonder if Lu is still here. I could probably find him.

JY: LOL, of course he is, he can’t chicken out of a bet

Lu: HOW DID YOU KNOW WHERE I WAS???

JY: :3

JY: wanna go somewhere

Lu, suspicious: where

JY: imperial palace 😀

Lu: no

JY: chicken

Lu: 😡 fine

Lu: wait did you say imperial palace

JY: yep. There’s a buddy there waiting for you. I promise you won’t get your head chopped off this time, and you might even be able to watch him die 😀

Lu: …

Lu: you are a menace

1. Interesting note here. Neurasthenia is not a recognized medical condition today, but it was one historically, and has since become a dated historical term. It’s considered similar to modern day Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (though not quite the same) and is characterized by persistent physical and mental fatigue, headaches, irritability, sleep disturbances, etc.
2. i.e. he still has to be careful not to anger the emperor, because even though the emperor is dying he can still have him executed.
3. Because he baited them into staying
4. Lit. “will you give me face,” like “will you respect my wishes”
5. Spirit tablets are wooden nameplates that serve as both a memorial and the representation of the spirit.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read