Druid Fairy

Chapter 204 Phoenix Words
Inside Kunning Palace, the scent of medicine mixed with sandalwood dispelled some of the chill.

The Empress Dowager leaned against the phoenix couch, gently combing Li Mengyue's hair in her arms.

Since the Empress fell ill and the Emperor ordered Li Mengyue to enter the palace to "attend to her," she has kept the child by her side at all times.

"Crescent Moon, are you scared?" The Empress Dowager's voice was old yet gentle.

Li Mengyue shook her head, then nodded, her little face full of worry beyond her years: "With the Empress Dowager here, Yueya'er is not afraid. But... I'm afraid my brothers are in danger."

A trace of pity and sorrow flashed in the Empress Dowager's cloudy eyes. She sighed softly, grasped Li Mengyue's fair little hand, and transferred a weak but pure Phoenix Power to her.

"Good child, you are a good child," she murmured to herself, "Our family has let you down."

Just then, an old eunuch quietly entered and bowed, reporting, "Your Majesty, the Emperor has arrived."

The Empress Dowager's body stiffened slightly, but she quickly regained her composure. She patted Li Mengyue on the back and said, "Go to the side hall and have some snacks."

Li Mengyue nodded obediently and followed the palace maid out.

Soon, the emperor, dressed in a bright yellow robe, with a lean face and deep, unfathomable eyes, slowly walked in.

He glanced at the empty warm chamber and calmly asked, "Where did Mother hide that child?"

"Emperor, how long are you going to keep this up?"

The Empress Dowager's voice suddenly turned icy cold, "I'm not senile yet! You deposed the Crown Prince, pushed the Fifth Prince to the forefront, and then bestowed upon this child Yueya'er the title of 'Purifying Saintess.' What are you plotting? Do you really think I can't see through you?"

"Your Majesty is overthinking it." The Emperor's face remained calm. "I am merely seeking a foolproof path for the sake of the Great Yu's empire."

"A path to absolute safety?" The Empress Dowager struggled to sit up in bed, staring intently at her son. "Your path to absolute safety is to push your son, an innocent child, onto the altar to feed that insatiable dragon?! Have you forgotten how your father, my husband, died?!"

The emperor's pupils suddenly contracted.

"Enough!" he roared, and an invisible imperial pressure suddenly spread out. "The late emperor sacrificed himself for the country to suppress the vengeful dragon's backlash! I will never follow in his footsteps!"

"So you want your son to follow in your father's footsteps?!"

The Empress Dowager refused to back down. "You think you've covered your tracks perfectly? You think you can fool everyone? That wicked dragon's appetite is growing ever larger! This time you've fed it one son, but what about next time? Are you planning to use the entire court and all the people of the land as its food?!"

"Shut up!" The emperor's face finally turned ashen. He stepped forward and grabbed the empress dowager's wrist. "Mother, you are old and should rest in peace. I know how to handle matters of the court."

The Empress Dowager met his gaze without fear. "Don't forget, water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it. Those children in the Li family are no ordinary people. If you push them too far, you might unleash something more terrifying than a vengeful dragon!"

Upon hearing this, a barely perceptible hint of apprehension flashed in the emperor's eyes, but he quickly regained his usual calm and indifferent demeanor.

“They can’t turn the world upside down.” He released his hand, turned and walked outside. “Before the National Protection Ceremony, that child will stay by your side. You are the most honored woman in this Great Yu.”

As soon as he finished speaking, his figure disappeared outside the palace gate.

The Empress Dowager slumped back onto her phoenix bed, her body ice-cold, her eyes filled with endless sorrow and despair.

She knew that her son had completely gone mad.

Inside Kunning Palace, the sound of the emperor's departing footsteps had long since faded, but the bone-chilling cold seemed to linger in the air, refusing to dissipate.

The Empress Dowager sat listlessly on her phoenix couch, like a wooden sculpture that had lost its soul, leaving only boundless silence and decay.

Her own son, the man she had poured her heart and soul into supporting to the throne, had now become a monster who would devour everything for power and immortality.

She knew that words alone could no longer awaken his extinguished conscience.

"We are so sorry for our family..." She thought of Li Mengyue's clear eyes again, and the last bit of softness in her heart was pierced by pain.

No, we can't just let it go.

Can't you leave a glimmer of hope for these innocent children, and for all the people in the world who are about to be dragged into the abyss by you?

The deathly silence in her eyes was gradually replaced by a resolute madness.

She abruptly threw off the covers, ignoring the palace maids' gasps, and walked barefoot to the dressing table.

She opened a hidden compartment that had been sealed for many years and took out an antique box made of Phoebe zhennan wood.

The box was opened, and inside lay a seal carved entirely from warm jade, in the shape of a phoenix rising from the ashes—the Phoenix Seal representing the highest power of the empresses of the Great Yu Dynasty!

This seal is not only a symbol of status, but also the only key to unlocking the deepest part of the royal palace, the "ancestral treasury," which even the current emperor has no right to use at will!

"Someone come here." The Empress Dowager's voice was hoarse but filled with unquestionable authority.

The old eunuch who had been waiting outside the palace slipped in silently and knelt on the ground. He was an old man the Empress Dowager had brought from her maternal family, and the only person in this deep palace whom she could still completely trust.

"Personally deliver this item to Tingtao Xiaozhu and give it to Li Mengze." The Empress Dowager handed the heavy phoenix seal to the old eunuch. "Tell him that this is all I can do. Whether they live or die depends on their own fate."

"This servant... obeys the decree."

The old eunuch accepted the Phoenix Seal with trembling hands; he knew the weight of this seal.

…………

At the same time, the town government.

The stone lions in front of the mansion appeared particularly solemn under the gloomy sky. The entire mansion was shrouded in a depressing and somber atmosphere.

With the Empress seriously ill and the Crown Prince deposed, it was as if the sky had fallen and the earth had collapsed for the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion.

Inside the study, the Duke of Zhenguo, with his full head of silver hair yet still upright posture, was wiping his ever-present sword with a gloomy expression.

"Your Excellency, the Duke." A deep voice came from outside the door, announcing, "Li Mengjin, the Deputy Commander of the Golden Scale Guard, requests an audience."

The Duke of Zhenguo paused in his wiping motion, his brows furrowing.

Li Mengjin? What's he doing here?
"Let him in."

A moment later, Li Mengjin, dressed in a silver flying fish robe and standing tall and straight like a pine tree, slowly walked into the study. He did not bring any attendants, only the ancient longsword at his waist.

“Lord Duke,” Li Mengjin said bluntly, his voice as cold as iron, “I’m here to save you, to save the Empress, and to save the entire Zhenguo Duke’s mansion.”

The air in the study froze instantly upon hearing this. The Duke of Zhenguo narrowed his eyes, and a fierce, battle-hardened aura emanated from him, pressing down on Li Mengjin: "Young man, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want."

Li Mengjin remained unfazed by the murderous aura that was enough to break the minds of ordinary cultivators, as if a gentle breeze were caressing him.

He calmly met the Duke of Zhenguo's gaze and said, word by word, "His Highness the Crown Prince suffered a qi deviation, and his dantian was shattered. Your Excellency has served in the army for many years, so you should know that how many people in the world can cripple a prince in the late stage of Qi Refining so cleanly and efficiently without harming his life?"

The Duke of Zhenguo's pupils suddenly contracted.

“Moreover,” Li Mengjin continued, “before the Crown Prince had his accident, he had just received a bottle of ‘Mind-Clearing Pill’ made by my elder brother, Li Mengze, to stabilize his mind. That pill is absolutely safe.”

He didn't say it aloud, but the meaning behind his words was like a heavy hammer, striking the Duke of Zhenguo's heart hard.

Who benefits the most from the Crown Prince's downfall? Is it the First Prince? No, it's the Emperor, who is high above and mighty, needs a "compliant" sacrifice, yet is also wary of the Duke of Zhenguo's military power!
This is a warning!
"What...what exactly do you want to say?" The Duke of Zhenguo's voice trembled slightly.

"The emperor's next target is the empress."

Li Mengjin's voice was devoid of any emotion, "Her Majesty the Empress's illness is not an illness, but a curse. This curse needs a trigger, and it also needs a scapegoat. Now that the Crown Prince is gone, Her Majesty the Empress has become the most suitable scapegoat. Once the Empress passes away, the foundation of the nation will be shaken. Duke, do you think your Zhenguo Duke's Mansion, which holds such a large army, can remain safe and sound?"

"Once the millstone is used and the donkey is discarded, the birds are all gone and the good bow is put away. Your Excellency, you understand this principle better than I do."

His words were like daggers to the heart.

The Duke of Zhenguo slumped back in his armchair, cold sweat beading on his forehead. He wasn't without suspicion, but he dared not think about it, nor did he want to.

Now that Li Mengjin has so bluntly exposed it, that last glimmer of hope has been completely shattered.

"Why should I believe you?" He raised his head, staring at Li Mengjin with bloodshot eyes.

“Because my younger sister, Li Mengyue, was chosen by the emperor to be another sacrifice to the ‘Curse of the Vengeful Dragon.’” Li Mengjin’s voice finally carried a hint of killing intent. “We have no way out.”

…………

On the other side of the capital, inside the "Exorcism Bureau," which was converted from the Royal Alchemy Academy, the air was filled with the fragrance of medicine.

Dressed in white, Li Mengze was methodically directing dozens of alchemists to process the mountain of rare medicinal herbs.

Half of these medicinal herbs were sent by the First Prince's residence, and the other half by the Fifth Prince's residence.

The two princes practically emptied their private treasuries to vie for his support as the key figure in "breaking the curse," each trying to outdo the other in showing off their abilities.

"Academician Li, His Highness the Crown Prince has sent another 3,000-year-old 'Dragon Blood Ginseng'!"

"Professor Li, His Highness the Fifth Prince has sent someone with the 'Soul-Stabilizing Pearl' from the East Sea!"

Li Mengze simply nodded indifferently, signaling his men to put it into the warehouse, his face showing no sign of favoritism.

The "Dragon-Suppressing Elixir" he was about to refine had an extremely mysterious formula, and the materials required were even more fantastical, many of which were rare items that only existed in legends.

He divided the elixir formula in two, giving one copy to the eldest prince and the other to the fifth prince, instructing them to search for it themselves.

As a result, both princes believed that they had the key to the matter and that Li Mengze was on their side. In order to gather the pills, they could only work even harder.

A conspiracy disguised as "alchemy" was thus openly and brazenly staged in the capital.

Countless precious resources were continuously sent to the "Exorcism Bureau," enriching the Li family's resources.

Li Mengze became the most bizarre balancing point in this struggle for the throne. Neither of the two princes dared to touch him; instead, they both treated him like a bodhisattva.

In the dead of night, when Li Mengze returned to Tingtao Xiaozhu, he was met by the old eunuch who had come from Kunning Palace.

"Academician Li, this is what Her Majesty the Empress Dowager instructed me to personally deliver to you." The old eunuch solemnly handed over the box made of golden nanmu wood.

When Li Mengze opened the box and saw the phoenix seal lying quietly on the bright yellow silk, even he, with his composure, couldn't help but catch his breath.

He instantly understood the Empress Dowager's intention.

Upon holding the Phoenix Seal, it felt cool and smooth, yet as heavy as a mountain.

"The Royal Treasury..."

In an instant, fragments of words he had seen in the secret manual of the Alchemy Academy flashed through Li Mengze's mind.

That was a forbidden area that existed as long as the nation itself, holding all the most core secrets of the Great Yu Dynasty from its founding to the present day. Its status even surpassed that of the royal treasury and the alchemical archives; it was said that even the current emperor was not allowed to enter without special circumstances.

There have always been two keys to unlock it.

One is the jade seal symbolizing imperial power, and the other is the phoenix seal symbolizing the power of the empress and the mother of the nation.

Now, one of the keys is in his hands!

“We must go!” Li Mengjin’s voice was resolute.

“It’s too dangerous,” Li Yuanhu frowned. “That place must be a den of dragons and tigers, heavily guarded. We…”

“That’s precisely why we must go.” Li Mengze’s gaze swept over the animal skin map and finally settled on the “Imperial Ancestral Temple” located at the end of the central axis of the imperial city, where incense smoke lingers all year round.

"The emperor thought he had everything under control, but he misjudged people's hearts. He didn't expect the Empress Dowager to take such a risky move, and this is our only chance."

A glint of wisdom flashed in Li Mengze's eyes. "The way to break the curse might be hidden in that ancestral treasury!"

The next day, a message, centered around the "Exorcism Bureau," quickly spread throughout the upper echelons of the capital.

After days of tireless research, Imperial Physician Li finally found the crucial final step in refining the "Dragon-Suppressing Elixir" in an ancient classic.

This method, named "Nine Heavens Thunder Guidance, Earth Fire Tempering of the Elixir," requires drawing upon the power of heavenly thunder and earthly fire at the moment of Yin and Yang convergence at midnight to perform the final tempering of the elixir. At that time, the completion of the elixir will be a spectacular sight, with spiritual energy surging and affecting an area within several miles.

To ensure absolute safety, Imperial Censor Li earnestly requested His Majesty to increase manpower to guard the "Exorcism Bureau" in order to prevent villains from taking the opportunity to cause trouble.

This message was delivered to both the eldest prince and the fifth prince.

The two reacted remarkably similarly upon receiving the news.

This "Dragon-Suppressing Elixir" is their only hope for turning the tide, and they absolutely cannot afford to lose it!

(End of this chapter)