A heretical cultivator in Bureau 749, I'm the fiercest at pulling out tendons and skinning peop

In the days that followed, Zhu Cheng completely ignored Ji Zuodao.

No matter how much trouble or disturbance Ji Zuodao caused in the Forbidden City, he pretended not to see or hear it.

Ji Zuodao led the monsters to have a barbecue in the Taihe Hall, and he didn't care.

Ji Zuodao was playing drinking games with the monsters in the Imperial Garden, and he didn't care.

Ji Zuodao led the monsters to sing karaoke in the Qianqing Palace.

Yes, they somehow got hold of a sound system and started singing "I Will Love You Till I Die" in the Qianqing Palace. The singing was so heart-wrenching, so wailing.

He still doesn't care.

He simply pretended that Ji Zuodao didn't exist.

He was like air, like dog poop, like a lump of trash not worth paying attention to.

Only when he saw Qiqi would a different emotion appear in his eyes.

It was a very complex emotion.

There was reluctance, guilt, and struggle, but in the end, they were all replaced by something more resolute.

That evening, Qiqi took Ji Zuodao's hand and prepared to leave the secret realm.

The afterglow of the setting sun spilled into the courtyard of Yongning Palace, bathing everything in a warm golden glow.

Qiqi's little face showed a hint of fatigue, but more than that, it was filled with satisfaction and happiness.

She played all day today, chasing butterflies, learning cat's cradle from the palace maids, and even riding a little white horse—

Although the horse was led by a eunuch, she was still someone who had ridden a horse before.

Zhu Cheng stood at the entrance of Yongning Palace, watching Qi Qi walk out.

In his hand, he held the replica of the Imperial Seal of the State.

The jade seal gleamed with a warm glow in the setting sun, and the five coiled dragons seemed to come alive in the afterglow, their scales and claws clearly defined, lifelike.

He stepped forward and blocked Qiqi's path.

Qiqi looked up at him and blinked: "Big brother?"

Zhu Cheng crouched down to be at eye level with Qi Qi, his gaze gentle, his voice tinged with a tentative, cautious tone: "Qi Qi, do you like it here?"

Qiqi tilted her head, thought for a moment, and then nodded: "I like it."

Zhu Cheng's eyes brightened slightly: "Really?"

"Mmm!" Qiqi nodded vigorously. "This place is very interesting. Brother likes it, Lingling likes it, and Qiqi likes it too."

Zhu Cheng looked into Qi Qi's clear eyes, remained silent for a few seconds, then held out the jade seal in his hand: "Does Qi Qi want this?"

Qi Qi looked at the jade seal, then raised her head to look at Zhu Cheng, and shook her head: "This belongs to my older brother."

"No." Zhu Cheng's voice was soft, yet carried a solemn tone. "This is yours. This is your home. It should be yours."

Qi Qi looked at the jade seal in his hand, then raised her head and looked at Ji Zuodao standing behind her.

Ji Zuodao stood in the sunset, his hands in his trench coat pockets, his face expressionless, but his eyes were quietly watching her.

Qi Qi looked into Ji Zuodao's eyes, remained silent for a few seconds, then turned back to look at Zhu Cheng.

She shook her head.

The movement was small, but very firm.

"This is not Qiqi's home."

Her voice was soft, with a childlike gentleness, yet exceptionally clear, "Qiqi's home is in the Han Dynasty. There's an older brother, a dog-grandfather, a little sister, an uncle Xiong Meng, an older brother Ao Yan, an older sister Ni Yu..."

She counted them one by one, until she couldn't count them anymore, so she simply concluded, "That's Qiqi's home."

She said this in a very ordinary tone, as naturally as if she were saying "what I ate today".

Without hesitation, without struggle, without reluctance.

It was as if she were stating a fact that she already knew and had no doubt about.

Ji Zuodao didn't say a word from beginning to end.

But the corners of his mouth, ever since Qiqi said "that's Qiqi's home," have been turned up high, so high and so smug.

His twitching eyebrows revealed his incredibly relaxed mood.

The feeling was indescribable. It was more refreshing than drinking an ice-cold Coke on a hot summer day, more comfortable than taking a hot bath in winter, and happier than finding a billion dollars.

He suddenly felt that all the trouble, the probing, and the days of outwitting and outmaneuvering Zhu Cheng had been worth it.

For no other reason than that.

Just because of what Qiqi said.

"That's Qiqi's home."

Ji Zuodao lowered his head, looking at Qiqi's fluffy little head, and a strange, indescribable emotion welled up in his heart.

That emotion was warm and soft, like a cotton candy stuck in my chest, so sweet it was almost cloying.

He reached out and gently patted Qiqi's head: "Let's go home. Doggy's still waiting for us at home."

Qiqi looked up and gave him a big smile: "Yeah! Let's go home!"

Zhu Cheng straightened up, his head bowed, making it impossible to see the expression on his face.

The last rays of the setting sun shone on him, casting a long shadow at his feet.

He just stood there, motionless, like a frozen sculpture.

Qi Qi, holding Ji Zuodao's hand, had already walked a few steps.

"Qiqi...I'm sorry."

"But this is a responsibility that the princess of the Ming Dynasty should bear."

Zhu Cheng's voice was low and soft, as if it were squeezed out from deep in his throat.

Qiqi stopped in her tracks.

She turned around, looked at Zhu Cheng's back, tilted her head, and her little face was full of confusion: "Big brother?"

Zhu Cheng slowly raised his head, and a talisman was placed at his fingertips.

It was a determination that had been made and would not be changed.

Ji Zuodao's pupils suddenly contracted.

That talisman was exactly the same as the one stuck on Qiqi's forehead.

Ji Zuodao pulled Qiqi behind him, his whole body like a bowstring stretched to its limit.

The black veins beneath his skin began to writhe wildly, like countless tiny venomous snakes crawling under his skin, spreading from his neck to his cheeks, and then from his cheeks to the corners of his eyes, making his face instantly look ferocious and terrifying.

But Zhu Cheng did not look at him.

Zhu Cheng held up the talisman and spoke.

The voice wasn't loud, but it carried a peculiar rhythm, like an ancient incantation, or some kind of irresistible command:

"Imperial Edict!"

The moment those two words were uttered, the air seemed to freeze for a moment.

"Seven Seven, heed my command—"

Zhu Cheng's voice echoed through the empty passageway, each word carrying an invisible force that pressed down on people's hearts, making it hard to breathe.

"—Release all the dragon energy within your body!"

The talisman paper in his hand, with its cinnabar-drawn runes, suddenly glowed with a dazzling red light.

The light was as intense as blood, appearing particularly eerie in the twilight, casting Zhu Cheng's face in half light and half shadow.

at the same time--

The talisman on Qiqi's forehead also flashed with the same red light.

The red light flashed and disappeared in an instant, as if something had been activated, or as if some signal had been sent out.

Ji Zuodao's heart skipped a beat.

He subconsciously turned around and looked at Qiqi.

Qiqi raised her head.

She looked at Zhu Cheng and spoke, her voice soft and gentle, yet exceptionally clear, each word distinct and deliberate:

"I do not want."

Those three words were like a stone thrown into calm water, creating an invisible ripple in the air.

The expression on Zhu Cheng's face froze for a moment.

His eyes widened slightly, filled with disbelief and astonishment.

"What happened?"

"This edict...is ineffective?"