Starting as the heir of a marquis's mansion, I gained access to a summoning system.

That winter was exceptionally long.

Within a radius of a hundred li (approximately 50 kilometers), heavy snow fell for seven days and seven nights, covering the glazed tiles of the palaces in white, and the snow on the imperial road was three feet deep. But what truly shook the imperial city was not the snow.

It was a rumbling sound coming from underground.

At midnight on the seventh day, a deep, muffled thud suddenly echoed from the depths of the imperial mausoleum in the southeast corner of the capital city, a mausoleum that had been silent for a century.

The sound was neither like thunder nor like an earthquake; it was more like some giant beast that had been sleeping in the abyss turning over—and that single turn caused the entire palace wall of the imperial city to tremble violently for a moment.

At that very moment, the Suspended Mirror Platform, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and the Garrison Command all received a secret report, the wording of which was strikingly consistent:

"The unusual activity at the imperial tomb is suspected to be a premonition of the awakening of the Demon God Lü."

Half an hour later, Emperor Qin Muzhi's imperial carriage appeared at the entrance of the imperial mausoleum.

Outside the imperial mausoleum, Qin Muzhi, dressed in plain black clothes, had no ceremonial guards or attendants, and was accompanied only by Cao Zhengchun.

He stood before the bronze mausoleum gate, which was over a hundred feet tall, his face flickering in the lamplight.

The patterns on the mausoleum gate are seal scripts personally carved by the Demon God Lü a hundred years ago. At this moment, they are expanding and contracting at a speed visible to the naked eye, as if they are breathing.

With each contraction, an extremely ancient aura leaked out from the crack in the door—an aura that sent chills down the spine of Cao Zhengchun, the Grandmaster at the peak of the ninth level of the Suspended Mirror Platform.

"Your Majesty," Cao Zhengchun lowered his voice, "Should I summon the best experts from the Three Departments to seal off the area—"

"No need." Qin Muzhi raised his hand to interrupt, his voice calm but tinged with seriousness. "If he really wakes up, no matter how many people you summon, you won't be able to stop him."

He stepped forward and placed his palm in the center of the mausoleum gate.

Golden light flowed in his palm, and a powerful aura of the initial stage of the Celestial Realm poured into the seal patterns—the seals that were about to collapse were stabilized again under his full support, and the tremors of the bronze mausoleum gate slowly subsided.

But Qin Muzhi's expression was three times more somber than when he arrived.

"Go back." He stopped and turned around. "Summon the chief officials of the Suspended Mirror Platform, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and the Garrison Command to the Imperial Study."

On the way back to the palace, Qin Muzhi remained silent.

Following behind the imperial carriage, Cao Zhengchun clearly sensed that the aura of heaven and man around the emperor was more solid and sharper than usual—as if, during that encounter at the entrance of the imperial mausoleum, the emperor had, on some level, clashed with that dormant will.

In the Imperial Study, the chief officials of the three departments gathered together.

Cao Zhengchun, commander of the Suspended Mirror Platform; Zhou Jishi, commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard; and Zhao Chengyuan, commander of the Garrison Command. The three men stood on three sides, waiting for the emperor on the throne to speak.

Qin Muzhi remained silent for a long time before slowly saying, "The Demon God Lü is about to wake up."

These six short words caused the expressions of three Grandmasters of the Ninth Heaven, powerful figures in the imperial court, to change simultaneously.

"A hundred years ago, the late emperor was assassinated. Lü Moshen, as the late emperor's adopted son, took swift and decisive action, leveling seventy-two branch altars of the Underworld Palace within three months and uprooting all forces involved in the rebellion."

Afterwards, he confiscated all the treasures of those forces—the Nine Transformations of Heavenly Secrets, the Pestle of Myriad Calamities, the Mysterious Heaven Armor, the Twelve Lost Techniques, and over thirty kinds of rare and precious original spiritual plants—and sealed them all in the imperial mausoleum. Then he secluded himself inside, never stepping out of the mausoleum again.

Qin Muzhi's voice was devoid of emotion.

"If he were to fully awaken now, the seal would break on its own. Even a single item from those items would be enough to drive the world into a frenzy."

Zhou Jishi cupped his hands in greeting: "What does Your Majesty mean?"

"My meaning is very simple."

Qin Muzhi stood up, his gaze sweeping over the three of them like that of a hawk.

"The imperial mausoleum is my imperial mausoleum, and the things inside are mine. But I know that the people of the world will not think that way. The Wanfo Temple, the Zhenwu Dao Sect, the Siji Sword Sect, the Chu Family, the Tianmo Sect—those old things that have been lying dormant for hundreds of years, the spiritual energy tide has caused their cultivation to surge, and their courage has also grown."

They wouldn't stand idly by and watch Lu Moshen's things remain sealed in the imperial tomb.

Especially Wanfo Temple—they had endured the grudge of having their mountain gates breached and the entire temple suppressed by the demon god Lü a hundred years ago.

Zhao Chengyuan asked in a deep voice, "What does Your Majesty need the Three Departments for?"

"Look," Qin Muzhi uttered only one word, "look into everyone's eyes."

"Tell me who dares to extend a claw towards the imperial tomb. Tell me who appears within three miles of the imperial tomb. Tell me who is eyeing those sealed artifacts."

The three chief officials bowed in unison: "Your subjects obey the decree."

When he stepped down, Cao Zhengchun was the last to leave.

He glanced back at the solitary figure on the throne and suddenly felt that the emperor, who had ruled the dynasty for over a hundred years, was showing a rare weariness at this moment.

But when he looked closer, Qin Muzhi had regained his indifferent and emotionless eyes.

"Cao Zhengchun, go and tell the Crown Prince and the Third Prince, and others—tell them not to make any rash moves recently."

"His Majesty made it clear?"

"Regarding the imperial tombs, whatever they're thinking, they'd better keep it to themselves. Anyone who dares to use the imperial tombs as a pretext at this time will be dealt with by me first."

Cao Zhengchun was startled and bowed his head as he left the imperial study.

The speed at which information spreads is always faster than the speed at which it is blocked.

Seven days later, in the main hall of Wanfo Temple, Abbot Liaochen paused, his hand moving the prayer beads. The messenger monk kneeling behind him finished reporting the details of the strange events at the imperial tomb in a low voice, and the hall fell into a long silence.

"Lu the Demon God... a figure who, a hundred years ago, shattered the gates of my Ten Thousand Buddha Mountain and suppressed the entire temple."

Liao Chen opened his eyes, his eyebrows as white as frost and snow, but a cold light flashed deep in his pupils. "When the late emperor was assassinated, the Underworld Palace and the White Lotus Sect joined forces to rebel. When he avenged the late emperor, the first thing he did was destroy my Wanfo Temple - just because my temple had a secret relationship with the Underworld Palace back then."

He could destroy my sect once, he can destroy it a second time. For a hundred years, Wanfo Temple has remained in seclusion, not to cultivate itself, but to wait until he forgets.

The messenger monk whispered, "Abbot, about those things in the imperial tomb..."

"Don't move." Liao Chen's voice was as indifferent as an ancient bell. "No one is allowed to approach within three miles of the imperial mausoleum. Even if the Demon God Lü is only half-awake, his aura alone can obliterate anyone who gets close."

"But what about the other forces..."

"Let them go to their deaths."

Liao Chen's fingers, which were busy stringing prayer beads, quickened their pace by a third. "The True Martial Dao Sect, the Four Extremes Sword Sect, the Chu Family, the Heavenly Demon Sect—which of them isn't trying to make a quick buck while Demon God Lü is still asleep? If they dare to go, let them go."

The messenger monk received the order and withdrew, leaving the main hall filled with the fragrance of incense. Liao Chen sat cross-legged on the futon for a full hour before slowly opening his eyes and gazing at the gray sky outside the hall.

"The imperial tombs cannot be touched... but that doesn't mean we should do nothing."

He muttered to himself, "Those remnants of the White Lotus Sect, we've nurtured them for a hundred years, it's time to put them to use."

He raised his hand, and a jade slip slid out of his sleeve and landed in his palm.

"Let them start an uprising in the south. Test the court's bottom line, test Lü Moshen's reaction—and muddy the waters of the world."

The jade slip shattered, and a thought was transmitted from afar.