Martial Cultivator

The most powerful and mysterious man in the entire Great Liang Dynasty was none other than this Great Liang Emperor.

His life had been filled with remarkable events and grandeur.

From his initial exile to the North, to rising in rebellion as Prince Fan, and then eventually coming to the Divine Capital and becoming the ruler of the entire Great Liang Dynasty, he had governed this dynasty exceptionally well. Regardless of anything else, the actions of His Majesty the Emperor have unequivocally proven him to be a remarkable ruler with a bold vision.

Even if the history books wanted to record some unfavorable aspects of such a character, that would be a matter for the future.

The current Great Liang Emperor stood there like a towering mountain. It was an unsurmountable mountain to a teenager like Chen Chao.

The power and influence of the Great Liang Emperor was too strong. Even the unintentional release of his aura was enough to overwhelm Chen Chao, this Divine Trove Realm martial artist.

When Chen Chao first arrived in the Divine Capital, he had once met that Lord Warden. He was also a Nepenthe martial artist. However, the pressure that the Warden gave him was a totally different feeling from the pressure that this Great Liang Emperor was currently giving him.

"Go inside."

"If you could have told her earlier and called her Aunt, she might have been over the moon."

The Great Liang Emperor spoke, his eyes filled with infinite longing. But in the end, all those emotions were concealed, perhaps hidden deep within his heart, never to be revealed again.

The imposing aura dissipated completely, as if the storm had subsided and the sun had just risen.

The heavy rain became lighter

Braving the rain, Chen Chao walked past the Great Liang Emperor.

It was actually his first time meeting this imperial uncle today, the first time in the true sense of the word.

When their shoulders brushed past each other, the Great Liang Emperor suddenly stopped and looked at him, saying, "Your saber is pretty good. If possible, find a skilled artisan to restore it. It would make for a fine saber."

During Chen Chao's battle with the nun before, his ability to cut through the nun's robe mainly relied on the broken saber in his hand, and not his cultivation realm.

After all, their cultivation realms were truly too far apart.

Although the nun was no match for Li Heng, her cultivation level was extremely high. How could someone like Chen Chao defeat her?

Chen Chao remained silent and just walked ahead. Soon, he entered that palace.

Inside the palace, the palace maids had long departed. It was currently empty, making it seem very deserted.

In reality, even when the Empress was alive, there were not many palace maids in this palace. The Empress, who was the motherly model for the world for thirteen years, had always been frugal. This extended to her daily life as well, there was no extravagance to be found.

Chen Chao arrived in front of the bed.

The curtains were already drawn and the Empress lay quietly on the bed. It was impossible for her to open her eyes again. Through the curtains, one could only vaguely see the bright phoenix robe on the bed.

Chen Chao fell silent for a while, reminiscing about many things. It was a summer night when he was still a young child. His mother held him in her arms and was telling a story. The story was not particularly complicated, but at the end of the story, the woman who had been mistreated ever since her husband's death looked up at a certain star in the night sky and whispered, "Throughout my life, it seems like I've always been bullied, except by her, she was my dear sister..."

At that time, the Great Liang Emperor had not yet decided to rise in rebellion, and the deposed emperor had begun preparations to curtail the princes and vassals. She was still deeply concerned about that elder sister.

Of course, such emotions vanished completely after the Great Liang Emperor rose in rebellion and continued gaining the upper hand.

Chen Chao pulled himself out of those thoughts and looked at the bed before him.

……

……

Xie Nandu sat at the entrance of the Laundry Bureau, holding a bag of honey dates that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. As she sat there, she began eating the honey dates. Because she was a little bored and worried, she did not find the honey dates particularly delicious when eating them.. Nonetheless, she ate a few extra out of boredom.

But after eating too many, she started to feel a bit sick of it.

After some time, the nun they had previously encountered came back.

She had changed her clothes, but her expression was still very ugly. She seemed to have not discovered the previous events, but after seeing Xie Nandu again, her eyes showed different emotions.

Xie Nandu glanced at the nun and suddenly said, "Come, have a seat."

The nun looked at her and was silent for a long time before finally walking over and sitting on the doorstep beside her.

These two women, who were at least several decades apart in age, have only met for the second time.

Xie Nandu offered the bag of honey dates and said, "Have some honey dates."

The nun was taken aback for a moment, then quickly took the bag of honey dates and took one to put in her mouth. After chewing it for a while, two clear lines of tears rolled down her eyes.

This nun who had been forced to cultivate outside the Divine Capital for thirteen years, muttered in a low voice, "When I was young, I loved eating honey dates from the South Street's honey dates shop. Every time she returned from outside, she would specially queue up to buy me a bag. We were such close sisters in those years. She only had me, one younger sister, and she should only have me, this one younger sister."

Her voice was filled with a sobbing tone, full of pain.

Xie Nandu looked at her and roughly understood some things. She said, "Actually, that person was her little sister and your little sister too."

When the nun heard this, she raised her head angrily, only to catch sight of the jade bracelet worn on Xie Nandu's wrist. She naturally recognized the jade bracelet, it was a gift given by that Empress back then on the day of her marriage. Among Emperor Lingzong's sons, the current Great Liang Emperor was the fourth. Like the Crown Prince, they were the two sons that Empress liked the most.[1]

The nun said softly, "She's just a bastard child, unable even to bear our father's surname. It's because of her that Father and Mother had always been at odds. If not for her, why would it be like this?"

She ate the honey dates while tears continued streaming down her face.

In these thirteen years, she had naturally suffered a lot of grievances.

Deep down, she felt that she had not done anything wrong in that incident back then.

Xie Nandu looked at the rain and said softly, "Even if someone is at fault, it's the fault of that Great General. What did it have to do with her?" "She was a victim too. After she was born, her father was not around, and she didn't even have her father's surname. Perhaps all she wanted out of your prominent family background, was to have a complete family, and a father who didn't travel far. Even if he traveled far, he would come back one day as well."

The nun looked at Xie Nandu, her eyes filled with confusion.

Xie Nandu looked at the nun earnestly and said, "She wasn't at fault."

The nun was rather silent.

Silent for a long time.

"Perhaps it really wasn't her fault, I was just a little jealous of her. As soon as she came home, Big Sister treated her exceptionally well. One day, when she came back, Big Sister forgot about the honey dates but remembered her matter. I was supposed to be her only little sister, but everything changed once she came."

The nun ate the honey dates while tears continued to stream down her face.

As she said, perhaps she did not actually dislike that younger sister. It was just that after she came, she felt that she had taken away what rightfully belonged to her.

Xie Nandu raised her hand, smiled slightly, and said, "I told you, she was your little sister too. You should have treated her the same."

"Actually, it wasn't so complicated, it really wasn't that complicated."

Xie Nandu looked at the nun and smiled, "Look, the rain is about to stop."

……

……

Chen Chao walked out of the palace.

Returning to the laundry bureau.

Xie Nandu glanced at him.

The nun had already left and the rain already stopped.

"How was it?"

Xie Nandu stood up and did not take that oiled-paper umbrella.

Because the rain had already stopped, the oiled-paper umbrella was now useless.

Chen Chao looked at her and then took a jade bracelet out of his bosom.

Xie Nandu was a little stunned. This jade bracelet was exactly the same as the one she was wearing.

"That Empress actually gave my mother a jade bracelet back then too. Maybe she pitied her, or maybe it was for some other reason. But no matter what, after my mother got this jade bracelet, she treated it like a treasure because she felt it was the most important thing to her. She intended to pass it on to her daughter-in-law one day."

The jade bracelet on Xie Nandu's hand actually held the same meaning too.

Chen Chao took her hand, put the jade bracelet on her, and smiled.

Xie Nandu frowned and said, "This is too direct."

Chen Chao said, "If it were someone else, I wouldn't give it."

Xie Nandu smiled and said, "If it were someone else, I wouldn't want it."