Zhu Shoujing awoke with a start.
He first saw his own toes, stepping into a patch of dry, blackened pine needles, the bottom already rotten.
A soft, spongy sensation came from beneath his feet.
He slowly lifted his gaze.
Coiling tree roots rose from the ground, twisting and drilling into the tree trunk, leaving cracks on the bark, and then stretching towards the sky.
An iron-blue moonlight filtered down through the branches, illuminating a gaunt figure not far away, silently watching him.
This place was already outside the imperial mausoleum; judging by the surrounding vegetation, he was on the other side of Tianshou Mountain.
Zhu Shoujing understood his situation.
From the very beginning, he had been pulled into an illusion by Emperor Jianwen.
The shadow he saw in the room was fake, he had never let out that loud shout, and the subsequent experience of rushing into the courtyard with a drawn knife, then discovering traces of the opponent and pursuing them, was all fake.
In fact, he had known who the opponent was all along.
No one could silently eliminate the Celestial Humans of the Xiaoling Guard; if Zhu Shoujing had made any sound, they would surely have come to his aid.
The only explanation was that his perceptions were false.
Last night, he had been affected by the opponent's illusion, injuring his subordinates and his meridians, so how could he not guess the opponent's identity now?
However, Zhu Shoujing did not know that if he truly couldn't guess, Emperor Jianwen would not have been able to trap him in the illusion for so long.
Because Stillness's characteristic was precisely this: the stronger you believed the opponent to be, the stronger they truly became; the weaker you believed yourself to be, the weaker you truly became.
After being tricked by Emperor Jianwen last night, the seed of fear had already been planted in his heart. After guessing who the opponent was, his mind became increasingly restless and vulnerable, and the illusion became increasingly real and lasting.
Had it been another Celestial Human, Emperor Jianwen might not have been able to achieve this.
This was also why Emperor Jianwen's performance differed so greatly when facing Yin Ruihua and the eight revered retainers.
The eight revered retainers knew very little about him to begin with, and he also had to dodge the combined attacks of the eight Celestial Humans; the more he dodged, the weaker he appeared in the eyes of the eight revered retainers, and Stillness became increasingly difficult to affect them.
Zhu Shoujing reached for his waist but did not find his sabre; it must have been lost somewhere while he was unconscious. So he clenched his fists, assumed a defensive stance, and focused his gaze on Emperor Jianwen.
Suddenly, Emperor Jianwen's figure blurred, then changed, no longer appearing gaunt.
He had a square face, large ears, sword-like eyebrows, and bee-like eyes, dressed in a dragon robe; he looked at him with a serious and indifferent expression.
"Another illusion!"
Zhu Shoujing gritted his teeth.
He truly didn't know what the other party intended to do. If he wanted to kill him, he could have just killed him with One Slash when he was unconscious. Why go to such great lengths to lead him here, and why change into this appearance?
"Who are you, why did you trespass into the imperial mausoleum, and why did you lead me here?!"
Zhu Shoujing asked in a deep voice.
Emperor Jianwen did not speak.
After some time, the scene before Zhu Shoujing's eyes changed again.
"Again!"
He cursed inwardly.
He found himself in a grand hall again.
Blood and gore flew, limbs were severed.
It was precisely what Yin Ruihua had witnessed that day: his experience of breaking into Taihe Hall with the Celestial Humans under Emperor Chengzu's command and ultimately pinning Emperor Jianwen to the dragon throne.
"Haha—" The illusion dissipated, and Zhu Shoujing suddenly clutched his knees, gasping for breath.
"You, you really are—Emperor Jianwen?"
He asked.
Emperor Jianwen still did not speak, pulling Zhu Shoujing into an illusion once more.
This time, it was inside the tomb chamber within the Xiaoling Mausoleum.
The tomb chamber was extremely cold, with no lights on the walls, only the flickering firelight projected from the tomb passage. Dampness crept down the stone walls, forming circular water stains a foot above the ground.
In the center of the tomb chamber, a coffin was placed, not yet sealed. Two people stood beside the coffin, looking inside.
One was Yin Ruihua.
And the other, a middle-aged man, had a broad forehead and square face, a beautiful beard that hung long to his belly, double lines at the corners of his eyes extending into his temples, and three copper-coin-sized red spots on his face.
"Emperor Chengzu!"
Zhu Shoujing exclaimed, but found he couldn't make any sound, and when he raised his hand to touch the wall, there was no sensation whatsoever.
He instantly understood that here, he was merely an observer.
Zhu Shoujing stepped forward, walked to the side of the coffin, and by the firelight reflected from the tomb passage, carefully observed the middle-aged man's face, confirming that it was indeed Emperor Chengzu.
Then he looked inside the coffin and was startled.
Lying inside the coffin was Emperor Jianwen, who was now coldly looking at Yin Ruihua and Emperor Chengzu.
"Have you repented?"
Emperor Chengzu said, looking at Emperor Jianwen, then shook his head.
"I really asked too much."
"Listen carefully."
Emperor Chengzu said slowly.
"Since you wish to step on the corpses of the Zhu family to become an immortal ancestor and achieve your eternal great work, I insist that you lie in this tomb chamber for generations, watching my descendants pass down Great Shuo."
"Moreover, I want you to forever be the guardian of my descendants' great work."
Emperor Chengzu turned to Yin Ruihua and said.
"Yin-xiong."
"Your Majesty."
"Before the uprising, I told you that if I could enter Taihe Hall, I would certainly not treat you unfairly."
"Now, I have an eternal task to entrust to you."
Yin Ruihua bowed and said, "Your Majesty, please speak."
"My Zhu family has two methods for cultivating Celestial Human revered retainers. One is derived from the Western Regions' Turtle Breath technique, entering deep slumber, only to be awakened when needed; the other is a cultivation method that Grand Ancestor obtained from the Ming Cult."
"Jia Yi Divine Skill."
Emperor Chengzu said slowly.
"This cultivation method was originally a technique for transferring cultivation, but after Grand Ancestor commanded the heroes under his command to modify it, it was no longer limited to transferring cultivation, but could also transfer—lifespan and spiritual essence."
"Cultivation is life, spiritual essence is nature; if life can be transferred, nature naturally can too. This is probably the only existing cultivation method for nature cultivation in the world today."
"The Celestial Human Five Declines are the consequence of only cultivating life. With this method, one can transfer the 'nature' of other Celestial Humans onto oneself, thereby alleviating the deficiency of insufficient nature cultivation and delaying the process of the Celestial Human Five Declines."
Emperor Chengzu turned his head to look at Emperor Jianwen in the coffin.
"Emperor Jianwen, however, went a step further than this."
"I don't know where he obtained such an evil art; not only can he transfer Celestial Humans, but he can also use people of his own clan to cultivate this method, forcefully stacking up a 'Stillness'."
"His attempts to weaken the feudal lords were so rushed precisely because of this method, resulting in his twelfth brother being forced to self-immolate rather than become his sustenance."
"Cultivating both life and nature, his lifespan is no longer the same as ours, mere mortals; as long as Celestial Humans are supplied to him, he can probably live for one or two hundred years."
Emperor Chengzu looked at Yin Ruihua again.
"Yin-xiong, the task I want to entrust to you is—"
"Guard this place until Emperor Jianwen dies."
"The benefit I will give you is that you can share the Celestial Humans collected by our Great Shuo with him and live on for a long time."】}
