Chapter 483: Dragon

The Daliang Emperor, with eunuchs standing nearby, proudly showed off to Li Huowang. “Didn’t expect that, did you? I’m actually the Emperor!”

Li Huowang performed a Taoist bow, intending to return peacefully. However, it was clear that the young Emperor had other plans.

“Hey! Thanks for your reminder last time. If you hadn’t told me, I would have been tricked by that person! You have a good heart, you’re a good person. From now on, serve as an official by my side! You can tell me what position you want.”

“Absurd! These are the words of a foolish ruler!” The Imperial Advisor’s words made the Daliang Emperor’s face change instantly, and he immediately dared not be too reckless.

Though he was the Emperor of Daliang, there were clearly some matters he couldn’t decide on.

“Your Majesty, have you forgotten what needs to be done today?”

The Daliang Emperor stood up straight and answered obediently: “The offerings are ready, so I… I shall go to the Imperial Ancestral Temple today to pay respects to the former emperors.”

“Indeed,” the Daliang Imperial Advisor said, his heavy eyelids drooping, and he spoke no more.

Startled by the Imperial Advisor, the Daliang Emperor dared not delay important matters, but his delight at Li Huowang’s presence was clear. “You follow me for now, let’s go together. Once we’re done with the important business, we can chat properly!”

The Imperial Advisor’s lips trembled, but he ultimately didn’t utter a reprimand. However, he had already made up his mind to speak thoroughly with the Empress Dowager about this later.

Li Huowang originally wanted to refuse, but a group of old eunuchs surrounded him completely, making it impossible for him to leave. Glancing at the Imperial Advisor’s retreating back, Li Huowang decided not to make any rash moves.

Although this was somewhat beyond his expectations, befriending an emperor wasn’t necessarily a bad thing; it just wasn’t the right time for it to happen.

Following the Daliang Emperor’s grand procession, Li Huowang walked through the Daliang Imperial Palace.

During this time, the Daliang Emperor periodically looked back, clearly filled with curiosity about Li Huowang, especially after Li Huowang had helped him during the Shangsi Festival.

However, Li Huowang didn’t feel the same. He just wanted to get it over with quickly and avoid any further complications, as Miaomiao was still waiting outside.

Li Huowang originally thought that simply going to the so-called Imperial Ancestral Temple would be the end of it, but to his surprise, they returned the way they came, entering through the circular arched gate they had passed before.

The eunuch previously introduced as the Chief Steward was already kneeling in a neat row with a group of younger eunuchs, respectfully awaiting the Emperor’s arrival.

On the Eight Immortals table in front of them, seven jade dishes, each the size of a washbasin, were lined up, with various items placed upon them. These included translucent flower buds about to bloom, soft white eggs that continuously squirmed on the surface, and a piece of meat shaped like a ruyi scepter.

Each dish held different items, but the last jade dish was unique; it was completely empty except for occasional wisps of black smoke.

Li Huowang immediately understood that the last jade dish was meant for the spiritual aberration he had captured. All his painstaking effort to capture it, only for it to be an offering for deceased emperors, merely for display.

For a moment, Li Huowang felt that his previous efforts had been for naught.

No wonder the Daliang Emperor appeared as soon as he delivered the spiritual aberration; he had been waiting all along.

“Take them all,” a eunuch from a nearby row announced. With bowed heads, eunuchs walked out, holding the jade dishes high above their heads with both hands, following the Daliang Emperor towards the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

They walked for another half an hour. When Li Huowang’s keen nose detected the scent of sandalwood, he knew they had arrived at the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

From the outside, this so-called Daliang Imperial Ancestral Temple looked no different from an ordinary temple, only larger and more solemn.

Upon arriving here, the usually erratic Daliang Emperor visibly reined himself in. After bowing solemnly to the temple, he entered with the eunuchs and palace maids.

The Imperial Ancestral Temple was vast, with neatly arranged candles all around, making the interior somewhat stuffy. Old, blind and deaf eunuchs knelt in the corners, tapping on wooden fish drums and chanting Buddhist scriptures day and night without cease.

Just as the Daliang Emperor was kneeling on a prayer mat, worshipping before the neat rows of ancestral tablets within the temple, he was pulled to his feet by an old eunuch.

“Hmm? Is he not here today?” Li Huowang heard the surprise in the Daliang Emperor’s voice. It seemed the Emperor was also surprised by this.

After the old eunuch whispered something in his ear, the Emperor reluctantly stood up and led the group behind the ancestral tablets.

The bright yellow silk fabric hanging on the wall was pulled aside, revealing a majestic black stone gate before them. The black stone gate was carved with nine ferocious, claw-brandishing dragons, looking remarkably lifelike.

As the eunuchs slowly pulled open the massive stone gate, a chilling gust of cold air, enough to make one’s nape prickle, swept over them.

The palace maids all stopped; only the men proceeded inside. Even Zhibei was stopped.

Noticing this rule, Li Huowang couldn’t help but wonder, “Is this the ancestral hall of the Daliang imperial family?”

With that question in his mind, they stepped inside. It was vast and cavernous inside, so large that even footsteps echoed.

The entire space was generally funnel-shaped, high at the edges and low in the center, with decorations that fully displayed imperial extravagance.

Everywhere was glittering gold. Even the enormous sarcophagus at the very bottom, as large as a house, was made of gold. Nine golden dragons of varied forms, wrapped in chains, pulled at the golden sarcophagus from all directions.

Upon entering, Li Huowang was immediately stunned by this peculiar scene.

“Nine dragons pulling a coffin?” Li Huowang mused. Upon closer inspection, he felt it wasn’t quite right. It wasn’t nine dragons pulling a coffin; it looked more like the nine dragons were dismembering the sarcophagus.

“Wow! This place is really huge!” the Daliang Emperor exclaimed, looking around curiously.

After looking around for a while, he placed the seven offerings on the ground, guided by an old eunuch, and performed three bows and nine kowtows towards the sarcophagus.

Li Huowang originally thought he would also have to bow, but he noticed that even the surrounding eunuchs didn’t move. It seemed that those present were not deemed worthy of bowing here.

“So the deceased Daliang Emperors are buried in here? I thought they’d be interred in a mausoleum,” the Zuowang Dao hallucination beside him commented.

As Li Huowang carefully examined the extremely ornate patterns on the massive sarcophagus, he suddenly noticed something was amiss.

As the Daliang Emperor continued to kowtow, the enormous golden sarcophagus slowly opened.

“Father Emperor?” the Daliang Emperor gasped, stunned. Because the sarcophagus was at the lowest point, from his position on the outer circle, he immediately saw what was inside. “Father Emperor!!”

He excitedly rushed forward, but was firmly held back by several old eunuchs.

“What are you doing!! My Father Emperor is still moving!! He’s still alive! Why are you locking him up!”

“Your Majesty, this is the Dragon Vein! It is the very foundation of our Daliang, and must not be desecrated!”

Li Huowang also saw what the Daliang Emperor saw: the previous Daliang Emperor, who had fought to the death against the Zuowang Dao, was tightly bound by chains etched with dragon patterns.

Although he wore a spacious imperial robe embroidered with dragon patterns, it still couldn’t conceal the peculiar changes in his body: dark golden dragon scales, and dragon whiskers wriggling like tentacles.

What chilled Li Huowang even more was that he wasn’t alone. This Daliang Emperor was stacked upon another person, and the person beneath him was also stacked upon someone else, one after another, layer upon layer, seemingly endless.

The interior of the sarcophagus appeared extremely deep and dark. Successive Daliang Emperors were firmly pinned mid-air by chains, neatly stacked into a vertical column of corpses.

Li Huowang also noticed that this column of corpses was not motionless. It twisted in response to a certain howling sound from deep within the sarcophagus, as if trying to break free from the chains’ restraint.

Their movements resembled that of a restrained… dragon?