Thousand Verdant Mountains – Chapter 155 Part 1
Chapter 155 Part 1
Xuyu went over her doubts in her mind again.
Li Yan was no longer the brother Li Yan she had known when she was a child. Judging from his words before his death and his determination to cut off his own neck with a sword, it was not difficult to know that if his last ditch effort relying on the Wang family failed, the revenge he wanted would not be as simple as assassinating the emperor as most people thought.
“Your father deluded himself into thinking that by restoring the former glory of Emperor Ming, he could prove his own legitimacy and merit.
“My spirit will bear witness to what comes next. All his schemes—they will become a joke. The greatest joke under heaven.”
On the day of the captive offering ceremony, not only the emperor and the full court of civil and military officials would be present—all the envoys from the vassal states, the famed scholars of the realm, everyone would gather in the Chongtian Hall, the grand palace erected to glorify the emperor’s achievements. On that day, the iconic scroll of Celestial Being and The Capital would once again be unveiled, just like the scene that happened decades ago in the previous emperor dynasty.
What a glorious moment that would be.
For an emperor who had not ascended the throne through conventional means, this ceremony would serve as both validation and symbol of his completed legacy. After his death, history books would also record this event in great detail.
Although she had no way of knowing what kind of action Li Yan was planning, what could be a more deadly revenge on the enemy than to bring destruction at this glorious moment? Under such a revenge, even if the emperor escaped by chance and did not die, he would probably spend the rest of his life in endless shame.
Hanging curtains to protect the paintings, to guard it from disturbance—or even simply because it was the artist’s personal habit—these were all plausible explanations for Zhou He’s behavior. That day, she had found it odd, but nothing more, and hadn’t thought too deeply about it.
But his behavior was indeed abrupt and unusual.
From another perspective, if someone had wanted to tamper with something behind this curtain that tightly covers the entire hall, wouldn’t that have been the perfect opportunity?
Since the painting was completed, the Chongtian Hall had been vacant. On most days, only a few palace servants were assigned to sweep and maintain it, and even they were forbidden to enter at will except at fixed times in the morning and evening.
So far, only Zhou He could enter and exit the Chongtian Hall at any time without restrictions on the grounds of inspecting and protecting the murals.
At this moment, when she recalled the scene when he was sitting in a daze with a heavy heart, and then later asked for recommendation, she always felt something was wrong. But at that time, she interpreted Zhou He’s abnormal behavior as tremendous frustration and disappointment brought by the postponement of the longevity celebration.
If he truly has ulterior motives…
Xuyu shivered in fear.
“Do you still remember? Not long ago, he was painting in the Zhenguo Tower. Because the ladder was not stable, he fell and injured his arm. Thinking about it now, it seems a bit coincidental.
“I hope I am just being overthinking.”
She explained again, mumbling.
The setting sun was like a brush dipped in gold paste, painting the towering Chongtian Hall with a layer of dark golden light. A few crows flew around the towering ridge of the hall as usual, and suddenly, hundreds of armed guards appeared and climbed onto the high platform, breaking the silence of the evening with their footsteps.
Pei Xiaoyuan walked up the palace steps, came to the outside of the hall, pushed open the two heavy doors in front of him, and walked into the tall, deep and spacious grand hall.
Upon entering, he ordered all the palace doors and windows to be opened, and the curtains to be drawn back. The evening light poured into the grand hall from all sides, instantly illuminating the murals on the hall walls. In the golden haze that filled the hall, lofty mountains loomed, cities sprawled across the land, majestic walls and towers stood proud, the wind from the heavens stirred gently, and the robes of gods and immortals billowed as if alive—each figure vividly lifelike.
Pei Xiaoyuan once again emphasized on a ban of fire, and then the Yulin imperial guards dispersed to begin their search. The main hall, the side halls, the towers, upper levels, and every crevice or hidden space that could possibly conceal a person or foreign object—nothing was left unchecked.
One by one, the squad leaders reported back: nothing unusual had been found.
Pei Xiaoyuan stopped in the hall and looked around.
“Are you sure there’s nothing missing?” he asked.
“Reporting to Prince Consort, we have searched everywhere, including places that cannot be seen. There should be no omissions.”
Pei Xiaoyuan scanned the hall again. He gazed at the gradually dimming sky outside and was about to order the troops to withdraw and continue the search carefully tomorrow when the sky was brighter. But suddenly, he stopped.
Everyone waited for a moment and saw that he had lowered his eyes and was looking at the ground at the foot of the hall pillar in front of him. Following his gaze, they saw nothing there. Everyone was puzzled, but did not dare to make a sound to disturb him.
He raised his eyes slowly, his gaze hinting at something.
These people were all those who had previously served under him. After the abolition of the Luwu Division, its original personnel entered the palace to serve as Yulin guard, and they already had experience in cooperating with each other. Seeing this, although they still didn’t understand why, they knew that he must have discovered something, so they pretended nothing happened and continued their previous actions, searching everywhere again.
Pei Xiaoyuan glanced at the base of the hall pillar again.
On the smooth floor, under a lingering beam of light filtering in from outside, he caught a faint glimmer of reflected water.
Above his head loomed the hollow, towering ceiling of the main hall.
He did not look up. Instead, he picked up his bow and arrows and, like the Yulin guards around him still searching every corner, began to ascend the staircase built within one of the side halls.
When he first entered and started searching, he went up to the side attic on the top floor and looked at the ceiling beam in the center of the hall from a distance. At that time, he did not find anything unusual.
Today was sunny day, but there was a little water sheen on the floor of the main hall.
If he was not mistaken, this bit of water glimmer should be coming from above.
He once again climbed up to the highest level of the side pavilion and stopped behind the railing of a corridor. His eyes once again swept across the roof of the hall in front of him that was level with him.
The Chongtian Hall was built in the style, without a ceiling. Beside the corner pillars of the main hall, its massive roof was supported by ten central columns—each so wide it would take several men to encircle—coated in gold lacquer and carved with coiled dragons. Above them rose a layered lattice of intersecting beams in a crisscross pattern, further reinforced by inlaid golden beams and countless melon-shaped support columns. Together, they formed the intricate structure of the hall’s soaring roof—one that, including its foundations, reached an astonishing height of over 250 feet. Every beam and pillar were elaborately carved and brilliantly painted, a vision of opulence and splendor.
At the very center, a main crossbeam—thicker than a man’s waist and adorned with exquisite motifs of rolling clouds and creeping vines—served as the key support, connecting and bearing the weight of the entire network of beams and the hall’s roof above.
It was too high above the ground, and the sun was about to set, so the light on the top of the hall was extremely dim. At a glance, there was nothing but beams and columns crisscrossing each other.
His gaze was cast on the position where the water light was facing.
There, a dozen zhang away from him, was a narrow triangular space formed by a large pillar and a golden beam. From where he was standing, it was pitch black and nothing unusual could be seen.
He stared at that place.
At this moment, a person was shrinking his body into the smallest size and hiding in this cramped dark corner.
A drop of sweat slowly condensed on his brow again.
This drop flowed into the eyes.
A deep, heavy despair flickered in his eyes. Not because he had reached a dead end in this moment, but because of regret. If the jade must shatter, how could the tiles remain whole? He resented only that he had not been granted a few more days. If he could have held out until the day of the captive offering ceremony, he would have brought down every soul gathered in this grand hall, burying them all beneath the ruins in a final blow from the Crown Prince—perishing together.
Clenching his teeth, he suddenly took off the bow on his back, put an arrow on it, and sprang from his hiding place. In a blur of motion, he shot three arrows in rapid succession toward the figure across from him.
It was a technique Pei Xiaoyuan recognized. He drew his sword and struck down the incoming arrows, dodging them with precision. The attacker then rose to his feet, crouched low to keep his balance atop the gilded beam beneath him, and began racing toward the central beam.
At this time, the Yulin guards below and the surrounding also took action. Some rushed up quickly, and some shot arrows at the man on the beam above the main hall. The arrows whizzed up, but because of the distance, the force was greatly reduced when they reached the top, and they were easily all avoided by the man. In a blink of an eye, the man climbed up the beam, moved swiftly, pulled out the fire stick inserted in his belt. Striking a spark from his flint, he ignited it with a swift flick.
In the sudden flare of flame, a face emerged from the darkness.
It was Li Meng.
With the help of this sudden burst of light, Pei Xiaoyuan also discovered something unusual.
Faintly, he saw that at the intersection of the main beam and the central supporting melon-shaped pillar that held up the roof, a deep groove had been chiseled out. Inside it, it seemed to be filled with something.
And it wasn’t just that one spot—at several key junctions where the columns and beams interlocked to bear weight, there were also signs of tampering.
Because the distance was quite far and the light was dim, he didn’t notice it when he first came to inspect.
In an instant, Pei Xiaoyuan understood.
Although what he saw was consistent with his conjecture, when he witnessed it with his own eyes, he was still shocked by this conspiracy that had been laid out more than a year ago.
It was unimaginable what a tragic situation would happen here if Li Yan’s plot succeeded. Uncontrollable horror appeared in his eyes. He quickly drew his bow and arrow, aimed at Li Meng, and shot.