Chapter 104 The Events of That Year (Part 1)

A dark cloud seemed to hang over the Emperor's face. "Eunuch Shun, open the secret passage!"

Eunuch Shun wanted to refuse, but looking at the Emperor's bloodshot eyes, he sighed, "Your Majesty, this servant obeys."

He took a key from the whisk he was holding, then walked to the bookshelf behind the dragon throne in the Hall of Mental Cultivation and inserted it into a recessed area.

With a "bang," the bookcase behind the dragon throne slowly opened, revealing a pitch-black space before the two people. However, in the very center, there was a clearly visible square opening.

Below the opening is a long, winding staircase.

The Emperor strode in, and Eunuch Shun hurriedly followed after closing the gates of the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

"Your Majesty, please be careful. Let this servant help you. Be careful not to fall."

The Emperor looked somewhat impatient, but he allowed Eunuch Shun to help him up.

Eunuch Shun helped the Emperor down the stairs, one step at a time.

The Emperor looked at everything before him and sighed, "Eunuch Shun, all these years, do you really think I've been the one who made mistakes?"

Eunuch Shun was the Emperor's confidant, and he had seen all of this before. He said respectfully, "Your Majesty is the supreme ruler of the Nine Dragons, what wrong have you done?"

"Sigh." The Emperor sighed, and slowly touched the wall of the secret passage with his large hands.

The candlelight flickered in the dark passage, its dim light dispelling the darkness and illuminating the uneven surfaces of the walls.

Wherever the light shone, long golden dragons appeared. Beside the dragons stood towering city walls. Beneath the walls stretched a vast, dark army.

The massive army besieged the city, and dark clouds shrouded the sky. Those large hands slowly touched the golden dragon mural, and in that instant, Emperor Anqing felt as if he had returned to that day.

At that time, he was not yet the emperor. During the struggle for the throne among the nine princes, he was plotted against and demoted to a commoner by his father.

The neighboring Southern Barbarians planted a traitor in Dongyue. Knowing that Dongyue was in the midst of a power struggle among the nine princes, they took advantage of the internal strife and sent an army of 300,000 to the border, threatening to destroy Dongyue.

With domestic politics in chaos and people suffering, the border people and trading posts were either killed or destroyed. He, who had been reduced to a commoner, was truly heartbroken!

He risked his life to enter the palace and pleaded with his father, the emperor, hoping to be allowed to lead troops to resist the southern barbarians, but who knew...

The emperor, his temples graying, lay on his dragon bed, shaking his head weakly, "Everything is beyond our control."

He didn't understand what it meant at the time, but before he could think about it, he heard his father, the emperor, on the soft couch say to him, "Do you want to be the emperor?"

He was stunned. A desire seemed to be raging within him, urging him to say yes. But the last vestiges of reason in his mind told him to refuse.

The emperor seemed to have seen through his thoughts and forced a smile, but the oppressive aura emanating from him still swept over him. "Tell the truth. Now that Dongyue is in imminent danger, the throne should naturally be handed over to someone capable."

"Go find someone and ask that person to help you."

Upon hearing this, he immediately became excited and asked, "Father, who do you want me to find? I will find him even if it means going through fire and water!"

The Emperor sighed. “Go find General Yan Yun’an, who is living in seclusion in Nanling Mountain. If he refuses to help you, then get close to his son, gain his son’s trust, and ask him for help.”

He was stunned. "Father, didn't Lord Yan already..."

The late emperor smiled slightly, "It was just a trick to consolidate his power and appease the people in his early years. His mind was not on politics and military affairs. Compared with these, he preferred to live in seclusion in the mountains. In order to fulfill his wishes, I deliberately said that he died on the battlefield."

Yan Yun'an was the right-hand man of the late emperor and is now a renowned and victorious general in the Dongyue Kingdom, known as the God of War.

But he still didn't understand, "Father, even if Yan Yun'an doesn't agree to come out of seclusion, what's the use of me looking for his son?"

The late emperor seemed surprised by his words and explained with a smile, "Yan Yun'an's son is even more capable than him."

One sentence was a revelation to him.

He knelt respectfully on the ground, his tone devout, and kowtowed deeply to the late emperor, saying, "Your Majesty, I will certainly live up to your expectations and invite Lord Yan out of Nanling Mountain."

The late emperor smiled and waved his hand, watching him leave.

He just didn't notice the gloom on his father's face at the time.

The oppressive atmosphere at the border of Dongyue and the fierce struggle for succession among the nine princes in the capital have plunged the country into chaos and widespread suffering.

His brothers were fighting tooth and nail in the court, and they believed that with him gone, they could break through the encirclement more quickly among the remaining few.

They were completely unaware of the suffering of the people.

They only knew how to sit on the supreme throne, unaware that this appearance chilled the heart of their ailing father.

He knew his father was giving him a chance. For the sake of Dongyue, for the people, for the country, for his family, and also for his own sake, he had to shoulder this heavy responsibility and fulfill his mission.

Dark clouds shrouded the capital, and lightning tore them apart, unleashing a deluge of light across the land as torrential rain poured down.

Nanling Mountain, shrouded in mist and clouds, appears even more sacred in the capital city after being washed by torrential rain; it is a rare and pure land.

I heard that climbing Nanling Mountain requires climbing eighty-one steps, and many people couldn't stand it after only reaching the halfway point and left.

But he carried hope on his shoulders, and he could not give up halfway.

The torrential rain washed away the soil, and the water flowing down the steps was all muddy.

The rain soaked his trousers and socks, and the chill of the autumn day seeped into his heart.

He eventually reached the top of the mountain.

He had thought that Nanling Mountain was a secluded place, like a paradise, but when he actually climbed the mountain, he found that the scenery he saw was desolate.

An elderly man with graying temples, leaning on a cane, sat on a bluestone slab wearing a straw hat and raincoat, his eyelids slightly closed, looking every bit the wise man.

For a moment he couldn't tell who the man was, so he stepped forward and asked, "Old man, do you know Yan Yun'an, General Yan?"

Upon hearing his voice, the old man with graying temples flashed a sharp light in his weathered eyes, "I don't know him!"

Such a fierce tone coming from an old man really caught him off guard.

He stepped forward again, but seeing the old man's unwillingness to talk to him, he hesitated.

Just as he mustered his courage and was about to speak again, a boy wearing a straw raincoat and hat skipped and hopped over from the wooden house not far away.

He hummed a tune, "On the river? Vaguely..."

Wellhead? Hole.

Yellow dog? Up?

The dog's head is swollen.

He frowned as he listened; wasn't this just a doggerel describing a snow scene?

He looked up again and focused his gaze on the boy.