The night Consort Ke took her own life by drinking poison, Wei Yang stayed up asking Li Qing all sorts of questions about the Great Lotus Marrow Cleansing Sutra. Li Qing answered every one of them.
From that night on, Wei Yang brought up martial cultivation every evening. Whenever Li Qing knew the answer, he shared it freely.
Knowing Wei Yang's sharp mind, Li Qing figured that even if he kept things to himself, Wei Yang would eventually find someone else to ask. He might as well do him a favor now. If Wei Yang rose to power one day, maybe he'd return it.
Half a month later, Wei Yang formally reported his intention to train in martial arts to the Martial Supervision Bureau. His official cultivation journey began.
That day, Wei Yang came to see Li Qing and said, "Master Li, the technique I've obtained is secret and can't be shared. But if I ever succeed, I'll repay you well."
Li Qing smiled lightly. "Just take care of yourself."
Helping Wei Yang now felt much like helping Wang Li with his stew shop years ago. Something Li Qing did on a whim, with no thought of reward.
But if a reward came, all the better.
Li Qing had a hundred lifetimes to live. He would meet all sorts of people. There was no rush. Along the way, he might lend a hand here and there more often than not.
Spend enough time playing Go, and you end up placing stones wherever it feels right.
....
A few days later.
The Pear Garden.
Li Qing leaned against a pear tree, watching the palace maids dance in the garden.
"Time really flies. I'm thirty-three already," he murmured to himself.
He couldn't help but reflect.
The years had left visible marks on his face. He wasn't immortal, and he didn't stay young forever. His body aged naturally with time. There was no need for disguise.
As long as he lived each life normally, no one would ever suspect anything. Not even an immortal.
After all, the Monument of a Hundred Lifetimes made him young again each time, even resetting his bone age.
To an immortal who saw him, he might just seem vaguely familiar. Like someone they met a few hundred years ago.
Everyone was growing older. Everyone except the girls of the Pear Garden. They stayed young forever, and somehow, you never got tired of watching them.
"Hey, Little Li, which girl caught your eye? You're out here every day staring," a palace maid in full makeup called out as she walked over, teasing him with a grin.
"I've got my eye on you. How about we pair up and make it official?" Li Qing replied cheerfully.
She laughed behind her sleeve. "Maybe if you ever get out of the Cold Palace, I'll think about it."
"Then don't bother. I'll probably die of old age in here."
"You're ridiculous."
It was a casual exchange that Li Qing had lived through countless times over the years.
Back when he had first become a third-tier martial artist, there had even been a palace maid who seriously offered to pair up with him. Though she turned out to be an old nanny…
....
Then came the thirteenth of the tenth month.
A letter from Wang Li stirred up no small commotion in the Cold Palace.
The Ministry of Justice had issued an order: Ke Daoling, former commander of the Imperial Guard's Left Battalion, and his entire family had been sentenced to be executed on the ninth of the tenth month.
On that very day, the White Lotus Sect had launched an uprising in the capital. A wave of elite fighters stormed the execution grounds. Some of their diehards even attacked the Heavenly Prison and the Imperial Jail. The Heavenly Prison was breached, and chaos erupted across the city.
Fortunately, the court had anticipated trouble. The Embroidered Guards and Eastern Depot agents were fully mobilized and managed to cut down waves of White Lotus operatives.
But the White Lotus Sect had survived through dynasty after dynasty, and not by luck alone. They knew what they were doing.
The battle took a heavy toll. Both the Embroidered Guards and Eastern Depot suffered serious losses. A few White Lotus fanatics even tried to storm the imperial palace, only to be turned into pin cushions by the Imperial Guard's arrows.
Scattered remnants of the sect had fled across the city, attacking civilians along the way. Many households had been caught in the crossfire.
What weighed on Li Qing and the others, though, was concern for Wang Li.
Wang Li's family braised meat shop was destroyed in the fighting. His adopted son had a leg shattered, and Wang Li himself was hit in the eye by flying debris, leaving him blind in the left eye.
"Damn those White Lotus bastards! They're absolute scum!" Zhang Yong cursed furiously.
"It really is dangerous out there. The palace is still the safest place," Li Qing said with a sigh.
Over his years as a eunuch in the Cold Palace, Li Qing had run into some trouble here and there, but nothing serious. As long as he didn't cross any major lines, his life was never in danger.
Wei Yang said nothing when he heard the news. He just sat down and quietly focused on his training.
Li Qing didn't know what sort of deal Wei Yang had made with the late Concubine Ke, but he was sure of one thing: unless Wei Yang had lost his mind, there was no way he'd actually join the White Lotus cult.
…
Time slipped by like running water. Another five years passed. It was now the spring of the 27th year of the Taikang era.
Cold Palace sleeping quarters.
With a loud bang, a water vat exploded. Li Qing stepped out, naked and steaming, then casually pulled on his clothes.
Five years… I've finally opened my sixth meridian. I've officially stepped into the ranks of second-tier fighters!
He wanted to let out a wild roar, but he held himself back.
Since the White Lotus Sect uprising in the capital, five years had flown by. The Cold Palace remained untouched, and Li Qing's cultivation had steadily progressed.
Now that he'd reached the level of a second-tier fighter, he finally had some real protection in the martial world. He wouldn't be so easily cut down by just anyone.
Still, Li Qing had only trained in internal cultivation. He didn't know any movement techniques or external martial arts, so his fighting ability was lacking. He might not even be able to take down a peak third-tier fighter.
But that didn't bother him. He had no need to fight anyone anytime soon. As long as time kept moving forward, his sheer internal strength would eventually make him unstoppable.
You can block a hundred years' worth of internal energy. But what about three hundred?
Then Li Qing reminded himself, Don't get cocky. That punk Wei, who used to be at the same level as you, broke through his Ren and Du vessels three months ago. He's now a top-tier master. Kid's only sixteen.
Still, a breakthrough's a breakthrough. That deserves a little celebration.
A game of chess?
Li Qing shook his head. Ever since Wang Li left, the eunuchs in the Cold Palace had mostly lost interest in chess. Li Qing had tried teaching a few of the new eunuchs, but none of them were any good.
When it came to chess, no one in the Cold Palace could even last a round against him.
Speaking of Wang Li. It had already been two years since he died.
Two years ago, Wang Li's son had sent a letter. His father, already blind in his left eye and in poor health, had been killed at home by a burglar who broke in. The thief had made off with a few hundred taels of silver.
The guy went by the name "Deathhand Thief."
It really was dangerous outside the palace. Those night thieves came out of nowhere. In this world, there were still too many powerful martial experts to guard against.
Wang Li might be gone, but his son never missed a payment. He still sent Li Qing his share of the profits, and every couple weeks, he wrote a letter asking if any new Cold Palace eunuchs could be sent to help out.
Without Wang Li's protection, his son had no pull with the market eunuchs. The braised meat shop was struggling more and more.
Out of the twelve eunuchs in the Cold Palace, the oldest now was Zhang Yong, who was forty-five. He still had five years to go before he could apply to leave the palace.
There had been three older ones, but over the past two or three years, all of them had died of illness. Three new, younger eunuchs had joined. Li Qing was now thirty-eight, making him the sixth oldest.
Hard to believe that when he had first crossed into this world, he'd been the youngest in the Cold Palace…
Times change. People don't stay the same.
Might as well take a walk through the Pear Garden.
Li Qing strolled around the Pear Garden, and luck was finally on his side. For the first time in twenty years, he happened to catch a consort dancing.
She was Consort Min, newly arrived at the palace. As soon as she entered, she was granted the title of a second-rank consort. Emperor Taikang was clearly fond of her.
Yes.
Emperor Taikang was still under house arrest. But since the Empress Dowager was his birth mother, she didn't make things too hard on him, as long as he stayed out of politics. All in all, he lived pretty comfortably. Over the past few years, he'd taken in quite a few consorts.
Lately, though, rumors had started to spread. The Empress Dowager's health was reportedly declining, while the Emperor, injured for the past fifteen years, was said to be recovering steadily.
And when there's smoke, there's fire. It was only a matter of time before the next round of political infighting broke out.
There probably wouldn't be many more chances to stroll through the Pear Garden after this.
On his way back, Li Qing stopped by the Martial Supervision Bureau to report his progress: Li Qing, eunuch of the Cold Palace, no official rank, thirty-eight years old, second-tier.
A second-tier fighter at thirty-eight wasn't anything special. But if the Martial Supervision Bureau knew he'd reach first-tier in another ten years, maybe they'd show him a little more respect.
Back in the Cold Palace.
"Master Li, did you just break through?" Wei Yang could sense something different about him and asked.
"Yes. Keep working hard." Li Qing gave Wei Yang a pat on the shoulder and smiled as he walked past.
Wei Yang's talent had always been a bit better than Li Qing's. Moreover, he'd been training with the Great Lotus Marrow Cleansing Sutra. After five years, he had already opened four meridians.
The old Dingyou Iron Wing in the Cold Palace had long since been torn down.
Noble Consort Li, who had been locked in there for over a decade, was dead. She passed not long after Wei Yang broke into the third tier.
Consort Li wasn't just anybody. After her death, eunuchs from the Martial Supervision Bureau had come to investigate.
After checking things over, it had been concluded that Consort Li's death was a suicide.