Three days.
That was the time given to prepare the trial of Elder Liu. Three days for Li Fan to transform from a convalescing mortal into the Imperial Chancellor tasked with dissecting a centuries-old cultivator's treason. The Amber Palace, still vibrating with the aftershocks of the vein stabilization and the Empress's breakthrough, became a hive of whispered calculations.
Li Fan was moved from the infirmary to the Chancellor's Pavilion—a spacious, austere complex adjacent to the main administrative hall. It was a place of stone and silence, meant for study and strategy. His first act was to summon his network.
They arrived under guard, their faces a mixture of awe and terror.
Xiao Lan, appointed as his chief attendant, stood by his desk, grinding ink. Alchemist Ming and Scribe Gao stood before him, bowing deeply. Guard Deng, now reassigned to the Chancellor's personal guard detail, stood at attention by the door.
"You risked everything," Li Fan said, his voice still carrying a trace of weakness but underscored with new authority. "The Empress knows your roles. Your actions are now officially recognized as service to the throne. You are under my protection, and by extension, hers."
Scribe Gao was the first to speak, his voice trembling with emotion. "Chancellor, we only did what was right."
"Right is a luxury in a court of power," Li Fan replied. "You did what was necessary. And now, I need you to do it again." He laid out the plan. "Scribe Gao, you will authenticate the ledger before the court. You will explain its provenance—how you retrieved it from the Drunken Mountain Tavern. You will not lie. You will omit nothing, except the source of your initial tip. That remains with me."
Gao swallowed and nodded.
"Alchemist Ming, you will testify to the diversion at the gate. Explain it as following my order to create a visual obstruction for a security audit. It is close enough to the truth. Your 'clumsy apprentice' story holds."
Ming bowed her head. "Yes, Chancellor."
"Guard Deng, you will testify to the increased, unauthorized traffic at the old bell tower. What you observed. Nothing more."
Deng saluted sharply.
"Xiao Lan," he said, turning to her. "You will not testify. Your role remains in the shadows. But you will be my eyes and ears. The court is a battlefield of glances and murmurs. I need you to read it."
She met his gaze, her earlier fear replaced by steely resolve. "I understand."
Next, he sent for Captain Ma.
The guard captain arrived, his armor polished to a mirror shine, his expression as unreadable as ever. "Chancellor."
"Captain. The security of the trial is paramount. I need the Violet Thunder Tower sealed. No messages in or out. I want Elder Liu and Young Master Zhao brought to the court under maximum suppression formations. I want the throne room swept for hidden arrays, listening constructs, or anything that could disrupt proceedings."
Captain Ma didn't even blink. "It will be done." He paused. "The Empress has already ordered the same. I will coordinate with her guard."
Li Fan nodded. The Empress was leaving him room to operate, but her will was the engine driving this. "One more thing. Rumor says the Stoneheart Sect may send envoys. I want to know the moment they cross our borders."
"Surveillance is already heightened at all border passes," Ma confirmed. He hesitated, a rare crack in his professional facade. "Chancellor... your safety. There will be many in court who resent your rise. Some were quietly allied with Liu. They are now leaderless and desperate."
"I know," Li Fan said. "That's why you're here."
The third day dawned cold and clear. The main throne room had been transformed. The Empress's dais remained, but before it, a stone podium had been erected for the Chancellor. To the left, a witness stand. To the right, a prisoner's dock, reinforced with glowing silver chains that hummed with suppression energy.
The court assembled in full regalia, but the atmosphere was funereal. The usual chatter was absent, replaced by a tense silence. Every minister, elder, and official knew this was not just a trial; it was the birth of a new order, and they were all being weighed on its scales.
Empress Huang Yue entered. Her presence was different. Before, it had been a crushing weight of majesty. Now, it was a deep, resonant stability, like the mountain itself had taken human form. She sat, her gaze sweeping the room, and nodded to Li Fan.
"Begin," she said.
Li Fan, dressed in simple but official chancellor's robes of deep grey, stepped to the podium. He felt every eye on him—the envy, the hatred, the curiosity. He set the heavy ledger down with a thud that echoed.
"Esteemed court," he began, his voice carrying without strain. "We are gathered today not to try a man, but to dissect a cancer. This ledger," he placed a hand on it, "is the map of its veins. These witnesses will be the proof of its poison. The crime is treason. The method was the systematic theft of the dynasty's spiritual lifeblood and its sale to a foreign power, the Stoneheart Sect, with the intent to weaken our foundation and enable conquest."
A ripple of shock went through the court. Many had suspected internal sabotage, but the scale and external collusion were new.
"The evidence will proceed in three parts," Li Fan continued, his political rhythm taking over. "First, the logistical proof of the theft. Second, the motive and connection to the Stoneheart Sect. Third, the personal and political mechanisms used to conceal it. I call Scribe Gao to the stand."
The proceedings were methodical, brutal, and efficient. Scribe Gao, with his precise memory, detailed the retrieval of the ledger. Alchemist Ming explained the diversion. Guard Deng described the suspicious activity. Li Fan presented the ledger entries, highlighting the serial numbers of the missing crystals, the transfers to Warehouse Keeper Luo (now missing, presumed dead), and the shipments to Merchant Feng, known agent of the Stoneheart Sect.
He then called Elder Wen, the Head of Archives, who presented his audit scroll, independently confirming the physical absence of the crystals. The evidence was a wall of stone, each piece mortared to the next.
Finally, it was time for the accused to speak.
Elder Liu was led in. The mighty elder was a shell. The suppression chains glowed on his wrists and ankles, sapping his cultivation. His robes were plain. But his eyes were still sharp, filled with a cold, disdainful fire. Young Master Zhao followed, dragged in by two guards, his face a mask of impotent fury.
"Elder Liu," Li Fan said, meeting his gaze. "The evidence is before you. Do you deny authorizing the transfer of the Earth-Anchor crystals to Warehouse Keeper Luo?"
Liu's voice was dry, but clear. "I authorized the transfer for stabilization efforts. The corruption of underlings is a tragedy, but it does not constitute my treason."
"You oversaw both the vault logistics and the stabilization protocols. The fraud, as Elder Wen noted, required authority over both. The underlings you speak of are either dead or missing. Convenient."
"A Chancellor who relies on coincidences and missing witnesses," Liu said, a thin smile on his lips. "You elevate a mortal who practices tricks and call me a traitor? I, who have served this dynasty for centuries? The mountain itself will laugh at this farce."
Li Fan didn't rise to the bait. He walked to the ledger and opened it to a specific page. "Then explain this entry. 'Project Foundation Reinforcement.' A project that does not exist in any public works log. And the recipient: Merchant Feng. We have detained Feng's caravans at the border. His ledgers match these entries. He was paid by the Stoneheart Sect to receive these crystals. Are you suggesting Merchant Feng, a known agent, and a dozen of your own missing underlings all conspired without your knowledge to sell our crystals to a rival sect, while you, the omnipotent elder, noticed nothing?"
For the first time, Liu's composure cracked. He had not known Feng was detained. His eyes flickered towards the throne, where the Empress sat, impassive as a mountain peak.
"The Stoneheart Sect are traders," Liu tried, but the flaw in his logic was now visible to all.
"They are a rival Earth Sect that has contested our borderlands for five hundred years," Empress Huang Yue's voice cut in, cold and final. "They do not trade for crystals. They conquer for them. Your defense is an insult to the intelligence of this court."
Li Fan pressed the advantage. "The sabotage of the veins followed the same pattern as the theft. The siphoning arrays bore your clan's crest. The energy was not just stolen; it was weaponized to weaken specific territories, those of officials who were not your allies, to create a crisis that would discredit the Empress and pave the way for external intervention. This was not mere corruption. It was a coordinated, premeditated coup."
He let the words hang. The court was utterly silent.
Elder Liu looked from Li Fan to the Empress, then at the damning ledger. He drew himself up, a final, bitter pride in his stance. "I served a dynasty that was stagnant. Led by a ruler who could not advance, guarding a realm that was decaying. The Stoneheart Sect offered vision. Strength. A future. I sought to trade a dying tree for a place in a thriving forest."
It was as close to a confession as they would get.
Empress Huang Yue stood. The air grew thick and heavy. "You confess to trading the lives of your people, the soul of your mountain, for a 'place'?" Her voice was low, but it vibrated in every chest. "Your service is noted, Elder. And it is the reason your betrayal requires a punishment that will be remembered for centuries."
She raised a hand. The suppression chains on Liu and Zhao glowed blindingly bright.
"You, Elder Liu, are sentenced to have your cultivation shattered, your golden core dissolved into dust, and your spirit bound to the deepest, darkest fissure of the Crimson Root Vein. You will spend eternity feeling the flow of the energy you sought to sell, as a scar within the mountain's heart."
Liu's eyes widened in true horror. Spiritual obliteration and eternal imprisonment.
"Young Master Zhao," she continued, her gaze like stone, "for your acts of violence, conspiracy, and attempted murder, you are sentenced to the same. Let your arrogance keep your elder company in the dark."
She clenched her fist.
A sound like a mountain breaking echoed in the room. Both Liu and Zhao screamed as visible waves of power were ripped from their bodies, dissolving into motes of light that were snuffed out. They collapsed, not dead, but empty. Mortal shells. The guards moved forward, hauling their limp forms away to their eternal prison.
The court was frozen in terror and awe.
Empress Huang Yue's eyes found Li Fan. "The cancer is cut out. Now, Chancellor, we must heal the body. You are tasked with restructuring the logistics and surveillance divisions. Use who you trust. Report to me in three days with a plan." She turned, her final words dropping like stones. "This court is dismissed."
As the shell-shocked courtiers began to file out, Captain Ma approached Li Fan's podium. He spoke quietly. "Chancellor. A report from the Western Border. A delegation from the Stoneheart Sect has just crossed into our territory. They fly banners of diplomatic parley. They will arrive by tomorrow."
Li Fan looked from the departing Empress to the empty prisoner's dock, then to the ledger that had ended a centuries-old life.
One crisis ended. Another, more delicate one, was already at the gate.
He had dissected the cancer. Now, he had to negotiate with the disease's source.