The only thing Anji could not understand was how Liu Guiya missed the obvious signs. Was she unable to sense this corruption? Then again, Anji still had no idea what this strange energy pressure was. Her closest guess was poison. It affected the Emperor like slow poison, but she had no idea what it was. The only hint she had was when Liu Guiya explained that it would turn a high-level cultivator berserk on contact directly. Yet, she was unable to detect it when it was inside a non-cultivator’s body.

What was this exactly?

Neither the Empress nor the Emperor knew what Anji was looking at. However, her golden eyes seemed to be looking through the Emperor rather than at him. It was eerie, but mystic cultivators were often not very human. This had to be one of those moments.

"The ancestral hall only holds the ashes of previous royal family members of the direct bloodline," the Emperor explained nervously. "We don’t hide anything else. Is there something wrong?"

...

Could it be that not even the Emperor knew anything about what the demonic sect and Song Min wanted? Anji did not think the Emperor was lying. She had a feeling Song Min was seeking to tamper with the formation of the Imperial Palace. After all, Chang’an was built on a very ancient array against evil spirits. She knew that because she was Zhong Kui when it happened. After clashing with the evil ghost trope, she created it along with the four mythical guardians and with the blessing of the golden dragon. Grandpa Jin’s scale had to be somewhere in the Imperial Palace, and she had a feeling it was hidden in the ancestral hall now. With the array protection intact, not even Song Min could enter her barrier.

But how could she reveal what she knew to the Emperor, who had to be the person who knew the most secrets in this Forbidden City?

"Does the Emperor know about the legend of the dragon and four mythical beast guardians who founded Chang’an?" Anji tried her luck. "I heard of the legend. But is there more to it, only the imperial family knows of?"

Thinking hard, the Emperor felt a bead of sweat trickle down the back of his neck. Why did it feel as if he were answering to a figure of authority when he looked at those golden eyes?

Golden eyes... suddenly, he recalled something he heard once as a young child. It was a story his imperial father told him in passing that he brushed off as a mere folk tale.

"I do..." he whispered, brain racing to recall details of that story. "I do... I actually do. My late Imperial told me this when I was a young boy. I thought it was just another folk tale, not a real secret of the imperial palace, because there were many like drowned ghosts haunting wells."

Curious, even the Empress paid close attention. Unlike other folk tales meant to scare children and caution them about the dangers of wandering in the vast Forbidden City, this was a little different.

The Emperor recalled a particular saying his father had even if he did not understand it. According to the late Emperor, it was something the previous Emperor was fond of saying.

"When the golden sun sets, the golden scale will protect us from the eternal night. I don’t know what that meant, but I thought it was a personal prayer quirk," the Emperor admitted. "I always thought the golden scale meant an armour of sorts. There is a golden armour in the ancestral hall along with some scrolls, swords and other royal relics to commemorate the greatness of our dynasty."

This was it. Anji was very certain now that she heard it. The thing that Song Min was searching for was the golden scale that stabilised the protective array around Chang’an. Everything finally made sense.

As a vengeful ghost executed wrongly by corrupt officials for exposing corruption, Song Min’s sense of justice became an obsession. However, many dynasties had passed since his death, and from the last fight they had as Zhong Kui and Song Min, Anji recalled the Ghost Commander of the Ghost Army high-tailed and escaped to the netherworld with severe injuries.

Now that he has recovered and regained his army, he must be back for revenge, only to discover the array in place preventing his return. To get in, he had to break the spell but could not interfere directly. As a result, he had to indirectly tamper with Zhong Kui’s work and corrupt the most stable element—the golden scale.

Feeling dizzy from realisation, Anji sat down wordlessly. Her eyes flickered back to hazel brown, but she did not speak for a long time. It was too much to learn in such a short time.

Unsure what was happening to Anji, Noble Consort Liu broke the tension and urged the royal couple to continue with their meal. She made an excuse that Anji might be exhausted from seeing the future and explained the golden eyes as a form of possession from the mythic cultivator arts. It was a lie because she knew nothing about how prophetic abilities from the Mystical Qilin Sect worked. However, it was enough to fool the Empress and Emperor into eating dinner while Anji continued to stare at the cold eggplant stuffed with mushrooms in her bowl.

Truthfully, she wanted to send word back and consult with her shifu about what her next action should be. Pu Jianming was only a pawn on a larger game of chess. Song Min’s plan was now apparent, but Anji did not feel at ease after knowing what the ghost general was after. If anything, her heart felt uneasy.

For the first time in her life, Anji felt as if she was staring at an immovable wall and not just a tall and intimidating mountain.

Purifying the corruption was not difficult. However, it was not something she could accomplish alone with her present strength. Anji was not a fool. Neither was she a self-sacrificing war hero like her father. Yet, the only other person capable of assisting her was needed back at the Mystical Qilin Sect.

...

Picking up her chopsticks, Anji stabbed at the food in front of her after nearly an hour of pondering. When in doubt, eat first and think later. That was her third brother’s motto. If there was no energy to fight, there was no chance at winning. Hence, Anji would eat and set aside all her thoughts. She could consult the adults later.