Shen Wei never wanted to be an Emperor, but on the anniversary of the peace deal he discovers that Kunlun might be alive.
Part 1 of the The Leaves Of Autumn Are Memories series
For my beautiful friend Akai_Seirei. Who introduced me to Ultimate Note and began an obsession. :) You work is so amazing darling and your stories always touch my heart. All my love!
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Time moved like syrup and with the great double doors barred, it was impossible to tell night from day, if one lost count of the hours. Shen Wei had not, nor had he given up hope or on his anger. To have been cornered like this, by the Gate Master! It was unbelievable.
Agitation was running rampant, tensions rising with so many former enemies and grudges exposed to the light of day, without topics and formalities to keep them at bay. Tu Qiuyue was keeping a tight hold on the Royal Guards and Lady Li was the epitome of calm, waiting for Shen Wei's orders like a general on the battlefield, beside Eunuch Liu who appeared as ready to kill for Shen Wei as he was to offer counsel.
With so much time at hand, Shen Wei had been racking his mind, trying to understand this.
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The Dowager Empress had wanted war. A cheap way for Haixing to win, through the death of all the opposing leaders, never believing that her plan would work so well, that they would actually find Kunlun, then succeed in bringing him back.
Lord Chou had always been stable, had seemed honest and uninterested in worldly matters. Chu Shuzhi had once said, that it was although he had already reached immortality and left the mortal world behind.
This to Shen Wei's mind, was either blind indifference or pure arrogance. When he did come, his words were usually wise or his voice was silent.
Shen Wei cannot remember ever seeing him even offer the former Emperor of Haixing so much as a glance beyond courtesy and none of his spies ever mentioned one or more of the Gate peoples, conferring with known spies or agents of the Haixing Crown. Those of the Gate, rarely connected with those outside the Realms. Kunlun was rare in so many ways, chiefly in his awareness and connections across the entire jianghu.
The Gates, he said serve the people. If they don't, what's the point of them? None living now were confirmed to be immortals, the care and maintenance of the Gates dumped on trained disciples chosen by the Nexus, the power behind the gate that was created by the Immortals to keep it running. A cycle, Kunlun had told him. Train some kids, try and get them approved by the Nexus, put them to work. The ones that failed were just moved to a different part of the Order.
So when and why, had Lord Chou decided that mortals, specifically the Haixing Empress, were worth something?
He must, as Zhao Xin Ci had pointed out, be getting something out of this. What exactly, they didn't know. The only thing, Lord Chou's second had told Jie Ming in spite, was that the Gate Lord had imprisoned Kunlun. A terrifying prospect that had rage settling in Shen Wei heart. They had just gotten him back! To lose him now, so separated was an agony he couldn't describe.
