Chapter 538: Chapter 538: The Burning Dynasty

Meanwhile.

Li Feng flew through the raging inferno that had once been the imperial palace.

Waves of intense heat slammed against his body as thick black smoke coiled through the air.

Below, entire halls had already collapsed into seas of fire.

Golden roof tiles melted and dripped from the burning eaves, while the once-majestic corridors of the Fen Dynasty palace were now nothing more than crumbling skeletons of flame and ash.

Li Feng’s eyes narrowed as he swept his spiritual sense outward.

And confusion flickered across his face.

’...How?’

Just a short while ago, when he had still been inside the Divine Brick, the palace had been quiet under the night sky.

But this...

This was something else entirely.

As far as his eyes could see, the entire imperial palace was burning. And beyond the palace walls, the distant capital city itself was also swallowed by flames.

Li Feng’s expression grew heavier.

’How could the entire place suddenly turn into this?’

He lowered his gaze and looked down at the chaotic grounds below.

Everywhere he looked, palace guards and servants were running in complete confusion.

Some tried to carry buckets of water that evaporated before they even reached the flames.

Others simply fled in panic as entire sections of the palace collapsed behind them.

Screams and shouted orders mixed with the continuous roar of the fire.

Then, among the chaos, a familiar figure caught his eye.

It was Grand Tutor Wei.

The old man was supporting a pale-faced Concubine Wei with one arm while using the other to issue sharp, urgent commands to the surrounding guards.

Despite the thick smoke and raging heat, his expression remained steady and authoritative as he directed people toward safer paths and tried to organize some form of evacuation.

Li Feng’s eyes narrowed slightly at the sight.

Without further hesitation, he descended through the thick smoke and landed a short distance away from the group.

And the moment Grand Tutor Wei saw him, the old man’s eyes widened with clear relief.

"Envoy Li!"

Several nearby guards also turned their heads in surprise, but Grand Tutor Wei quickly steadied Concubine Wei and took a step forward.

Li Feng’s expression remained serious as he looked at the chaos surrounding them.

"...What exactly happened here?"

Grand Tutor Wei’s expression grew heavy.

"I... am not entirely certain either, Envoy Li. Everything happened far too suddenly."

He supported Concubine Wei a little more carefully as another distant structure collapsed into flames.

For a moment, the old man seemed about to continue, but then his words caught in his throat. A clear look of hesitation appeared on his face.

And Li Feng immediately noticed it.

"...What’s wrong?"

Grand Tutor Wei fell silent for a brief moment, as if weighing whether he should even speak the next part.

Finally, he lowered his voice.

"I cannot confirm whether it is true or not. But according to several guards and servants who managed to witness what exactly happened..."

His aged eyes darkened with unease.

"...they claimed that people began bursting into flames without warning."

Li Feng’s brows furrowed deeply.

For a moment, he simply stared at Grand Tutor Wei, as if he hadn’t quite processed the words.

"...Bursting into flames?"

His voice carried clear confusion.

People catching fire in the middle of a palace blaze was one thing.

But the way Grand Tutor Wei had phrased it... and the heavy unease in the old man’s eyes made it clear he wasn’t talking about ordinary victims of the fire.

Something far stranger had occurred.

Beside Grand Tutor Wei, Concubine Wei, still pale from the smoke and chaos, spoke up in a weak but clear voice.

"We have already done our best to evacuate those who could still walk."

She glanced toward the burning halls with lingering fear in her eyes before continuing,

"But for some strange reason... the entire protective formation of the palace is in complete shambles. None of the arrays are working."

Li Feng’s expression grew heavier.

"...What about the Empress?" he asked. "She should be inside the inner harem, right?"

Grand Tutor Wei’s face darkened further at the question.

The old man remained silent for a moment before answering in a low, grim voice.

"We couldn’t find her at all."

He tightened his grip slightly on Concubine Wei’s arm,

"No one has seen Her Majesty since the fires began. It is possible that... something has already happened to her."

Li Feng’s eyes narrowed.

His first reaction was immediate and firm.

Impossible.

He knew exactly how strong Fen Ling was.

With her strength, it should have been nearly impossible for her to silently disappear without leaving any trace... especially not without a very serious reason.

Li Feng forced himself to calm down.

He took a light breath, steadying the heavy feeling pressing against his chest.

Yet even as he did so, a strange and uncomfortable sensation rose within him.

For some reason... it felt as if this entire time, he had been walking beneath someone else’s palm.

Grand Tutor Wei looked at him carefully.

"...What will you do now, Envoy Li?"

Li Feng’s expression turned serious.

And after a brief moment, he gave a small nod.

"I already have some clues," he said in a low voice.

"I was on my way to check a certain location. There is a high chance the true culprit will appear there."

Grand Tutor Wei’s eyes flickered with both concern and a trace of hope.

"Then... we shall leave that matter to you, Envoy Li. I will continue organizing the evacuation of the remaining people."

Li Feng gave a short nod.

"Be careful. The situation is far from ordinary."

Without further delay, he turned and shot back into the smoke-filled sky.

The heat of the raging flames washed over him as he flew higher, his gaze locking onto the direction of the outer wall of the palace.... the coordinates Purple Death had given him earlier.

Whatever was happening...

The answers were likely waiting for him there.

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At the same time.

Deep within one of the collapsing inner halls of the palace, a slender figure could be seen moving slowly through the sea of flames.

It was Concubine Bai.

She walked unhurriedly, one hand lightly resting against a burning pillar for support.

The fierce heat had already scorched large sections of her robes, and sparks occasionally landed on her hair and sleeves, yet she showed no sign of pain or panic.

Around her, wooden beams began to cracked and collapsed.

Waves of fire surged past her body, turning the once-luxurious chamber into a hellish furnace.

And yet—

Despite the dire, life-threatening situation she was in, her face carried a strange, almost serene smile as she murmured,

"So this is the moment that old Prime Minister Mu promised me... Oh Fen Hong, you will watch everything you hold dear turn to ash..."

Her eyes reflected the dancing flames as she continued walking forward, step by step, as if the burning palace around her was nothing more than a beautiful scenery.

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Meanwhile.

Li Feng’s figure cut through the thick smoke and descending ash as he arrived at the outer wall of the imperial palace.

The moment his feet touched the ground, he immediately swept his gaze across the surroundings.

The area was strangely quiet compared to the chaos deeper inside the palace.

Large sections of the outer wall were cracked and blackened by fire, and several watchtowers had already collapsed into smoldering rubble.

Yet beyond the wall, the distant capital continued to burn under the night sky, painting the horizon in a deep, bloody red.

Li Feng’s eyes narrowed as he carefully observed the area.

According to Purple Death, this was the location mentioned in the final message... the place where one could get a "good view" of the so-called Divine Descent.

But right now...

There was no one here.

Li Feng stood in silence for a moment, his eyes sweeping across the cracked outer wall and the open space beyond it.

From this elevated position, the full scale of the disaster unfolding across the capital was laid bare before him.

Flames stretched endlessly into the distance.

Entire districts glowed like burning embers under the night sky, and thick columns of black smoke rose one after another, blotting out the stars.

Li Feng’s gaze lingered on the distant chaos.

"...Indeed, It really is a good view from here... to watch everything fall into chaos." he murmured quietly.

Just then—

Li Feng’s expression shifted.

A faint presence had appeared behind him.

He immediately glanced back—

And his eyes widened in clear surprise.

A figure was slowly walking toward him through the smoke and residual heat.

It was a mature beauty with a pale, sickly complexion.

Her steps were unsteady, and her once-elegant robes were slightly disheveled, yet there was an eerie calmness in the way she approached.

Li Feng’s voice rose at once, filled with both shock and genuine worry.

"Concubine Zi! What are you doing here? It’s dangerous!"

Concubine Zi covered her mouth with one hand and coughed lightly.

Despite her pale complexion and slightly unsteady posture, a gentle smile appeared on her face.

"I am fine," she said softly. "I just came here for some night view."

Li Feng looked at her in clear confusion for a moment.

Then, realizing she at least appeared unharmed, he let out a quiet sigh of relief.

"...Then you’re quite lucky. Otherwise, you might have been caught in the chaos below."

At those words, Concubine Zi did not respond immediately.

She simply walked past him with slow, unhurried steps until she reached the very edge of the outer wall.

There, she stood still and gazed quietly at the burning imperial palace, then further outward toward the distant capital city that was also being swallowed by flames.

Li Feng remained where he was, his thoughts growing heavier.

What should he do next?

The palace was in chaos.

Fen Ling was missing.

A mysterious cloaked figure had attacked Yue Lan and Lan Suyao.

There were too many threads, and none of them were clear.

But one thing he did know for certain...

He had to escort Fen Ziyan’s mother to safety first.

Just as that thought settled in his mind—

Concubine Zi’s soft voice drifted over with the night wind.

"...The view is beautiful, isn’t it, Envoy Li?"

Li Feng slightly snapped out of his heavy thoughts.

He turned his gaze toward the frail mature beauty standing at the edge of the wall.

From behind, her figure looked especially slender and fragile against the backdrop of the burning capital.

The distant flames cast a flickering glow across her disheveled robes and pale neck, giving the quiet scene an almost unreal atmosphere.

Li Feng looked at her back for a moment before answering.

"...Beautiful isn’t the word I would use."

After speaking, he paused.

A strange, unexplainable unease slowly began creeping into his chest.

It was faint at first... like a thin crack forming beneath the surface... but it continued to spread, quiet and persistent, without any clear reason.

Concubine Zi remained standing at the edge of the wall, her gaze still fixed on the burning capital.

"You know, Envoy Li... I used to dislike high places."

"When I first entered the palace, I would feel dizzy even standing on the second floor of the side halls. But somehow... after living here for so many years, I started to enjoy looking down from high places."

She tilted her head slightly.

"From up here, everything looks so small. The people, the buildings, even the fires... they all become little flickering lights."

Her tone remained calm and mild.

Then Concubine Zi slowly raised one pale hand and pointed toward a distant section of the burning palace.

"Over there... that should be the western side halls. I used to rest there often when my health was poor."

"And further that way... is the courtyard where Ziyan usually stays when she returns to the palace after practice."

Concubine Zi’s soft laugh suddenly drifted out, light and almost affectionate.

"That girl..." she said with a faint smile, "even after becoming so strong, she still refuses to let the servants tidy her practice courtyard properly."

"Every time she comes back, the place is filled with broken training dummies and scattered weapons. I once told her it looked more like a bandit’s den than a princess’s residence."

Her eyes remained fixed on the distant flames as she continued in the same gentle tone.

"She only pouted and said that a ’lived-in’ courtyard has more spirit."

Concubine Zi continued speaking in that same soft, unhurried manner, as if the burning capital before them was nothing more than a distant painting.

Li Feng, however, had gone completely silent.

He stood a short distance behind her, no longer responding.

As her gentle voice continued to drift through the smoke-filled air, the color gradually drained from his face.

His eyes slowly widened in shock, and an expression of pure disbelief settled over his features as his mouth opened wide... but no words came out.

Without realizing it, he took a small step backward.

And at that moment—

[Warning!]

[Warning!]

[Warning!]

[Ding!]

[Host! Be careful! An extremely dangerous hostile entity has been detected!]

[Emergency Protocol Scan activated!]

Yet Li Feng did not seem to care about the system’s urgent warnings.

He continued watching as Concubine Zi kept speaking in that same gentle, almost nostalgic tone... completely unaware, or perhaps completely unconcerned, by the change beginning to take place on her body.

At first, it was subtle.

The neatly tied black hair behind her head began to shimmer faintly under the glow of the distant flames.

A soft, unnatural light spread through the strands, as if embers had quietly ignited within them.

Bit by bit, the black color deepened into a vivid crimson, the tips of her hair flickering like living fire.

At the same time, the edges of her pale, slightly disheveled white robes began to darken.

The fabric did not burn in the ordinary sense.

Instead, the white slowly seared away, transforming into a deep orange-red that looked as if it had been dyed by pure flame.

The color spread upward along the sleeves and the hem of her dress, turning her once-elegant palace attire into something far more striking... and far more ominous.

All the while, her soft voice continued without the slightest pause.

But then, Concubine Zi suddenly stopped speaking.

She slowly turned around.

As she faced Li Feng fully, the last traces of her original appearance seemed to fall away.

Her eyes, once gentle and sickly... now glowed with a deepening crimson light that gradually shifted into a vivid, burning amber.

The transformed crimson hair framed her face like living flames, and the orange-red robes swayed lightly around her figure, illuminated by both the distant fires and the unnatural radiance coming from her own body.

A calm, almost playful smile curved across her lips.

"What’s wrong, Envoy Li?" she asked softly.

"You look as if you had seen a ghost."

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[Here an Illustration of ??? teasing Li Feng:]

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