Chapter Twenty-Nine: City of Everlasting Peace

Zetian surfaces from nightmares—now clearly Li Shimin’s memories—into the Kaihuang watchtower med bay, where she has spent two days recovering from a bullet that fractured ribs and lacerated a kidney. Warned by Yizhi, she refuses more painkillers to avoid dependence the army could exploit, as with Shimin’s liquor.

She learns the battle’s outcomes: two soldiers dead, a mutilated Duke-class Chrysalis, a traumatized Xing Tian, twelve noble Hundun husks captured, and definitive proof that she and Li Shimin can sustain a stable Heroic Form. Sima Yi backs a cover story that their success used a precedent of channeling a third person’s qi through Yizhi, even if other strategists doubt it.

Because camera drones only recorded events after Yizhi arrived, public perception favors them. Gao Qiu leverages this, securing Sage approval to invite them to Chang’an for media negotiations, exploiting their recovery downtime so An Lushan cannot block their travel.

During the flight, Zetian wrestles with telling Yizhi about her kiss with Shimin and is overwhelmed by Chang’an’s dazzling sprawl and the inequities beneath its glamour. The trio lands at the Gao estate, where an immense party assembled by Gao Qiu awaits. Zetian, still injured, accepts a wheelchair and bristles at her dependence.

Gao Qiu publicly hails Zetian and Shimin and rebrands Yizhi as the celebrated Baofeng Shaoye after his viral heroism atop the Great Wall. He promises the crowd access to the guests after a brief private meeting with him. As fireworks burst, Yizhi silently warns Zetian to be careful of his father, signaling the political risks ahead.