One Step, Fast or Slow

When Gu Chengyin emerged from the main hall, the daylight was just right.

The sun was neither harsh nor faint, spilling across the glazed tiles of the Crown Prince's Palace and refracting into a warm, tender gold.

Gu Chengyin stood outside the hall, hands clasped behind his back, squinting slightly as he let the warm sunlight fall upon his face.

He was in no hurry to leave.

In truth, there was nothing at this moment that required his personal involvement.

Shangguan Yunying would handle everything with absolute competence—with her ability and political acumen, this was nothing more than a trivial matter to her.

Those who needed to know would know, and those who shouldn't know would also find out.

The divine capital was a pool of water that had never kept any secrets.

So what remained was simply waiting.

Waiting for Emperor Luo's reaction.

Waiting for the next move from this sovereign.

Gu Chengyin began to walk slowly along the palace corridor.

Given Emperor Luo's grip on power, he should have already received word by now.

Even if he hadn't received the full report, he would have at least caught the scent of unease hanging in the air.

After all, in the imperial court, there was never a wall that didn't let the wind through.

Shangguan Yunying resigning as Chief Female Official.

The Shangguan family making a complete break from the Crown Prince's faction.

Once this news spread, the political landscape of the court would shift dramatically.

Gu Chengyin re-examined the current situation in his mind.

After the Shangguan family severed ties with the Crown Prince's faction, the only person left in that faction who could truly hold up the banner was Gu Chengyin himself.

This wasn't self-praise—it was simply fact.

Luo Zhao was the Crown Prince by title, legitimate in name, but her power to command awe was insufficient.

That kind of commanding presence wasn't something you got just from holding a high position or a prestigious identity.

It had to be forged through real, hard-won victories.

The senior ministers of the court—who among them lacked seniority, who lacked connections?

Every one of them had clawed their way up through countless battles and competitions.

"One general's glory, ten thousand bones."

Beneath the feet of every powerful minister lay an invisible mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.

But Luo Zhao's methods were too inexperienced, her thinking too shallow, too easily seen through.

If things followed the plan Gu Chengyin had already laid out—just like when they brought down the Xiao family—Luo Zhao would perform brilliantly.

But if she were left to reason things out herself, to devise her own strategies, to drive the whole plan forward on her own, and to adapt on the fly based on the changing situation—then the outcome was anyone's guess.

So among those she could truly rely on in the court, there were very few.

Most of those so-called members of the Crown Prince's faction were only standing by Luo Zhao's side out of respect for Emperor Luo, or for the Shangguan family's sake.

Once the wind shifted, these people would flee faster than anyone.

But if Gu Chengyin were the one holding the fort, that was an entirely different story.

After all, a commander without a brain was far more terrifying than a comrade without a brain.

Meanwhile, the Prince's faction—bolstered by the support of rising noble families including the Shangguan family—was an entirely different picture.

These nouveau riche in the Luo capital had wealth, connections, ambition, and capability.

They didn't have the deep roots of the old divine capital families, making them hard to uproot.

But they were more agile, more sharp-eyed, and more adept at reading the winds.

Comparing the two sides, the balance was about to shatter.

The Second Prince's momentum would thus overwhelm Luo Zhao's.

In fact, talk of deposing the Crown Prince would soon surface.

This wasn't alarmism—it was an inevitable trend.

The Shangguan family's severance wasn't just a "betrayal"—it was a signal.

It meant that Luo Zhao's position as Crown Prince was not secure.

Once that signal went out, those who were still on the fence, those who were still wavering, would all begin gravitating toward the Prince's faction.

The calls for deposition would grow louder and louder until they became a reality.

"When the wall is falling, everyone gives it a push; when the drum is broken, everyone gives it a beat."

The court had never lacked those who kicked a man when he was down.

If things developed this way, the collapse of the Crown Prince's faction would already be a relatively good outcome.

Because the worst-case scenario was that Luo Zhao couldn't even hold onto her title as Crown Prince.

Securing the position of heir apparent didn't mean you could rest easy.

Today's Crown Prince might be tomorrow's deposed commoner—or even a headless corpse.

Throughout history, how many crown princes had never made it to the dragon throne?

Gu Chengyin knew this all too well.

And the Second Prince, Luo Yanchen—though he wasn't Emperor Luo's blood, though he was merely a "whetstone"—in the imperial family, whoever won became the legitimate one.

So Emperor Luo would definitely act.

This sovereign cared about Luo Zhao, cared about the stability of the great Luo dynasty, cared about the balance of the court.

He wouldn't stand idly by and watch the Crown Prince's faction collapse, wouldn't watch Luo Zhao lose her position as heir.

Because if Luo Zhao fell, the next to fall would be Emperor Luo himself.

That logic was clearer to him than anyone.

So he would definitely make a move.

He would definitely respond to Shangguan Yunying's resignation as Chief Female Official.

It wasn't out of the question that he might even issue a direct imperial edict forbidding it—after all, it was Emperor Luo's original decree that had allowed Shangguan Yunying to become Chief Female Official in the first place.

But long, long before all of this, Gu Chengyin had already foreseen the present situation.

This chess game had begun long ago.

Every move had been made with careful thought, every link repeatedly deliberated and rehearsed.

The best way to make it impossible for Emperor Luo to touch him was to become the only person Luo Zhao could rely on.

To become the sole pillar of the Crown Prince's faction.

That was what true impunity looked like.

Once Luo Zhao had no one else to turn to but him, Emperor Luo would not dare move against him.

Because moving against him would be equivalent to harming Luo Zhao.

And Emperor Luo could not do that.

But Gu Chengyin was not smug about it, nor did he let his guard down.

Precisely at times like this, one had to be extra cautious.

No matter what one did, the greatest taboo was celebrating prematurely.

If he could see this far ahead, Emperor Luo certainly could as well.

The reason he currently held the upper hand was that the most critical factor had fallen into place.

Shangguan Yunying had truly resigned from her position as chief lady-in-waiting.

That was the deadliest move, and also the hardest—truly, extremely hard.

From what Gu Chengyin knew of Emperor Luo, this sovereign had definitely considered that possibility and had even kept a contingency in reserve.

Emperor Luo was just like him—he would never stake everything on a single bet.

He would always leave leeway, always have a backup plan.

But even so, no one could withstand how fast Gu Chengyin moved.

So fast that by the time Luo Zhao had barely returned to the Crown Prince's residence, the counterstrike had already begun.

One step ahead, and the entire board was won.

In court politics and schemes of power, aside from the advantage of information, there was also the factor of speed.

Whoever could make the most correct judgment in the shortest time, whoever could put a plan into action at the fastest pace—

That person would seize the upper hand in this war without gunpowder.

Emperor Luo's only mistake was being one step slow.

Not because his judgment was flawed, but because he had never expected Gu Chengyin to move this quickly.

One step behind, and the entire game was lost.

But Emperor Luo had not lost yet, because his health bar was simply too thick.

Now, what Gu Chengyin had to brace himself for was Emperor Luo's countermove.