Search Results: 'Empress Wu Zetian'

The Empress's Shadow

Words: 3043 · Source Novel:: The Viper's Testament

Empress Wu Zetian, now aging, has been informed of the strange occurrences by her intelligence network. She dispatches her most trusted eunuch, Zhang Yi, to investigate. Zhang Yi, a pragmatist, secretly sympathizes with some of the fugitives but must obey. He tracks the group to a remote monastery. A tense dialogue ensues: Zhang Yi offers a pardon if they abandon the final two tasks. Li Xu refuses, claiming he must see the list to the end to know his father's heart. The eighth task glows: "return the jade key to the source." The source is the ancient Zhou dynasty altar where Wu Zetian claimed her mandate.