Step forward, and let Us have a look at you.

Xiao Qiu looked at the grief-stricken Xiao Yi and continued, "Your Sixth Highness, please wait here a moment with this servant. As for the matter just now, His Majesty will make a decision after he sees the Heir."

Not only had he failed to teach Gu Fangchen a lesson, but he had also implicated himself in the process...

Like a withered little cabbage, Xiao Yi instantly lost all his bravado and confidence, yet his heart remained utterly baffled.

How could this be?

Clearly, just a few days ago in the imperial court, it had been verified on the spot that the top imperial scholar Zhang Yuandao was the Prince of Northern Suppression's biological son.

Furthermore, Gu Fangchen's biological father had already been found and interrogated; how could it be that after three days, Gu Fangchen had still not been convicted?

Detestable!

Xiao Yi glared at Gu Fangchen's retreating back.

This must be another conspiracy of the Demonic Cult! Even someone as wise as him had stumbled—the Demonic Cult truly was not to be underestimated!

Xiao Qiu clapped his hands, and Blood-Clad Guards dressed in dark red martial attire instantly materialized from the shadows, carefully inspecting and collecting the broken sword on the ground.

The amiable-looking grand eunuch gazed at Gu Fangchen's retreating back, his eyes flickering.

To go from a cripple to the seventh rank overnight...

This Heir truly knew how to hide his capabilities deep.

...

Gu Fangchen raised his head. The massive Ziji Hall stood towering and majestic, its peak lost to the sight above, even more breathtaking than the graphics in the video game.

The Great Wei Dynasty boasted numerous architectural wonders, among which three major capital cities were the most famous:

The Sun-Obscuring Imperial Heaven, the Ghost-Hewn Golden Scales, and the Divine-Crafted Pagoda.

There was the Central Plains Imperial Capital of Imperial Heaven symbolizing the pinnacle of power in Great Wei, Golden Scales City guarding the northern frontier of Shuobei, and Pagoda City establishing a mortal Buddhist kingdom in Jiangnan.

Golden Scales City was where Gu Yuye's Profound-Yellow Army was stationed. The city was fluttering everywhere with flags bearing the character "Gu," making it territory entirely under his control.

Pagoda City was a mortal Buddhist kingdom built single-handedly by the Garan Temple. The city contained four hundred and eighty temples, along with a hundred-foot-tall giant Buddha statue lowering its gaze to survey all beings in the world.

These three cities were the favorite spots for players to check in and take screenshots.

Of course, reaching the best sightseeing and photo spots within these three cities was no ordinary feat...

However, it did not matter; the save-load exploit was invincible.

Although this wretched game only had three save slots and meticulous players who focused on walkthroughs had to be exceedingly cautious, ordinary casual players did not have such worries.

Thinking of how those players used to take a dump on the roof of Ziji Hall—um... Gu Fangchen recalled every single sorrowful event in his life to keep himself from laughing out loud.

"Ahem..."

He coughed twice, stepped up the stone stairs, and under the watchful gazes of the imperial guards, walked into Ziji Hall.

Ziji Hall was vast, yet completely empty.

During regular morning court sessions, the grand hall, packed to the brim with civil and military officials, was now devoid of a single soul. Not a pin could be heard dropping, rendering it silent, grim, and oppressive.

Looking ahead, one could only see at the end of the steps those cascading layers of black, gold-embroidered dragon-patterned long banners, behind which the tall, shadowy outline of the dragon throne loomed vaguely. Even the figure of the Yong'an Emperor was nowhere to be seen.

Gu Fangchen took a deep breath.

Only he knew that what he was about to face next was the final boss of the entire game.

Right here, right now.

Shortly before he transmigrated, he had just defeated him, watching with his own eyes as the emperor laughed heartily and turned to flying ashes, dissolving into a wisp of karmic dust in the mortal world.

Xiao Ding, the Yong'an Emperor, who had wielded the supreme authority of Great Wei for one hundred and seventy years.

Or perhaps, he should be called—

[The Dao Lord of Constant Balance · The Primordial Human Sovereign].

That's right, the Yong'an Emperor Xiao Ding was the Dao Lord of the "Dao of Constant Balance" among the Ten Supreme Daoist Factions of the Demonic Cult.

The reason most players failed to unlock the true ending was their inability to uncover the identity of this true final boss.

Whether one killed the Yong'an Emperor Xiao Ding or killed the "Constant Balance" Dao Lord "Hu," one had only killed one of his many identities.

Moreover, beneath these two identities, Xiao Ding possessed yet another hidden identity.

Without unearthing this identity, no matter how hard the players tried, it would all be in vain. This was why Gu Fangchen had asserted in his final video walkthrough that all the other endings were fake endings!

Only [Six Dusts Returning to Truth] was the sole true ending!

In the history of *Mirror in the Dust*, ever since records began in antiquity, there had been five dynasties ruling the Central Plains.

Zhou, Qi, Xia, Ning, Wei.

After sorting through a vast amount of clues and combining them with the previous five endings, Gu Fangchen discovered that the founding emperor and the last emperor of every single dynasty were actually the same person.

Naturally, this also included... Great Wei.

Thirteen hundred years ago, the founding emperor who forged an alliance with the Confucian Sage and established Great Wei with high spirits was the exact same person as the Yong'an Emperor who now clung desperately to power and refused to let go.

The decadent ruler who initiated times of chaos was also the human sovereign who ended times of chaos.

Dynasties rose and fell time and again, righteousness and evil clashed time and again, waxing and waning, yet they remained forever confined within the palm of a single person.

This was known as Constant Balance.

Gu Fangchen could still clearly remember the shock he felt when he arranged all the clues in order and finally arrived at this conclusion.

The split second of scalp-tingling horror still remained fresh in his memory.

This was also one of the reasons why he still felt uneasy even after achieving the ending; he always felt that even the ending of [Six Dusts Returning to Truth] seemed to be lacking something.

Could the new order he established truly escape an omnipresent shadow like a bone-gnawing parasite?

The protagonist who returned... was he truly still the protagonist?

Previously, all players, including Gu Fangchen, had assumed that the Yong'an Emperor was merely a monarch skilled in political maneuvering, dedicated to maintaining a balance among the court factions, while his actual personal achievements were unremarkable.

Securing the imperial throne relied entirely on the blessing of national fortune and his own political craft, pitting all factions against each other in mutual restraint.

Yet precisely because of his excessive pursuit of political cunning, the Yong'an Emperor would sometimes even appear somewhat feeble and incompetent.

For instance, to elevate the status of the Matriarch Cult so that it could rival the Garan Temple, he had once bathed and burned incense to show his respect, gradually turning public sentiment around in favor of the Matriarch Cult.

Players mostly sneered at the Yong'an Emperor.

In the preceding endings, killing the Yong'an Emperor was not a difficult task; once chaos broke out, the Yong'an Emperor's head would fall off before long.

As it turned out, Gu Fangchen later discovered that this guy was a massive onion.

Peel away one disguise, and another lay underneath.

Gu Fangchen's memories flashed back in an instant. He squeezed his already sweating palms and stepped forward.

Hesitating for a moment, he decided that preserving his life took precedence and prepared to drop to his knees.

However, the Yong'an Emperor's intriguing voice suddenly rang out from behind the curtain of long banners, echoing in the empty Ziji Hall, sounding almost distorted.

"Walk up here and let Us take a look at you."

Look at what?

Gu Fangchen was momentarily stunned. He walked up to the stairs, and hearing no further words from the Yong'an Emperor, he bit the bullet and continued upward, walking all the way until he stopped right in front of those heavy layers of black long banners.

Stepping any further would be impolite.

Standing in place, he felt the gaze from behind the long banners quietly examining him, and a wave of confusion welled up in his heart.

Setting aside his own identity and Gu Yuye, what on earth did the Yong'an Emperor want?

Wait...

A piece of gossip-like secret lore regarding the "Dao of Constant Balance Dao Lord" suddenly flashed across Gu Fangchen's mind.

[The "Dao of Constant Balance Dao Lord" represents stillness and immutability, thus he should have no descendants, but due to a debate on the Dao, immutability was once broken.]

It must be noted that this secret lore pertained to the "Dao of Constant Balance Dao Lord," not the Yong'an Emperor.

Moreover, throughout the entire game, there was only this single piece of lore.

The implication of this gossipy secret lore was that the "Dao of Constant Balance Dao Lord" had once sired a descendant, but that descendant was later lost.

A peculiar feeling stirred in Gu Fangchen's heart.

He thought of the original owner's origins.

That fellow had been swapped out through a scheme by the Demonic Cult, and that stableman was also a man of the Demonic Cult.

Could the one spoken of in that piece of gossip—

Be him?