Once Held in a Eunuch's Palm

Li Yi was a eunuch who had risen to the highest ranks of power.

He stopped at nothing to get what he wanted, and he always got it.

But there were exceptions to everything.

For instance, no matter how many times he declared his love for the Heir of Yan, he was rejected every time.

The Heir of Yan had grown up on the frontier, riding fine horses in fine clothes, full of youthful spirit. Naturally, he looked down on a despicable eunuch like Li Yi.

To get close to the Heir, Li Yi tried every trick and exhausted every means at his disposal, only to end up as his sworn enemy.

*

The second year after the Heir of Yan returned to the capital, Li Yi was betrayed by a trusted aide and thrown into prison.

The people celebrated throughout the country, while the court officials congratulated one another.

Yet the Heir of Yan, the one who should have been happiest, sat alone on a rooftop and drank an entire jar of Drunken Flower Shade. With wine lending him courage, he took up his silver spear and broke into the dungeon alone, rescuing Li Yi.

"Li Yi, give up your ambitions and come with me."

Even Li Yi hadn't expected the Heir to be willing to become a traitor for his sake.

But the Heir never got an answer from Li Yi.

He didn't know that Li Yi was born without a shred of loyalty or compassion.

To curry favor with the new emperor, Li Yi turned around and sent the Heir of Yan to the executioner's block.

The Heir had not yet come of age that year, and his best years lay ahead of him.

Before his execution, he looked toward the eunuch standing with his head bowed beside the new emperor. His eyes were bloodshot, and his words rang out like thunder:

"Li Yi, I'll be waiting for you on the road to the underworld!"

Li Yi watched the young man's body crash to the ground, unable to come back to himself for a long time.

After the Heir of Yan died, Li Yi got what he wanted: he seized the new emperor's power and ruled from behind the throne.

In the third year of the new emperor's reign, war broke out on the frontier. An enemy general surrounded a city and its people with an army of a hundred thousand, demanding that the new emperor hand over Li Yi in exchange for their lives.

Li Yi calmly asked what the man wanted.

The general's eyes had seen the rise and fall of countless things. His expression was cold and sinister.

"I couldn't find you on the road to the underworld, so I've come to collect my debt in person."

A ruthless eunuch receiver x a spirited young heir who becomes a madman later on, the giver

Theme: The Great Way is for all, and the world belongs to everyone.