Seeing Ning Chen did the Xuan Emperor a great deal of good.

He smiled and teased him. "Brat, you're a pillar of my Great Xuan, and here you are bawling. Aren't you ashamed of yourself?"

He waved Ning Chen closer.

Ning Chen came up. The Xuan Emperor caught hold of his hand and spoke softly. "Don't worry. This emperor is all right.

Birth, age, sickness and death come to everyone. This emperor is old... Emperors in every dynasty have wanted to live forever. In the end very few of them lived long, and fewer still died well. This emperor has had a long life, as these things go.

This emperor built nothing great in his lifetime. But the people of the Great Xuan have had food to eat, and he has not failed the ancestors above or the common people below. He is content, and he is not afraid to die."

Ning Chen's tears spilled over.

More than anything in the world, he dreaded watching the elders who had doted on him go, one after another.

The Xuan Emperor's voice was hoarse, and he scolded him through a laugh. "Brat, what's there to cry about? This emperor has been a fortunate man. I came to the throne without fighting anyone for it, and I had Old General Chen first and then you.

The Great Xuan stands firm. Xiliang and the Gaoli Kingdom have submitted... When this emperor goes down below, I can still face the ancestors.

This emperor isn't afraid to die. He has family on both sides of it."

Ning Chen only cried harder.

He wiped his eyes, and the more he wiped the more came. He couldn't stop it at all.

The Xuan Emperor watched him and jeered. "Look at him, the rest of you. The Great Xuan's own Prince Who Holds the Realm, a name that frightens kingdoms, standing here bawling... If the generals of our enemies ever heard about it, they'd laugh their teeth out.

All right, stop crying... Now tell this emperor how things stand in the Gaoli Kingdom."

Ning Chen sobbed his way through…