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Chapter 23 (Vol-1)
🕑 Added 2024-11-23 09:59:47 +0000 UTCPrincess Yin Lingxi of the Royal family sat silently and watched as the many people who claimed to be her supporters bickered among themselves after the latest meeting she held about the future of the empire, a future that she decided after she visited the slums with her new friend.
Naturally, her decision caused a major protest among the many nobles who supported her, particularly within the three of the five ruling noble and martial families.
The Lanjian family head, Lanjian Yufeng, and Hanzhang Bingpo, the head of the Hanzhang family, were both willing to follow the princess’s plans without any question. The problem originated from the third member of this trio who supported the princess while the rest of the two families supported the eldest prince.
Yanfeng Chilei was vehemently against the idea that the princess proposed and expressed his opinion quite openly.
“Yanfeng! How dare you question the princess-“
“Shut up! Lanjian, You old fool. Not all of us are interested in giving up everything that our ancestors worked for with their blood and sweat-“
“Blood and sweat? Is that why you are fat enough to fit three people in the same chair that you occupy right now??”
“Hanzhang Bingpo, the next time you make such a remark, you will face my spear.”
“Spear? Can you even swing that thing around with the way you are right now??”
“…Regardless, my current position is not what we are discussing right now. The princess has clearly been led astray by someone-“
“Enough.”
A single word from the princess was enough to silence everyone present, even if reluctantly.
“This matter is not up for discussion. Father’s health is deteriorating by the day and we have a month at most before he passes on. There is no doubt that this princess will ascend to the throne after that since my dear elder brother has shown his incompetence quite clearly in the last few days while my younger brother cares for nothing else than drowning himself in debauchery.”
She then glared at Yanfeng Chilei before speaking every word while maintaining eye contact.
“Once I ascend, we will enact my plan. All of you will start giving me comprehensive reports on the welfare of the commoners and mortals in your territory without any mistakes. And then, you all will start investing your personal wealth to make up for the neglect of the mortal lives that I know every one of you has committed in the past by embezzling the funds provided by the royal family for the sake of the mortals. Anything after that will be discussed at a later date including the details of how you are going to compensate the mortals. Am I understood??”
““Yes Princess””
“…Yes, Princess.”
The three family heads bowed their heads to their princess who nodded in satisfaction, unaware that two of her three had their own plans in place and could easily sidestep any investigation that the princess launched on their families.
The last one, however, had completely different plans as killing intent flashed in his eyes while walking out of the palace.
Of course, they were not the only ones with plans.
Despite looking like a naïve princess with limited exposure to the real world, there were very few things that escaped her eyes. Needless to say, she already knew that the compliance that her supporters showed was just a façade.
With a subtle gesture, a silent man dressed in black robes and a mask appeared by the side of her seat and handed her a jade slip before disappearing just as quickly.
Looking through the information on the jade slip, the princess could not help but start chuckling before laughing out loud.
This alerted her aunt who walked in and looked curiously at the princess.
“Princess? What happened?”
“Nothing much. I just learned something really interesting about a certain someone and one of our dear nobles.”
Instantly, Yao Xingchen grew annoyed since she knew exactly who the princess was talking about. But her guard instantly went up as the princess spoke up the next words.
“Aunt Xingchen, have our people in the Yanfeng family keep a closer eye on their patriarch. Also, get me a Radiant Revitalization Pill from the treasury.”
“What happened?”
“Looks like that fatty Yanfeng Chilei has finally given up on the indirect approach and decided to take matters into his own hands to fulfill his ambitions.”
That sent alarm bells blaring in Yao Xingchen’s mind as she knew how ambitious the Yanfeng family was. In the thousand-year-long history of the Yin Long empire, there has been no small amount of people who tried to usurp the throne for themselves from the Yin royal family. However, these people were always defeated and destroyed by the royal family due to their sheer competence and prowess.
However, the Yanfeng family is the only one who can boast of having tried to secretly usurp the throne on five different occasions and still managed to retain their position. Of course, they are not stupid enough to reveal this information to others since that would destroy any face they had. In the entire empire, the only people who knew this information could be counted in the single digits.
Yao Xingchen was one of those people as she was personally responsible for thwarting their last attempt more than half a century ago when they made a move on Yin Lingxi’s father during his childhood.
Even back then, Yao Xingchen was a competent martial artist at the peak of the Core Formation realm and managed to fight off the assassins sent after her cousin. It was this merit that she used to have her sister marry her cousin when he became an emperor, thus becoming the aunt of their daughter, Yin Lingxi.
And now, it was clear that Yanfeng Chilei was going to try something just like his father did. Their target is Yin Lingxi this time around.
Unfortunately for him, he has gone too far in his plans and ended up earning the attention of the Dark Guild, leading to his plans being leaked before they could be enacted.
“I’ll have the Royal Guard prepare for an attack.”
“Do it subtly. We can’t have Yanfeng realize that we already know his plans and are planning to catch him red-handed so that we have enough evidence. Without that evidence, we can't mobilize our full strength and wipe out that troublesome family for good.”
Yao Xingchen nodded at her niece’s words. The only reason the Yanfeng family has managed to live for so long despite their repeated treachery is due to the bountiful land that they own and the strength of their ancestor, Yanfeng Chitian, who is still alive to this day and hiding in the family’s ancestral home.
Any action the royal family takes against the Yanfeng family must be done quickly and efficiently so that they don’t get the chance to destroy their land. The very land that produces nearly seventy percent of the empire’s food. They will also need to have sufficient evidence to make the Royal Family’s protectors move against the Yanfeng family since he was only loyal to the Emperor or Empress. Given that the princess hadn’t ascended the throne yet, it was clear that the protectors would not move under her orders without sufficient evidence to point out a threat to the empire.
“Also, prepare my carriage and guards in secret. Once we settle this matter, we will be heading out.”
“Where to?”
“East, towards Starfall City. From there, we will head North, through the ruins of the Heavenly Sword Sect, and head to the White Jade City. After that, we will head to the Western Coast city. I haven’t decided where to go after that so we will decide when we get there.”
“Why the sudden tour of the empire?”
“Because I can’t base the direction of my future rule as an Empress by just looking at the people of one city and on the words of one person, even if said person is someone that I am starting to consider a trusted friend.”
“….You plan to visit all of these places in incognito then? To mingle with mortals and learn of their daily lives?”
“In essence, yes. I need to know how the mortals and low-level cultivators of my empire live their lives so that I can decide how to rule over them. I need to see if Da Wei was right in saying that I have been sheltered too much from the very people I am meant to rule and as a result, fail to understand their hearts and troubles.”
Yao Xingchen felt pride and annoyance in equal measures as she watched the determination in her niece’s eyes.
Pride at the fact that the princess was willing to acknowledge that she was not all-knowing and willing to learn from her mistakes. She felt annoyed since the princess depended on the words of an outsider like Da Wei as the basis for this acknowledgment in the first place.
But whatever the case may be, she had her duty to her princess and she will follow through with her orders to the letter.
With a nod, Yao Xingchen left her princess’s side and headed towards the main palace of the Royal Family, heading straight towards the hidden vault under the palace that is only accessible to the Royal Family and their subordinates to retrieve the Radiant Revitalization Pill, a pill that is considered the only one of its kind that is capable of curing all kinds of poison in the world. A pill that can only be refined by a Grandmaster Alchemist.
Meanwhile, Yin Lingxi leaned back into her seat as countless plans were formed and discarded one after another as she contemplated her future.
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“Come on! Call me Senior Sister!”
Jin Tianrui gritted his teeth and forced out the words that the little girl wanted to hear.
“…Junior brother Jin Tianrui greets Senior Sister Da Ling.”
“Hehe! Good! If you need anything in the future, come to this senior sister for help!”
Jin Tianrui glared at Da Wei sullenly while the girl in question gave a smug look before running off to play with Jin Ruiying.
I watched all of this with an amused look, a look that Jin Tianrui’s father, Jin Tiejun, shared as we both drank tea on the deck of the airship.
After clearly explaining to Jin Tianrui the consequences of the reckless heavenly oath he took, I talked to him about the reason why I sought him out in the first place. After listening to the task I had for him, he instantly agreed to move with his family to my village, leaving behind the capital and the Dark Guild for good.
Normally, the Dark Guild would never let go of their employees so easily since they are usually under a strict contract that lasts for decades. Fortunately, Bai Zhanye was a fairly high-ranking member of the Dark Guild. This gave him the authority to trade the contract that Jin Tianrui was under without much fuss, provided I paid Jin Tianrui the same amount or a higher number of Spirit Stones as compensation according to his contract. Something that I agreed to in a heartbeat given the fact that the last thing I lack is Spirit Stones.
Then, as we talked and he learned that I was a Formation Master as well, he requested to see my work so that he could compare it to his own.
Needless to say, the moment he saw my artifacts and the airship, he directly asked me to take him in as a disciple and teach him.
Originally, I was reluctant to do so. However, Da Ling convinced me otherwise, mainly because she wanted a ‘Junior Brother’ like those in the sects have.
Of course, my decision was not based solely on that, but in the end, I relented and officially accepted Jin Tianrui as my second disciple.
Soon, Jin Tiejun finished his talk with me and headed back inside to look after his wife and his daughter who was busy talking excitedly with Da Ling.
Finally, Jin Tianrui pulled himself out of his depressed state and sat down beside me.
“Master. I’ve been thinking. What exactly are you trying to do that would require a formation master of my level when you are clearly much more adept at the arts than me?”
I leaned back in my seat and looked at the clouds around us.
“Tianrui. I will be honest with you. While I admit that my prowess in Inscriptions is superior to most people, the same cannot be said for my large-scale Formation arts. That is why, I wanted to hire you.”
“That explains why you wanted me. But, why? What are you trying to achieve?”
“Why does it matter?”
Jin Tianrui looked me straight in the eyes.
“Master, I have already sworn to the heavens that I will follow every command you give me. However, I still wish to know what kind of task you have for me. I have seen all kinds of things in the Dark Guild during my time there. I wish to know if the formation that you want me to work on will be of the orthodox path, unorthodox path, or the demonic path.”
“…And what if I want you to work on a formation related to the demonic path?”
“I will still do my best to complete it. However, I would still be disappointed to know that a kind man like you belongs to the demonic path.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at his words before smiling.
“Good. Keep that rationality and you will keep advancing in your craft. As for your question, no. I am not going to have you work on a demonic path formation. In fact, it is the opposite. What I have in mind is a formation that will repel anything that would do harm to my village.”
“A defensive formation then? What kind are you thinking?”
“The kind that depends on the Wuxing cycle.”
“A Heaven and Earth Defensive array?? That will require an absurd amount of rare materials that can only be provided by the royal families of the two empires, especially if you want to cover an entire village in such an array.”
I couldn’t help but give a mischievous smile at his shocked look.
“Don’t worry. I already got the materials in question. All that is left is for you to set up the formation.”
“….Master, just who the hell are you? How can you get such materials that even the Dark Guild would have to pay a steep price to get?”
“I am just a fairly popular Formation Master is all. Putting that aside, you should know that your work won’t be done after setting up the formation.”
Jin Tianrui looked at me curiously as I stood up and stared at him seriously.
“Tell me, Tianrui. What do you think the lives of the mortals in this world are like?”
“Hell.”
That single word was filled with such emotion that I couldn’t help but be taken aback.
“….Precisely. The lives of the mortals in this forsaken world can only be described as hell. It is the same everywhere, including the village that we are heading to. Granted, the people of my village are much better off since we do have a few cultivators there and we are mostly cut off from the rest of the empire. However, I am sure that this peace will not last long.”
“That is why, I want to change things in this place. I want to make it so that my loved ones will no longer have to fear for their lives when I am no longer around.”
I turned around to look at Jin Tianrui.
“I want to help those in my village change their fates. I want to spread all of our knowledge regarding Cultivation, Alchemy, Formations, Spiritual Smithing, and everything else to them so that they can learn to ascend above their fate. To that end, I have created a plan in which you along with many others that I am in the process of recruiting right now will play a pivotal role. I want to make my village a place where everyone can learn to ascend above their hellish lives should they choose to.”
“I want to make a paradise where everyone can be happy.”
Jin Tianrui stared at me with a complex mix of emotions that I could not get a read on before speaking again.
“….That is the most foolish thing I have ever heard, Master.”
Then, he suddenly kneeled in front of me.
“However, I still think it is a foolishness that is worth investing my all into. As I said before, I have made a vow to the heavens to follow your every command, and this is one command that I will happily follow to the best of my ability.”
“In that case, you should take some rest, you have a lot of work to do in the future.”
At his confused look, I gave him a fierce grin.
“After all, you will be the only one setting up the array, all by yourself, since I suck at large-scale Formations.”
His determined face instantly turned pale as he imagined the workload, making me laugh heartily.
