Chapter 586: Chapter 74: The Ideal State
The Third Town had been destroyed by Patag, its vitality exhausted, and it had beco an abandoned plane. After returning to the Second Town, Lu Hong spent an entire night exchanging information with the White Wind about the plans Patag had deployed in the underworld over the years.
“Duke, that is all I know for now, but Patag is a sly character. He might have other unknown moves in place, and with Patag’s sudden death, I believe the warden will sense it and soon dispatch a powerful successor to continue the quest for the Northern Border. I must now leave the Second Town, disguise myself, and find a way to gain the trust of the newcor. Later on, I will seek a suitable opportunity to relay information to you.”
As he spoke, White Wind sketched a few strokes on his palm and spread it out before Lu Hong.
Lu Hong glanced at it and nodded, “I understand. Be assured, whoever bears this mark, I shall grant them a path to live.”
“Then, White bids you farewell. I wish the Duke every success in quelling the unrest in the Northern Border and demonstrating the might of our Human Race.”
After seeing off White Wind, Lu Hong then visited his two brothers and the one-ard Questasa.
The powers of the underworld within the three had been completely purged, and all they needed now was quiet recuperation.
Having done this, Lu Hong summoned the Space Mage who remained in the Second Town and said, “Find a way to send a ssage to Konstantin, I need to speak with him.”
The Space Mage nodded his head, and in a mont had connected with Konstantin.
“How are things?”
Facing Konstantin’s inquiry, Lu Hong shook his head, “The situation is very bad; more than half of the planes in the Northern Border have been heavily infiltrated by the underworld’s forces.”
As he spoke, Lu Hong lifted up a map of the Star Sea plane’s territories, “The planes marked with red dots all harbor large quantities of underworld armies. These people’s strength are almost at the Second-Transformation Peak, and there are countless beings at the Third Transition level; you must deploy additional reinforcents to ensure their eradication.”
“That many?” Konstantin scrutinized the territorial map, then after a mont of consideration spoke, “Alright, first, liaise with the Liu Family to send more reinforcents. The Empire is currently deploying troops against the Infernal Abyss, and we can’t spare any hands for now.”
“That brings to the second matter I wanted to discuss with you,” Lu Hong said with a bitter smile on his face.
“Hmm?” Sensing sothing unusual, Konstantin’s eyebrows furrowed slightly, “What happened?”
“The Liu Family of Dongsheng is a traitor family, belonging to the Underworld Judiciary.”
“What did you say?!” Konstantin was startled, disbelief written all over his face, “The Liu Family has fought to the death for the Empire; how can they be a traitor family?!”
“At first, I didn’t believe it either. But during my ti in the Northern Border, my movents were completely grasped by the enemy, and in the midst of a great battle, the Liu Family led their forces to defect on the spot. How can I not believe it?”
Glancing at the space mage beside him, whose face had turned pale from maintaining the magic vision, Lu Hong picked up a letter and said, “I have written down everything that happened. I will send soone to hand it to you, have a look before you make your decision.”
How could Konstantin wait for such a significant developnt?
“Clarify what you an, don’t… don’t!” In the midst of Konstantin’s anxious calls, Lu Hong’s figure gradually blurred and eventually disappeared.
“Your Majesty, it seems the Space Mage at the Duke’s side ran out of magic power, which led to the disruption of the spell.”
Konstantin impatiently waved away the Mage beside him and turned to ask his counselor, “What do you make of this?”
The counselor paused, then replied, “Your Majesty, I believe that the Divine Might Duke would not make baseless accusations. There may indeed be a problem with the Liu Family; however, it’s possible that not all mbers are minions of the underworld. The Liu Family has given too much to the Empire, and if they were truly disloyal, none of their previous actions make sense. If they have greater sches, they wouldn’t expose themselves at this mont.”
Hearing the counselor’s analysis, Konstantin nodded, “You are right, seven generations ago Liu Family had a rger of several branches, so perhaps only one of those branches has aligned with the underworld.”
“This matter is left entirely up to you to investigate. If Liu Donglin is found guilty of treason, no trial is needed, and he may be executed directly!”
“I heed Your Majesty’s command!”
After sending away the philosopher, Konstantin felt unsettled. After so thought, he got up and went to the depths of the dungeon in the Imperial Palace.
This place was once used to detain criminals within the palace walls, and Funie, who had been brought back, was now imprisoned here.
Seeing Konstantin arrive, Funie let out a burst of cold laughter, “My dear brother, what brings you to visit today?”
“Funie, I ask you, is the Liu Family of the East Victorious a family from the Netherworld?” Konstantin wasted no ti with pleasantries and asked directly.
“Do you think I would tell you?” Funie revealed a mocking expression.
Upon seeing Funie’s belligerent attitude, Konstantin’s anger surged, shouting, “Funie, do you really wish to see the Empire fall into an irredeemable state?!”
“Is the Empire now the kind of nation we wanted to create when we were young?” After a mont of silence, Funie continued, “It should have perished long ago, selfish, deceitful, divided, a scramble for fa and profit, my dear brother, under your reign, the Empire is just like that, ugly and disgusting!”
Insulted by Funie, Konstantin reached his breaking point, pointing at her, “Dare say that again?!”
“Why wouldn’t I dare? It’s just a matter of life or death. I should have died at the hands of Tai’e thirty years ago, not give birth to such a bastard child. Tell , when we split our forces into three, with Tai’e targeting my division, were you responsible for luring him?”
Faced with Funie’s questioning, Konstantin fell silent. Indeed, Tai’e’s personal command had been completely unexpected by the Empire. The top warriors hadn’t arrived on the battlefield in ti. To avoid Tai’e’s pursuit, Konstantin and Funie decided to divide their forces into three to confuse Tai’e.
Originally, Tai’e had targeted the division led by Konstantin. Young and afraid of death, greedy for power, he leaked information, causing Tai’e to turn his battle towards abducting Funie instead.
Seeing Konstantin silent, Funie sneered, “I knew it was you.”
“I’m sorry…” All of Konstantin’s anger dissipated, leaving only guilt towards his sister.
“What’s the use of saying that now?” A tear rolled down from the corner of Funie’s eye, then she turned away from Konstantin, “Go away, I don’t want to see you.”
“No, you must tell whether the Liu Family is a Netherworld family and what other plans the Netherworld has. I can’t watch the Holy Divine Empire fall under my watch.”
Funie let out a faint sigh, “Does this Empire even deserve to exist? Under the Empire’s banner, its territories are boundless, several tis larger than the Beastman Empire and the Snowy Region. If these realms were all loyal to the Empire, would this three-legged stand have occurred? If the Empire was united, even tenfold, a hundredfold, the Naga Sea Race would be nothing, wouldn’t they? Brother, do you rember our vow? After you ascended to power, what kind of nation did we want the Sacred Empire to be? For this dream, I founded the Black Guard, helping you to spread your eyes and ears throughout every inch of the Empire. But what about you? After you ascended, did you even rember our pledge? You just used the Black Guard to secure your own position, battling for power with the Shahar Family. Although the Shahar Family’s downfall wasn’t your doing, you must have been involved, right?”
In the empty dungeon, with only Konstantin and Funie present, there was no fear of secrets being leaked. Konstantin nodded, “Yes, I made a deal with the Hell Cult. The Shahar Family’s philosophy was different from ours. As long as they existed, we couldn’t build the nation we dread of, so the Shahar Family had to be eradicated!”
“And what after the fall of the Shahar Family? Are you really striving to build the Empire of our dreams?”
“I am,” Konstantin said firmly. “But too many unexpected events have occurred these years. My plans have yet to be implented. Once this crisis is over, the Empire will undergo a major purge. I fear not the sharp decline in population nor the shrinkage of territories. I only wish that in the future, when the Empire faces great disaster, it will be united from within.”
To be honest, Konstantin resented those who road the Star Sea, those who cloistered themselves, deaf to summonses and commands. But at present, he indeed didn’t have the capacity to deal with them.
Funie sensed Konstantin’s resolve and let out a weak sigh. Then she said, “The third branch of the Liu Family is a Netherworld family, and they are planning to seize control of the Liu Family.”
“Thank you.” Having obtained useful information, Konstantin turned and left.
Listening to the footsteps gradually receding, Funie’s lips curved slightly upward. Everything seed to be going according to her plan!
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