"Is there news from the north?"
In the Imperial Study, the Emperor and his current Empress had a rare mont of respite, thanks to the arrival of a purple-robed magician.
There were only four court magicians from non-aristocratic families, and the one now by the Emperor’s side was the last remaining one. If Chen Qing saw him, he would certainly be surprised, because this man looked exactly the sa as the Zhulong sorcerer who had previously followed from the Imperial Court!
"The Lu Family lived up to Your Majesty’s expectations and successfully opened Myriad Serpent Valley!"
The Emperor, however, was not at all surprised. The Lu Family had a strong foundation, with several elders being Super First Rank warriors. After Lu Ming led the Lu Family to even greater heights, they ca to directly control the vast resources of the eastern and western seas. These old fellows benefitted greatly and, although aged and weakened, were hardly less formidable than in their pri, thanks to various precious dicinal herbs.
A group of such powerful individuals attempting to open Myriad Serpent Valley had little chance of being stopped unless the entire northern aristocracy resisted.
It must be said that Chen Qing really did a great favor. Initially, the Emperor had been worried about how to drive the Lu Family to despair, considering that Lu Ming was so powerful that very few in the world could match him. Even he, the Emperor, needed the perfect alignnt of ti, place, and people to possibly defeat Lu Ming.
Not only was Lu Ming imnsely strong, his mind was also ticulous. The Emperor hadn’t found such an opportunity in twenty years since the founding of the dynasty!
Previously, even his elder sister’s scheming had failed to kill Lu Ming, and yet, in the end, it was that young Chen Qing who managed to bring him down!
Truly, a good son-in-law...
If Weichi Feihong were here, he would definitely marvel at Chen Qing’s precision.
The Lu Family went to the north as a collective, their push indeed backed by the Emperor!
"Your Majesty, the Earth Serpent has awakened, but Mother Earth has yet to stir."
"No rush..." the Emperor said with a smile. "Mother Earth was severely injured in the past and was then frozen by the King of Qin with a top-notch ice-sealing technique. It will need a great deal of blood from warriors to awaken, and that cannot happen quickly. But we need not worry. Those Serpent Sorcerers are more anxious than us!"
Upon hearing this, the purple-robed magician nodded. The group from the Southern Barbarians, already on the verge of demonic transformation, had bodies close to collapsing. In their day-to-day life, they had to rely on a large number of human sacrifices and secret dicines to barely maintain their flesh. Fearing being devoured by their own kind, they dared not enter deep hibernation like the Earth Serpent and were close to despair.
If it weren’t for the Thousand-Faced Fox incident, the Imperial Court would have been forced into an unavoidable war with the Southern Barbarians!
This was because the intelligence passed on by the Lu Family indicated that the group from the Southern Barbarians could hardly wait any longer.
"Your Majesty, there are more Earth Pythons than expected, and the Lu Family is crazier than imagined, secretly assisting in the assassination of the northern aristocratic family. Even the Princely Heir of Duke of Wei nearly had an incident. Isn’t that a bit...?"
Others might not be aware, but the purple-robed magician knew that Duke of Wei was truly loyal. Everyone had always thought that the Emperor had been bewitched by demons to consider using the ancient forces. In fact, there was still a chance to win him over.
After all... he had been a loyal follower for many years.
When the Emperor heard the na of Duke of Wei, a complex expression flashed in his eyes.
Duke of Wei had followed him for many years. He had supported the Emperor even before the latter had reached his peak. Over the years, the duke had been diligent, stabilizing the north and establishing Great Jin. While most of the other dukes enjoyed wealth and honor in their fiefdoms, Duke of Wei stayed in the cold northern frontiers to resist formidable enemies for his sake. A few years ago, he even conquered the seven cities of Youyun for him.
For such a person, it would be false to say the Emperor had no feelings. But...
"Do you know why the King of Qin failed?" the Emperor asked, looking at him.
The purple-robed magician hesitated, knowing that the Emperor disliked discussing the forr King of Qin. After all, having been the king’s biggest supporter before stabbing him in the back and taking over Jiangnan, writing it down in the history books would always look bad no matter the justification.
For many years, there had been an unspoken agreent not to ntion it. Today, however, it was he who brought it up...
"Did he reveal his demonic identity too early?" the magician asked uncertainly.
"That’s not important..." the Emperor sneered. Many people had already roughly guessed his identity before the reveal. Although a demon, he was working for the Human Race, and back then, his ability to rally support was so strong that even the elders from Yundu were willing to follow his command. He was already considered the leader of the world, but what was the result?
Weren’t you the one who brought him down?
The purple-robed magician rolled his eyes inwardly, but dared not voice such a thought out loud. Instead, he said, "Your servant is dull-witted."
"The reason is quite simple. It was because his alignnt wasn’t absolute!" said the Emperor coldly. "Coexistence of humans and demons is easy to say, and a temporary alliance was possible when both were fighting against ancient threats, but what about after? When it ca ti to rule the world? According to King of Qin’s intention, high-ranking nobles and demons would each make up half—do you think the world’s aristocratic families would tolerate that?"
"This..."
"So when the King of Qin was driven to despair back then, not a single Human Race family ca to his rescue, and this is why!"
The Emperor sneered, "Duke of Wei is loyal to because he believes that I can be a more perfect King of Qin. I stand firmly with the Human Race, but I do not wield the ancient forces..." The Emperor looked at him, "When the ancient invasion occurred, humans and demons coexisted. Do you know why? In fact, there weren’t a few who believed in the King of Qin’s ideals. I beca the king by promising to continue the King of Qin’s will, not to touch the ancient powers. After all, to most aristocratic families, rely ensuring the stability of their wealth and glory is enough. They keep a respectful distance from the power of the ancients."
"Duke of Wei is a typical representative of these pathetic individuals. If he were to know about my current deeds, it would be impossible for him to remain loyal to ."
The purple-garbed sorcerer bowed his head and remained silent. The Emperor’s thoughts were indeed chilling. Whether Duke of Wei would betray him was just a hypothesis, but the Emperor would rather not take that risk...
Just like what had happened with Duke of Song...
"Duke of Wei has been loyal for many years, I rember that," the Emperor sighed. "Try to preserve his descendants. He has an eldest grandson, right? Notify the covert operatives in the north to find a way to save him. Leave a thread of life for his family, to honor our years of loyalty between sovereign and vassal."
"Yes!!"
After the purple-garbed sorcerer left, it wasn’t long before a graceful figure once again embraced the Emperor.
"You are quite rciful...."
"Duke of Wei’s entire family is loyal and brave, with over a hundred of his direct descendants dying in battle for ," said the Emperor indifferently. "He deserves this."
"Hehehe..." The Empress smirked and hugged him, "That’s very compassionate of you."
"Are you certain?" the Emperor finally raised the matter of importance, "Back when the King of Qin was around, just ntioning the Celestial Serpent made everyone tremble in fear. It’s said that an adult Celestial Serpent could encircle an entire country?"
"That’s not the half of it..." The Empress nibbled on his ear as she spoke, "The older Celestial Serpents are even more exaggerated. If they could coil around, they would encircle the entirety of your world!"
"Encircle the world?" The Emperor’s pupils constricted, "This thing, can you deal with it?"
"Scared?"
"Isn’t it human instinct to revere unknown powers?"
"Hahaha, I love your nature..."
The Emperor: "..."
"Don’t worry... everything... is under control. Soon, you will see that the horrors of this world are far beyond what you envision. Dragons that call the wind and summon the rain, serpents that circle the world, heh... just dishes on the table!"
----------------------------------
"Co... soone co!"
In the northern Yun City, the just awakened Princely Heir called out weakly.
"The Princely Heir is awake?"
The warriors that had guarded the gate round the clock showed a look of surprise and quickly approached to ask.
"What’s the situation now?"
"It’s grim..." One tall warrior shook his head, "The seven cities of Youyun have completely fallen, and Beihai City is surrounded by the Giant Serpents. We are in the middle of the encirclent, and the situation is dire!"
"The defenses of the city are hard to hold. Those Giant Serpents can burrow up from the ground; you never know when or where they’ll surface, making them extrely difficult to defend against. They cause devastating damage behind the lines, and often by the ti you organize your troops to respond, the place where the Giant Serpent has erged is already devastated!"
"Yes, these monsters are massive and yet elusive, and we soldiers can’t afford to split our forces. Now, we can only keep contracting our defense periter, but if this continues, we can’t even guarantee our logistics anymore!"
"Jiangnan..."
"Jiangnan?" A dark-faced giant of a man said, "Hope for aid from Jiangnan is lost. Beihai City has been taken down. We..."
"We must take it back!" the Princely Heir struggled to rise, "Find a way to contact Jiangnan, take back Beihai City. That is our northern territory... our only path to survival!!!"
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