Elder Heifeng and Elder Rongli were even about to raise their palms to disobey the imperial decree and immediately assassinate Yang Hao.
But their hands could not come down, because Elder Wu Yi’s two hands were resting on their wrists.
Elder Wu Yi, the leader of the Nine Chief Elders, looked complexly towards the depths of the grand palace, with a mixture of melancholy and nostalgia. Deep within the palace, an old man was sitting solemnly.
This old man held the highest authority in the empire, and his family had been the most loyal followers of the Supreme for nearly a thousand years.
Was the history of the Galactic Empire about to take a completely different path starting today?
Elder Wu Yi held onto Heifeng and Rongli, and the three slowly retreated from the grand palace, still facing the emperor’s throne with solemn expressions. As they backed away step by step, their figures gradually faded.
It was as if they dissolved into the air. The three chief elders and the ten elders who had opposed the dragon vanished into the swirling snowstorm of the imperial capital.
And this snowstorm, which had been raging for many days, was growing even stronger without any sign of stopping.
Snow blanketed the vast continent, as if trying to dye the beautiful landscape into a desolate white.
Why?
This was the question everyone wanted to ask. But it seemed no one was there to answer. After the battle, the grand palace fell into silence once again. The crown prince and Feng Feng turned and left without a word, while several chief ministers looked thoughtful, especially the Chief Minister of the Privy Council, who kept his lips tightly sealed under the gaze of everyone.
He might have thought of something, but he couldn’t say it, because this matter was enough to shake the very foundation of the empire. The only thing the Privy Council Minister couldn’t figure out was whether Yang Hao was really that important, worth such a heavy price from the emperor.
But even though everyone had questions, not everyone wanted answers. When Yang Hao left the grand palace, Lan Ling accompanied him step by step down the ten-thousand-step staircase. This woman kept her head down the entire time, even dragging her beloved silver spear behind her, not asking a single question.
The battle was over. The people who had come to rescue Yang Hao, led by Long Yun and Zhuge Jian, had all stopped outside the imperial city waiting. Although the scene was grand today, Yang Hao’s losses were not severe. Mainly, some of the outer nobles’ armies suffered heavy casualties, while Long Yun’s trusted armed forces, facing the Snowy Night Lion Squad, barely engaged in combat, merely standing off until the end.
Standing at the foot of the ten-thousand-step staircase, Yang Hao stole a glance at Lan Ling. He noticed something was off with her expression; she had completely lost the unyielding determination she had shown when rescuing him. Instead, she kept her head down, not even looking at him.
“Um… Lan Ling,” Yang Hao finally couldn’t help but speak up. “Don’t you have anything to say to me?”
“What would I say?” Her voice was still icy cold.
Yang Hao reached for Lan Ling’s hand, but she forcefully pulled away.
“What’s wrong?” Yang Hao looked pitifully, his face full of grievance, as he moved closer.
“Behave yourself,” Lan Ling’s pretty face turned cold. “Future husband of the princess, Sir Yang Hao.”
Yang Hao blinked his eyes, finally understanding what the woman was thinking. Everyone else was puzzled as to why the emperor suddenly supported Yang Hao, but women’s thoughts were always different. Lan Ling had been muttering about the emperor’s final decree regarding marrying the princess.
“I’m so wronged, wronged to death,” Yang Hao cried out dramatically. “You know too, right? Me and the princess don’t get along at all. We can’t even stand each other. Who knows if the emperor has gone senile and decided to pull off this stunt.”
“Hmph!”
“Dear…” Yang Hao quickly fluttered his big eyes,
Blushing with shame, he reached out to grab Lan Ling’s fingers, “Don’t you want to know why there was such a big turnaround today?”
Yang Hao’s diversion tactic indeed worked. Lan Ling finally focused on the crux of the matter: “Yeah, why? Everyone saw with their own eyes that you were going to assassinate the emperor. How come, in the end, the emperor suddenly let you go?”
“Today’s Galactic Empire is already different from before.”
“What’s different?”
Yang Hao said, “Yesterday’s Galactic Empire belonged to the Supreme and the Elder Council. But today, it no longer does.”
Lan Ling listened in astonishment. She knew how taboo what Yang Hao was saying was, but the man in front of her had dared to assassinate the Supreme Sovereign, so what else wouldn’t he dare to say?
“Today’s trial was actually a gamble, a bet between me and the Elder Council. Both sides put all their stakes on the table, but what we were gambling for was different.” Yang Hao looked back at the majestic palace mountains, “The Elder Council bet that the emperor would maintain his previous stance, allowing them to eliminate me. But I bet that the emperor in the inner palace would assess the situation and make his own decision in the end.”
“The emperor’s decision?”
“Everyone says I was destined to lose this gamble because it’s clear to see that the Elder Council’s power far surpasses mine,” Yang Hao sneered. “It seems like I had no chance of winning at all, but that’s not true. I still had one last move. I bet that the emperor would also place a bet, and I bet he would bet on me.”
Lan Ling took a deep breath. She knew that what Yang Hao was saying now sounded simple, but what he had experienced before was a series of life-and-death situations. Any mistake at any point would have meant he couldn’t survive until now.
But Yang Hao had indeed won the gamble.
“How did you know the emperor would ultimately help you? After all, at the beginning, the emperor chose to run away,” Lan Ling’s question was also what everyone else wanted to ask.
“Because I know that the ultimate backer of all the anti-Elder Council forces is the emperor himself,” Yang Hao said. “If that old man had allowed the Elder Council to eliminate my forces today, he probably wouldn’t have had another chance to turn the tables.”
“What??” Lan Ling stamped her foot, so shocked she couldn’t even speak.
As an imperial bodyguard, Lan Ling knew that the palace guard system didn’t have a good relationship with the Elder Council, but to say that the emperor was the ultimate backer of the anti-Elder Council forces was simply too shocking.
Everyone knew that the Galactic Empire was founded by the Supreme Being, and the imperial bloodline was also blessed by the Supreme Being. Each emperor, regardless of their generation, revered the Supreme Being like a deity and held the Elder Council in the highest esteem, never daring to provoke their ire.
Even if there were occasional conflicts over power and interests, they were nowhere near enough to overthrow the Elder Council.
“Stirring up the waters can actually make things clearer. After arriving on Earth, I used brute force to disrupt the existing order here, just to see who else could resist the Elder Council alongside me,” Yang Hao said confidently as he clenched his fist. “As my strength grew, I saw more and more people. The Merchant Guild, outer nobles, the Intelligent Brain King, and even over forty sword master groups, not to mention countless hidden sword saints… So I began to wonder, are these people really isolated? Is there someone or a force secretly cultivating them, making sure they remain undetected by the Elder Council?”
Lan Ling listened silently.
Yang Hao continued, “If it were twenty years ago, or even ten years ago, the Elder Council would never have tolerated my existence in the empire. But now, overnight, the Elder Council found themselves unable to fully control the situation. Even the rise of the Merchant Guild left them helpless. Was it just because of the guild’s growing power? A mere Merchant Guild couldn’t possibly cultivate forty sword master groups and an indeterminate number of sword saints, not to mention you, who is also a hidden sword saint. These things must have happened while hiding from the Elder Council, right?”
Lan Ling began to understand. As a member of the palace guards, she naturally knew there were many hidden experts in the palace. To say nothing of her twelve seniors, each of whom was a sword saint, plus herself, Feng Qin had thirteen sword saints under his command. But the empire always publicly claimed there were only three sword saints. This was probably all for show to the Elder Council.
“The Merchant Guild couldn’t have cultivated forty sword master groups on their own, and the Intelligent Brain King couldn’t have opposed the Elder Council alone. The real mastermind behind all this was that old emperor.”
Yang Hao smirked proudly, “He’s the kind who won’t act without seeing the rabbit. He wanted to manipulate everything from behind and use me to bring down the Elder Council. But it’s not that easy. I had to force him to take a stand and show himself properly.”
“You took such a huge risk just to tell everyone that the emperor opposes the Elder Council?” Lan Ling frowned slightly.
“Before, it was just me against the Elder Council, and I was being crushed. But now, the entire empire will be at war with the Elder Council. What a wonderful day this is,” Yang Hao rubbed his hands together, visibly excited.
“Yeah, yeah, what a wonderful day,” Lan Ling said with a hint of sarcasm. “You’re about to marry the princess too.”
“Uh…” The topic returned to this issue, and Yang Hao was troubled.
“That old man, in the end, still played a trick on me, making me marry the princess. Who wants to marry that fierce princess anyway.”
“Who said Xian Lan is fierce?” Lan Ling was displeased again, defending her friend’s stance. “Xian Lan is a great beauty, you know. If you ask me, she’s the most beautiful girl in the imperial capital.”
“Hey, isn’t the most beautiful girl you?”
“That’s because others have no taste.”
“Are you jealous or not?” Yang Hao was both amused and exasperated. “Miss, please give me a normal attitude.”
“Okay…” Lan Ling raised her eyebrows, lifted her foot, and with lightning speed, stepped on Yang Hao’s foot, then ground it hard before turning around and walking away without changing her expression. “From today on, we should never meet again. That’s my normal attitude.”
Yang Hao was in excruciating pain, watching Lan Ling walk away step by step, his face full of helplessness.
“What should we do? Should I help you stop her?” Xie Fengting grinned mischievously.
“Stop her?” Yang Hao irritably rubbed his foot. “Can’t you see she’s a female sword saint, and this is her territory. Do you think you can stop her?”
“Sigh, a beauty is a curse. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, the two women you’ve gotten involved with are real troublemakers,” Xie Fengting was clearly enjoying the situation. “Lan Ling, Xian Lan, and another woman named Ling Ziyang, they’re the three most beautiful women in the imperial capital, and also the three biggest troublemakers. You’ve gotten involved with two of them, so you’ve got a lot to deal with.”
Yang Hao’s heart was in agony, it felt like it was bleeding. He frowned and said gloomily:
“I didn’t get involved with just two, but three. And… and that Ling Ziyang is actually the mother of my child.”
“Ahh!!!” This time, it was Xie Fengting’s turn to faint.
As the two men were discussing the beauties of the empire, a sudden violent explosion rang out from a familiar corner of the imperial capital, sending thick plumes of smoke billowing into the air.
Yang Hao exchanged a meaningful glance with Maya, who quickly transformed into a golden streak of light and shot off. In less than five minutes, Maya had gathered the information and returned, reforming into her human shape.
“Bad news,” Maya said, her expression never changing. “After the Divine Retribution Sword Group withdrew from the imperial city, they directly attacked the Dan Ding Sword Sect’s estate. Taking advantage of our main forces being away, they completely destroyed our base.”
“The Divine Retribution Sword Group’s Haik?”
A surge of anger erupted from Yang Hao’s chest. All the accumulated dissatisfaction and fury from before surged up, pouring onto the head of this clueless sword group leader. The snowstorm of the empire ended on this day filled with slaughter and bloodshed, but the intensifying power struggle had only just begun.
Yang Hao, who had survived and left the palace, was like a dragon swimming out of shallow waters, about to unleash his full power.
The new order was already eagerly arriving.
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage