The spring breeze brushed past the flowering crabapple in front of the hall, its petals falling like snow.
Within the Deep Palace, the undercurrents still surged.
But a true storm was brewing in silence, waiting only on Xia Wuyang’s whim.
On the last night of late spring, an unseasonal light snow began to fall over White Jade City.
It wasn’t the heavy, goose-feather snow of late winter, but fine, dense pellets like grains of salt, incredibly small.
They mixed with the last of the spring rain, rustling down onto the glazed tiles, quickly melting into streaks of water that then froze into a thin layer of ice in the night wind.
The Palace Attendants called it a late spring cold snap—a reminder from the heavens that even in seemingly warm times, unmelted ice lurked below. A warning to be cautious.
「11:45 PM. The Practice Room of Wenhua Hall.」
Xia Wuyang slowly opened his eyes. A starry, azure light swirled within his pupils—a sign that the River True Seed had begun to stabilize.
Next, he could enter the True Realm or consume Spirit Elixir and Medicine to continuously enhance the River True Seed. Once it was strengthened to a certain point, he could use it to forge his first Spiritual Vein.
Xia Wuyang had already simulated the path for this first Spiritual Vein thousands upon thousands of times. It differed slightly from the one in the original River Scripture; he had modified it to better suit his own body.
After this modification, the first Spiritual Vein would not only be more resilient, but its length would also increase from sixteen kilometers to twenty-one, a full five kilometers longer than before.
It might not seem like a large increase, but it was already more than double the length of an ordinary True Monarch’s.
As mentioned before, an ordinary True Monarch’s Spiritual Vein was only about ten kilometers long. Some didn’t even reach ten, measuring just over nine kilometers.
The River Scripture was one of the Top Level Spiritual Techniques. Each Spiritual Vein it forged was sixteen kilometers long, already far surpassing that of an ordinary True Monarch.
Now, with Xia Wuyang’s tailored modifications, the length of a single Spiritual Vein had surged once again. This brought not just an increase in the vein’s length, but an overall boost in his power.
Several days had passed since the matter with the Cao Bang, and everything was proceeding smoothly.
The night he returned to the palace, the sky was just beginning to show the pale light of dawn.
The Yue Family Siblings had already begun taking over the Cao Bang’s affairs, not resting for a single moment.
Aided by the Cao Bang’s upper echelon, who were controlled by the Soul Enchantment Technique, and supported by the puppet Gang Leader Hong Zhenhai, the siblings—who were, after all, descendants of General Yue Zhan—proved more capable than imagined. Their progress was faster than anticipated.
Zheng Zhicang had sent a secret report this morning: Yue Yulong had officially taken the position of Gang Leader, with Yue Yufeng as Vice Gang Leader and Hall Master of the Punishment Hall.
The siblings’ first order was to thoroughly investigate the Cao Bang’s decades of accounts, recover the Cao Silver embezzled by Zhao Tianxiong and his cronies, and properly purge Zhao Tianxiong’s remaining followers.
Their second order was to reorganize the various docks, strictly prohibiting the exploitation of boatmen and the private levying of taxes on silver.
In a short time, the atmosphere of the canal transport system had been swept clean, a vast improvement over before.
"General Yue, your children have not brought you shame." Xia Wuyang looked south, murmuring to himself, quite pleased with this outcome.
’But this bit of progress is far from enough. There’s still so much to do.’
Now that he was a True Monarch and possessed enough power to protect himself, it was time to handle certain matters.
He had another piece on his chessboard, but his opponent was still the Emperor who had controlled the Great Xia for nearly a century. It was Qianqing Palace, a weight on his heart for decades. It was all the enemies who had framed him back then, the ones who had kicked him while he was down.
He didn’t know how many people had been involved in the fall of the Crown Prince’s Mansion and his Empress Mother forty-two years ago, but he would settle the score with every single one of them.
’What I’ve done so far isn’t enough. Not even close.’
"I can’t always be reactive. It’s time to take the initiative. Otherwise, what a joke I’d be for a so-called True Monarch..." Xia Wuyang rose and walked to the copper mirror.
The man in the mirror had stark white hair and a face etched with wrinkles, looking as if he could die at any moment. Yet, his eyes burned with a fire that utterly belied his appearance.
It was the hatred he had suppressed for forty-two years. The grief and indignation from his Empress Mother’s tragic death. The humiliation of his own deposal. The unwillingness to yield, endured through countless days and nights of gritting his teeth in silence.
Especially now that he truly knew his enemies’ identities, the monstrous rage was almost impossible to contain.
Now that he had reached the True Monarch realm and secretly controlled the Shadow Guard, the Imperial Guard, and the Divine Capture Sect, it was time to go on the offensive.
He had already chosen his next target.
"Empress Murong Wan..."
As Xia Wuyang spoke the name, his voice was so cold it seemed to drop the room’s temperature. A murderous aura practically surged to the heavens.
Back when his Empress Mother Luo Jin was still the Empress, Murong Wan was merely Noble Consort Wan, one of the Eight Main Consorts.
She came from Prince Zhenxi’s Mansion. Her father was the Western King, Murong Ba, who commanded the 500,000 Iron Cavalry of the Western Territory. Her brother was the Iron Blood Marquis, Murong Feng, whose name struck fear throughout the Western Regions.
Relying on the power of her family, Murong Wan was utterly domineering and arrogant in the palace, opposing his mother at every turn.
After the incident with the Luo River Secret Realm, Murong Wan was among the first to leap at the chance to seize it. She had many members of the Luo Clan killed, including relatives and friends who were close to his mother.
Prince Zhenxi’s Mansion dispatched three Supreme Experts and twelve Grandmasters to ambush the Luo Clan’s caravans in the Luo River Secret Realm, seizing the Secret Realm’s treasures and killing many of his mother’s Guards.
According to Zheng Zhicang, a wet nurse and a female cousin, both of whom had been very close to his mother, died by the Soul-Seeking Arrows of Prince Zhenxi’s Mansion.
As for why Emperor Xia had killed his mother so swiftly and decisively, Murong Wan’s pillow talk in the Emperor’s ear accounted for at least thirty percent of the reason. She was a major driving force behind his mother’s death.
She constantly hinted that Empress Luo Jin was dissatisfied with Emperor Xia, that the Crown Prince’s Mansion’s power was too great, that Xia Wuyang and Empress Luo Jin might pose a threat to him, and that they harbored treacherous thoughts. This made Emperor Xia’s suspicion grow ever deeper, ultimately leading to tragedy.
Murong Wan also played a significant role in the downfall of the Crown Prince’s Mansion, causing the deaths of many of its old retainers.
Less than a year after his mother’s death, Murong Wan was instated as the new Empress.
For decades, she held sway over the Six Palaces, suppressing dissent and purging nearly all the Palace Attendants who had once been loyal to Empress Luo.
Her son is the Twelfth Prince, Xia Wujie. He wields considerable influence at court, backed as he is by his Empress mother and supported by Prince Zhenxi’s Mansion.
However, thanks to Murong Wan’s indulgence, he has become just as domineering as she is over the years. He has committed countless misdeeds and is completely unwilling to endure the hardship of cultivation.
Even with the support of vast resources and treasures, he is only a Martial Artist of the Middle Three Grades. Breaking through to the Upper Three Grades would be harder than ascending to heaven.
Because he consumed too many Miracle Treasures to advance, his Foundation is incredibly unstable, making it fundamentally impossible for him to assail the Upper Three Grades.
If not for this, Xia Wujie would also have been a strong contender for the position of Crown Prince, instead of just the Third Prince, Xia Wuchen, and the Fifth Prince, Xia Wushang.
But now that both the Third Prince, Xia Wuchen, and the Fifth Prince, Xia Wushang, have run into trouble, this Twelfth Prince has a slightly better chance of becoming the Crown Prince, despite his poor character and lackluster Cultivation Power.
’That Empress, Murong Wan, must be quite pleased right now.’

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