The Sleeping Palace of Wenhua Hall was exceptionally lively today.
Enraged by the death of Consort Ji, Emperor Xia had ordered a thorough investigation into Southern Barbarian spies. He had even dispatched another one hundred thousand Imperial Guards to the Southern Border, casting a pall of fear and tension over the entire Imperial Palace.
But Wenhua Hall was like a paradise apart from the world. The music and revelry continued night after night, a dreamscape of drunken indulgence where its inhabitants lived as carefree as Immortals, and no one came to interfere.
Today, in particular, Xia Wuyang had specially requested that the Ministry of Internal Affairs send over a new batch of girls.
Twelve Cat Girls from the Demon Race. Many of the other Princes looked down on them, but Xia Wuyang didn’t care.
’What’s not to like about Fox Girls and Cat Girls?’
At this moment, they were kneeling in the hall, clad in thin, gauzy robes that revealed their soft waists and long, slender legs. They were not much different from the most beautiful women of the Human Race.
The most striking feature was the pair of fluffy cat ears atop their heads, which trembled gently with each breath and would occasionally twitch sensitively, looking utterly adorable.
Behind them trailed fluffy tails—some as white as snow, some as black as ink, and others with colorful patterns. They could also be retracted, hidden from sight and touch.
These were special Cat Demons capable of shapeshifting. Their Cultivation was not high, their intelligence just beginning to bloom, and they still retained many of their natural instincts.
Their eyes were mostly amber or emerald, glowing with an otherworldly light in the candlelight. When they looked at people, they did so with an innate wariness and curiosity, possessing a unique charm.
A pure white Cat Girl spoke up timidly, her voice soft and sweet, with a slight tremor. "Your Highness, this servant... this servant is called Xue’Er. I hope Your Highness will show me pity."
Xia Wuyang was reclining on a soft couch, his old eyes narrowed to a slit. He beckoned with his hand. "Come here. Let Us have a good look at you."
Xue’Er hesitated for a moment but obediently crawled over and knelt by his leg.
Xia Wuyang reached out and stroked the top of her head. When his fingers brushed against her fluffy cat ears, Xue’Er shuddered. The tips of her ears instantly grew scorching hot, and an involuntary purr rumbled in her throat.
"Are your ears very sensitive?" Xia Wuyang asked with a smile.
"Mmm..." Xue’Er’s face turned as red as blood, her tail swishing restlessly. "The elders in my clan said... you can’t let just anyone touch your ears. Otherwise... otherwise, you have to marry him."
"Are We just anyone? You are Our person now." Xia Wuyang kneaded them again.
"Ngh..." Xue’Er went completely limp, collapsing by his leg like a real kitten, completely at his mercy.
The other Cat Girls watched, both shy and curious. A few of the bolder ones quietly sidled closer to Xia Wuyang.
A black-haired, green-eyed Cat Girl proactively offered him a cup of wine. "Your Highness, please drink."
Xia Wuyang took a sip from the cup she held, while his other hand wrapped around her slender waist, taking in her fragrant scent.
The Cat Girl’s waist was incredibly supple, as if boneless. With a gentle pull, she was pressed completely against him, not a sliver of space between them.
"What’s your name?" he asked.
The black Cat Girl’s voice was alluring, and her tail coiled lightly around his wrist. "This servant is called Mo’Er. Does Your Highness like cats?"
"I do. I like them very much." Xia Wuyang roared with laughter, his withered hand roaming restlessly over her waist. "We especially like soft and seductive little kittens like you."
Mo’Er giggled and tried to dodge, but she couldn’t escape his mischievous hand.
Her body was as flexible as water. No matter how she twisted, she maintained a graceful posture, which only made her more tantalizing and heart-stirring.
The other Cat Girls gradually relaxed as well. Some played the zither, some began to dance, and others snuggled up to feed him wine and food, attending to Xia Wuyang’s every need.
Inside the hall, cat ears twitched and tails swayed. The air filled with a mixture of flirtatious laughter, zither music, the aroma of wine, and the scent of cosmetics. It was a vivid, sensual, and lustful scene that soon became too explicit to describe...
The Palace Attendants stood outside the hall, listening to the commotion within. They all wore strange expressions, occasionally whispering to each other with undisguised disdain and mockery.
But they didn’t know that this was all just a performance. The breathtakingly beautiful Cat Girls were merely tools for concealment.
The real Xia Wuyang, in the midst of this den of pleasures, was actually continuing to consolidate his Cultivation and deduce his Cultivation Technique. He was preparing for the final "sweep," and everything up to now was just him biding his time and accumulating power.
Inside the hall, while Xia Wuyang appeared to be reveling on the surface, his Heart Spirit was immersed in cultivation.
Within his Dantian, the nascent Spiritual Vein was still slowly strengthening and consolidating. It grew stronger with every passing moment as he became more and more accustomed to it.
Nourished by this more potent True Qi, his Qi Blood also grew increasingly powerful.
’Almost there... Once my Body Refining breaks through, and once the second Spiritual Vein is forged, it will be time for the endgame in this chess match of Great Xia,’ he thought to himself.
Outside the window, flowers bloomed in profusion.
In the depths of the Imperial Palace, far away, Emperor Xia was still seething over the death of Consort Ji, overwhelmed by the two-front war, and scrambling to find a new opportunity.
What he didn’t know was that death was drawing ever closer to him.
That star, hanging perpetually above Wenhua Hall, watched everything with a cold gaze, awaiting the moment of its final descent.
An unknown amount of time passed, and another night of the full moon arrived.
The dark clouds above White Jade City finally scattered. A full moon, like a silver plate, hung high in the sky. Its clear radiance spilled down like mercury, plating the entire Imperial City in a hazy, frost-like sheen.
The first lotus blossom in Taiye Pool had opened. Its tender pink petals unfurled in the moonlight, its faint fragrance drifting on the air, intoxicating to all who smelled it.
But for all this fine evening and beautiful scenery, no one was in the mood to appreciate it. Most people in the Imperial Palace were quite busy at the moment.
Inside Yangxin Hall of Qianqing Palace, the lamps burned brightly through another night.
Emperor Xia, Xia Shengming, stood before a massive map of the Northern Territory. The Vermilion Brush in his hand hovered in mid-air, unable to fall for a long time, and his expression was quite grim.
Three urgent military reports were piled on his desk, and every single one gave him a headache.
From the Northern Territory: before the two hundred thousand Imperial Guards could even reach the front lines, word came that the Da Kuo Royal Court had launched a preemptive strike. They had broken through two mountain passes and were now approaching Iron Wall City.
If that city were to fall, the cavalry of the Northern Desert would have a clear path straight into the heart of the Central Plains. The consequences would be unimaginable.
From the Southern Border: the one hundred thousand Imperial Guards had not yet arrived. The Southern King’s campaign had started smoothly, but the Southern Barbarians were using the terrain and poisonous miasmas to mount successive ambushes, causing heavy casualties. The army was now facing a severe shortage of medicinal herbs and Antidotes, and they hoped the Imperial Court could allocate more supplies.
But with the Inner Treasury and the National Treasury having suffered such heavy losses, how much could he possibly send?
Provisions and funds were already scarce, and now they had to fight a war on two fronts, making the situation even more difficult.
At this moment, Emperor Xia began to wonder if he had made the wrong decision.
From the Western Territory: Prince Zhenxi’s Mansion was still not satisfied. Murong Ba had sent word that if the true culprit behind Murong Wan’s murder was not found within three months, he would personally come to the capital to demand an accounting.
Although Emperor Xia had produced a great deal of "evidence" pointing to the machinations of the Da Kuo Royal Court and the Southern Barbarian Hundred Races, he had failed to capture the Super Grade Celestial Human who had killed Empress Murong Wan. Thus, Murong Ba’s threat was not an empty one.

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