Great Chu, in the royal court.
The crowd was in an uproar!
“Your Majesty! You can’t! Ever since my Great Chu established its own country, there has never been a King with a different surname! What right does that Su Daqiang have? To be able to bestow a noble title to him?”
“That’s right, Your Majesty. Su Daqiang has never governed the country, nor has he ever expanded his territory. It’s controversial for him to be conferred the title of King for no reason.”
“Your Majesty, please reconsider!”
This was Xiang Feiyan’s first court session after she ascended the throne. She unhesitatingly bestowed the title of King to Su Wen.
However, in the eyes of the officials, this was too much.
There were many voices of opposition in the court.
Xiang Feiyan was a little angry.
She could tell that these people were not easy to manipulate.
However, as a new emperor, she was at a loss.
She shifted her gaze to Su Wen, only to see him standing in the royal court with a smile on his face.
When he noticed Xiang Feiyan’s pleading gaze, he moved.
He walked to a shouting official and kicked him!
With Su Wen’s strength, that person was directly kicked to the ground!
Su Wen sneered. “What are you shouting so much for? Are you trying to summon something?”
Everyone gasped. This fellow was being too rude here!
“What are you trying to do?” That person on the ground roared out.
Su Wen said sternly, “You’re saying that I don’t have any achievements? Last night, when the rebel army entered the palace, I killed more than 100,000 enemies by myself(purely bragging)! Where were you all? It was me who protected the foundation of Great Chu, and it was me who assisted His Majesty in ascending the throne.
At that time, where were you bunch of bastards? Why didn’t anyone enter the palace for a day and night? Do you all have the heart of a loyalty towards the ruler? Just you bunch of bastards, all of you should have been beheaded for your crimes. If it wasn’t for His Majesty’s kindness, you people would have been sent to the funeral parlor today!”
“Also, where did those rebels come from last night? Did you send them? Which department are you from?”
“What? The Ministry of Rites? It’s impossible for the Ministry of Rites to send an army of rioters? Your Majesty, this person has a cunning appearance and looks like a rat. He must have some connections with that army of rioters. Please send him to prison to punish him!”
To be honest, Xiang Feiyan had very little experience in fighting in the royal court. During this period of time, Emperor Chu did not attend the court either. Basically, all she knew was that all the officials would only submit a memorial every day.
Hence, when these officials were agitated, Xiang Feiyan was really at a loss as to what to do.
With Su Wen’s hint, she subconsciously followed Su Wen’s instructions. Her expression darkened as she shouted, “Men, throw this person into the prison! Investigate thoroughly!”
It couldn’t be helped. After the competition for the throne, her trust in Su Wen naturally far exceeded that of these ministers.
All the ministers in the court subconsciously gasped.
This was completely unreasonable. There was no evidence at all, yet he was thrown into jail for nothing?
What the f*ck was this if not an incapable ruler?
But humans were just so strange. If Xiang Feiyan were to reason with them, they would not be afraid.
But now, upon seeing someone being punished for no reason, everyone in the court turned silent.
They were all important ministers of the country. Everyone could tell that Su Wen had more authority than anyone else in Xiang Feiyan’s eyes!
If one were to try and be tough with her, before speaking he would be around, but after speaking, it might not be the case anymore.
At this moment, the Royal Guards had already arrived.
They directly suppressed that official.
“Incapable ruler! What an incapable ruler!”
That person roared.
This time, there was no need for Su Wen to remind her. The most unbearable thing for women was for someone to scold them in front of their faces.
“Kill! Bring him to the executioner and behead him!” Xiang Feiyan shouted.
“No! Your Majesty! This Sun Wen has been in the royal court for many years and is an honest official…” Someone came out to plead for this person.
Unfortunately, Xiang Feiyan had already been enraged. She rebuked angrily, “You actually spoke up for this criminal. Men, suppress this person and kill him together!”
Su Wen couldn’t help but give her a thumbs up.
Well done.
This was a good seedling for an incapable ruler.
This time… the entire court settled down.
Prime Minister Zhang Yong took a step forward and shouted, “This subject agrees with Your Majesty that Su Daqiang should be conferred the title of Nanli King.”
This title, was something Xiang Feiyan came up with, based off the legends of the Southern Li Fire.
The moment Zhang Yong spoke, many people in the royal court immediately chose to agree.
Compared to Emperor Zhou who wanted to be a Saint Ruler to be mentioned by generations, Xiang Feiyan did not have so many thoughts.
What she wanted more was to satisfy her own ambitions and desire to control everything. When her power swelled to the extreme, she would do whatever she wanted.
In reality, if not for Su Wen, with her personality and ability, she would never have been able to ascend to the throne.
The court assembly finally dispersed.
Su Wen and Xiang Feiyan retreated to the inner palace as well.
As they left the palace, Zhang Yong was surrounded by a large group of people.
“Minister Zhang! What should we do? Her Majesty listens to Su Daqiang and dotes on him so much, to the point of even executing someone without a crime. What should we do?”
When Zhang Yong heard this question, he sneered in his heart.
What should he do? What could he do?
He flicked his sleeve and said, “There must be a deeper meaning to everything Her Majesty does. Just follow orders!”
With that said, he turned around and left.
The more people there were, the less secretive they were.
Even if he was extremely dissatisfied, Zhang Yong would not open his mouth easily.
Furthermore, Zhang Yong had been in the government for many years and was extremely scheming. In his opinion, Su Wen being conferred the title of king might not be a bad thing!
Since Su Wen could make Xiang Feiyan happy, others could as well.
In that case, the door for an opposite sex to become a King would be wide open. Perhaps in the future, he too would be able to obtain a similar title.
This was selfishness. Secondly, Su Wen was now like the sun in the sky. Even if he wanted to defeat Su Wen, he had to slowly plan.
He was in no hurry to compete with him when the latter was currently at his peak.
In Zhang Yong’s opinion, this was extremely unwise.
Secondly, Su Wen was only conferred the title of nobility. Although it was unavoidable for him to interfere in the royal court, there was no conflict of power between them.
Everyone had their own thoughts as they left.
Meanwhile, Su Wen and Xiang Feiyan walked side by side in the royal garden.
Xiang Feiyan was dressed in a dragon robe, covering her tight figure.
However, looking at this woman in dragon robes, Su Wen suddenly had an urge to do it.
The supreme royal authority!
This woman was the pinnacle of power in Chu.
“Daqiang, do you think our methods today are a little too unyielding?” Xiang Feiyan turned around and pondered, more or less having thoughts of regret.
Su Wen hugged her waist and said with a smile, “How can that be? We have to let those scholars know how powerful you are. If you reason with them, you only have one mouth. How can you defeat them?”
“Only by killing two people can we let them know who is the emperor!”
Hearing his words, Xiang Feiyan smiled sweetly and said, “It feels good to be an emperor… I can do whatever I want…”
Su Wen pressed down on her shoulder as he smiled. “Of course. Otherwise, why would everyone fight for it?”
“Uhhmm!”
An extremely satisfying feeling of conquest welled up in Su Wen’s heart.
The augmentation of status to a woman was sometimes just this wonderful.
After a while, Xiang Feiyan stood up and gulped….
She then smiled, “Now, I’m the first empress of Great Chu and you’re the first King with an external surname, we can be considered to complement each other. You can move into the palace.”
Su Wen smiled. “I better not. It’s not too good to invite too much gossip sometimes.”
Xiang Feiyan rolled her eyes and snorted. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re thinking. You want an unrestrained life outside, right? Fourth even gave you a foreign dancer. This bastard, isn’t he afraid that I’ll chop off his head?”
She laid on Su Wen’s chest and said, “But it’s up to you. I’ve already instructed the entire palace that as long as you want, you can enter the palace at any time. There’s no need to report anything, but you can’t always not come over.”
“Ok….”
The news had also spread throughout the city.
“Have you heard? His Majesty has conferred that lover of his, Su Daqiang, as the Nanli King!”
“It’s true. I heard that that guy is extremely handsome. He only relies on his face.”
“Sigh… it’s really… enviable to eat soft rice to this extent!”
(TL Note: Eating soft rice is a slang term where it means the men stay at home to do the chores while the woman goes off to work and earns money for the family instead.)
“I’m not bad looking either… Why didn’t I have such an opportunity!”
Countless people felt jealous and envious of Su Wen.
This allowed Su Wen’s Emotional Value to keep increasing.
At this moment, the Eldest Princess’ residence had already been transformed into the residence of the Nanli King.
Su Wen was currently based in the residence.
He sat alone, checking his system interface.
My god, 3 million Emotional Value points.
That night, the slaughter took up most of the space.
He leveled up four times in total as well.
Host: Su Wen
Emotional Value: 3 million points
Level: 35
Cultivation: 9th Grade Earth Rank
Cultivation Technique: Heaven & Earth Great Solar Sutra
Body Tempering Cultivation Technique: Vermillion Bird Glazed Body
Battle Technique: Jadebreak Fist (LV9) Layered Wave Saber (LV9) Stellar Transposition (LV5) Great Solar Supreme Policy (LV4) Roaming Dragon Wind Sword (LV1)
Bloodline: Vermilion Bird
Special Skill: Embodiment of the Vermillion Bird (Completion Rate: 0.1%) (Currently able to transform into a young Vermillion Bird, time limit: 3 seconds)
Su Wen took out the Golden Crow Footbone from the inner chamber of the palace.
Originally, the old emperor wanted to use this item to trick Su Wen into helping the Third Prince recover. After Xiang Feiyan ascended the throne, Su Wen naturally remembered this item.
Thus, he asked for it. With their relationship, Xiang Feiyan naturally would not refuse.
This foot bone…
[Ding-dong. Golden Crow Footbone detected. The Golden Crow’s blood essence can be extracted from it. After ingesting it, there is a chance to awaken the Golden Crow bloodline. Emotional Value required is 1,000,000 points.]
Su Wen: “…”
Expensive.
Su Wen, who possessed the Vermilion Bird bloodline, naturally knew how powerful the bloodline of a divine beast was.
However, he acutely noticed that this was a Golden Crow, not a three-legged Golden Crow!
One had to know that the two were worlds apart.
If it was a three-legged Golden Crow, it was needless to say that its strength could even surpass the Vermillion Bird.
However, an ordinary Golden Crow… was not bad for an ordinary person, but to Su Wen, it was much worse compared to what he already had.
Furthermore, Su Wen was very clear that he had yet to develop much of his Vermilion Bird bloodline.
After pondering for a moment, Su Wen put away the foot bone again. He did not need it now, but he might be able to use it in the future.
Immediately after, Su Wen looked at the Great Solar Supreme Policy.
[Ding-dong. The host has spent 2.7 million Emotional Value points. The Great Solar Supreme Policy has been upgraded to Lv5.]
Another upgrade.
Su Wen frowned.
Even up till now, he had yet to break through to the Heaven Rank.
Even though his comprehension of martial arts had deepened, he still did not break through.
What should he do now to break through?
“It seems like I need to consult someone.”
Su Wen knew that he could not always figure it out himself.
Since Xiang Feiyan was here and that Xiang Ding was a Heaven Rank expert, it wouldn’t be too much to ask her for guidance, right?
However, he was in no hurry. He turned his attention back to the lottery draw.
[Ding-dong. The host has received a resin kit of Boya Hancock[1]…]
[Ding-dong. The host has drawn an Earth Rank martial technique, Jade Blood Palm.]
[Ding-dong. The host has drawn an Earth Rank movement technique, Gale Shift.]
Su Wen was a little depressed. He did not draw anything useful even after three tries.
[Ding-dong. The host has drawn the Paragon Rank Sword Move… Daybreak!]
“Eh?”
Su Wen’s eyes widened!
F*ck! What did he draw? A Paragon Ranked… Sword Move?
Only one move?
That’s right, there was only one move.
Alright, so be it!
Better than nothing! Learn it quickly!
[Ding-dong. The host’s current comprehension of Sword Dao is insufficient and cannot cultivate it…]
“F*ck fark fugg furk!”
Su Wen was furious. He still had to comprehend the Sword Dao to learn a single move?
This was the first time Su Wen had encountered such a situation.
However, it was obvious that Su Wen never had any sword techniques in his martial techniques he had learnt.
To suddenly try to learn an extremely high level sword move was to let a primary school student directly learn complex numbers. How could he possibly understand it?
Su Wen turned his gaze to his Heaven Rank sword technique, the Roaming Dragon Wind Sword!
[Ding-dong. The host has upgraded the Roaming Dragon Sword to LV2. 40,000 Emotional Value consumed…]
[Ding-dong. Congratulations, host…]
The remaining 300,000 Emotional Value points allowed the Roaming Dragon Sword to reach Level 4 in one go.
Moreover, even after he finished his cultivation, Su Wen went to cultivate again.
The result was still… The host’s comprehension of Sword Dao was insufficient…
Alright, Su Wen was convinced. It seemed like if he wanted to learn this sword move, he would have to at least upgrade the Roaming Dragon Sword to a relatively high level.
He had to deepen his comprehension of the Sword Dao.
He had to find a way to get some Emotional Value…
Su Wen started to ponder about his possibilities.
“Your Highness, the Fourth Prince is here.” Xue Qianxun reported from outside.
During this period of time, Xue Qianxun’s cultivation had improved greatly, allowing her to reach 6th Grade Earth Rank.
The Blue Cloud Tiger was always by heris side. Right now, the little tiger cub had already grown to about the size of a normal tiger.
Su Wen nodded. “Got it. Get him to wait for me in the front hall.”
Not long after, Su Wen and Xiang Chun met in the living room.
As the two of them sat down, Xiang Chun smiled and said, “Your kick today really made me comfortable just looking at it.”
“What’s the matter?” Su Wen smiled.
He knew that this kid would definitely not come for no reason.
Xiang Chun pondered for a moment before replying, “There is indeed something that I can’t hide from you, Brother-in-law. I was thinking that this might be the case. Since my sister has already ascended the throne, can you put in a good word for me and get my sister to give me a piece of land?”
Su Wen narrowed his eyes.
This kid wanted to escape!
Great Chu was different from how Great Zhou operated.
Most of the Princes and Kings of Zhou did not have any real power or fiefs. It was just a title to represent honor.
For example, despite being a Prince, Zhao Rui’s father had to obediently stay in the capital. The emperor would give him some dividends from his businesses, and his income was usually not bad.
As for Chu, there were two types of situations. One was the same as the Zhou Country, the free and easy princes. The other was different.
If a King were to receive a fief outside the capital as his own territory, he had the authority to govern. He could be said to be a local tyrant.
Obviously, when Xiang Chun saw that the competition for the throne had failed, he began to think of ways to escape.
“That won’t do. Your sister has just ascended to the throne, and it’s time to use people. You should help her in the capital.”
Su Wen smiled.
He would not let Xiang Chun leave so easily.
After he left, wouldn’t he be far away from the Emperor, to the point that authority could not keep him in check? If he kept him, he could only cause trouble in the capital.
Su Wen looked at the disappointed Xiang Chun and comforted him with a smile. “However, don’t be anxious. If you perform well in the few years, I will tell your sister.”
Humans had to have a goal to strive for.
For example, the boss of a company had to give his subordinates a big picture.
After sending Fourth Brother off, Su Wen pondered for a moment and felt that he should go back and discuss with Old Su.
He took out the teleportation portal and strode back to the capital.
At this moment, in the capital of Great Zhou, Tamu Chuan and Sula were panicking.
Xu Qiao was missing!
The two of them had no idea where this guy went.
After he left his house one day, he mysteriously disappeared.
The two of them did not have much money to begin with, so they relied on Xu Qiao to support them.
Without Xu Qiao, the two of them were even more helpless.
Fortunately, the two of them had high cultivation levels, so it was not difficult for them to steal some money…
A mighty general of the Fire Barbarians, reduced to doing such a thing. How pitiful.
However, even so, Tamu Chuan did not want to return to the Fire Barbarians Tribe…
It was not that he wanted to betray the Tribe, but he wanted to stay in the bustling Great Zhou for a while more.
On the other side, Su Wen came out of the residence and arrived at Su Changqing’s house.
When the father and son met, Su Wen recounted everything that had happened during this period of time. In the end, he smiled and said, “In the current Chu Country, Xiang Feiyan is greatly influenced by me. It’s not difficult to get her to attack Yan Country.”
When Su Changqing heard this, he smiled and nodded, “I didn’t expect that you would actually be conferred the title of King. In that case, why don’t we move our entire family to Chu? Why are we still in Great Zhou?”
Su Wen was stunned. He looked at Su Changqing and asked, “Are you serious?”
Su Changqing shook his head and said, “What a joke. Unless it’s absolutely necessary, I don’t want to be a traitor.”
“Then if there’s nothing else, I’ll leave first.” Su Wen stood up to leave.
At this moment, the smile on Su Changqing’s face slowly disappeared. He looked at Su Wen and said, “I think I should tell you something.”
“What is it?” Su Wen felt that something was amiss.
“Ji Yuchen is dead.”
Su Wen stopped on the spot the moment he heard his father.
That old fellow… was dead?
“How did he die?” Su Wen’s expression was very calm.
Su Changqing only shot off a few words, “Heart disease! Sudden death!”
Su Wen looked at Su Changqing and tilted his head. “Really?”
“It’s fake… His heart’s meridians were severed.” Su Changqing sighed. “This is the letter he left for you!”
As he spoke, he took out a letter from his bosom and handed it to Su Wen. “This was given to his old friend when he left the capital. In the event he dies, the friend was told to give this letter to you.”
Su Wen took a deep breath.
He took the letter and opened it.
“Young Friend Su Wen, if you see this letter, I will already be dead. This outcome is not out of our expectations. From the moment I heard your plan, I was already prepared to die.”
“I’m very honored to have met you. I’m also very grateful for the guidance you have provided.”
“I am about to leave the capital. I know that once I leave, I might not return. But for the sake of the people and for the Great Zhou, I do not regret it.”
“My young friend once said that I should work for another decade before I hand the reins over to you. From the looks of it now, it might not be possible.”
“I’ll die, but I don’t want things to fail. This old man implores little friend here not to let this good plan be buried in the mortal world.”
“There are always honest people in the Great Zhou. If little friend is unwilling to personally take risks, you can find a good person and take over my position. I believe that there are those who are willing to accept this task and will die without regrets.”
“I am full of passion for the commoners. Although I have no regrets in my death, I regret that my good plan has not succeeded. I hope that you will help me. I will be endlessly grateful in the afterlife. Ji Yuchen kowtows to you.”
[1] One Piece Character
