"This way," Huang Wan Hai called out to me, waving impatiently for me to join her. I exchanged a glance with Lan Bei Er, and the two of us hurried to catch up with Huang Wan Hai and her royal guard, our entourage following closely behind. Huang Wan Hai nodded. "We have already arranged accommodations for your servants, Gan Yong will direct them."
One of the royal servants stepped out and spoke to the chief of staff, gesturing for them to follow him. I left them to whatever it was they needed to do.
"As for you guys, there's someone who wishes to meet you before you go visit my father the Emperor later."
"Oh? Who?" I was genuninely curious. I didn't know anybody in the imperial capital, after all. Huang Wan Hai grinned mischievously.
"You should know. He's someone you should be very familiar with."
"I see." I had an inkling of who he might be. There was only one person in the imperial capital I could think of who I knew…scratch that, two actually. But they counted as one entity because they were always together. "Huang Qian Jin…ahem, I mean, his highness the fourteenth prince."
"You don't have to care about all those formalities," Huang Wan Hai said, waving my awkwardness away. "You're sworn brothers, aren't you? It's fine if you call him by name. I bet Qian Jin prefers it that way anyway."
"Right."
It didn't take too long for me to meet up with Huang Qian Jin and Hui Ying. They were waiting inside the royal palace. Fortunately, with Huang Wan Hai escorting me and Lan Bei Er herself, we didn't have any trouble with the guards. They allowed her in the moment they saw her and the royal guard, lowering their spears and making way. They didn't even give me and Lan Bei Er a second look.
Cool.
Huang Wan Hai then brought us to Huang Qian Jin's residence, a villa of sorts located within the royal palace itself, complete with its own garden and artificial pond. Man, these royal families love their artificial ponds and bridges and stuff.
I personally thought it was a waste of money.
"Brother Ye!"
Huang Wan Hai ran up to me excitedly, accompanied by a strolling Hui Ying who nodded at me in acknowledgement. I raised a hand to greet him.
"Hey, Qian Jin. It's been a while."
"It has, indeed! Almost a week since the intersect tournament, I believe. I'm glad you're all right after all that farce."
"Yeah." I shook my head. "I can't believe that the Azure Water Sect attempted to overthrow the regime and massacre the other six major sects. It seems…bold and foolish."
"My father the Emperor has already dispatched officials to investigate and then hand out punishments. Cheng Kun himself has already been executed."
Wow, that was fast. They certainly weren't messing around. It was good too. Dangerous to keep loose ends untied, and best to eliminate threats instead of leaving them around in the prisons waiting for someone to rescue them.
Cheng Kun, in particular, was a powerful foe who had attained Saint Realm. He was too dangerous to be left alive.
"Anyway, I apologize for telling my father the Emperor about you, but the news would have reached him anyway." Huang Qian Jin sighed and shook his head. "The moment you used the Celestial Creatures' Royal Palace formation in front of everyone during the intersect tournament, that feat would be bound to reach the eyes and ears of other people…particularly those connected to the royal family. There will be no hiding the fact."
"It's fine, don't worry about it," I assured him. "I wasn't intending to conceal my knowledge of the Celestial Creatures' palace formation anyhow. Otherwise I wouldn't use it."
I mean, seriously…what was the point of learning all these awesome formations if I didn't use them? I could understand not using Heaven and Earth techniques because…well, if the orthodox cultivators found out, I would be in deep trouble. And I would be forcibly separated from Lan Bei Er. Or I could bring her with me, but she would be separated from her friends and family, never to live the life that she did currently. She would have to literally give up everything to follow me into demonic sects' territory.
I couldn't ask that of her, so I kept my Heaven and Earth techniques a secret from everyone, including Huang Qian Jin and Hui Ying. I suspected they knew something about my background, or at least suspected it, but they decided to give me the benefit of the doubt for now.
On the other hand, I didn't know that these formations would attract so much attention from the royal family. Hong Yao Yao, Chi Yan and He Shan Jie never said anything when I used it in the Nine Suns tomb. I didn't expect it to be blown out of proportion.
"Shall we go then?" Huang Qian Jin asked, turning toward the main hall of the royal palace where the Emperor received his guests in all splendor. I nodded and followed him and Hui Ying, Lan Bei Er strolling by my side. Huang Wan Hai and her royal guard took up the rear and we went straight into the royal palace.
"Ah, so you're finally here."
The Emperor was a middle-aged man dressed in gold robes and wearing that oriental fancy hat that served as a crown in a non-Western setting. A majestic dragon was scrawled across the chest of his embroidered robes, bursting through the clouds and adopting a ferocious façade. He had a neatly trimmed beard and mustache that framed a handsome face, despite being in his late forties. He nodded when Lan Bei Er and I dropped to our knees, bowed and cupped our hands.
"Rise."
"Thank you, your majesty."
I stood up, along with Lan Bei Er. The Emperor glanced at her curiously, a raised eyebrow, but he turned his attention to me.
"I suppose you already know why I've called you here? You must have heard about it in the imperial edict issued to you."
"Yes, your majesty. However, I'm afraid that I cannot accept the marriage proposal." Before the Emperor could object, I turned and gestured toward Lan Bei Er. "I'm already married. This is my wife, Lan Bei Er of Azure Cloud City. I am already the son-in-law of the Lan family, the son-in-law of the Castellan of Azure Cloud City, Lan Tian Kong. I do not think it is appropriate for me to marry."
"Ah, of course." The Emperor looked disappointed, stroking his chin as he considered this turn of events. Thankfully, he was reasonable enough. "I should have anticipated that a prodigal young man like you would already be married. I did conceive of the possibility and would have suggested that your current wife be a concubine, but if she is the future castellan of Azure Cloud City, then it would make no sense. Especially since you've already married into the Lan family as their son-in-law…suddenly asking their oldest and only daughter to be a concubine would be a slap in the face. Don't worry, I will not demand something so shameless. Nor will I be tyrannical enough to order you to divorce your current wife just to marry my daughter. That would be…inhuman."
He sighed and shook his head.
"Such a pity…if only the heavens were kinder and we – the royal family – found you first. I guess I should congratulate the Lan family for being so fortunate in gaining such an impressive son-in-law."
"Not at all, your majesty. You're giving me too much credit and overestimating my abilities. I am nowhere as impressive as you make me out to be."
"You are very modest too!" The Emperor laughed out loud, clapping his hand against the armrest of his golden throne. No, not that golden throne. This wasn't Holy Terra and the Emperor wasn't some corpse fused to the golden throne in order to shine the Astronomican's Beacon and hold the daemonic tides back. We were in another world, not the grimdark universe of the 41st millennium.
"That's one thing I see lacking in so many geniuses…humility. They are almost without exception, exceedingly arrogant. I've seen self-proclaimed gods and divine emperors swaggering into my court without any sign of respect and deference simply because they claim they are reincarnated gods or whatever and thus did not have to kneel to anyone. I've seen them brag or go around beating up people who insulted them because they think it's cool to resort to violence every time someone criticizes them. I've seen so-called geniuses behave like edgelords, blackmailing officials, nobles and even the royal family simply because they are peerless alchemists, array masters or invincible warriors, and beating up or killing whoever protests against their arrogance. What was their favorite saying? Oh, they can afford to be arrogant because they have the power."
I sighed and shook my head when I listened to the Emperor's rant. Yeah, well…I bet he had to deal with edgelords on a power trip because they had cheats or remembered all their overpowered skills and knowledge from a previous life.
"With great power comes great responsibility."
"That's right. That's something we are taught when we ascend the throne." The Emperor nodded. "To abuse our power and authority…to forget that we serve the people and get all arrogant because we are born into royalty…that is too invite heaven's punishment. The heavenly mandate is only handed to benevolent and righteous emperors…otherwise the kingdoms will be rife with insurrections and uprisings if the civilains are discontent with the emperor's rule."
He studied me intently.
"Even though you are the champion of the intersect tournament, possess great knowledge of spirit arrays and have a high cultivation realm at such a young age, you remain grounded and have a good head on your shoulders. I'm glad. I really wish you could marry into the royal family, but alas, it's not meant to be." He then looked at Lan Bei Er. "Then again, given your attitude, it is not surprising that you've found a wife you love dearly, and wish to dedicate yourself entirely to her. I half-expected you to divorce her or demand that she accept being a concubine just so you can further your own career or status. Yet you were bold and decisive enough in rejecting the marriage proposal, respecting your wife and her family. Excellent, very excellent."
"Yeah, well…I hate harems. I will never do harem. I'm an advocate of monogamy."
Good. The Emperor wasn't against my decision to stay faithful to Lan Bei Er and her alone. Otherwise I would fight tooth and nail, damn the consequences. Even the Heavens couldn't stop my love, what more an Emperor.
"Emperor-father," Huang Qian Jin suddenly spoke up. "I'm sure there's another reason why you called Brother Hei. Not just for the marriage proposal – but you had another favor to ask of him, didn't you?"
"A favor?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. The Emperor sighed and nodded, reclining his golden throne and furrowing his brow.
"That's right. My apologies. I wasn't sure who else to ask. We have Saint Realm warriors and generals in the royal court, but they have been dispatched to the borders to deal with the frequent invasions from the demonic sects right now. Those who are left have been sent to police the Azure Water Sect. As you know, the betrayal carried out by one of the seven major sects is a very big deal. We can't let them run rampant…can't let them take any risks. The corpse puppets that Cheng Kun revealed he had – there may be more of them hidden elsewhere. Also, there is the possibility that there's somebody else behind his treachery…a demonic sect backing him, perhaps? Or even another kingdom. Whatever the case, I had to send the Saint Realm cultivators that I could spare to deal with them. The remaining have to stay here in the imperial palace for security reasons. I did want to send them, but they refused. So now I have to ask you. Our manpower is stretched far too thin…we do have many soldiers, but it's a matter of quality, not quantity because we've lost far too many soldiers to this enemy."
"Enemy?"
"Yes." The Emperor looked at me gravely. "In the far west of our kingdom, along the mountain range, there's a major city by the border. They have reported that a powerful spirit beast has descended from Mount Sunset and is terrorizing them. The garrison there has almost been annihilated, as well as whatever armes I've dispatched there. I believe that only a Saint Realm cultivator can deal with this threat, but alas, as I said, I don't have any to spare…"
"But Hei Ye isn't Saint Realm yet!" Huanng Wan Hai protested.
"No, but…" The Emperor studied me, an intelligent glint in his eye. "He's at the peak of Innate Realm right now. He's the closest we have to a Saint Realm cultivator at present."
I didn't refute his words. The Emperor took a deep breath and stared at me.
"Hei Ye…will you accept this task? Do you mind going to West Wall City and deal with the spirit beast from Mount Sunset?"
I didn't hesitate. Bowing my head, I dropped to a knee and complied.
"Consider it done, your majesty."