The court room was filled with everyone from the Demon Palace. All three factions were gathered here.
Mo Shen scanned the audience and saw one person standing. Looking at how he was around Mo Wuli, Mo Shen deduced that the man was from the Heavenly Spirit Holy Land. He was in the 8th stage of the Immortal Soul realm.
The man was most likely the Holy Master of the Holy land which was why he didn't kneel in front of the prince of the kingdom. But it was a rule that no matter who they are, they have to kneel when in the Demon Palace.
And since the old king was dead, Mo Shen, who was the royal descendant, could represent the king in the palace as the next-in-line. Which was why, even though they were of different factions planning to usurp the throne, the others still had to kneel as long as they had not gotten the throne.
Seeing the man arrogantly and openly defying him like the person he supported would definitely get the throne, Mo Shen smiled. Then he tapped his finger on the throne chair.
Being the closest person to Mo Shen, other than Mo Fan, Mo Jingyue immediately understood his lord's intention. He drew his sword and dashed out from behind Mo Shen into the crowd. With a slash of his sword, he beheaded the cultivator from the Holy land. Then he drew out his soul flames and burned the body without leaving any remnant.
After that, he sheathed his sword and returned to Mo Shen's back like nothing happened. The whole courtroom became silent.
They were both shocked at Mo Shen's decisiveness and Mo Jingyue's power. They suddenly came to the realization that Mo Shen would also be fighting for the throne.
For the past 10 years that they didn't see Mo Shen, they thought he had run away after finding out that the old king was dead. Some of them even sent out assassins to find Mo Shen and kill him. But up till before now, they had never found him, and just assumed he was really great at covering his tracks.
Now that they've seen him, there was nothing they could do to him, especially with Mo Jingyue and Mo Fan backing him up.
They had heard in the past that Mo Jingyue had a failed attempt of assassinating the old king, and was almost executed. Then someone saved him from the old king. It seemed like it was Mo Shen that had ordered Mo Fan to save him.
They had always known that Mo Fan was strong, but they could never fathom his cultivation. Even the old king was wary of him, which was why he had proceeded step by step.
And now, Mo Jingyue had joined the gang. All of a sudden, Mo Shen, the newcomer now had the upper hand among the 4 factions.
"The old king, Mo Nan is dead." Mo Shen announced. "According to the norms, he'll be mourned and buried within a week."
"After that ..." Mo Shen started before he paused and turned right where an old man emerged from.
"Greetings your highness." The old man greeted as he bowed. But he didn't kneel.
"Grand elder, do you have something to say?" Mo Shen inquired in a suggestive tone.
"This old man is supposed to be in charge of the kingdom's matters till a new king is chosen." Mo He, the grand elder said. "That means I would preside over the burial ceremony of the old king, and the matter of choosing a king..."
He paused his statement and looked at Mo Shen. "Only the strong ones can rule the kingdom. It doesn't matter if you have strong subordinates, you need to be strong."
"Oh!" Mo Shen exclaimed in an amused tone. "Are you suggesting something?"
"In the past, if a situation like this arises where a king didn't name a heir before passing, the throne wouldn't be passed through to his child just like that."
"All royal relatives with confidence in their strength and force will be allowed to compete for the throne. But first, the relatives themselves would have to prove their strength worthy."
The audience started to whisper among themselves, agreeing with the grand elder. They all knew that Mo Shen was just a child that the old king had adopted 17 years ago. There was no way he had strength even reaching the Void realm. Even though he indeed have qualifications for the throne, he needed to have the strength for it.
Mo Shen smiled and looked around. He didn't really mind their words. His mental strength had already reached a state where his not much things could affect his emotions. Otherwise he would have just exposed his strength and used force to subdue the kingdom. But that would defeat his purpose of ruling the kingdom.
"It seems like I would actually do with the second path." Mo Shen thought to himself.
He was a person who didn't like considering many things when taking action. He liked to do things as he pleased. But if he chose the first path of the emperor, he would have to take his empire into account when taking decisions. To someone like him, that was too shackling. When he didn't allow fate or luck to shackle him, how could he let it be mere mortals or immortals that will hold him down.
"So what cultivation makes me have sufficient strength to rule this kingdom." Mo Shen asked. Then he brought out his soul flame in a subtle manner to avoid causing suppression to everyone here.
"Is this enough?" Mo Shen asked with a smile.
Immediately, there was an uproar in the courtroom. Everybody was shocked, especially when they knew who Mo Shen was.
"How is this possible?" "Is he really that talented?" "Are those really soul flames?" "I can't even feel his true cultivation." Many whispers flew into Mo Shen's ear, as they were all shocked.
Mo Shen turned to Mo He and released a little pressure on him. "Is this enough?" He repeated.
"It is enough, Your highness." Mo He said immediately with fear.
The pressure Mo Shen released on him made him feel like he was an ant who could be crushed at any time. And his feelings weren't wrong.
Mo Shen then turned to the court. "Do any of you have objections?"
"No objections." They all replied in unison.
At that moment the leaders of the three factions began looking at themselves, the same idea formed in their head at the same time. "We must work together."
To them Mo Shen was like an outsider that came to steal their spot. They'll rather have one of them take that spot than allow an outsider take it.
"We need to use this one week to prepare." Mo Li said to Mo Tianluo and Mo Wuli. And they agreed among themselves. As for who would later rule after they eliminated Mo Shen, they all had their idea in their heart.
Mo Shen looked at them and smiled. Even without probing their thoughts or reading into their voice transmission, he could already tell what they were thinking.
To him it was going to be more interesting that way. After all, if he just defeated them easily, what would be the fun in it?
"Somebody!" Mo He called out. "Distribute the mourning clothes."
A few maids entered the courtroom with the mourning clothes and tie. Only the royal family were allowed to were the mourning clothes and tie. The rest of the members of the kingdom would just put the tie aroud their forehead. They were not to take it off for the rest of the week, and were to all keep vigil for the old king.
Mo Shen took the mourning clothes and put it on over his robe like the others. Then Mo Fan picked up a tie and tied it around Mo Shen's forehead.
"To the ancestral mausoleum." Mo He announced.
A few guards picked up the designed royal coffin which was made of gold and low-grade spirit stones to increase it's spirituality. Mo Shen was in front, followed by Mo He then the rest of the court.
Mo Shen sighed to himself in thought. He noticed that there wasn't anyone who was actually mourning the old king. Be it the royal family, the guards, the court members, Mo He or even himself, none of them actually cared about the old king. All that was on their mind was who was going to be the new king. Although it was to be expected since the Mo Nan never had any children, but even his harem members were only trying to find their way of survival.
Some might argue that it's because Mo Nan wasn't a good king, and that he was a very wicked one, but Mo Shen felt that didn't matter. It didn't matter whether he was a good king or not, whether he was a kind or a wicked king, whether he was a strong or a weak king; as long as it came to power, others will always want to take over you. Even your own children won't be an exception.
From Mo Shen's memories, he remembered the memories of a past holder of the true ancient god bloodline that he had. He was the emperor of the Ancient God Empire in his world. At the time when the spirit of the ancient god bloodline had finally devoured him completely and he fell, all his 13 children rushed him to suck out his bloodline in order for them to take the throne.
The man was the strongest in the world then, and a good king who loved his people. But in the face of power, what is kinship? What is love and care?
"Truly, the path of the king really might not be suitable for me." Mo Shen thought.
"But at the same time, with absolute strength, one would reign supreme. If an emperor's strength was absolute, who would kill him? Would anyone even dare plot against him?"
Absolute strength didn't just mean a strong king. It meant that one's strength reigned supreme. His cultivation would be at least 1 whole realm above every other person. He alone could suppress the whole empire with his strength. He could continue to grow stronger without limit. Even if he is at the peak of the world, he should have means to supress others that manage to reach his cultivation level. He should be a world class talent that can defeat those above his cultivation level.
That was the first path that Mo Shen was considering. The path of the absolute emperor. But he will still be a ruler, which he found burdensome, bringing about the second path.
***
The 7th day of the mourning.
A huge wave of tension and killing intent had already began to form in the air. It was almost midnight, so everyone was getting ready for the fight for the throne.
In the past 7 days, the leaders of the three factions, under the lead of Mo Tianluo who was the strongest, had fully merged their forces. Even the grand elder had joined them. They had been going around making preparations during the mourning period.
Mo Shen, on the other hand had not moved from his position in the past 7 days. As the chief mourner, he was required to seat in front of the mausoleum throughout the mourning period.
Originally, that rule was just a formality, it wasn't usually paid attention to. After all, how many people would want to stay in one place when they weren't cultivating or meditating. But the grand elders and other members of the royal family used the rule to make sure Mo Shen doesn't leave there, so he won't be able to adapt to the sudden change in their forces.
Mo Shen didn't really care about whatever they were doing. He had already established his forces, and he believed they were enough to overwhelm the True Martial world.