The next day an envoy came from the Empress and this time only Old Yen followed Wu Long to the palace. 𝐞𝗻𝐨𝘃𝗹.𝐜𝐨𝗺

This time he was led not to the throne room and to the Empress’s study where she usually handled daily affairs. This told him that it was already a less official audience, and that any disputes between him and the Imperial Crown were completely put to rest.

As he came into the office she was standing by the window, looking outward with a pondering expression. She turned to the sound of the door being opened and Wu Long smiled at her to which she only made a slight nod.

She took the time until the door was closed behind them to approach the rather modest for an Empress desk. The size of the study was more like what Imperial descendants would have rather than the ruler, and its location was rather remote.

“Are you surprised? This is the study I was given when I was yet an inconsequential illegitimate child, though I of course had it slightly upgraded in order to fit my new status when I ascended the throne”

She smiled at the interested look in his eyes as he quickly surveyed the room.

“So you make all those who scorned you in this place come to report to you in the exact same room?”

Wu Long smiled and she slightly raised her eyebrows, then turned to look at the room once more with a slightly nostalgic look, as if looking into the past.

“Yes, that was the reason I decided to move the Imperial Study here, instead of moving into the one that was used for generations. Though that of course passed, since that motive came to me when I was far younger and more impulsive, much like the Gong Sisters that recently departed for the Eastern Forest Province…”

She traced the edge of her desk with her fingers and turned to look at him with a straight look but the slight glint in her eyes betrayed her anticipation.

“I gather the prince who once hired Old Yen here is not going to be seen around”

Wu Long smiled instead of showing agitation, thus slightly disappointing her, and she nodded. It was normal for her to intensively go through any trace of information about him, and thus the matter with the Gong sisters coming up was nothing unexpected. And since she looked into it, the plot of the prince involving Gong Liwei naturally was revealed.

Old Yen was slightly shaken at being mentioned, and in regard to aiding the prince, who seemed to have already been dealt with, to do something illegal, no less. There was also the matter of the assassination plot but it seemed that was not revealed since all of the people who knew of it except for the Gong Sisters, Old Yen, Wu Long and the person who hired him were dead.

“You are not making it any easier to establish a good relationship with the Imperial Palace by accepting this man as your subordinate, now that the case of the Beauty of the Eastern Forest Province has come up”

Nie Xiwang’s eyes looked at the middle-aged man and shivers went through him as he felt as if he could not hide anything in front of this woman.

“The one I need to establish a good relationship with is you, not the Imperial Palace”

Wu Long, on the other hand, did not show any change in expression as he shrugged his shoulders.

“Hah, you sound as if I am not part of the Imperial Palace”

“You are which was why I said that, but you don’t have to be”

He chuckled and she sharply turned to look at him with a long, intense stare.

“Careful, Mister Wu, tread very carefully”

She said pressing every word, making sure it went through to him. However, there was still that carefree light smile on his face which prompted her to look a little longer in silence, to try and emphasize the importance of her words.

“Do you know what kind of people you are going against?”

“I gather you have successfully interrogated the person I left with you”

Wu Long did not directly answer her, but the meaning was clear. He knew exactly what kind of information she extracted from that man, which was why he gave him to her in the first place.

She looked into his eyes, trying to figure out what gave him the confidence to go against the people behind the man he gave to her. Finally, she sighed and gave up. She did not know if he had the capital to go against them, but it was not something she had to worry about when she had a whole Empire to look after.

She then shook her head and her thoughts went to the information she received from interrogating the man who was beside Nie Changsheng.

“If Nie Changsheng was still in my custody, I would execute him with my own swords”

The Blade Empress had a stern tone of someone livid with anger yet having no outlet for it. Wu Long noted the change of address from “my nephew” to calling him by name, alienating him from her as he smiled since that was partially a deliberate display for him.

“Hahaha, if that is a subtle way of asking to return him then I must say you are a little late”

“You already killed him?”

She raised her eyebrow, as she thought he would take his time giving him a taste of being on the border of life and death in constant agony. Even if she did not know of his methods, he had Old Yen by his side, who for sure had the necessary expertise.

“Didn’t you see the fireworks of his departure?”

“…!”

Nie Xiwang’s eyes widened as she looked at him. She indeed wanted to ask him what that Heavenly ‘Tribulation’ was, just did not find the right timing yet. It did not look like he advanced past the Mortal Transcendence Realm to the next Great Realm, but the phenomenon surely matched what ancient texts told of.

“You can control lightning?”

“No, I can’t. That was a Heavenly Punishment that came down to claim him”

He shrugged his shoulders and she looked at him with shock for some time. He didn’t need to hide this information since it did not matter whether someone knew of it or not, as long as he did not reveal what he found within the soul of the former Imperial Prince.

“W-why?”

“For opposing me”

“I am serious”

“Am I not heavenly enough?”

“…”

She did not answer him but the murderous look in her eyes told him the answer.

“Then what do you ask me for?”

He shrugged his shoulders while spreading his hands and she had an intense urge to smack him with something heavy. She then turned away and walked up to the window she was standing by when he came in.

“You will have the opportunity to see the Gong Sisters again it seems. Your request has been granted, and the destination you will have to travel to is the Eastern Forest Province”

She said and Wu Long nodded since he expected as much. The Eastern Forest Province was a rather large province on the eastern side of the empire, but almost three-fourths of it was occupied by a powerful Spiritual Land with a sprawling forest that never shed its green, even in winter.

“I will not accompany you, but you will have guides”

“I see, thank you for your cooperation. If the bird that is trapped in a golden cage ever wants to break it and leave the garden, it’s not as complicated”

When she said her words Nie Xiwang continued to look into the window, and Wu Long understood that the audience was ending. As he turned he left her some words to think about as she continued to look into the distance in silence, staying like that long after he was gone.