?These seven were the second reason for the arrogance and confidence of the Imperial members beside their unity, the Elders of the Nie Family.

Their authority gathered together could place a veto on the decisions of the Imperial Throne, and served the purpose of the counterbalance against rampant authority of a rogue sitting monarch.

The problem was that Nie Xiwang took the throne by force, ignoring tradition, as well as her identity as an illegitimate child, which turned the very conservative Council of Elders unanimously against her.

This practically killed off her already weak power over the Imperial Family, as she would be vetoed from punishing any member unless she could prove their offense with undeniable evidence and witnesses to the Council of Elders.

Not only that, they had placed a moratorium on the sentence period for senior members of the Imperial Council lasting more than one year for even grave offenses, which was the source of the old woman’s bewilderment over her sentence.

However…

“The decision is to be executed immediately and be treated as Legacy”

*Thud*

The scepter struck the floor again as the Spiritual Formation activated, and the eyes of the Council of Elders widened as she just confirmed her decisions, pushing them directly into the Imperial Scripture, which sent the orders into motion and displayed them on jade panels throughout the palace.

Imperial Guards arrived at the Throne Room, heading for the members who were set to be punished.

“Presumptuous! Stop right there!”

One of the Elders turned a furious gaze to the Guard Captain who bowed, cupping his hands in a respectful salute, but made a sorry expression.

“My apologies, Your Imperial Excellency, but this humble one cannot comply. The Imperial Scripture is absolute”

The Guard Captain’s words caused murmurs to go through the room as the guards, who stopped at the words of the old man, continued their ways toward the sentenced members of the Imperial Family.

“G-Grandfather!”

The man who called Nie Xiwang by name turned to one of the Elders with a bewildered and pitiful expression, his voice full of pleading as four guards arrived at his spot, placing him in the center.

“Don’t touch me! I will walk myself!”

The woman who tried to humiliate Nie Xiwang first jolted her forearm away from the hands of the guard with an exaggerated motion, when he did not even try to restrain her yet, as the sword left her and flew back to take its place among the ‘bladed wings’.

The old man who was called by his grandson was turning his gaze at the sentenced people being taken into custody starting from his grandson and then to the others, and deeply frowned, then turning his gaze full of spite to the Blade Empress.

“Good! Good!

How great is Your Majesty! You seem to have eaten a tiger’s liver today!”

The Elder spoke with tone full of frustration and fury, the faces of all other Elders not much different.

The Council of Elders could veto a decision, however, that was technically a formality, as the sitting Monarch would wait for their decision to enact something into the Imperial Scripture.

They, however, had no way of stopping something that was already set in stone, unless they used a limited number of 3 vetoes per year by combining their Elder tokens.

But as seen from their posture, they had no intention of using their limited chances to block her ruling.

Instead…

*Gong!*

A sound of a gong went over the palace as the Elders raised their tokens and the Spiritual Formation lit up again, murmurs going through the room and as the entire palace went into another uproar.

“The Council of Elders hereby moves to impeach the Sitting Empress, Nie Xiwang for gross abuse of authority!”

The High Elder of the council announced as he coldly looked at Nie Xiwang, his eyes narrowing at her completely unperturbed expression.

“Haa~ what is going on here?”

A tired old voice, yet, one that sounded a bit younger than the Elders resounded in the Throne Room as an older gentleman, declining but still full of vigor in his body stepped inside.

However, as Wu Long looked into the eyes of the Ancestor, a surprised look appeared in his own, as ‘…and here I thought we would have a confrontation, but this man is already dead…’ ran through his mind.

The ancestor was accompanied by a middle-aged looking man, who had the robes and insignia of being the previous Emperor.

“””Greetings, Imperial Ancestor”””

“””~Ancestor”””

The Council of Elders all turned and kneeled, bowing to the man, saluting him with a fist and hand salute, and then the other members of the Imperial Family followed only repeating the last word in greeting.

Even Nie Xiwang slightly bowed her head cupping her hands, though her status allowed her to stay standing. 𝚏rewe𝚘vel.𝚌𝚘m

Wu Long, however, did not move in any manner, but the Elders were too preoccupied with the Empress to start making trouble with him over that now.

“Reporting to the Ancestor, Her Majesty has gone mad!

She has completely disregarded the decision of the Council of Elders, activating the Imperial Scripture with no consent or deliberation!”

The High Elder spoke without raising his head.

“Not only that! She broke the moratorium for sentence period limits of senior Imperial Council members, and has given out unreasonable punishment with no due process!”

The elder whose grandson was kneeling among four guards plead as well.

“And she has blatantly did so while we were here after we have already announced our objections”

Another Elder added, as all Elders and Imperial Family members spoke in unison “Please, Imperial Ancestor, bring justice for your Descendants”

The Ancestor of the Nie Family furrowed his eyebrows while looking around, allowing the people to rise with “You may all be at ease”, and then finally turning his gaze forward to the podium.

However, it was not Nie Xiwang that his eyes reflected first, as he gave a long, intense look to the man standing a bit to the side of the throne, and only after some time turned to the beauty.

“Xiwang, is what the Council of Elders testified true?”

He spoke, narrowing his eyes.

“Yes”

The Blade Empress nodded without making any excuses, as the eyes of almost everyone in the room widened.