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nTranslator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

nThe two dozen or so bodies of those from Clan Dugu were taken away and minced by the eunuch from the Library Tower and then fed to the fishes in the ponds of the Imperial Gardens.

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nThe warriors in the palace who knew about what had happened naturally kept their lips sealed.

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nNone of them wanted to get on the bad side of someone like Li Mu.

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nThe royal army set up camp before dawn.

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nThe Shouning Palace was as quiet as it had always been.

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nLi Mu was still busy with all manner of menial tasks like he had always been.

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nHis mind would only quiet down when he was busy with these tasks.

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nHis bottleneck had finally had a breakthrough last night.

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nThe 500,000-man army that once served Clan Dugu was taken over by the emperor.

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nHis forces saw an enormous spike with the addition of such a huge fighting force.

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nHe went on to fabricate rumors to cover up the news of the elders of Clan Dugu having been killed in the royal palace.

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nThe secret police spread the idea of Clan Dugu having sided with the royal family and published this news everywhere.

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nThe entire country was shocked.

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nNo one had thought that Clan Dugu, which had just revolted a short while ago, would side with the emperor so quickly.

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nMore had yet to even be able to take in the news about the revolt of Clan Dugu, before they were told that the revolt had failed.

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nThey all wondered just how the emperor had managed to do all of that.

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nThe battle between Lord Ning and the alliance of the northern noble clans stopped for a good many days because of all this hubbub.

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nIt was stopped for the express purpose of verifying and taking in such shocking news.

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nA group of eunuchs appeared in Shouning Palace one day.

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nA purple-robed eunuch who was in charge took a look around the place and walked up to Li Mu.

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n“Are you Li Mu?”

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n“Yes, sir,” Li Mu answered.

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nHe wondered why those eunuchs were here.

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nAccording to convention, Concubine Jing was the one in charge of Shouning Palace, so they should have deferred to her if they needed anything.

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nYet, they were looking for him instead.

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nLi Mu wondered what was going on, recalling that he had not done anything wrong lately.

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n“Congratulations, you’ve been promoted. You’re now a blue-robed eunuch. Do your job right, and you may be wearing a green or red robe in the future. You may even become a purple-robed eunuch,” the purple-robed eunuch narrowed his eyes and grinned.

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nHe seemed to be in a good mood lately.

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nThe regime had gotten even more secure.

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nThe gang led by Eunuch Huang who had betrayed the emperor was done for.

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nHe himself was promoted days later.

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nFor all these reasons, he was being nicer to the eunuchs of lower ranks.

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nThe reason why a lot of eunuchs were getting promoted was because there had been a lot of eunuchs attempting to flee during the fighting. All of those eunuchs had been demoted, and now there was a shortage of blue-robed ones.

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nThe princess often appeared in Shouning Palace.

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nThe emperor was there once in a while as well.

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nAs such, the Imperial Household Department thought it over and decided to take the occasion to promote Li Mu.

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n“Thank you, sir!”

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nIt took him quite a while to react to what had just happened.

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nHe’d just gotten promoted.

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n“Work hard!”

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nThe head of the eunuchs waved good-bye.

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nAnother eunuch came over with a set of blue robes in his hands.

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nLi Mu was only able to take in what had just happened quite a while after the group left.

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nThe promotion had come out of nowhere.

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nIt had happened all of a sudden.

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nThe old eunuch came several days later to see him.

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n“Xiaolizi, wear the green robes proudly. Work hard, and you’ll get the chance to have patterns embroidered into it.”

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nHis words of encouragement didn’t sound very different from those of his superiors back in his past life.

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nHe had been promoted yet again.

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nIt was quite a surprise.

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nSince when did a janitor eunuch in a “cold” palace get promoted?

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nFurthermore, consecutive promotions, man!

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nHe took the new clothes and looked at the ones that he hadn’t been wearing for more than a few days.

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nHe looked into it later and found out that there had been quite a number of eunuchs who had been allied with Clan Dugu alongside Eunuch Huang.

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nThose eunuchs had been central figures in the palace.

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nAll of them had been executed.

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nThe Ceremony Directorate had even found a good number of spies from the noble clans lurking in the palace.

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nA good number of said spies were high-ranking figures.

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nAfter getting rid of all those eunuchs from the high ranks, those of lower statuses who hadn’t done anything wrong were naturally promoted to take those positions.

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nLi Mu was one of those people chosen to replace others.

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n“If things go on like this, I guess I’ll become a purple-robed one before long, eh?”

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nHe dreamed about that for a bit.

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nHe knew that his opportunities at promotion were running out.

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nBut then again, there would be no problem adding two more stripes to the sleeves of those new green robes.

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nThat was how things worked.

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nGreen-robed eunuchs were divided into several ranks as well.

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nThose with stripes on their sleeves were of higher ranks.

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nWhen one become a red-robed eunuch, those with embroidery on the chest area were higher than the other red-robed ones.

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n“One way or another, I guess I’m no longer a bottom feeder.”

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nHe was excited for quite a while, before realizing that he was still the only eunuch working in Shouning Palace.

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nHe was still the one doing all the work.

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nHis promotion had made no actual difference.

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nTime passed.

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nWith a Saint-level warrior and an army numbering more than 1 million, the royal family was deemed peerless throughout the entire state.

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nLord Ning was also able to keep a good many noble clans in check.

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nSeveral major noble clans actually sided with the royal family at that moment anyway.

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nThe power balance had tipped to the royal family’s favor because of the entire fiasco.

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nIt took almost three years, but the State of Great Xia was truly unified once again. The regime was secured, and the people were living peaceful, productive lives.

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nBack in the Shouning Palace…

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nLi Mu, who was now dressed in green robes, was watering the plants in the compound.

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nThings would have been different in other palaces.

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nGreen-robed ones would be the ones who would order the blue-robed and gray-robed eunuchs around.

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nHis powers had gotten to the peak of the Saint level after checking in for three years.

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nThe Xuan Sect still lingered in his mind throughout these three years.

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nHe had visited every single place there was to visit in the capital throughout all that time, looking through ancient texts all over the place and still was unable to find anything regarding the Xuan Sect.

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nJudging from the expression of that Saint-level warrior from Clan Dugu, he was able to tell that the other man hadn’t been lying to him.

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nHe had had his guard up all the time throughout the past three years, trying diligently to discover information about the Xuan Sect.

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nHe had even covered distances of hundreds of miles in a single night at times, for the express purpose of doing check-ins.

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nAnywhere that was deemed to be renowned and of importance, he would go to great lengths to visit.

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nHe had even paid visits to battlefields where battles between the major clans had taken place years ago.

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nAll of that meant that he had gained quite a lot.

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nIt was a pity, however, that he was only allowed to check in once at these battlefields.

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nThe greater the battle, the greater the rewards gained. In fact, he had made considerable progress in the center of those battlefields.

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nIt was a pity that he had yet to discover the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

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n“My god, just where else could they hide the Imperial Ancestral Temple, huh? Should I just ask the emperor instead?”

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nHe’d learned just how important this temple was throughout the past several years, so much so that it was deemed a place of greater importance than the royal palace.

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nBeing able to check in even once at such a place would no doubt bring him lucrative rewards.

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nAs such, he had thoughts about asking the emperor many times throughout the years.

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nHe had even watched the emperor in secret many times, hoping to catch the emperor saying something that he shouldn’t.

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nUnfortunately, the emperor was always surrounded by a huge group during the day, and he would be busy making babies back in his harem during the night.

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nThere was no way he would easily divulge such secrets with people around him.

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nLi Mu had instead heard the dirty talks he had with his concubines in the palace.

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nIt was especially so when the action was taking place in bed.

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nIt got him very, very aroused.

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nIt had gotten so bad that he felt he was about to lose control several times.

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nHe was waiting all this time for the emperor to finally be left alone and mumble things about the temple.

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n“So, perhaps the new emperor doesn’t know anything because his dad died too early and too suddenly?”

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nOne day, he speculated about this as he finished his work.

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n“Check in.”

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n“Congratulations to the host for successfully checking in at the “cold” palace. Three months’ worth of powers rewarded.”

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nHis body warmed up for a bit before digesting all of those powers in mere moments.

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nHe was unable to see any hope for making further breakthroughs.

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nHe flashed and appeared at the Library Tower.

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nHe toured around the place just like he always did.

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nHis gains were meager.

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nThe rewards were hardly useful in enabling him to make further breakthroughs.

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n…

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nTwo middle-aged men and a dashing young man appeared in the capital city one day.

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n“While younger brother Dugu joined the sect late, his talents were exceptional. However, he has left the mountain for three years, and there has been no news of him.”

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nThe dashing young man looked well-mannered and handsome.

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nHe attracted the gaze of many girls as soon as he entered the capital city.

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nHe was so good-looking that even some men would be unable to help but check him out.

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n“No way that anything could have happened to older brother Dugu, right? He was a Saint-level warrior after all, and there shouldn’t be anyone in this country capable of killing him,” a stout man behind the dashing young man said in disbelief.

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n“We don’t know anything right now. The survivors of Clan Dugu simply knew that their elders came to the capital city. I wonder if younger brother Dugu is here among them,” the other middle-aged man added.

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n“Hmph~ Just who the h*ll in this city would be able to do him in? Couldn’t he at least run if he was unable to win? He had the backing of the Xuan Sect, man! Who would even dare to make a move against him?”

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