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

nBoom~

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nAll the ministers in court started raving right there and then.

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n“Please deploy the troops, Your Majesty.”

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n“Clan Zhao, big deal! They only have an army of 300,000. We have 2 million, all right!”

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n“Clan Zhao has killed a member of the royal family. They’re really out of control now.”

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n“Please deploy the troops and wipe out Clan Zhao, Your Majesty.”

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n“If Clan Zhao has a death wish, we’ll indulge them then,” the emperor closed his eyes and said.

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nIf a war breaks out, the ones who will suffer will be the people.

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nHe then thought of the number of years that had passed since Clan Dugu rebelled.

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nThe people had just gotten their chance to live peaceful lives.

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nHe was very reluctant to deploy the troops, yet there was little else he could do against Clan Zhao.

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nThe royal family had yet to declare war on Clan Zhao.

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nYet the news about what had happened in Jinluan Hall had already spread far and wide.

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nThe royal family was aggressively preparing for war, while Clan Zhao was doing their best to amass forces as well.

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nIn contrast to the tense atmosphere at court, things back in the harem were a lot more relaxed.

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nMany consorts simply thought that Clan Zhao had a death wish for wanting to fight against the royal family.

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nThe emperor would be able to suppress the rebellion as soon as the troops were deployed.

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n…

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n“A question, An Mu. If Clan Zhao were to seize the Tianlong River and make it their base, what would you do?”

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nBack in Shouning Palace…

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nLiu An and An Mu were hovering over a crude map.

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nThe war had yet to break out, yet both of them were already beginning to run their own simulations on the map.

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nFrom the looks of things, both of them had been at it for a very long time.

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n“Your Highness, if it’s just this many of the enemy, the answer would be simple. We’d just hit them in the water. Clan Zhao would definitely have a lot of high-end combatants at their disposal, if they were to dare to rebel. There’s little use for us to talk about that here.”

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nAn Mu shook his head.

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nThe deciding factor that would tip the balance of war would always be found on the higher end of combatants.

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n“Yeah. If Clan Zhao dares to do that, then they definitely must have powerful supporters backing them. We’re so done for.”

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nLiu An frowned.

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nHe wondered what his brother-in-law would be doing.

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nThat man would definitely be busy right now.

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nIt was said that Clan Zhao was backed by the Xuan Sect.

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nLiu An turned around and looked at Li Mu, who was mopping the floor in the hall.

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nLi Mu’s expression was a calm one.

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nThat scene eased the frown on Liu An’s brow.

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n“Okay, high-end combatants aside then!” Liu An took a deep breath and continued confidently.

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n“Your Highness, if that’s the case, would there be any meaning to our simulations then?”

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n“Oh, they are meaningful, all right.”

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n…

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nAt Taihe Hall…

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nThe emperor threw the folding memorial in his hand away as soon as he’d finished reading it.

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n“The Black Dragon Order again. Once I’m done with Clan Zhao, I’ll eliminate the Black Dragon Order next. They dare to rob people everywhere at times like these and cut off our supply routes.”

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n“Your Majesty, I would suggest getting rid of the Black Dragon Order at once.”

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n“The Black Dragon Order has many formidable fighters at their disposal and they are very well organized. More important, many of them have kept their identities secret. Getting rid of the Black Dragon Order isn’t something that can be done in a short period of time.”

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nThe head of the secret police and the scribe of the Ceremony Directorate had both come to see him at the same time.

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nThe Black Dragon Order hadn’t been around for very long.

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nYet, in just five years, they were already all over Great Xia. Furthermore, there were even branches of the order outside of the state.

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nThe secret police had dismissed their importance at first.

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nIt was only when the order had finally gotten to work that the secret police had discovered that it had become a massive underground syndicate.

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nIt commanded a fearsome level of powers.

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nFormidable warriors from the secret police and eunuchs from the Ceremony Directorate had had to fight this order many times. The two official agencies had suffered huge losses, and they had still been unable to even dent the order.

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n“We’d get rid of Clan Zhao first then.”

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nThe ministers had heard things about the Black Dragon Order before.

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nHowever, none of them had expected that the Ceremony Directorate was incapable of doing anything against them.

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n…

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nWar broke out all of a sudden several days later.

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nThe royal troops ran into Clan Zhao’s troops outside Baiyun City.

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nThe war broke out immediately. The royal troops were able to quickly surround Clan Zhao’s troops, due to having superior numbers and having effective commanders.

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nClan Zhao’s troops were just about to be eliminated outside Baiyun City.

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nThat was when several figures clad in white emerged from Clan Zhao’s army.

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nThey headed straight for the generals of the royal army.

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nIt took mere moments for all the commanding officers of the royal army to be killed.

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nAll the remaining royal troops were reduced to cluelessness and were quickly eliminated by the remaining troops of Clan Zhao.

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nBaiyun City was seized.

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nThe news traveled all the way to the capital city.

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nPanic set in all over the city.

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n“The Xuan Sect made their move!”

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n“Are we going to see a regime change already?”

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nThe common people were unable to process the news.

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nIt was then that the general of the garrison at Heishui City was assassinated and the news of another city being seized was spread. Things in the capital city became very quiet.

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nPanic was brewing underneath all that silence.

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n“Is Great Xia really going to fall?”

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nLosing a city was hard. Losing yet another city after that was even harder.

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nThe royal troops exceeded those of the rebels in sheer numbers.

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nIt was especially traumatic because Heishui City was very difficult to attack.

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nThe loss was anything but normal.

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n“Xuan Sect, d*mn you! Why are things turning out like this?”

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nThe emperor was unable to figure out why the Xuan Sect was siding with Clan Zhao.

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nAll because Zhao Wu was one of their own?

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n“Your Majesty, please hurry up and think of something,” one of his chancellors pleaded.

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nAll of the ministers were staring at the emperor.

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nIt was time for the protector of the royal family to make an appearance.

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n“I know.”

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nThe emperor nodded.

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nAfter the meeting, the emperor wrote a note and went to the Imperial Ancestral Temple again.

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nHe put the note down in the underground palace.

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n…

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nBack in the royal palace…

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n“Tell the princes to come in here.”

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nHe figured that it was time for his children to learn about the underground palace.

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nThe emperor had become completely despondent over the happenings that had been taking place for the past several days.

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nHe had never been so tired in his life.

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nHis children were lackluster beings, Clan Zhao had rebelled with the backing of the Xuan Sect, and there was also the Black Dragon Order to deal with.

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nHe was running out of energy.

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nI’m getting old.

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nThe emperor had grown a lot more silver hair on his head in mere days.

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nThe war continued.

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nIn the days that followed, the royal army lost more than it won.

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nEven if the royal army did manage to win, a great deal of their commanding officers would have been assassinated in the process.

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nIf things were to go on like this, the state’s army would be running out of commanders.

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nIn the underground palace, several days later…

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nLi Mu discovered many messy footprints around.

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nThe prints were of different sizes.

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nFurthermore, the place was filled with all kinds of different presences.

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nThe emperor’s kids have been here, huh?

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nHe took a look at the prints.

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nHe then discovered that there were two among the children who had come more than once.

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nThe emperor had only told his children about the place two days ago.

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nAnd the children were already making the place their playground.

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nTap~ Tap~ Tap~

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nFootsteps could be heard from the passage behind him at that moment.

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nLi Mu opened the door of the stone room and went inside.

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nHe saw the dried corpse that had once been Liu Ling.

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nIt was then that he realized why the old man had wanted to open up a stone room in the underground palace, and why such a thick, heavy stone door had been used.

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nWhen the princes learned of the place, they would often come to disturb the old man back in the day.

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nA young man quickly appeared at the end of the passage.

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nThe young man came to the underground palace and scanned the place.

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n“Are you here, sir?”

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nHis voice reverberated in the underground palace.

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nNo one answered his question.

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n“Sir, if you were willing to help me ascend the throne, I’ll make sure to give you the best there is.”

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nLi Mu rolled his eyes in that stone room.

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nA war is going on out there.

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nClan Zhao has already seized all the places south of the Tianlong River, and you’re here asking for backup for taking the throne?

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nAnd what do you mean about giving me the best, huh?

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nDoes the royal family like fighting among themselves so much?

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nHe wouldn’t have grumbled if these people had had decent talents.

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nYet, it was clear to him that these people didn’t have a clue about what they were getting into.

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nThey really think that the royal family will be secure as long as I’m around?

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nIt seems like I won’t be able to use the underground palace for much longer.

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nLi Mu then listed the underground palace as a place that he would only check in at.

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n…

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nIn a house at a corner of the compound in Shouning Palace…

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nSmoke billowed out.

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nThis was the house where the court ladies used to live.

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nThe place had been converted into a kitchen.

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nConcubine Jing was making food as her eyes glittered.

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nAn Mu was stoking the fire of the stove.

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nThey looked like peasants living in a village hidden from the world, where life was quiet and serene, as if none of the storm out there had anything to do with where they were.

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nLi Mu entered the kitchen and took a look around, finding the place to be filled with food.

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n“Eunuch Li.”

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nAn Mu saw Li Mu heading inside, so he got up and bowed.

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n“You two seem to making a lot of food today,” Li Mu asked in a subdued voice.

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n“The Fourth Prince is heading to the front lines. The concubine is worried that His Highness will be unaccustomed to the food in the military, so we’re making food for him to take.”

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n“The Fourth Prince is heading to the front lines?”

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nLi Mu was surprised.

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