136: Chapter 136 Zhou Shudan is a man of principle.

Tu Ziguan fiddled with the unactivated new device in his hand, leaning in close to Xie Feng's ear to ask if they had been discovered.

"Why don't you say it even later next time? Wouldn't it be better to ask after we're caught?"

Xie Feng slammed his blind cane onto the ground as Brain Matter's spiritual fluctuations exploded deep within his consciousness.

"We're finished, finished, finished, finished! That old man's spiritual energy perception is abnormal. The Cultivation Technique he cultivates isn't conventional; he can sense residual traces of spiritual fluctuations! I left a bit of a tail when I modified his memories and didn't clean it up properly! Who was responsible for cleaning up after? Lu Mingyuan, was it you?!"

"Didn't you say you modified it cleanly?"

"I said *basically* clean! That old man's perception range is more than double that of a normal Cultivator. Who could have expected that? He's coming over! Quick, think of something!"

Brain Matter curled into an extremely tight, tiny ball deep in the choroid plexus of Xie Feng's lateral ventricle, its chitinous shell shrinking inside the cerebrospinal fluid and emitting a minuscule scraping sound.

It started playing dead.

In the center of the square, several Disciples of the Taixuan Sect turned their heads toward the direction of the Chisha Sect.

Meanwhile, far away in the imperial palace at the heart of Yuzhou, a fierce argument had broken out.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony no longer held the atmosphere of a royal grand hall.

The Tenth Emperor—Zhou Shudan.

Below the dais stood the entire civil and military court.

Zhou Shudan sat upon the Dragon throne, the sleeves of his bright yellow imperial robes crumpled tightly in his grip.

Over twenty court officials stood in the hall, ranging from Grand Secretaries of the Grand Secretariat to Vice Ministers of the Six Ministries, with civil and military officials lined up on either side. Layers upon layers of candle wax accumulated on the candlesticks. There were no Imperial Guards inside the hall; he had kept all the Imperial Guards outside to execute tasks.

"Your Majesty!"

The Vice Minister of Rites stepped forward, his grizzled beard trembling slightly in the candlelight.

"The new policy has been implemented, but we cannot rush it! The Taixuan Sect has allied with dozens of Sects large and small in Yuzhou, boasting over a thousand Disciples, with no fewer than a dozen above the Sixth Realm. How many Imperial Guards do we have? At full count, no more than a few hundred, and almost none above the Sixth Realm. If we clash head-on, what do we clash with? Is Your Majesty's life not a life?"

"Is Our life a life, while the daughter of the Chen family in Fengle City is not a life?!"

Zhou Shudan grabbed a stack of memorials from the imperial desk and slammed them violently onto the steps.

Bamboo slips and silk scrolls scattered all over the floor under the candlelight. The top secret report, forwarded from the Yongzhou Prefecture, stated that the Zhao family in Fengle City had forcibly abducted a commoner girl for a ghost marriage; the city-guarding Cultivator stood by and did nothing; the local officials turned a blind eye after accepting silver; and old man Chen knelt at the yamen gate weeping for an entire day, yet the bailiffs didn't even open the door.

"This is merely the tip of the iceberg! In the short time since Our ascension to the throne, We cannot even read through all such cases submitted from various regions. Seizing commoners' land, lynching people, and wantonly harming the populace under the guise of strange phenomena! Things like this! Who is committing these acts? It is all Cultivators doing this on the land of Mortals!

In the eyes of Cultivators, Mortals are not even equal to cattle waiting to be slaughtered! And those local officials who rely on Sect power even hand them the blades! Without the court deploying a single soldier, they themselves devour Mortals like pigs and dogs."

He stood up abruptly, his imperial robe snagging and knocking over a teacup on the imperial desk, the tea flowing off the surface and dripping onto the golden floor tiles.

The Minister of War stepped forward and knelt beneath the steps.

"Your Majesty, it is not that we will not handle it, but that we cannot handle it right now. Your servant has already drafted a division plan for the various Sects in Yuzhou. If our generation cannot achieve it, we can take it slowly and gradually weaken their Foundation.

There will always be a way to pluck these malignant tumors one by one without bloodshed. The power of the royal family is still sufficient. As long as we are cautious, it will not be difficult to divide and suppress this rebellion without harming our Origin Qi.

Whereas acting like Your Majesty—pouring boiling oil directly into the fire—will only backfire!"

The Emperor grabbed a paperweight and hurled it at a pillar in the hall, shattering the jade paperweight into tiny pieces.

"'Cede five cities today, cede ten cities tomorrow, and then gain a single night's peaceful sleep? Arise and look across the Fourth Realm, and the Cultivators arrive once more!'

If today the Chen family in Fengle City has their daughter stolen and We ignore it; if tomorrow the Li family in Yongzhou has their land seized and We ignore it too; then by the day after tomorrow, all Mortal commoners throughout the Nine Provinces will know one thing!

That is that the Emperor does not dare touch the Sects!

When Cultivators murder, commit arson, seize land, and abduct women, the imperial court doesn't even dare to let out a fart! Once they have this confidence, will they ever treat Mortals as human beings from then on?

You are the Minister of War, but do you know anything about warfare?!

Let Us ask you, is morale something that can be accumulated slowly over time? When the spine of the royal family is broken segment by segment, can it be pieced back together in the end?!"

Zhou Shudan's voice echoed back and forth inside the Hall of Supreme Harmony, shaking down rustling dust that had accumulated on the beams for who knows how many years.

The Vice Minister of Rites was about to speak again, but Zhou Shudan gave him no chance.

He raised his finger and pointed outside the hall in the direction of Yuzhou: "No matter how loudly these Sects clamor together, We could, of course, act as their dog and slowly wait.

But the common folk cannot wait! If the imperial court delays for a few more years, the Mortals raised like livestock by the Sects in local areas will have their rotten bones trampled into the mud, beyond all recognition!

We insist on obstinately clinging to Our course, even if doing so leaves Us bruised and battered. None of you need to advise Us any further—advising Us is useless!"

Even in death, Zhou Shudan would never accept being treated as a pig- or dog-like slave, or a Puppet on a string.

He knew that blind concessions would only break one's spine.

It would cause men standing tall on the ground to become dogs crawling in the dust.

Zhou Shudan picked up the drafted imperial decree from the imperial desk and personally unrolled it on the table.

Soaking the cinnabar imperial brush in vermilion ink, the tip descended upon the end of the decree. The three characters of "Zhou Shudan" were written with extreme weight, the final vertical stroke pulled down so long it nearly tore through the silk surface.

The ink stroke resembled a sharp sword.

He set the imperial brush back onto the brush rest, his voice suddenly calming down.

"Draft the decree. Dispatch it immediately to all prefectures and provinces:

'Any Sect Disciple who forcibly seizes commoners' land, commits extrajudicial killings, or harms the populace under the name of strange phenomena, once verified, regardless of Sect or cultivation base, shall be severely punished according to the law without mercy.

Those who harbor them shall share the same guilt. City-guarding Cultivators in all regions shall be re-registered upon receiving this decree; those unwilling to submit to imperial governance are given a deadline to leave the city, and those failing to register past the deadline shall be deemed as voluntarily relinquishing their city-guarding qualification, to be separately appointed by the court.

Any who dare defy the decree shall be charged with treason.

If the Taixuan Sect truly intends to force a palace coup, We shall sit in the Hall of Supreme Harmony and await their arrival.'"

He offered the written imperial decree into the air. The Minister of War, kneeling on the ground without raising his head, reached out and accepted the scroll, his movements devoid of any further hesitation.

Holding the yellow silk high above his head with both hands, he responded in a clear voice, "Your servant—obeys the decree."

As the court officials departed, Zhou Shudan slowly pulled out a stone slab from beneath the imperial desk that had been eroded beyond recognition by the deep sea.

On it, faint yellow markings could still be seen, though unfortunately covered in moss and seaweed.

The Emperor wiped it repeatedly with his imperial robes, yet could not wipe away the damp aura lingering upon it.

Zhou Shudan was no fool; he naturally knew he could not match Cultivators in strength, but the blood of an emperor would leave behind a seed for the common folk.

Even if future emperors were no longer named Zhou, this Bloodline would eventually grow into a towering tree.

Nor did he intend to yield his neck to the blade; even if he were to die, he would tear off a piece of flesh from these Cultivators.

Zhou Shudan kept scratching at the stone slab with his fingers until his fingernails tore back.

Yield one step, yield another step—where will the final retreat end?

"I have searched through all historical texts recording malice; beyond the Nine Provinces lie far too many entities far more terrifying than Cultivators.

If even these Cultivators dare to farm and pen Mortals like pigs and dogs, then when Outer Gods truly descend in the future, who will be left to stand in front of Mortals?"