2: Chapter 2: His authority remained, scaring away the treacherous minister.

The whispering of those filial sons and grandsons outside the hall ceased.

Creak.

The palace doors were pushed open, the sound long and sharp, breaking the silence.

Li Xuan's eyelids did not move.

His heart tightened.

They had come.

A cold wind poured in.

Several types of incense mixed with the smell of medicine surged in.

A heavy sound of footsteps.

Moving from far to near.

Following behind were several messy figures.

These footsteps belonged to the current Chancellor, Wei Yong.

Li Xuan's current body had five senses far exceeding those of a Mortal.

He could even hear it.

Beneath his magnificent court robes, Wei Yong's heartbeat was accelerating, revealing an irrepressible excitement.

Good heavens.

The Oscars owe you a Best Actor award.

Li Xuan cursed inwardly.

"Retired Emperor—!"

A wail suddenly exploded, shaking dust from the hall beams.

As soon as Wei Yong entered the hall, he didn't even look at the bed, falling to his knees with a thud.

His grey hair was disheveled, snot and tears streaming down his old Face, which he wiped haphazardly with his sleeves, crying as if his own father had died.

"This old subject arrived too late! To have missed seeing the Retired Emperor one last time, this subject... is guilty!"

While wailing, he banged his head against the floor with loud thuds.

The golden brick floor made it sound painful.

The several officials following behind him were all Wei Yong's cronies, and seeing their boss act this way, they immediately followed suit.

For a time, the wailing in the great hall was deafening, as if Li Xuan had truly died.

"The Retired Emperor labored for our Great Xia Divine Dynasty his entire life, and now that he is gone, our hearts are in pain!"

"Heaven has no eyes; why not let this old subject die in the Retired Emperor's stead!"

One sorrowful cry after another, scene after scene of beating chests and stamping feet.

Each performance was better than the last.

If Li Xuan weren't lying here, he would have almost believed it.

Act.

Keep acting.

I'm just going to watch here and see what tricks you can come up with.

This "mourning" session, while called a memorial, was actually political pressure.

With such loud voices, that spineless emperor Li Zhan outside the hall would definitely be able to hear.

Seeing these "loyal officials" crying so sorrowfully, he would only feel more panicked and have even less of a plan.

In the end, he would only think of how "loyal" Wei Yong's previous proposal "for the sake of the empire" was.

This old thing plays the PUA game really well.

Wei Yong knocked his head for a long time until his throat was hoarse, and seeing that there was no movement from the dragon bed, he felt completely at ease.

It seemed the old fellow was truly dead.

His wailing quieted down, turning into sobs.

He supported his knees and shakily stood up, giving a wink to the few people behind him.

A Vice Minister of Personnel immediately understood and, wiping away "tears," shouted to the outside of the hall.

"Your Majesty! The Retired Emperor has passed away; please restrain your grief!"

"However, a nation cannot go a day without a ruler; the urgent priority is to stabilize the court and appoint a new master soon!"

As soon as these words were spoken, there was dead silence outside the hall.

This was forcing the emperor's hand.

To even suggest "appointing a new ruler" left the young emperor with no Face at all.

Li Zhan was too scared to answer.

Wei Yong was very satisfied.

He wanted exactly this effect.

He wanted to completely break the young emperor's psychological defenses, making him obediently hand over the Imperial Seal and abdicate to the Seventh Prince of his choosing.

The old fox lifted his foot and walked step by step toward the dragon bed.

He had to confirm it with his own eyes.

What if this old thing was still hanging on by a breath?

Although the possibility was very small, Wei Yong never left any loopholes in his work.

Closer.

Even closer.

Li Xuan smelled the sandalwood on Wei Yong, along with the stench of decay exuded by power.

His eyelids twitched.

Through the gap, he saw Wei Yong's wrinkled old Face.

There were still tears on his Face.

But in those murky old eyes, there was nothing but greed and ambition.

It was the excitement of imminent success.

Wei Yong walked to the bedside, looking down at the withered old man on the bed.

Skin shriveled, cheeks sunken, lips blue.

There was not a single rise or fall in his chest.

He was indeed dead as could be.

Wei Yong's mouth curled up, and the heavy stone in his heart finally landed.

He reached out a hand, preparing to "close the eyes" of the Retired Emperor according to custom.

It was considered the final farewell from this "loyal official."

His fingertips were about to touch Li Xuan's eyelids.

"Get lost."

One word, directly exploding in Wei Yong's mind.

The voice was ethereal, yet carried an irresistible Divine Might.

Wei Yong's extended hand froze.

The hairs on his entire body stood up instantly.

Before he could even react, a terrifying pressure slammed into his spirit.

That was not the Aura of an expert.

Nor was it the Killing Intent of a general.

It was a crushing pressure originating from the very source of life.

He was not facing a human.

That Aura made him feel like an ant, filling his heart with immense fear.

Thud!

Wei Yong's legs went soft, and he uncontrollably collapsed to the ground.

His teeth chattered, and his whole body shook like a sieve.

He widened his eyes, staring at Li Xuan on the dragon bed in sheer terror.

That Face was still lifeless.

Yet Wei Yong felt as if his heart were being gripped by an invisible hand, making it hard to breathe.

An illusion?

No!

Not an illusion!

That fear and trembling from the depths of his heart were incomparably real.

A final burst of energy before death?

No!

How could a final burst of energy have such terrifying Divine Might; even an expert at the Human Emperor Realm couldn't scare him out of his wits with a single thought.

Could it be...

Wei Yong's mind went blank, countless thoughts flashed by, finally turning into a possibility that made his soul fly away in terror.

This Retired Emperor had been hiding his strength!

He had actually been pretending to be a pig to eat the tiger all along!

Thinking of this, Wei Yong felt a chill surge into his heart.

All the words he said outside the hall, all his schemes, hadn't they all been heard clearly by this old monster?

"Still not getting lost?"

That majestic voice sounded again, carrying a hint of impatience.

Boom!

Wei Yong's head buzzed, his vision went black, and he almost fainted on the spot.

"Go! Hurry and go!"

He no longer cared about the dignity of a Chancellor, nor did he care about his grand plan to force the emperor's hand; he crawled backward using his hands and feet, his Face full of fear.

Those officials in the hall still "mourning" hadn't been directly struck by the Dragon Qi, but they also felt extremely panicked.

Seeing their boss look like he had seen a ghost, how could they not know something had gone wrong?

They didn't have time to think, scrambling over, propping up the already weak-legged Wei Yong, and running out of the hall without looking back.

"Chancellor, what is wrong?"

"Chancellor!"

Their panicked voices and disheveled backs soon disappeared outside the palace doors.

The creaking sound rang out again.

The palace doors were hastily closed, as if they would be eaten by the monster inside if they were one step too slow.

The great hall finally became quiet again.

"Heh, with this little bit of courage, you want to learn to usurp the throne?"

Li Xuan chuckled disdainfully in his heart.

Scared yourself wet, old thing?

That moment just now was him, in a rush, driving a trace of Dragon Qi brought by his "Everlasting Immortal Body."

This Dragon Qi was the source of the Divine Dynasty's imperial Bloodline, and combined with the life essence of the Everlasting Immortal Body, it produced a special kind of Divine Might.

Li Xuan called it "Dragon Might."

The Dragon Might was still very weak and might be useless against true experts, but for scaring a pampered Mortal like Wei Yong, it was practically a dimensional strike.

However, Li Xuan did not relax.

Wei Yong had been scared off today, and after going back, he would definitely be more afraid, but he might also become more insane.

When an old fox is pushed to the limit, it will do anything.

Coupled with that mess of colluding with the neighboring Black Wolf Dynasty, the Great Xia Divine Dynasty was now facing internal and external troubles.

His grandson, Emperor Li Zhan, was a hopeless case.

"It seems that relying solely on being immortal is not enough."

Li Xuan thought silently.

He must have the strength to suppress everything as soon as possible.

Otherwise, let alone enjoying immortality, perhaps one day the Divine Dynasty would be overthrown by others, and for him, a lone Retired Emperor, what would be the point of being immortal alone?

Just as he was calculating how to improve his strength, that electronic voice in his head sounded again.

Ding!

Detected that the host has successfully intimidated a powerful official, resolved a potential palace coup, and initially manifested the majesty of a Human Emperor!

The Divine-Grade Sign-in System beginner tutorial has ended, and long-term planning has officially begun!

To help the host become the strongest Bloodline Origin of the Myriad Realms as soon as possible, the System has specially issued a beginner mission!

Beginner Mission.

Marry a concubine to start the path of Bloodline Legacy.

Mission Description: As a man with the "Everlasting Immortal Body," how can you be alone? Please marry a concubine as soon as possible and sow the first seed of hope!

Mission Reward: Determined by the concubine's own "Fate" and "Luck," the rewards are generous, so please look forward to it!

Li Xuan: "..."

He was a bit dazed.

He had just been thinking about how to deal with powerful officials, how to resist external enemies, and how to improve his strength...

And the System turned around and gave him a "matchmaking" mission?

This change of pace was too fast.

However... thinking about it carefully.

The System had previously said that as long as he kept taking in concubines and expanding his family line, the higher the talent of his descendants, the more Heaven-Defying his rewards would be.

If his son became a Great Emperor, he could even receive a ten-thousand-fold critical return.

This seemed... faster than cultivating bitterly by himself.

Letting others fight while he reaped the benefits, this was the true royal way.

Li Xuan's eyes lit up.

"Marry a concubine, huh..."

Shadows of three thousand beauties in the harem began to appear in his mind.

As the Retired Emperor, the entire harem was theoretically under his control.

However, who should he choose to maximize the rewards of the "beginner mission"?