Chapter 1509 20.73 First Black Star - Meng Ruyi (1)
Chapter 1509 20.73 First Black Star - Meng Ruyi (1)
Somewhere in the Imperial Palace...
A few officials and ministers could not go home on time due to an endless pile of work. They all gathered, unable to go home on time, and had to stay in the palace to continue their work as the human emperor himself; he never did any work as the ruler of the capital. It's embarrassing to hear him indulging in his desires instead of working to solve the problems of their territory. Find your next adventure on empire
The old officials and ministers were all haggard and almost looked sickly, with the dark undersides of their eyes. They'd even lost a lot of weight, making them look ill. The other young officials weren't that experienced and longed to faint from fatigue.
In a room with a huge table full of scrolls and paper. Several old ministers and officials can barely keep their eyes awake; even so, they can't stop working. The moment they stop will be when the kingdom will be stagnant and more problems will pile up, making it harder to solve.
There were also some natural disasters within the capital. For example, the spread of pandemics from the slums. Because this wasn't prevented well, the main city started to get infected with it, causing lots of deaths, which further spread the pandemic, causing disaster in the kingdom.
"What should be done about the pandemic? If this continues, it will spread in the whole country. If that happens, it would already be out of control!"
"Why did the human emperor ignore such an urgent problem? It could be prevented if we found it on time!"
An old official sniggers and says, "Maybe he is too preoccupied with his bed mattress and forgot about morning courts."
This time not even one of the officials scolded this official, as they already felt dissatisfied with how the human emperor was acting. They can barely tolerate his laziness, but forgetting about his duties as the emperor is something unbelievable. Now the ones in power in the capital are the nobles.
"He had completely changed. Before, even if the human emperor was crazy, he would still do his duties as the emperor. This time it's completely different. He disdains the morning court and would instead want to stay in his quarters. If this continues, the downfall of this country is unavoidable."
"What do you think about the previous emperor who is beside your majesty?"
"Obviously, it's a fake, but for some reason, he possessed the memories of the original."
"It is weird enough that he appeared in the slums."
"The Divine One using Official Xu Ming's body and Diviner Sang had disappeared since that day. What did they find out? Did they abandon the capital?"
Just thinking about how the divinity that descended on their land left without saying a word. The cold silence Official Xu Ming had shown in the throne hall. These old officials and ministers recalled how the human emperor reacted when he saw the previous emperor, and maybe everything had changed since that day.
"Maybe the divine one saw something that day and decided to leave. He had given up on the human emperor, thus he left the capital forever."
Silence descended in the hall, making those who were already depressed from overworking feel how useless the royal family had become. Everything had changed. The one on the throne was no longer the righteous male empress they pushed on the throne. There is only a husk of himself and something unknown living his identity as the human emperor.
"Should we find the real previous human emperor?" asked an old minister.
"We don't know where he is."
"The last place he was seen is at the borderlands."
"There are countless villages in that province. One wouldn't be enough to search through the place."
"Half of us will go. It is just that this might be considered treason to the current human emperor. Who wants to go?" asked the oldest ministers in the group.
Unexpectedly, every single one of them had raised their hands. It seems these groups of old men could no longer bear the current human emperor.
Sigh!
"Not everyone can go. Only two seniors who can bear long rides and a few middle-aged ones who had met the previous human emperor can go. Only half, not everyone can leave. I will stay to buy you some time," said the oldest minister in their group.
It took a while before the people who would leave were chosen. This was done under the eyes of the hidden guards of the current human emperor. Unfortunately, they themselves could not bear the uselessness of their master. A lot of their comrades died without a corpse due to An Ziwei's orders before.
That's why when they saw that the ministers and officials were planning on finding the previous human emperor, Wang Xiajie, they turned a blind eye. If one can choose a master, of course, they will choose the better one. At the very least, it would be a master that only has sex in the head. Just watching that scene every day, night or day, these hidden guards are about to go crazy.
While the palace is cooking some betrayal under the waters, An Ziwei continues to indulge himself in his room. Not even knowing that his standing as a human Emer would begin a countdown to his ending ruins.
---
A few days after the Sect Meeting...
The sect master of the Heavenly Illusion Sect had finally descended to the Xiejing Province. She didn't change her clothing that much, wearing seductive ancient robes as if she were some kind of noble concubine who got lost in the world of ordinary people. As a sect master, Meng Ruyi would never lower herself to meet the same stage as these mortals.
The men couldn't move away from their gaze on her while the women looked at her with disdain. Acting coquettish in the public—is he a human fox or something? A few wives in the crowd could only pinch their husband's ears and sides, forcing them to move their eyes away from such a woman.
Sect Master Meng Ruyi's alluring face wrinkled at the scent of the mortal land. The air was full of impurities, and the qi was sparse.
"The mortal land is the same as always. Suffocating and irritating," she mumbles as she looks around.
She wanted to look for the disciples of the Heavenly Sword Sect stationed in this location and walk towards the rented mansion where Gou Roulan and Shi Mengli died. But she didn't know about their circumstances and ending.
The sect master of the Heavenly Illusion Sect, Meng Ruyi, mumbles, "I do not feel any aura in this mansion."
Just as she was looking around the area trying to find any traces of Gou Roulan and Shi Mengli, sadly nothing was found at all.
"It seems that something had indeed happened in this place." Sect Master Meng Ruyi's eyes narrowed as she thought of this.
Just as she was about to jump beyond the walls of the mansion, the mansion next door opened. He is the caretaker of the mansion in this residential area.
The caretaker saw Meng Ruyi standing in front of that cursed mansion where two ladies had died. No one knows if it is because Meng Ruyi is a beautiful lady or that the caretaker is so worried about Meng Ruyi that he steps up to where Meng Ruyi is.
"Don't go in there!" shouted the caretaker. "Don't you know that the last two tenants of that mansion had recently died!?"
The Sect Master of the Heavenly Illusion Sect was stunned when she heard what the caretaker had just said.
Meng Ruyi asked, "Died? Are the two tenants of this mansion a pair of young ladies?"
"Did you know those two young ladies? What's your relationship with them?" asked the caretaker while staring at her with a scrutinizing gaze.
The Sect Master of the Heavenly Illusion Sect, Meng Ruyi, responded, "Their master told me to bring them back."
"Those two ladies are dead. When I came over that time to get their rent, I saw them on the ground curled as if they were in pain, and their eyes were bloodshot and open even after death. The doctor checked on their bodies and found nothing was wrong, and even so, the death of those two ladies was gruesome. Because of them, this mansion can no longer be rented!" said the caretaker.
Meng Ruyi, the Sect Master of the Heavenly Illusion Sect, looks a bit stunned by what she just heard. She truly didn't expect those two disciples from the Heavenly Sword Sect to die in such a way. Now she is more interested in the mansion.
The Sect Master of the Heavenly Illusion Sect said, "I am interested in this place. I want to go inside."
The caretaker looked at Meng Ruyi as if she were something that had problems in her head and said, "The gates aren't locked. Ever since the deaths of the two ladies, that mansion has been considered haunted; not even the thieves go inside that place. You can enter on your own, but I have nothing to do with it if something happens to you inside that mansion."
"Don't worry~ you are worrying too much, mortal," the Sect Master of the Heavenly Illusion Sect said with a cunning smile.
The caretaker frowned when he heard the lady call him a mortal. Only cultivators do such a thing.
"So, you are a cultivator. Then I shall no longer get involved!" said the mansion's caretaker as he ran back inside the mansion next door. Based on his white face, he was clearly terrified of this female cultivator who looked down on mortals as something like ants.