An emperor wasn’t an ordinary person, after all. In many instances, he could not act on his own interests.

With his strength, he was considered the number one cultivator in the world. This, paired with the authority that he wielded as emperor, should have made it easy for him to eliminate the Chu clan and claim their salt and iron resources for himself. However, he still chose to dispatch Sang Hong, who tried to employ all sorts of schemes to cause the Chu clan to collapse from the inside. The emperor needed the other clans to antagonize the Chu clan precisely because he required a justifiable reason.

Such a reason would be enough to convince the masses of his cause, even though the intelligent people within the court would still realize what was going on. These were the conventional rules of the court.

Without this, everyone would begin to question his actions. Once that happened, then the very foundation of his dynasty would be shaken.

Even if you’re strong enough to overwhelm anyone, what would happen to your posterity? What about the future of the nation?

That was why Sang Hong was extremely confused. From what he knew about the emperor, he didn’t think that His Majesty would be so rash as to do something so unwise, and incur the criticism of the people. He would never have bothered to send him here otherwise.

He could only think of one reason for this, which was that Zu An was extremely important to the emperor. His importance not only exceeded the Chu clan’s, it even exceeded anything else he could possibly imagine. That alone could make His Majesty lose his composure like this.

“Just what did that kid steal from the emperor?” He had treated King Liang’s accusation with disdain at first, but he was starting to become more and more convinced that this was the truth.

Sang Qian was completely stunned. He finally understood why his father was so scared of the Embroidered Envoy even though they were only at the fifth or sixth rank.

However, he quickly realized what this meant. He said excitedly, “Isn’t this a good thing for us? Now that the emperor is focused on Zu An, he might not punish us as severely, right?”

Sang Hong said with a bitter smile, “If only it were that simple… After all, the one who wants us dead isn’t the emperor…”

Sang Qian was dumbfounded. He immediately asked his father what he meant, but Sang Hong didn’t reply. His face was a mask of worry, his mind deep in thought. Not only would it be pointless to tell his son, it might even cause his mind to break down.

In a different prison carriage, Zheng Dan overheard their conversation. Her ten fingers gripped the bars tightly, her face riddled with worry. “Ah Zu…”

…

Zu An’s face had drained of all color. The contents of that imperial edict had been seen by everyone in the entire city, and he was no exception.

He felt completely powerless before the might that the emperor had displayed. Even the most elaborate of schemes were practically useless in the face of such a massive difference in strength. He didn’t see any way out of this situation at all.

Mi Li couldn’t help but say with a sigh, “I really don’t know what to say. Why are you so good at bringing disaster on yourself? You’ve managed to get on the bad side of so many powerful individuals.”

She thought about her soul contract with him. Just how many times had they wound up in such a situation?

This kid’s strength was clearly not that high, yet he somehow always ended up facing enemies that were so much stronger than him.

“Big sis empress, can you defeat the emperor?” Zu An asked, praying for a miracle.

Mi Li rolled her eyes. “Why are you asking if I can beat an enemy that you yourself provoked?”

Zu An said, “Aren’t we in the same boat here? If I die, you’ll be screwed as well!”

“I might have had a chance if I was at my peak. But now? Forget it. Tough luck! Just accept your death peacefully,” Mi Li replied in a huff.

Zu An stared at her, speechless.

Sis, can you please not be so direct…?

Mi Li was curious about something else. “You weren’t even this scared when you faced me back then. Was it because I was too pretty, and so you didn’t find me scary enough?”

“Big sis empress, it looks like your skin has grown much thicker after hanging around me so much.” Zu An couldn’t resist mocking her. How could this be considered a similar situation? He had the Heiress’ Ball of Delights back then, and he couldn’t have cared less about how high her cultivation was. What the heck was he supposed to do against the emperor of the Zhou Dynasty?!

Mi Li wasn’t interested in finding out his answer anyway. “To be honest, there’s no reason for you to be so worried. Just pick a mountain to hide in. The world is so big, and they might not even be able to find you. Once you finish cultivating your Phoenix Nirvana Sutra and Primordial Origin Sutra, there will come a day when you wouldn’t need to be afraid of the emperor anymore.”

Zu An’s eyes lit up. “How long will that take?”

Mi Li looked at him. “With your aptitude and my guidance, you’ll be done within eight hundred years. Hell, if you are fast, even five hundred years would probably be enough.”

Zu An was less than comforted by this.

Putting aside the question of whether or not he could even live for that long, what sort of meaningless life would he lead if he hid in a damned mountain for a few centuries?

Mi Li yawned and stretched her body lazily. “I’m tired, so I'm going to sleep. Take care!”

With that, she vanished.

Zu An had to admit that everything this woman did was beautiful. However, why was this big sis so irresponsible? Was she really going to leave just like that?

Couldn’t you at least console my terrified heart?

Even if you can’t beat the emperor, I’ll gladly take an affectionate hug...

He put aside his jokes. He had to figure something out on his own.

A thought popped into his mind. He took out the Keyboard system and saw that he was sitting on a total of 77,589 Rage points.

Fuck it, I’ll just bet it all!

Zu An found a wash basin to wash his face. From within his Brilliant Glass Bead, he fished out some candles and incense, then took out offerings of a cow’s head, a lamb’s head, a pig’s head… He always felt as though his prayers alone weren’t solemn enough, so he’d hoarded a bunch of stuff when he got the chance to. The Brilliant Glass Bead had so much space anyway, and there was no need to worry about anything inside it going bad.

After bustling about for a while, his offering table was finally ready.

Zu An prayed, and then began to draw the lottery.

Thanks for playing… Thanks for playing… Ki Fruit… Thanks for playing… Ki Fruit…

Zu An clenched his fists when he saw these messages.

At his current level, Ki Fruits were pretty much the same as those useless consolatory ‘Thanks for playing’ messages. He needed way too many of them to move up each level.

His eyes suddenly brightened. The flickering light meter had come to a stop above the ‘M’ key.

A hat appeared on the screen. This hat didn’t look all that special. It was not that different from an ordinary one. The only thing strange about it was its color.

It was entirely green!

It was even a shimmering green, as if it was somehow scared that others wouldn’t notice it. Green light swirled across its surface, slowly converging on a single, sparkling point.

Zu An was stunned. What was this thing? Why did he feel like it was the same as the one he’d given Sang Qian earlier?

Then again, he knew that rewards granted by the Keyboard were all special in their own way.

He quickly read the description.

Congratulations on winning the ‘Hat of Forgiveness’!

Hat of Forgiveness

Introduction: Spring has arrived, and all things are coming alive! What should be green has finally started to turn green! If you want to get by, then you need a bit of green on your head. What will you do when you find out the cruel truth? You obviously have to forgive him/her!”

Description for use: Single use. If you make the target wear this hat, then they will forgive you, no matter what kind of mistake you have made.”

Zu An just stared at the screen.

He almost sprayed saliva everywhere. How could something as nonsensical as this appear? He began to wonder what sort of weird taste the Keyboard’s creator had.

His head was beginning to ache. If he ever made someone wear such a hat, he couldn’t care less if they forgave him or not. Wasn’t this thing kind of useless?

Wait, what if I…

While he was deep in thought, a quiet voice suddenly spoke into his ear. “So this is your trump card…”

Zu An jumped up in fright. He turned around and saw Mi Li sitting on his offering table, her legs casually swinging in the air.

“Big sis empress, didn’t you say you were going to sleep?” Zu An asked immediately.

A mysterious smile spread across Mi Li’s face. “You shouldn’t trust a woman so easily, especially one as pretty as me.”