Following Emperor Yuan's decision to remove the nine vassals, preparatory work for it officially started. The entire Yuhua God Dynasty was like a huge sophisticated machine that was swiftly operating.

Even though the nation still looked calm on the outside as if nothing was happening, the tides of change surged inside. A lot of people noticed these subtle changes. They nervously asked around about what the Yuan Emperor and the Imperial Court were up to.

The entire imperial capital was caught in a state where the ordinary people were living their daily lives as usual, but the families of court officials were living in fear that Emperor Yuan was going to make a move on them.

They had reason to be afraid. In the past ten years, Emperor Yuan had killed countless corrupt officials. All of the court officials knew that Emperor Yuan was an emperor with great ambitions, great means, and a great heart for killing.

It was just that they had never imagined that Emperor Yuan's move was to remove the nine vassals.

Directly confronting the stubborn illness of the Yuhua God Dynasty that had existed for hundreds of years.

No one knew the news beforehand.

Lin Jiufeng naturally didn't know either.

He was just a dethroned prince who was locked up in the Cold Palace, and all the information that he had about the outside world came from Dachun.

Dachun would come and tell Lin Jiufeng some news every seven days, and it was news that Dachun himself heard from others.

Since the news that Dachun knew was something that everyone knew, all that he told Lin Jiufeng weren't secrets.

Lin Jiufeng cultivated quietly, slowly strengthening his Martial Will while trying to comprehend his own path on the martial path, as well as polishing his own understanding of the world's energies.

He did all of these as he silently signed-in inside the Cold Palace with peace of mind.

He recently toured around the entire Cold Palace and signed in at many places.

His gains were quite good.

He didn't have the time nor the mind to pay attention to the outside world.

Except for Emperor Yuan, Lin Tianyuan, and Dachun, Lin Jiufeng didn't care about anyone else in the Yuhua God Dynasty.

As long as these three were fine, Lin Jiufeng would be too lazy to go out and make any move.

As time passed day by day, Lin Jiufeng also became stronger day by day.

Until the fourth day of October, Emperor Yuan issued a decree in the Imperial Court saying that he wanted to celebrate the 80th birthday of the Empress Dowager.

Anyone who was a First-rank court official of the Yuhua God Dynasty would be required to come back to celebrate her birthday.

The spearhead was directed at the nine vassals.

Because of their titles and their territories, their status was that of a First-rank official of the Imperial Court.

Emperor Yuan wanted them to come to the imperial capital to celebrate the Empress Dowager's birthday.

After this decree came out, everyone was shocked.

They immediately linked this decree to the nine vassals.

Emperor Yuan's private actions, which they had always been worried about, were not actually directed at them, but at the nine vassals.

Was the disaster made by vassals that had plagued the Yuhua God Dynasty for hundreds of years finally going to be placed out in the open?

Everyone was currently discussing this issue at this moment. All sorts of opinions were expressed, but without exception—all of them were shocked by this move from Emperor Yuan.

The previous emperors always chose to compromise with the nine vassals when facing this problem.

They never actively provoked them.

As long as the nine vassals didn't revolt, the previous emperors were fine with letting them grow their own armies and being kings in their own territories.

This was a method to deceive themselves that everything was fine. It was akin to drinking poison to quench one's thirst. They were just letting the nine vassals eat off the empire's territories bit by bit. In the end, the Yuhua God Dynasty would still end up in misfortune.

But the past emperors had no other choice too.

Each of the nine vassals was very powerful, plus they were all in an alliance, forcing the Yuhua God Dynasty to let them do as they please.

But the newly-enthroned Emperor Yuan decided not to follow the choice of his predecessors.

He chose to confront the nine vassal lords directly and coldly announced that they were required to come to the imperial capital in the near future to participate in the birthday of the Empress Dowager.

Failure to come would be regarded as non-compliance.

The so-called 80th birthday was just a gimmick.

Because the Empress Dowager was skilled in preserving her looks and her cultivation base was also not bad. Although she was 80-years-old now, she still looked as beautiful as a 30-year-old woman, the charm of her maturity was obvious to see.

Would someone in such a state need to hold a birthday dedicated to longevity?

Furthermore, the Empress Dowager was a woman.

She didn't want Emperor Yuan to mention her age if it wasn't necessary.

But now Emperor Yuan not only mentioned it, but he even told the entire world that he wanted to celebrate her 80th birthday.

She was quite enraged over this.

But there wasn't anything she could do, because she wasn't Emperor Yuan's biological mother, their relationship was very poor. She couldn't control the current emperor at all.

The ministers wanted to persuade Emperor Yuan against this, but he ignored all obstacles and pushed through with this matter.

In less than a day, almost the whole world knew of this.

The Emperor of the Yuhua God Dynasty was going to act against the nine vassal lords.

Remove their status and title!

This was an important matter!

In this world, there was only one divine dynasty—the Yuhua God Dynasty.

However, there were many other small countries under the Yuhua God Dynasty.

There were also a lot of countries overseas, and countries outside the boundaries of the Yuhua God Dynasty, all of which were paying close attention to the events that were about to unfold in the divine dynasty.

Once the Yuhua God Dynasty became internally chaotic, these tigers and wolves would definitely not hold themselves back from biting off a few pieces from the huge chunk of meat that was the divine dynasty.

For a period, everyone in the Yuhua God Dynasty lived in anxiety as they discussed all of these.

Lin Jiufeng also heard the news from Dachun the next day.

They met at the entrance of the Cold Palace.

Dachun was already 29 this year, and his cultivation base had reached just the Golden Core Realm, specifically at the False core level of the Golden Core Realm.

He was now a leader in the Imperial Army with hundreds of people under his command.

As a result, he was busy every day.

But he still insisted on sending food and wine to Lin Jiufeng in order to talk to him.

"Your Royal Highness. Today, His Majesty said that he wanted the nine vassal lords to come to the imperial capital to celebrate the Empress Dowager's birthday." Dachun talked about this matter in detail.

This was the biggest thing happening at this moment.

After all, the nine vassal lords were not some small flies.

In the Cold Palace, Lin Jiufeng frowned and said, "He's too impatient."

Upon hearing this, Lin Jiufeng knew immediately that this matter was being dealt with hastily.

It was the right move to remove the vassal lords, but did Emperor Yuan have the power to suppress all nine vassal lords at the same time?

Wasn't this forcing the nine vassal lords to stand together and oppose the Yuhua God Dynasty?

Moreover, the vassal lords had the demonic sects supporting them.

The battle in the Forbidden City had greatly damaged the prestige of the demonic sects.

However, their strength still wasn't something that could be underestimated.

After all, only an old ancestor of the Among Flowers Sect died, and the Among Flowers Sect already ceased to exist even before his death.

Furthermore, that old ancestor had been the only remaining member of the Among Flowers Sect back then.

Dachun touched his head and said, "Because they were far away from the imperial capital and the Emperor, these vassal lords are overlords in their own territory. They don't obey the Emperor anymore, so it's indeed correct to do something about them."

Lin Jiufeng sighed and said, "They are a disaster, but you can divide and defeat them one by one. Whether it is to instigate discord, take advantage of their own interests, or to threaten and exploit them, these are all usable methods. Why choose the most unwise way?"

"Does he think that just because he has a Martial Sage supporting him, he can deal with the nine vassal lords all at once?"

Lin Jiufeng frowned, still not able to figure out why Emperor Yuan did it this way.

"Your Royal Highness. Why don't you go talk to His Majesty about this?" Dachun suggested.

Lin Jiufeng shook his head and said, "He has already made a decree and the whole world knows of it now. What's the point of me persuading him at this point?"

Besides, he was just a dethroned prince.

What right did he have to interfere with His Majesty's decision?

"Dachun. Come report to me if anything big happens in the future. I have a hunch that this world, which has been calm for decades, is going to become chaotic," Lin Jiufeng murmured.

He looked at the sky; the sky was clear and the breeze was gentle.

But in the eyes of a Martial Sage, Lin Jiufeng saw a blood-red color gathering in the sky above the Forbidden City, killing intent surging within it.

A catastrophe was bound to happen for both Emperor Yuan and the Yuhua God Dynasty.

"Okay, I will inquire about the news and report to your Highness as soon as possible."

Dachun nodded and agreed.

…

Lin Jiufeng's guess was correct.

As the topic of 'removing the nine vassals' spread all over the world, its tranquility which was akin to a serene lake suddenly had a giant rock dropped into it.

With a bang, the water in the lake splashed high and scattered all around.

It was no longer calm!