There was a hawk in the white clouds.

On the mountain above the clouds, Emperor Yuanwu looked up. With a glance, it was lifeless, and then a thread of faint holy light fell to the tent by Emperor Yuanwu’s side.

A guard silently picked up the hawk that had just been killed, and handed it to an attendant in charge of cooking.

Soon, the flesh of the hawk was chopped up and it became meat soup in the pot. The hawk meat was too old and thick, not delicious. But Emperor Yuanwu usually did not care about the taste. Even more important had he, he could not allow being to fly above his head.

When the aroma of the meat and vegetables came out of the pot, Emperor Yuanwu put down the documents in his hand and stood up. He looked at the land around him.

There were attendants who kept on coming to him and delivering dossiers from all over. This place was a desolate part of the border, but because of his existence, it seemed to become the center of the Qin Dynasty.

For a person, other than being able to see others clearly, they had to see themselves clearly. From when he first started to cultivate until he reached realm eight, he had seen countless powerful cultivators and geniuses. He knew that compared to the geniuses, if he had anything special, it was that he could focus on doing all things, serious and down to earth. The same with his cultivation, the same when using soldiers, and the same when governing the country.

Do you know? The reason that I despise you the most is that you are too talented. Governing the country and the world originally is something that requires a lot of artistry, but because your cultivation was so high, it became a crude thing that could be decided purely by martial power. A person like you is the biggest threat in the end. Even if you led the army to defeat the Han, Zhao and Wei, the Qin Dynasty just became a dynasty that only knew martial strength. Even more importantly…you are not of the imperial family. When their awe of you reaches the peak, the imperial family will become unimportant. How can the imperial family govern the country? So you must die.

He inwardly said to his “old friend”. Then he had his attendant bring hot tea and some clean wild fruits. He had sensed that the other part of the trade, his son Fu Su, was soon to arrive.

The quiet at the base of the mountain was shattered by the hoofbeats. A procession of troops protected a carriage, coming closer until they reached the mountain.

Xu Fu appeared behind him, and saw Prince Fu Su appear finally in his sight without saying a word.

**

Almost at the same time.

In the shadow of the Wu Mountain, within a river that could reach the Qin, there was a seemingly ordinary business ship moving slowly. There were many formations in the ship that blocked the vibrations of the primal energies of the universe. This was used to conceal the presence of some powerful and special cultivators. Of course this could not truly be an ordinary ship.

In a quiet room, a black-robed man who had many white bones hanging from his body slowly opened his eyes. When his eyes were fully open, many of the seal scripts in the room reacted, and many black energies spread like vines.

This black-robed man was Qi Siren, one of the most powerful and famed grandmasters in the Qi Dynasty. After he opened his eyes, he shook his head. A scornful smile appeared on the corners of his lips. Then he stood up and walked out of the room.

His actions caused the other cultivators on the ship to change expression.

The moment he walked onto the deck of the ship, black energy seemed to spread in tentacles in the river water from the ship. His figure grew more and more faint, like he was going to merge into one of the black energies and then disappear.

“You are?”

One cultivator dressed in yellow robes could not help but say in shock.

“This should have been your family affair, but it caused me to waste my energies for nothing,” Qi Siren said coldly.

The last trace his body left behind in this cultivator’s eyes was a black flame that suddenly erupted.

When Qi Siren disappeared, the shock and confusion of this cultivator in yellow robes only lasted for a while.

The sun in the sky suddenly lit up, driving away the blackness remaining in the river. A bright sword light seemed to pierce through the sky, falling down. It could not even be described as a falling star, because this sword was even faster than a falling star.

Only one person in the world could be so fast.

The yellow- robed cultivator swallowed the shout of “kill”. He knew if he really gave the order to kill Miss Shang who was in the cabin, the moment he gave the order, Tantai Guanjian would have killed him, and the cultivators in the cabin would not have yet killed Miss Shang.

Qi Siren helped them escort Eldest Miss Shang. This was an absolute secret that even the military of the Qin did not know. Especially when only Emperor Yuanwu and the empress were the two who knew the actual route.

Tantai Guanjian appearing here was just like Qi Siren said as he fled immediately. It could only mean that something had happened between the two of them. This was a private matter of a family.

At this moment, a strange tremor came from the bottom of the entire ship. The ship that had been racing through the river suddenly ran aground.

This was not a region with secret reefs. Then countless grave stones, carrying a strong sense of hate and darkness floated out of the water, easily supporting this ship and trapping it.

**

“Father- Emperor.”

Fu Su walked to the end of the mountain path, and saw the man waiting for him in front of the tent. He bowed deeply.

A reunion of father and son should have been a moving moment, but for some reason, when Fu Su spoke, he felt a slight pain in his heart. His body felt heavier, so heavy that he could not raise his body.

Yuanwu silently waited for Fu Su to stand up and then waved his hand. Everyone else on the mountain peak, except him, Xu Fu and Fu Su, left.

The mountain wind blew at the tent which flapped and caused his calm voice to grow empty.

“I know you have words you want to say, speak.”

“Father-Emperor, you cannot accept this elixir of life from the Wuzhi ancestral mountain. This is a trap, a conspiracy to separate you and Mother- Empress.” Fu Su used all his strength to finally lift his head and said, looking at the other’s hard face.

“Then what should I do?” Yuanwu smiled faintly. “Do not release Miss Shang, and refuse the suggestion? Putting aside the elixir, do you want Miss Shang dead or yourself dead?”

Fu Su was stunned. He opened his mouth but could not speak. Yuanwu also did not speak, just looking quietly at him.

“He would not have killed me.” After a long time, Fu Su honestly answered the question. “Of course I do not want Miss Shang to die.”

Yuanwu laughed and shook his head. “You must understand one thing. From when you were born in the family of emperors, you are not a normal person. Ordinary people consider what to eat today, what to dress tomorrow, but the family of the emperors considers the world, and not the life and death of some people.”