“Simply speaking, you first have to consider the Qin Dynasty.”

Emperor Yuanwu stopped smiling. He looked at Fu Su and said slowly and coolly, “For the strength and prosperity of the dynasty, you must abandon the emotions of many people. You must understand, even if one day, there comes a time when you must kill me in order to make the dynasty stronger, for the dynasty, you must kill me.”

Looking at Fu Su, whose eyes were showing more and more pain, he paused, and then said in an even slower voice, “I know that you were in contact with that person for a long time, and naturally will have much hesitation and fear that you should not have. But as the crown prince, you must know, what I did to Ba Mountain Sword Field, to the imperial family and to this dynasty, was not a betrayal, but my fate.”

Fu Su did not know why, but he was in such pain he could not breathe. He looked at his beloved father, and said in a trembling voice, “So, Father- Emperor, you can sacrifice me, and for this dynasty, even kill Mother- Empress?”

Yuanwu looked up to look at the flowing clouds in the sky. He was silent for a moment. Then he said, “Before this, your mother’s existence and actions, to the Qin Dynasty, was a great help. Much of the time, what we consider is the same thing. I hope that in the future, she will be like me, doing everything for the strength of the Qin Dynasty.”

Fu Su did not receive a direct answer, but from Yuanwu’s words, he already got his answer.

Each person had their reason to exist, and the reasons they thought were right. Especially when Yuanwu was his father. He had become a wise emperor that the people of the Qin revered. He had accomplished things that the other rulers of the Qin had not been able to do. So he could not speak, and did not qualify to even argue.

Was this really right?

If one could not even protect their family and friends, and they could be sacrificed, then under the rule of such a person, what cold world would this be?

In his mind, a voice like this echoed.

“Do I not like this?”

After an unknown amount of time, Fu Su looked up, face female. He looked at Yuanwu and said, “I do not like becoming a person like this, I do not want to see you and Mother- Empress become enemies. Even if one day, I will be facing a time like you say, and must kill you for the strength of the dynasty, I cannot sacrifice you in exchange. So I fear that I cannot become a crown prince of the Qin like you hope.”

Emperor Yuanwu’s face had remained calm all this time, he showed no anger. His gaze grew even gentler. “You have changed much and matured much. Otherwise, before this, even if you opposed this in your mind, you would not have the courage to say such things in front of me. People need a long time to grow. I will give you enough time.”

Saying so, Emperor Yuanwu closed his eyes in seeming tiredness. But his energy sea suddenly shook, like an enormous new world was shaking. A holy light thicker than the mountain broke through the clouds, and seeming to shine from another world.

This holy light flooded in Fu Su’s body from all directions, forcing out the strange power contained deep within. A hint of dislike appeared on Yuanwu’s face.

This golden and holy light turned into a fist-sized ball of light in the end. At the center was a milky white vital energy twisting, like a fat silkworm about to spin silk. Inside the silkworm, there was a black crystal floating up and down on the waves, giving off a frightening eternal presence.

**

The spring wind blew on the moss of the gray roof. When the first letter reached the hands of the mistress of the Changling imperial palace after passing through many hawks from the army, Changling was already in nighttime. The dry moss moved in the darkness. In the absolute silence, there seemed to be gentle water floating around the plant.

But when the mistress of the imperial palace opened the letter and read the contents, the dry moss suddenly froze, cut down by an unnamed power, and sprayed out.

After more than a decade of nurturing, Changling and the Qin Dynasty had become a very efficient seal weapon. It could perfectly carry the will of the cultivator, and each link was very quick and effective.

The study of the empress and her residence had been destroyed in the battle when Baili Suxue came with the Nether dragon. But at this time, they had been rebuilt. So other than the sense of newness, there was no trace of battle.

But the ceiling opening which reflected star light could not be rebuilt due to lacking materials. The spirit spring she frequently stood by had completely dried up. Only some ordinary spring water with some strange lotuses were now here, gone was the sense of etherealness.

The moonlight passed through the roof of the newly built study. Through the enhancement of some gems, the clean rays fell on her table, on the letter she was reading, and caused her fingers to look as white as the best porcelain in the world.

This letter contained the military intelligence passed from the Chu border battlefields as fast as possible. They were hours faster than the quickest from the Warden’s Office. These things that were delivered through Jiaodong Commandery’s secret net were all crucial items. But the other characters were overlooked by her eyes. Only two items remained in her eyes.

One was that part of Wei Wujiu’s army who had been chasing the Chu army stopped giving chase. The other armies responsible for pursuit mostly all stopped as well.

This was almost the entire Qin army rebelling against her will. As a result, even if the Qin troops who were traveling day and night on the Nether Floats to get to Nanquan could arrive on time according to her plan, they could not defeat Nanquan, and stop the Chu army from breaking out. Tens of thousands of Chu soldiers who get a chance to breathe, and enter Jiaodong Commandery.

The second item was the cultivators who had been escorting Miss Shang had been attacked. She had been rescued.

Other than Yuanwu, no one knew the exact position of Miss Shang. The cause of this incident came from the transaction between Ding Ning and Yuanwu.

Empress Zheng slowly lifted her head. The moonlight fell in front of her like a curtain. The letter in her hand cracked light dead leaves and flew forward.

“What did he promise you, what did he give you that you would not hesitate to do something like this?”

She took a deep breath and looked at her while fingers which had not managed to grab a thing. She said slowly, colder and colder, “Is everything just a transaction to you?”