NOVEL NEXT Chapter 9: Barbarian Expert
The news of Zhu Dayong's death caused great waves in the imperial palace very quickly.
At the very least, everyone in the 24 government offices — the 12 directorates, the four departments, and the eight bureaus — knew about this news.
As the Directorate of Ceremonial Assistant Manager, Zhu Dayong's position was not lower than many managers in the 24 government offices. In fact, his status even exceeded that of the other managers.
After all, Directorate of Ceremonial Manager Feng Bao was also the Eastern Depot Superintendent and held the most power in the entire eunuch system.
Furthermore, as Feng Bao's right-hand man, Zhu Dayong was a capable assistant. Thus, his identity was naturally different.
Of course, most importantly, Zhu Dayong was a grade-7 master. Furthermore, his strength was considered among the top in the grade-7 realm. With such strength, he was ranked among the top 20 out of the 100,000 eunuchs!
Such a master had silently died outside Changmen Palace.
What did this mean?
This meant that a terrifying almighty figure was hiding there!
A mere grade-7 master definitely could not slaughter Zhu Dayong so easily, preventing him from even escaping! It was only possible if it was a grade-8 being.
They did not know exactly which expert was hiding in Changmen Palace either.
For a period of time, various suspicions rose in the imperial palace, and all eyes were on Changmen Palace that had been desolate for four years.
However, no one dared to rashly charge in there.
The Changmen Palace was still the same old Changmen Palace.
However, due to Lin Ping's presence, the meaning of "desolate" had changed slightly. Changmen Palace became an enigmatic place that strangers did not enter!
…
The Eastern Depot Government Office was established in the North Donghuamen Subdistrict in the capital.
Typically, Depot Superintendent Feng Bao lived here as well.
Feng Bao wore red official robes with a flying crane embroidered on his chest. He was over fifty years old, but he looked like a middle-aged man who was not even forty. His body was tall and straight, and he was not gloomy. He seemed rather scholarly and refined.
If his face was not pale and clean, and his voice was not sharp, outsiders would not know that he was a eunuch and would assume that he was a minister.
"Zhu Dayong died at Changmen Palace?"
When Feng Bao heard the report from a subordinate, he was not as angry as everyone had expected. On the contrary, there was excitement in his eyes as he smiled. "The Taixu Sect was wiped out by the army led by General Who Stabilizes the East, and all masters who achieved the top three grades in the Sect were killed, without any survivors. How could a grade-8 master suddenly emerge?
"Could it be that a certain grade-6 genius broke through two consecutive times in less than ten years and reached the grade-8 realm?
"If that's the case, then it's slightly interesting."
Indeed, Zhu Dayong was Feng Bao's right-hand man.
However, that was when Zhu Dayong was alive. When he was dead, he was no longer his right-hand man.
There was no need for Feng Bao to feel sad or angry over a dead person. As for the gap in manpower, he simply had to promote someone else from the lower ranks.
The entire Grand Xia Imperial Court had 100,000 eunuchs. They lacked everything except people.
If someone in the upper ranks died, countless people in the lower ranks would be waiting to emerge and fight for that position.
"Superintendent, how should we deal with the Changmen Palace next? If there is actually a grade-8 master guarding the place, it will be more troublesome if we want to deal with her."
Beside Feng Bao was a eunuch who wore a brown officer robe. He furrowed his eyes as he spoke.
This person was called Luo Feng, the manager of the Directorate of Palace Seals. He managed the precious royal seals and imperial order talismans, and was one of the emperor's most trusted eunuchs. Even though Luo Feng owed Feng Bao a favor as Feng Bao had promoted him, they no longer had an unequal relationship. Instead, they were now partners who worked together.
"There are no grade-8 masters that are strong enough to deal with him. If a grade-9 master does not step in, who would dare to say that they had absolute certainty that they could kill a grade-8 master?" Feng Bao calmly said. "A grade-7 master from the Eastern Depot was already killed, and the losses are great enough. Even though there have constantly been cheap tricks from Chun Fei at the cold palace for the past few years, there have not been any big actions. Now that she has a grade-8 master protecting her, ask her to go."
Luo Feng lowered his head slightly and said, "Her Majesty the Empress wants Superintendent to personally step in. If Superintendent attacks, even if there is actually a grade-8 master in Changmen Palace, there is no doubt that they will definitely die."
"Her Majesty the Empress is praising me too much." Feng Bao waved his hand and rejected this offer. "Even I don't have absolute certainty that I can slaughter a grade-8 master. Furthermore, according to our information, the hidden expert in Changmen Palace has mastered many kinds of martial arts. The strength of his techniques is not ordinary, making him even harder to deal with. Furthermore, envoys from the northern barbarians are about to arrive. I have many things to attend to, and I don't have the time to deal with such fights."
Over the past few years, the northern barbarians had repeatedly invaded the borders of the country of Grand Xia. They burned, killed, looted, and committed all crimes imaginable. Even though many people with noble ideals in the royal court had requested to fight at the frontlines, when faced with the strong military forces of the barbarians, the Grand Xia Imperial Court had no combat power strong enough.
This time, for some reason, the barbarians took the initiative to send a group of envoys to the capital. It seemed as if they wanted to actively make peace.
Even though he did not know what the barbarians were planning, in the end, this was a good thing.
The emperor and the entire royal palace placed great importance on this matter. Recently, the major departments had been putting all their effort into planning for this, and the Eastern Depot was no exception.
Luo Feng hesitated. "But Her Majesty the Empress is not easy to deal with…"
Feng Bao snorted coldly and said, "It will be fine as long as you tell the truth. If Her Majesty the Empress is not satisfied with this answer, then report this to the Emperor! If the Emperor orders me to attack and deal with Changmen Palace, then I will go."
Luo Feng's gaze was profound. He stopped talking and simply nodded his head in agreement.
It looked as if there were no eternal friends in this world, only eternal benefits.
…
…
Smash!
The sound of a cup breaking could be heard from Changchun Palace where the empress lived.
"Feng Bao is so brave to threaten me! He shouldn't forget that I put in effort to help him obtain his position as the Eastern Depot Superintendent!" Her Majesty the Empress scolded angrily.
Meanwhile, Directorate of Palace Seals Manager Luo Feng stood at the side and did not speak.
This was not false. Back then, Superintendent Feng was able to become the Depot Superintendent of the Eastern Depot thanks to the help of Her Majesty the Empress. However, back then, Her Majesty the Empress was also able to advance to a top position because of Feng Bao's effort!
Back when they had not achieved their high positions, they could be said to be the closest of friends.
Now, they had each reached their objectives and met at the top. However, it was not possible for them to go back to being close friends.
Luo Feng, who had finished passing on the message, left Changchun Palace very quickly. Meanwhile, Empress Xie Feiyan's rage had not subsided. She shouted, "Messenger! Inform my brother that no matter what, he will assign a grade-8 master to the palace. I have uses for one!"
The Empress's brother was Xie Yonglong, who was also the General Who Stabilizes the North, one of the Four Great Generals in the Grand Xia Imperial Court. He had countless experts under his command and ensured the safety of the capital.
This was the reason why her status as empress was extremely stable, even though her favor had gradually declined over the past few years.
However, this time, even her elder brother, General Zhen Bei, did not step in to help her.
This was because the envoys from the barbarians in the north had arrived at the capital very quickly.
Furthermore, after they entered the capital, they immediately set up a grand open tournament. There was an expert called Bo Ri among the envoys who wanted to make friends through combat and fight hand to hand with various masters in the capital.
When faced with this challenge, the Grand Xia Imperial Court definitely could not avoid it.
Luckily, this barbarian expert only had a grade-8 cultivation base and was not a great grade-9 master. Otherwise, they might not be able to find a suitable challenger in the capital now.
When it came to the grade-8 realm, there were many such experts in the capital.
Thus, the Grand Xia Imperial Court sent three grade-8 masters to compete with the barbarian expert Bo Ri.
However, they had never expected that the three grade-8 masters would all lose. One of them was severely injured, while the other two had been killed!
At that moment, the news spread.
Even after some time, they could not find anyone in the city who was willing to battle!
Even though Bo Ri only had a grade-8 cultivation base, he was born with extraordinary power. Furthermore, his sturdy body could compare with peak martial artists, and his strength had almost reached the threshold of a grade-9 master!
The Eastern Depot, the army, the various aristocratic families in the capital, and the various sects in the vicinity — they all had ulterior motives and preferred to scheme against one another. Thus, no one faced this challenge!
Just as the Grand Xia Imperial Court was losing face, practically being trampled on the ground by the barbarians, an old man with a head full of silver hair emerged from the imperial compound. He was a guest elder in the imperial compound and a true grade-9 master. The last time he attacked was 20 years ago, and many people thought that he had passed on. However, they never expected that he was still alive.
This elder stepped in and forcibly suppressed barbarian expert Bo Ri, achieving victory after much difficulty.
Only then did the barbarian envoys give in and become well-behaved.
However, when the barbarian envoys left the capital, expert Bo Ri pledged that he would definitely return to the capital six years later and make friends with the various heroes in the Grand Xia Imperial Court through combat.
When the time came, he hoped that he would be able to find an opponent that could defeat him!
After the barbarian envoys left, not only was the capital shocked, even the entire Grand Xia Imperial Court was shaken by this. Therefore, the imperial court tried to win over various masters in hopes that they could find help to resist the barbarian envoys in six years.
However, there were already few grade-9 masters in the world, and every one of them was aloof from the world. Thus, it was difficult even for the royal court to order them around. Furthermore, Bo Ri was now a grade-8 who was almost well-matched against a grade-9 master. If his cultivation base improved after six years and he advanced into the grade-9 realm, what would they do?
When that time came, even the grade-9 masters might be no match for him!
…
…
Of course, all these had nothing to do with Lin Ping.
He was a eunuch in the cold palace. Even if he heard about what happened outside, he did not care much about them.
The Grand Xia Imperial Court was enormous and had a prolific society. Thus, they could not possibly be forced into a dead end.
Didn't the guest elder, a master with a grade-9 cultivation base, appear back then?
He only needed to sweep the floor and check in as usual while working hard to regain his status as an iron-willed man.
Then.
Six years.
Had passed by in the blink of an eye…