Chapter 566 – Eastward Crossing! Father and Son - Part 2

The girl ran up to the steps and curtsied playfully. “Greetings, Your Majesty!”

Then, like a machine gun, she rattled off her words:

“Today’s Your Majesty’s birthday, so I made your favorite dessert, just for you!” With a flourish, she pulled a food box from behind her back and beamed. “Peach blossom pastries!”

The Crown Prince, Second Prince, and even Feng Yun were all momentarily stunned.

Since when did the Emperor like peach blossom pastries?

The Human Emperor chuckled. “Come here.”

Zhen'er trotted up and placed the box right on the arm of the throne.

To everyone’s surprise, the Emperor actually took one and began to eat.

He had no need for formality, no one in this land could demand it of him.

He took a bite. For a moment, his body stiffened. Then, with a soft smile, he finished the entire pastry.

This wasn’t something Zhen'er had made. It was the handiwork of Empress Dowager Xie.

Long ago, Empress Dowager Xie used to make peach blossom pastries for the former Emperor. It had been ages since she last did so, and just as long since the Human Emperor had tasted one.

Clearly, Zhen'er had pestered the Empress Dowager into personally making them again, and all so she could gift it to him today.

It was a rare and touching gesture.

“Was it good?” Zhen'er asked, hands clasped behind her back, peering up with curiosity.

The Emperor ignored everyone else in the hall. With a smile, he asked, “What reward do you want?”

Zhen'er muttered, “Your Majesty, that corrupt Ma official, you can execute him if you want. But the Gao Clan...they didn’t really deserve it, did they?”

The Ma Clan was the one the Crown Prince and Second Prince had seen executed at the city marketplace, wiped out, down to the last member.

The Gao Clan was set to meet the same fate tomorrow.

The Ma Clan had brought their doom upon themselves. They’d embezzled a portion of disaster relief grain, just a bit, they must have thought. But they got caught.

The Central Capital might still gleam with prosperity, but beyond its borders, even with the miracle of the warm snow, nothing could revive the barren farmlands anymore.

In the past, ghost domains were scattered across the land. Now, they had become one. And the meat fields were sprouting up like mushrooms after rain, multiplying rapidly.

Meat fields gave power to martial cultivators. But in doing so, they drained the land of its fertility.

A martial artist could eat meat grown in these fields, drawn from mutated demonic beasts and eerie crops. But ordinary people? Their bodies couldn’t handle the heavy, violent blood energy within.

The Central Capital might be full of cultivators, but they were the elite of the entire realm, concentrated in one place.

For most families, those who awakened shadow blood remained rare exceptions.

The rest? They still needed to eat.

Outside the Central Capital, there was even a rumor going around that grain was worth more than gold.

The official in charge of transporting the relief grain, perhaps thinking of his own family, perhaps believing no one would notice, skimmed off

just a little

, stashing it in his private storehouses.

But even that

little

was enough to ignite the Human Emperor’s fury.

The result was the execution of the entire Ma Clan.

The Gao Clan, on the other hand, had not stolen a single grain. Their crime was far more dangerous; they had spoken out.

They had dared to speak up about the Ma Clan.

A member of the Gao Clan had offered counsel, saying the Ma Clan’s crime did not merit complete extermination. He pointed out that such a public execution might tarnish the Emperor’s reputation. If punishment was necessary, perhaps it could be done more discreetly, without parading it through the marketplace.

It wasn’t treason. In fact, it was almost loyal. There was a sincere concern for the dynasty in those words. After all, since the Human Emperor’s ascension, he had never once ordered the destruction of a high-ranking official’s family.

This was the first.

And if this first happened, the precedent would be set.

Once that line was crossed, all the noble families, all the bureaucratic clans, would live in fear of the Emperor.

The Human Emperor didn’t care, of course. But many at the top had begun to suspect something. That his lifespan...might not be as long as expected.

He might not fear anything. But what about the one who came after?

A king of iron and blood might leave no backlash in life. But after death, retaliation would come eventually.

In a world already teetering on chaos, a power vacuum at the center could tear it all apart.

And so, the Gao Clan offered advice.

The Emperor responded by ordering their extermination too.

Clearly, quite a few noble clans had quietly approached the Princess, hoping she would speak on the Gao Clan’s behalf.

And she had come.

That, in essence, was the whole story.

Now, as Zhen'er voiced her plea, the Human Emperor immediately understood what she was getting at. But this time, he didn’t reply right away.

He had seen the mountains of white bones beyond the Central Capital’s gates. He had seen the hellish wastelands where nothing grew.

He knew the cause of it all lay beneath his very feet, within the swirling dark cloud still fusing beneath the palace.

He had long hoped for a

variable

to appear among the human race, a force of change that he could support, nurture, and build an eternal legacy upon.

But he had waited in vain. There was no variable.

His headaches had grown worse, often leaving him barely lucid. His temper had frayed. And his hatred for those who dared steal relief grain had grown to the point of obsession.

He knew all too well that one act of embezzlement would spark countless others. A single official’s selfishness could lead to an avalanche of copycats, burying the innocent under a mountain of needless corpses and tragedies.

So, if there was even the smallest crack, he would seal it shut. If anyone dared cross the line, he would kill them. Anyone who dared plead on their behalf, he’d kill them too.

And not in secret, either. He would kill them openly, publicly, where everyone could see. Only then would the fear sink deep enough to stop the rot.

But would anyone thank him? No.

The noble clans wouldn’t. The officials wouldn’t. And the common people? Certainly not.

The people would only see disaster and chaos, and a tyrant of an Emperor.

But so what?

He said none of this to the girl in front of him. He just stayed silent for a long time. Then, finally, he reached out and gently ruffled the Princess’ hair, replying with a simple phrase.

“Granted.”

The moment the words fell, the Crown Prince, the Second Prince, and even Feng Yun all sucked in a sharp breath. None of them dared speak. Their hearts pounded with disbelief.

From this day on, every noble clan across the empire would know exactly who to turn to when trouble came knocking.

The Emperor had made it clear. The world owed this little princess a favor.

And truthfully, hadn’t she already been known across the Central Capital as the Little Bodhisattva.

The Emperor agreed, not because he was swayed by her plea, but because he had come to understand something important.

This year, Empress Dowager Xie and Concubine Yu were planning to travel secretly and under assumed names to the Eastern Sea’s Immortal Domain. There, they would cultivate the martial arts handed down through the Xie Clan line.

It seemed preparations had long been made.

Empress Dowager Xie hadn’t hidden this from him. She told him plainly.

That person

had arranged everything. That person had even found the Xie Clan’s hidden sect in the Eastern Sea and made contact.

The Emperor had no reason to doubt that person’s abilities.

He had no reason to stop his mother either.

But he also knew the cultivation path of a high rank martial artist could be agonizingly long. Long enough that once she left, it might be forever.

His condition was worsening with each passing day. He wasn’t even sure if he’d still be alive the next time she returned.

Even if she’d never liked him much, even if he’d long since given up trying to express whatever affection he might still hold, she was still his mother. And what son would let his mother set off without worry?

Fortunately, the Emperor had already begun laying his own foundation in the Immortal Domain. Nothing on the scale of Li Yuan’s operations, of course, but he had quietly sent his people into the major sects.

Originally, it had been just to keep an eye on things. Plant some eyes. Broaden his view.

But now that his mother would be going, he decided to hand that entire network over to her.

Empress Dowager Xie accepted it without hesitation.

Zhen'er, however, would not be going with them.

The Eastern Sea was no place for mortals.

The Central Capital, on the other hand, was a land where she could live out her days in wealth and glory.

She and the Emperor were worlds apart. One was incapable of cultivating at all; the other, the most powerful man in the world.

And yet, they were also the same because neither of them had long to live.

With a relative like this, whom else should the Emperor spoil if not her?

More than that, he was beginning to sense something was wrong with himself.

He needed her. He needed someone by his side to pull him back from the edge before he plunged into madness completely.