Stop pretending, I'm a security guard, a five-star general!

The news of the death of the Ninth Prince of Great Xia was kept secret due to strict orders from the royal family.

Aside from those present that day, only a few wealthy and influential families with extremely well-connected information knew about this matter.

When they heard that the grandson of the governor of the southeastern province of the Great Xia had killed the Ninth Prince, they were all extremely shocked.

To dare to kill a prince is unprecedented in history and is tantamount to rebellion!

Even if Qin Qingshan, this old fellow, was a key minister who helped the Emperor ascend the throne, his entire Qin family would probably still be hard-pressed to escape unscathed.

However, to everyone's surprise,

His Majesty the Emperor was unusually lenient in his punishment of this matter.

The matter was simply concluded by imprisoning the perpetrator in the Great Xia Heaven-level prison for three months and demoting Qin Qingshan from the Inspector of the Southeast Province of Great Xia to the Commander-in-Chief of Tianan Pass.

In fact, it's hard to say whether Qin Qingshan's demotion to the position of garrison commander of Tianan Pass was truly a demotion.

After all, although the official rank of the Inspector of the Southeast Province of the Great Xia was nominally higher, the commander of Tianan Pass held actual military power.

Moreover, and more importantly, Tianan Pass is within the sphere of influence of the Ma family of Tianan, one of the ten great families!

In the past, the power of the royal family and the power of the ten great families had always kept to themselves.

But now, the Emperor has demoted Qin Qingshan to the Ma family's sphere of influence...

Some observant individuals have already keenly noticed the highly unusual nature of the situation.

At this moment, in Tianan City, inside an ancient yet magnificent manor.

"Father, the imperial court has issued an edict ordering me to immediately depart for the Southeast Province to assume the post of Inspector."

A middle-aged man dressed in black armor strode into the hall with a powerful presence, looked solemnly at the white-haired old man sitting in the main seat, and spoke.

At this point, the middle-aged man couldn't help but let out a cold smile:

"That old emperor really has a good plan. He promoted me from the commander of Tianan Pass to the governor of the Southeast Province. On the surface, it's a promotion, but in reality, it's taking away my military power. His intention is obviously to erode the power of my Ma family!"

"Father, what should we do now?"

The white-haired old man glanced at him and said indifferently:

"What else can we do? The imperial decree has been issued, we can only accept it. Do you intend to disobey it?"

“Father, but…”

The white-haired old man waved his hand, interrupting:

“His Majesty’s son died, and Xiao Chao was there at the time. It’s normal for His Majesty to take his anger out on us as well. This time, we have no choice but to endure it.”

Upon hearing this, Ma Teng nodded with a somewhat dejected expression.

He naturally understood the reasoning his father was giving.

They had assumed that since the emperor's son had been killed by his own grandson, they would sit back and watch a good show of internal strife unfold.

But to my utter surprise,

They were the ones who suffered the most in this wave.

It has to be said, this emperor is truly heartless. He can actually let go of such a colossal hatred as the murder of his own son.

The saying "The most ruthless are those in the imperial family" seems to be no empty phrase.

"call."

Ma Teng let out a deep breath, but the anger in his heart still couldn't be contained.

After all, it would be extremely upsetting for anyone to have their military power taken away for no reason.

Thinking of this, Ma Teng couldn't help but glance at the boy who was standing obediently to the side with his head down. He was immediately furious and kicked him.

"You son of a bitch, what were you doing going to that secret realm? Did you have nothing better to do than this?!"

Having been kicked several meters away, Ma Chao looked like he was about to cry and said:

"Dad, didn't you say the Wood Spirit Fruit was almost ripe and that you wanted me to go to that secret realm? o(TヘTo)?"