I am the snake demon!

The Imperial Palace of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

If viewed from above, one can see a lifelike phantom of a real dragon coiled above the imperial city.

The place where fortune was most prosperous was where the Great Zhou Emperor resided.

Inside the imperial study, the Emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty, dressed in a bright yellow dragon robe, had a dignified appearance and an imposing presence. Although he was not old, only thirty years old, no one dared to underestimate him.

Listening to Wei Xuanli recount his experiences in the northern border, Emperor Zhou frowned slightly and said, "You mean that Xu Shi'an was unmoved when he heard you appoint Xu Yanheng as the governor of Liangzhou, but only became angry when he heard that you were going to bestow a marriage upon Xu Yuhua?"

"Yes," Wei Xuanli replied, bowing.

"Your Majesty, Xu Shi'an openly assaulted the Crown Prince of Wei, showing disrespect to the Imperial Envoy. His disloyal intentions are obvious and he should be severely punished and stripped of his throne."

In the imperial study, Huang Xuangan, the Grand Master of Ceremonies and a trusted confidant of the Zhou Emperor, immediately spoke out with a face full of anger upon hearing this.

"The late Prince Zhenbei sacrificed his life for the country, and His Majesty just bestowed upon him the posthumous title of Zhongwu (Loyal and Martial). Now, he is targeting his descendants. If this gets out, what will become of His Majesty's reputation?"

As soon as Huang Xuangan finished speaking, Fang Tai, the Vice Minister of War, immediately retorted from inside the hall.

"If we don't punish them to serve as a warning to others, everyone will follow suit, wouldn't the world descend into chaos?" Huang Xuan said, annoyed.

"If we are to punish him, how should we punish him? It's easy to strip Xu Shi'an of his title, but what happens after that? The northern border is in turmoil, and people are suffering. The demon kingdom and the northern wilderness are taking advantage of the chaos to move south. What will happen then? The remnants of the Northern Yan, Western Shu, and Southern Chu have not been eliminated. If the northern border falls into chaos now, can you, Lord Huang, bear the consequences?" Fang Tai asked.

"If Xu Shi'an is so arrogant and unruly, and is not punished, people will follow suit and disregard His Majesty's authority. Can Lord Fang bear the responsibility?" Huang Xuangan retorted sharply, refusing to back down.

"Alright, this is a place for deliberation, not for you two ministers to argue." The Emperor of Great Zhou frowned slightly as he listened to their debate.

Huang Xuangan and Fang Tai immediately bowed and begged for forgiveness.

The Emperor of Great Zhou ordered the two men to rise, then looked at Wei Xuanli and asked, "What does Minister Wei think of Xu Shi'an?"

"This man did nothing to stop Xu Yanheng from becoming the governor of Bingzhou, and I've also heard that he praised the Leng family's daughter for her chastity at her funeral, which shows his lack of wisdom. However, his great anger over Xu Yuhua's marriage shows his deep affection. Only by being quick-witted and slandering us for falsely conveying the imperial edict can we see a bit of quick thinking, but even that shows he has petty schemes but no great wisdom. Such a person is not worth worrying about," Wei Xuanli said.

"Short-witted but sentimental, quick-witted but lacking foresight? Isn't such a person a divinely ordained Prince of the North?" Upon hearing this, the Emperor of Great Zhou smiled slightly.

How can someone who achieves great things be swayed by personal feelings?

He is driven by personal feelings, lacks wisdom, and has no foothold in the army, so he is not a threat.

"Your Majesty, if we let him go so easily, wouldn't that give someone an excuse to offend Your Majesty's divine authority?" Huang Xuangan said.

"This will not be repeated. The Prince of Zhenbei assisted the late emperor in ending the chaos and made outstanding contributions. This time, he annihilated 200,000 demon and barbarian allied forces and sacrificed his life for the country. How can we criticize his successor? If this gets out, wouldn't it make me seem like I am mistreating my meritorious officials? How can the soldiers still dare to die for me?" said the Emperor of Great Zhou.

What else can we do?

Forgive them.

Otherwise, if Xu Shi'an is killed and Xu Yanheng inherits the throne, it will be even more difficult to choose another son of the Prince of Zhenbei to challenge Xu Yanheng.

"Your Majesty is benevolent."

Upon hearing this, Huang Xuangan knew that Xu Shi'an had pleased the Emperor of Great Zhou, so he dared not refute him and instead praised the Emperor of Great Zhou.

"It is a good thing that the eldest daughter of the Prince of Zhenbei is to observe three years of mourning. Issue an imperial decree to confer upon her the title of Princess Anning and to grant her Hequ County as her fief," said the Emperor of the Great Zhou.

"Your Majesty is magnanimous." Wei Xuanli breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this, thinking to himself that he hadn't accepted the money for nothing. Hequ County had a population of about three thousand households, which was a fiefdom of three thousand households. Even a marquis's fiefdom might not be that much.

"However, Mingcheng's matter still needs to be resolved. Please ask the Imperial Preceptor to go to the Prince of Wei's residence to personally treat Mingcheng's injuries, and also give him a Xuanling Pill from the national treasury to help him increase his cultivation. As for Xu Shi'an, he cannot go unpunished. Punish him by ceding Yunhe County as the Prince of Wei's fief. I think the Prince of Wei will be satisfied with that," said the Emperor of Great Zhou.

"Your Majesty is wise," Fang Tai sang in praise.

Yunhe County is located in Liangzhou and is a fiefdom of the Zhenbei Prince's Mansion. All matters, large and small, within the fiefdom are decided by the Zhenbei Prince.

Unlike fiefdoms, which only granted tax revenue to the vassal kings, these fiefdoms did not grant the kings any other power.

This is equivalent to the imperial court having an extra county out of thin air.

This can be considered a powerful punishment for Xu Shi'an.

At the same time, it would not provoke fierce resistance from Xu Shi'an. After all, with more than two hundred counties in the northern border, the loss of one county would be nothing to him.

Not to mention that Xu Yuhua also received a county as a fief.

"The Imperial Preceptor is currently in seclusion and should not be disturbed," Wei Xuanli offered a different opinion.

The Imperial Preceptor Ming Fengzi was an extraordinary figure. He was not from any of the three sects and did not worship the Three Pure Ones, but only Heaven and Earth.

However, the fact that he, who did not come from one of the three sects, surpassed the leaders of the three sects to become the Grand Preceptor of the Great Zhou Dynasty demonstrates his capabilities.

He was a scholar of heaven and man, proficient in astronomy, geography, medicine, divination, and astrology, and even capable of predicting the future. He was known as a living immortal.

Within the imperial city, even someone as formidable as Mr. Meng, the greatest warrior in the land, would be a match for him.

Even royalty must be treated with respect and cannot be coerced.

"It's alright. Once the Imperial Preceptor learns that Xu Yuhua doesn't need to get married and that she saved Mingcheng, he will come out of seclusion," said the Emperor of Great Zhou.

He knew best that the Imperial Preceptor was in seclusion.

After all, it was he who made the Imperial Advisor go into seclusion.

Although Xu Yuhua was a disciple of the Imperial Preceptor, she was deeply favored by him and received his full support.

To be precise, if Xu Yuhua weren't the eldest princess of the Prince of Zhenbei, the Imperial Preceptor would have taken her as his personal disciple, or even his last disciple.

This was one of the reasons why the Emperor of the Great Zhou wanted Guo Mingcheng to marry Xu Yuhua.

Let Xu Yuhua get out of the vortex of the Prince of Zhenbei.

Otherwise, this imperial advisor would also be a problem.

The Imperial Advisor knew the Emperor's decision and knew he couldn't stop him, so he simply went into seclusion.

"The affairs of the northern border should be handled slowly rather than hastily. If we act too hastily, it will backfire. I am in my prime, and so are you all. We still have a long life ahead of us, so why should we struggle for every moment?" the Emperor of Great Zhou said with a smile.

"Your Majesty is wise."

The three ministers, including Huang Xuangan, all praised him.

……

Meanwhile, in the secret chamber of the Imperial Observatory.

A middle-aged Taoist priest sat cross-legged on a futon. He wore a yellow Bagua Taoist robe and had a long beard with three strands of hair. His skin was as clear as jade and seemed to radiate a divine light.

Suddenly, the Taoist opened his eyes, his eyes clear and innocent like those of a child, without any flaws.

The Taoist priest frowned slightly, looked up towards Liangzhou, and muttered to himself, "Strange, why is the fortune of Liangzhou so peculiar? Yu Hua's calamity has passed, but why can't I see this fortune at all?"

He had cast a divination for Xu Yuhua that day, predicting that she would face a calamity in the future and needed to return to the north. If she could return, she would turn misfortune into good fortune and escape danger without harm.

But he didn't consider that after Xu Yuhua returned, he couldn't predict her future fate.

It seems that she was entangled with someone of extremely noble destiny, which affected her fate and caused changes.

"A noble destiny?"

Thinking of this, the Taoist narrowed his eyes, waved his whisk, and a phantom image of the Bagua appeared in the quiet room. A series of mysterious array seals flowed, and in an instant, a full three hundred array seals appeared. The Taoist's originally ethereal aura became even more sacred, as if an immortal had descended to earth.

The Taoist priest used his fingers to calculate and deduce the secrets of heaven, guessing who the person who suddenly appeared beside Xu Yuhua was.

The Great Dao is profound and mysterious, and the formations are incredibly complex.

The Taoist priest quickly deduced a fragment and was about to delve deeper when, at that moment, an illusory image appeared before him.

The next moment, a terrifying sword aura, as powerful as the Immortal Slayer Sword, surged forth. The Taoist was immediately struck by the backlash, spitting out a mouthful of blood, and the surrounding array dimmed instantly.

"Those above the ninth rank are grand cultivators at the Refining Void and Integrating Dao realm?"

The Taoist wiped his mouth, but there was an indescribable excitement in his eyes. In this world, the immortal path is declining. He has been cultivating for 180 years, but he has not been able to make any further progress. He had no choice but to leave the mountain, hoping to break through with the help of the human path's fortune. He barely took half a step, but he could not see the way forward.

He wanted to find like-minded people, but the three sect leaders were not as good as him. The only one who was better than him was the Confucian scholar, Mr. Meng, who said that he was not destined to become an immortal and then left.

Finally, I've met someone who shares my values.

However, since her cultivation level was higher than his, he still couldn't find her. He could only wait until he saw Yu Hua again to ask her.

Meanwhile, in the Northern Territory, Bai Xuan raised an eyebrow and glanced in surprise toward the capital, thinking to himself, "Who's not afraid of death to come and fight me?"