Confiding Troubles

The passing of the Emperor was a major event, the machine that was the Yuhua God Dynasty started operating.

The Sixth Prince naturally succeeded the throne and changed the title of his reign to Yuan.

It was the Yuhua Yuan era, he was also titled—Emperor Yuan!

The state funeral lasted three months, every vassal sent their children to come and greet the new emperor, but they themselves did not do so.

Emperor Yuan gave a warm reception to the children of these vassals without any displeasure throughout.

But in private, his countenance was ice cold.

He was very angry.

The late emperor had passed on, yet the vassals won't even come.

Their wild ambition was abundantly clear.

However, he had just succeeded the throne, he could not touch the vassals, yet.

That was why he welcomed them with a smiling face, appeasing the children of these vassals.

Three months later, the children of the vassals left the imperial capital.

Emperor Yuan also started getting busy, managing the affairs of the state and nurturing talents.

In the Cold Palace, Lin Jiufeng's cultivation was still advancing by leaps and bounds.

He recently felt that the effects of the frost jade bed seemed to have improved.

In the past, when he cultivated on the frost jade bed, one day's results were equivalent to three days of the old.

But now, one day could be equivalent to five.

Moreover, following the passing of time, his cultivation speed was also becoming increasingly fast.

"What's the logic here?" Lin Jiufeng was very curious.

Unbeknownst to him, this was a very early sign of the so-called great change to the spiritual energy of the world. Lin Jiufeng simply dismissed it, however, for he only found it a little abnormal.

Just like that, a year passed.

Lin Jiufeng spent his fifth year in the Cold Palace.

Which was also the first year after Emperor Yuan acceded to the throne.

This year, Emperor Yuan took over state affairs and began launching reforms. However, he was met with strong resistance, and he was also so busy that he had no time to come see Lin Jiufeng.

Lin Jiufeng was busy as well—busy cultivating.

At the end of this year, he had broken through the nine steps of the Grandmaster Realm.

There were nine steps in the Grandmaster Realm and Lin Jiufeng had ascended them all within a year. He made a direct breakthrough to the Great Grandmaster Realm.

A Great Grandmaster was already the top existence of the current era just below a Martial Sage. But these days, Lin Jiufeng had never heard of a Martial Sage appearing anywhere else in the world.

He continued his silent routine of signing in.

Similar to the 'nine steps toward the sky' of the Grandmaster Realm, the Great Grandmaster Realm also had 'nine steps up the heavenly steps'. Lin Jiufeng worked hard to surmount them every day.

On this day, Lin Jiufeng was cultivating on the frost jade bed when the Emperor walked into the Cold Palace.

Lin Jiufeng walked out.

Seeing the weary Emperor Yuan, he said respectfully, "Greetings, Your Majesty!"

"Big Brother, between us brothers, there's no need for this." The previous Sixth Prince and the current Emperor Yuan looked at Lin Jiufeng and said with a wry smile.

He was under a lot of pressure.

A lot!

Managing a God Dynasty was extremely difficult.

Especially when one sought to pass reforms in such a God Dynasty, it was doubly so.

It was only after Emperor Yuan toiled for a year did he realize that his progress was incredibly slow. He felt depressed and wanted to find someone to talk to, but then he also realized that he had long become a loner. His wife, who had always shared the same bed as him, was concerned with nothing but power.

She had her heart set on making her son the Crown Prince.

Emperor Yuan felt bored.

He thought of his older brother and hence came here to look for Lin Jiufeng for a chat.

Lin Jiufeng invited Emperor Yuan to sit down in the courtyard.

He brewed a pot of tea and offered Emperor Yuan a cup.

These tea things had naturally been delivered here by Dachun.

"After being the Emperor, the man above millions, you seem to be exhausted?"

Lin Jiufeng handed the brewed tea to Emperor Yuan.

Watching this younger brother of his, who had always called him Big Brother, Lin Jiufeng was full of emotions.

If the original owner had not released that Heavenly Concubine back then, the one feeling vexed right now would have been himself.

"Big Brother, this court is full of people who feed at the public trough and the outside of the court is full of greedy and wildly ambitious people. I sought to reform the universe but I am strong in will and weak in power. I cannot change the world," Emperor Yuan sighed.

Lin Jiufeng looked at him and asked, "Where is the resistance coming from?"

"Aristocratic families… the sects!" Emperor Yuan's expression turned cold. "The aristocratic families annexed the lands, oppressing the village people…"

"The common folks lost their lands and became refugees, but they disregarded all of that. They get the court to dispense relief funds, then collude with corrupt officials to swallow up the relief funds, virtually audacious to the extreme!"

At the mention of this, Emperor Yuan was enraged. "And those sect forces, the daoist sects with many disciples occupy famous mountains and great waters. They are restricting their activities to a designated area, but they are still refusing to let local authorities interfere…"

"And the buddhist sects!"

"They are carrying out a construction boom in Jiangnan! Building temples left and right. Even if you are an extremely vicious and wicked man, so long as you believe in Buddha, so long as you are willing to turn over a new leaf, you can gain enlightenment, virtually absurd!"

"There is a line in a poem that is very famous, 480 temples of the God Dynasty, how many are in the mist and rain1."

Lin Jiufeng did not speak but he quietly observed this Emperor Yuan in front of him.

Previously, in Lin Jiufeng's heart, he was just a younger brother.

But now, he truly felt like an emperor.

An Emperor who was trying his best to bring changes to Heaven and Earth, but was ultimately limited by the power in his hands, unable to move the world whom he sought to transform.

"Big Brother, do you know?"

Emperor Yuan suddenly looked solemnly at Lin Jiufeng.

"The nine vassals colluded with the demonic sects. Back then, if the Among Flowers Sect's Patriarch succeeded, the nine vassals would've stood up in rebellion."

"Fortunately, that Martial Sage acted and the crisis was resolved. But during the recent few years, they have become restless once more," Emperor Yuan sighed.

"Not just them, there are also the Shu Mountain, Lingnan, Mobei."

"These big factions beyond the borders, and the other countries…"

"All of them are directing covetous looks on my Yuhua God Dynasty, wishing to rush up in a crowd to chew up and devour the Yuhua God Dynasty into their stomachs."

Emperor Yuan had to get a lot of things off his chest and as a result, his troubles were poured out to Lin Jiufeng.

He shared them with others but they were in awe of his identity and were unwilling to come close.

Only by sharing them with his Big Brother could he truly unload the troubles in his heart.

"Governing a big country is like cooking a small fish, you cannot rush it."

Lin Jiufeng sighed and commented.

"Big Brother. Now that I only have this small amount of power over the imperial capital in my hands. If things go on like this to the point that my decree cannot even leave the imperial capital…"

"It would truly be impossible to turn the tables against them," Emperor Yuan said in worry.

"Don't worry, there will be a solution. You have to handle them slowly, no rush," Lin Jiufeng said placidly.

"Solution?" Emperor Yuan laughed in self-mockery. "Only if that Martial Sage appeared right now and publicly supported me will I have enough prestige to implement the new policies and change the world beneath me."

"There will be." Lin Jiufeng's calm smile deepened.

"Alright, Big Brother. You don't have to console me."

"After sharing these with Big Brother, I feel much better…"

"Big Brother is right, governing a country is like cooking a small fish, I was too anxious." Emperor Yuan shook his head and laughed in spite of himself.

He did not believe in Lin Jiufeng's words.

He thought that he said those words to console him.

He wasn't able to find the Martial Sage in the years that have passed, how could he appear anytime soon?

"Big Brother, do you want to leave?" Emperor Yuan suddenly asked.

Lin Jiufeng shook his head and said, "The outside world is a mess, why would I leave?"

"Big Brother, you…" Emperor Yuan wanted to go on.

"Alright, I'm used to the tranquility here. If you have anything bothering you in the future, you can come and pour them out to me. I shall not leave."

Lin Jiufeng rejected Emperor Yuan's good intentions.

"Big Brother, let me arrange for a person to serve you at the least. I have no other place to leave him anyway, I'll put him by Big Brother's side, please help me and guide him. It'll be pretty good if he can be a merchant millionaire, to say the least," Emperor Yuan implored.

"Who?" Lin Jiufeng asked curiously.

"My illegitimate son!" Emperor Yuan sighed and said.

"In my early years, I made a pledge to marry without the permission of our parents with a young lady. Then, she became pregnant."

"I subsequently wanted to bring her back to my home, but after becoming the Crown Prince, with the etiquette framework weighing on me, I could not do so."

"Otherwise, it would become a weakness that others could take advantage of to attack me with…"

"After acceding to the throne, the pressure from the court and the commoners were massive, that I couldn't even acknowledge my own child. He is gradually growing up too, I hope to have Big Brother guide him." Emperor Yuan revealed the entire context.

He was the emperor, every word of his carried weight.

Yet, he didn't even dare acknowledge his own child.

This was the current situation of the Yuhua God Dynasty.