Chapter 299: Secret revealed!
Ku!
"Y-You!" the Empress widened her eyes in surprise. She had never met anyone that dared to oppose her so blatantly like that before, regardless of their power and standing!
"How dare you call me you? Impudent!" Utmost Being furrowed his brows and his aura grew even more intense.
Initially, he was only casually suppressing her through his sheer presence like what Xiqong Wu did during the coronation ceremony. The presence of an immortal was akin to like a lion before herbivores, where their defensive instinct overtook their hosts and commanded them into submission!
But now, he finally let out a sliver of his malevolent intent!
BOOMM!!
Against the aura of someone with the Escaping Mortality realm that bore an ill will, Nascent Soul realm was but an ant. The difference in power level between the two was like the heaven and earth!
"Ahh!" the Empress finally let out a stifling groan. It felt as though her oxygen was forcefully extracted from her lungs and blood. She felt like she was going to drown soon.
Seeing his wife being pressured like this, the Emperor's countenance turned pale, thus he turned to look at Duan Li with a pleading look.
"Alright clone, that's enough playing around." Duan Li casually said.
In reality, he also felt a little incensed over the Empress for being too overbearing despite not amounting too much at all. With him and the clone sharing the same thought process, it was impossible that he did not know what his clone was about to do.
That means, if he really wanted the other party to not act at all, he would've commanded him to stand down and this wouldn't happen in the first place.
The fact that Duan Li had let things be for a while showed that he had some discontentment towards the Empress. However, for someone like him, it would be inappropriate to lash out personally. Since his clone was more direct, why not let him do it in his stead?
"Hmph. Remember your place woman." Utmost Being scoffed in disdain before retracting his aura.
Silently, Duan Li praised him inside his mind, "You've done well to redress my grievances!"
Cough! Cough!
Seeing that his wife was finally being let off the hook, the Emperor exhaled in relief.
Although he has nothing but praise for this wife of his, the only flaw in her personality was that she was quite the obstinate person.
She should've realized by now that their status was no longer what it used to be. Despite Duan Li being casual with them, the other party was still their Imperial Overseer!
In his opinion, what Duan Li's clone did was just and not overboard. This should reminded her that hierarchy in the Tian continent must be heeded!
"Please forgive her for this, my wife has been feeling quite down recently. As a result, her mood has been erratic these past few days. I hope for the magnanimity and understanding of Lord Imperial Overseer.." the Emperor said.
"Very well. Its not as if her frustrations were misplaced anyway. After all, as someone that was used to be in control of the situation to suddenly felt like the rules had changed without her notice, its understandable that one would get depressed." Utmost Being replied impassively.
Kedeng!
Utmost Being's words hit directly at the crux of the matter, causing the Empress to become stifled once more.
However, after her previous outburst and Utmost Being's reprimand, her mind became rational once more and she didn't refute.
Inhaling a huge breath of air, she finally spoke, "Lord Imperial Overseer is right, I have overstepped my boundaries before in my carelessness. This one asks that Lord do not take it to heart. What this one wanted was only a proper explanation towards the recent happenings.. that was all."
The Emperor nodded in approval.
My good Yu Yun, you finally understand the circumstances now!
Meanwhile, Duan Li's brows twitched continuously when he heard their fluent conversation.
What the heck? How is my clone so formidable to quickly threw them into submission?
Besides, the eloquence of his speech as well as their response is a bit too formal..
Why does it feels like I am the clone instead?
Utmost Being turned to Duan Li, "My original knows better about this subject than me. It appears that there are some memories I could not peer into despite sharing the same thought process. From this, I can deduce that not many people knew about the truth as well."
The Emperor and Liu Sheng Juan also turned towards Duan Li before nodding.
If they were to continue their plans without alerting anyone, then they need the Empress to jump onto the same boat as them. Only then can the development of the Jiu Empire be accelerated!
After all was said and done, the other powers and elite circle in the Jiu Empire could only be moved by her. As for her means, not even the Emperor himself was privy to the details.
With this, Duan Li stared at the Empress for a long time before opening his mouth.
"From now on, what you will hear must never be said to another. Other than us, only very few people knows and realize on the graveness of what is to come. Can you promise me this?" Duan Li first said in order to gain assurance with a serious expression.
"En! On my name as the Empress of the Jiu Empire, I promise!" she said with confidence. Duan Li could see that there was not a slight flicker in her eyes, she was truly serious as well!
"Good.." Duan Li then began to explain.
...
The more the Empress listened to Duan Li's words, the more incredulous her expression became. If it were only verbal, she would have definitely thought that everyone was making fun of her and go on a riot.
But with a visual recording from a jade slip, she could see the destruction of the Jiu Empire and finally, the end of the world!
After Duan Li finished retelling everything to her, her face was pale, and she finally realized the grimness of the matter!
"8 years is too short! How are we supposed to tide through such calamity? From what I saw, no amount of defensive countermeasures can prevent such a tragic ending for us!" she said, showing a rare expression of panic.
"Regarding this matter, Duan Li- I mean the Imperial Overseer here, had already resolved this issue for us. He had lent a huge fortune for us to develop the Jiu Empire accordingly!" the Emperor said.
"A huge fortune? How can money solve this issue? You saw what happened, we did not even stood a chance!" the Empress shook her head with a weak expression.
"Yu Yun, calm down. That is then, this is now! No matter how small the fighting chance we could muster, at least this time, we have hope!" the Emperor placated his sad wife with a voice filled with strong confidence!
"Ancestor Zong had spoken before that Duan Li is the miracle we needed. I have no doubt that his inconceivable means that continued to shock us time and again is because he has a special ability or the sort as the child destined to change the fate of the Tian continent!"
He continued, "As for what those abilities are, it is not in our place to know. I just have to trust that he will be able to do it. After all, just knowing the future had already significantly altered the predestined events. I fear that if we were to know more than what the heavens allows us, Duan Li might get implicated. If he is in trouble, so are our chance of surviving the calamity!"
Hearing this, Duan Li was thoroughly surprised and sucked in cold breath.
An Emperor is indeed the Emperor! He had already guessed that I have special powers even without me hinting anything!
Duan Li felt his respect for the Emperor to increase significantly. Just from the words that was conveyed, it was obvious that the other party was thinking for the greater good!
"Then.. what should we do?" the Empress asked as she look towards her husband with an expectant expression, her initial worries started to subside.
While it was true that she was more intelligent than him, she found that this husband of her's was always reliable in this important juncture every time.
Whenever a problem that even she could not solve easily, her husband's unique perspectives would solve the problem as though it was a simple arithmetic problem!
This was the reason why she fell in love with him in the first place. Despite being more intelligent in most cases, her husband would score beyond the maximum points for problems that even she could not solve!
For a woman like her, just being intelligent, strong and influential isn't enough of a criteria to make her heart waver. After all, the more knowledgeable someone was, the more wary they became.
She need not a perfect man, but a man that could complete her shortcomings!
"We need to look at the matter objectively. Since Duan Li is the miracle, naturally he has his own missions to fulfill. As for us, it is already a huge blessing that he appeared in our Jiu Empire! With his help and his wealth, we could at least prepare ourselves with the means to go against the abominations at least!" the Emperor said as his gaze seemed to penetrate the ceiling, the sky, the heavens, the universe and beyond.
"As for the Sun Dragon in the end, since there is nothing we can do about it, then why worry? I believe our part should be to stop the abominations, while Duan Li will take care of that Sun Dragon somehow! Am I right so far, Imperial Overseer?" the Emperor shot Duan Li with a look as if he had understood everything.
This made Duan Li's lips twitched.
Wait... I have a mission? Why do I not know about it? Am I not doing this for vengeance?
You guys are going to tackle the abominations while I take care of the Sun Dragon you say? I thought that we are going to do everything together..
Despite Duan Li's mind being knocked like an emptied husk, Duan Li still replied with a chuckle as if the Emperor had got everything right.
"Hehe.. I can't actually say anything, but yes, you do got the gist of it right." Duan Li said with his hands clasped behind his back.
Hearing this, the Emperor laughed out loud, "Hahahaha! I thought that I got everything right, to think that there are even more than meets the eye, Imperial Overseer, you are really out of my expectations!"
Duan Li could only smile as he did not know sh*t what the other party was talking about.
"Ping-er you really are reliable..." the Empress said with a gentle and seductive voice, rarely heard by others, causing the Emperor to smile proudly.
This is why I am the Emperor!
Meanwhile, Duan Li and Utmost Being almost choked on themselves after hearing the nickname of the Emperor.
How cringy!
...