7 The Galls!

"Heavenly Empress! Heavenly Empress! Great, great trouble!"

One of the maids in Yue Li's service rushed into her quarters and immediately knelt with overflowing sweat.

"How unbecoming! What kind of issue needs you to rush into my quarters unannounced while screaming like a lunatic?! If you cannot give me a good explanation, do not blame me for executing you!"

Yue Li bellowed. The maid didn't dare delay and immediately replied.

"The life plates of the six immortals your majesty sent to deal with prince Hou Hui have…shattered!"

"What!?"

Immediately, Yue Li stood up. And a mix of confusion and anger welled up within her heart.

"How is that possible? Although the cultivation of the other five is negligible, Long Xi Li is an early stage Dao Threading Immortal! How could he alongside two Dao Revelation Immortals and three Life Immortals die while disposing of Hou Hui?"

Naturally, Yue Li didn't believe Hou Hui to be the culprit. Her guess was that while getting ready to murder him they met with great misfortune. However, it was well known that those immortals worked for her. Who would be so bold as to kill her servants?

That was only one issue. The most important point was that Long Xi Li was the grandson of the Western Dragon King. Although the Western Dragon King rarely intervened in matters of the court, he was an extremely powerful god who had crossed more than three cosmic tribulations and lived for hundreds of thousands of years. His seniority in the dragon clan was extremely high and even she had to give him face. Long Xi Li was not only his grandson but the most likely of his descendants to reach the peak of immortality. As for becoming a god, if there was enough good fortune, it wasn't entirely impossible. Therefore, the Western Dragon King greatly favored him.

"Hateful! Zui Gao, it must be that hateful Zui Gao! How dare he blatantly slaughter my people? How should I explain this to the Western Dragon King?!"

The Western Dragon King had always supported Long Wei and praised him as the future of the dragon clan. If because of this matter he bore a grudge against them, wouldn't it affect her son's future? And what was she supposed to say? That his most beloved grandson was slain while trying to murder a prince?"

While tightly clenching her fists, Yue Li made a decision.

"We must recover Long Xi Li's immortal soul. I will personally find him a new body and train him back to Dao Threading with an even stronger foundation. Only in this way can we face the Western Dragon King."

Immediately, she sent out her divine sense to scout the Heavenly Capital and beyond. Her divine sense stretched across thousands of miles, but it could find neither body nor soul. Only the faint, fading trace of truth laws in the peach forest.

"How is this possible? Did Zui Gao go as far as destroying their immortal souls? Does he dare?"

Destroying an immortal's soul was forbidden by the Heavenly Emperor's decree. Only when heinous sins had been committed and confirmed could they be subjected to such punishment. Although Zui Gao was powerful, did he truly dare go that far?

Quickly, Yue Li's anger and frustration turned into blazing fury. Her whole body shook and with bloodshot eyes, she roared.

"Bold Zui Gao! The galls! Do you truly think this empress can easily be bullied?!"

Immediately, Yue Li turned into a beam of silver light and flew out of the Heavenly Palace. But before she could reach Zui Gao's residence, a terrifying, booming voice shook the Heavenly Capital.

"BOLD YUE LI! HOW DARE YOU ATTEMPT TO HAVE THE ELDEST IMPERIAL PRINCE MURDERED? THE GALLS!"

Yue Li's flight was abruptly stopped by an invisible wave of energy which forced her to take several steps backward. When she recovered her stance, she stared with flabbergasted eyes at the origin of the voice. She was obviously the one coming to impeach. How was it suddenly that she was the one getting impeached?

An enormous Taiji symbol appeared in the middle of the Heavenly Capital and from it emerged a scholarly and refined seven feet tall giant. Naturally, he was Zui Gao.

"Yue Li! For far too long this eminence has endured your many misdeeds! But today, under the gaze of this eminence, you blatantly dared send six immortals to murder this eminence's nephew! The first prince of our dragon clan? WHO GAVE YOU THAT COURAGE?"

There was clear soul consuming furry on Zui Gao's face and every word he spoke forced Yue Li to step backward while sweat began falling from her forehead.

However, although she knew that even ten her weren't his match, she couldn't allow herself to be humiliated in the middle of the Heavenly Capital.

"Zui Gao! Do not distort truth and falsehood! This empress had just received news that Hou Hui was leaving the capital and merely wanted to have him protected. After all, with his shallow cultivation, isn't it obvious that he can easily fall prey to danger? This empress was unwilling to watch anything happen to him and so sent six immortals to protect him from the shadows but you…"

She pointed an accusatory index at Zui Gao while seemingly trembling from outrage.

"…you actually dared murder them! Even Long Xi Li wasn't spared! Truly cruel and unrighteous! What right do you have to criticize this empress?"

"Hahahaha!"

Zui Gao thunderous laughter echoed within the sky.

"By my right as Great Elder and head of the dragon clan's law enforcement department. Although you are the empress, you're still a scion of the dragon clan. Thus today, I'm afraid I must heavily punish you!"

"You!"

"Silence!"

Zui Gao flung his sleeve and summoned a recording mirror which immediately began displaying the scene of the six immortals surrounding and threatening Hou Hui in the Empress' name. The image stopped there, and with another wave, the mirror flew back into Zui Gao's sleeve.

"Do you have anything else to say?"

The immortals eying the scene from afar were shocked and truly didn't imagine that the empress' boldness had reached that extent. Although the first prince was weak and not favored, wasn't he still a prince?

Yue Li looked at the images with horrified eyes, but although they were damning and incriminating, she still dared say.

"Nothing here proves that I specifically ordered them to assault him. Obviously, it was Long Xi Li and those immoral immortals who used me to justify their misdeeds!"

"Good, very good. The attempted murder of a member of the imperial family is sentenced by death in body and soul! Those immortals got what they deserved! As for you Yue Li, you surround yourself with sycophants and almost caused the death of the eldest prince. Your sins are grave and many, but this eminence is forgiving and shall only sentence you to five years of confinement! Yin and Yang Lotus incantation!"

Zui Gao waved his boundless sleeves and dozens of black and white light balls shot from his fingers and merged into an enormous black-white lotus. Unceremoniously, the lotus flew toward Yue Li!

"Ignominious!"

Violent silver light exploded from Yue Li's body and turned into thousands of large silver swords which caused the space to tremble and rippled with the power to split mountains and rivers!

"Your Ten Thousand Sword incantation has improved in these last thousands of years. But it is still…insignificant!"

The black and white lotus expanded to reach a full one thousand meter and with a seemingly boundless suction power, swallowed the thousands of silver swords! Once they reached its bottom, they would simply vanish into silver light particles until none of them was left.

The black and white lotus then descended upon Yue Li and locked her on its pistil. The petals then fell back onto each other and trapped her within the plant. Within the lotus, Yue Li endlessly cursed, but not a sound could be heard from the outside.

"You even dared resist arrest! Truly incorrigible! Your sentence is increased to ten years. Go back and reflect on your sins!"

As if echoing Zui Gao's will, the lotus flew toward the Heavenly Palace, bringing Yue Li back from whence she came.

"Hui'er, imperial uncle has done his best. The rest is up to you."

Zui Gao summoned another Taiji symbol and through it vanished from the scene.

Meanwhile, the immortals and even those few deities watching the scene from the shadows were filled with fright.

"The Yin-Yang God is truly overbearing. He even dares imprison the Heavenly Empress, his majesty's wife, in the middle of the heavenly capital. Can the Heavenly Emperor really accept this?"

"It's said that in these last years, the Heavenly Emperor mainly cultivates in seclusion to prepare for his next cosmic tribulation, so the empress actually handles most of the matters related to the heavenly court. He probably won't be aware of this for some time."

"Still, aren't the Yin-Yang God and the empress childhood sweethearts? He really went so hard on her for that prince? It makes people wonder who the real father is."

"Hey, your balls are really big. You even dared say that out loud? Was life so sweet that you got tired of living?"

"It seems that as long as the Yin-Yang God lives, the eldest prince cannot be touched. In the future, regardless of the Empress' words, we must tread carefully."

Meanwhile, Hou Hui the source of all that commotion was leisurely crossing the starry sky and about to reach the Ancient Sea World.