The Imperial Intrigue

(Year 4047 of the Fifth Era, Imperial Capital of the Heavenly Saint Empire)

Deep within the imperial palace, a beautiful young woman stared at the reports she had received from one of her followers with a frown. Her golden eyes, the unique eyes that belonged to the royal family, shone with seriousness as her deep red hair which she inherited from her father gently swayed in the breeze of the courtyard.

This was none other than the only princess of the Long family, Long Meilin. The same girl who had to deal with the stupidity of Hengxing Haizi more than two years ago.

And once again, the source of her newest headache was still the useless young master of the Hengxing family.

Ever since he had disappeared into thin air more than two years ago, things in the Imperial palace have been spiraling out of control. This was something that no one in the imperial family was happy with.

This was especially true for the two princes and the only princess of the royal family who were locked in a political struggle to gain the status as the next in line to rule.

The reason why one person was enough to stir up the entire palace was also very complicated.

The Hengxing family patriarch, Hengxing Ba, practices monogamy unlike most of the noble families, resulting in the Hengxing family being relatively small despite the massive amount of land and resources they own.

While part of the reason for Hengxing Ba's refusal to take a concubine is due to his intense love for his wife, the other reason is the family behind his wife, Dashan Huaer.

The Dashan family is a very powerful and influential family that holds the rank of Duke. Despite being a step below the three Grand Duke families, they are not a family that any of the Grand Duke families want to offend in any circumstances.

The reason becomes very apparent when one traces back the lineage of the Dashan family and finds that every single member of the family has either earned great merits on the Southern borders or gained massive influence in the trading industry which is evident by the fact that the Dashan family controls 40% of the total market in the Heavenly Sage Empire. To offend such a family is seeking death.

It is said that when Dashan Huaer agreed to marry Hengxing Ba after the latter's five-year-long courting, she had placed the condition that he would never look at any other woman aside from her. This was also the reason why Hengxing Ba followed strict monogamy.

With the Hengxing family being such a small one, it was inevitable that they would value every single one of their members extremely highly, even if said member was a good-for-nothing playboy and a monster of a human.

So it was an expected event when the Hengxing family and the Dashan family spared no expenses in searching for Hengxing Haizi when he went missing and most likely died after causing trouble in the Imperial palace. What no one saw coming was the utter rampage that Dashan Huaer and the rest of the Dashan family went on when they found traces of the spies from other noble families in the area.

The noble families, including two Duke families and five Margrave families, that had sent the spies belonged to the First Prince, Long Tianlong's faction. He was intending to keep an eye on the Hengxing family since they were aligned with Long Meilin. Unfortunately, this caused him to be implicated in the matter of Haizi's disappearance.

In the following months, all the Duke families experienced one economic disaster after another, all of which were obviously engineered by the Dashan family but no one could prove it. Meanwhile, the Margrave families and the lower nobility were directly wiped out by the hundreds of assassins that the Dashan family sent after them for their presumed involvement in Haizi's supposed death.

It took the emperor himself declaring the matter over with an imperial edict to save what was left of the First Prince's faction. The only family that escaped this disaster unscathed was the Chen family on account of being one of the three Grand Duke families.

But by the end, the damage was already done. Without enough support, it was clear that the First Prince was out of the race for the throne. Of course, the First Prince tried to get the Dashan family punished and tried to frame them in many ways in revenge, but his revenge was doomed to be a failure from the beginning since the Dashan family was protected by both the royal family and the Hengxing family due to their status as a family of military geniuses and influential merchants that brought many benefits to the empire.

After this incident, Dashan Huaer fell ill, finally giving up hope on her son and assuming him dead. With her illness, the Dashan family stopped making overt movements and everything seemed to have returned to normal, at least on the surface.

The truth of the matter, however, was far different. Unknown to the public, the battle for the throne became much fiercer after the fall of the First Prince.

The Second Prince, Long Jinfeng, supported by the Tiankong family, one of the three Grand Duke families, started making his move and eliminating the supporters of the princess by underhanded means. The attack that truly provoked her anger, however, was the attack against Hengxing Qingren that happened when the girl was heading out to the Silver Moon Sect.

The assassins managed to kill all of her escorts and nearly succeeded in killing the only successor of the Hengxing family left. Not to mention the fact that she was a dear friend of the princess.

After this incident, the Imperial capital has been in turmoil due to the shadow war between the two royal siblings who started to go all out against each other while the noble families under their factions started to make their moves as well.

And as if things were not chaotic enough, the princess was now receiving news that Demonic sect activity was spotted at the borders of the empire where there was very little presence of strong cultivators, mostly consisting of frontier towns and villages.

Long Meilin sighed and dropped the document in her hands, reaching for the tea that her servants prepared.

"If that bastard Haizi is really dead, then all is good. But if he is still alive, I am going to kill him myself for pushing all this work onto me"

"It has been more than two years since he disappeared, Princess. The chances of Hengxing Haizi still being alive is extremely low, especially now that the demonic sect activity has spiked to unheard-of levels"

Long Meiling simply nodded at the words of her aide and stared up at the blue sky, contemplating her next move.

The first thing she needs to do is find a way to protect Hengxing Qingren. Especially now that she has left the family to join the Silver Moon Sect.

"But how can I send someone to protect her when she is averse to my involvement in her life?"

"If I may? Princess. Why not ask for that man's help?"

"….Him? yes. Yes. This could work. He is in the same generation as her and could easily pretend to be a normal disciple of the Sect while keeping an eye out for her. Good Idea Hua'er"

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(Silver Moon Sect, Waxing Cresent Peak)

On the Waxing Cresent Peak, one of the eight peaks of the sect, a young girl that was 14 years old was cultivating with her fellow disciples when her master, Wang Xiuqing, called for her.

"Yes, Master?"

"How are you adjusting to the sect? Qingren?"

"I am fine, Master. In fact, I feel very welcomed by the disciples of the peak"

Hearing her response, the master of the Waxing Cresent Peak, Wang Xiuqing smile, revealing a beautiful image that had once captured the hearts of many men in the sect when she was younger.

The Waxing Cresent Peak was considered the strongest of the eight peaks in the Silver Moon Sect, granting them many privileges and resources when compared to the other peaks. It was also the reason why many disciples wanted to join this peak when they first entered the sect.

Unfortunately, the Waxing Cresent peak rarely accepts male disciples, taking in females most of the time and only accepting male disciples if they show exceptional talent for cultivation. This had the unintended side effect of creating a place that the rest of the sect considered to be a paradise filled with the dreams of young men. Causing further problems for the Waxing Cresent peak.

When Hengxing Qingren first entered the sect, she was immediately taken in by the Waxing Cresent peak simply due to her background. But as time passed, the peak master truly grew fond of the girl's character and mentality, taking her in as her disciple and successor.

This was why she cared so much about the well-being of the girl.

But the Peak master had other things to discuss with Qingren aside from simple pleasantries.

"Qingren, as you know, the sect is going to conduct a recruitment in one of the frontier cities called as Jilongtan city. Due to this, I will be gone for a few days and as the successor, you will have to manage the peak in my absence. Of course, some of the older disciples will cause trouble for you due to how quickly you outranked them in the peak, but don't let their actions cloud your judgment"

"Of course, master. I will take care of things"

"Good. Oh one more thing, you can come in!"

At the peak master's shout, the door to the private chambers opened and a young man who was two years older than Qingren, with red hair and black eyes, walked into the room.

"This is Yang Jianyu. He is also a disciple of the Waxing Crescent peak that I just took in this morning so show him around and watch over his cultivation in my absence"

As the peak master left the hall, the handsome man smiled at the girl.

"Well then, Senior sister Qingren, please show me to my quarters"