Meeting Old Demon Han Again

The Ninth Prince had eventually reached an age where he was cast out of the Jingning Palace. His place of confinement was now to be located elsewhere.

Despite being said to have been cast out of the royal palace, his new place was still somewhere within the capital city.

His new place had a plaque that said "Lord's Residence" on it, yet the size of the place was actually smaller than that of a grade three officer.

The Ninth Prince was attended to by five or six servants.

The Jingning Palace once again turned into a very quiet place after the prince was cast out.

The new emperor had also begun to select his empress and his concubines at this time.

Everything looked peaceful and in order.

Back in the Jingning Palace...

Li Mu read all the books left behind by the Ninth Prince.

Man, the clans out there are just too powerful, especially Clan Dugu that backed the Third Prince. It was a massively powerful one to begin with, and it grew even bigger after backing the Third Prince. The entire regime is now just such a shaky state.

He had read many history books back in his past life.

A clan could grow so huge and powerful that they managed to affect the ones sitting on the throne.

First, there were alliance marriages with the royal family members, then there was backing the son of the daughter of said clan to seize the throne, and eventually the backing clans were able to interfere with politics and seize power.

It's all the same in the end. The royal family was a noble clan to begin with, and it's either members of the royal family interfering with the sovereign or those from the clans doing so.

He thought about it for a bit.

He found it to be quite normal.

That was how the current system worked.

Feudal and prefectural systems worked in tandem, and when a state was unified, politics would become a power struggle between the two systems.

Better to just focus on his training.

None of that has anything to do with me after all.

In the end, it all just comes down to who has the bigger stick.

The old court lady in Jingning Palace started to look even older, and even Concubine Jing started having silver hair on her head.

Li Mu was the only one who remained unchanged.

No one suspected anything.

A eunuch of his age was still young after all.

Furthermore, no one would pay any attention to a lowly eunuch like him.

Things happened before the new emperor and empress were firmly established.

Most of the concubines of the previous emperor had been sent to the imperial nunnery, but a small number of them had been condemned to death to serve as company for the previous emperor.

There were few concubines allowed to stay in the royal palace itself, other than the birth mother of the ruling emperor.

The Jingning Palace never caused any trouble and the place had little rights to begin with.

There were few mouths to feed, so it didn't bother the emperor.

However, Li Mu discovered something else. Some of the old eunuchs who had served the old emperor had been sent to the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

He set his sights on the Imperial Ancestral Temple yet again.

Despite his years of check-ins, he had never dared to go to the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

He'd never realized the place would be of such importance.

There were numerous eunuchs who'd served past emperors, including the likes of the seal director, scribe, intendants, and others from the Ceremony Directorate stationed there.

The number of formidable warriors present at the place spoke of its importance.

It must hold something very important to the royal family, Li Mu speculated.

He hadn't dared to go there before due to having reservations about his level of powers.

That was no longer the case.

Li Mu changed and slipped outside the Jingning Palace at night.

He sneaked to the top of the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

Most of the vague presences of the royal palace were found there.

However, he discovered that all of those vague presences were but at the peak of the Spirit Manipulation Realm.

Check in, Li Mu said to himself.

"Check-in failed."

Wait, what? Isn't this the Imperial Ancestral Temple? Li Mu looked around him.

He had failed quite a number of times with check-ins before, and most of those occasions were basically because he was at the wrong location.

There were a handful of instances when he was checking in at the wrong time, as checking in at the same place twice a day was not allowed.

The Imperial Ancestral Temple was a place he had never visited before.

"To answer your question, this is not the Imperial Ancestral Temple. It is but a normal palace."

Huh?

Normal palace?

This really is not the Imperial Ancestral Temple, eh?

If it isn't the Imperial Ancestral Temple, why does the place have a plaque saying "Imperial Ancestral Temple" on it? Why bother making the place so huge and assigning so many formidable warriors to it?

Is the emperor bored or what?

Li Mu then left, feeling rather disappointed.

He returned to the Jingning Palace, but he lost sleep over the matter.

Well, it seems like I've discovered some kind of secret, no?

If that Imperial Ancestral Temple was a fake, then it meant that the real deal must house something incredible then.

He looked through all the books left behind by the Ninth Prince.

He was trying to find something out about the kingdom's history.

He discovered that the ruler of the State of Xia had been from a major noble clan.

The State of Xia had been established after a war that suppressed the forces of all other noble clans.

The records are really shabby. Just how did the kingdom manage to suppress the other noble clans? You mean to tell me that they've done that with only those at the peak of the Spirit Manipulation Realm?

He was not going to buy any of that.

While those at the peak of the Spirit Manipulation Realm were only a handful of people, the number of that handful was not actually all that small.

You mean to tell me that the royal family was the only one with such beings around?

There were so many at the peak of the Spirit Manipulation Realm around, and yet who was the one who ended up becoming emperor?

Li Mu was feeling very curious as to the location of the true Imperial Ancestral Temple. He was also curious about how those from back then managed to establish the State of Xia to begin with, as well as what any of that had to do with said temple.

He had looked through the entire royal palace for the past year or so.

He'd checked in at all the places he needed to check into.

Yet there was still no signs of the location of the true temple.

Time to ask Old Demon Han about it, I guess.

It was not like he had nothing to gain from the past year, however.

At the very least, he'd learned that Old Demon Han was seemingly looking for the location of the Imperial Ancestral Temple as well.

Is the temple at the library then?

No way.

I've checked in at the library many, many times, and the System always told me that it was just the library.

Could there be any information regarding the temple being kept at the library then?

He made his way to the Library Tower.

He searched all over the place throughout the night and found nothing.

At the dungeon of the Ceremony Directorate in the mountain behind the royal palace...

A specter appeared in the dungeon on that day.

The specter moved into the deeper parts of the dungeon, zipping past the layers of guards stationed there.

Doors at every checkpoint would open immediately on their own, before closing up right away.

That specter eventually showed up at the very end of the dungeon.

The end of the dungeon was dank and dark, cold and somewhat humid as well.

Six chains were seen attached to the wall, hanging onto somebody.

Other than the four limbs, two chains were also hanging off of hooks sunk into the prisoner's shoulder blades.

Old Demon Han reeked all over at the moment.

The clothes he wore were practically in tatters.

"Old Demon Han."

Li Mu never thought that he would find the prisoner to be in such a miserable state.

Old Demon Han heard someone calling him and looked up, taking a look at Li Mu before dismissing the eunuch.

Li Mu then sent a beam of true qi at him from a distance.

Old Demon Han finally regained some bit of strength.

"You are…"

The prisoner's pupils contracted, looking as if he had recalled something.

"I'd like to know what you were looking for back in the Library Tower."

"Oh, my heavens…what did I do to deserve running into you all those years ago. I had been careless," Old Demon Han lamented.

In his eyes, Li Mu was an old monster who had regained his youth.

If it hadn't been for that old monster, Old Demon Han thought that he would still be running free and having a good time out there.

"I just want to know what there is in the Library Tower that you were looking for."

"How about this? You get me out and I'll tell you." Old Demon Han tried his best to raise his head, wanting to take a good look at Li Mu.

"I've just sent you a beam of true qi, and you should know how useful that bit of true qi can be. If you're unwilling to tell me, I'll just take it back," Li Mu commented calmly.

"All right, I'll tell you. I was looking for a map."

"What map?"

"You actually don't know? I thought someone of your caliber would know everything there is to know about the royal palace. You're someone at the level of grand ancestors after all. I never thought that the royal family could be hiding something from even someone like you, sir. I never thought someone of your caliber would be so curious as well."

"Are you going to tell me or not?" Li Mu asked, feeling irked.

"It's a treasure map, and it's a map that leads to the Ashura Sword. The sword contains all kinds of methods that would allow one to easily break through the Spirit Manipulation Realm once one manages to comprehend what is written on it. Legend has it that there are also methods to extend one's life written on it. Someone like me would definitely be looking for the Ashura Sword."

"The Library Tower doesn't contain the map you speak of."

"Umm…"

Old Demon Han was momentarily stunned, before shaking his head slowly as he asked, "Where would it be then, if not the Library Tower?"

"Do you know of the location of the Imperial Ancestral Temple?" Li Mu continued.

"I don't know." Old Demon Han continued shaking his head and said, "The outsiders all know that the one at the east of the royal palace is a fake though."

"How do you know that it's a fake?" Li Mu stared at Old Demon Han as he asked.