Chapter 702 - 210: The Emperor Seated on the Bright Terrace, Watching Victory and Defeat from Across the River

Chapter 702: Chapter 210: The Emperor Seated on the Bright Terrace, Watching Victory and Defeat from Across the River

Peng Chao is of the Fourth Grade, of course he wasn’t wiped out completely, but in this ever-changing era, by the time he revives, he will already be "outdated," and he won’t find himself in the right time and place, nor become the right person.

Li Yuan still remembers the seriousness he felt when he first heard the phrase "Red Lotus Rebellion" at the Little Ink Workshop, yet unexpectedly, Peng Chao is already dead; this former Crown Prince Red Lotus couldn’t even reach him and died halfway.

This gave him a sense of unexplained loneliness.

At this moment, he gently shook his head, watching the endless silver-white snowflakes falling like scales, and sighed in his heart: ’Right and wrong, success and failure, in a blink it’s all empty, the green hills remain, but how many times has the sunset been red...’

The Lotus Sect, now the plot has been revealed, yet it’s impossible to distinguish truth from falsehood.

Everything... has ended.’

...

...

The next day...

The Nine Paths Alliance Army continued to attack the city.

This time, Jade Capital City was easily breached.

The reason it went so smoothly was because the followers of the Lotus Sect defending the city had long since left.

Peng Chao’s assassination was the last move.

Since this move failed, the Lotus Sect lost its final reason to persist.

Soon, a commotion sounded from the northwest corner, obviously indicating a battle was taking place.

Li Yuan couldn’t sense from that far, but all he needed to do was sit in the central tent, as there were constant messengers returning to report everything happening at the front.

The Emperor... never needed to charge at the frontline.

Even if everyone knew the Emperor’s strength wasn’t actually weak, it was impossible for him to go upfront.

"Your Majesty, the Lotus Sect is attempting a breakout."

"Your Majesty, the Commanders of Yongzhou, Desolate South, and Yanyun scattered the Lotus Sect, and now the various soldiers are clearing out the remaining members of the Lotus Sect..."

"Your Majesty..."

"Your Majesty..."

Information kept arriving from afar.

This information was not surprising.

Li Yuan was concerned about the "Lianyi House" in Jade Capital.

He had no doubt that "Lianyi House" was sure to be more terrifying than his own "Ghost Prison."

...

On that day, Li Yuan, surrounded by hundreds of thousands of the Nine Paths army, returned to Jade Capital.

Yet much of Jade Capital had turned into ruins, and the Imperial Palace was nearly on the verge of becoming ruins.

The scene in the Imperial Palace was bleak, having long become an abandoned palace, and Li Yuan as the Emperor couldn’t live there for the time being.

So he temporarily resided in another palace.

Soon, numerous reports were delivered.

Most of these reports were "the items and people seized from each path," as well as "the items and people offered by each path for Your Majesty to rebuild the Imperial Palace."

The items were highly decorative treasures lacking practicality.

The people were guards, beauties... among them were many disciples of the Lotus Sect.

These disciples were all compiled into a roster and sent to Li Yuan.

Li Yuan boredly flipped through them; now it was just the phase for each path to start currying favor and planting secret investigators, yet the true candidate to ruling the palace was not him, but the Empress who would soon arrive.

He attempted to find familiar names like "White Spirit Water" from among the rosters, but evidently, there were none.

Figures like White Spirit Water at the level of a White Lotus Sect Saintess must have either died in battle or fled.

He glanced at those unfamiliar names with no interest in choosing, so he set them aside for the moment and turned to understand the situation of "Lianyi House."

The Nine Paths Alliance Army was naturally familiar with "Lianyi House" and "Incense Worship Sect."

And the way they dealt with "Lianyi House" was surprisingly unified:

Firstly, slaughter every "Incense Worship Sect believer," once captured, never let go;

Secondly, block "Lianyi House," designating the area it could influence as a forbidden zone.

This way, the terrifying "Lianyi House" was effectively rendered useless.

Seeing this, Li Yuan’s heart grew even heavier: the Ghost Realm is truly not invincible, no matter how terrifying it is, as long as it’s made irrelevant, it can be neutralized... so it is with Lianyi House, and so it is with my own Ghost Prison.

To eradicate Lady Yan, just destroy the Judge and then seal off the "Ghost Prison."

Oh...

He forgot, he had to be killed too.

That should be somewhat difficult.

...

In the following days, several portraits of beauties were suddenly sent to Li Yuan.

The temporary eunuchs respectfully and cautiously introduced, "Your Majesty, this is the daughter of the Yanyun Dao Marshal, this is from the Star Sea Dao... this is..."

Li Yuan understood.

Marriage alliances were coming.

If the Emperor doesn’t make marriage alliances, which Marshal could truly feel secure?

...

...

More than ten days later.

Empress Xie Wei, along with the Crown Prince, and a large batch of the Xie family’s maids and guards, entered Jade Capital and began slowly moving into the Imperial Palace.

Besides Hanzhou Path, the other eight Commanders naturally disapproved, one after another speeding up the delivery of portraits.

Each path had its beauties, and the portraits by master painters were truly captivating to behold.

After moving into the Imperial Palace, Li Yuan would sit in the Imperial Study when there wasn’t much else to do during the day.

And his Imperial Study was piled high with such portraits.

He knew that he had to make his selection from these portraits.

If he didn’t choose, the Commanders of the other eight paths wouldn’t consent.

Moreover, an Emperor ought to have a harem, and it was previously dismantled during the strife, now was the time to rebuild it.

Even though the Emperor had the approval of loyal souls, he ultimately had no troops of his own.

The Commanders of the eight paths wouldn’t stand for the Xie family dominating alone; at this time... the dust in Jade Capital City hadn’t settled, and the lotus sect remnants hadn’t been fully cleared, yet they had already begun both overt and covert struggles.

...

However, though Li Yuan had to choose, he did not wish to choose.

Throughout the past, each of his marriages carried a strong sense of purpose.

Each of his wives either brought him great convenience or opened new worlds for him.