Clad in a red robe, Zhang Gui was the only Chief Eunuch still active in the Inner Palace. His power was immense; being the sharpest fang under the Purple-robed First Supervisor was no empty boast.
If the Purple-robed First Supervisor was the Emperor, then Zhang Gui was now the Crown Prince.
"Do you know what the officials and the public are calling you now?"
Su Chen was brewing tea for Zhang Gui in the courtyard.
Zhang Gui stood with his hands behind his back. A year had passed, and with power in his grasp, he was full of vigor. He was no longer that cautious, timid Green-robed Eunuch; now, a single word from him could decide the life or death of countless people.
"It's nothing more than foul curses like 'Castrated Dog'."
"The one they probably curse the most isn't me, but the current Lord First Supervisor."
"But they only dare to curse him in their hearts. To his face, they still have to respectfully address the Lord First Supervisor—the man who beheaded a Peak First-Grade Expert from the Celestial Master's Mansion—as 'Nine Thousand Years'."
Zhang Gui seemed completely unconcerned, smiling as he admired the exotic flowers and plants blooming in the courtyard.
This world, in the end, belonged to cultivators.
Demon Fiends brought chaos to the world.
Naturally, it couldn't be like a true Mortal Dynasty, where the Emperor was supreme and held absolute authority.
When the Old Emperor ascended the throne, he had the approval of the First-Grade experts of the Tianwu Tower.
As for this New Emperor...
Heh.
He wasn't some expert hiding his brilliance or concealing his talents. He was a genuine waste of a Prince who only knew how to indulge in pleasure. If he weren't the Old Emperor's last surviving son, the throne never would have been his.
"What have you been busy with lately?"
"Killing people for alchemy."
Su Chen thought he had misheard.
"I am killing people for alchemy."
"You know, Demon Fiends can consume humans to refine the faint Human Spiritual Qi within their bodies, thereby extending their lifespan. I am now killing people for alchemy…"
Zhang Gui said this with a smile, as if killing people was no different from butchering chickens and dogs.
Su Chen's hand froze. The teacup quickly filled, and scalding water spilled over.
The air grew deathly silent.
After a long moment.
A soft sigh escaped.
"Don't tell me about these things. I'm not interested. I'm fine right here in the Library Pavilion."
Xu Xiaohan was indeed more like Su Chen's godson. He hadn't told anyone about what happened in the Library Pavilion that night, not even Zhang Gui.
In Zhang Gui's eyes, and in everyone else's, Su Chen was still that useless person with no talent for cultivation, fit only to hide away in the Library Pavilion.
"In this world, cultivation is the only way out."
"I've said it before, if I become the Purple-robed First Supervisor, you will be the Second Red-robed Lord."
"Life is but a hundred years. You and I can no longer enjoy carnal pleasures, but power is right before your eyes, within your grasp. Just say the word, and I will pave the way for your meteoric rise."
"If you can accumulate enough merit, the First Supervisor will personally act to open your meridians and set you on the path of cultivation."
Zhang Gui urged him earnestly.
Su Chen remained silent.
Since that night, Su Chen had known that this Purple-robed First Supervisor might be among the strongest below the Grandmaster realm. However, the First Supervisor was already a hundred years old. Even if he had somehow gathered such immense vitality, lifespan was still lifespan.
If he didn't extend it, the Purple-robed First Supervisor would pass away within a year.
No wonder Zhang Gui could rise so high after participating in the Prince's rebellion, reaching a height no other Chief Eunuch could.
"I'm not afraid to tell you."
"The Old Emperor invited the First Supervisor out of the Tianwu Tower on the condition that he would refine the Human Blood Life-extending Pill. Join me, let's create a river of blood, and immense fortune will be in our hands…"
Hearing this.
Su Chen overturned his teacup and said nothing.
"Think it over."
Zhang Gui departed.
Three li after leaving the Library Pavilion, eunuchs arrived with a palanquin. Zhang Gui's trusted protégé immediately came forward, hesitating as if he wanted to ask something.
"I tested him."
"He doesn't want power, nor does he want the opportunity to cultivate."
"The Purple-robed First Supervisor can see through the entire Imperial Palace, yet he can't see through this friend of mine, who is just an ordinary eunuch. I really don't understand."
"Life is but a hundred years, and he really doesn't want anything?"
Zhang Gui's brow furrowed tightly.
Beside him, his protégé asked hesitantly.
"Adoptive Father, should we proceed with the plan? If it fails and we are branded as traitors, I'm afraid Eunuch Su will be implicated…"
"Proceed!"
"The Old Emperor is dead, so the grudge is settled? Impossible! I want the people of Great Liang to suffer, the imperial power to change hands, and the Liang imperial surname to vanish like smoke. I can't be bothered with anything else…"
Zhang Gui's eyes were filled with madness.
...
...
"What is Zhang Gui doing?"
In the Library Pavilion, Su Chen summoned Xu Xiaohan to inquire about Zhang Gui's recent activities.
It was only then that Su Chen realized with a shock…
…just how much power Zhang Gui now wielded.
The Eastern Depot!
The Martial Arts Bureau of today was practically the Eastern Depot of the Great Ming Dynasty from his past life.
It operated under the name of the Purple-robed First Supervisor.
The eunuchs of the Martial Arts Bureau, when on a mission, could command the Royal Guard and even the Killing Martial Guard stationed outside the city, which was composed entirely of cultivators…
In the Imperial City, Zhang Gui was exterminating entire clans, framing officials who opposed him under the banner of the Purple-robed First Supervisor. Heads rolled, inciting the wrath of heaven and the resentment of men.
'Is this all just to refine the Human Blood Life-extending Pill?'
Su Chen didn't think so.
"Let him be."
Su Chen couldn't control it, nor could he do anything about it.
After all.
Inside the Imperial Palace, Zhang Gui was the Chief Steward of the Imperial Palace. Outside, he was the infamously fearsome director of the Eastern Depot (the head of the Martial Arts Bureau).
Su Chen was just a Little Black-robed Eunuch, the lowest of the low among eunuchs.
"Master Su."
"You're allowed to switch to the Green-robed Eunuch Attire after a full year in the palace."
Xu Xiaohan couldn't help but remind him.
"Is that so?"
Su Chen was surprised.
Soon.
A little eunuch delivered a brand-new Green-robed Eunuch Attire to Su Chen.
Eunuch Su, having been in the palace for a year, finally had a "new skin." It was a green eunuch robe, adorned with patterns of flowers, birds, fish, and insects—clearly an outfit only a senior eunuch could wear.
Time flew by.
In a flash.
Another month had passed.
Shocking news spread throughout the Imperial Palace.
The New Emperor was getting married.
He was marrying none other than the only granddaughter of the Marshal Northern Garrison.
Such a marriage alliance obviously had a deeper meaning. It signified that the Marshal Northern Garrison, a titan in the military and a Martial Arts First Grade expert, was now standing firmly behind the New Emperor.
For this, the New Emperor specially conferred the title of Prince upon his new father-in-law.
For a Martial Arts First Grade expert to be granted the title of Prince was not particularly strange.
The Marshal Northern Garrison became the Prince Northern Garrison.
The only Alien King in the New Dynasty, and indeed, the old one as well.
"Master Su, if you ask me, that Marshal Northern Garrison must have eaten a bear's heart and a leopard's gall! How dare he challenge the Lord First Supervisor? The Lord First Supervisor is the number one First-Grade expert in the world!"
Xu Xiaohan chattered on in the courtyard.
It was a good thing Su Chen's Library Pavilion was so deserted and remote. Otherwise, if these words got out, he would have been in the Water Prison by the next day.
In the courtyard of the Library Pavilion, Su Chen, who was loosening the soil, had a different opinion.
'The First Supervisor is old and dying.'
'The Marshal Northern Garrison is old but still vigorous. He's only seventy, has served three dynasties, and is still considered to be in his prime among the current Martial Arts First Grade experts. He's an exceptional fighter.'
'The First Supervisor is now nearing the end of his life. Even with the Human Blood Life-extending Pills, he probably can't afford to fight many more times.'
'The Human Blood Life-extending Pill was created in imitation of how Demon Fiends devour humans.'
'The first pill can extend one's life by a year.'
'With each subsequent pill, the effect diminishes exponentially.'
'This First Supervisor has clearly taken it before, otherwise he wouldn't have broken the hundred-year-old mark.'
Another month passed.
The balance of power within the Imperial Palace gradually shifted. The New Emperor began to reclaim his authority, and his influence in the depths of the palace—and even in the imperial court—grew stronger.
He cultivated trusted aides and accepted the allegiance of his officials, beginning to show some of the Old Emperor's style and look more like a proper emperor.
Then.
The next day, the Emperor was dead.