Bab 154: Assistance
The Empress's rewards to Wang Hua were exceedingly generous! Money and material goods aside, the title of Chancellor carried the highest honor.
Do not mistake the Chancellor for the Prime Minister. In fact, the Chancellor's status is even above that of the Prime Minister, ranking among the top three officials.
The decree also included the phrase 'master of all affairs,' indicating supreme favor.
However, Fu Qing and his two companions were not concerned that the newly appointed Chancellor would interfere with their affairs.
Given their power, Wang Hua, being a clever man, knew who he could and could not provoke.
In reality, Wang Hua still couldn't influence the crucial Imperial Academy, making him only nominally second to none.
But even this nominal status was an extraordinary favor, already elevating him to the pinnacle of a minister's career in the eyes of the populace.
"Your Majesty is wise," Fu Qing and his two companions bowed in unison and withdrew.
The Empress had already secured the moral high ground; now, it was up to them to unearth the secrets of Wang Hua's betrayal.
After the three left, the Empress glanced outside. The sky was already showing the first light of dawn.
Daybreak was near.
Fu Qing and his companions had come in the dead of night. After a long discussion, the night had passed.
Unexpectedly, the Empress felt a tinge of fatigue.
It wasn't due to a lack of sleep. As a strong cultivator, she seldom needed sleep, replacing rest with cultivation. Sometimes, a single retreat could last over a decade.
But today, with Wang Hua's identity as a spy confirmed, and the news that the neighboring Blue Flame Empire was planning to invade Tianxuan, even the usually composed Empress felt a flicker of anger.
"They killed my father and brothers, stole our secrets, and now they want to destroy my homeland and seize my people!"
If Tianxuan were stronger, the Empress would have already confronted the Blue Flame Empire.
Tianxuan Empire granted her supreme authority, but also imposed an invisible constraint.
She was not a natural ruler, but after the tragedy that befell her family, with her father and brothers dead, she had to shoulder the burden.
And she had carried it for hundreds of years.
While her cultivation could allow her to travel to the Blue Flame Empire and return unscathed, her people could not.
Tianxuan Empire was a legacy built by her ancestors with their blood. She could not let it fall in her generation.
At this moment, she recalled the words of the War Emperor Mo Fan from her recent dream.
Comparing those words with the information obtained from Wang Hua, it seemed there was some truth to them.
She looked up at the sky. If her father and brothers were here, how could the Blue Flame Empire dare to act so brazenly?
She suddenly wanted to see Mo Fan, to seek more answers from him.
"Can I see him just by entering a dream?" the Empress murmured. She once again abandoned cultivation and fell asleep.
The same white mist, the same vast space.
An elegant man with white hair and white clothes was leisurely sitting at a stone table, sipping tea. It seemed he had been waiting for a while.
"You're here? Sit." Mo Fan, looking calm and collected, placed a seat on the other side of the stone table and poured a cup of tea.
His presence had been hidden within the hall, waiting for the Empress to sleep so they could meet in the dream.
For a powerful individual like the Empress, it was not unusual to go without sleep for hundreds of years. However, within the span of just two days, she had slept twice.
Moreover, without exception, she dreamed of Mo Fan each time. In the coming days, unless something unexpected happened, the Empress would likely sleep more and more frequently.
The Empress looked at Mo Fan, her voice cool. "You knew I would come?"
"It's not that I knew you would come, but rather, whenever you come, I will be here," Mo Fan shook his head.
The Empress stared deeply at Mo Fan. What he said was indeed correct —entering a dream would allow them to meet. Gradually, she began to believe that Mo Fan truly existed.
If this person existed, then the cause of her father and brother's deaths, as mentioned by Mo Fan, might also be true.
Seeing that the Empress remained silent, Mo Fan continued, "Have you encountered some trouble? With your level of cultivation, you shouldn't need to sleep so frequently."
He was asking despite already knowing the answer, using a tactic of feigned ignorance to provoke a reaction.
The Empress instinctively shook her head, then nodded. "It's confirmed. Wang Hua is a spy."
Then, fearing that Mo Fan might not understand, she explained, "Wang Hua is the Prime Minister of Tianxuan, the head of all officials. Today, we discovered he is a spy from the Blue Flame Empire."
"Heh, should I praise your courage or scold your foolishness? A spy, and you placed him in the position of Prime Minister?" Mo Fan sneered; his gaze sharp as he looked into the Empress's eyes. "From what I see, you don't bother with state affairs. Can I assume that you've handed the entire Tianxuan Empire over to an enemy to manage?"
Mo Fan widened his eyes, pretending to have just learned this, but in reality, the greatest credit for uncovering Wang Hua's evidence lay with him.
His words were harsh, showing no respect despite the Empress's status.
The Empress, startled by his glare, found herself inexplicably avoiding his eyes. Mo Fan's words were heavy, and she couldn't refute them. It was indeed her mistake, placing an enemy spy in such a high position to manage state affairs on her behalf.
Simultaneously, she couldn't gauge Mo Fan's true cultivation, only sensing that he was unfathomably deep and extremely mysterious.
"I didn't know he was a spy," the Empress's tone wavered slightly, a rare occurrence, which Mo Fan immediately noticed.
This icy, aloof woman could still feel unease, albeit caused by her anxiety over preserving her family's legacy.
Mo Fan could tell that she was now deeply ashamed of her decision to elevate Wang Hua, feeling she had let her father and brothers down.
If the Blue Flame Empire invaded and Tianxuan fell, she would bear the greatest responsibility as the Empress.
Mo Fan sighed, "Foolish."
The slight disturbance in her composure was highly uncomfortable for the Empress, something she hadn't experienced in ages.
Yet she forced herself to shake off that discomfort and softly asked, "This junior is foolish and has caused a great calamity. Might senior offer some guidance to salvage the situation?"
Because of Mo Fan's bluntness, his unfathomable nature, and his previous revelations about her father and brother's secrets, the Empress subconsciously believed that Mo Fan could offer valuable advice to help her solve her problems.
In the outside world, she was the supreme Empress, the ruler of all, an omnipotent figure.
She couldn't show weakness or fear.
Here, she was merely a seeker of knowledge, a junior.
Mo Fan's experience far surpassed hers, making him her senior. It was said that he was also a close friend of her elder brother, Crown Prince Han Feng.
Here, she could express her desire for assistance.
Listening to the Empress's hesitant plea, her voice awkward from asking for help for the first time, Mo Fan gave her a playful look and leisurely sipped his tea. "A senior does not offer guidance, but an elder brother does."
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone