Rule by the Nine Directorates

Silver City. Li Hao and the others got into the car. This time, Liu Long was driving. After all, there was still quite a distance to go, and Liu Long trusted neither Li Hao nor Wang Ming behind the wheel. In the car were four people and a dog. Black Panther had hopped right inside; neither Li Hao nor Yuan Shuo minded. Both of them were going. If Black Panther didn't go, he would just become a stray dog. If they could return, they would return. If they couldn't, they would all go down together there. Front passenger seat. Liu Yan was responsible for sharing the intelligence. Some had been sent over from the Night Watchers, while some had been gathered locally in Silver City. *** "Hengduan Canyon is over a thousand li away from us. It spans a vast distance, stretching more than a thousand kilometers as well. The canyon is said to be impassable even to birds. Its deepest point from the ground exceeds three hundred meters, and even the shallow sections are tens of meters high." "Both sides are sheer stone cliffs. There are ancient ruins inside the canyon. It's said that during the ancient civilization, a city might have stood there, but a cave-in occurred later, and the entire city was buried in the canyon." "This time, exploring alongside the Night Watchers are the Silver Moon branch divisions of the Three Great Organizations, as well as two mid-sized organizations and fourteen small organizations." "It cannot be ruled out that independent supernaturals might also join in!" Liu Yan glanced back at Li Hao. Wang Ming and Yuan Shuo probably knew the general situation, but Li Hao might not. She explained, "According to the intelligence, a mid-sized organization is one that possesses Three Sols! Having Solar Radiance makes one a small organization. In the course of this exploration, the strength of the mid-sized organizations might not be inferior to that of the Three Great Organizations. The main forces of the Three Great Organizations aren't in Silver Moon, whereas the mid-sized organizations might have deployed in full force!" Li Hao knew she was speaking to him and nodded. Liu Yan continued, "These two mid-sized organizations are Bright Island and Sword Gate." Li Hao nodded again. At his side, Yuan Shuo suddenly chimed in, "The sect master of Sword Gate should be Hong Yitang, the Earth-Overturning Sword—one of the Seven Swords of Silver Moon back in the day." "Do you know him, Teacher?" Li Hao didn't literally mean whether he knew him, but rather... *Is there bad blood?* *Just tell it to me straight!* *Of the Seven Swords of Silver Moon, you killed three, and I've already inherited the Shadowless Sword.* Right now, he just wanted to know: how deep was their grudge? Yuan Shuo obviously understood as well. He snapped testily, "No grudge! I wasn't close with him. That fellow was fairly low-profile back then. Among the Seven Swords, some were flamboyant and others were mysterious. The Earth-Overturning Sword was neither high nor low, neither prominent nor boastful. People like that rarely died back then—hardly anyone went knocking on his door to kill him!" "..." Everyone was speechless. Knocking on his door to kill him? So that was how you guys operated in those days—just going straight to someone's door to murder them? Liu Long, who was driving, also spoke up: "Is the master of Sword Gate really Hong Yitang? The intelligence didn't mention it. Come to think of it, my father had some contact with the Earth-Overturning Sword in the past..." Yuan Shuo said coolly, "Don't try to play friendly. It's useless! Besides, your father Liu Hao has been dead for years. Whatever friendship there was has long dissolved!" When a man dies, his flame goes out. In the martial forest, unless you were lifelong bosom friends, once someone had been dead for so many years, what connection could descendants possibly claim by bringing it up? Liu Long fell silent. Li Hao couldn't help asking, "So that means many of the powerful martial masters back then converted to supernaturals?" He added, "Then why are they so rarely seen among the Night Watchers?" Whether it was Hao Lianchuan or Hou Xiaochen, neither was known to have been a famous martial master. Yuan Shuo said nothing. Instead, Wang Ming whispered, "Uh... I know a bit about that. Back then, the martial forest of Silver Moon was chaotic and turbulent. Even in the early days of supernatural emergence, martial masters went around slaughtering everywhere. When the Night Watchers were first founded, the higher-ups' stance was... try to avoid recruiting martial masters!" The Heavenly Star Dynasty had even explicitly proclaimed a ban on martial arts for a period! It had all been stirred up by martial masters. Unlike today's supernaturals who vied for supremacy over the world, martial masters had little interest in that, yet they were far more reckless and brazen. For the mere title of Number One Under Heaven, they could leave fields of corpses behind. You kill me today, I kill you tomorrow! In that era, how would the Night Watchers dare recruit martial masters? Consequently, the number of martial masters among the Night Watchers was rather small. On the other hand, certain supernatural organizations had no taboos whatsoever and took anyone; some supernatural organizations had even been founded by martial masters themselves. After a brief chat, Liu Yan continued, "This time, Three Sols experts from the Three Great Organizations are certain to come, but we have no intel on how many or who they are. The two mid-sized organizations will most likely have Three Sols arriving as well. As for the fourteen small organizations, there will certainly be quite a few Solar Radiance combatants." "As for the Night Watchers, Chief Hao is currently leading the team, and seven Solar Radiance experts have arrived." This lineup from the Night Watchers was no small matter either. Yuan Shuo had been resting with his eyes closed. Once Liu Yan finished giving the general overview, he opened his eyes and said, "Don't just focus on the people; focus on the ruins themselves!" "Three years ago, when I explored those ruins, I almost died there!" His heart injury had been left behind from that very excursion. He had come within an inch of dying. "Back then, a Solar Radiance led the team, only to die there as well, along with several Lunar Nethers. You have to understand that three years ago, Solar Radiance was considered very precious. Supernaturals develop rapidly; over three years, those at Solar Radiance now have hopes of advancing to Three Sols!" At the side, Wang Ming seemed to recall something and immediately said, "Right, right, right! Three years ago, when I had just joined the Night Watchers, a top-tier expert died along with several Lunar Nethers..." Yuan Shuo ignored him and continued, "Those ruins... aren't an ordinary ruin. They're an ancient city!" Ruins varied in scale. A single tomb could be called a ruin. Yet this time, it was an entire city! Of course, the larger the ruins, the greater the harvest and the more opportunities. "An ancient city?" Liu Long kept his eyes glued to the road, his tone grave. "An underground city?" "Yes!" Yuan Shuo said calmly, "It's a massive underground city. It was buried, yet it preserved the original appearance of a city. That's because the city is extraordinary—there is a supreme treasure directly enveloping the entire metropolis, and that's precisely what the Night Watchers desperately covet!" A buried metropolis, and what mattered most was that the entire city had been preserved, because a treasure had shielded it from the earth and stone that would have crushed it. Liu Long was somewhat shaken. "Can a single treasure truly protect an entire city, keeping it completely intact across the passage of time and the vicissitudes of ages?" "Truly," Yuan Shuo nodded. "Such treasures really do exist! That's why the entire supernatural realm of Silver Moon has gone mad over it. Even though the Night Watchers are at odds with the Three Great Organizations, battling until heads bleed in the central region, here they're still willing to explore it together." "Profit moves hearts. How many good things could be inside an impeccably preserved city like that?" "Ancient texts, Origin God Armaments, ancient civilization technology, ancient civilization martial arts, ancient civilization supernatural arts... all of these might be found. There may even be incredible treasures of unimaginable power." As if struck by a memory, Yuan Shuo murmured dreamily, "Years ago, I excavated an ancient ruin once. It wasn't large. Back then, guess what I unearthed?" None of them knew, all wearing attentive expressions. "A tree!" Yuan Shuo sighed with emotion. "A massive tree buried for countless ages. It had long withered, leaving only the trunk behind. At first, no one paid it any mind. But who knew that someone would accidentally break open the trunk... In that instant, everyone felt a power... the power of life!" Yuan Shuo spoke with yearning and nostalgia. "We saw a drop of water, an extraordinary drop of water buried in the center of the tree trunk. The instant the trunk was breached, that drop of water dissipated rapidly. Yet the energy that drifted out caused the withered trees around us to sprout branches and leaves, instantly growing into towering trees. Those of us present were swept over by this aura, and every single one of us felt ten years younger!" Yuan Shuo sighed endlessly. "That I could maintain peak condition at age seventy, and might have even stepped into Thousand-Battler had I not been injured, was related to that drop of water. Such are the wondrous treasures left behind by the ancient civilization!" Listening to this, everyone's blood surged! A drop of water sealed for untold thousands of years could make people younger in the instant it dissipated, and cause trees to grow into towering giants in an instant. What kind of treasure was that? Unimaginable! Seventy was indeed the downhill slope for a martial master, yet at seventy, Yuan Shuo was still thinking about stepping into Thousand-Battler. It was a pity he suffered an injury, or he might have succeeded long ago. Liu Long said solemnly, "Elder Yuan, does this ancient city possess treasures like that?" "Hard to say. Quite possibly." Yuan Shuo continued, "In truth, this ancient city hasn't been developed yet because we couldn't get in... Well, that's not quite right. We probably entered the perimeter of the outer city, and just that outer city alone got many of us killed." "The outer city? What was the source of the danger?" Liu Long pressed for details. These matters were likely known only to Yuan Shuo; others who knew wouldn't necessarily share. Yuan Shuo cast his mind back, sounding somewhat uncertain now. After a moment, he said, "It's hard to say exactly what it was. That day, after we entered together, a burst of flames suddenly erupted, burning many people to death in a flash! That was only the beginning. Before long, countless sharp blades shot out of the darkness, killing many more." "In the end, when only I and that Solar Radiance expert remained, we heard footsteps..." Footsteps? A living person! The group shuddered! There were living people in the grand city? How could that be? Just how many years had this ancient civilization city existed? No one knew for sure, because it was impossible to determine; the dates recorded in ancient texts had long been severed from this era. Now it was the Star Yuan Calendar. In such a grand city, even if preserved intact, how could there possibly be people living there? They would have rotted into bones long ago! "They were indeed footsteps... though it could have been an automaton." Yuan Shuo couldn't confirm whether it was a living person or an automaton either. He said gravely, "In short, we only heard the sound, without seeing the actual entity. But we came under attack—whatever lurked in the darkness struck at us! It was extremely powerful. I caught a flash of bright light, and that Solar Radiance was slain! At that moment, I fled the scene as fast as I could. In my flight, I couldn't mind the hazards, and a blade pierced through my heart... Fortunately, I am a martial master. Inner force possesses nourishing properties, so I hastily sealed the wound in my heart, narrowly escaping with my life!" He sighed. "That damn place... I really didn't want to come back. But I had no choice. Over the years, the Night Watchers sent more people in, but few survived, and most found nothing. They're hoping I can assist in exploring it once more." Li Hao frowned. "Teacher, so you actually didn't see anything?" "I did see some things." Yuan Shuo smiled. "At the start, we actually saw quite a lot. There was even light at first, and we saw the entire city! The darkness only appeared later, as if someone had turned off the lights in the city. According to the Night Watchers, by the time they went again later, it was pitch-black throughout!" "In any case, even if you go, you must be careful—careful, and careful again." At this point, Yuan Shuo hesitated slightly, but spoke nonetheless: "I'll let you in on a little secret. No spreading it!" The group nodded quickly. "Once inside, pay attention: try not to leave the ground!" Leave the ground? What did that mean? Wang Ming asked hastily, "Not leave the ground? Do you mean stand completely still?" "That's not what I mean," Yuan Shuo said softly. "Just try not to take to the air; don't fly. I suspect this ancient city has some kind of flight-prohibition restriction. Many died that day, and when I reflected on it later, it was likely tied to them flying into the air, or leaping... I don't mean you can't leave the ground at all, but there must be limits. Also, pay attention to whether there are footsteps nearby." A city that might have a ban on flight. Anyone who violated the rules would be killed. Buried for untold ages and yet still functioning—such technology was terrifying. Modern cities couldn't do this. Even if there were flight or martial bans, they relied on manual patrol; you were only caught if seen, and if not caught, it didn't count. "Don't tell this to anyone else!" Yuan Shuo said with deep meaning, "The Night Watchers have probed out some of this, but many of the other organizations are exploring for the first time. The more of them that die, the better!" The group nodded again. Such was the advantage of veteran experience. Yuan Shuo hadn't died back then, so he had gained some insight. Yuan Shuo added, "Not only that, but the dangers inside are manifold; danger can appear anywhere. Remember one more thing: don't touch anything carelessly. Even if you see ancient civilization weapons or treasures, leave them alone for the time being. If you move them, it could trigger danger." "Can't touch them?" Wang Ming said in disappointment. "Then what's the point of exploring? Finding treasures but not being able to touch them—isn't that just seeking death?" What was the point then? "Their objective is the inner city! They believe the control core is inside the city, perhaps that very Origin God Armament enveloping the metropolis! If someone takes that Origin God Armament, all the benefits will naturally be theirs. Besides, everyone's main target is likely that Origin God Armament." An Origin God Armament capable of covering an entire city, still functioning after being buried underground for countless years—just how powerful was it? Certain supernatural organizations currently lacked a stable base. Once they obtained such an effect capable of resisting even city-destroying weapons from the Night Watchers, a supernatural organization could swiftly erect a great city and migrate civilians there. In that way, they would secure a firm rear and truly make a name for themselves! Right now, these supernatural organizations were all very secretive. Not daring to expose their strongholds recklessly was one of the key reasons. Solar Radiance and Three Sols experts might evade targeting and avoid being killed by heavy weaponry, but the weak could not. If the weak were wiped out, the organization would collapse and its future would be cut short. With only a few powerful experts left, what organization would there be? Li Hao thought for a moment and said, "So everyone's target is the Origin God Armament inside the city. I can understand the mid-sized organizations, but what about the small ones? Do Solar Radiance experts actually hope to seize the Origin God Armament?" *Dream on!* Yuan Shuo shook his head. "Not necessarily. Those fellows are mostly aiming for some treasures inside the city. Once the major organizations take the Origin God Armament, they can naturally get a share of the spoils. Besides, they don't know they shouldn't touch those treasures... They're all rushing in for them. What's more, if a real opportunity arose to snatch the Origin God Armament... why wouldn't they?" Yuan Shuo chuckled. "If one could truly take it, at worst they'd abandon everything—organization, homeland, whatever... take the Origin God Armament, flee far away, and hide for a while. Once they grow powerful and emerge again, who would dare mess with them? So some people came with that exact thought in mind." Li Hao knew the benefits of an Origin God Armament intimately. Take the Starry Sky Sword, for instance. Setting aside the sword itself, the sword energy within was already miraculous. Li Hao's swift progress and Yuan Shuo's breakthrough into Spirit Nourishing were both tied to the small sword. An Origin God Armament that could cover an entire city was obviously unimaginably powerful. It had resisted untold years of earth and stone, bearing hundreds of millions of tons of pressure. If it were used to protect an individual, wouldn't that mean no one in the world today could breach such a defense? Invincible defense! Li Hao mused on this, and then recalled what his teacher had told him the other night: this ancient city might even be connected to the Eight Great Families. By the outer city gate, he seemed to have seen a turtle. Yes, a turtle. And in the ballad of the Eight Great Families, there was the line: *The Wang family raised a great turtle.* Although connecting the Eight Great Families to the ancient city through a single turtle was a stretch, in the ancient civilization era, if the Eight Great Families had been powerful, and Silver City was merely a thousand li away from this place, could such an ancient city truly have no connection to Silver City? Now it was a thousand li... but perhaps during the ancient civilization, the distance was much shorter? Furthermore, if ancient powerhouses were as formidable as the swordsman Li Hao had witnessed, what was a thousand li? Modern supernaturals of the aerial type could cover a thousand li in just two or three hours of flight. What about the experts of that era? Could they have arrived in an instant? Then a thousand li would be no barrier at all. So when his teacher said this city might be related to the Eight Great Families, and that Origin God Armament might be the turtle of the Wang family, Li Hao had been pondering: what could he do this time? "Stone gates, ancient city..." At this moment, he also wondered whether the stone gates were connected to this ancient city. His teacher speculated there were eight stone gates. The depression on the stone gate Li Hao had seen last time looked like a turtle shell or a hammer—in any case, it had a rounded feel. Could the turtle shell here be the key to opening that stone gate? As they talked, the vehicle had already left Silver City behind. From childhood to adulthood, Li Hao had rarely left Silver City. When he was young and his parents were still around, he had visited neighboring cities, but after growing up, he had stayed in Silver City the entire time. He was likely the least traveled of the group. The vehicle rolled out of Silver City. The road was still there, quite a spacious thoroughfare. The driving was smooth. Wang Ming knew Li Hao hadn't seen much of the world, and chuckled, "Look at you—never seen this before? This road was built by the Heavenly Star Dynasty in years past. Back then, they hoped major roads would connect all ninety-nine provinces to facilitate the dynasty's control at any time. But after supernaturals rose up, chaos ensued. Some sections weren't finished and were directly cut off. Some were completed, but over so many years, there was neither the opportunity nor the manpower and resources to repair and maintain them, so many roads across the land are impassable now." "There are also people who deliberately destroyed the highways, hoping to break free from the Heavenly Star Dynasty's control." Wang Ming sighed. "Ninety-nine provinces—how many people is that? Nearly ten billion people! A single province is a world of its own. High officials in certain places have long wanted to declare independence." "Silver Moon is situated on the border, so it's a rare pocket of quiet right now." The border... The ninety-nine provinces were already vast beyond measure, covering the greater part of the realm. Yet that did not mean its territory was infinite. North of Silver Moon Province, across several mountain ranges, lay another country. It was just that people living in the Heavenly Star Dynasty rarely cared about it. In earlier years... or perhaps a century ago, wars had taken place. So at that time, Silver City was the core of Silver Moon Province, a city of war that had fought battles with the neighboring country. Yet over the past century, both sides had become almost completely cut off from one another. Silver City was no longer a strategic bastion, and even the Heavenly Star Dynasty had nearly forgotten that beyond the mountains lay another realm. The status of the border had plummeted. Without enemies, what did a border represent other than remoteness? Who would care about a tiny foreign state that hadn't dared invade in a century? Their territory was said to be not even as large as Silver Moon Province. Even Li Hao had only read brief introductions about them in books. Neither his father's generation nor his grandfather's had ever had contact or fought wars with them. He had a faint recollection that the nation beyond the mountains seemed to be called—Dali. As for why it had that name, what system it ran on, what population it had, or whether supernaturals had emerged there... none of that was known. No one cared! A century without war, separated by massive mountain ranges—they were practically two different worlds. The Heavenly Star Dynasty couldn't even keep peace in its own ninety-nine provinces; who had the time to care about the other side? Even a province like Silver Moon, located within the dynasty's territory, had received very little attention over the years. Were it not for some renowned experts hailing from Silver Moon still active in the world, people would have long forgotten that the Heavenly Star Dynasty even had a Silver Moon Province. These thoughts drifted through Li Hao's mind. He watched the rolling plains on both sides and saw wild rabbits darting across the road. Some of the roadside trees were withered, others snapped. This road, it seemed, was maintained by no one anymore. "Silver Moon isn't too chaotic. Why has management outside the cities here become so lax as well?" Li Hao asked. Others might understand these matters, but he truly didn't. Wang Ming lived in White Moon City and came from a family with considerable influence, so he was well versed in this: "Twenty years ago, supernaturals emerged, and the Night Watchers were established afterward. At first, the founding of the Night Watchers didn't cause much of a ripple. But as the strong grew stronger, the Night Watchers gradually demanded a voice." "Meanwhile, conflicts arose between the original General Administrative Bureau, the garrison headquarters, and the Night Watchers. Although small in scale, conflicts did exist—especially with the General Administrative Bureau. The bureau is an agency under direct dynasty jurisdiction, whereas the Night Watchers fall under the Inspectorate. The two aren't part of the same system. The General Administrative Bureau has always wanted to take over the Night Watchers, which led to several clashes..." Li Hao listened quietly. Power struggles, it seemed, were unavoidable at any time. "Has the Heavenly Star Dynasty lost control over the provinces now?" Li Hao asked again. Wang Ming smiled. "Who knows? Word has it that the twenty-odd provinces in the central region are still under the dynasty's control! But beyond those provinces, the dynasty is powerless to govern the other regions." Three-quarters of the realm was out of control! This surpassed Li Hao's expectations! He had originally thought that only a few individual provinces were in turmoil, not that everything beyond the twenty-odd central provinces was entirely beyond control. The Heavenly Star Dynasty... was the first in history to achieve great unification. And that unification didn't mean a territory spanning a few provinces, but the entire central plains, the entire realm... brought under one rule! As for remote small states like the Dali Dynasty, separated by mountain ranges and small in size, they hadn't been worth conquering, so no campaign was launched against them. It was said that during the founding era, conquering this realm had taken fifty full years. The dynasty had been established for nearly two hundred years now, and the imperial family had long since retreated behind the scenes. Eighty years ago, the Heavenly Star Dynasty introduced the system of rule by the Nine Directorates. The imperial family retreated into the background, enjoying various honors and privileges, but no longer participated in practical governance. The administration of the entire dynasty was governed jointly by the Nine Directorates. Among them was the Inspectorate! Of course, not a minor local branch like Silver City's, but the Inspectorate headquarters. Even now, the Night Watchers remained affiliated with the Inspectorate, which showed just how powerful it was. Across the entire dynasty, its armed forces stood on equal footing with the garrison troops. Of course, the garrison was only the term for Silver Moon; garrisons were subordinate to the Directorate of Military Law. All military forces in the dynasty fell under the jurisdiction of the Directorate of Military Law. The Inspectorate was primarily responsible for local law enforcement. In some aspects it couldn't match the military, but its advantage lay in overseeing a vast range of affairs with a massive personnel, touching every facet of the dynasty. Beside him, Wang Ming continued, "The Night Watchers are still the official apparatus's only supernatural agency, but I've heard that the central region has begun forming other supernatural branches! For instance, the Heavenly Star Army formed by the Directorate of Military Law is said to consist entirely of supernatural combatants." "The Directorate of Administration has also formed an Investigation Office, which is reportedly absorbing supernaturals as well." "And the Directorate of Commerce has established a Merchant Protection Security Committee, also recruiting supernaturals..." Li Hao listened quietly. This was the general trend of the world! Yet in the past, he wouldn't have paid attention or cared. He hadn't even traveled all of tiny Silver City, let alone the vast world—it was simply too vast! How many people never left their small town in an entire lifetime? Even if they left, how many could never step beyond Silver Moon? As for the central region, the Nine Directorates, the imperial family... those were all too far removed from them. Hearing all this now, he spoke up: "Why don't they commit fully to expanding the Night Watchers?" "Heh!" Wang Ming chuckled. Yuan Shuo and the others smiled as well. Even Liu Long couldn't help saying, "It's called balance! Li Hao, you're still too young. The Inspectorate is only one of the Nine Directorates. In the beginning, when the Night Watchers were first founded, supernaturals weren't very strong yet, so it didn't matter. Now that supernaturals are growing stronger and stronger, do you think the other eight directorates can rest easy leaving the entire supernatural power of the realm under the Inspectorate's control?" Alright! Li Hao actually understood the logic. Still, he thought that when facing the major supernatural organizations, they ought to pool their strength, yet now they were dispersing it. "Are the Three Great Supernatural Organizations truly powerful to that extent?" Li Hao frowned again. "Most of the ninety-nine provinces in the realm still obey the Nine Directorates, and with mass-casualty heavy firearms, they still can't take down the Three Great Organizations?" "It's not that simple!" This time, it was Yuan Shuo who spoke. Having seen more of the world, he said softly, "How strong the Three Great Supernatural Organizations truly are isn't entirely clear even to us. But behind the Three Great Organizations, there is definitely backing from certain provincial powers! They use them to stir chaos in the central region and tie down the dynasty's strength, paving the way for their own independence. Intelligence, weaponry, personnel, supplies—these factions provide all of it to the Three Great Organizations! And the Three Great Organizations are made up of supernaturals, moving in secret with numerous powerful experts. Naturally, eradicating them is difficult!" The reasons supernaturals ran rampant were not simple. The most crucial point lay in having backers. The dynasty had been unified for two hundred years, governing ten billion people. At this moment, with chaotic times descending and the dynasty losing control, countless ambitious grandees wished the realm would descend into even greater chaos, for the dynasty to lose control completely! Many people were well aware of this. Yet what good did knowing do? Not only was there no evidence, but even if there were, those high officials preparing to rebel against the dynasty had already made preparations. Any hasty move against them would trigger a rapid chain reaction. The entire realm would collapse in an instant. Li Hao couldn't quite fathom what those people were thinking, and could only sigh with feeling: "One who does not hold the post does not plan its affairs! To my mind, governance by the Nine Directorates is already quite good. It's said that eighty years ago, the imperial family still ruled, and that was when chaos truly reigned—imperial power knew no bounds, innocent lives were slaughtered, wrongful convictions were handed down at will, and the laws were murky... That was a true chaotic age! But now, with the Nine Directorates jointly governing the realm, commerce thrives, agriculture flourishes, urbanization has accelerated, everyone has enough to eat and drink, and technologies are advancing across the board..." At such a time, why overthrow the realm? Once the realm fell into chaos, it was the common people who suffered. He harbored no great animosity toward the Nine Directorates. Though injustices and flaws existed, the Nine Directorates had jointly governed the realm for eighty years, and throughout those eighty years, he had at least never heard of anyone starving to death in Silver City. Whereas eighty years ago... starving to death was a commonplace occurrence. The imperial family was now restrained. Though they still enjoyed many privileges, they were no longer as flamboyant as back then, maintaining an extremely low profile. Was such a system not good? Did those great figures truly want to become the next emperor? Yet having lived through eighty years of governance by the Nine Directorates, would the people of the world truly want another emperor standing over their heads? Li Hao was certain that if he stepped out right now and asked whether people wanted the imperial family to govern the realm again... probably ninety-nine percent would say no. The remaining few would either have water in their heads or be stakeholders with vested interests. Without the hearts of the people, could one succeed? He kept these thoughts to himself, leaving them unsaid. These matters were too distant from him, things for powerful figures to consider. As for Silver Moon, he saw no signs of it seeking independence—or perhaps his standing was simply too low to perceive what the Silver Moon leadership was thinking. The vehicle sped onward. Silver City receded into the distance, gradually disappearing behind them.