The Tribulation Transcendence cultivator secretly protecting Emperor Xia felt that this arrangement was rather splendid. Teaming up with three half-immortals guaranteed absolute safety, leaving practically nothing for him to worry about.
In any case, his sole duty was to protect Emperor Xia; he couldn't care less about anything else.
Down below, the three newly appointed Great Generals were eagerly volunteering for battle to prove their worth.
"I possess the rudimentary Natural Selection Dao fruit, which allows me to temporarily bolster myself to the level of an immortal body and contend with the Jiang family's immortal for a time." In terms of pure combat strength, Ao Ling stood supreme. Before engaging the Jiang family's immortal, she could take hits from others to achieve an immortal body.
Jiang Lianyi was always delighted to lend a hand, and nothing brought her greater joy than helping Ao Ling.
"I possess the rudimentary Law of the Jungle Dao fruit. I can control others, turn everyone in the Imperial Palace into our people, breach them from within, and launch a surprise attack on the Jiang family!"
Not to be outdone, the little tigress Jin Caiwei piped up, "I possess the rudimentary Plane Dao fruit, which can compress objects into two-dimensional planes. If condensed into a complete Dao fruit, the entire world could be flattened into a single plane!"
The three Great Generals turned their eyes toward the Chancellor, eager to see what special talents this Chancellor favored by the Immortal Fairy might have.
"...I can commit suicide."
Ao Ling: "?"
Emperor Xia figured that with his meager Soul Formation stage cultivation, he was utterly useless when it came to staging a rebellion. It seemed his only viable contribution was to take his own life, leaving the imperial throne vacant and thereby opening an opportunity for the Great Soybean Dynasty.
"Alright, alright, I already told you we're going to use peaceful means. Look at you all, brandishing rudimentary Dao fruits and talking about suicide."
"Then how are we supposed to use peaceful means to overthrow Great Xia?" Ao Ling asked in bewilderment. She had already mentally braced herself for a knock-down, drag-out fight against the Jiang family's immortal.
If left entirely to the Immortal Fairy, coming up with an effective plan would have been a tall order. Fortunately, the Immortal Fairy was never truly on her own; inside her spiritual space, that sly rascal Lu Yang was feeding her strategies.
"As the saying goes, 'usurp power and the throne.' To overthrow Great Xia, we must accomplish two steps: seizing power and usurping the throne. In my view, we should usurp the throne first, and seize power later."
"And what does usurping the throne mean? Naturally, it means usurping that actual imperial throne seated high upon the court dais!"
"The importance of the throne speaks for itself. Several princes are knocking their heads together and fighting tooth and nail—isn't it all for that very seat?"
"Once we seize the throne, we'll naturally have overthrown half of Great Xia."
The Immortal Fairy declared with utmost solemnity, "Therefore, I propose we sneak into the Imperial Palace and steal that chair!"
"Brilliant idea!" Ao Ling and Jiang Lianyi clapped in unison with immense enthusiasm.
Inside the spiritual space, Lu Yang let out a long sigh of relief. Through his scheming, he had finally managed to commute a death sentence down to a fixed prison term.
Ideally, the Immortal Fairy would get caught red-handed and locked up in the Imperial Prison for a year, which would finally give everyone some peace and quiet.
The treacherous courtier Lu Yang had dared to harbor treasonous ambitions—his intentions were truly abhorrent, and he deserved to die ten thousand deaths.
"Xia Tian, what do you think of this idea?" the Immortal Fairy asked.
"A fine idea."
This time, Emperor Xia actually proved useful.
"I know the Imperial Palace like the back of my hand. I'll chart our route."
***
In the dead of night, five figures slipped stealthily into the Imperial Palace.
Although the First Prince, as a Body Integration cultivator, had no need for sleep or rest, he was not a mule to be driven from dawn till dusk and dusk till dawn.
Besides, Jiang Qun was currently impersonating his imperial father, and working continuously without pause hardly matched the emperor's sickly, frail persona.
It was precisely under this pretext that he had managed to slip away from the inner palace earlier.
"Everyone, stay alert and do not use divine sense, lest we alert the enemy," the Immortal Fairy reminded them.
According to the scouting the Immortal Fairy had conducted over the past few days, the Jiang family's immortal resided in the forbidden grounds at the deepest recesses of the Imperial Palace and paid no heed to mundane palace affairs. However, if cultivators of Ao Ling and Jiang Lianyi's caliber swept the area with divine sense, it could easily catch the immortal's attention.
"Understood," Emperor Xia whispered.
Emperor Xia was the one who could least afford to use divine sense anyway. Plenty of imperial bodyguards possessed higher cultivation than him; the instant he released his divine sense, they would detect him on the spot.
The five were "shadows" in the literal sense. Jin Caiwei had invoked her rudimentary Plane Dao fruit, flattening the four of them into a planar state so they could glide swiftly across the floor.
This was primarily to accommodate Emperor Xia and Lu Yang, whose cultivation was so low that infiltrating the palace conventionally would have led to immediate discovery.
"Does your rudimentary Dao fruit strip away the concept of 'height,' leaving only 'length' and 'width'?" Ao Ling asked, viewing Jin Caiwei with newfound respect.
She had assumed Jin Caiwei would possess a rudimentary Soul Dao fruit like her father. She had never expected such an entirely novel rudimentary Dao fruit; this level of creativity was not to be underestimated.
Even Ao Ling would have been caught off guard had she encountered Jin Caiwei's rudimentary Dao fruit for the first time.
"At least you have some discerning eyes," Jin Caiwei huffed, radiating smug satisfaction. She had poured an immense amount of effort into condensing this rudimentary Dao fruit.
Shifting into a planar state was not true invisibility, merely difficult to detect.
Even if they were spotted, there was no cause for alarm: Jiang Lianyi could deploy her rudimentary Law of the Jungle Dao fruit to control whoever saw them, compelling them to disregard their presence.
Inside the spiritual space, Lu Yang thought to himself: *You're just stealing a chair. Is it really necessary to whip out rudimentary Dao fruits one after another?*
Back in the day, even the second Imperial Preceptor had relied on only a single rudimentary Dao fruit to infiltrate the Dao Seeking Sect.
With the aid of two rudimentary Dao fruits, the five bodies and six souls smoothly arrived at their destination: Daming Hall.
Daming Hall lay deserted and swallowed in darkness. That posed no hindrance, however; even Lu Yang with the lowest cultivation and Emperor Xia with the weakest combat strength could discern the hall's layout under the faint moonlight, to say nothing of the three ancient half-immortals.
This was not the first time Lu Yang and the Immortal Fairy had visited Daming Hall. The Grand Gathering of Righteous Sect Leaders had taken place right here, and it was also here that the Immortal Fairy had thoroughly trounced the sect masters of the other Four Great Immortal Sects.
In front of Daming Hall stretched the Dragon Tail Ramp, alternating between flights of stairs and gentle inclines paved with ornamental tiles. Dense bracket sets clustered beneath the overhanging eaves, vibrant decorative paintings graced the interior and exterior tie-beams, and the upper panels of the doors and windows were fitted with delicate diamond lattice—every detail imbued with auspicious meaning.
Yet the most conspicuous feature of all was the grand throne at the far end of Daming Hall—the imperial seat venerated by ten thousand subjects, the very symbol of Great Xia's sovereign.
"We're finally here!" the Immortal Fairy cheered in a hushed voice. Taking several steps in a few brisk strides, she plopped herself down onto the chair in high spirits.
Jiang Lianyi's eyes sparkled. She promptly produced the Four Treasures of the Study, sweeping her brush across the paper to capture the moment.
In the monochrome ink painting, Lu Yang sat exalted upon the imperial throne, his hands resting on the armrests, his gaze commanding like a dragon's, exuding the majestic aura of the supreme ruler of all under heaven. Above him hung a horizontal plaque inscribed with the four characters "Upright and Aboveboard," alongside a suspended Qin mirror.
A closer inspection revealed the calligrapher's signature tucked in the corner of the plaque: Meng Junzi.
"Fairy, how does it feel sitting on the imperial throne?" Lu Yang asked.
The Immortal Fairy shifted her body around, looking rather underwhelmed. "Not great. It's nowhere near as comfortable as the chairs Ancient Dijiang makes."
No matter what imperial sovereignty it symbolized, a throne was ultimately crafted by mortal artisans with only a sliver of cultivation. How could it ever compare to an imperial chair hand-fashioned by Ancient Dijiang himself?
Chapter 937