Chapter 7: The Fake Emperor

Su Chen loosened his grip on the soil he was tilling and looked out toward the courtyard.

Outside the yard.

A handsome, elegant man stood there, reeking of alcohol, dressed in brocade robes and a fox-fur cloak, clutching an exquisite hand warmer to his chest. The man was dressed entirely in white, perfectly matching the vast, snowy landscape.

In the Imperial Palace, only princes were permitted to wear white.

The Crown Prince, however, wore white cloud-brocade embroidered with dragons.

This was a rule established by the ancestors of the Great Liang.

But this rule had long since been broken. In the twilight years of the dynasty, the old Emperor had grown senile and foolish, bestowing the cloud-brocade dragon robes upon three successive princes, leading to a bitter, unending struggle between the three.

Beside Su Chen, the young eunuch who served him was already so terrified that he had lost his wits, prostrating himself on the ground.

But Su Chen did not kneel.

He continued tilling the soil, unbothered; he already knew who had arrived.

The Seventh Prince!

"Audacious! How dare you not kneel upon seeing a noble?"

A shout came from outside the yard. Two imperial guards in silver armor reached for the swords at their waists, their eyes filled with malice as they glared at Su Chen.

The two of them were Fourth-Rank practitioners.

In the Great Liang, practitioners held esteemed status. If not for the fact that this ordinary prince—who possessed no talent for cultivation—had an older brother who was the immensely powerful Second Prince, it is unlikely even a Fifth-Rank practitioner would have followed him.

"Are you here because of the perfume and the soap?"

Su Chen spoke up suddenly.

Hearing this, the Seventh Prince raised a hand, and the imperial guards who were about to charge in retreated.

"How did you know?"

He wanted to ask.

Then, catching a whiff of the floral scent lingering in the air, he let out a dry, self-deprecating laugh and sat down beside Su Chen of his own accord.

"Do you know what that man, Zhang Gui, is doing now?"

"Relying on those two items—perfume and soap—he has gained the favor of the Imperial Noble Consort. He slaughtered the entire family of a virtuous official as a token of his loyalty, obtained a badge from the Ministry of Justice, and now walks outside the palace. In just a few months, he has earned the reputation of a 'home-raiding, family-exterminating, soul-reaping eunuch.'"

"I have heard of you. Like me, you have no talent for cultivation. A man like you is someone Zhang Gui will discard once he has used you up. Why not throw your lot in with me? I will introduce you to my Imperial Brother..."

Before the Seventh Prince could finish his sentence, Su Chen seemed to realize something. He turned his head and asked the young eunuch who was still prostrate on the ground.

"Has Zhang Gui established a firm, and is he making a fortune every day selling soap and perfume?"

The young eunuch looked blank.

That was to be expected.

As a low-level eunuch, it was impossible for him to know news from outside the palace.

The Seventh Prince, however, frowned; clearly, what Su Chen said was true.

Otherwise, a prince of his stature would not have come here in person.

But was this soap and perfume really so difficult to decipher?

Su Chen thought for a moment and felt a sudden realization.

These ancient people who only knew how to cultivate had no understanding of the power of a technological tree. Zhang Gui must have been guarding the secret tightly, and now he was likely here to demand the formula.

"You want the formula?"

"Yes."

The Seventh Prince nodded.

"Is this stuff really that profitable in the outside world?"

The Seventh Prince fell silent.

"Profitable" was an understatement.

It was a gold mine.

From the princes and ministers down to the local landlords and gentry, there wasn't a single young noble or lady who wasn't obsessed with these items. It had even reached the point of affecting the balance of power between the two princes.

For a long time, by relying on his deep pockets and the backing of the Great Liang's wealthiest merchant, his Imperial Brother had been able to keep Consort Zhang's faction firmly suppressed. But now, the situation was showing signs of a reversal.

Before long, the title of the Great Liang's wealthiest merchant might even change hands.

"It seems you really don't know anything."

"Do you think a precious pill that can assist a peak Fourth-Rank in breaking through to the Third-Rank is so easily obtained?"

"If not for money, what would Zhang Gui have used to secure that Third-Rank opportunity?"

"Name your price."

"I want the formula!"

Su Chen didn't speak. He truly wasn't short on money. If he could sell that thousand-year-old ginseng king he had hidden in the library, it would be enough to buy half the imperial city.

"Zhang Gui, you aren't being very kind."

Su Chen looked in a certain direction and spoke suddenly.

The next moment, a sedan chair, carried by four eunuchs in green robes, appeared before Su Chen's eyes.

A man in red robes, with a handsome face, a tall stature, and deep, cold eyes.

The Zhang Gui of today possessed an air in his every gesture that was no longer comparable to the man he once was.

"We are brothers, why be so distant? Isn't what's mine also yours?"

Zhang Gui stepped down from the sedan chair, smiling. One could not see a trace of the dignity of a Deputy Chief Eunuch of the Inner Palace, nor the terrifying aura of a Third-Rank Marrow-Cleansing expert.

"Zhang Gui..."

The Seventh Prince frowned as he looked at Zhang Gui. He couldn't bring himself to spit out the insult "eunuch dog," so he slunk away.

Soon, only Su Chen, Zhang Gui, and his four confidant eunuchs remained in the courtyard.

"Are you adjusting well?"

"If you want to leave the library, I can pave the way for you immediately, let you serve as a Blue-Robed Steward of the Martial Affairs Bureau first..."

Zhang Gui sat down in front of Su Chen, just as he had in the past, smiling as he held two bottles of White Scholar wine.

But now, their status and positions were as far apart as heaven and earth.

"The library is quite nice. I have no cultivation, so I cannot be a Blue-Robed Steward. You know me—I like quiet, I don't like being disturbed. The Seventh Prince coming here has already been quite a nuisance."

Su Chen said.

The next moment, Zhang Gui grabbed Su Chen's arm, and a thick, powerful true energy circulated through Su Chen's body. However, he found nothing.

A First-Rank body-tempering technique.

Before the "Golden Body of Six Zhang" was activated, Su Chen was no different from an ordinary person.

"You really have no cultivation?"

Zhang Gui frowned.

"It's normal for me to have no cultivation, isn't it?"

Su Chen spread his hands.

"But someone outside the palace told me your identity is not simple. One night, he sent a friend to find you, and that friend never appeared again..."

"You should know, that was a Third-Rank expert."

Clearly, the person outside the palace Zhang Gui spoke of was the Black Lotus Saint, and the so-called friend was the former Deputy Chief, the Black-Robed Envoy, Eunuch Xu.

"What?"

"A Third-Rank expert?"

"If I had encountered one, would I still be alive?"

"You're joking, right?"

Su Chen said with a grin.

Beside Zhang Gui, the few eunuch confidants who had carried the sedan chair all looked at Su Chen with contempt.

Kill a Third-Rank?

This ant-like little eunuch was hardly worthy!

They had heard of Su Chen in the library; he was just lucky to have saved Eunuch Zhang Gui's life that night. To dare act this way in front of Deputy Chief Zhang, without a shred of respect for hierarchy—he truly deserved to die.

A guy who couldn't cultivate should have the self-awareness of a piece of trash.

Su Chen naturally felt these looks of disdain and contempt, but he didn't react at all.

Zhang Gui, however, noticed these looks. He frowned, looked at one of them, and said, "Do you have something to say?"

"Speak boldly."

The green-robed eunuch felt Zhang Gui's encouragement and immediately understood. So, Deputy Chief Zhang also loathed this kid who was trading on a past favor. He immediately scolded Su Chen.

"Eunuch Zhang Gui is the Deputy Chief, what is your status? A wretch exiled to the library..."

*Puff!*

The next moment, the green-robed eunuch was sliced in half at the waist.

"I told you to speak, and you really dared to speak."

Zhang Gui's gaze was chilling.

The other three green-robed eunuchs were terrified out of their wits and fell to their knees.

"Get out!"

The three green-robed eunuchs felt as if they had been granted amnesty; they scrambled and crawled away from the library.

Seeing that there were no outsiders left, Zhang Gui returned to his original demeanor. With his hands behind his back, his deep eyes studied Su Chen. Su Chen looked back at him with a smile, revealing nothing. Zhang Gui sighed.

"Do you want to leave the palace for a breath of air?"

"As the year-end approaches, some people are about to become restless."

"When the time comes, the waves will be too high, sweeping through the imperial city. I'm afraid I won't be able to protect you in this palace!"

Su Chen raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"Are you going to make your move?"

"You're not waiting until you become the Purple-Robed Chief?"

Su Chen looked at Zhang Gui.

That night, when they were dead drunk, what Zhang Gui had spoken of were treasonous words about killing the Emperor. Near the Imperial Study, what Su Chen had saved was not the eunuch Zhang Gui who had suffered an unprovoked disaster, but the assassin eunuch Zhang Gui who wanted to kill the Emperor...

Zhang Gui didn't belong to any secret sect or faction. He was truly brave; he castrated himself and ran into the palace, wanting to kill the Emperor.

"As expected."

"I shouldn't have drunk those two cups of wine."

Zhang Gui looked deeply at Su Chen, then sighed.

His words were earth-shattering!

"Why do you think the one who is still alive today is truly the old Emperor?"