The Ming Imperial Palace.
The Empress's Chambers.
At this moment, the Empress sat with elegance and authority upon her throne, gazing down at a young woman dressed as a palace maid.
"Qing'er, how did things go?"
"Miss, we've successfully completed the first phase of the plan. The next step is to carry out phase two."
"Good. You did well. You didn't let me down." The Empress nodded in satisfaction.
"Miss, it's been so many years already. Why haven't you made your move? Have you really fallen for the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty?"
"All these years, you've worked so hard behind the scenes to help him. You've gone to great lengths, but he doesn't even know. Why go through all this?"
The maid asked with a conflicted look.
Clearly, the relationship between the Empress and this maid was not as simple as it appeared on the surface.
"So what if I have? His Majesty is now my husband, and also the person closest to me."
"Miss, have you forgotten your true purpose when you were selected to enter the palace?"
"That was then. Back then, His Majesty and I didn't even know each other, so it didn't matter if I schemed. But now, after years of marriage, we are no longer separate people."
"But Miss, that Emperor of the Ming Dynasty isn't worthy of you."
"Who says so? It should be that I'm not worthy of His Majesty. No man in the world can compare to him in the slightest."
At this point, a slight blush appeared on the Empress's face.
"Miss, you've gone too far. You've clearly fallen under his spell."
"What should we do now? The original plan was for you to use your beauty to control the Emperor, but now it's the other way around?"
"What kind of charm does the Emperor possess?"
Qing'er pouted helplessly.
"You don't understand, Qing'er. That's enough. Say no more. I know what I'm doing."
"We'll need to adjust our plan now. Remove anything that could harm the Ming Dynasty or His Majesty and replace it with other methods."
The Empress was unconcerned and even seemed to enjoy the change.
"Alright. We can proceed with phase two."
"Be careful during the operation. Absolutely do not let His Majesty's people find out. If His Majesty becomes angry, I will hold you responsible."
"This is not the time to reveal everything to His Majesty."
Qing'er, feeling a little disheartened as her beloved Miss began to "distance" herself, could only shake her head.
"Very well. I'll follow your orders."
"There's one more thing, Miss. You asked me to secretly bring Murong Qiudi and Lin Shiyin under our control, but we seem to have encountered some issues."
"Their cultivation levels far exceed our initial estimates."
"Among Great Grandmasters, they are at the very top. Unless we send in a Land Immortal, we won't be able to subdue them."
"In fact, we may even fail and alert them in the process."
When it came to serious matters, Qing'er finally showed a rare, solemn expression.
"Murong Qiudi and Lin Shiyin. For now, do not make further contact. I will handle them personally."
"I don't know why, but I have a feeling they will pose a great threat to me in the future."
"In that case, why not eliminate them now and avoid future trouble? Better to be safe than sorry."
"No, Qing'er, you're suggesting foolish things again. I will deal with this myself. Just focus on your own tasks."
==========
Imperial Garden.
Zhu Houzhao was once again comfortably lounging around.
The chaotic affairs of court and martial world matters had long been cast aside.
He had just received several new system rewards.
His mood was radiant and full of joy.
Seeing Yi Lin as the eleventh on the ranking list, a smile curled at the corner of his lips.
The little nun had indeed taken his words to heart.
The Brahma Lotus Heart Art had been derived from his Azure Lotus Immortal Scripture.
Combined with Buddhist teachings, its effect was far greater than the sum of its parts.
He had saved Yi Lin by chance during his travels. It seemed their meeting had been fated.
In just a year, the results had already been this impressive.
As long as she remained true to her heart, becoming a Land Immortal in the future was practically guaranteed.
She had become an unintentional yet strategic move on his part.
Just then.
The leader of the imperial Dark Guards appeared before him.
"Your Majesty."
"Oh, it's you. What is it?"
"Your Majesty, a mysterious force has recently emerged in the martial world. They act with great secrecy. If not for a fortunate accident, even we would have missed them."
"Oh? You were almost deceived? That's interesting. Do we know who they belong to? Which dynasty perhaps?"
Zhu Houzhao's first suspicion was the Qin or Tang dynasties.
He also considered the other major imperial houses as suspects.
"We're not sure, but one thing is certain. They have a Land Immortal among them."
"It seems they don't want to make enemies of our Ming Dynasty. They haven't committed any atrocities."
"Your Majesty, please advise. Should the Dark Guards continue surveillance, or take direct action?"
The Dark Guard commander dared not decide on his own and left the matter to Zhu Houzhao.
"As long as they're not harming civilians, continue monitoring them in secret."
"If they defy the authority of the Ming Dynasty, eliminate them completely."
"Whatever the consequences, I will take responsibility."
"Understood, Your Majesty. I now know what must be done."
After the commander left, Zhu Houzhao sank into deep thought.
A mysterious power?
Who exactly were they?
A rival dynasty was highly likely.
But those ancient, hidden superpowers could not be ignored either.
The recent announcement of the Hidden Dragon Ranking had placed the Ming Dynasty in the spotlight.
It seemed some of the old forces could no longer sit still.
Of course, Zhu Houzhao felt no fear.
As long as they didn't provoke him directly, things would be fine.
But if they did, they would face his fierce retaliation.
Even if it meant revealing some of his power, he wouldn't care.
Sooner or later, the Hidden Dragon Ranking would expose some of his secrets anyway.
Zhu Houzhao never doubted that he would make the list.
As for what rank...
That would depend on whether there were other "cheat-code users" in the Nine Provinces.
==========
A remote village on the Ming-Qing border.
Jiang Yuyan, who had been fleeing for over a month, was now in an extremely miserable state.
Ever since her identity was exposed.
And after doing several shocking things.
She had become the target of countless martial artists.
The Six-Ren Divine Dice and Flower Shifting Transplanting Wood.
These were treasures all of the martial world dreamed of, which made people hunt her down with wild obsession.
Even though Jiang Yuyan grew stronger with every battle, her enemies only increased.
By devouring the internal energy of martial artists, her power had grown explosively.
Though she was still only at Great Perfection Innate Realm.
Her combat strength already rivaled Late Grandmasters.
Countless famed experts had died by her hand.
Jiang Yuyan's infamous reputation now shook the entire Ming martial world.
It had even spread across the Nine Provinces.
Stirring up a great storm.