Chapter 129

"Let him in."

Seeing Eunuch Cui's appearance, Li Chen thought it should be a secret request for an audience from the Ice Bear Tribe.

However, he was a bit confused. Didn't the intelligence from the northern front line say that the cities of the Ice Bear Tribe had already gathered soldiers from various northern tribes and set up defensive works? This was definitely the rhythm of being treated as a front-line battlefield, so why request an audience at this time?

The major northern tribes also had their own cities. Li Chen had indeed not been there, but according to the intelligence, those city walls were towering, built from countless huge and indestructible unmelting ice crystals. When approaching, one could feel bursts of bone-chilling cold air emanating from around the city walls.

The biggest advantage of this kind of city was that it was not only sturdy but also easy to repair quickly after being damaged, and it was mainly adapted to the local climate.

In the extreme north, the deeper one went, the colder it became.

According to the records in the files, the last time they fought near the Great Snow Mountain, the combat ability of the May Tian Ce Dynasty soldiers dropped significantly, and the commander at that time stopped the attack.

The northern tribes indeed had an innate advantage in cold resistance.

When Eunuch Cui returned to the Imperial Study again, he was followed by a mysterious person wearing a cloak.

After this person came in, he took off his cloak, knelt on the ground and said: "Envoy of the Ice Bear Tribe, Huyan Lan, pays respects to Your Majesty!"

Seeing that it wasn't Wagabu, Li Chen was a little surprised.

Huyan? Li Chen had seen this surname; it belonged to the royal surname of the Ice Bear Wang Ting six hundred years ago.

"You come to request an audience with me, for what matter?" Li Chen was still looking at the files and did not look directly at Huyan Lan.

However, Huyan Lan was different from Wagabu; he was still relatively humble and kept kneeling on the ground.

"I am willing to lead my subordinates of the Ice Bear Tribe to surrender to Your Majesty and listen to Your Majesty's dispatch!" Huyan Lan said humbly.

These words made Li Chen put down the files and carefully examine this person.

Huyan Lan looked to be in his forties, with a tall and very sturdy physique, and his face was full of firm expressions, looking like the upright type with thick eyebrows and big eyes.

He looked like the type who could fight bravely on the battlefield and would not surrender until death; he really didn't look like someone who would surrender before fighting.

"Oh? Isn't your Ice Bear Tribe acting as the front line of the northern battlefield?" Li Chen asked.

"Replying to Your Majesty, that is only the current leader acting on his own initiative. We do not have the intention to be enemies with Your Majesty. Moreover, what Your Majesty wants to deal with is the people of the Snow Eagle Tribe. I should be Your Majesty's vanguard and take the head of the Snow Eagle Tribe leader to offer to Your Majesty!" Huyan Lan said every word so seriously.

It sounded like this guy was not on good terms with the leader of the Ice Bear Tribe or the leader of the Snow Eagle Tribe.

"Then tell me, how many people do you have under your command, what can you do for me, and what reward do you need." Li Chen directly asked three questions in a row.

Because he knew that Huyan Lan must have a plan for doing this.

It was impossible for anyone to come to rely on him for no reason, and still want nothing.

If it were like this, even a child wouldn't believe it.

Huyan Lan was still kneeling on the ground, seriously telling his story.

Hearing him speak, there was a feeling of seeing Lin Yue'e back then; this guy was really telling it from the beginning.

Li Chen didn't stop him either, and listened to what he had to say.

According to Huyan Lan's statement, he had been gifted since childhood, loved by the old leader, and supported by the tribesmen. If there hadn't been a genius in the tribe, then he would definitely have been the next leader.

But at this time, a genius really appeared in the tribe, named Huyan Yu.

Huyan Yu had wisdom and talent beyond ordinary people, which could keep up with Huyan Lan.

I don't know if Huyan Lan was bragging here, anyway, that's what he said.

The two of them competed within the tribe, and both had high support.

But that guy Huyan Yu colluded with the leader of the Snow Eagle Tribe, who was the Khan of the Northern Wang Ting, and summoned him to conquer other tribes.

At that time, Huyan Lan thought that with this military merit, his position as leader was stable.

During the time he was leading troops to fight, the old leader suddenly "died of illness," Huyan Yu became the new leader, and forcibly occupied his beloved.

After he came back, he couldn't even see the leader's corpse.

Huyan Lan also didn't understand how the old leader could have died so well; combined with the conquest appointment from a while ago, he felt that this was a conspiracy.

Finally, he left the core area of the Ice Bear Tribe and developed in the surrounding areas. Now he had an army of 100,000 people and was willing to be Li Chen's vanguard.

Huyan Lan's face was very calm when he said these words.

Li Chen said: "You want revenge? To take back what belongs to you?"

Huyan Lan replied: "Your Majesty, I am not that shallow; I just want to be the King of the North! And Your Majesty's loyal dog!"

Huyan Lan had developed in the north for so many years and only had an army of 100,000. Although they were brave and good at fighting, they didn't count for much in the face of a war of this scale.

As long as he had any unusual movements, it would be a matter of minutes for the current leader to destroy him.

And now it was the limit of his development; the current leader couldn't let him continue to develop either.

He was already at this age and couldn't see a day of success.

That was to say, he couldn't go further through his own efforts.

But now the opportunity was in front of him. As long as he was a dog for Li Chen, and as long as the May Tian Ce Dynasty's army could win, then he wouldn't just be the leader of the Ice Bear Tribe, he could even take over the entire north.

So what if he was a dog for Li Chen? Anyway, life now wasn't inferior to others.

Even if he was a dog, he had to be a dog with a relatively high status.

Huyan Lan belonged to a small version of the "Prince of Zhennan" in the Ice Bear Tribe; he had long wanted to rebel, but never had the opportunity.

Li Chen felt his reason was acceptable; Huyan Lan at this age should indeed have a certain ambition, and only such people would be willing to be dogs.

If he still used excuses like close relatives being killed or lovers being snatched, Li Chen wouldn't bother with him, because such people had spirit and couldn't be willing to be dogs; at most, they just wanted to use other people's power to achieve their own goals.

But to be my dog, just barking here isn't enough; you have to know how to do things.

Li Chen first let him stand up, then said: "You want to rely on me, I am very gratified, but you can't just rely on words. You have to prove something to me first to show me your ability. As for what to do, think about it yourself."

At Li Chen's level, he didn't lack dogs; there were plenty of people who wanted to be his dogs.

As long as he recruited, there would surely be many dogs from the northern tribes coming.

Since Huyan Lan took the initiative to be his dog, then he wanted to see what skills this dog had; Li Chen wouldn't raise a useless dog either.

Huyan Lan seemed to understand something, indicated that he would give Your Majesty a surprise in a few days, and then took his leave and left the Imperial Palace.

After he left, Eunuch Cui returned to the Imperial Study to wait for Li Chen's dispatch.

This was a smart person, because Li Chen wanted him to check Huyan Lan's information; some things were not just as Huyan Lan said.

If there was any falsehood in what he said, then Li Chen would send someone to deal with him.

When Eunuch Cui received the order and was preparing to go out, Li Chen said: "What do you think about this Huyan Lan?"

He was very curious about what level this Eunuch Cui, who was in charge of intelligence on weekdays, actually had.

Eunuch Cui immediately stopped and said fawningly: "Your Majesty, you are making things difficult for this old slave. This old slave is just someone who serves tea and water for Your Majesty; how would I understand these things."

"Fine, go get busy."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Hearing Eunuch Cui's reaction, Li Chen didn't say anything; Eunuch Cui might know, but he didn't dare to say.

Because he always remembered that he was a slave, and there was a certain difference between a slave and a minister.

If a slave talked too much and snatched the minister's rice bowl, the minister would resent the slave.

If a slave said the wrong thing and made the master unhappy, then he would lose his rice bowl.

So the best way was to do his own job well.

If the master was a bit weak, the slave could indeed help the master stabilize his position, then the slave's status would also improve.

Li Chen, this master, was strong to such a degree; Eunuch Cui felt that if his status were any higher, he would probably be envied, so this was enough.

Anyway, with the master's wisdom, he would definitely know about such things, so he didn't need to worry too much.

Being able to live until now in this dangerous palace, Eunuch Cui's main strategy was to be dutiful.

In the Imperial Palace, he wasn't the only one who was dutiful.

In Consort Yi's palace, Li Sining was talking to her mother about some cultivation matters; ever since she came into contact with Chu Ruoyan, she had been full of yearning for the outside world.

The Li Sining of the past either lived in her own mansion, or at the Yunlu Academy, or in the Imperial Palace, and had never been anywhere else.

And no matter where she went, there were guards and maids protecting her, and her days were just so ordinary.

But before Chu Ruoyan entered the palace, she had practiced outside with cultivators of the same generation, participated in various mystical realms, and challenged powerful monsters.

She even escaped death many times and gained a certain improvement.

In recent chats, Chu Ruoyan said a lot about these things.

These were all things Li Sining hadn't experienced, and she also wanted to go out and fight monsters to test her abilities. She had also asked Chu Ruoyan, but Chu Ruoyan directly refused.

With Chu Ruoyan's cultivation, she could protect herself, but how could she protect Li Sining?

When she went before, she had a son of destiny like Xiao Ming by her side, as well as Imperial Capital geniuses like Liu Hao and Wu Qi.

Li Chen could indeed protect Li Sining, but Li Chen felt that her cultivation was too low, and going out to practice had no meaning, so he directly refused.

So Li Sining, in boredom, could only come to her mother's palace to complain.

The beautiful woman with a plump figure sitting in front of her was Consort Yi.

Consort Yi was wearing a purple-red dress today, which made her snow-white skin look even more flawless.

The long dress wrapped around her slender and round jade legs and her curvy figure.

Just sitting there, she gave people a feeling of being full of spring but not angry and majestic.

Of course, this "not angry and majestic" was only facing Li Sining; Li Sining was her daughter.

!

Not to mention seeing Li Chen and the Empress Dowager, Consort Yi had a peaceful expression when seeing other people in the palace.

If one were to talk about how beautiful Consort Yi was, Li Sining's beauty, which was one of the two best in the Imperial Capital, was inherited from her mother.

Consort Yi was the mature version of Li Sining.

When Consort Yi first entered the palace, she was also stunning for a time; many concubines felt that their status would be threatened.

But Consort Yi knew she had no background, and it was simple for other concubines to get rid of her; as long as she lost the Emperor's favor, it would be her doomsday.

So since entering the palace, she had always shown an obedient and dutiful appearance, not fighting or grabbing, so she was not envied by other concubines.

Later, without the Emperor's favor, because she handled relationships relatively well, other concubines would occasionally help her, and she had lived like this until now.

Consort Yi knew that she could survive like this, so she taught this method to her daughter, letting her daughter wear a mask of being well-behaved and sensible.

For so many years, no matter which Imperial Prince it was, they all took good care of Li Sining; even the late Emperor praised Li Sining for being very sensible. Consort Yi felt this was enough.

But ever since Li Chen ascended the throne, Li Sining took off her mask and released her nature.

Consort Yi felt that if this continued, Li Sining might collide with others.

Don't look at the fact that she was taken care of by Li Chen now, but that was also because Li Chen didn't have many women at the current stage; if Li Chen started to take concubines, where would he have time to manage Li Sining?

As long as there was no care from Li Chen, those people Li Sining offended would definitely retaliate against her.

When Li Chen took his first concubine, Consort Yi began to worry.

Because she inquired that Chu Ruoyan was a child of a second-rate aristocratic family; if such a child entered the palace, she would definitely try to gain Li Chen's exclusive favor and then develop her own family.

Then Li Sining, who stuck to Li Chen's side, might be a thorn in Chu Ruoyan's eye.

Just when Consort Yi intended to let Li Sining stay away from Li Chen, Li Sining actually became close to Chu Ruoyan, simply best friends who talked about everything.

This made Consort Yi unable to understand what Chu Ruoyan was thinking.

Actually, she couldn't understand it, which was right. According to normal logic, aristocratic children entering the palace must have the purpose of developing their families; they actually didn't like the Emperor, just making a deal.

Chu Ruoyan just liked Li Chen as a person; the two of them had a certain emotional foundation, so Chu Ruoyan's purpose was not very strong.

As Li Sining became more and more powerful, she became even more "unscrupulous" in the Imperial Palace.

At least in Consort Yi's eyes, Li Sining was indeed a bit out of line, not looking like a princess.

In her view, if this continued, Li Sining would mostly offend the Empress Dowager.

So when the Empress Dowager bestowed the marriage, Consort Yi naturally agreed.

She even thought in her heart that Li Sining going to the Zou family was actually not bad, staying away from the disputes of the Imperial Palace.

But she didn't know what Li Chen said; the Empress Dowager actually went back on her word and then began to dote on Li Sining, treating Li Sining like her own daughter.

Now Consort Yi really couldn't understand; her daughter could actually get the care of the Emperor, the Empress Dowager, and the Emperor's concubine at the same time. Why was this, and how was it different from her many years of experience?

Looking at how arrogant Li Sining's status in the harem was now, Consort Yi was really afraid that something would happen to her.

Actually, Consort Yi had a victim mentality; she thought from the perspective of a victim.

If it were reversed, it could be understood that here, who would dare to offend Li Sining? Wouldn't that be narrowing one's own path!

"You, don't think about going out every day. You have to listen to the Emperor, cultivate honestly, at least cultivate to that Piercing Void Realm, to have the ability to protect yourself. And the Emperor is so busy, don't cause trouble."

Consort Yi spoke very gently, with an intellectual beauty.

"I didn't cause trouble; I've been working very hard to cultivate."

Li Sining was very aggrieved; clearly, she was so sensible.

But the cultivation speed was still very slow; how many days would it take to reach the Sage Realm?

If it weren't for Li Chen letting her settle down a bit more, she might have already started to force a breakthrough.

Actually, Consort Yi called Li Sining here today for other things to ask.

That was, the Crown Princess Yun Shang asked her to ask Li Sining what type of woman Li Chen liked.

This asked the right person; Li Sining didn't dare to say anything else, but she had research in this area.

Seeing Li Sining stand up and carefully look at her mother, she said: "Brother should like the type of mother who is beautiful, has a big chest and good figure, and is gentle."

Consort Yi: "..."

The first half of the sentence almost scared her; this dead girl, actually taking me as an example, why didn't you say the Empress Dowager?

If Li Sining knew Consort Yi thought this way, she would definitely say: I just wanted to say the Empress Dowager, just happened to see a suitable one.

Actually, she wasn't wrong; it was according to Ji Lianyu's standard.

Can't be according to Chu Ruoyan's standard; Chu Ruoyan also belonged to a supermodel.

That night, Yun Shang received the "clue" provided by Consort Yi.

Thinking in her heart: Isn't this me!

However, there was indeed such a person in her mind, but this one was not easy to handle, and she hadn't seen her for a long time.

This one had a high status in the Yun family; since childhood, because of her gifted talent, she was taken into the sect for cultivation.

She came during the Yun family banquet last time; Yun Shang felt stunning at first glance, transcending the greenness of a young girl, with a mature intellectual beauty.

The most important thing was that she was big enough; Li Chen must like it.

If Li Sining wasn't joking, Li Chen mostly liked mature ones.

Yun Shang remembered the name of this elder, called Yun Yuehua.

But the problem was, sect cultivators generally looked down on the Imperial Court; how could they sacrifice themselves for the Emperor for her sake?

Just when Yun Shang was considering other candidates, servants in the mansion reported that a woman claiming to be from the Yun family wanted to see the Crown Princess.

Yun Shang was very strange; ever since the Crown Prince died, few people from the Yun family came, because most of the Yun family members who came were asking the Crown Prince to do things. Who could this be?

Since it was her own family, Yun Shang still let the clansman in.

When the maid led the clansman in, Yun Shang was stunned, looking at the gentle and dignified woman who was also accompanied by a faint immortal aura; wasn't this the family elder Yun Yuehua she had just thought of?

Yun Yuehua and Yun Shang's father, Yun Xu, were of the same generation, and she was an elder of the sect with a very high status; she didn't know what she was looking for her for.

Actually, Yun Yuehua could come to the Imperial Capital because she wanted to help the Tianyan Divine Sect overcome difficulties.

In the council hall, Yun Yuehua heard Lady Youlan say she was coming to the Imperial Capital, and she thought of her niece who was the Crown Princess.

Maybe she could use this relationship to have a good talk with the Emperor of the May Tian Ce Dynasty; having an acquaintance act as a peacemaker in the middle would definitely make things easier to talk about.

When she told Lady Youlan this statement, Lady Youlan felt it was unnecessary; what kind of relationship do I have with Li Chen, do I still need to use others to pull strings?

We are both just acting.

But Lady Youlan couldn't say that, so she could only agree.

Fearing that Yun Yuehua would see through the clues, after arriving in the Imperial Capital, she also troubled her to find the Crown Princess.

Yun Yuehua indicated that she would definitely work very hard, so she came to the Crown Prince's mansion that night.

Yun Shang and Yun Yuehua were not very familiar, so they seemed a bit estranged when they met.

When Yun Yuehua came in, she saw a young woman wearing a gorgeous palace dress, with gold hairpins and jade ornaments, and a stunning face.

This made her feel a bit emotional; she still remembered when she saw Yun Shang before, she was still an exquisite and beautiful little girl, and now she was so generous.

"Niece Yun Shang, haven't seen you for many years, are you well?" Yun Yuehua stepped into the main hall and asked softly, with a bit of gentleness and care in her tone.

(End of chapter)