Chapter 764: Worth It

"What?" The Emperor was stunned. This was not an act; it was genuine astonishment. Immediately following, he flew into a rage and barked, "Old thief! How dare you slander Me with empty words? What Heavenly Demon... you... you are even closer to high treason than the likes of Shou Wang and the others!"

The word "slander," when applied to an Emperor, is inherently laughable. Once one reaches the position of Emperor, many charges simply cease to be charges. Murder, arson, rape, extortion... these capital crimes are, to an Emperor, mere trifles. Even if they are not beautified as romantic affairs, they will never be subject to sanction. If an Emperor cherishes his reputation, fine; if he does not, he simply does what he does. Even the crime of "unfilial piety," which is the most effective constraint on an Emperor, has many ways to be excused. Not to mention that killing brothers and forcing fathers to abdicate does not hinder one from being a wise monarch; even the things this current Emperor did before were quite "uproarious and unfilial," yet no one came out to level accusations.

But in this world, there are still some iron laws that an Emperor cannot touch—not just because violating the interests of the majority would lead to a backlash and make his seat unstable, but because, just like commoners breaking the law, he would truly be subject to violent sanctions.

For example, "colluding with demons."

As the name implies, it is privately communicating with Heavenly Demons and betraying the Human World.

Although, no matter how one thinks about it, an Emperor colluding with demons sounds like dark humor, he was still furious: this is not just a charge, but the greatest accusation against his character, which he cannot tolerate. It is just like some heroes of the greenwood: telling them they can commit murder and arson is fine, but saying they raped women or stole their brothers' wives is absolutely forbidden.

The Emperor was so enraged, yet Gaoyuan Marquis remained very calm and said, "It seems Your Majesty does not believe you have colluded with demons? I think so too. What Your Majesty spends so much effort to obtain is something you want, not giving away what is in your pocket to others. But then I would like to ask Your Majesty: where does Your Majesty's power come from?"

This was another question of high treason. The Emperor's breathing grew heavy with anger, and he retorted, "A laughable question. Then I would like to ask you: it is said that Gaoyuan Marquis suppresses Yunzhou, with none daring to disobey, like an Emperor of the borderlands. Where does your power come from?"

Gaoyuan Marquis said, "So-called power is, first, one's own strength, and second, the power to drive others, which is what we call authority. One's own strength is, of course, cultivated. As for the power in Yunzhou—it is the righteous cause and system of the Imperial Court, my own strength and prestige, organizational construction, the military morale brought by rewards, punishments, and consecutive victories, and the popular support brought by governing for the benefit of the people. These support my status and power."

She spoke point by point, as if responding before the monarch. Although her voice was low and hoarse, the timbre of an elderly woman of eighty or ninety, for some reason, the high-spirited phrasing sounded very much like a youth.

The Emperor snorted, but silently pondered in his heart, thinking: Those old fellows never explain these principles of managing people clearly in front of me, making me read books to realize them myself. Yet this person explains it clearly to me; she is indeed different from the rest.

At this moment, Gaoyuan Marquis continued, "That is why I must ask: does Your Majesty know where your power comes from? Of course, originally Your Majesty was the supreme being of the world, and everyone should listen to the Emperor. Even if there is resistance to what the Emperor wants to do, there are always people willing to do it for you. As the saying goes, 'Within the vast lands, all are the King's subjects.' However, Your Majesty should know that the matter at hand is not that simple."

The Emperor snorted coldly again: Is this not nonsense? If he still had the power of "all are the King's subjects," why would he need to spend so much effort on these schemes?

He seemed to already know what the essence of Gaoyuan Marquis's question was.

"Your Majesty has the righteous cause of the world, and this cause should have belonged entirely to Your Majesty. But in the central government, the Empress Dowager has never withdrawn, and in the provinces, it has been eroded by the feudal lords. If we speak of strength, Your Majesty is young and not yet enough to contend with the heroes of the world. If we speak of popular support, since Your Highness took personal charge, you have yet to implement fundamental policies; only in Jingshi do some benefit, and it has not spread far, so it cannot be said to be beneficial to the world. If we speak of military achievements, Your Majesty's brilliance and martial prowess have not yet..."

The Emperor barked, "Enough, Gaoyuan Marquis, you can shut your mouth. What is the use of saying these digressions? I can't do this, I can't do that... are you here to get your kicks?"

Gaoyuan Marquis laughed, "I have been long-winded. My meaning is that Your Majesty was originally like a... young dragon in a cage. Although you extended your sharp claws, you could only grab some tangible things, far from enough to take objects from a distance or interfere with more powerful matters. No matter how complex and exquisite the planning, without powerful strength to execute it, it is just a reflection in the mirror or a flower in the water, and the enemy is so powerful. But Your Majesty managed to do it, conjuring up many forces capable of restraining the Imperial Preceptor and exterminating the imperial clan, completing a massive layout. Where did these forces come from?"

The Emperor's use of schemes was indeed strange and risky, and more importantly, ruthless enough; it must have been planned for a long time. But is being ruthless enough to get things done? The more bizarre and dangerous the plan, the more it tests execution. If one link breaks, the plan collapses. Without capable people under one's command, any good plan will be executed poorly.

Moreover, this time it did not require the traditional people in the central government who handle affairs and politics, but strong individuals who are powerful themselves and ignore authority. It is the power furthest from the young Emperor; he has never possessed these forces, and even the entire Imperial Court does not have them now.

The Emperor said, "I am the Supreme Ruler. Although a dragon hidden in the abyss, sooner or later I shall be a dragon flying in the sky. There are those who want the merit of following the dragon, so they defect to Me. Is that not allowed?"

Gaoyuan Marquis shook her head and said, "I am not talking about those people. There is no shortage of people who want to advance. People like Zhongmeng Zhenren are merely opportunists. Following the Imperial Preceptor before, he could only be a steward and could not even be a Sword Guest, and he did not get enough benefits, so defecting to Your Majesty is not surprising. But there are others whose origins are perhaps not so clear, right?"

"Then let me ask more clearly—there is such a strange person who is particularly good at forging corpses. If not for his help, how could Your Majesty have hidden it from your own mother's eyes and ears, and calmly escaped like a cicada shedding its skin?"

The Emperor did not deny it, saying, "There is no shortage of strange people and talented individuals in the world. Since Gaoyuan Marquis is a Sword Hero, you should also know that in the realm of the sword, it is not strange to accomplish these things."

Gaoyuan Marquis nodded, "That is true, but impersonating a corpse only requires a niche sword. However, Your Majesty had people exterminate several powerful families in succession. These families were by no means weak and easy to bully, yet someone was able to kill them all, leaving not even a chicken or dog, without a sound. They even made it so the Imperial Preceptor could not catch a shadow, to the point of being lured away by a 'luring the tiger from the mountain' tactic, and in the end, he labored in vain. Are such strong individuals also valuing the merit of following the dragon and actively serving Your Majesty?"

The Emperor was silent for a moment, lifted his head slightly, and said, "Why not? Have you not heard that 'rare goods can be hoarded'? Could it be that the strong have no desires? Who among the feudal lords in the world is not strong? Are they not greedy for worldly fame and status? If they were not greedy, they could just focus on cultivation. Why are they leading troops, managing politics, and even granting themselves titles to seek fame? If some can establish themselves in the provinces, then others can borrow the righteous cause of the Imperial Court to reach the same goal by different paths. I embrace all rivers; as long as they work together with Me, I am not stingy with fame and profit!"

Gaoyuan Marquis nodded again and said, "Let us assume there is a force comparable to a Sword Immortal investing in Your Majesty. I will ask Your Majesty again: extermination is extermination, why replace some people's corpses?"

The Emperor frowned, "What swapping of corpses?"

Gaoyuan Marquis said, "It seems Your Majesty really does not know about this. When the exterminations happened before, I also happened to go and investigate. Among them, sporadic corpses looked like the original persons, but were actually fakes; others had swapped them out, only it was done very realistically. If not for a coincidence, one would not be able to recognize it at all. That was when I realized that human corpses could be faked, and then I thought..."

She glanced at the Emperor; the meaning was very clear: it was because she saw that corpses could be faked that she thought the Emperor's death might also be problematic. In other words, she had actually sensed the Emperor's layout early on, which is why she was able to go from suspicion to certainty later.

The Emperor was furious upon hearing this and said, "What a reckless rustic, how could they use their abilities so carelessly, revealing such a flaw? They nearly ruined My great undertaking!"

Gaoyuan Marquis asked in surprise, "Is the Emperor not curious why they did this? Or curious about where they hid the real corpses, or rather, the real people, after making the fake ones?"

The Emperor shook his head, "Even if I am curious, I do not want to ask. It is nothing more than using public office for private gain, managing their own interests. I know there are many unspeakable methods in the world to use people or corpses to achieve bad ends. How is this different from those corrupt officials who get rich? But since I use them, I cannot investigate in detail. Just as one cannot kill all corrupt officials when governing in the future. Still the same words: for the great plan, it is worth it."

Gaoyuan Marquis let out a laugh and said, "It was my wishful thinking. So the Emperor does not care about these things. Then let me ask again: do you know that their method of attracting the Imperial Preceptor was to release Yin energy comparable to the arrival of a Yin Calamity?"

The Emperor was startled and said, "You are saying they are practitioners of outer-sect evil paths?"

Gaoyuan Marquis said, "I fear they are the outer evil itself! Before I came to Jingshi from Yunzhou, I learned that people from the Demon Sect had infiltrated Youzhou and had reached a fairly high position. I fear they had already reached Shou Wang's side, and then were brought into Jingshi by him."

The Emperor cursed, "This thief is not only plotting treason, but is also so stupid!"

Gaoyuan Marquis looked at the Emperor and said, "This is the first time the Heavenly Demons of the outer realms have shown traces in the Human World. I suspect they are plotting something big; perhaps they want to shake the heart of the Human World. Later, when I entered the capital, I saw no traces of Heavenly Demons and thought they were still dormant, waiting for an opportunity. But I did not expect to see Yin energy and Phantoms in a series of extermination cases. This clearly shows they are not satisfied with the borderlands of Youzhou and want to do the greatest thing in the world. I thought at the time that Shou Wang was the mastermind, and that the Heavenly Demons were colluding with him to plot against the Human World. Perhaps he sold the Human World to the Heavenly Demons to exchange for outside support."

Her gaze fixed on the Emperor again, and she said, "But I did not expect the mastermind to be Your Majesty. With my shallow wisdom, I think that as the Supreme Ruler, Your Majesty should not sell your own subjects for the sake of power."

The Emperor sneered, "Gaoyuan Marquis—'hearing of a name is not as good as meeting the person.' I suppose I was young back then and had no impression that you were such an unscrupulous person; you are truly different. Since you can ask, I will answer directly: I would not."

Gaoyuan Marquis said, "That is for the best. However, even if Your Majesty does not actively sell, it is hard to avoid Heavenly Demon evil-doers taking advantage of the situation. Those people you recruited to do things—if they do not need Your Majesty to spend effort to win them over and are too easily directed like an arm, perhaps you should suspect their intentions. Are they plotting something else, and have they counted you as a trophy along with the rest? The gifts that fate bestows have long been secretly marked with a price. I hope Your Majesty will think thrice."

She looked up at the sky, where the pillar of lightning still reached between heaven and earth.

"Now the Heavenly Demons and their lackeys are not moving, presumably waiting for Your Majesty's final move to remove the Imperial Preceptor's protection; that is when they will strike. Does Your Majesty intend to persist in your own course?"

The Emperor's gaze was deep; for a moment he seemed to be pondering, but finally, he replied, "Of course. It is worth it."