Chapter 163: Discussion and Persuasion

Early in the morning, the winter sun shone through the window, dazzling and bright, yet it could not bring a shred of warmth.

Fortunately, heating stoves were lit throughout the room, so there was not the slightest chill to be felt.

Chen Mo held the beauty in his arms and leisurely opened his eyes; what came into view were wedding garments and jewelry scattered everywhere, on the bed and in front of the desk alike.

Especially on the desk, there lay a lotus-colored bodice and a Gold Step-Shaker.

Thinking carefully about what had happened yesterday, Chen Mo could not help but smile knowingly.

Zhao Yu was still sleeping very soundly, her body also clinging tightly to Chen Mo.

Not daring to disturb her, Chen Mo carefully moved out from under the covers and quietly put on his clothes to leave.

He ordered the maid to prepare hot water for him to wash and change.

"Master, a female official from the palace wishes to see you; I have already invited her to the front courtyard to drink tea and rest.

There is also a collection curator from the Wanfa Tower who has sent a letter for you."

Seeing Chen Mo get up and appear, the butler hurried over to report.

"Good, go tell that female official that I will go to see her right away."

Chen Mo nodded lightly and took the letter from his hand.

The letter sent by the Wanfa Tower collection curator was very brief, with only a few sparse sentences; it was Senior Chu inviting him to meet at the Wanfa Tower, presumably to discuss something with him.

After putting away the letter, Chen Mo walked to the front courtyard, where a middle-aged female official was sitting on a chair drinking tea, with several accompanying palace maids standing quietly by her side.

"General Chen." Seeing Chen Mo arrive, the female official hurriedly stood up and bowed, "Empress Xu has sent us to invite you to the palace to discuss important matters."

Chen Mo nodded lightly; during this period, he had been in seclusion for cultivation, so he was truly not very clear about the affairs of the Imperial Court.

However, he figured there should be no major problem, otherwise, it would not be an invitation for him to enter the palace for discussion, but rather an imperial edict urgently summoning him.

"Very well, please wait for me to bathe and change, so that I may go to see the Empress." Chen Mo said with a smile.

Since it was not a summons, there was no need to be so hurried; he could be more composed.

"Please do as you wish." The female official naturally had no objections to this.

Who didn't know now that Chen Mo was a favorite of the Empress and the Crown Prince, and could even be called their pillar of support.

Chen Mo had protected the sovereign and followed the dragon; his actions had already proven his loyalty and capability.

If Empress Xu did not trust him and did not rely on him, then who else could she rely on now?

Chen Mo washed and changed into casual clothes, then immediately followed the female official to the Palace City.

The situation in the Palace City remained as it had been; many Yulin Guards bowed when they saw Chen Mo.

To this day, the Tiger Tally of the Yulin Guard remained in Chen Mo's hands; he could still dispatch these Yulin Guards at will, and more importantly, he could control the Palace Array.

Generally speaking, the Palace City Tiger Tally could not be easily shown to others, and in most cases, it was held by the Emperor.

With the matter of the Prince of Pingxi concluded, Empress Xu still had no intention of taking back the Tiger Tally, which was enough to show her trust in Chen Mo.

It could be said that with Chen Mo's current strength, coupled with his ability to hold the palace Tiger Tally, if he had even half a heart of rebellion, Empress Xu and the Crown Prince would not even live through tonight.

Walking all the way into the Palace City, the period of national mourning had not yet passed, and Empress Xu was still keeping vigil at the Imperial Ancestral Temple with many concubines, princes, and princesses.

Upon learning that Chen Mo had arrived, she had long been waiting outside the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

"This humble subject pays respects to the Empress!" Chen Mo walked up to Empress Xu and bowed.

"Sir, please rise." She smiled slightly and walked toward a spot not far away.

The remaining palace attendants wanted to follow, but were stopped by a look from her.

"In two more days, the Emperor's coffin will set out to be buried in the Huangling; does Sir have any plans regarding this?" Empress Xu lowered her voice and asked tentatively.

She was not a fool; from the fact that Chen Mo had previously asked her to clear the crowd from the Imperial Ancestral Temple, she had already guessed that something was wrong.

Moreover, the death of the Emperor was, in itself, somewhat abnormal.

It was just that the situation was critical at the time, and she had no time to think it over, but now that the Emperor was truly about to be buried, she naturally had to ask again if there was really a problem.

Hearing this, Chen Mo looked left and right, released his True Qi to isolate the inside from the outside, and said in a low voice, "Your Majesty guessed correctly; the corpse inside the coffin is indeed not the current Emperor."

He could naturally guess Empress Xu's meaning, knowing that she was suspicious of the Emperor's death.

Otherwise, for the matter of the Emperor's burial, she should have gone to the Ministry of Rites, why would she need to find him to ask in detail.

Regarding this matter, Chen Mo himself had no intention of hiding it from her; he hadn't spoken earlier because he was worried she would be too agitated, causing the matter to be accidentally exposed.

"Ah!" With her inner suspicions verified, Empress Xu could not help but be astonished.

Many more questions flooded her mind: since the Emperor was not dead, why did he not show himself?

Since he was not dead, why did he not stand up to handle the Prince of Pingxi's attempt to usurp the throne?

"This is a long story, I will tell you slowly." Chen Mo began, carefully narrating everything that Senior Chu had told him one by one.

Even though Empress Xu had spent years in the deep palace, she herself possessed Post-Heaven cultivation, so it was not difficult to explain these things to her.

It just required giving her enough time to accept these things.

After all, the news that the Emperor was still alive was indeed shocking.

"Since the Emperor has been sent to the Xuan Dan Pavilion for treatment, what is his current situation, and can he still return? Should this burial proceed?"

Empress Xu's brows were tightly locked; she pondered for a long time before speaking.

She kept staring at Chen Mo, hoping that he could give a concrete answer.

"I will go see Senior Chu later to ask about his specific condition; the ceremony will proceed as normal. If His Majesty's injuries can be healed, we will then announce that he has received the protection of Heaven and has returned from the dead."

Chen Mo did not hesitate and decisively gave the answer he had already considered.

Returning from the dead did indeed carry many mysterious connotations, but in this world, the common people were not that hard to convince.

Moreover, even if he returned from the dead, it would not affect the overall situation, at least not for now.

The Crown Prince was young; even if he were to ascend the throne, he would not be able to hold real power in the short term, so there was no need to worry about a power struggle between father and son.

"Then I will leave this matter to the General!" Empress Xu's tone was full of trust as she spoke earnestly.

Having received Chen Mo's concrete answer, she clearly felt relieved and was no longer worried.

"This humble official understands." Chen Mo cupped his hands in a salute, then turned and walked away.

Walking out of the Palace City, he arrived at the Wanfa Tower. The archivists responsible for guarding the books here bowed and saluted one after another upon seeing him.

Before he even reached the top floor, Chen Mo heard the sound transmission of Senior Chu.

"You finally came." Chu Tianxiu's tone sounded very happy; it seemed he was in quite a good mood.

"The Empress suddenly summoned me just now, so I was delayed for some time." Chen Mo walked to the top floor and explained with a smile.

"Did your cultivation break through again? What Xiantian layer are you at now?" Chu Tianxiu asked urgently.

"Replying to Senior, this junior is already at the Xiantian Second Layer." Chen Mo did not hide this.

"I knew I wasn't wrong; your natural talent is truly extraordinary!" Chu Tianxiu's tone was excited and high-spirited, and his heart began to beat uncontrollably.

The speed at which Chen Mo's cultivation broke through was too fast; it was improving at a rate visible to the naked eye.

Chu Tianxiu was nearly two hundred years old and had seen countless geniuses and experts; even he himself had been a top-tier prodigy back in his day.

Even so, compared to Chen Mo, his own talent was still not worth mentioning.

If he had only seen a glimmer of hope before, then now that hope had been magnified ten or a hundred times!

"My Great Gan, no, the entire Human Race, the entire world—it is truly a blessing from the heavens to have a prodigy like you!"

Chu Tianxiu's eyes shone as he stared straight at Chen Mo, as if looking at a rare treasure.

"Some time ago, I saw you kill the Prince of Pingxi. In the future, you should not only practice Internal Martial Arts, but also concurrently practice a Body Refining Method."

Although it was a question, Chu Tianxiu's tone was very certain.

Seeing Chen Mo nod in admission, he continued, "You are now also in the Innate Realm; you should know the principle that trying to chew too much leads to indigestion.

With your talent, you should make a choice and put more energy into practicing Internal Martial Arts; only by specializing in one path will your progress be faster.

If you want both, in the end, it may be difficult for either to reach the highest realm."

Chu Tianxiu advised him with quite a bit of earnestness.

He actually knew that with Chen Mo's talent, even if he practiced both internal and external arts, he would definitely be able to achieve extremely high accomplishments.

It was just that the current situation did not leave him enough time to practice slowly.

If an expert at the Heavenly Human Realm did not emerge, then in another hundred or ten years, everything in this world would vanish into nothingness.

"This junior understands." Chen Mo nodded and agreed casually; it seemed he hadn't taken the matter to heart at all.

Chu Tianxiu was naturally aware of this, but he didn't say much more.

He understood that it was obviously impossible to make Chen Mo abandon his own path of cultivation just by empty words.

He still needed to find an opportunity to inform him of the specific situation of this world; only then would his persuasion be much more effective.

"Senior, the Emperor is about to be buried in the tomb. Has the Xuan Dan Pavilion sent any news? How exactly should we proceed?"

Chen Mo spoke in a deep voice, asking the question he was most concerned about at the moment.

Hearing this, Chu Tianxiu also fell silent, carefully pondering.

"In another two or three days, I should be able to leave the Wanfa Tower. At that time, I will personally make a trip to the Xuan Dan Pavilion.

The burial arrangements will proceed as usual. After I finish at the Xuan Dan Pavilion, I will immediately rush to the Huangling, and we will meet there."

He stated his general plan for the near future. A month had passed, and the condition of the Innate Expert who had been severely injured at the time had basically recovered.

He could not act at will, but his movements were basically not too restricted.

After he finished at the Xuan Dan Pavilion, he would take the opportunity to visit his few close friends, send them to the Huangling, and then inform everyone of Chen Mo's situation.

He would lay his cards on the table there and tell him that this world would be destroyed in a hundred or ten years.

As for the specific life or death of the Emperor, compared to this matter, it was actually not that important.

Because if no expert at the Heavenly Human Realm appeared, then everyone would die when the time came.

"Very well, then this junior will go back and prepare." Chen Mo cupped his hands in a salute and turned to leave the Wanfa Tower.

He went to see Empress Xu once more to inform her of the situation, and only then did Chen Mo set off to return home.

Upon returning home, Zhao Yu was carefully organizing that set of wedding clothes. Seeing Chen Mo walk over, she couldn't help but complain, "It's all your fault! This perfectly good clothing got dirty!"

"Yes, yes, it's all my fault." Chen Mo did not argue at all, and took the opportunity to pull her into his arms from behind.

"Alright, stop messing around. I heard that Mother-in-law also arrived in the Capital the day before yesterday. As the younger generation, we should go pay a visit. I have already had people prepare the gifts; we can just go directly in a while."

Zhao Yu pushed away Chen Mo's arms and said softly.

The mother-in-law she spoke of was naturally the legal wife of Sun Shouren.

When Chen Mo was in Xingyuan Prefecture, he had also visited her a few times.

His foster father had been officially transferred to a post near the Capital some time ago, so the family's relatives were naturally brought to the Capital one after another.

"Alright, then let's tidy up and head over." Chen Mo nodded with a smile.

After handling the chores at home, the two of them set off immediately with the gifts they had prepared long ago.

Today, besides Sun Shouren and his wife, Mo Hu, Xu Dabao, and Sun Li were also present at the residence.

A banquet was held at noon, with men and women sitting at separate tables. Chen Mo and the others sat together drinking and chatting.

As for the women's table, they were chatting about domestic trifles.

While drinking, Chen Mo also learned that Mo Hu was preparing to get married, with the specific date set for the seventh of next month.

Chen Mo and Xu Dabao and the others naturally congratulated him repeatedly and toasted him several times.

The crowd feasted happily until the evening, when they finally began to disperse.

With this matter settled, several more days passed, reaching the end of the national mourning period. The Emperor's coffin was taken out for the funeral procession, heading to the Huangling that had been built one hundred and twenty li north of the Capital to be buried.

(End of chapter)