Chapter 169 - Various Trivial Matters

Inside a great hall of the Li Family...

Li Shenji sat in the main position, with his right hand laying on the tiger head of the tiger throne. He was coldly glaring at a Divine Battalion soldier standing before him, listening to him as he gave an account of everything.

A crude coffin was also laying inside the great hall.

Everyone else was standing in a respectful manner.

"So you are telling me Gu Hai killed Haoran!?" Li Shenji asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Yes, yes!" that Divine Battalion soldier answered, summoning up his courage.

"Hahaha, Divine Battalion, oh Divine Battalion! I handed it to Li Haoran, and he taught you such bl.u.s.tery!? You dare to lie before me!?" Li Shenji shouted in a chilling manner.

"I...I didn't!" that Divine Battalion soldier said, gritting his teeth.

"Uncle, Great Brother was really killed by Gu Hai!" A man dressed in luxurious clothes standing on the sideline a.s.sisted the Divine Battalion soldier.

"Second Young Master is telling the truth!" another two Divine Battalion soldiers added with a shout.

The corner of Li Haoran's lips rose into a cold smile as he pointed and said, "You, you, and you. Go, drag them out, and behead them in the square!"

"Yes, Patriarch!" A group of his subordinates immediately came over.

"Uncle, what are you doing?" Second Young Master cried in shock at once.

"Patriarch, why are you killing me? Why are you killing me!?" the trio who were to be dragged out cried in horror.

However, Li Shenji had already issued his order. The three were immediately dragged away by the group of subordinates.

"Second Young Master, save us, Second Young Master, save us!" the trio begged in horror.

Second Young Master was also terrified.

"Patriarch, I was wrong! Second Young Master wanted me to say that, Second Young Master told me to say that! Patriarch, spare us!" The three who were being dragged begged for mercy, shocked, and horrified.

However, Li Shenji had already given his order, and others simply didn't dare to plead on their behalf.

"Execute!" came from outside the palace.

"Ah~!" "Ah~!" "Ah~!"

Three blood-curdling screams screeched out and stopped abruptly, terrifying everyone inside the hall.

"Uncle...!" Second Young Master's face distorted in shock and horror as he blurted out.

Li Shenji c.o.c.ked his head and said indifferently, looking at the Second Young Master, "Tomorrow, put down everything you are doing and go to the northern seas, guard the islands there!"

Second Young Master's face turned pale. He wanted to beg for mercy.

However, a man by his side right away pulled him and whispered to him, "Second Young Master, your anger on behalf of Young Master is justified. However, you lied to the Patriarch. Patriarch not condemning you to death is already leniency on his part!"

Second Young Master raised his head to see, and indeed, there was an ice-cold look in Li Shenji's eyes. At the sight of it, Second Young Master came to his senses with a s.h.i.+ver, and didn't dare to speak another word.

Li Shenji swept a cold gaze at everyone inside the audience hall.

"Alright, now, who is going to give me a rundown. Once more... what exactly happened in Li Haoran's trip to Thousand Islands Seas?" Li Shenji asked as his voice turned colder.

One of the surviving Divine Battalion soldiers narrated everything in detail.

This time, there was no bias at all, no matter how big or trivial the matter was. Li Shenji narrowed his eyes as he quietly listened to everything, lightly tapping his finger on the armrest of the tiger throne.

Once everything was over, the audience hall sank into silence. Everyone's eyes were focused on Li Shenji.

"A mastermind acting behind the scenes!? Haha, Li Haoran! You truly got into big trouble. Prince Xiaoyue actually died by your hands!? Ha!" Li Shenji's eyes flickered with a cold light.

Slowly standing up, Li Shenji made his way to the coffin.

As he opened the lid of the coffin, cold air immediately burst forth from inside. Apparently, it was used to preserve the corpse. Li Shenji carefully inspected Li Haoran's corpse.

Li Haoran's head had already been blown to nothing. His body was laden with b.l.o.o.d.y wounds. More importantly, both of his arms had been reduced to bones.

Li Shenji slowly picked up one of the bones, his eyes flickering solemnly.

"The bone marrow has been completely extracted?" A furrow crept up on Li Shenji's brow.

"Patriarch, no matter what, Great Brother's death is related to Gu Hai. Earlier, Second Brother just lost his mind in anger!" another man nearby said.

"Gu Hai?" Li Shenji narrowed his eyes.

Suddenly, a loud shout came from outside the audience hall. "Li Shenji, receive His Holy Majesty's decree!"

Everyone's expression changed immediately.

Li Shenji quickly made his way out of the audience hall. He saw a man wearing official robes standing on a huge crane, looking at the hall.

"This insignificant Li Shenji greets the emissary! Long live his Holy Majesty!" Li Shenji immediately bowed to the emissary.

"His Holy Majesty has decreed that Li Shenji reorganize the Divine Battalion in three months, pending for His Holy Majesty's dispatch!" the official on the giant crane announced in a solemn manner.

"Yes, this minister accepts His Holy Majesty's decree!" Li Shenji obeyed, respectfully bowing again.

Only at this moment did a smile present itself on the official's face. "Congratulation Lord Li! Lord Li, please bring your Divine Battalion to the capital to meet His Holy Majesty after three months! My humble self bids you farewell!"

"Take care, my Lord!" Li Shenji said respectfully.

The enormous crane gave a long cry as it flew into the sky at an astonis.h.i.+ng speed, carrying that official away.

"Patriarch, you have been reinstated?"

"Patriarch, as long as you give an order, your ministers will immediately come back!"

"Patriarch, His Holy Majesty forgave you!?"...

Everyone cried out in jubilation, it seemed like they didn't care about Li Haoran's death.

"Where is the Divine Battalion token?" Li Shenji calmly asked.

"It was taken by Gu Hai!" a Divine Battalion soldier solemnly replied.

"It's Gu Hai again! Ha, it seems, I still have to meet this Gu Hai before going to the capital!" Li Shenji's eyes turned colder as a cold light flashed past his eyes.

The Great Han Royal Dynasty, Soaring Heaven Palace...

Gu Hai, with a mingguan on his head and garbed in the black dragon robes, was sitting on the dragon throne, coldly looking over the two files of officials. In the left file stood Gu Qin, along with a group of old managers. in the right row stood, Gao Xianzhi, Chen Tianshan, Scar, Meng Tai, and other new members.

SMACK! Gu Hai smacked his palm on the armrest, coldly looking at an official in the left file.

The expression of the officials immediately changed.

"It has not even been one month since the Great Han had been founded, ha, and I actually got the news that someone has started selling out the official ranks!? So, as long as someone has the money, they can buy any position?" Gu Hai coldly looked at the group of officials.

"Your Royal Majesty, currently, the Great Han has too many territories, there are too many vacancies to fill out. As many talents as we might have, they are still far from enough. In order to quickly start the administration at various places, we can only think of this method. It will start the administration running in a short time, and also, it can quickly fill up the treasury as well!" an official mustered up his courage and spoke out.

"The person buying the official position is your family member, right? Haha, fill up the treasure? Does the treasury need you lot to fill it up?" Gu Hai coldly rebuked.

The group of officials didn't dare to speak another word.

"Father Emperor, we have gained vast territory in a short time, the staff is indeed somewhat inadequate. Many administrative operations cannot be carried out!" Gu Qin, sighing slightly, plead on behalf of the old managers.

"Unable to operate, then, stop! Didn't I ask you to prepare an academic test? Use the test to screen out the talents, won't that work?" Gu Hai asked in a heavy voice.

Gu Qin lowered his head at once.

"Meng Tai!" Gu Hai commanded in a deep voice.

"Here, Your Royal Majesty!" Meng Tai stepped out from the file.

"How many Brocade Guards have you a.s.sembled over this month?" Gu Hai asked in a deep voice.

"We have already three thousand recruits. They cannot be counted as elites, but they can be trained slowly. The Brocade Guards can head out in a moment!" Meng Tai replied calmly.

"Alright, this King grants you a Nine Dragon Medallion, go and investigate each and every city, punish anyone who is selling the official positions, anyone who is embezzling money, anyone who are banding together for private interest, and anyone who is troubling the citizens, in accordance with Great Han's Law. Wherever you go, the Nine Dragons Medallion will be equal to this King himself!" Gu Hai ordered in a deep voice as he handed out a medallion.

"This minister will carry out Your Royal Majesty's order!" Meng Tai received the token and retreated back.

Hearing Gu Hai's decree, the crowd of officials turned stiff before they heaved a slight sigh. But they still haven't discovered what b.l.o.o.d.y ma.s.sacre this would entail.

"Scar!"

"Here, your Royal Majesty!" Scar respectfully walked out from the file.

"You will dispatch the troops to various cities and fully cooperate with the Brocade Guards' operations!" Gu Hai ordered calmly, before turning to Gu Qin. "How is the a.s.similation of the five kingdoms of the Nine-Five Island going?".

"Reporting to Father Emperor! For three of the five kingdoms, it's going extremely smoothly; the other two, on the other hand, are not going well. They are biased against us!" Gu Qin said, furrowing his brow.

"Chen Tianshan!"

"Here, Your Royal Majesty!"

"You will command the troops and start cutting through the mountains to create roads, connecting every kingdom of the Nine-Five Island. First, create a pa.s.sage to the two territories that aren't willing to accept my Great Han! At the same time, you will preside over the three territories that have accepted my Great Han," Gu Hai commanded.

“This minister will carry out Your Royal Majesty's order!"

"Gao Xianzhi!"

"Here, Your Royal Majesty!"

"This King needs an elite army. You will pick the first batch of 800,000 elites to expand the first corps, trained by you. The territories of the two kingdoms will be your battlefield. This King needs an invincible army. In this battle, the enemy doesn't have any Xiantian partic.i.p.ation, so, your side will not have it as well. This King hopes that the Great Han will not just have powerful generals, but a powerful army as well!" Gu Hai stated in a deep voice.

"This minister will carry out Your Royal Majesty's order!" Gao Xianzhi answered at once.

A string of decrees was continuously issued through the court. Today, Gu Hai was dominating the entire court; he didn't allow anyone to intervene, and didn't allow anyone to question his orders.

"Reporting to Your Royal Majesty, Shangguan Hen is requesting a hearing!" an imperial guard outside the audience hall respectfully declared.

"Oh? Granted!" Gu Hai said, confused.

Shangguan Hen didn't want any official position of the Great Han Royal Dynasty. Gu Hai was also helpless to do anything about it. And now, when the court was in session, he wanted to meet Gu Hai. Surely something important was at hand!?

"Your Royal Majesty, Yao Zhengtian is waiting outside, there seems to be bad news!" Shangguan Hen reported in a respectful manner.

"Oh? Yao Zhengtian?" A sliver of an uncertainty showed up on Gu Hai's face.

Yao Zhengtian was the divine beast, Bixi. The very same old man who had asked Gu Hai to solve the weiqi game on the back of his sh.e.l.l before Gu Hai had founded the nation. He had even gifted the An Introductions to Empyrean Dynasties to Gu Hai. At that time, he even promised Gu Hai that if Gu Hai needed any help, he would do everything he could to help Gu Hai!

Gu Hai was still extremely grateful to Yao Zhengtian. After all, An Introduction to Empyrean Dynasties might not be valuable in the Divine Continent, but as far as Gu Hai was concerned, it was vitally important!

Gu Hai, without a.s.suming any airs, walked down from the dragon throne and followed Shangguan Hen out of the audience hall.

The group of ministers also followed closely behind Gu Hai.

Yao Zhengtian was standing in a square outside the palace. Noticing Gu Hai's arrival, he smiled at Gu Hai.

"Congratulation Mister Gu!... no, congratulations Great King Han, for founding a Royal Dynasty at last!" Yao Zhengtian congratulated with a smile.

"Mister Yao, you are being too kind. I wonder what I can do for Mister Yao?" Gu Hai asked uncertainly.

Yao Zhengtian's face grew solemn as he replied, "Mister Gu, when you founded your nation, my humble self was delayed due to some matters, and as a result of which, I couldn't come. I hope Mister Gu will forgive me for this. This time, I came bearing bad news, I hope it is useful to Mister Gu!"

"Oh?" Gu Hai asked calmly, perplexed.

"Previously, when Mister Gu obtained the Hundred Years Longevity Peaches and its news spread, countless Xiantian Stage and Golden Core Stage cultivators of Thousand Islands Seas immediately rushed over. Now, the matter of Mister Gu obtaining the earth dragon vein is even more tempting than the Hundred Years Longevity Peaches. The Nascent Soul Lords, Patriarchs, and Kings of various islands cannot sit still. They are rus.h.i.+ng to Nine-Five Island. I recently got news that twenty Nascent Soul cultivators have banded together to rob Mister Gu of your earth dragon vein!" Yao Zhengtian said with a wry smile.

"Oh? Twenty Nascent Soul cultivators?" Gu Hai's face sank.

Just as Gu Hai finished speaking, Yao Zhengtian's expression suddenly changed to a bitter look as he said, "It seems that this Old Crook was still late, they are already here."

Immediately after, everyone noticed twenty streaks of long rainbows shooting over from the distant south, giving rise to a fierce gale in their path.

BOOM!

The twenty rainbows suddenly came to halt before the Soaring Heaven Palace, and fierce gales of wind blew over from every direction.

Gu Hai raised his head, coldly looking at twenty figures who had suddenly appeared in the sky.