Chapter 41: Finally Appeared the Lord of Ghos

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Proofreader: Prof. Zhu Yuan

She was a little bit shocked. However, Beiming Xuan had his gaze fixed on Ruan Jiujiu’s face for no more than three seconds before he dropped his gaze.

Beiming Xuan removed his eyes from Ruan Jiujiu’s face without the slightest change of his expression. Ruan Jiujiu cursed silently.

Having assessed herself in the mirror, she was quite sure that she was good-looking.

How could he be so contemptuous of Ruan Jiujiu’s appearance? Was that because he himself was a handsome guy?

After giving another glance at Beiming Xuan, Ruan Jiujiu changed her mind. He was far more than a handsome guy.

His charming appearance would drive both man and god mad!

Fine. She stood no comparison with Beiming Xuan in terms of physical appearance. Ruan Jiujiu was a little bit distressed.

“My lord, are you planning to let me stand out and get exposed to the conflicts?”

Um…Beiming Xuan turned to Ruan Jiujiu. She looked quite beautiful after she put on her make-up and got finely dressed. She had an aura of pureness. Now she squinted cunningly at Beiming Xuan with a tilt of her head.

Was she like a cat? Absolutely not. Instead, she was like a little fox.

It seemed that she was by no means silly.

Beiming Xuan lifted the corner of his mouth and said frostily to Ruan Jiujiu: “What would you do if I said ‘Yes’?”

What would she do? Ruan Jiujiu narrowed her eyes. Beiming Xuan’s answer indicated that she could do nothing but accept the fact that she had to be exposed to the conflicts and made use of by him.

Obviously, it was impossible for her to change his decision.

“It would be unreasonable to expect the horse to run fast without letting it graze. I must get repaid!” Ruan Jiujiu didn’t feel like making concessions. She set her mind on fighting for herself even if it might be a losing battle.

“How can I repay you?” Beiming Xuan asked indifferently.

It could be possible! Beiming Xuan did not flatly refuse, which meant he would give her an opportunity to present her demands.

“Reclaiming everything that I lost.”

Putting on a long face, Ruan Jiujiu lifted cunningly a corner of her mouth, with her eyes blazing with delight and determination.

Touched by Ruan Jiujiu’s expression, Beiming Xuan blurted: “OK.”

Simple as the answer was, Ruan Jiujiu beamed with pleasure upon hearing that. It was no exaggeration to say that eliciting a positive response from Beiming Xuan was as difficult as gaining a thousand ounces of gold. It seemed that his words were much more reliable than the Emperor’s imperial decree.

It seemed that she had successfully ridden on his coattails!

Ruan Jiujiu blinked as she had her eyes fixed on Beiming Xuan. Then she asked: “My lord, will I suffer a lot if I get exposed to those conflicts?”

“No pains, no gains. You understand that, don’t you?” Beiming Xuan said frostily to Ruan Jiujiu as he dropped his gaze from her face. Ruan Jiujiu put on a stern expression upon hearing that.

It was precisely what Murong had told her. She had a premonition that she would have to get implicated in major upheavals in the near future!

The imperial abode located in the outskirts was only 50li away from the capital. Even if Beiming Xuan and his troops advanced at a normal speed instead of a marching speed, it would take no more than four hours.

It stood to reason that Beiming Xuan and his troops should have reached the city gate before the noon.

Everyone was sweating profusely in the glaring light of high noon. However, the avenue still found no trace of horses or carriages.

The Lord Ming’s return to the capital was a major event to both royal families as well as common people in Tiansheng.

Beiming Xuan had been in command of troops since he was fifteen. Over the past ten years, he had fought north and south on many fronts, never losing a single battle.

Within ten years, all the small neighboring countries had acknowledged allegiance to Tiansheng. Those previously big powers started trying to establish friendship with Tiansheng by forming matrimonial alliances. Now Tiansheng had achieved a dominant position on the Yunchuan Continent.

All those feats were attributed to Beiming Xuan.

That was acknowledged by both common people as well as the Emperor of Tiansheng. Beiming Xuan therefore enjoyed incomparably high status in Tiansheng.

In order to welcome Beiming Xuan and his troops, their gods of war and guardians of Tiansheng, the entire royal family got dressed in splendid attire, and all the common people living in the capital had stopped working.

However, it was the Emperor’s personal appearance that caused the biggest sensation at the welcoming ceremony.

Remarkable as what Beiming Xuan had achieved, he was Tiansheng’s subject, a highly respected subject at most, no more than that. The Emperor was the real ruler of Tiansheng. He made a personal appearance at the welcoming ceremony, indicating his full attention to Beiming Xuan as well as Beiming Xuan’s high status.

However, Beiming Xuan was late!

Sitting in the city gate tower, the Emperor was simmering with rage.

It’s easy for him to pretend that he was in perfect harmony with Beiming Xuan in front of his subjects. However, such an agonizing six-hour wait was a real torture to a god, let alone a human being like the Emperor.

Beiming Xuan, you are really vicious!

The Emperor sat in sullen silence. His knuckles whitened as he clenched the armrest.

“Father, look over there!” Beiming Ting, his seventh son who was now standing beside him, pointed straight ahead.

The Emperor raised his head. The horses and carriages appeared on the horizon. The army banner embroidered with the character “Ming” flew in the wind from a distance, radiating aggressiveness.

Beiming Xuan finally appeared!

“The Prince is coming! The Prince is coming!”

Somebody shouted. Then all the people saw the horses and carriages approaching and started shouting. The sound was getting louder and louder, almost deafening everyone.

Upon hearing that, the Emperor felt extremely irritated.

The Emperor pulled an even longer face.

No Emperor could bear having any of his subjects enjoy such high prestige.

However, now he had to force himself to put up with that.

“Our brother really shouldn’t be late. He is very disrespectful to His Majesty.”

As the Empress of Tiansheng, she sat beside the Emperor.

She could tell that the Emperor was enraged by Beiming Xuan’s being late from his countenance. So she made some rude remarks about Beiming Xuan.

Now she and the Emperor were on a united front. She thought it was an opportune moment to curry favor with the Emperor.

When she finished, she signaled Beiming Ting to echo her words, but Beiming Ting’s face suddenly turned grave.

Empress Xiao was too rash.

“My dear brother has made great contributions to the imperial government as well as the whole country. He must have had an arduous journey. My waiting hours are nothing to his strenuous efforts. Turns out you are so petty-minded! I would say you are not qualified to be the Empress. If you feel tired, just leave and have a rest in you Phoenix Palace.” The Empress was heavily criticized by the Emperor, although she had cudgeled her brains to toady to the Emperor.

Empress Xiao froze with terror. Then she came to realize that she had toadied to the Emperor the wrong way.

“Your Majesty! I was wrong! I didn’t mean to complain!” Empress Xiao was pale with fear. She rose from her chair and knelt down.

“Wu An.” After scolding the Empress, the Emperor called his private eunuch, taking no notice of the Empress’ apology.

“Your Majesty, everything is ready.” Wu An reported to the Emperor deferentially.

Wu An held in both hands the silk reel upon which the imperial decree was written. The eunuchs standing behind carried three boxes. It seemed that those three boxes weighed a lot. Nobody knew what was in those boxes.

Without giving an explanation, the Emperor had his gaze fixed on the army banner embroidered with the character “Ming” as it moved closer and closer. His eyes were filled with unfathomable darkness.