"What do I need to do?" the Chu envoy asked.

This matter posed a risk to him, but it wasn't a high one. Compared to the potential rewards, the effort required was negligible.

Of course, if Ye Chuxiao made demands that were too excessive, he might choose to prevaricate, focusing on getting the national letter first.

From the Chu envoy's perspective, he had almost nothing to lose.

"It's simple. During your mission to my Northern Qin, repeatedly express your high praise and support for me in public," Ye Chuxiao replied, giving an answer that sounded easy to fulfill.

The Chu envoy was stunned for a moment, then asked, "Merely verbal support? Or are concrete actions required?"

The very question revealed his apprehension.

Although an envoy, he clearly wasn't skilled in diplomacy.

This was normal. To the powerful Chu kingdom, Northern Qin was just a weak and fragmented backwater state. The envoy sent to such a country was unlikely to be a truly capable minister or rising star.

They would just send someone to handle it, as long as they didn't lose the demeanor of a great power.

Ye Chuxiao nodded. "That will suffice."

Ye Chuxiao knew the principle of not going too far.

The Chu envoy before him wasn't a powerful minister in the Chu court; he was just wearing the skin of an envoy from a great power.

Excessively exploiting the false prestige borrowed from him would only lead to a more drastic turn for the worse.

But if the Chu envoy only expressed verbal support for Ye Chuxiao without taking any real action, then in the eyes of Northern Qin's powerful ministers like Ming Da, the Chu envoy would just be humoring their puppet emperor to get some benefits.

Out of respect for the Chu envoy, they might let him play along and slightly slow down the frequent changes of the monarch resulting from power struggles and underhanded tricks.

With this space, Ye Chuxiao would have leverage to approach the elders of the Northern Qin imperial family and inquire about the location and opening method of the Northern Qin treasury.

The Chu envoy looked at the young Northern Qin emperor with suspicion, trying to figure out if there was any hidden message behind his words.

Unfortunately, Ye Chuxiao's expression remained unchanged, revealing nothing.

"Good! Give me the national letter first!" the Chu envoy said.

Ye Chuxiao turned and walked to the desk, writing the four words 'Willing to be a Subject' with a bold stroke and handing them to the Chu envoy.

"I will affix the imperial seal before the envoy leaves Northern Qin," Ye Chuxiao said, drawing a pie in the sky without batting an eye.

In reality, the Northern Qin's imperial seal wasn't in his possession at all.

"Isn't this... a bit brief?" the Chu envoy said, looking at the four light words in his hand. He couldn't explain why, but he felt that the words were full of vitality, completely out of sync with the environment and the actions of the young emperor before him.

"Four words are enough!" Ye Chuxiao said.

"Alright! Don't worry, do you think I would deceive you?"

"Isn't my life in your hands?" Ye Chuxiao said reassuringly.

In the end, the Chu envoy left the Northern Qin palace with the four words given by Ye Chuxiao, carrying beautiful expectations for the future.

Opening his personal panel, Ye Chuxiao felt a headache as he watched his Numeracy value constantly decreasing.

Even a 'short-lived' emperor of a small country was still an emperor, and his existence required distorting many people's perceptions.

When Numeracy clashed with Numeracy, the longer Ye Chuxiao stayed in the position of Northern Qin's emperor, the more his Numeracy value would decrease.

When the Numeracy value reached zero, Ye Chuxiao would encounter a real life-and-death crisis in this world.

Of course, he could also use the convenience of his identity to create some incidents to increase his Numeracy points.

One increase and one decrease; it all depended on which one was faster.

After the Chu envoy left the palace, he began to frequently attend the so-called noble banquets, as instructed by Ye Chuxiao.

At the banquets, he never hesitated to shower the new Northern Qin monarch, Ye Chuxiao, with praise.

At first, the Chu envoy's attitude made many nobles wary.

But as the Chu envoy kept setting off firecrackers without seeing any sparks, everyone understood.

This was just a show.

Their puppet emperor wouldn't receive strong support, and they could still enjoy the pleasure of controlling the monarch. They could continue drinking, singing, and dancing.

Several days later, late at night, Ye Chuxiao quietly used the Shapeshifting Illusion technique to transform into a wild cat, left the palace, and headed to the residence of Li, the eldest member of the Li imperial family, in the Northern Qin capital.

Since the power had fallen into the hands of others, the days of the Northern Qin imperial family weren't easy.

Even the residence of the imperial family elder, Li Shangcheng, was close to the city walls, only two streets away from the city gate.

The area it occupied wasn't large, with only three courtyards in total.

Any courtyard in the Ming family's clan residence to the right of the palace was larger and more luxurious than Li Shangcheng's entire residence.

Although small, the residence still felt empty. Apart from the servants, there was no sign of family happiness.

Li Shangcheng was leaning on a rattan chair, listening to music with his eyes closed. A fading entertainer was singing a melancholy tune with practiced skill, her charm still captivating.

But even though she sang skillfully, she didn't dare to be careless.

Years of dealing with him had made the entertainer deeply aware of how cruel and fierce this old man was.

With the decline of his power, the cruelty that had originally been born from arrogance had transformed into a ferocity fueled by the loss of power.

"Ruyi! Your rendition of 'Late Pavilion Spring' is still the best. None of the disciples you've taught have your charm," Li Shangcheng said, tapping his knee in time with the music, his eyes half-closed.

The aged entertainer smiled shyly, didn't respond, and continued to sing, but her voice lowered by two degrees.

Her disciples... weren't they all ruined by this old man?

Those who died, of course, wouldn't have the chance to sing the tune skillfully.

"As people get older, they tend to be nostalgic!"

"Do you remember what it was like decades ago, when we first met in Xiuchun Pavilion?" Li Shangcheng said with a sigh.

He picked up the warm wine beside him, took a small sip, and sighed again.

His eyes were blurred, obviously lost in reminiscence.

"Are you missing your youth, or are you missing the fine clothes, jade food, and high-ranking position?" A voice startled Li Shangcheng from his reverie.

Then, Li Shangcheng saw a cat transforming into a person before his eyes.

"Li Zishan?!" Li Shangcheng exclaimed in surprise.

Immediately afterward, he changed his words: "This old minister greets Your Majesty!"

Despite his words, he didn't stand up.

He was just saying the words.

The entertainer beside him was still singing, oblivious to Ye Chuxiao's arrival.

With Ye Chuxiao's abilities, it was easy to deceive an entertainer with illusions.

Cultivators and ordinary people in the Wild Strife Realm were, in a sense, clearly divided.

Without someone like Tang Su Tong, who spread the knowledge of cultivation to the people, the cultivators in the Wild Strife Realm mostly came from aristocratic families, sects, or small families with only a few members.

Occasionally, there were lucky ones who obtained opportunities and cultivated on their own.

But such lucky people were rare and had no universal value.

"The carved railings and jade steps should still be there, but the rosy cheeks have changed... This taste isn't pleasant, is it?" Ye Chuxiao asked Li Shangcheng.

Li Shangcheng remained silent. He didn't have much respect for the suddenly visiting monarch. If it weren't for the strange appearance of Ye Chuxiao and the fact that he seemed to be using decent illusion techniques, he might have even dared to scold the young emperor, relying on his status as an elder of the clan.

So-called authority comes from power.

Power comes first, then authority.

An emperor without power, even with the title of the Son of Heaven, could only be used to scare ignorant commoners.

"You lost the country, and I plan to take it back. Does the elder have anything to teach me?" Ye Chuxiao asked Li Shangcheng.

His tone was full of mockery.

Hearing this, Li Shangcheng's face turned red with anger. "Your Majesty is exaggerating! The country is still the country of our Li family. How can you say it was lost?"

"Ha! Self-deception?"

"Then why did you send your family members to various countries?"

"Isn't it because you were worried that one day, the Ming and Qu families would rebel and your entire family would be destroyed?" Ye Chuxiao asked with a sneer.

According to Ye Chuqi, the Li imperial family who fled Northern Qin didn't have a good end.

Before the Northern Qin imperial treasure incident broke out, some were tracked down and killed in other countries by assassins arranged by the Ming and Qu families.

Others were discovered by local snakes in their new locations to be weak and exiled, but carrying a large amount of wealth and knowledge. So, they used the guise of bandits to annihilate them and seize the wealth accumulated by the Li imperial family over the years.

Only a few escaped the disaster and successfully hid their identities, but they were eventually dug out by various forces because of the treasure.

Faced with Ye Chuxiao's accusations, Li Shangcheng's face changed from red to green, fluctuating back and forth.

Finally, he let out a long, depressed sigh.

He was already a defeated dog. Where would he find so much energy?

"If you're relying on that Chu envoy, then enjoy yourself while you still have time!"

"This is the only piece of advice this old man has for you," Li Shangcheng said.

Ye Chuxiao said, "He's just a pawn to buy time. As the saying goes, 'Repair the plank road in the open, but cross through Chencang in secret!' I'm using the Chu envoy to attract the attention of the clans, while secretly using heavy gold to recruit a group of desperadoes from abroad."

"Since we've reached the end of the road, why not gamble everything?"

Li Shangcheng didn't necessarily know the origin of some of Ye Chuxiao's idioms, but that didn't prevent him from understanding their meaning.

"Heavy gold?"

"Where will the money come from?" Li Shangcheng asked.

Ye Chuxiao said, "I know we still have a hidden treasure, but I don't know its location or how to open it."

Hearing this, Li Shangcheng's expression didn't change, but his eyes lowered subconsciously. "Stop daydreaming! If there really was one, we would have opened the treasury long ago and used the treasure to deal with those traitors."

Ye Chuxiao caught the fleeting look in Li Shangcheng's eyes and was even more certain.

"It seems that the elder wants to keep this wealth for his children abroad!"

"But has the elder ever thought about whether they can protect it without the Northern Qin homeland?"

"Isn't it a good thing to have a large amount of wealth without power?" Ye Chuxiao asked.

Hearing this, Li Shangcheng said with a sullen face, "Your Majesty! It's getting late. Please return to the palace quickly!"

"Otherwise, if you're discovered leaving the palace without permission, I'm afraid that Chu envoy won't be able to protect you."

He was threatening Ye Chuxiao!

If they continued to talk, he wouldn't mind revealing Ye Chuxiao's whereabouts at this time and letting the Ming family deal with Ye Chuxiao.

Ye Chuxiao looked at the stubborn Li Shangcheng and sighed helplessly.

This old man seemed determined to keep the treasure for himself and leave it to his descendants.

In that case, there was nothing to say.

Ye Chuxiao acted directly.

He didn't bother to draw his sword; he just used his hand as a blade, striking towards Li Shangcheng's forehead.

Li Shangcheng had been wary of Ye Chuxiao. The moment Ye Chuxiao made his move, he turned into four shadows like a ghost, fleeing in four directions.

In terms of cultivation, Li Shangcheng was also at the Profound realm and had been in this realm for many years, but he had long lost his courage and didn't fight Ye Chuxiao at all.

His only thought was to escape first.

But was it really so easy to dodge the blade that Ye Chuxiao wielded with his hand?

"Wind!"

Ye Chuxiao used the first blade of the Nine Forms of the Blade Master's Perfect Chapter: 'Wind'.

This blade emphasized speed like the wind and was the culmination of fast blade techniques.

Even though Ye Chuxiao hadn't truly mastered it and was just imitating, when he used this blade, his entire person seemed to transform into the wind.

Before this blade fell, whether it was a gale or a storm, a breeze or a gentle wind, it was all within Ye Chuxiao's thoughts.

And the difference in this thought would affect the specific direction of this blade technique.

It could be said that there were hundreds of ways to use this single blade, but in the end, they all had the same tendency.

As the blade of wind fell, Li Shangcheng's four shadows were all cut down by Ye Chuxiao.

Ye Chuxiao dragged Li Shangcheng's real body out of the wardrobe he had cleaved open.

He exerted force with his fingers, and five talisman shadows spread from his fingertips, branding themselves on the old man's body, temporarily restricting all his movements.

Ye Chuxiao took out a Dao rhythm and directly stuffed it into Li Shangcheng's head.

"This is a bargain for you!"

As the Dao rhythm entered his body, Li Shangcheng subconsciously absorbed and digested it.

He was surprised to feel the vitality constantly涌出来 from his body and that his cultivation, which had remained stagnant for many years, seemed to have a chance to grow.

The next moment, Ye Chuxiao's blade truly fell, directly severing his breath.

Wind is the movement of air.

If controlled with subtlety, it could block a person's breath. A person whose breath was cut off would naturally die.

It was as if, in a deep sleep, his last vitality quietly slipped away.

With a trace of unwillingness, Li Shangcheng's last thoughts also vanished into the darkness.

The used Dao rhythm was reabsorbed by Ye Chuxiao into the golden clock.

Then, it quietly disintegrated.

Ye Chuxiao didn't value the cultivation experience that the Dao rhythm turned into after shattering.

But he carefully examined some of the memories recorded in it.

Before long, he found content related to the treasure.

"Hiding the treasure within the territory of a neighboring country is an interesting idea."

"But the key to opening the treasure is the imperial seal... that's a bit clichéd!"

"No wonder these Li imperial family members, who had already abandoned Northern Qin, didn't choose to open the treasure. They knew the location of the treasure, but they didn't have the imperial seal." Ye Chuxiao released Li Shangcheng's body and placed it back on the rattan chair.