The Eastern Palace, named Chang Le, is the residence of the Crown Prince, the magnificent pavilion of the Heir Apparent.

Following established custom, the Crown Prince also possesses a retinue of civil officials, responsible for handling a portion of state affairs.

Sharing the burdens of the nation with the Heir Apparent is a matter of duty.

Like Jiang Wuliang of old, he might even directly participate in courtly affairs, strategizing across the realm.

The Hall of Governance, the Hall of Military Affairs—all matters of state invariably had to pass through him. Even during the era of Qi-Xia hegemony, his views clashed with those of the Qi Emperor, and the debate over war and peace once stalled in the court and the countryside…

Of course, everyone knows the final outcome.

However, the current Crown Prince, Jiang Wuhua, is naturally indolent, unlike his predecessors. He avoids whatever he can, resolutely refusing to touch matters outside the purview of the Eastern Palace, and absolutely refraining from handling ambiguous affairs. Only the state matters forcibly assigned by the Qi Emperor does he grudgingly deal with. Although he handles everything with utmost care, the affairs are few and the responsibilities light, leaving no significant achievements.

The entire Eastern Palace, like him, barely manages to handle a few genuine matters throughout the year. It can be said to be the Crown Prince with the weakest presence since the founding of the Qi Kingdom.

No wonder his younger siblings have risen one after another, each vying for the position of Heir Apparent. Jiang Wuyou, Jiang Wuxie, Jiang Wuqi—which of them is not a talent? Possessing both aptitude and skill, and each with their own backing.

In contrast, Crown Prince Jiang Wuhua is unremarkable in talent, aptitude, and conduct. Even his maternal family is exceedingly ordinary. The He family originally had little influence. When Jiang Wuliang was deposed, his birth mother, Empress Yin, was also banished to the Cold Palace, where she died of resentment in less than a year.

The current Emperor, perhaps out of consideration for balancing the power of maternal relatives, designated the He family, with its shallow roots, as the Empress.

The He family is too ordinary, failing to even rank among the top hundred noble families in Linzi. The Empress’s only younger brother, He Fu, is mediocre in talent, and the next generation, He Zhen, is merely a bird-and-dog fancier… offering absolutely no assistance.

Jiang Wuhua seems to have only gained a head start after Jiang Wuliang’s deposition by virtue of being born early and being older.

But what advantage is “being born early and being older”? There is still someone even older, trapped in the Azure Stone Palace!

The waters of Linzi City run deep, and everyone is preoccupied with their own affairs. Countless undercurrents clash beneath the surface. Until the truth comes to light, no one can clearly see the outcome.

At this moment, Jiang Wuhua is holding a pair of sharp, gleaming shears, meticulously pruning flower branches in the garden.

His movements are slow and meticulous, paying attention to every detail.

A white-faced, beardless eunuch stands behind him, leaning in slightly, reporting in a low voice: “The Qingyang Town Marquis returned empty-handed from the Warm Jade Water Pavilion, apparently failing to reach an agreement. However, it seems he had a favorable outcome at the Hua Ying Palace. There has been no movement from the Longevity Palace. The Ninth Prince doesn’t seem to be interested in contacting the Qingyang Town Marquis. The Lei family, however, is quite interested in him. As you instructed, gathering information should prioritize concealing ourselves, so more detailed intelligence is currently unavailable.”

He speaks quickly but clearly: “The Azure Stone Palace remains silent, without even a sound. In this humble servant’s opinion, Your Highness absolutely doesn’t need to…”

He stops speaking.

Because the shears in Jiang Wuhua’s hand have stopped, and he is looking at him.

“I only listen, you only watch. There is no need for opinions, no need for views, no need to tell me what you think, what you all think.”

“Can you understand?” he asks.

The eunuch swallows hard: “…Yes.”

Jiang Wuhua does not have any imposing or stern expression. When he says these words, the muscles on his face are even completely relaxed, without any aggression.

But who could disregard his words?

Hearing the eunuch’s reply, Jiang Wuhua nods with satisfaction, then carefully examines the flower branches in front of him, fixes his gaze, and continues to wield his shears.

The eunuch stands beside him, unmoving.

After an unknown period of time, Jiang Wuhua’s nose twitches slightly.

He smiles happily: “My soup is ready!”

He places the shears in the eunuch’s hands and gently instructs, “Continue pruning, and make sure to prune it to the Crown Princess’s satisfaction. No mistakes allowed. Put aside other matters for now, this is the most important thing.”

Then, with a light step, he turns and walks alone towards the kitchen.

It seems that the Azure Stone Palace, the Hua Ying Palace, the Yangxin Palace, and the Longevity Palace are all less important than the soup he is cooking.

When Jiang Wang returned to Qi, he traveled in haste, and his attempts at the Blessed Land challenge on the fifteenth day of the second month were rushed and hastily defeated.

He retreated from Blessed Land Bowl Pond Mountain, ranked fortieth, to Blessed Land Theory Mountain, ranked forty-first.

Jiang Wang was already accustomed to this straight decline. Sparring with the strong is endlessly enjoyable. In the absence of mortal danger, it is an extreme pleasure for someone with lofty aspirations like him. Of course, achieving victory would be even more satisfying.

Basically, as long as he had time, he would never miss a battle. His only worry was that one day he would be knocked out of the Blessed Lands, making such opportunities difficult to come by. Fortunately, there were a total of seventy-two Blessed Lands within the Illusionary Heavenly Realm, leaving some room to retreat.

He basically had no chance of winning in the monthly Blessed Land challenges in the Illusionary Heavenly Realm. This was unlike his triumphant progress in the Sword Discussion Stage, where he had finally broken into the top hundred, ranking ninety-sixth.

It is worth mentioning that Zuo Guangshu is currently ranked sixty-fourth among the Internal Palace cultivators in the Illusionary Heavenly Realm.

Jiang Wang believed that if he unleashed his full strength, he would be much stronger than Zuo Guangshu. If he had enough time, breaking into the top thirty should not be a problem.

He only wondered how many Internal Palace cultivators had been absorbed into the Illusionary Heavenly Realm and what level of strength this level of cultivators would reach in the current world.

Because the rankings after the hundredth were not displayed, perhaps only the people behind the Illusionary Heavenly Realm knew the answer.

During this period, Jiang Wang had vaguely sensed some subtle changes occurring in the Illusionary Heavenly Realm, but if he were to examine them closely, he couldn’t say where the changes were. But it was definitely not an illusion.

The existence of the Illusionary Heavenly Realm could not be concealed from everyone, but the attitudes of the major forces were very ambiguous, with neither publicity nor organized resistance. People of families like Zuo Guangshu and Chong Xuansheng were vague about the Illusionary Heavenly Realm.

Perhaps changes would occur soon.

And Jiang Wang was looking forward to those changes.

After completing his daily cultivation, Jiang Wang continued to immerse himself in the relevant intelligence of the Near Sea Archipelago, hoping to open up a path and find a way to save Zhu Biqiong.

This matter was extremely difficult, and even with the help of Jiang Wuyou and Chong Xuansheng, the chances of success were very slim.

Sow a hundred, reap a fraction.

While he was thinking, a commotion came from the courtyard outside.

This was Chong Xuansheng’s Xia Mountain Villa, and it was usually not so noisy.

Jiang Wang opened the door with suspicion and heard the voice of Chong Xuansheng’s uncle, the eldest son of Marquis Bowang, Chong Xuan Mingguang, from afar.

“We, the Chongxuan family, cannot ignore these orphans and widows who come to our door. Where’s Xiaosheng? Where is he? Call him out! Can our Marquis Bowang’s mansion be pointed at?”

If one ignored talent and virtue, Chong Xuan Mingguang was truly a man of imposing appearance.

He was already very old, and his cultivation was far behind, but he was still extraordinarily dashing. His clothing and accessories were impeccable, and every strand of hair was meticulously groomed.

At this time, his voice was also mellow, adding a touch of intimacy. If unfamiliar people met him for the first time, it would be difficult not to trust him.

Jiang Wang walked over and saw a large crowd of elderly, weak, women, and children gathered in the courtyard. Children cried, old people howled, each more miserable than the last, making for a very unsightly scene.

Some clamored for food, others cried that they didn’t want to live, and still others said that they couldn’t survive and were being forced to death.

If uninformed people were to see this scene, they might even think that Chong Xuansheng had done something outrageous like digging up graves.

And Chong Xuan Mingguang stood in the midst of these people, repeating “The Chongxuan family will stand up for you,” clearly coming with ill intentions.

The two gatekeepers stood aside with embarrassed faces, obviously not daring to stop the eldest son of Marquis Bowang.

Jiang Wang heard a few words and roughly understood something.

After Wang Yiwu was expelled from Linzi City, Chong Xuanzun’s business was divided up piece by piece. Some people inevitably fell between the cracks and lost their livelihoods.

This was not a problem. It was said that if you lost your job, you could find another one. Could able-bodied living people starve to death in Linzi?

Moreover, how many people dared to trouble the Chongxuan family?

Without delving deeper, it was obvious that Chong Xuan Mingguang had moved his devilish mind and organized the families of these people to force Chong Xuansheng to give an explanation. He clearly wanted to severely damage Chong Xuansheng’s face and undermine his reputation.

This trick was extremely crude. However, looking at Chong Xuan Mingguang’s smug look, he was obviously very proud of himself, thinking that he was in control of the situation.

When Jiang Wang came out, he was a little worried about what had happened, but when he saw Chong Xuan Mingguang, he was relieved, and seeing the chaotic scene, he even wanted to laugh.

How difficult was it to deal with this kind of small trouble?

Chong Xuansheng’s mood was obviously similar. He squeezed into the courtyard from another door in anger, and when he saw his uncle, he immediately smiled.

“Uncle is a man of many tasks. I greet you so many times in the morning and evening. How did you find the time to come to your nephew’s Xia Mountain Villa today?”

Chong Xuansheng’s words were implicitly thorny, subtly mocking Chong Xuan Mingguang for not doing anything except making Chong Xuan Yunbo happy all day long.

However, Chong Xuan Mingguang didn’t seem to understand, but looked at his fat nephew with a serious face and said earnestly: “Asheng, this matter can be big or small, you have to handle it well. Your uncle doesn’t want to interfere, but you young people are too worrying! It’s not that your uncle is saying this, but the business was doing so well, how could you just tear it down? It’s okay to tear it down. Your young people are fighting and snatching, and your uncle won’t say anything. But how can you not leave a way for people to live? Who will obey you in the future? Who will trust the Chongxuan family?”

Chong Xuan Mingguang was not good at anything else, but he was really good at talking. It was probably related to his habitual social interaction since childhood.

“Uncle is right.” Chong Xuansheng was not annoyed at all, and said with a smile: “I wonder what so many people are gathered here today, wanting to force me to do?”

He stood there, like a small mountain: “Just say it.”

The voice was also light.

But as soon as these words fell, the crying, shouting, and clamoring in the entire courtyard immediately stopped.

Young Master Chongxuan’s prestige was so great.