Fu Chen chatted with Lu Ming for a while longer until it was time for the imperial court session to begin.
This was his very first Grand Imperial Court since ascending the throne as the new Emperor.
Shortly after, Fu Chen headed to the court hall, bringing Jiang Xubai, Li Busan, and the others along.
Fu Chen sat upright upon the throne at the head of the grand hall, with his brother Fu Yunshen seated right beside him.
Both of them stared down at the assembly with icy gazes.
The officials gathered below muttered secretly in their hearts, “Hmph, act tough while you can. Once Nine Thousand Years returns, you will still have to back down.”
Right then, Fu Chen’s cold voice rang out, “I hereby announce the appointment of Jiang Xubai as the Prime Minister.”
The moment he spoke, the current Prime Minister, who stood at the very front of the civil and military officials, snapped his head up.
What? I am still perfectly fine in my position as Prime Minister, yet he is already appointing a new one? Does this new Emperor even know how to rule?
The other officials also looked up at Fu Chen in utter shock.
Before anyone could speak, Fu Chen’s voice echoed again, “Furthermore, Li Busan is appointed as the Left Prime Minister, and Li Busi as the Right Prime Minister. They shall hold the authority to monitor all officials...”
The officials below grew even more bewildered upon hearing these appointments.
Creating two additional Prime Ministers to monitor the court? Then what are the imperial censors supposed to do? Besides, many of them found Li Busan and Li Busi strangely familiar.
At that moment, the Minister of Justice stepped forward, cupping his hands. “Your Majesty, I am afraid this is highly improper and goes against all protocol...”
After all, they had never heard of any dynasty having so many Prime Ministers at once. If not for the fact that Fu Chen looked so much like the Empress Dowager, they would have suspected he was an impostor.
The moment the minister finished speaking, Fu Chen glanced at Li Busan, signaling that it was his turn to perform.
Li Busan caught the signal instantly. He stepped forward with a sneer. “Oh my, oh my... if it isn't Minister Cao! The man who releases criminals in the Imperial City for the right price, grabs random innocent people off the streets to frame them, and squeezes both the plaintiffs and the defendants dry...”
The Minister of Justice's expression shifted drastically, though he still put on a righteous front. “Nonsense! I have always enforced the law with absolute impartiality...”
At this point, Fu Chen's brother, Fu Yunshen, who had remained silent the entire time, spoke up. “Are these allegations true?”
Li Busan stepped forward and bowed respectfully. “To the Supreme Emperor, they are absolutely true. You need only inspect the imperial prisons to see for yourself...”
Before Li Busan's voice even faded, Fu Yunshen raised a hand, and the Minister of Justice's head instantly exploded.
The heavy stench of blood filled the air, causing the officials to shudder in terror. Is the Supreme Emperor insane? Is he not afraid of Nine Thousand Years coming to settle the score when he returns?
“Xuanying, send men to seize his estate...” Fu Yunshen ordered coldly.
“Yes, Your Majesty!” Xuanying complied, immediately sending guards to execute the command.
Someone quickly collected the Minister of Justice's storage bag and dragged his corpse away.
Despite their terror at this sight, some officials, emboldened by the backing of Nine Thousand Years, still dared to step forward. “Your Majesty, without a proper investigation...”
Before he could even finish his sentence, a mountain of evidence retrieved from the Minister of Justice's storage bag was dumped onto the floor of the hall.
“Ah... perhaps this is all a misunderstanding...” the official stammered, forcing himself to speak.
This time, without waiting for Fu Chen to signal him, Li Busi stepped forward on his own initiative.
“Well, well, well... if it isn't Minister Lin? Taking spirit stones from the state treasury to buy gifts for that eunuch thief, Ye Fan.”
Minister Lin’s face paled, and he barked in anger, “Do not slander me!”
If this accusation stuck, he knew he wouldn't survive the day!
“Who's slandering you? The very spirit stones you gifted were used to pay our salaries back then...”
Fu Yunshen did not even bother to speak this time, striking the man dead instantly. He was determined to thoroughly cleanse the imperial court today.
The Prime Minister's heart skipped a beat. This is bad. These two are taking advantage of Nine Thousand Years' absence to rebel... No, they are here to purge us! How despicable. I must endure this for now...
With another death, the court hall fell into absolute, deathly silence.
Fu Chen and his brother scanned the crowd below, waiting to see if anyone else would dare to stand up.
Those officials lowered their heads in unison. There were very few men of integrity left among them.
Any upright officials had long been driven out or put to death by their own hands!
Yet, they cursed furiously in their hearts: Just wait until Nine Thousand Years returns. He will never let them off...
Just when they thought they only needed to endure until Nine Thousand Years' return, Fu Chen's chilling voice rang out again, “Left and Right Prime Ministers, who else is there?”
Li Busan and Li Busi did not hold back and began calling out names. “Minister Zhao has been buying and selling official posts... Minister Wang has been embezzling funds and accepting bribes... Minister Sun has been terrorizing local citizens and violating women... Minister Zhou has been using human lives to practice evil techniques...”
The two brothers exposed every corrupt official they knew of.
As for whether anyone was falsely accused, there was no such thing. These crimes were either secrets they were personally privy to or open secrets known to everyone!
And every single official whose name was called was executed on the spot by Fu Yunshen...
While Fu Chen and his brother were conducting their bloody purge in the imperial court, Lu Ming was with Wang Defa, studying recovery pills.
Because Fu Yunshen's injuries were so severe, ordinary recovery pills were completely useless. Thus, they needed to concoct something he had never taken before...
While the two of them were researching the pills, Big Yellow was leading the rest of the Qingshan Sect in digging a hole.
Do not ask why he was digging. It was simply because he wanted to copy Lu Ming and see what he could find.
He wanted to see if the ground beneath the Xinghe Imperial City hid some unspeakable secrets, just like the demon race's imperial city did.
“Second Sect Master, we've already dug deeper than the hole at your house!”
Big Yellow peered into the deep pit, hopped down, paced back and forth, and gave it a thorough sniff.
“Keep digging! Keep digging! I can smell something down there.”
At first, he had only been doing it out of sheer boredom, digging just for fun.
But as the disciples dug deeper and deeper, he seemed to catch a faint, unusual scent.
Hearing Big Yellow's words, the disciples said nothing and silently redoubled their efforts, shoveling away.
No one knew how much longer they dug until—Clack!
A disciple's shovel struck empty air, and a cavernous opening appeared before them.
The disciples stared at the opening on the ground, completely dumbfounded.
They had actually dug up something!
Looking at the massive underground space and the chaotic array patterns running in every direction, Big Yellow knew instantly that they had stumbled upon some kind of sinister secret once again.
...
Only after hearing Ye Fan say that the targets might escape if they did not move immediately did the various sect masters suppress the anger in their hearts.
“Let's go!”
With that, Ye Fan led the group as they rushed toward the old site of the Qingshan Sect...
Meanwhile, hiding in the shadows, the Unity-stage ancestors of the three major sects were so furious their faces were practically contorted.
What kind of mess was this?
Left with no other choice, the three of them could only follow along...
When Ye Fan and his group finally arrived at the Qingshan Sect, all they saw was a messy, dilapidated hillside.
Every sign indicated that the people here had fled long ago.
It was obvious that Ye Fan's information was accurate this time, but the problem was that although the information was correct, their timing was completely off!
The targets had already fled the damn place long ago...
Ye Fan's face turned livid. He had never expected to let that wretched mortal escape his grasp yet again.
Just then, a sound transmission talisman flared to life in front of Ye Fan.
“Nine Thousand Years, please hurry back! That sickly Emperor is going on an absolute killing spree...”
Hearing the message, Ye Fan merely frowned.
What does that have to do with me?
Right at that moment, another sound transmission talisman arrived:
“Nine Thousand Years, someone has arrived in the Xinghe Dynasty... and they brought a big yellow dog with them...”
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