The eight words "go in high spirits, return in disappointment" were displayed to the fullest on Ye Zhen.
Before leaving Princess Changle's Residence for the Grand Minister's Office to receive his fief, he had been full of high spirits and jubilant excitement!
But now that he had returned, his gloom was beyond words.
Ye Zhen had thought that after spending some time muddling about in the Black Dragon Empire on the True Profound Continent, he knew a few tricks himself. But now he realized that compared to the methods of Great Zhou's Holy Son of Heaven, his were simply child's play.
With a casual trap, he could make Ye Zhen willingly jump in with delight—then leave him unable to struggle free, fit only to be used as someone else's spear.
Still, Ye Zhen more or less understood what that old emperor meant. It was precisely because he intended to use Ye Zhen as a spear that he had granted him such a generous fief. Otherwise, under normal circumstances, Ye Zhen's rank of first-grade Viscount would absolutely have been the kind of title that carried nobility but no land.
From the moment he received the secret decree until now, Ye Zhen had thought about many things.
On careful reflection, he found that matters were not actually as bad as he had imagined. A fief close to Devil Race territory was a bad thing to most people, but not entirely so for Ye Zhen. With careful planning, there was still much to be done.
Ye Zhen could thrive even in the Devil Race's heartland. He could likewise make waves in the Devil Race's border cities. With the old emperor's secret decree in hand, it would simply be a contest between him and Xi Qiangu to see whose methods were darker.
The only—and