After Chu Yun and Luo Feng entered the residence, a servant led them around for a rough tour of the estate.
The rear garden, artificial hills, cool pavilions, and everything else were all present in abundance.
Afterward, Chu Yun and Luo Feng arrived at the main hall. The moment they sat down, a plump middle-aged man entered with four young-looking maidservants.
"Greetings, Your Highness, Commander Luo!"
"I am the head steward of the Prince's Mansion. Your Highness may call me Atai."
This plump man was the estate steward Shi Minyue had personally selected for Chu Yun.
Luo Feng had told him about this on the way here.
Though this Atai appeared utterly ordinary, he was in fact a genuine Shattering Realm expert.
He was someone Shi Minyue had brought over from the Shi Family back then.
Therefore, Chu Yun could trust him completely.
"Steward Atai, I will have to trouble you to put more care into all matters within the estate from now on." Chu Yun nodded and said calmly.
Atai respectfully replied, "Your Highness is too courteous. This is simply Atai's duty."
"By the way, Your Highness, these four maidservants were carefully selected for you by Atai. They will be responsible for your daily needs."
"Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, why are you not hurrying over to serve His Highness?" He pointed at the four maidservants as he spoke.
"Yes!"
"Your Highness, Autumn will make tea for you."
"Your Highness, Summer will massage your shoulders."
"Your Highness, Spring will also help pound your shoulders."
The four young women were all fairly pretty. They ran to Chu Yun's side and began serving him, each displaying her own methods.
Chu Yun was still somewhat unaccustomed to it.
Thinking back to his previous life, although he had also been Emperor Yu, battle-hardened through countless campaigns,
he had still honestly and properly attended one-on-one tutoring sessions.
Having four at once like this truly left him rather unaccustomed.
"Stop, stop, stop."
"Autumn, Summer, you four should leave for now."
"This prince still has matters to discuss."
Chu Yun still had serious business to attend to. He could not indulge himself in pleasure and amusement, so he could only have them leave first.
"Yes, Your Highness."
"If Your Highness needs anything, just tell us."
After saying that, the four withdrew.
"Steward Atai, sit." Chu Yun spoke without changing expression.
"Your Highness, this... this would not be appropriate, would it?"
"There is a distinction between master and servant. Atai would never dare forget proper decorum." Atai spoke somewhat awkwardly.
"What decorum? You are my Imperial Consort's confidant, which makes you one of us. If I tell you to sit, then sit. Stop with all this empty politeness." Chu Yun said bluntly.
"This... very well."
"Then thank you, Your Highness."
Atai slowly walked over to a seat beside them and sat down.
"I have only just returned to the Imperial City, and I am completely in the dark about everything here."
"Therefore, I need the two of you to answer some questions for me, so I can familiarize myself with some of the relationships within the Imperial City." Chu Yun directly stated his request.
Luo Feng said, "Whatever Your Highness wishes to know, please ask."
"Please speak, Your Highness. Commander Luo and I will certainly tell you everything we know." Atai said as well.
Chu Yun spoke with a steady expression, "Commander Luo, that Blood Profound Venerable we encountered before—what is the origin of the Blood God Sect behind him?"
Luo Feng explained, "Your Highness, the Blood God Sect is also a sect force within the Great Xia Dynasty."
"However, they are not bound by the dynasty. They are located in Southern Prefecture, one of the Thirteen Prefectures, and their status in Southern Prefecture is equivalent to that of the Wangxian Dao Sect in Qingzhou."
"They are the undisputed sole overlord."
"Moreover, the Blood God Sect is even stronger than the Wangxian Dao Sect. Most importantly, the Blood God Sect has an old monster of the Heavenly Aspect Realm within it. Its foundations run so deep that even the dynasty is unwilling to tear its face apart with them."
Chu Yun had learned that above the Venerable Realm lay the Heavenly Aspect Realm.
Experts at the Heavenly Aspect Realm were also called Heavenly Venerables!
They were terrifying existences that stood above the Venerable Realm!
Across the entire Great Xia Dynasty, excluding the imperial clan, there were fewer than ten Heavenly Venerable Realm experts!
Yet the Blood God Sect occupied one such seat. This was enough to show how powerful the sect's foundations were; no wonder they did not regard the Wangxian Dao Sect as worthy of notice.
"So that was how it was."
"Then how does the Blood God Sect compare with my Imperial Consort's maternal clan?" Chu Yun asked again.
At this, Atai spoke proudly, "Your Highness, you do not know this."
"Your Highness's maternal grandfather, the Shi Family's old patriarch, is also a Heavenly Aspect Realm expert!"
"Even the old patriarch's strength far surpasses that Heavenly Venerable of the Blood God Sect!"
"Compared to the Shi Family, the Blood God Sect can only ever be the little brother."
Atai's reaction was so intense that Chu Yun understood it completely after thinking it over.
Luo Feng nodded and admitted, "Indeed, the Shi Family's foundations are still greater than those of the Blood God Sect."
After hearing all this, Chu Yun stroked his chin and said, "Since my father is the Great Xia Emperor, and the Shi Family is this powerful,"
"then why did I go missing back then?"
The moment those words came out, Atai's expression immediately became grave and stern. Luo Feng's face also turned serious as he said, "Your Highness, your disappearance back then... it happened suddenly, and it was extremely strange."
"Strange?" Chu Yun fixed his eyes on him.
"Indeed."
"Your Highness, when Consort Shi gave birth to you that year, an enemy dynasty happened to invade. His Majesty personally led the expedition and was not in the Imperial City."
"Then, on the third day after Consort Shi gave birth to you, you vanished without explanation."
"After it happened, Consort Shi was frantic with anxiety. She mobilized every force at her disposal. Even your uncle, the Asura Venerable, personally entered the Imperial Palace to search."
"Yet in the end, not even the slightest trace could be found. It was as if you had evaporated from the face of the earth, vanishing without a trace."
"Only when His Majesty returned did he order us Shadow Guards to investigate at all costs."
"After so many years of secret investigation, we can be almost certain that the problem did not lie outside, but within the Imperial Palace."
"On the day Your Highness disappeared, we investigated every person who entered the Imperial Palace, including their confidants and friends, even anyone who had ever crossed paths with them. We investigated them all meticulously, yet found no issue whatsoever."
"Therefore, Your Highness's disappearance could only have been the work of someone who originally lived within the Imperial Palace!" Luo Feng told him every detail.
Chu Yun's expression was solemn. Upon hearing this, he also understood that his parents had never given up on uncovering the truth of that year.
When he edited his background, his mind had actually contained information about the original Ninth Prince, Chu Yun.
The reason he had been able to edit his background into that of Chu Yun, Ninth Prince of the Great Xia Dynasty, was precisely because he had long since died!
In other words, the Ninth Prince had not gone missing back then—he had been directly murdered.
And now that he had returned, if those who had killed the Ninth Prince back then saw that he was not dead,
then the possibility of them striking again was practically inevitable.
Even his uncle, the Asura Venerable, had been unable to find the slightest clue. This only further showed the gravity of the matter.
"Alas."
"This background may be good—I have a father, a mother, and powerful backers—but it is surrounded by dangers on all sides."
Chu Yun sighed inwardly.
Then he looked at Atai. "Steward Atai, you have followed my mother for so many years. Do you know whether my mother has any suspected targets regarding this matter?"
Atai looked at him with an exceptionally solemn expression and spoke only two words: "The Empress."
Before you continue