On the dragon bed, Ying Dang abruptly woke up.
Cold sweat poured down his back as he gasped for breath.
The Empress beside him had also been roused by his strange behavior. She looked at Ying Dang in confusion.
"Your Majesty, what's the matter...?"
Ying Dang shook his head violently.
"I just had a dream. I dreamed Eunuch Wang had been beheaded, and the man came looking for trouble with me, carrying his head..."
The woman smiled at his words and hugged him comfortingly.
"Your Majesty is overthinking it again. Eunuch Wang is one of the most powerful cultivators in the Great Zhou Dynasty. He could wipe out the entire Great Gan Dynasty by himself. How could anyone possibly behead him?"
"Your Majesty is just worrying too much. It's only a tiny little country, nothing to fret over. You're the ruler destined to unite the world."
Hearing this, the middle-aged man gradually calmed down, reassuring himself over and over.
"Perhaps I'm just uncomfortable because Eunuch Wang has left me. He'll send back good news before long..."
But the next moment, something thick and viscous dripped onto his face.
Ying Dang looked up in confusion and saw a head hanging right in front of him!
It was Wang Jingzhong, the man he had been thinking of so anxiously. Someone had cut off his head and hung it above the dragon bed!
"Ah!!!"
The next moment, Ying Dang abruptly woke up again.
Where was the head?
He frantically looked around, slapping his own face as he searched in terror for Wang Jingzhong's head.
But he found nothing.
How could Ying Dang possibly calm down? He kept searching, but there was no trace of it.
Beside him lay only a sleeping concubine.
Looking at her, Ying Dang cautiously reached out and shook her.
"My beloved consort, can you hear me? I think I just had a dream."
But the concubine didn't move at all.
Ying Dang felt something was wrong. He reached out and turned the woman over, only to go deathly pale with fright!
That terrified face was right before him. Her neck had been cut, and Wang Jingzhong's head had been placed on her body!
"Ah!!!"
A shrill cry rang through the entire palace. He kicked the woman away, but the head floated up into the air.
"Your Majesty... weren't you looking for me?"
Thick blood dripped onto him. Ying Dang retreated in a frenzy, terrified beyond belief, until the clearly visible head suddenly slammed into him.
He woke up again.
This time, Ying Dang stared blankly at everything around him.
The world was silent. Not a sound could be heard.
His concubine slept beside him, and there was no head next to him.
Knock, knock, knock!
A rapid knocking sounded at the door.
Ying Dang abruptly sat up!
"Your Majesty, someone has come with a message from Eunuch Wang..."
Hearing the voice of his trusted guard, Ying Dang finally relaxed.
It wasn't a dream. This time, it wasn't a dream...
He hurried out of bed. He hadn't even had time to put on his Dragon Robe when he flung open the palace doors.
It wasn't Wang Jingzhong's head, just his personal guard.
Seeing Ying Dang so flustered, the guard looked confused.
"Your Majesty, what's wrong?"
Ying Dang glared at him. "What message did Eunuch Wang send? Hurry up and read it!"
"Yes! Eunuch Wang said that everyone from the Imperial Observatory was killed. It seems there's an expert stationed in the Great Gan Dynasty, likely at the Infinite Realm..."
"Eunuch Wang also said that if he didn't return alive, he hoped Your Majesty would immediately form an alliance and establish diplomatic relations with the Great Gan Dynasty, to prevent future trouble."
So that was it...
Ying Dang let out a long breath. He took the letter and read it several times before finally feeling reassured.
"Don't leave. Stay right outside my chambers..."
The dream had truly terrified him, and he still couldn't settle down. "No, go find some cultivators too. Have them guard my door."
The guard didn't dare say anything and did as he was told.
Only after all that was done did Ying Dang let out a long breath.
How bizarre. That dream had been so bizarre...
He glanced at the dark night beyond the palace and felt uneasy.
Could something really have happened to Eunuch Wang...?
But how could the Great Gan Dynasty have someone like that? To kill Eunuch Wang, one would need to be at the Eighth Realm Infinite Late Stage. There was no way a cultivator of that level could appear in that dynasty.
Eunuch Wang had only broken through after receiving guidance from Lieyang Holy Land. How could he have died so easily...?
Ying Dang reassured himself this way and smiled.
"I was worrying too much. How could anything like that happen in this world..."
But the next moment, he froze.
On a nearby table lay an old man's head, placed squarely on its surface.
The old man looked exactly like the one Ying Dang had seen in his dream: the same terrified expression, the same fearful look, as though someone had simply torn the head from his body.
He froze for a moment, then hurriedly threw open the palace doors!
"Come and look!"
"Is that man Wang Jingzhong?"
The guard was pulled inside, bewildered, but immediately went dumbstruck.
On the table lay Wang Jingzhong's head!
It was definitely him!
But wasn't he in the Great Gan Dynasty?
"Eunuch Wang is dead!"
Ying Dang's heart sank in an instant.
Not only was Wang Jingzhong dead.
His head had even been delivered to his bedchamber.
That meant the person who had casually killed Wang Jingzhong could also come and go freely in his imperial palace!
This emperor, whose Great Zhou Dynasty was the mightiest of the Five Great Dynasties, suddenly fell to his knees!
"My Great Zhou Dynasty is willing to offer a grand gift and form an alliance with the Great Gan Dynasty!"
"Yes! And the Empress's Grand Wedding—no, not the Empress's. Your Majesty's Grand Wedding! My Great Zhou is willing to honor the Great Gan Dynasty as the superior state and address its ruler as the Son of Heaven of the Superior State!"
"I am willing to hand over all the wealth stored in the national treasury in exchange for sparing my life!"
He immediately began kowtowing and begging forgiveness. His guard, though at a loss, knelt and kowtowed along with him.
A cry of surprise rang out from inside the palace. The concubine had woken up and seen what was happening.
The entire imperial palace of the Great Zhou Dynasty descended into chaos...
After leaving a note behind, Chu Ning departed.
The First Dynasty had started calling the Great Gan Dynasty the superior state overnight. That was too much.
His wife would definitely get suspicious.
Once she did, she'd start investigating, and that would mean a whole lot of trouble. His pregnant wife couldn't handle that kind of strain right now.
Besides, the Great Zhou Dynasty could serve as a warning to anyone else harboring ill intentions.
All he had to do was quietly set things in motion. There was no need for them to publicly submit and pay tribute.
As for resources and such, they could just be wedding gifts. A nice little auspicious gesture.
The wedding was coming up soon. Wasn't it enough to let his wife enjoy the ceremony?
Honestly, these people...
Inside the imperial palace of the Great Gan Dynasty.
The disappearance of an Infinite Realm cultivator caused not the slightest stir. Not even a single palace maid noticed.
He had been erased from existence so casually that it was as if he had never been there. All that remained was his head and the terror on his face, as if it testified to the horror of the being he had seen in his final moments.
But that was only the limit of his understanding and perception, not the limit of the one who had killed him.
After returning to the palace, Chu Ning suddenly heard a rapid knock at the door.
"Sir, Sir..."
It was Xiao Bing speaking, her voice almost breaking into sobs.
"Her Majesty had a nightmare in the middle of the night and can't sleep. Please don't go back to bed—come and see her..."
Chu Ning froze.
Wasn't it the emperor of Great Zhou who was supposed to be having nightmares?
How had it become his wife?
That old bastard had died at the worst possible time!
My Qinglian is pregnant, and tomorrow is a rest day—no court session. We finally had a chance to sleep in!
Damn it, what rotten luck!
"Coming, coming..."
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