The Focus of All Eyes

The imperial clan of the Blood Qin Empire was an extraordinarily interesting family. The cultivation art they practiced was tyrannical beyond compare, but in its early stages it inflicted tremendous harm upon its practitioner. One careless mistake, and battle qi could burst through vital organs, causing sudden death; or it could damage one's blood essence and origin, leaving one to wither away and die slowly.

Thus, Blood Qin emperors generally did not reign for very long. The current Blood Qin Emperor, Ying Zheng, was considered one of the longer-reigning ones, yet even he had ruled for only a little over a hundred years. His father, the previous Blood Qin Emperor, had barely passed sixty when, one night, his internal organs suddenly ruptured and he died. His violent Ironblood battle qi even blasted apart the palace of the consort he had been favoring that night.

With the late emperor dying young, Ying Zheng, as the previous emperor's legitimate eldest son, naturally ascended the throne.

The former empress naturally became the Empress Dowager. And speaking of it, this Empress Dowager was not particularly old. Born into a powerful local clan somewhere in the Blood Qin Empire, her own cultivation was not weak either; she had now entered the Saint realm. Along with the countless spirit pills and wondrous medicines Ying Zheng dutifully sent her every year, the Empress Dowager naturally lived an exceedingly pampered life. There had even been quite a few unsavory rumors about her.

Of course, spreading rumors about the Empress Dowager in the Blood Qin Empire was a fast track to death. For a time, Hu Xinzhu had specialized in cleaning up precisely such messes for her, which was why he had been able to become Ying Zheng's trusted and favored minister.

Jade Palace—this was where the current Empress