Yan Lingji's Shock

Faced with Yan Lingji's words, no one dared to answer.

"If you won't speak, then let someone who can speak do it."

Yan Lingji raised a hand.

A middle-aged civil official in plain robes stepped out of the crowd and bowed.

"Your Majesty, I, Wang Hai, have finished the inventory."

"Speak."

"Yes."

Wang Hai unfurled a long ledger and began his report.

His voice echoed through the empty hall.

"The Marquis Zhao Estate in the east of the city: over twenty-eight million Gold Soul Coins seized, more than forty-three thousand pieces of jewelry and jade, over eight thousand antiques and paintings, and more than five hundred and seventy deeds to fertile farmland..."

The hall filled with sharp intakes of breath.

Twenty-eight million Gold Soul Coins.

It was more than a marquis could spend in several lifetimes,

yet among the nobles of the Heaven Dou Empire, it was only somewhat above average.

"The Earl Qian Estate in the south of the city: over eighteen million six hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins seized, more than fifteen thousand pieces of jewelry and jade, and three hundred and twenty-one deeds..."

"The Viscount Sun Estate in the west of the city: over eight million three hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins seized, more than six thousand pieces of jewelry and jade, and over one hundred and eighty deeds..."

The faster Wang Hai read, the more staggering the figures became.

These few families alone had more than ten years' worth of tax revenue from the Heaven Dou Empire's treasury.

Yan Lingji leaned back on the imperial throne, fingers tapping the armrest, a cold sneer on her lips.

"Just one marquis has over twenty million Gold Soul Coins? The nobility really are something. The common people are scraping by on bran and wild greens, while you're rolling in wealth."

The hall fell utterly silent.

One report followed another, and the figures grew more and more astonishing.

The nobles in the hall turned deathly pale, their legs going weak.

Yan Lingji leaned back on the imperial throne, fingers tapping the armrest, her face expressionless.

"What about the treasury?"

She looked toward another civil official.

The official replied in a trembling voice, "Your Majesty... the treasury... has only two and a half million Gold Soul Coins left on the books..."

"Two and a half million?"

Yan Lingji's voice turned colder.

"How much tax revenue does the Heaven Dou Empire collect in a year?"

"Your Majesty... about thirteen million Gold Soul Coins..."

"Then where did the money go?"

The official dropped to his knees with a thud, his forehead striking the floor.

"I... I don't know..."

"You don't know?"

Yan Lingji smiled, but there was not a trace of warmth in it.

"Then let someone who does know speak."

The hall was silent.

The Heaven Dou Emperor knelt on the floor, trembling all over.

Yan Lingji looked at him.

"Emperor, do you know?"

The Heaven Dou Emperor raised his head, his old face full of panic.

"I... I... I don't know..."

"You don't know?"

Yan Lingji rose and walked down the steps, stopping before the Heaven Dou Emperor.

"You've been emperor for decades, and only two and a half million Gold Soul Coins remain in the treasury, yet you don't know?"

"Your nobles live in glittering mansions while the common people scrape by on bran and wild greens, yet you don't know?"

"Duke Xue Lingshan used a thousand commoners to make medicine, yet you don't know?"

With each question, the Heaven Dou Emperor shrank back another inch.

"You knew. You just didn't want to know."

The Heaven Dou Emperor collapsed onto the floor, his face ashen.

Yan Lingji turned and walked back to the throne, then sat down again.

"Continue."

Wang Hai resumed his report.

"Besides the private property seized from the nobles, investigations have confirmed that court officials have embezzled funds for years. The Imperial Seal Keeper embezzled over eight million seven hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins by withholding funds for palace expenses.

"The Minister of Military Affairs falsified weapons procurement orders and pocketed fifty-eight million Gold Soul Coins.

"The Minister of Justice accepted bribes and secretly released serious criminals, receiving a total of over sixty-six million Gold Soul Coins..."

The list grew longer with every name.

The officials kneeling in the hall collapsed one after another,

and Yan Lingji's expression grew colder as she listened.

"The Heaven Dou Empire really has raised quite a nest of parasites."

She surveyed everyone in the hall.

Yan Lingji leaned back on the imperial throne, her fingers tapping the armrest as her gaze swept over the nobles and officials trembling in the hall.

Her lips curved into a faint, bloodthirsty smile.

"All seized property will be transferred to the treasury. All officials who embezzled funds will be punished under the new laws."

Her voice was a cold blade, cutting into every heart.

"Those who sell people,

"those who collude with Evil Soul Masters,

"those who embezzle state funds,

"those who seize farmland from the people—

"shall be executed publicly under the Ten Great Tortures, in the middle of the streets of Heaven Dou City."

With every word she spoke, another group in the hall crumpled to the floor.

"Your Majesty, spare us! Empress, please spare our lives!"

"We'll never dare again! Please, just give us a quick death!"

"Not the torture! Please, no!"

Wails, pleas, and screams rose one after another, like hundreds of livestock bawling before the slaughter.

Yan Lingji raised a hand, and the hall fell silent at once.

"You wretches deserve to die."

"But I won't let you die so easily."

She gave a cold laugh.

"Carry out the executions in the streets so the people of Heaven Dou City can see with their own eyes what happens to corrupt officials, human traffickers, and servants of Evil Soul Masters."

"Let everyone know that from today onward, the world will be different."

"Guards!"

The Imperial Guards answered in unison.

"Put every condemned official in a prison cart, parade them through the city, then take them to the execution ground at the Crossroads Execution Ground. Execute them publicly at noon tomorrow."

The Imperial Guards stepped forward and dragged the nobles and officials who had collapsed on the floor out of the hall like dead dogs.

The imperial hall was utterly silent.

The nobles kneeling on the red carpet pressed their foreheads to the floor. Cold sweat had soaked through their fine clothes, yet they did not dare wipe it away.

They could feel that gaze.

The newly enthroned empress on the throne was looking down at them,

her lips curved in a smile, like a lazy fox sizing up its prey.

But no one dared think that smile was beautiful.

Their hair stood on end.

Their backs turned cold.

It was as if some terrifying thing had set its sights on them.

"That's enough. All of you, get up."

Yan Lingji spoke, her voice tinged with a hint of languor.

She leaned against the golden throne. Nine snowy-white fox tails swayed gently behind her, her fox ears twitched, and her peach-blossom eyes tilted slightly.

"Seeing you kneel all the time is tiring for me, too."

The nobles rose to their feet in fear and trepidation, but did not dare lift their heads.

Their bodies were still trembling, and some had legs as weak as cotton.

The Heaven Dou Emperor—no, the former emperor, Xuelan—had a flushed, trembling old face.

His dragon robe hung on him in wrinkles, like a rag that had been crumpled in someone's fist.

He was standing.

But his legs no longer obeyed him.

Yan Lingji glanced at him, the corners of her lips curving in a half-smile.

"Is the abdication edict ready?"

Xuelan shuddered, his voice hoarse. "I... I've drafted it."

"Read it."

Trembling, Xuelan took a scroll of yellow silk from his sleeve and unfurled it. His lips quivered as he read:

"I... I am of humble virtue and limited talent, and have governed without skill, causing the nation's strength to wane and the people to fall into hardship... Now... I hereby abdicate the throne in favor of Empress Yan Lingji... May the empress honor the will of Heaven above and heed the people below... and rebuild the empire..."

By the end, his voice had dwindled to a mosquito's buzz.

Yan Lingji chuckled.

"That'll do. Put it away."

She leaned back on the throne, fingers tapping the armrest, amusement filling her peach-blossom eyes.

To be honest, being emperor did feel pretty good.

Being hailed by the masses and having people bow before her did make her head spin.

But she knew very well what had put her on this throne.

It wasn't because she was especially clever or capable.

It was because her master was backing her.

She was good at fighting and killing, good at being an assassin, good at setting fires.

But governing a country?

She couldn't handle that kind of thing.

Even now that she was empress of the Heaven Dou Empire, deep down she was still the Fire Charm Enchantress of the Baiyue Assassin Group.

She could kill without batting an eye.

But ask her to govern, and her mind turned to mush.

Yan Lingji sighed silently to herself.

She was like a duck being shoved onto a perch, wasn't she?

No wonder princes and crown princes had to study policy, the art of ruling, and political maneuvering from childhood.

So being emperor was this troublesome.

Still, there was one good thing.

She had her master.

"Master—"

Yan Lingji contacted Jiang Ce in her mind, her voice carrying a hint of a pout.

"You pushed me into this position, so you have to teach me how to hold on to it, right?

"I only know how to kill and set fires. Governing... I don't know the first thing about it."

Jiang Ce's voice rang out in her mind, edged with amusement.

"Now you know to ask me for help?"

"Master~" Yan Lingji's voice turned even more coquettish.

"Please help me, won't you? I belong to you. If I can't hold on to this position, it'll make you look bad, too, won't it?"

"Enough with the acting, you little vixen."

Jiang Ce paused, his tone turning serious.

"I've already prepared the plan for you. Take it."

The next moment—

Yan Lingji felt an explosion go off in her mind.

A flood of information poured into her consciousness like a breached dam.

Reforms to the imperial administration, local government restructuring, the civil-service selection system, the legal system, the oversight structure, military reforms, fiscal reforms, the nobility system...

One item after another, densely packed, filled her mind to the brim like cream puffs.

Yan Lingji's eyes widened slightly, streams of information flashing through her pupils.

The Three Departments and Six Ministries, the Commandery-County System, the Administrative Commissioner, the Imperial Examination, military merit nobility, the Net, the Censorate, the Transport Commissioner, a unified legal code, the abolition of private armies...

Every noun came with an entire system behind it, and every system was backed by a string of supporting measures.

She felt like her brain was about to explode.

So governing an empire required this many twists and turns?

So being an emperor wasn't just sitting on the throne and issuing orders—there were all these intricacies behind it?

Back when she had been an assassin in Baiyue, how could she have ever imagined any of this?

Never mind the Three Departments and Six Ministries; she barely even knew what a "department" was.

But whatever her master gave her was surely right.

Yan Lingji drew a deep breath and silently digested the information in her mind. The curve of her lips grew more pronounced.

Interesting.

Her master meant to turn the entire Heaven Dou Empire upside down.

And this system...

She didn't understand much of it, but just looking at its framework was enough to tell her—

This wasn't some minor tinkering or patchwork fix.

It was a complete, sweeping transformation from top to bottom.

From the official system to local governance, from selecting officials to the law, from the military to the finances, from open oversight to secret agents—

Everything was to be torn down and rebuilt.

After digesting the information, Yan Lingji slowly opened her eyes. A sharp glint flashed in her peach-blossom eyes.

Below the throne, the trembling nobles felt her gaze fall on them again, and their bodies shook even harder.

They had no idea what their newly enthroned empress was thinking.

But their instincts told them

that whatever happened next, it would certainly be nothing good.

Yan Lingji leaned back against the throne and stopped tapping its armrest.

The hall was so quiet that the crackling of the candle flames could be heard.

"I was wondering—"

She spoke. Her voice was not loud, yet it carried an oppressive force that sent chills down the spine.

"How could an empire have rotted to this extent?"