Time flowed on, and before long, the New Year arrived.
At the turn of the New Year, Zhao Cheng also made an appearance. He first summoned the civil and military officials for a court assembly, treating it as an annual review.
Afterward, he held a New Year's banquet and entertained the officials.
At the same time, he drafted an imperial edict conveying his respects to the Retired Emperor, who was living out his retirement in the Southern Wasteland, and told him to rest easy there.
The reason he wrote this edict was that his prolonged seclusion, and his continued entrusting of state affairs to Zhao Xiang, the Eldest Princess, had stirred certain thoughts in some people.
Among the Retired Emperor's sons, the eldest had now reached seven years of age.
And though Great New now promoted equality between men and women, the shackles of old thinking could not be shattered overnight.
Thus, Zhao Xiang's regency had given some people delusions.
Indeed, even the shortest lifespan of a Golden Immortal was a thousand years. Since Zhao Cheng had founded a nation, his lifespan would certainly exceed a thousand years. Yet Zhao Cheng entered seclusion so often that he did not even attend to state affairs, leading some to speculate that perhaps something had gone wrong with him.
The path of the Dao Nation had always been mere legend. Perhaps one day, Zhao Cheng might suddenly die without warning.
And if he did die suddenly, then that would undoubtedly be an opportunity.
If the Retired Emperor remained far away in the Southern Wasteland while Zhao Xiang was in court, there would naturally be little they could do. But if the Retired Emperor and his children were in the Divine Capital, then much could be done.
Even Father Zhao believed that a woman