Inside the inn, Lin Hanzhou quietly listened to the bugle calls of a gathering army outside the window,
and the faint commotion drifting from the direction of the imperial palace in the distance, his expression calm.
He had already learned through his senses of the upheaval that had taken place in the palace that day.
The late emperor had passed away, leaving the throne to the sixteen-year-old Ninth Princess.
The princes refused to accept it. They had surrounded the imperial city with their troops, hoping to depose the new emperor by force.
"That girl has some guts."
Lin Hanzhou thought of the figure in Black Wind Gorge, who had dared to face a Grandmaster and was willing to trade her own life for a chance for her followers to escape.
He couldn't help feeling a trace of admiration for her.
He hadn't wanted to get mixed up in this mess.
Who sat on Great Gan's throne had nothing to do with him.
The rise and fall of this dynasty was nothing more than a fleeting dream to him.
But when he learned that the sixteen-year-old girl was trying to save this crumbling empire,
even his heart, long as still as an ancient well, had been stirred.
He remembered the flourishing age he had built with his own hands in the world of Great Sui.
He knew what a good ruler meant to a nation and its countless people.
Perhaps this girl named Li Yuechan really could become a decent ruler.
"Very well. I'll give you a hand."
Lin Hanzhou murmured to himself.
With his current cultivation at the third stage of the Qi Sea Realm, killing an ordinary Grandmaster of the same realm was as easy as killing a dog.
Helping her secure the throne wouldn't be difficult for him.
Of course, he wasn't going to help her for free.
Lin Hanzhou wasn't that generous.
What he had his eye on was the Great Gan royal family's library, with its centuries of accumulated books, as well as the vast trove of rare treasures in its treasury.
That was the real reason he was willing to step in.
Having made up his mind, Lin Hanzhou vanished from the room in an instant.
Outside the imperial palace, before Chengtian Gate.
Several thousand private soldiers and experts belonging to the residences of different princes had assembled, surrounding the palace gates so tightly that not even a drop of water could get through.
Atop the palace gate, the Imperial Guard's deputy commander gripped his spear, his expression grave.
He knew that today would surely bring a bloody battle.
Once fighting broke out inside the palace, everyone present would likely surge forward.
Inside the imperial palace, just as the First Prince was about to give the order to attack, at the most critical moment,
a young man dressed in black appeared without warning between the opposing sides.
It was none other than Lin Hanzhou, who had just been at the inn.
Both sides stared at Lin Hanzhou's sudden appearance in surprise, then immediately went on alert.
They had no idea how he had appeared there, but anyone who could slip in without a sound was bound to be an expert.
Seated on the imperial throne, Li Yuechan saw Lin Hanzhou's familiar figure, and her pupils contracted.
She had never imagined that the person she had thought of day and night would actually come.
"A nation is in peril, and all you useless fools know how to do is fight over power."
Lin Hanzhou's cold, indifferent voice rang clearly in the ears of everyone present.
Then, without the slightest hesitation, he drew his sword and struck.
A brilliant sword light, graceful as drifting clouds yet swift beyond compare, flashed and vanished around him.
In the next instant, several experts on the princes' side—whether second-stage Martial Masters or third-stage Grandmasters—
stiffened abruptly, their faces filled with disbelief.
Then one head after another soared into the air.
Blood burst forth like a fountain, instantly staining the entire court red.
One sword. Lin Hanzhou had struck just once!
Seven Grandmasters and more than a dozen Martial Masters were all beheaded and killed on the spot.
"Hiss—!"
The entire scene fell into deathly silence.
Everyone was utterly stunned by that sword, as miraculous as a divine feat.
The princes watched their most powerful Attendants fall like clay chickens and straw dogs, cut down in an instant.
They were so terrified that their souls nearly fled their bodies. They collapsed to the ground, their legs trembling like sieves.
T-too terrifying!
What kind of monster was this?
The Imperial Guard's commander, Wang Jian, was also filled with shock.
He had never imagined that this young man who had suddenly appeared could kill seven Grandmasters with a single sword.
Even he, the strongest peerless Grandmaster beneath the Great Grandmaster realm, couldn't do that.
This man was already on par with the legendary Great Grandmasters.
Lin Hanzhou calmly slid his sword back into its sheath. Not a trace of blood had touched the blade.
He didn't seem particularly surprised by the fact that he had killed seven Grandmasters with one strike.
After all, in his eyes, those so-called Grandmasters had been around the fifth level of the third stage.
Though he was only at the first level of the third stage, and his cultivation was lower than all of theirs,
his golden sea of qi and his nearly perfected swordsmanship were no mere decorations.
His top-grade golden sea of qi had given him the spiritual power of an ordinary third-stage martial artist at the seventh or eighth level, even though he had only just entered the third stage.
His nearly perfected Black-grade sword art had made him all the more formidable.
On top of that, he had struck so quickly, launching a deadly attack the moment they met and leaving those Grandmasters no chance to defend themselves.
All of this explained how he had killed seven Grandmasters and more than a dozen Martial Masters with a single sword.
Lin Hanzhou's gaze swept over the princes and officials below, who were already dumbstruck with terror.
His voice was calm, yet carried an unquestionable authority.
"From this day on, Li Yuechan is the Empress of Great Gan."
"Does anyone have an objection?"
He paused, the corner of his mouth curling into a playful smile.
"I've always preferred to convince people with reason."
"Anyone who disagrees can step forward and have a good debate with me."
The entire court fell utterly silent. Even a pin could have been heard dropping.
Lin Hanzhou's terrifying strength had frightened everyone so badly they could barely remember how to breathe.
Yet just then, a reckless fool who didn't know when to quit jumped out.
He was a young official who looked barely over twenty.
Pointing at Lin Hanzhou, he denounced him with righteous indignation.
"Demon! Don't you dare spread your lies here!"
"In all the centuries since Great Gan was founded, no woman has ever ascended the throne. This violates the order of the realm and defies the rites of our ancestors! You—"
"You wanted to speak, and now you really are?"
Before the man could finish, Lin Hanzhou cut him off without mercy.
In the next instant, Lin Hanzhou appeared before the reckless fool.
A flash of cold light passed.
The young man's head flew high into the air, his face still bearing the righteous fervor of someone "fighting for his country and its people."
Lin Hanzhou was back where he had stood, as if he had never moved.
He blew on the sword's edge, brushing away dust that wasn't there, and said mildly,
"Anyone else want to reason with me?"
"This man just died of shame because he couldn't win an argument with me."
As Lin Hanzhou finished speaking, the entire scene remained as silent as the grave.
Who would dare jump out now? The last fool who had "died of shame" was still fresh in everyone's memory.
The princes and officials could no longer hold out. One after another, they fell to their knees.
Facing Li Yuechan on the throne, they cried out in trembling voices,
"Your servants... pay their respects to Her Majesty, the Empress!"
"Long live Your Majesty! Long live! Long live!"
A bloody civil war on the verge of erupting had been forcibly suppressed by Lin Hanzhou, alone with his sword.
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