As Daoist Xue cast an illusion technique and walked out of the Imperial Palace, the people from the Underworld Office had already arrived. He saw the pair of Netherworld Officials and studied their clothing and gait with some curiosity.
So these messengers of the Underworld really did resemble the portraits in the temples. And when an emperor died, it was no different-the Netherworld Officials came to take him away.
Naturally, the party of Netherworld Officials also felt Daoist Xue's gaze and realized that this Daoist could actually see them.
But the two sides merely exchanged looks as they passed, then went their separate ways without a greeting. One left the Imperial Palace, while the other approached the cries and weeping, where the false far outweighed the sincere.
The Imperial Palace, and indeed the entire court and country, had fallen into turmoil over the emperor's death.
There was, however, one thing that comforted Daoist Xue. Though open and hidden struggles were certainly inevitable, amid the confusion, the Imperial Court had at least announced the emperor's death and proclaimed the Four Dragon King Cult an evil cult to the world.
It had also blamed the emperor's death on the evil cult's bewitchment.
With this proclamation from the Imperial Court, the already tottering Four Dragon King Cult lost its legitimacy, and its collapse would come swiftly.
Even if some stubborn blights remained, the local authorities would act, the various factions of the Rivers and Lakes would have reason to act, and even from a cultivator's perspective, Earth Deities and divine beings would find it easier to deal with demons.
To Daoist Xue's surprise, the power struggle within the Imperial Court ended far sooner than he had imagined.
It was not because Daoist Xue had witnessed it, but because the Imperial Court issued another