Sword of Execution! Son of Heaven's Sword! People's Heart Sword! The Path of State Commerce!

Yangxin Hall.

The Female Emperor told Xu Qingxiao to continue.

Xu Qingxiao wasted no words.

"Your Majesty, I dare to speak plainly. The Great Wei Dynasty now sways amid wind and rain, and the nation faces crises on every side."

"For this reason, I have been unable to eat or sleep in peace these past days. I have pondered this all day long, even declining to attend the Peaceful Age Poetry Gathering."

"This was the very matter I was considering. Yesterday, I thought of forging a sword-a Sword of Execution for the Great Wei Dynasty."

"This sword would serve two great purposes."

"First, it would slay treacherous ministers, strike down seditious factions, execute the Vassal Kings, and quell turmoil. Great Wei's court has its share of treacherous ministers whose corruption and abuse of the law could not be recorded even on every bamboo slip in the land. Yet Great Wei's intelligence apparatus is woefully inadequate. Officials everywhere shield one another, and a hundred crimes are reported as one."

"Thus, this sword would remain hidden in the world, serving Your Majesty and gathering intelligence from across the realm. Every matter would be recorded, and Your Majesty would need only look through those records to know the affairs of the world."

Xu Qingxiao explained the sword's first benefit.

Then he continued.

"Meanwhile, seditious factions crowd the court. Though civil and military officials honor the Exalted One now, there is no guarantee that things will not change. Factional strife harms the court, Great Wei, and, above all, the common people. We must restore a clear sky over the realm."

"Thus, this sword would be upright and unyielding, spilling blood three feet high as it struck down seditious factions and their many evils. It would secure the dynasty's stability and safeguard Your Majesty's imperial