Shortcut

Something momentous had indeed happened at court.

The grand empress dowager, who had always been healthy, had fallen ill.

Without a special fortuitous opportunity, humans did not live long.

But the Realm Technique extended one's lifespan. As long as they avoided fighting and injury, True Self Realm cultivators could live to a hundred and twenty or even a hundred and fifty.

The grand empress dowager had lived through three reigns and was already extremely old, but she was a True Self Realm cultivator and had also cultivated the Huang-Lao Technique, which was exceptionally suited to preserving health.

If the new emperor lived an ordinary span of years, he might even die before the grand empress dowager.

Yet the grand empress dowager had fallen ill in the space of a single night. Some palace maids even mentioned smelling the stench of a corpse.

The gossiping palace maids were dealt with swiftly, but the news still reached the new emperor's ears.

In Weiyang Palace, the new emperor's expression shifted in ways that were hard to describe.

The grand empress dowager was a mountain weighing on his head, one who even had the power to replace him on the throne. Yet she was also the sea-calming divine needle that protected the Great Han Dynasty.

When Emperor Jing died, the heads of some schools had dared to storm into the imperial palace in Chang'an City and cause trouble.

As for those who knew the Han Dynasty's true foundations, Emperor Jing's death had not stirred them to action, but the grand empress dowager's death would very likely draw their attention.

At one moment, the new emperor felt as though a great weight had been lifted from him; at the next, he felt a storm brewing.

His feelings were deeply conflicted.

On the one hand, he