Chapter 288: Chapter 285: Iron-Blooded Suppression

’What a pity. If only I could borrow the Power of the Dragon Vein beyond the capital.’

Mo Qi shook his head to himself.

If it were possible, he would have much rather captured the middle-aged man.

Then he could interrogate him about what truly happened eleven years ago and find out if the man knew anything about his mother.

Unfortunately, the gap between them was simply too vast, and Mo Qi didn’t yet possess that kind of power.

He could only settle for the next best thing and capture Nangong An first.

’All in all, my power is still too low. Otherwise, why go through all this trouble? Wouldn’t it be better to just storm the Hall of Envoys, or even the Immortal Realm?’

Mo Qi wasn’t concerned about the middle-aged man’s parting threat.

Annihilating the Mountain and Sea Empire was out of the question.

If the situation called for it, the higher-ups in the Hall of Envoys would abandon him just as easily as he had abandoned Nangong An.

Li Shimu could borrow the Power of Fortune to wield the combat power of an ordinary Immortal.

He wasn’t invincible, but he was not someone to be trifled with.

Fighting a Sovereign with Immortal Combat Power to the death over a mere subordinate was clearly unwise.

Besides, the people from the Hall of Envoys must have their own objectives for coming; it was impossible that they wouldn’t need the Mountain and Sea Empire’s help.

So in the end, the middle-aged man would likely just have to swallow his pride and endure the humiliation.

’It seems my only opening is with that so-called Young Master.’

After a long moment of thought, Mo Qi had his target.

’If that’s the case, then my main body’s recovery is of the utmost urgency!’

"Glory to His Holiness!"

Just then, the assembled experts, led by the King of Kaosan, cried out in unison.

Li Shimu had routed the middle-aged man with his overwhelming presence, shattering the void to sever his arm from a distance.

Furthermore, his body was wreathed in golden light, and a tall, imposing phantom filled half the sky, like a Divine Being descending upon the world.

All the citizens of the Imperial City witnessed this, awestruck by the divine sight.

Following the roaring cheers, countless people earnestly fell to their knees, bowing toward Li Shimu’s phantom.

"We pay our respects to Your Majesty! Glory to His Holiness!"

The Divine Senses that had been secretly monitoring the situation rapidly dispersed. Their owners all dropped to their knees, crying out, "Forgive us, Your Holiness!"

The moment Li Shimu was enveloped by the Power of Fortune, they knew they had been exposed.

The current Li Shimu needed only a single thought to easily take their heads and obliterate their souls.

They had no choice but to beg for Li Shimu’s mercy and understanding.

"Humph!"

Li Shimu let out a cold snort, his displeasure palpable.

The hearts of the onlookers leaped into their throats, with the elders of the Nangong Family being the most anxious.

They had previously submitted to the tyrannical power of Nangong An and the middle-aged man, watching idly as Nangong Yi and his daughter were humiliated, allowing an outsider to run rampant and disregarding the safety of the Blessed One.

They hadn’t even shown themselves when the middle-aged man attacked Li Shimu.

To put it mildly, this made them cowardly, spineless fence-sitters. To put it seriously, it could be deemed the crime of lèse-majesté and treason!

"As one of the two great marshal families, are you worthy of the name ’Nangong’?!"

Li Shimu demanded coldly.

A hush fell over the crowd; no one dared to respond.

The elders of the Nangong Family were filled with unspoken grievances.

Leaving aside the middle-aged man’s power, the mere fact that he came from the Hall of Envoys was enough to make them hesitate.

’You, Li Shimu, are the current Emperor. Of course you can do as you please, fighting or making peace as you see fit.’

’But what could we, your subjects, possibly do?’

’Without your authorization, how could we dare to offend the Hall of Envoys?’

’What if we angered the Hall of Envoys and they sent a Demi-Immortal, or even an Immortal, to wreak havoc? Who would take the blame then?’

"Where is Nangong Yi?" Li Shimu asked coldly.

"I am here!" Nangong Yi replied, kneeling on one knee. Blood gushed from the wound that pierced clean through his chest and back, but he seemed not to feel it.

"How should we deal with those who refuse to save others in peril, who betray their own kind?"

"Execution!" Nangong Yi blurted out.

He knew that Li Shimu’s words were not about the elders failing to save him, but about their failure to protect the Blessed Qin Daye.

The Blessed One represents the hope and future of the Empire, and no harm must be allowed to befall him!

Even the Wolf Fang Sect had a Half-Immortal Level trump card; as the Sovereign of an entire Empire, would Li Shimu not have one?

So why, when dealing with the middle-aged man, did he borrow the Power of Fortune, no matter the cost?

On one hand, he was sending a clear message to those fence-sitters: the majesty of the Empire is not to be trifled with!

On the other hand, he was also showing his stance to Mo Qi: The Empire is willing to bear any cost for you!

It was a roundabout way of reassuring Mo Qi and soothing any potential instability in his state of mind.

"Execution? Then submit to judgment!"

As he spoke, Li Shimu waved a hand, following their auras back to the source and locating the owners of those Divine Senses.

Regardless of their identity, status, or name, anyone who had been hiding in the shadows to watch the show was pierced between the eyebrows by an irresistible, immense force.

Their Seas of Consciousness shattered, and their souls dissipated completely.

More than half of the Nangong Family’s upper echelons were executed on the spot.

Li Shimu’s iron-fisted methods stunned everyone.

Including the King of Kaosan, they had all guessed Li Shimu would be furious and punish these people severely, but they never imagined he would actually be so ruthless.

And to kill so many of them at once!

The Nangong Family would suffer a grievous blow to their strength and would struggle to recover for the next several hundred years.

’Brilliant!’

Only Mo Qi gave Li Shimu a mental thumbs-up.

’The sheer audacity of an Emperor is on another level!’ 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

’Drastic times call for drastic measures.’

’The people from the Hall of Envoys are about to arrive, and it’s impossible to tell if that will be a blessing or a curse.’

’If he had been indecisive and allowed these fence-sitters to keep wavering, they would have become a threat sooner or later.’

’Better to be ruthless and make a clean sweep, thoroughly purging these parasites. In the long run, it’s a good thing for both the Nangong Family and the Empire.’

In truth, there was another factor that only Li Shimu himself knew.

There was definitely more than one person like Nangong An who had completely sworn allegiance to the Hall of Envoys, and Li Shimu couldn’t be certain who had already turned traitor.

Therefore, it was better to kill the innocent by mistake than to let a single one get away.

"Are you all right, kid?" Li Shimu asked Mo Qi via voice transmission.

Mo Qi grinned, taking out a brocade box and tossing it to Li Shimu.

"Your Holiness, you’d better worry about yourself. You don’t have much time. If your body can’t take the strain, the contents of this box might be able to help."

Li Shimu caught the brocade box. A sweep of his Divine Sense revealed a Rice Flour Ball, the size of a pigeon’s egg, lying inside.

Li Shimu: "..."

If he hadn’t already guessed that Blessed Qin Daye was Mo Qi and possessed the ability to create Medicinal Cuisine, Li Shimu might have thought Mo Qi was toying with him.

But even so, he didn’t believe a single Medicinal Pill could resolve the backlash from the Power of Fortune.

Thus, he didn’t pay it too much mind. After stowing the brocade box and giving a few instructions to the King of Kaosan, he vanished from sight.

Now that the dust had settled, Mo Qi had no reason to linger.

He waved to Qian Duoduo and the others, then turned to leave.

Liu Hui and Nangong Yan immediately dragged their injured bodies to follow. Qian Duoduo also struggled to his feet and followed close behind, supported by Jin Sanpang.

Qian Juduo and Nangong Yi both looked as if they wanted to say something, but ultimately held back.