Chapter 342 - Chapter 342: Chapter 238: Dongfang Clan Plans to Flee_1

Chapter 342: Chapter 238: Dongfang Clan Plans to Flee_1

Great Xia Capital city, Imperial Palace.

Imperial Study Room.

The Sum Emperor was reviewing memorials when he suddenly saw the one submitted by Lu Chen.

He paused.

Besides the times when Lu Chen had submitted memorials when the Barbarian Tribe moved south, Lu Chen hardly ever sent memorials to the court.

Especially since the Great Xia court declared that they would no longer aid the North Country with any supplies, Lu Chen had not submitted any memorials to the court thereafter.

What was the purpose of him submitting a memorial this time?

Out of curiosity, the Sum Emperor opened Lu Chen’s memorial and started to read it carefully.

Seeing the content within the memorial, the Sum Emperor’s expression turned sour.

He scoffed and said, “Swallowing the whole North Land, such grand ambition, not afraid of choking to death!”

“It seems that since Zhuge Zhongguang went to the North Country, he has become even more inflated.”

“After dealing with the Aristocratic Families of the South, it’s time to take care of this hidden threat.”

The Sum Emperor had thought that even with the support of a certain power behind him, North Country’s development wouldn’t be too fast, but with the ongoing reforms in North Country, he began to have an uneasy feeling.

North Country was developing too quickly, and the refugees it absorbed did not become a burden to North Country but instead helped it gain a vast labor force.

Moreover, Univeral Academy had openly declared its intention to join North Country, which further unsettled the Sum Emperor. He even suspected that the initial power supporting North Country was this very Univeral Academy.

When Lu Chen went to North Country, he was merely a useless Prince without anyone’s support. It could be that Univeral Academy took advantage of this and seized the opportunity to control Lu Chen.

Univeral Academy’s ideals had always been loathed by the great dynasties, especially the royal families. The Sum Emperor had reason to suspect that Zhuge Zhongguang intended to bring Univeral Academy’s ideals to Great Xia, and that the strange reforms in North Country might well be the work of Univeral Academy.

After Situ Ce’s return from North Country, he mentioned traces of a Grandmaster. Now, thinking about it, that Grandmaster is very likely Zhuge Zhongguang.

Just thinking about Zhuge Zhongguang, the Sum Emperor’s face darkened as he muttered to himself, “This world should not have Celestials.”

Above the realm of Grandmaster is the Heavenly Human Realm, which has long kept the Grandmasters of the martial world from taking a breath. Over the years, Grandmasters from all dynasties have been low-key, avoiding action if possible.

It was all thanks to a Celestial from Mysterious Moon Palace from years ago, who killed many Grandmasters, including those from different dynasties.

After that individual retreated into seclusion in Mysterious Moon Palace and never emerged again, decades have gone by, but what the Celestial did still instills deep fear among the Grandmasters.

The events of those years led all the Grandmasters of the Great Xia royal family to take a step back and haven’t come forth in decades. Now, people generally only know of the State Preceptor Situ Ce as a suspected Grandmaster, with few aware that there are still Grandmasters in the royal family.

Just one Celestial has kept the Grandmasters of all the dynasties from raising their heads. If another Celestial were to appear, the Grandmasters might never dare to show themselves again.

What’s more crucial is that this Grandmaster on the brink of breaking through to the Heavenly Human Realm had come to the Great Xia Dynasty, causing the Sum Emperor even more unease, to the point of losing sleep at night, haunted by memories of when the Grandmasters of his royal family were slain by the Celestial of Mysterious Moon Palace with a single stroke.

The Sum Emperor did not wish to have another sword hanging over his head after resolving the Aristocratic Families. If the Great Xia Dynasty was to grow stronger, there could be no force on Great Xia’s land more formidable than the Great Xia royal family.

At that moment, the Sum Emperor turned to the eunuch beside him and handed over the memorial, directing, “Take this memorial to the State Preceptor for review.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

After the eunuch took Lu Chen’s memorial away, a cold glint flashed in the Sum Emperor’s eyes.

Aristocratic Families, Sects, Univeral Academy—all these powers, he would erase from the land of Great Xia.

Even the Dongfang Clan would not be spared; as far as he was concerned, the Dongfang Clan was just a pawn, to be discarded once its use had ended.

Although the Dongfang Clan was a commercial family, differing significantly from traditional Aristocratic Families, the fact that the Dongfang Clan sought to extend its reach into the court had already crossed the Sum Emperor’s red line. While he had outwardly agreed to their request, he would never allow past occurrences to be repeated in the court.

The more the Dongfang Clan tried to reach into the court, the more the Sum Emperor felt their ambition was too great, no different from the Ancient Families.

How could the Sum Emperor possibly allow such an ambitious family with such profound impact on Great Xia’s economy to remain?

Of course, for now, the Aristocratic Families of the South had not yet been annihilated, and other families were still present in the court, so the Sum Emperor would not move against the Dongfang Clan just yet. At least until the Ancient Families in the court were eradicated, he would not touch the Dongfang Clan.

…

Meanwhile.

Sufeng City.

Wang Family.

Today, the Family Heads of the Aristocratic Families from the South had all arrived at the Wang Family’s residence. Ever since Lu Shuyun came to the South, he had been staying with the Wang Family. The primary reason for the Family Heads of the major Aristocratic Families coming to Wang Family was because of Lu Shuyun’s presence there.