Li Linghai stared at Li Yao for a long time and sighed. “Vulture Li Yao, up until so far, we have suited each other’s needs very well, so I really don’t want to beat you to death by accident. Leave now. I’ll have a batch of materials delivered to you soon. Thirty percent of the materials will be yours, and the other seventy percent will be used to strengthen the magical equipment of the devil huntresses. As for the specific models and requirements, Yue Wushuang will talk to you later.”

Li Linghai turned around and did not look at Li Yao anymore, focusing her whole attention on the map of Dongfang Renxin’s secret institute.

Li Yao observed Dongfang Mingyue’s panoramic picture carefully for a long time. Then, for some reason, he suddenly asked, “Wait, Your Grace, I do have a question. Last time you ran into this Dongfang Mingyue, she didn’t happen to be managing the royal library in the palace or working as a cleaning lady in the library, right?”

Li Linghai turned around abruptly and stared at Li Yao’s face as intimidatingly as an eagle, as if she were pecking holes on Li Yao’s face—which was, of course, impossible, considering its thickness. “Why do you ask?”

“Very simple. The royal authority has declined for five hundred years. The royal palace is now heavily infiltrated by the four Kurfürst families. What secret intelligence deserves such a mysterious expert to sneak in and investigate?”

Blinking his eyes, Li Yao said without changing his face, “However, I’m told that the royal library is an information storage agency that has been passed on from thousands of years ago, in which many precious secret techniques and classics are kept. It is probably worth investigating.

“Truth be told, Your Grace, even I also feel tempted to go to the royal library and find a marvelous art to practice. So, I just assume that other people might’ve thought the same. How about it? Am I correct?”

“Yes, you are actually correct this time.”

After a brief silence, Li Linghai nodded her head. “This mysterious Dongfang Mingyue was indeed working in the library affiliated to the royal library. Perhaps she was trying to steal the secrets in the royal library…

“However, hehe, the internal structure of the royal library is highly complicated, like a maze with ninety-nine locks. Many techniques and technologies that have been passed on for thousands of years are sealed by barriers. They will even be destroyed if they are opened by brute force.

“In the earliest years, only the emperors and the crown princes were aware of the secrets to open the seals. But during the decline of the royal authority, quite a few emperors died abruptly and did not even set up a crown prince before they died. The secrets to open the treasures are now long gone with the wind. Nobody knows them anymore.

“The four Kurfürst families naturally have been sparing no effort on cracking the secrets hidden deep inside the royal library, but they gained nothing after a hundred years of attempts. Fearing that the entire library might be ruined if their approaches were too radical, which would annihilate the techniques, arts, treasure maps, secret prescriptions, etc. from thousands of years ago, they did not dare to act too aggressively either.

“It’s been decades since their last attempt on the royal library. Has Dongfang Mingyue grasped any new methods that can open the barriers in the deepest part of the library? We can’t be more careful about the matter…”

Deep in thought, Li Linghai waved her hands, hinting Li Yao to leave.

Thousands of thoughts were bubbling inside Li Yao’s heart too. He pondered while he walked out.

When he reached the door, however, the queen’s slightly hesitant voice came from his back. “… Wait.”

Li Yao turned around, somewhat in surprise. “Anything else, Your Grace?”

“The fragment of the Imperial Fire Pearl…”

Li Linghai’s face was completely hidden in the mottled shadow, and there was no telling what was on her face. But her voice was hesitant as she asked, “Have you given it to Li Jialing for training? What’s the progress?”

Despite her brutality on the surface, it seemed that Li Linghai cared about her son deep down in her heart. Li Yao grinned and said, “Rest assured, Your Grace. That boy Li Jialing is truly a one-in-a-hundred-year genius in training. His talents and aptitudes are extraordinary and only slightly lower than mine when I was in my younger years. How incredible!

“With the wholehearted enlightenment of such an unparalleled expert like myself and the investment of all the ancillary drugs, his absorption of the Imperial Fire Pearl is very fast.

“The Supreme Emperor’s dominating vibe contained in the Imperial Fire Pearl has been combined with the messy strengths that were injected into his body during the experiments in the past ten decades, leading to amazing chemical reactions. His combat ability has been increased by more than five times compared to when you just met him! Except for his lack of battle experience, he is now totally a top-tier expert!”

Li Linghai’s body further retreated deeper into the mottled shadow, but there was no delight in her voice at all, just full of chill. “Is… Is that so? There is no hindrance at all?”

Li Yao raised his eyebrows and narrowed his eyes, trying to split the mottled shadow. He asked suspiciously, “Why do I feel that Your Grace is not particularly happy after learning the accomplishments of your son’s training? If you have never considered Li Jialing as your son since the beginning, why did you give a treasure such as the Imperial Fire Pearl to him for training? Wait. Is there anything wrong with the Imperial Fire Pearl?”

Li Linghai took a deep breath and smiled bitterly. “You are a specialist both in fighting and in refining, and you have been training with the Imperial Fire Pearl too. What problem can possibly escape your attention?”

“That does make sense. I scrutinized the Imperial Fire Pearl from every aspect. It is absolutely fine.”

Li Yao was more and more confused, and he was unable to see through the obscurities on Li Linghai’s face. “Then, is there something wrong with you, Your Grace?”

Instead of denying it, Li Linghai suddenly changed the topic and said, “Dongfang Mingyue’s strength is truly immeasurable. I believe that she is an extremely dangerous enemy. Her Association of Demon Hunters will certainly capture the reformists in the capital on a large scale in the next phase. With Li Jialing’s current appearance, he can easily be accused of being a demon, no interrogation needed. He will be a problem if he stays in the capital.

“I… I have controlled a secret spaceport in the forty-seventh district, and there is a carrier that has been carefully camouflaged. Why don’t you help me escort Li Jialing get aboard and ask him to lay low for a while in any peripheral world of the Imperium for now?”

“Are you serious?”

Bulging his eyes, Li Yao found it hard to believe. “Your Grace, do you not feel that your orders are self-contradictory? At first, you asked me and Li Jialing to stay right beside you, claiming that it was the only way to keep your secrets safe. Later, you asked us to work as the liaison officers in General Lei Chenghu’s place, which was obviously an attempt to get Li Jialing away from you. But a few days ago, you asked us to march into the capital together with you, and you got Li Jialing back to yourself again. Right now, you are asking me to send Li Jialing to a peripheral world of the Imperium?

“You have changed your attitude three times in only two months. May I ask why?”

Although she was hiding in the mottled shadow, Li Yao still heard the gloomy sigh of the queen.

“I have to say that Your Grace’s excuse is truly lousy.”

Li Yao simply went on without caring for anything. “You’re afraid that Li Jialing would be captured by the Association of Demon Hunters because of his current appearance? His current appearance was made by you in the first place. With your capabilities and your technologies, it should be more than easy to turn Li Jialing back into what he used to be, shouldn’t it? Is it necessary to send him to a distant world?

“Also, since Dongfang Mingyue is a mysterious, dangerous enemy, why are you certain that she is unaware of the location of your secret spaceport? Chances are that she has got her eyes on you since a long time ago, and she is now simply waiting for a big fish to catch the hook. It is possible that Li Jialing will be caught by her the moment he leaves the capital, which will be even more dangerous!

“You are such a strong mother. If Li Jialing stays by your side, you can still look after him. If he does escape to a peripheral world of the Imperium, neither you nor I will be able to do anything should anything happen to him!”

Thinking for a long time, Li Linghai had to admit, “You do have a point.”

“Your Grace, I’ve never seen you as diffident before.”

Li Yao moved one step closer and raised his voice as he said, “I am just a straightforward and unsophisticated man, so I’ll just ask it frankly. Is there anything that you’ve been keeping to yourself?”

“What can I possibly be keeping to myself?”

Li Linghai finally raised her head from the shadow, but her face was more than pale. She stared at Li Yao and said, “Over the past two months, I have been fulfilling my promise all the time, realizing the maximal degree of reform with the minimal price. The Imperium is not reduced into chaos, and no innocent blood is shed, right?

“We are dealing with Dongfang Wang and Dongfang Renxin partly for my personal reasons, of course, while I pursue the supreme power, but it is also meant to remove hazards for the people. Removing such unpardonable scoundrels befits your beliefs perfectly too, right?

“Although we are all Immortal Cultivators, the reformists are more advanced than the four Kurfürst families anyway, and the new Imperium under the control of the reformists will certainly be better than the old Imperium controlled by the traditional noble families and more merciful to the ordinary people, right?

“If so, what are you worried about? I’ve said that I’ll abide by my promise and give you a Sector that you can administer on your own as long as it obeys the authority of the Imperium on the surface. There is no need for me to go back on my words in such a trivial matter. Rest assured about that!”

Li Yao thought for a long time, only to come up with nothing wrong. He could only say, “That being said, I still vaguely feel that something is wrong. Perhaps it is because your style is too creepy and ghostly, and one inevitably feels that you have a lot of schemes the moment they see you? To be honest, have you ever considered perming or dyeing your hair, putting on some cosmetics, and smiling more sunnily? Wouldn’t it be much better? After all, you will be a symbol of the Imperium one day.”

“Enough.”

Li Linghai retreated again, allowing the beehive-like shadows on the map of the Imperium to swallow her face. “You may leave.”

“Copy that.”

Thinking for a moment, Li Yao asked, “What about Li Jialing? I don’t need to send him away now, do I?”

There was no response from the shadow until Li Yao almost walked to the door. That was when the queen’s unpredictable voice drifted over. “No. You were quite right. No matter where he escapes to, he will be found eventually. That is… destiny!”