Murim's Weakest Princess

Chapter 293: Meeting the Emperor

Meeting the Emperor was no less nerve-wracking than meeting the Empress. Anji and her brothers had barely sat down for lunch when the eunuch announced the Emperor’s arrival.Bowing low, they waited for the Emperor to dismiss their greeting.

Instead of a cheerful man, the Emperor sighed deeply and told the servants to give them all privacy. Even from just his voice, Anji detected severe exhaustion. Was this truly the man running a whole country?

Only after all the servants had left the room did the Emperor tell them to get up and receive their greetings.

"Let’s not pretend with too much formality. Noble Consort Liu informed us that the three of you are esteemed heirs of the heroic murim sect. If there were royalty in the murim world, you would have a similar status to us in the mortal world. Please take a seat. Empress, have the servants bring in the lunch."

Curtsying, the Empress stood up and excused herself to make arrangements. Mingshen quickly dropped his scholarly smile the same way the Emperor removed his heavy jade crown. Yihao noticed the drop in formalities not as a courteous remark and quickly tugged at the stifling collar. He was so used to being shirtless that wearing such clothing felt ill-fitted.

Noble Consort Liu and Anji were the only ones who did not seem to change externally. They exchanged glances, and the Noble Consort leaned down to whisper in Anji’s ear as the Emperor asked the older brothers a few questions out of personal curiosity.

"What do you think?" Liu Guiya lowered her voice. "Is he also brainwashed?"

Anji fiddled with the ruby jewellery in her sleeve. The spell did not activate. To double-check, she discreetly activated her second sight while her brothers kept the exhausted Emperor entertained. Mingshen demonstrated a trick to split a cup in perfect halves using a flicker of qi as a party trick, making the tired emperor laugh with glee. The man looked twenty years younger as he clapped his hands at the act.

If it weren’t for the distraction, Anji would have scolded her older brother for risking injury and inflammation again. He was still a patient in her eyes and should not be using any qi techniques. However, she was too busy diagnosing the Emperor and tracing for hints of miasma in the main palace to remember.

"No traces here," Anji reported and slipped the incomplete detecting jewellery inside Noble Consort Liu’s sleeve. "Keep that with you first to find out where the source of corruption is. The spell is not completed, so it can only detect but not contain the corruption or act as a defence spell for tracking. Be careful when you investigate. His Majesty is fine, but I’m sensing a strange pressure on his spirit."

Even with all the knowledge and past life experiences, Anji had never come across such a strange phenomenon. The Emperor was a mortal. He was a non-cultivating human. His soul and energy should be the same as everyone else’s. Yet, why is his energy flow the only one being constrained, as if his golden core was also sealed like Anji’s? It made no sense.

Just in time, the Empress returned with a line of ten servants holding up trays of food behind her.

"I see that you’re all having a good time," she smiled. "The food is here. Let’s continue the conversation over a warm meal. Our youngest guests here is curious about the Imperial Legend of the Dragon and Four Mythical Guardian Beasts. Perhaps the Emperor could entertain us all with a story from the past?"

The prompt directed at the Emperor turned all attention on Anji. It was inevitable that the shy girl turned red and blushed profusely. It was not that she was a curious child. She was merely trying to lay a bridge to bring up investigating the four guardian gates and the source of the imperial palace’s power if the dragon relic existed. Anji already received Grandpa Jin’s dragon pearl to save her life when she was younger. In a way, dragon relics were real. However, she had no idea if the Imperial Palace truly housed it. The Four Guardian Gates were likely just a defence formation and not a real temple for these beasts. In her past memory, the real Mythical Beast Guardians were hiding in Chang’an but not sleeping at the guardian gates.

Pretending not to see how comfortable the guests had become, the maids laid the food on the table, bowed and left without another word. In less than a minute, the table was full of food. Without servants around, even the Empress decided to remove her heavy phoenix crown and heavy outer robe. Noble Consort Liu seemed used to this and even stood up to assist her in hanging her phoenix embroidered robe so it would not wrinkle.

Rolling up their sleeves, the imperial power couple picked up their chopsticks and piled food into the children’s bowls. Anji felt shocked and quickly insisted she could help herself, but Noble Consort Liu chuckled.

"It’s ok," she reassured. "Think of them like your parents while you are here in the Imperial Palace. The Emperor and Empress do not have children of their own. The title of the crown prince belongs to the Empress’s nephew. They are very fond of children, and when not on official duty, prefer gardening and taking strolls in the garden during their free time. I’ve told them about your real backgrounds breifly. Perhaps the three of you would like to introduce yourselves better. I only know brief descriptions about what you do from my sworn sister."

Ah, no wonder they did not seem surprised. Anji finally understood why the Empress looked at her strangely. Her act must have been contradictory to what she was told. However, Yihao was exactly how she imagined a cultivator would be. Her oldest brother was the type of cultivator one would imagine from an assassination guild, but nobody truly knew about Anji’s type of cultivation. Even in the murim world, sages from the Mystical Qilin Sect were rare.

Taking lead, Mingshen stood up and clasped his hands in greeting before him.

"Allow me to reintroduce myself, Your Majesties. I’m Zhao Mingshen, second son to the Celestial Dragon Sect and Murim War Hero Zhao Mingfeng. I’m also the founder of the Gentleman Club, an assassination and information guild with the help of Noble Consort Liu’s sworn sister, Sect Leader Hong, as my mentor. It is an honour to meet both of you."

Assassination and information guild? The Emperor’s eyes widened, and Anji noticed how they shook. All the assassination attempts aimed at his life over the years must have taken a toll on the poor man. Even if he knew Mingshen must not have been the mastermind behind those attempts, the reminder still affected him.

Following his brother, Yihao attempted a clumsy mimic of the same greeting without the same grace.

"I’m Zhao Yihao, third son of the Celestial Dragon Sect. My shifu is the White Tiger Sect Leader, and he is the strongest martial artist alive. I’m not smart or good at studying, but I’m very strong! Not even a cannonball can kill me now HAHAHA!"

Smacking his brother over the head for being overly formal, Mingshen plastered a polite smile and apologised on Yihao’s behalf.

"Please overlook my younger brother’s rudeness. He had only recently emerged from years of isolated training and had forgotten everything about society. My mother had been teaching him how to talk for the last few months, and he does not remember how to even hold a brush, much less tie his waist ribbon correctly."

To emphasise the point, Mingshen tugged at Yihao’s collar forcefully and straightened it, but Yihao protested at the action and ended up ripping his shirt in half from the struggle, much to Noble Consort Liu’s embarrassment.

"It’s quite alright," the Empress smiled. "We have plenty of clothes that might be more comfortable and fit Yihao. Please feel at ease while you are here."

Grinning at her hospitality, Yihao returned to his food unceremoniously and commented with a mouth full of rice, "You’re really a good person! If anyone bullies you, send word to the Celestial Dragon Sect. I’ll beat them up for you!"

It was difficult to hate a person like Yihao. With one brother as an assassin guild founder and the other a pure martial artist, they turned their curiosity to the last sibling with expectant eyes.

Anji felt the pressure and swore she would suffer from indigestion if this continued. It barely mattered where she was. There was hardly any downtime from the centre of attention for her for some reason.

"I am Zhao Anji, courtesy name Ci Wang. Youngest daughter of the Celestial Dragon Sect and ninth successor of the Mystical Qilin Sect. I’m both a doctor and a spiritual specialist. Unlike my brothers, I was born with a curse in cultivating and barely survived. Please think of me as a mortal with the ability to see and weave energy. I’m barely stronger than the average ten-year-old girl and cannot split cups or block cannonballs like my brothers."

Even Noble Consort Liu expressed surprise at hearing Anji’s expertise. Her sworn sister told her about Anji’s background, but not her medical expertise or curse. Anji felt the stares but tried not to notice them. Truthfully, the only reason she could not split cups was that her shifu placed a seal on her artificial cores. She was already much stronger and healthier compared to before the operation, but they did not have to know that.