Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 185 The Imperial Sister's Gift (Supplementing the previous few days' updates)
Murong Ruyan's mother was a princess of the Bohai Kingdom.

Although this matter may not be common knowledge, Murong Zhen certainly knew about it.

Because Murong Zhen found Murong Ruyan to be quite unruly on several occasions, he was quite troubled and thus granted her a piece of land in Liaoxi as her fief.

That place was originally the ancestral land of the Baishan clan. The reason it wasn't bestowed upon Baishan is thanks to the late emperor.

Although the late emperor was absurd, in order to prevent the power of maternal relatives from becoming too great and even turning into a rebellion, he specifically set a rule that the fiefdoms granted to the children of the imperial clan could not be the ancestral lands of their maternal clans.

Murong Ruyan's maternal clan was the Bohai Kingdom, and Murong Zhen certainly couldn't bestow rewards upon the Bohai Kingdom. Therefore, he bestowed rewards upon the neighboring Liaoxi, which was both a form of appeasement and an implication. It was also a way of implying that he couldn't take action himself, so he let Murong Ruyan deal with the Baishan clan.

Thus, the small "rebellion" of a few hundred people in Pingding County, which was exaggerated into an attempt by tens of thousands of people to stage an uprising, became a bargaining chip for various forces in the court.

Finally, after more than a month, this farce came to an end.

The young emperor's brother-in-law, Bai Shan Sai Li, was demoted, his title changed, and his fiefdom reduced. Because of his crimes of embezzlement and extortion of local officials, Murong Zhen ordered him to reflect on his actions behind closed doors.

The eldest brother-in-law was forced to resign three times, but Murong Zhen refused each time. He then promoted him to the position of Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince—a nominal one—and relegated him to a life of leisure in the court, while also relinquishing his political power.

As for the Queen Mother...

Of course, it was the "miracle medicine" that the Grand Princess Murong Ruyan, who was "extremely filial and even made me feel ashamed of myself," specially "begged" that cured her!
That's a "miracle drug" that can regenerate severed limbs and cure terminal illnesses. How could it possibly fail to cure the Empress Dowager Baishan's minor "physical discomfort"?

Even if she was very unhappy, Empress Dowager Baishan had no choice but to pretend she was cured.

I don't know if she really admitted defeat. I heard that Empress Dowager Baishan later became obsessed with Buddhism and even tried to build a temple in the palace.

Murong Zhen was almost completely accommodating to this. His own mother had handed over all her power, so he could do whatever he wanted. Even having affairs was acceptable as long as it wasn't done openly!

In this minor case of treason, Murong Zhen and Murong Ruyan both won, while the Baishan clan suffered a complete defeat and would likely not even be able to protect their ancestral land in the future.

At least Murong Zhen didn't believe that the Bai Shan clan's intelligence was enough to defeat his rather restless imperial sister.

After the whole affair was over, the happiest person was none other than Murong Ruyan. Although her attempt to seize Pingding County failed, and she didn't even get her hands on Weize Pass, she now rightfully possessed a piece of territory in Liaoxi that bordered the Bohai Kingdom!

Suddenly, Murong Ruyan, who had been furious about her miscalculation, no longer hated Murong Zhen so much that she gritted her teeth every day. Instead, she was particularly happy to reciprocate and sent Murong Zhen a bunch of "celestial treasures"—

She bought them all with the spirit stones she had saved up from the sect's shops; some even had purchase limits!

"Hahaha, great! What's this called again?"

Murong Zhen stroked the spirit sword in his hand, reluctant to put it down, and asked.

The eunuch holding the gift list quickly glanced at it, and couldn't help but steal a glance at the glowing sword in Murong Zhen's hand. He replied respectfully, "Your Majesty, the princess's gift list mentions that this sword is a spiritual sword called the 'Six Directions and Eight Desolations Mysterious Heaven Sword'!"

Murong Zhenlong was overjoyed: "Excellent! Superb! 'Six Directions and Eight Desolations Profound Heaven Sword'! Such a prestigious name should rightfully belong to me! Gao Jing, tell me, is the light on this sword the legendary celestial light or divine light?"

Gao Jing, who was standing to the side, glanced at the gleaming "spiritual sword" a few times and replied, "I do not understand 'celestial light' or 'divine light,' but with my eyesight, I can see that this sword is indeed the best in the world. At least the Taiyue Sword and Mingchi Sword, which I have seen and which rank among the top three divine weapons in the world, are far inferior to this 'Six Directions and Eight Desolations Mysterious Heaven Sword'!"

Murong Zhen was even more pleased upon hearing this and instructed the eunuch, "Continue reading, let me hear what else is on the gift list!"

The eunuch responded and quickly continued reading: "Five bolts of 'Dark Azure Immortal Cloth,' one bolt of 'Jade Spirit Immortal Silk,' one bolt of 'Black Moon Plain Fur,' and three catties of 'Rose Immortal Peach Tea'..."

The more Murong Zhen listened to the gift list, the more his eyes narrowed with a smile. He even turned to Zhong Hui, who had been sent to run errands, and asked, "Of all the things my royal sister sent, apart from this 'Six Directions and Eight Desolations Profound Heaven Sword,' which I can discern some details about, what exactly are these 'celestial cloths' and 'celestial silks'? Can you explain them to me?"

Seeing how happy Murong Zhen was, Zhong Hui couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.

Can't you see the trick? This so-called "Six Directions and Eight Desolations Profound Heaven Sword" is just a piece of ordinary iron sword that Second Senior Sister took and tempered with the sect's true fire, adding some spirit jade powder and spirit stone powder to give it that "sparkle". It's useless except for looking good, and the total cost is less than 3 low-grade spirit stones!
However, to make the ordinary iron sword worthy of the grand name personally given by her second senior sister, she also asked her fifth senior brother to carve a new nanmu hilt. Nanmu was a practice material sold in the sect's shops, costing 20 low-grade spirit stones per piece. The second senior sister directly asked her fifth senior brother to handle both the labor and materials. He only used a scrap piece of wood and spent half a day carving a hilt with two dragons vying for a pearl. Including the labor and material costs, it didn't exceed 50 low-grade spirit stones—a huge profit!
Cough, what she meant was that both the fifth senior brother and the second senior sister made a huge profit. Didn't you see that the second senior sister only used some trendy little trash from the sect to fool the emperor of Xiao Kingdom?
His thoughts drifted for only a moment, but when he caught sight of Murong Zhen's stern yet questioning gaze, Zhong Hui jumped in fright and hurriedly recited what he had painstakingly memorized after receiving 50 low-grade spirit stones—

"Your Majesty, this 'Mysterious Azure Immortal Cloth' is woven from immortal hemp and silk. Not only is it impervious to water and fire and keeps you warm in winter and cool in summer, but wearing it regularly can also relieve fatigue and prolong life!"
"The 'Jade Spirit Immortal Silk' is made from the silk spun by the 'Jade Spirit Immortal Silkworm,' which is only found among immortals. It is several times better than the 'Mysterious Azure Immortal Cloth,' with a brighter color and a light, almost weightless feel, like a cloud. It can also prolong life!"
"As for the 'Black Moon Plain Fur Robe,' it's... well, it's made from the fur of some spirit beasts, perfect for making winter clothes! Of course, like the 'Mysterious Azure Immortal Cloth,' it's also a celestial treasure that can prolong life if worn regularly!"

"And this 'Rose Peach Tea,' Your Majesty should still have some recollection of it. It was served to guests at the Immortal Fate Conference of my White Stone Immortal Sect. Quite a few martial artists broke through their cultivation levels after drinking it back then..."

(End of this chapter)