Having many children brings many blessings; the struggle for power begins with marriage.

At this moment, Emperor Xia's face was extremely grim. He was very worried that Xuan Yue Palace had discovered what he had done and was preparing to send someone to eliminate him.

After listening to the shadow guard's report, Emperor Xia asked, "Who are these people from the Xuan Yue Palace?"

The shadow guard replied, "Your Majesty, according to our investigation, the visitors are the First Elder and the Second Elder of the Xuan Yue Palace."

Emperor Xia frowned, his face growing even more somber.

Surprisingly, it was two elders who arrived!

If it were the Palace Master of Xuan Yue Palace who came, he probably wouldn't think much of it, since the Palace Master of Xuan Yue Palace isn't that powerful.

But the elders are different.

The elders of Xuan Yue Palace all possess at least the strength of a Grandmaster, and are most likely pseudo-Celestials.

The sudden arrival of two pseudo-celestial beings put immense pressure on Emperor Xia.

Just then, a eunuch suddenly entered the study and said to Emperor Xia, "Your Majesty, two elders from Xuan Yue Palace request an audience!"

This……

The Xia Emperor's heart skipped a beat.

They actually came directly to me!

Upon entering the city, they headed straight for the palace. It seems the Xuan Yue Palace has indeed discovered something and is here to cause trouble for them!

What should we do now?

Are we going to fight Xuan Yue Palace to the death?

Emperor Xia had never been so flustered as he was at this moment; memories of his youth kept replaying in his mind.

At one point, he seemed to have made up his mind, and then said to the eunuch in charge of reporting, "Have those two elders of Xuan Yue Palace wait for me in the Imperial Garden. I will be there soon."

The eunuch immediately replied, "Yes, Your Majesty."

The eunuch then left the study.

After the eunuch left the study, Emperor Xia said to the shadow guard inside, "You may also leave."

"Your subordinate takes his leave."

As soon as the shadow guards left, Emperor Xia took out an exquisite box from his sleeve. Looking at the box, he said, "With this here, I don't believe they can do anything to me!"

After speaking, he put the exquisite box back into his sleeve, and then went directly to the Imperial Garden to see what the two elders of Xuan Yue Palace wanted from him.

Before long, Emperor Xia appeared in the Imperial Garden. There, two white-haired, white-bearded old men dressed in green robes sat in a pavilion. They were leisurely drinking tea and did not look like they were there to cause trouble, but rather like they were visiting friends.

Seeing how relaxed the two were, Emperor Xia was taken aback. These two didn't seem to be here to cause him trouble.

Without giving it much thought, Emperor Xia entered the pavilion and then said to the two elders, "I wonder what brings you two elders of the Xuan Yue Palace to see me?"

At this moment, an elder said, "My name is Fu Hongchou, the second elder of Xuan Yue Palace. The person next to me is Yu Changqing, the first elder of Xuan Yue Palace. I believe His Majesty should have heard of the two of us."

Upon hearing their names, Emperor Xia immediately thought of something. These two were very famous decades ago. Emperor Xia had heard of them when he was young. Back then, Xuan Yue Palace was not like it is now. Xuan Yue Palace was still recruiting disciples everywhere.

These two became famous when they were recruiting disciples. In the past, many people challenged them because Xuan Yue Palace had recruited all the good martial arts talents. Xuan Yue Palace's existence had challenged the status of other forces, so at that time, many forces could not tolerate Xuan Yue Palace.

However, all the martial artists who challenged them lost. It was precisely because of their existence that the major forces within the Great Xia Dynasty realized the power of the Xuan Yue Palace. As for the later incident where the Xuan Yue Palace's Celestials went on a killing spree and hunted down all the Grandmasters in the world, it further reinforced people's understanding of the Xuan Yue Palace's strength.

At this moment, Emperor Xia said, "I have indeed heard of the two elders."

Elder Yu Changqing said, "It's good that you've heard of us. Now that you've heard of our names, things will be easier."

Upon hearing this, Emperor Xia immediately had a bad feeling. At this moment, Yu Changqing continued, "Emperor Xia, we have already discovered what you have done. Do you really think that if we don't have the Shadow Guards arrest the disciples of Xuan Yue Palace, we won't find out what you've done?"

Emperor Xia's heart skipped a beat. Sure enough, Xuan Yue Palace already knew what he had done. It seemed that they had come today to kill him!

The Xia Emperor, his face dark, coldly said, "What is Elder Yu saying? I don't understand!"

Fu Hongchou chuckled and then said, "Emperor Xia, it seems you'll keep being stubborn as long as we don't expose your crimes."

"Do you really think you've covered your tracks perfectly by sending your shadow guards to secretly arrest martial artists?"

Upon hearing this, the atmosphere in the Imperial Garden instantly became incredibly tense, as if swords were flashing in the air.

Just when Emperor Xia thought the two of them were about to make a move, he found that they didn't make a sound at all, and Emperor Xia seemed to understand something.

He then said, "You're here for the sacred relic?"

Hearing this, Yu Changqing chuckled, "A sacred object? That thing is useless to us long ago."

Although that sacred object can enhance a person's strength, it has a major side effect. Once the sacred object is used to forcibly raise one's realm, the sacred object will no longer be effective. They have all used that sacred object to fight against powerful enemies, and they have all been left with many problems. To this day, they are still tormented by the side effects.

Fu Hongchou was too lazy to continue with the nonsense. He said directly, "We learned from the Shadow Guards that you obtained a weapon at sea. As long as enough warriors are sacrificed, this weapon can be activated. Once activated, the power of this weapon is enough to kill a Celestial Being."

The Shadow Guards had always wanted to infiltrate the Xuan Yue Palace. However, this very decision led to Yu Changqing and Fu Hongchou discovering some of their actions.

They, in turn, learned some of Emperor Xia's secrets through the Shadow Guards, including what Emperor Xia had recently done and that evil weapon.

Upon hearing this, Emperor Xia was shocked. These two actually knew about his acquisition of that deadly weapon.

The Xia Emperor then asked, "Since you know of the existence of that weapon, you should also understand that you pose no threat to me!"

Yu Changqing laughed loudly and said, "Emperor Xia, stop trying to scare us. If you could activate that divine weapon, you wouldn't still be having your shadow guards arrest martial artists. The fact that you're still arresting martial artists proves that the conditions for activating that weapon haven't been met yet!"

Realizing he had been exposed, Emperor Xia asked directly, "What do you want?"

Yu Changqing said, "We intend to cooperate with you."

Emperor Xia was taken aback. "Cooperation?"

Yu Changqing continued, "To show our sincerity in cooperating, we'll give you some information for free. The celestial being from Xuan Yue Palace has taken the Palace Master of Xuan Yue Palace to the Northern Kingdom. She has already taken the Northern King as her disciple and even arranged for the Palace Master of Xuan Yue Palace to marry the Northern King and become his Daoist consort."

"I'm afraid it won't be long before the Northern army, with the help of Xuan Yue Palace, marches south, and then you'll probably have to pass the throne to your son."

Upon hearing this information, Emperor Xia fell silent. He did not believe that Yu Changqing was lying to him. He had long suspected that Xuan Yue Palace was cooperating with the Northern Kingdom, and Yu Changqing's words merely confirmed his suspicions.

After a moment, the Xia Emperor asked, "How do you intend to cooperate?"

Yu Changqing said, "Use the weapon you obtained to help us kill the old Palace Master of Xuan Yue Palace!" (End of Chapter)