After the spiritual energy was restored: Goddess girlfriends came knocking.

Soon, many officials in the court who had previously followed the crowd turned against him.

Several worshippers who had remained neutral appeared from the void, exchanged glances, but did not make a move.

Previously, they could deceive themselves into thinking it was a matter of royal domestic affairs, but now, if they openly attacked His Majesty, it would be seen as an act of treason.

The situation on the field began to reverse.

Tu Shanlie ignored the defectors, and nine illusory images of celestial foxes spread out behind him, their oppressive aura rising steadily.

The Tu Shan National Preceptor's face was ashen. With a sway of his body, he unleashed a series of cyan spells, attempting to suppress the ancestral spirit's power with magic.

But the power of the ancestral spirit is not something that ordinary spells can withstand. Before those spells could even get within a hundred feet of Tu Shanlie, they were shattered by the illusory image.

After several dozen rounds, the Tushan National Preceptor was defeated and vomited blood.

When Tu Shan Lie fought against the Imperial Preceptor.

Tu Shanyao went alone to the old palace where his mother had lived before her death.

The furnishings in the hall are exactly as they were back then, with an unlit lamp placed in front of the memorial tablet.

He knelt before the memorial tablet and sat alone for a long time.

He remembered his mother holding him in the palace, gently rocking him and humming a song; that was the only warmth he remembered from his childhood.

She recalled that when her mother was seriously ill, her father was taking young Ruoshui to fly kites in the East Garden.

He recalled his mother holding his hand before she passed away. Although she had a smile on her face, he would never forget the sadness in her eyes.

He had also promised his mother that one day he would make his father look at him with new respect.

He stood there stunned for a long time, then kowtowed three times heavily to his mother's memorial tablet, his forehead pressed against the cold floor tiles, tears silently seeping into the cracks between the tiles.

After a while, he got up and walked towards the main hall.

No one stopped him along the way, and the guards and eunuchs along the route all knelt down and bowed when they saw him.

Some people didn't realize that the eldest prince was no longer the monarch when they knelt down.

Tu Shanyao walked to the entrance of the main hall, pushed open the door, went inside, and sat down on the throne.

The main hall was spacious, with candlelight casting flickering shadows on the walls.

Footsteps sounded outside the palace gate.

Tu Shanlie walked in, and the two looked at each other across the entire hall.

Tu Shan Yao remained silent for a long time, then smiled: "Father, shouldn't you take me seriously this time?"

Tu Shanlie stood in the center of the hall, looking at his son sitting on the throne.

He raised his hand, a dark magical light gathering in his palm, his fingertips trembling slightly, but he never extended it forward.

The several times that Shu Mang seemed about to vomit but didn't, made his eyes appear dark and unfathomable.

Tu Shanyao's lips curled into a mocking smile.

"Father, you are still so indecisive. I really don't know what my mother likes about you."

Tu Shanlie's pupils suddenly contracted.

He always thought that his marriage to Tu Shanyao's mother was just a forced marriage. He didn't understand her, and she didn't understand him, so there was no question of mutual affection.

Tu Shanyao's words struck him like a dull thud, slamming into his chest.

Looking at the expression on his face, Tu Shanyao suddenly felt that nothing else mattered.

He sighed.

"The victor is king, the loser is villain; there's nothing more to say."

"If there is an afterlife, I wish not to be born into an imperial family."

Before he could finish speaking, a palm strike landed on his chest.

Tu Shanlie's pupils shrank suddenly, and he shot out to catch Tu Shanyao, who had collapsed to the ground.

He held Tu Shanyao in his arms, opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

The body in his arms was slowly getting cold, and as a Mahayana cultivator, he could feel the life force rapidly dissipating.

Tu Shan Yao severed his own heart meridian, and his nascent soul was also shattered.

He originally thought that Tu Shanyao's mother had never had any affection for him, and that the marriage was nothing more than a power struggle.

But it turned out she liked him, and he was completely unaware of it.

At this moment, countless memories suddenly connected in Tu Shanlie's mind.

He suddenly understood where Tu Shanyao's deep-seated aversion to humans came from, since he had hardly interacted with them since childhood.

He hated Tushan Yingxue because he believed that his father should have belonged to his mother.

His dislike for Ruoshui was not simply due to discrimination against human blood, but because Ruoshui had received attention that he had never had before.

But it's too late to say anything now.

Tu Shanlie held this son he had never truly understood, his eyes filled with sorrow.

At that moment, he seemed to have aged considerably.

But the power of the ancestral spirits wouldn't give him much time to be sentimental.

Tu Shanlie suppressed his surging emotions and, while his cultivation was still intact, released all the loyal followers who had been imprisoned by Tu Shanyao, using swift and decisive measures to set things right.

Officials purged during the coup returned to the court, former aristocratic families reaffirmed their allegiance, and the remnants loyal to Tu Shanyao were systematically purged.

One day later, the power of the ancestral spirit faded.

Tu Shanlie's body weakened at a visible rate, his face aged decades, and he leaned against the couch in his bedchamber, calling Ruoshui to his side.

Ruoshui knelt before the bed, tears silently streaming down her face.

"Ruoshui." Tu Shanlie raised his hand, and nine pale golden fox tail phantoms slowly condensed behind him.

"Although you are half-human and half-demon, you are more suitable than anyone else to inherit this power."

"Remember, the power of the Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox lies not in its pure bloodline, but in its inclusiveness."

"The way to longevity is to embrace all rivers."

Nine phantom fox tails detached from his body and transformed into a dark golden nine-tailed jade pendant that hung in front of Ruoshui.

Ruoshui held the jade in her hands, and the nine-tailed pattern slowly flowed across its surface before finally settling into her palms, merging with her bloodline and transforming into a warm, gentle current that flowed throughout her body.

Tu Shanlie gently rubbed Ruoshui's head, then turned his gaze to Tu Shanyingxue, who was standing to the side.

Tu Shan Yingxue held her husband's hand, maintaining a calm sitting posture, tears silently sliding down her cheeks and falling onto the back of their clasped hands.

"It's not like you're going to die." Tu Shanlie smiled, raised his hand to wipe away her tears, "You still have decades to live, it's time to enjoy your retirement."

Tu Shan Yingxue nodded and held her husband's hand even tighter.

A few days later, the imperial edict spread throughout the land of Tushan.

Tu Shanlie was seriously injured and was no longer able to continue ruling.

The eldest prince, Tu Shanyao, committed suicide after his coup failed.

From this day forward, Tu Shan Ruoshui will ascend the throne, and the Tu Shan Dynasty will welcome its first female emperor.

A few days later, the first morning court session was held.

Tu Shan Yingxue and Tu Shan Lie, whose cultivation had been completely destroyed, sat behind the curtain, quietly watching their daughter face the court officials for the first time as the ruler of the country.

Tu Shan Ruoshui issued his first edict after ascending the throne: to vindicate Jiang Yan.

The second imperial edict lifted all restrictions on the Jiang family in the Tushan Dynasty and publicly invited envoys from Chang'an to the capital.

At this moment, someone in the court stood up to object; it was an old fox-clan minister with gray hair.

"Chang'an City Lord Jiang Yan is, after all, a human. If we allow him to grow too powerful, it may be detrimental to our dynasty!"

Tu Shan Ruoshui raised her eyes for the first time in the court, her gaze landing directly on the face of the old fox clan minister who had objected.

Those fox-like eyes were calm as still water, without the slightest ripple, but an invisible pressure emanated from them, causing the old minister to swallow back all the words he was about to say.

"I know Jiang Yan better than you do."

"The existence of Chang'an City did not cause any loss to the Tushan Dynasty; on the contrary, it provided an additional barrier."

"What you are worried about is not the safety of the country, but simply that you do not want to see the human city gain a foothold in the demon realm. There is no room for discussion on this matter."

At that moment, the assembled officials suddenly realized that the new emperor was no longer the princess that anyone could manipulate.