Chapter 10: The Chancellor's Majestic Presence

“Your Majesty has summoned the ministers for morning court. Is there something you wish to discuss?” Fan Li asked.

Xiang Ning was on the verge of tears from anger!

It had always been the emperor who held court, with all officials reporting matters if they had any, and departing if not. How had it reversed? Was she to report her affairs to her ministers?

“I am the direct descendant of the Overlord Taizu—how can I be bullied by my subjects?!” Xiang Ning gritted her teeth, sprang to her feet, and strode forward a few steps.

She deliberately left Fan Li behind her, addressing only the gathered officials.

“Hear me, ministers. I have been in seclusion for over a month and have broken through two levels in succession!”

“My cultivation is now at the First Rank of the Nascent Soul Realm!”

At her words, the entire court erupted in commotion.

For all the ministers of Chu knew, the imperial Xiang clan possessed the bloodline of the Overlord, and once they reached the Nascent Soul Realm, they could wield the Overlord’s Spear.

None of the emperors of Chu in generations past had been able to revive the might of Xiang Yu, the Overlord, but they still commanded awe through the ancestral divine weapon—the Overlord’s Spear!

“Your Majesty, you are now able to wield the Overlord’s Spear?” an elderly minister asked, trembling with excitement.

Xiang Ning smiled, saying nothing.

Her confidence clearly infected the ministers.

“Huh? Am I, the treacherous minister, about to be toppled?” Fan Li wondered to himself.

After Xiang Ning announced her breakthrough, the officials’ gazes toward Fan Li shifted—where once they had flattered and fawned, now hesitation and even distance replaced their former attitudes.

They say when the tree falls, the monkeys scatter, but he hadn’t fallen yet, and already the monkeys were running.

Fan Li was reflecting on this when, suddenly, a chime rang in his mind.

“New task issued: Show of Force.”

“Task description: The Emperor of Chu gains support by martial prowess. The host must surpass the emperor in strength.”

“Task reward: One Life Extension Pill.”

“PS: High-quality completion of the task may double the reward.”

He had to bully the little emperor again?

Fan Li scratched his nose awkwardly.

The Treacherous Minister System had issued another task, but he doubted he could accomplish it.

The emperor was already at the Nascent Soul Realm, while he himself had only just entered the Body Refining Realm—four major realms apart! Who was overpowering whom?

“Ministers!”

Xiang Ning called out, her eyes flashing with pride as she glanced at Fan Li.

“Your subject is here!” The ministers all knelt, posturing as loyal subjects awaiting imperial instruction.

Xiang Ning was nearly moved to tears—this was the authority befitting a sovereign!

“Come with me outside the hall to witness the might of the Overlord’s Spear!”

Outside the main hall, upon the palace square.

Xiang Ning raised her right hand to the sky and shouted, “Spear, come!”

From the direction of the royal treasury, a blood-red light blazed forth, followed by a long, dragon-like shadow shooting toward her.

The shadow descended and Xiang Ning caught it firmly—it transformed into a battle spear radiating a blood-colored glow.

“The Overlord’s Spear!”

A minister exclaimed, and all the officials knelt again, bowing to the ancestral divine weapon.

Though Xiang Ning appeared glorious, she felt immense pressure.

“So heavy—it’s like bearing a mountain!”

She had meant to hold the spear one-handed, but her pose faltered; she quickly switched to both hands, barely managing to hold the Overlord’s Spear across her chest.

At the Nascent Soul Realm, one could only barely wield the spear.

But today, Xiang Ning was determined to establish her authority. She summoned all her power, clenched her silver teeth, and struck with force!

“Overlord’s Battle Technique—Blood Rivers and Mountains!”

She leapt high, thrusting the spear skyward.

A blood-red force, visible to the naked eye, pierced a hole through the clouds above, as if shattering the sky with one blow!

“Your Majesty is mighty!”

“Long live the Emperor!”

The ministers of Chu shouted in unison, everyone at that moment the emperor’s most loyal subject.

Except Fan Li.

Fan Li looked up at Xiang Ning suspended in midair, his brows furrowed.

He noticed that Xiang Ning’s face was pale, as if drained by overexertion.

At this moment, Xiang Ning was seventy or eighty meters above the ground.

She looked up at the clouds, smiling brightly at her accomplishment.

Yet the next instant, dizziness overwhelmed her, and her limbs felt unbearably heavy.

“My spear…”

Still in midair, her hands lost strength, and the Overlord’s Spear slipped from her grasp, falling.

Xiang Ning herself followed two seconds later, losing all sense of weight.

“Has my vital energy been drained by the Overlord’s Spear? Am I about to fall to my death?” Xiang Ning thought groggily.

Chu had stood for thousands of years, yet she might become the first emperor to die from a fall.

“Not good! The Overlord’s Spear has fallen!”

The ministers finally realized something was wrong.

“Who will catch the spear and Her Majesty?”

“Fools! Without the ancestral bloodline, who can catch the Overlord’s Spear? You’ll be crushed to death!”

The court fell into chaos, eventually scattering like frightened beasts.

“It’s over… When the spear lands, I might land on it myself. If I don’t die from the fall, I’ll be impaled through the heart…”

Xiang Ning wanted to cry, but now lacked even the strength for tears.

Was the Overlord’s Spear truly so terrifying?

All her Nascent Soul Realm power could only deliver one strike?

Even more humiliating than dying from a fall would be being impaled by her own ancestral weapon.

If only time could turn back, Xiang Ning would never want to touch that divine spear again…

Suddenly, she felt herself caught in a warm embrace.

“Huh? Someone caught me? For saving me, I shall reward them handsomely!”

She forced her eyes open and saw a familiar figure.

“Tra… Treacherous Chancellor…”

Fan Li’s lips twitched—so much for good deeds, he thought.

Saving your life, and you blurt out your true feelings?

Xiang Ning realized her slip of tongue, cheeks flushing. She hurriedly corrected herself in a whisper, “Prime Minister? Thank you for saving me… My Overlord’s Spear!?”

At this moment, Fan Li held Xiang Ning in one arm, lifting the Overlord’s Spear above his head with the other, looking splendidly heroic.

“Truly worthy of the Universal Mirror Body—able to ignore bloodlines and wield even the Xiang clan’s ancestral weapon,” Fan Li mused.

The Treacherous Minister System’s reward was indeed reliable!

He’d risked catching the spear, and nothing had happened.

As for the feel of the spear, it was no different from any ordinary weapon to him.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Fan Li glanced down to find Xiang Ning staring at him, tears in her eyes, full of grievance.

Though dressed in the imperial robes and appearing as a man, she reminded Fan Li of her feminine guise.

Xiang Ning said nothing, biting her lip and turning her face away, brimming with injustice.

Now, the ministers dared to approach slowly.

“Prime Minister, you caught the Overlord’s Spear?” an elderly minister asked, trembling.

Fan Li nodded, “Yes, I’ve begun cultivating recently.”

The ministers were astonished!

The Prime Minister was indeed extraordinary!

He had never cultivated before, yet as soon as he began, he made an astonishing impact!

“Prime Minister is mighty!”

“Prime Minister’s strength is unrivaled!”

“The Prime Minister saved the emperor—he should be granted a princely title and nine seals!”

The officials turned into sycophants, all but forgetting Xiang Ning.

The little emperor could wield the Overlord’s Spear?

Impressive, perhaps.

But look at the Prime Minister—versed in both civil and martial arts!