Chapter 23: Qian Renxue in a State of Agitation

Xue Qinghe—or rather, Qian Renxue, who was disguised as him—had indeed received the dossier on Chen Ming. However, it did not arrive after Emperor Xue Ye ordered the eunuch to deliver it; rather, she obtained it the moment the materials entered the palace, before they even reached Xue Ye’s desk.

Indeed, unbeknownst to Xue Ye, a significant portion of the eunuchs and guards surrounding him had been quietly bribed by Qian Renxue. While the Emperor was busy in his bedchamber, and as the report was still in transit, a duplicate was already resting on Qian Renxue’s desk.

"A genius who started with only five levels of innate soul power, yet experienced a martial soul evolution due to a fortuitous encounter, and absorbed a thousand-year soul ring as his second?"

"How rare. I always thought such talents only appeared in the Spirit Hall. I never expected one to appear in the Heaven Dou Empire, and he even enrolled in the Heaven Dou Royal Academy."

Looking over Chen Ming’s file, Qian Renxue mercilessly picked at the structural weaknesses of the Heaven Dou Empire. Due to the physical discomfort of her recent menstrual cycle, the usually calm and composed Qian Renxue occasionally experienced intense emotional fluctuations in private.

The Heaven Dou Empire was notoriously weak in military might. High-level combat strength was scarce, and the empire relied entirely on sheer numbers of soldiers to maintain its defense. Imperial authority was unstable; a vast number of domestic nobles had carved up rights that should have belonged to the throne.

In various regions, the nobility had essentially formed independent fiefdoms, ignoring imperial decrees and engaging in countless illegal activities. Unless their own interests were directly threatened, the royal family rarely intervened.

Over the years, ever since she took on the role of Crown Prince, Qian Renxue had been constantly busy. Small tasks involved endless banquets and social maneuvering among the nobility; larger ones included disaster relief, suppressing rebellions, and auditing accounts.

Whenever she acted according to imperial law to discipline a noble for the sake of the commoners, she was not only targeted by the nobles, but upon returning to Heaven Dou City, she would be reprimanded by Xue Ye for being "too immature."

Even a simple audit could uncover a nest of vermin. Corruption was everywhere; wherever she went, she found systemic rot. Sometimes, an audit would reveal that the accounts had been in deficit for decades or even centuries, yet everyone had simply chosen to keep silent.

If someone embezzled thirty percent of the funds, they were considered "upright and honest." It was not uncommon for some to swallow seventy or eighty percent. Some geniuses even invented new categories of expenses, not only eating up the original funds but finding ways to skim from other sources as well.

Sometimes, an audit would lead to the discovery of treason, de facto secession, or the clandestine stockpiling of troops in preparation for rebellion.

If it weren't for the fact that she had Titled Douluo-level guardians by her side and possessed the god-tier Seraphim martial soul, Qian Renxue felt she would have already died seven or eight times over, given the pathetic level of protection afforded to the Crown Prince of Heaven Dou.

Truthfully, Qian Renxue felt that as an undercover agent, she should only need to fulfill her duties. But circumstances forced her to act like a beast of burden, exhausting herself for the sake of the Heaven Dou Empire.

She could no longer remember how many affairs she had handled for the empire over the years. Yet, the more she dealt with the tangled mess of the nobility, the more she felt that the Heaven Dou Empire was doomed.

Xue Ye was incompetent, dumping all the blame on her while simultaneously undermining her efforts. Recently, for some unknown reason, the old man seemed to have entered a perpetual rut; he spent all his time in the harem, completely neglecting state affairs.

If that were all, Qian Renxue might have gritted her teeth and accepted it. But the problem was that whenever Xue Ye left the harem, it was either to make trouble for her or to keep her in check.

Furthermore, in recent years, because she was away from the Spirit Hall and her grandfather, Qian Daoliu, had retired to the Elder Hall and ceased interfering in Spirit Hall affairs, "that woman" had been secretly causing her trouble, making even the assistance provided by the Spirit Hall unreliable.

Lately, Qian Renxue felt as though she were living in a living hell.

It was said that in the Star Dou Great Forest, there was a special spirit beast called the "Roaring Marmot." Though its quality was average, it possessed an innate skill that allowed it to convert pressure into a roar. If the pressure was great enough, a century-level Roaring Marmot could even kill a ten-thousand-year Dark-Gold Terrorclaw Bear.

Qian Renxue thought that if she were a Roaring Marmot, given the pressure she was under, let alone a ten-thousand-year beast, even a hundred-thousand or two-hundred-thousand-year Dark-Gold Terrorclaw Bear wouldn't be able to withstand her roar!

Sometimes, she wondered if she should listen to her nominal teacher, Ning Fengzhi, and learn to be more like a noble—to be less concerned with trivialities, to abandon useless sentiments, and to view problems through the lens of pure profit.

Though this did not align with the philosophy of her Seraphim martial soul or the Spirit Hall, Qian Renxue had to admit that perhaps the times had changed, and her old ways were becoming obsolete.

If everything was as it seemed, why would she, the young mistress of the Spirit Hall, be undercover in the Heaven Dou Empire in the first place?

Thinking of this, Qian Renxue sighed and stopped dwelling on such futile thoughts. She began to slowly flip through the materials, though her distracted state was obvious to anyone.

Initially, she had no intention of dealing with the matter of Chen Ming at that moment; she just wanted to sleep.

However, at that very moment, a spy planted by the Spirit Hall in the palace arrived to report: Xue Ye had ordered a eunuch to dispatch secret guards to investigate Chen Ming’s family and had commanded that the information be delivered to the Crown Prince’s residence.

With that, all of Qian Renxue’s sleepiness vanished. She felt her abdomen—already uncomfortable due to her cycle—begin to cramp, and she gritted her teeth, rising once more to handle the situation.

After receiving the eunuch and going through the necessary formalities to obtain the documents she had already read, Qian Renxue sat in her study, silently massaging her temples under the lamplight, slowly steadying her emotions.

Witnessing this, a middle-aged woman appeared by Qian Renxue’s side, her face full of concern.

"Young Mistress, please, you must take care of your health."

"Aunt Mei, I know," Qian Renxue sighed and replied slowly.

The woman known as Aunt Mei was sent by Qian Daoliu to look after Qian Renxue. She was a distant relative of the Qian family; although she had not inherited the Seraphim martial soul, her own strength was not weak—she was a Control-type Soul Douluo.

Because she was absolutely reliable and her actions would not expose any connection to the Spirit Hall, she had always been deeply trusted by both Qian Daoliu and Qian Renxue.

While Snake Spear and Puffer were reliable, they were men, and it was not always appropriate for them to be by her side. Aunt Mei was responsible for protecting her when they could not, and she was the only relative who could often be by her side.

It was only slightly awkward that, according to the hierarchy of generations... this eighty-year-old woman was technically in the generation of Qian Renxue’s grandson’s grandson. Thus, both of them usually chose to ignore this fact.