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Zi Yue’s methods are indeed simple and crude...

Both Chen Qing and Shen Qi thought the same, it was almost obvious how it was done, and one could guess as much without much effort.

The Thousand-Faced Fox couldn’t bewitch the Emperor, but Transcendent Ali could alter other people’s memories.

As long as the Emperor could be persuaded, the rest would be much easier to resolve.

Although the Emperor was young, it would definitely be impossible to resolve by summoning and discussing with the ministers. If they were approached one by one, it would be the same as being controlled by Ali one by one. It must be said that Zi Yue was very good at using Ali’s talent.

But there were two problems. One was the issue of consumption.

Ali had limits on controlling memories. The stronger the person, the more difficult they were to control and the more energy it consumed.

The noble families of Northern Yan Country may not compare to the Central Plains, but that changed after the missionaries entered.

It wouldn’t be impossible for Transcendent members to emerge.

For such people, it frankly wasn’t so easy for Ali to control.

The second was... how was the Emperor persuaded?

Though the Emperor was young, it wouldn’t have been easy to control him. How could the young monarch be convinced to rely on Jiangnan? What exactly had Zi Yue promised? And how had he made him refuse the other sects?

What methods were used?

All this was unknown for the time being, but the result was that, through the Emperor’s summons and Ali’s talent, Zi Yue changed the memories of most of the important ministers, and then, without any sign, the decision to submit to Jiangnan was passed.

The Emperor, as the master of a country’s destiny, his decisions, once passed, were legal in the eyes of the Shenwu stream. Chen Qing could then directly become the Master of Divine Path here. It must be said that Zi Yue’s straightforward and forceful move was indeed very effective.

But the question was what happened next...

Northern Wolf Country had become part of Jiangnan, so how could those guild players be content?

The family heads whose memories had been changed, how did they face the guilds and sects they had already joined?

What was the counterattack after?

And that monster... how did it appear?

"Neither His Majesty nor those family heads of the noble families have left their doors closed?" Shen Qi looked at the other party: "Is the Empress Dowager sure?"

"There should be no mistake." The Empress Dowager didn’t get angry when faced with skepticism. Her status wasn’t high, so it was already a struggle to inquire about reliable news, and it was normal for the other party to have doubts.

Moreover, she was very aware of herself; if talking about cooperation, she really was reaching high.

"News from inside the palace isn’t hard to get.

His Majesty is young, and although there is an Empress in the harem, the Empress is also young and her control over the palace is not strict.

It’s not hard to get news as long as you have a few close palace maids.

The Emperor has indeed not been seen since the announcement of allegiance to Jiangnan.

It is said that the Empress has gone to see the Emperor several times but was blocked by the eunuch in the Imperial Study, and to this day, we still don’t know why His Majesty has kept his doors closed. "

"And outside?" Chen Qing asked curiously: "How did Imperial Concubine learn about the whereabouts of those family heads outside the palace?"

"My mother told me," the Imperial Concubine spoke softly: "I returned to the Beiyu Family yesterday. My mother hadn’t seen me for a long time and talked with me until late at night.

She also mentioned this, saying that my father, after coming back from the Imperial Palace, for some reason, also began to seclude himself, claiming some bottleneck in his cultivation technique. "

"Well, that isn’t unusual. Families like ours, especially my father as a High Priest, usually don’t get involved in court affairs too much.

They mostly focus on their own cultivation.

It’s normal to be in seclusion for half a year or even a year or two.

The mother is sometimes used to it. But what’s odd is that my mother, when visiting other families these days, found out while chatting with other noblewomen, that after that assembly deciding to follow Jiangnan, many family heads also entered seclusion. It feels strangely synchronized."

Upon hearing this, Chen Qing reflected: "So for the great families of the Northern Wasteland, even though I’ve heard that the power dynamics are complex, does that mean the women of the families also frequently interact?"

"You must not know this, my lord," she said with a smile: "Our Northern Yan, having once occupied Youyun for many years, has adopted many Central Plains customs. Even after returning to the Northern Wasteland, many of the habits learned in the Central Plains remained unchanged. Despite conflicts in court politics, the women of the families always interact, and gatherings never cease. After all, marital alliances between families are important matters. If they don’t interact regularly, how can they know about the children of other families? "

"I see..." Chen Qing expressed his curiosity: "In that case, does the Imperial Concubine have any other news?"

"What I know is very limited..." the Empress Dowager shook her head: "When the Dark Moon Sect was rampant, all families turned off their lights; that matter was too sinister. It caused the women’s gatherings to stop for a while, and families became more cautious. There’s a limit to what can be known. "

"Did the Dark Moon Sect simply disappear afterwards?" Chen Qing asked, puzzled.

According to what he knew, the Dark Moon Sect was closely related to the Path of Yin and Yang; its features were quite distinct.

It could be easily ostracized in the mortal realm, but once established, it became very difficult to eradicate.

The fact that it had vanished so cleanly made him feel uneasy.

"That thing..." Clearly disliking the discussion of that topic, the Empress Dowager still said: "It should have disappeared long ago.

At that time, Empress Dowager Qi was somehow bewitched, and even began to accept that thing on behalf of the Imperial Family.

The rear court of the Imperial Palace was full of those black lamps; I did not dare to walk around on a regular day. It was so gloomy..."

She doesn’t even want to recall those memories now; the Northern Wasteland is cold, and she grew up there from a young age, having experienced snowstorms as well, but the chilling darkness that came with the extinguishing of lights seeped into her bones.

No matter how much charcoal was added in the palace, it never seemed to get warm, and during that time she didn’t get a good night’s sleep, always feeling as if something was watching her.

"Empress Dowager Qi, huh..." Chen Qing stroked his chin, she was the legitimate eldest daughter of the Qi family, the Empress of the previous Emperor, and now the birth mother of the current Empress—by all accounts, she should have been one of the Emperor’s closest people, yet she had sided with the Shenwu Guild’s Dark Moon Sect.

"And what happened after? Suddenly, the Mingyue Sect disappeared, didn’t Empress Dowager Qi oppose anything?" Shen Qi was somewhat curious. Such a sect, once having joined... it shouldn’t be that easy to leave, right?

"Empress Dowager Qi, huh..." The expression of the Imperial Concubine from the Beiyu Family became strange.

"What’s wrong?" Chen Qing’s eyes lit up, sensing a breakthrough.

"Nothing..." The Imperial Concubine thought for a moment and said, "Qi Yun isn’t much older than us, but she married early, had many confidants in the palace. Since we concubines entered the palace without any children, we don’t really have the face to compete for control over The Harem’s management.

So basically, she ruled over The Harem, and when the blackout happened, she didn’t even consult us—a sheer tyranny, even the Emperor gave in to her to some extent. "

Chen Qing nodded; this was indeed normal. A young Emperor and a domineering Empress Dowager was a common occurrence throughout the dynasties.

"But this time, it was the Emperor who proposed to remove the blackouts, yet the one from The Harem didn’t make a peep this time."

Chen Qing frowned; could it be the Empress Dowager was also controlled by Ali?

No, that’s not right!

A dynasty’s fate, the more profoundly influenced, the harder it was for Ali to control. At this point, Empress Dowager Qi’s status was probably not inferior to the Emperor’s, making it unlikely for Ali to control her.

"Is Empress Dowager Qi a cultivator or an ordinary person?"

"In our family, anyone with the talent for cultivation wouldn’t marry into the Imperial Family." The Imperial Concubine shook her head.

Upon hearing this, Chen Qing immediately understood; indeed, once a woman marries, she belongs to another family.

Sorcerer Families are extremely cautious when marrying off daughters with techniques, generally requiring the other party to use techniques as a dowry in exchange, rarely marrying them out, and the Priest families here were likely the same.

With a family heritage to protect, preventing it from being exposed naturally means they could not marry out, let alone to the Imperial Family.

This was strange...

As far as Chen Qing knew, the Mingyue Sect was most adept at enticing such individuals!

Without cultivation, one of the Mingyue Sect’s secret techniques could grant a person a meteoric rise to become part of the cultivators, even a distinguished one at that.

For someone like Empress Dowager Qi, who had not been recognized for cultivation, suddenly given a chance, she would certainly not let it pass—inexplicably letting the Mingyue Sect disappear?

Shouldn’t she have at least put up a fight?

"Has Your Ladyship seen the Empress Dowager in these last ten days?" Chen Qing asked.

"No..." The other party shook her head: "Originally, Qi Yun would boast quite a bit, holding a small gathering every three days, demanding us to pay respects, but this time... there hasn’t been a gathering for over ten days."

"Is that so..." Chen Qing looked at her: "Then... is Empress Dowager Qi still alive?"

"Uh... why would senior ask such a question?

" The other party was taken aback, chuckling: "If the Empress Dowager were dead, how could it possibly be kept a secret? There are many experts in the palace, not to mention anything else, Eunuch Hong who serves the Empress Dowager is a Super First Rank expert, to say nothing of the Great Sorcerer who is regularly stationed in the Court by the Qi Family. If anything had happened to the Empress Dowager, wouldn’t it have caused an uproar long ago? "

"Is that so?" Chen Qing stroked his chin.

He didn’t think so, contemplating a possibility in his mind...