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

Upon hearing that the Prince of Zhennan said it was good news, Lu Chen asked in confusion, "What good news?"

At this time, Lu Chen was unaware that the Prince of Zhennan had gone to the palace to request a marriage for him.

The Prince of Zhennan did not answer, but threw the imperial edict in his hand to Lu Chen. Lu Chen quickly caught the edict and glanced at it.

Upon seeing the contents of the imperial edict, Lu Chen was startled.

A marriage arranged by imperial decree?

The Zhou Emperor actually wants to marry Ji Yunmeng to him?

He was still thinking about how to win over Ji Yunmeng when the Zhou Emperor unexpectedly took the initiative to bestow a marriage upon him.

After a moment, Lu Chen came to his senses. He closed the imperial edict and looked at the Prince of Zhennan, asking, "Did Father personally go to the palace?"

Lu Chen knew that under normal circumstances, such an imperial edict could not be sent out. The Empress Dowager's faction was now very afraid that the Zhou Emperor would find allies, so it was absolutely impossible for Princess Ji Yunmeng to marry him, the heir of the Prince of Zhennan.

Since the imperial edict was already in the hands of the Prince of Zhennan, it proved that the Prince of Zhennan had likely gone to the palace in person and received the edict directly from Emperor Zhou.

The Prince of Zhennan said, "Yes, if I hadn't gone to the palace myself, this imperial edict probably wouldn't have been delivered."

Lu Chen then expressed his gratitude, saying, "Thank you, Father, for risking your life to ask for a marriage for me."

The Prince of Zhennan said, "There is no danger. The Empress Dowager would not dare to provoke someone like me who is about to die."

"Let's not talk about that anymore. Since Emperor Zhou has already issued the imperial decree, let's spread the news. The more people who know, the better. Also, the Zhennan Prince's Mansion can start preparing for your marriage to Princess Yun'an."

At this point, the Prince of Zhennan's gaze fell on Wei Heng, the steward of the Prince's mansion, and then he began to have Wei Heng prepare for the marriage of Lu Chen and Ji Yunmeng.

……

The news that the Prince of Zhennan had entered the palace to meet Emperor Zhou and received the imperial edict of marriage from the emperor spread throughout the capital.

When all the factions heard that Emperor Zhou was going to marry Ji Yunmeng to Lu Chen, they were all incredulous. Emperor Zhou would actually marry his most beloved daughter to the enemy that the royal family had always wanted to destroy.

However, people quickly realized that the Prince of Zhennan was suffering from the backlash of the evil spirits and was on the verge of death. Moreover, the fact that he was able to enter the palace meant that he had likely burned his life force, which meant that his time was running out. After the Prince of Zhennan died, Lu Chen would become the new Prince of Zhennan.

Lu Chen is just a spoiled brat. Although he can cultivate now, he is definitely not as good as Ji Yunmeng.

If Ji Yunmeng were to marry into the Zhennan Prince's Mansion, the entire mansion would likely be under her control. In that case, wouldn't the Zhennan Prince's Mansion be in the hands of the royal family? To be precise, it would be in the hands of Emperor Zhou.

After the news of the Zhou Emperor's bestowal of marriage spread throughout the capital, some were happy and some were sad. Those who were happy were naturally the royal faction who supported the Zhou Emperor's return to power. After all, once Ji Yunmeng took control of the Zhennan Prince's Mansion, the Zhou Emperor would have an additional force that could rival the Pei family, making it much easier for him to return to the court.

The people who were worried were the Empress's faction. In their view, once Emperor Zhou got the support of the Prince of Zhennan's Mansion, it was only a matter of time before he returned to the court. And the first thing Emperor Zhou would do upon returning to the court would definitely be to purge the Empress's faction.

……

The Imperial Study.

Pei Shuhua sat on a chair made of golden nanmu wood, her jade hands gripping the armrests tightly, her knuckles turning slightly white. Upon hearing the eunuch's report, Pei Shuhua's expression turned completely somber.

She never expected that the imperial edict issued by the Zhou Emperor to the Prince of Zhennan would actually order Ji Yunmeng to marry Lu Chen.

If Ji Yunmeng were to go to the Zhennan Prince's Mansion, wouldn't she be in control of it once the Zhennan Prince dies? If Ji Yunmeng controls the Zhennan Prince's Mansion, it's equivalent to the Zhou Emperor controlling the entire mansion. If the Zhou Emperor possessed the power of the Zhennan Prince's Mansion, he would have the strength to rival her. This is unacceptable!

We absolutely cannot let Ji Yunmeng marry Lu Chen!
Either sabotage this political marriage, or get rid of Lu Chen as soon as possible and make the Zhennan Prince's Mansion disappear quickly.

After pondering for a moment, Pei Shuhua said coldly to the maid in the imperial study, "Summon He Dongqi to the palace. I have something to ask him."

"Yes, ma'am."

After a maid spoke, she quickly left the imperial study.

The Bureau of Deception and Strange Tales.

In the council hall, the heads of various departments and the commanders of thousands gathered, their faces etched with worry, and they remained silent, as if something major had happened.

After a long while, Wu Feng, the director of the Bureau of Investigation and Exorcism, finally spoke, "I didn't expect that before we could even catch that wolf demon, this kind of thing happened in the capital region. If we can't deal with the evil spirit that massacred the village as soon as possible, I'm afraid the Empress Dowager will be furious."

The reason they are gathered here today is not because of the wolf demon in the capital, but because of the evil spirits that have been massacring villages recently.

In the Great Zhou Dynasty, although evil spirits massacring villages occurred from time to time, the existence of the Suppressing Evil Bureau ensured that these evil spirits would be dealt with quickly by the Suppressing Evil Guards.

Moreover, the evil spirits that massacre villages vary from place to place.

However, the recent massacres of villages by evil spirits all point to the same evil spirit, which seems to have a particular fondness for digging out people's hearts; almost all of those massacred have no heart left.

At first, the evil spirit only slaughtered people in some outlying villages, perhaps because it was afraid of being discovered by the people of the Zhengui Division. However, the evil spirit became bolder and bolder, choosing to slaughter villages that were closer and closer to densely populated cities. Now it has even reached the capital region.

Previously, Ji Yunmeng had been tracking that evil spirit, and Lu Chen was brought back by Ji Yunmeng when she encountered him on the road while investigating the evil spirit.

However, Ji Yunmeng didn't find anything. The evil spirit was very well hidden, and even using the Zhenguisi's Chasing Disc, she couldn't track it down.

Upon hearing Wu Feng's words, He Dongqi felt a headache coming on. He had been thinking that after taking office, he would use the wolf demon incident to gain merit and establish his prestige.

As a result, he encountered one mess after another as soon as he took office.

At this moment, He Dongqi's expression was gloomy, and he said in a cold voice, "Director Wu, the Investigation Department still has no information about that evil spirit?"

Upon hearing He Dongqi's question, Wu Feng sighed and said, "Sir, the entire Investigation Bureau has done its best. We have used almost every means at our disposal, but apart from knowing that the evil spirit likes to dig out people's hearts, we have not found any clues."

Whenever a village is massacred by an evil spirit, the Ghost Suppression Guard of the Bureau of Ghost Investigation will arrive at the scene immediately to search for any remaining spiritual energy left behind by the evil spirit. However, no matter how hard the people of the Bureau of Ghost Investigation search, they cannot find any spiritual energy left behind by the evil spirit.

It was as if the one who did it wasn't an evil spirit at all.

However, judging from the horrific scene and the traces left behind, the only possible culprit was an evil spirit.

Upon hearing Wu Feng's answer, He Dongqi's expression darkened further.

If it were just about the wolf demon, that would be fine. He could send all the people in the Zhengui Division to search for the wolf demon, since it was hiding in the capital. With so many people in the Zhengui Division, they would surely be able to find some clues about the wolf demon.

But now that the evil spirit that massacred the village has appeared, he must devote some of his resources to finding it. (End of Chapter)