Starting with being handed over to the Imperial Concubine, building a family with a thousand-year hi

Before Su Mu could respond, Feng Bao bowed respectfully and said, "This servant Feng Bao greets Consort De and His Highness the Sixth Prince." But no sooner had Feng Bao finished speaking than Xu Qian'er suddenly shouted angrily, "Feng Bao! Are you blind? Quickly pay your respects to the Empress!"

Feng Bao was taken aback, his gaze falling on Lin Wen. Only then did he notice that her attire had been changed to that of an empress. Startled, he quickly changed his address and bowed again: "This servant Feng Bao greets Your Majesty the Empress!" He was filled with astonishment. Lin Wen had actually been made empress? According to the regulations of the Great Xia Dynasty, the investiture of a new empress should have been a grand ceremony. How could it have been done so quietly?

Seeing this, Su Mu frowned slightly and said coldly, "Xu Qian'er, how dare you be so rude! Feng Bao is the manager of the library and also my adopted son. Even if he occasionally misspoke, it's not your place, a palace maid, to reprimand him!"

Xu Qian'er's face flushed instantly, filled with anger and resentment. This Su Mu actually disrespected her in public for the sake of a mere eunuch, and showed no regard for the newly crowned empress! She bit her lip, speechless for a moment.

Lin Wen's face darkened, a flash of anger crossing her eyes. Xu Qian'er was her personal maid, her very face; Su Mu's reprimand of Xu Qian'er was disrespectful to her, the new Empress!

Lin Wen came to the library today for two reasons: first, to let Su Mu know that she had ascended to the position of Empress, giving him a warning; second, to test whether Su Mu still recognized her as his former master. Before this, she had already resolved that if Su Mu continued to be arrogant and disrespectful, she would not be polite. However, what happened in the palace today subtly changed her mind—she witnessed Su Mu kill Duanmu Ping and Sima Lie with her own eyes. His formidable martial arts skills shocked her immensely, and she repeatedly murmured "impossible" to herself.

She remembered clearly that before Su Mu came to the library, he was just an insignificant eunuch in Shude Palace. She was 100% certain that Su Mu at that time was just an ordinary eunuch who was powerless and had no martial arts cultivation whatsoever! Even the three elders of Tianwu Sect were puzzled by this and specially instructed her to come and investigate Su Mu's background.

Meeting Lin Wen's angry gaze, Su Mu remained calm and slowly spoke: "Your Majesty, as a subject, one should fulfill one's duties. But without pride, how can one be worthy of being a subject? Just like Your Majesty, without the dignity of an Empress, how can one govern the six palaces and be a model for the world?"

Although the Grand Eunuch Zhongxiao was nominally still a royal servant, he was the highest-ranking eunuch in the palace, holding a highly respected position. According to palace rules, even members of the royal family had to show him deference, but Su Mu showed no sign of yielding today.

He now wields great power and has reached the Grandmaster realm in cultivation. He can even stand on equal footing with Xiao Anxun, let alone the newly appointed Empress Lin Wen. If Lin Wen behaves herself, he can still treat her with respect. But if she insists on putting on airs as an empress, he is too lazy to be polite.

"How dare you swagger before me like this!" Lin Wen's beautiful face was filled with anger, her voice suddenly rising, "Su Mu, you've changed! How dare you disregard me like this! I'll see if you'll regret what you've done today!"

"Mother..." The Sixth Prince Xiao Jingye was worried when he saw Lin Wen's anger. He was about to step forward to comfort her when Lin Wen interrupted him.

"Let's go!" Lin Wen shouted angrily, then simply picked Xiao Jingye up and carried him away, her skirt fluttering as she turned and left, her face full of resentment.

Xu Qian'er watched their retreating figures and muttered a curse under her breath, "This is a huge problem!"

Su Mu glanced at her, his tone indifferent yet carrying a hint of warning: "Don't worry, I won't implicate you. But you'd better think carefully about yourself; taking the right side is more important than anything else."

Xu Qian'er stiffened, looked up at Su Mu, a hint of guilt and confusion flashing in her eyes, and asked in a low voice, "Why?"

Su Mu didn't say anything, turned around and walked back to the library, leaving Xu Qian'er standing there alone, looking puzzled. After a moment, she came to her senses and quickly followed Lin Wen and the others.

Not far from the library, Lin Wen stopped, turned to Xu Qian'er, and asked in a deep voice, "You and Su Mu are quite close, do you know why he has suddenly changed so drastically?"

Xu Qian'er bowed respectfully and replied, "Your Majesty, I am not entirely sure either. However, I suspect that his change today is related to his rapid progress in martial arts."

"Just as I thought!" Lin Wen nodded slightly, a cold glint flashing in her eyes, and sneered, "His martial arts skills were all obtained from the Xiao royal family. Now he dares to be so arrogant in front of me, the Empress. He's simply ignorant of his own limitations!"

The group hurried back to Shude Palace—although Lin Wen had been made Empress, she had not yet moved into Fenghe Palace, as many of the former Empress Situ Wan's belongings remained there and needed to be properly cleared away. The three elders of the Tianwu Sect were also currently in Shude Palace and had not left. Situ Jing had already fled, and the Great Xia court was still unstable; they needed to stay and stabilize the situation for the Xiao royal family.

As soon as she stepped into Shude Palace, an elder from the Tianwu Sect rushed forward and asked anxiously, "Your Majesty, how is the investigation going? Was that expert who suddenly appeared Xiao Yuanhou?"

Lin Wen shook her head, her expression grave: "Su Mu is extremely tight-lipped and refuses to say anything. He has long lost all loyalty to me, and is filled with suspicion and resistance. There's no way he would tell me the truth."

"Oh?" The three elders' expressions changed, their eyes filled with surprise.

An elder pondered, "That expert must be Xiao Yuanhou without a doubt. Besides him, there's no other Grandmaster in the Great Xia Empire who would risk their life for the Xiao royal family!" "Indeed! If Xiao Yuanhou had truly died in battle, the Xiao royal family would never have hidden it from us, after all, they still need to rely on our Heavenly Martial Sect!" "No wonder! When the three of us withdrew at the last moment, the emperor didn't show the slightest dissatisfaction; it turns out Xiao Yuanhou was backing us up!"

Upon hearing this, Lin Wen slowly spoke, her tone carrying a certainty: "Regardless of whether that expert was Xiao Yuanhou or not, he was struck by Situ Jing's family martial art, 'Overlord Spear,' and fell from the sky into the imperial city. Even if he didn't die at the time, he must have been severely injured and wouldn't have lived much longer. He might already be dead by now!"

"He's most likely not going to make it!" another elder chimed in. "Xiao Yuanhou was already at his last gasp, like a lamp running out of oil. Even without this severe injury, he could at most fight against an expert of the same level before exhausting his life force!"

"So, that old eunuch Su must be Xiao Yuanhou's last trump card left for the Xiao royal family!" An elder's eyes flashed with a sharp light as he said in a deep voice. "But the royal family is full of capable people and fierce generals. Why did Xiao Yuanhou choose Su Mu, this seemingly ordinary eunuch, instead of one of the royal family's great generals?"