“Other than that, there’s one more thing.”
Wang Jin’s expression turned serious as he spoke.
“Please speak, Eunuch Wang.”
“There have been sightings of Evil Cultivators near Beiyang City, Donglin City, and Xilu City.
They’ve been harming innocent civilians.
The City Lords of all three cities need to stay in their cities and can’t spare the manpower.
They’ve asked the Imperial Court for help, hoping we can send some Qi Refining Realm martial artists to wipe out the Evil Cultivators.”
As he spoke, Wang Jin glanced at Xiao Minghuang.
“If I’m not mistaken, Your Highness is already at the third level of Qi Refining Realm.
That’s some impressive progress!”
“You flatter me, Eunuch Wang.” Xiao Minghuang smiled slightly, her expression growing more serious.
“Can you tell me more about the Evil Cultivators?”
The fact that Wang Jin brought this up in person made his intentions clear—he wanted her to go to one of the cities to help eliminate the Evil Cultivators and restore peace to the people.
“Here’s what happened…” Wang Jin gave a brief summary of the situation.
Ever since the news of the Xia Emperor’s seclusion spread a month ago, Evil Cultivators who had been hiding in the shadows started to appear, often preying on mortals and cultivating evil techniques.
The City Lords had to stay in their main cities to guard against any incidents and couldn’t leave.
For other places, the Imperial Court had already sent elders with higher cultivation to help, but the Evil Cultivators in Beiyang, Donglin, and Xilu were weaker, so the royal elders decided to treat this as a training opportunity.
Several princes from the court would be sent out to deal with the Evil Cultivator disturbances.
Xiao Minghuang had grown up deep in the palace and knew nothing about outside affairs, so she’d need to gather information before handling these matters.
“In your opinion, Eunuch Wang, which city should I go to?” Xiao Minghuang asked.
Before the Xia Emperor went into seclusion, he’d entrusted Wang Jin with her safety, which meant Wang Jin was trustworthy.
That’s why Xiao Minghuang asked him directly.
“Of the three cities, the Evil Cultivators in Donglin City are the strongest—rumor has it they’re close to the Gushing Spring Realm.
The elders have already sent the Second Prince there.”
“As for Beiyang City and Xilu City, the situation is about the same.
It doesn’t really matter which one you go to.”
At this point, Wang Jin paused.
“But if you go to Beiyang City, it might be more suitable for Your Highness.”
Xiao Minghuang asked, “Why do you say that?”
Wang Jin smiled.
“Your Highness, you really are forgetful.
The old Beiyang City Lord was very close to His Majesty.
They once arranged a marriage between their children, agreeing that no matter if they had a son or daughter, they’d be betrothed.
By now, the old Beiyang City Lord’s grandchild should be about your age.”
With Wang Jin’s reminder, Xiao Minghuang finally remembered that this was indeed the case.
“The old Beiyang City Lord has been dead for years.
The current City Lord has no contact with my father, and I’ve never met the Beiyang City Lord’s son.
It’s better not to mention this marriage arrangement.”
Xiao Minghuang had no intention of getting married—having Xiao Ruo Shui was enough for her.
“But it’s not a bad idea to go to Beiyang City.
I can use this opportunity to call off the marriage arrangement and avoid unnecessary trouble in the future.”
Seeing that the Ninth Princess had made up her mind, Wang Jin didn’t say more.
He just smiled and said, “In that case, I’ll go inform the elders that Your Highness will be heading to Beiyang City to help with the suppression.”
“Thank you for making the trip, Eunuch Wang.”
Xiao Minghuang cupped her hands in thanks.
“It’s nothing.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Wang Jin’s figure flickered, shooting up into the sky like a rainbow and disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Seeing this, Xiao Minghuang couldn’t help but sigh, “Divine Sea Realm cultivators really can fly through the sky and burrow through the earth.
It’s something to aspire to.”
But just then, the streak of light in the sky suddenly stopped, turned around, and landed back on the ground.
Wang Jin reappeared, looking apologetic as he took out a small pouch and handed it to Xiao Minghuang.
“Getting old really does make you forgetful.
This is a Storage Bag His Majesty gave to Your Highness, filled with cultivation resources.
Please accept it!”
“Storage Bag?” Xiao Minghuang took the Storage Bag and thanked him.
After handing over the Storage Bag, Wang Jin added, “On this trip to Beiyang City, I’ll secretly follow along to protect you, just in case anyone tries to harm Your Highness!”
Xiao Minghuang cupped her hands again.
“Thank you, Eunuch Wang!”
“You’re too polite, Your Highness.”
With those words, Wang Jin’s figure flickered and disappeared.
Xiao Minghuang knew that as an elder, Wang Jin wouldn’t pry into her private matters or show up unless necessary.
She’d have to rely on herself for this training.
Next, Xiao Minghuang turned her attention to the Storage Bag.
Following the instructions she’d read in books, she sent her Spiritual Awareness/Divine Sense into the bag.
What she saw made her eyes widen in surprise.
“So many Spirit Stones and pills—Xia Emperor really went all out!”
Inside the Storage Bag, Spirit Stones were piled up like a small mountain, sparkling and filled with dense Spiritual Energy.
Just smelling them made her feel her bottleneck loosen a little.
There were also many bottles of different kinds of pills, neatly arranged on the other side, each with a label.
“Qi Replenishing Pill, Yiqi Dan, Strengthening Pill, Blood Nourishing Pill…”
When Xiao Minghuang’s Spiritual Awareness/Divine Sense swept over the last bottle, her eyes flashed with shock again.
“There’s actually a whole bottle of Rising Essence Pills!”
Xiao Minghuang couldn’t help but twitch her lips, her beautiful face full of disbelief.
“Xia Emperor really went all out—he just gave me ten precious Rising Essence Pills!”
Just over a month ago, she’d only won a single Rising Essence Pill from a bet with the Seventh Prince, but this time, Xia Emperor had given her ten at once!
Before this, her relationship with Xia Emperor couldn’t be called close at all.
Even though they were father and daughter, she’d only seen Xia Emperor a handful of times in her fourteen years of life.
No one would believe there was any real father-daughter affection between them.
“So, there’s only one possibility!” Xiao Minghuang’s eyes flickered as she thought for a moment and came to a conclusion.
“Xia Emperor is making an investment.
He thinks I’m the most likely to win, so he chose me.”
But thinking deeper, maybe that wasn’t it.
Xia Emperor actually didn’t have a choice.
The Second Prince was already at the peak of Qi Refining Realm, just half a step away from breaking through to Gushing Spring Realm.
With Prince Wu’an backing him, all the court officials looked up to him.
All Xia Emperor could give him was the throne.
And even if he really did give the throne to the Second Prince—
The Second Prince might not even be grateful to Xia Emperor.
Even if Xia Emperor didn’t give it, the throne would end up being the Second Prince’s sooner or later.
But the same tactic, when used on Xiao Minghuang, was extremely effective.
She had no power backing her, so any favor the Xia Emperor showed her would be magnified infinitely, making her deeply grateful to the Xia Emperor.
What really puzzled Xiao Minghuang was why the Xia Emperor chose her instead of the Sixth Prince.
Xiao Minghuang thought it over and over, but couldn’t figure it out, so she simply stopped thinking about it.
“The most urgent thing right now is still the matter of Beiyang City.”
According to Wang Jin, Beiyang City was in the north, bordering the Golden Elephant Kingdom.
The two countries often had conflicts, and war broke out constantly.
The chaotic situation nourished the Emptiness where Evil Cultivators lived.
If there was Peace Under Heaven and stability everywhere, where would these Evil Cultivators even find Emptiness to survive in?
But this trip outside was also an Opportunity/Chance/Serendipity for Xiao Minghuang.
There were no more Opportunity/Chance/Serendipity left in the Great Xia Capital, so it was just right for her to go out and look around—maybe she’d run into something.
As for the Spirit StonesPill bestowed by the Xia Emperor, Xiao Minghuang planned to give them all to Ye Ruoshui.
