Awakened: The Spirit King!

"Though, what are you doing here?"

While running his finger through his hair, Xie Yang questioned Leader Ye with a flicker of curiosity flashing in his eyes.

He was glad to have him in these harsh times, but, in all honestly, he was surprised to see him here.

'What was he doing here?'

'Why did he come here?'

'Why did he look troubled, as if he had done something wrong or messed up?'

Xie Yang had a lot of things bugging him.

"It's a long story."

A single sentence came out of Leader Ye's mouth.

"Explain it to me as we walk."

A short time later, while they were heading out of the golden woodland, Leader Ye explained his side of the story to his young master.

"While I was in the capital, the Emperor summoned me. I met up with him in the royal court, and he rewarded the title of Gallant Knights onto you and me and named a few things to you too to show his stance. He cherishes talent and is willing to support you in achieving greater heights.

"As a result of the Glorious Sun Emperor, the rumors about you vanished, and the news about you being a tiger's son became public.

"The news had only started spreading among the masses of the forbidden capital when the faction in support of eldest young master, the parties against the Xie Family, and even the neutral ones started making suspicious moves.

"Curiosity got the best of me, and I investigate them in secret.

"I am glad I did it when I did, or everything would've been too late."

He came to a stop here. Xie Yang was curious about the result of Leader Ye's investigation. He could tell that it was somehow related to him.

"As I am the target of whirlpools and lighting bolts, I have the right to know it. I know it's related to me somehow. It doesn't matter how cruel the truth is, don't hide it from me. Brother, what exactly did you find out?"

Xie Yang was ready to hear more about the mess he had gotten into from the mouth of his stepbrother.

Leader Ye gave him a look and then breathed out ruggedly, which sounded more like a sigh in Xie Yang's ears.

"I went from rooftop to rooftop and overheard the talks a few people had with the representatives of certain assassin organizations. They were talking about getting rid of you. Not one, but all three factions want you out of the dead. As you are master's cherished son and the assassins knew there would be repercussions for assassinating you, most refused the temptation of gold and silver. Most because while some people were afraid of the shadow guards chasing them to the end of the world, the members of the Hades and Spades organization need not worry about their identity being compromised.

"The lord of cloud, my master's hands reach far, but he doesn't cover the entire sky, and there are many hidden dragons and crouching tigers in the forbidden capital who fears him or his retaliation not.

"Still, I believe that they would not accept the client's wish.

"However, I still sent my royal shadow spirit to keep an eye on them.

"I believe a person of an extremely noble or royal personage must have personally gone to the two organizations to make them move.

"However, as their top brass hadn't come for you, I think the benefits the key person provided them wasn't enough to make them want to have a frontal war with Master.

"Only one gold ranked, and many Bronzes to Peak Silver ranked assassins came for you from the capital.

"I thought you might be in danger, so I sent a letter back home.

"As I feared that the enemies would block my message somehow and not let it reach my subordinates that I have stationed here, I set out of the capital that very moment and came looking for you.

"What I feared did come true.

"Though, I reached back home at the right time.

"I have taken care of most of the mess while you took out the early birds that managed to sneak all the way deep into the woodlands."

Leader Ye didn't need to make things clearer to Xie Yang. At the outer parts of the golden woodlands, he saw corpses sprawled around trees and bushes. There were so many of them that the smell of blood filled the air, reaching up to his nostrils. If someone told him that a faction war had happened here, Xie Yang would believe him. The dead people on the ground, he noticed they all belonged to the assassin organization. Their killer was none other than his stepbrother. He had played a ruthless hand, but he didn't have any choice. He wasn't in the wrong. It was his duty and life purpose to eliminate the danger around his young master, so he did just that, but exceptionally ruthlessly. Xie Yang found no fault with him, for if he were powerful, he would've killed them all too but also proceeded onwards and destroyed their organizations without giving about the amount of bloodshed he was causing!

The only thing that came for all these dead was Leader Ye getting many spiritual objects.

The bronze ranked one didn't have it, but the silvers and the gold-ranked assassin had one.

Except for weapons and armor, they didn't carry anything else on them.

But those spiritual objects were the very thing Leader Ye valued most.

He was quite happy to have them!

After hearing him out, Xie Yang understood why so many assassins of the spade and hade organizations came for him.

Someone in the capital wanted him dead, and that person had a status so high that even the top assassin organization submitted to his will and dared not disregard them.

They returned home.

Leader Ye went to report his findings to his master. Xie Yang followed him.

Thing things have happened while he was in the capital.

The emperor was extremely angry after he found out about the internal corruption of the court.

When he confirmed it, his anger exploded, reaching the high heavens!

He was the emperor, the true ruler of this land, the messiah of his people, and the very person whose words made the rule.

He had made it forbidden for anyone to force others into slavery.

Unless a person sold himself to pay off his debt or certain legal matters, none were to make them slaves, no matter how lowly their status.

This rule applied to those who came seeking asylum in the empire too.

However, some criminal bastard dared to go against his words.

He was angry that someone had challenged his authority and slapped him on the face

He punished the criminal bastards who had shaken hands with the devil mercilessly.

He destroyed their family and crippled their fortune.

He didn't stop there and had many criminals executed.

He punished their children who indulged in lust, debauchery, and gambling too.

The females were to work in brothels while the men became handymen.

As for the good ones among the bad apples, he had his loyal men interrogate them to ensure they were not evil and still loyal to the empire and its cause before demoting them by one rank.

It wasn't a harsh punishment considering what the rest of their family had gone through.

The emperor proved once again that he was a merciful man who would spare the children of his enemies if they were worth it.

The people he killed were evil and vile in the eyes of the civilians.

The people he punished were not good either and had bullied people in the forbidden capital, so they had many enemies.

No one called the emperor out as ruthless.

The second thing was the Emperor rewarding Xie Yang and Leader Ye.

They were both given the titles of chivalrous knights.

The Emperor granted Leader Ye the life-saving pill, which protects one from death one time, and granted Xie Yang the high-level spiritual core formation pill, which increased the chance of a person reaching the second realm by 50%!

The emperor showed to the Lord of Cloud with his action that he was willing to stay under the same sky as Xie Yang.

However, he won't help him split the ocean and smash the hurdles of his life.

The third important matter was the person aiming for Xie Yang's life.

The news had only started spreading in the forbidden capital, the center of the Glorious Sun Empire.

It still hadn't reached the north.

However, assassins here still came for Xie Yang's head.

Xie Yong knew someone big from the forbidden capital was behind this assassination attempt.

He ruffled Xie Yang's hair and said in a calm voice, "Don't go out to hunt for a few days and just stay in the city and prepare to explore the secret spirit realm next week. If you think that's too boring, you can join the upcoming tournament and fight other warriors for glory."

"I will do as you say."

Xie Yang had no plans of going out of the city for a week or so, so he agreed to his father's words with respect and humbleness.

He went back to his wife, who welcomed him back home with a smile.