Awakened: The Spirit King!

The third concubine position in the harem was high but not higher than her spot in the Emperor's heart.

When the news of her sister, Duan Yi, becoming the Lord of Blue Moon became public, a few officials of the royal court, including the previous generation imperial teacher, requested the emperor to take back her status as they didn't want political power leaving the grasp of men and embracing women.

Many people rose in support of them as they wanted to keep the tradition of the empire as it is, one in which a woman cooks, take care of her man, and satisfies his needs while the man works and provides for the family.

As fate would have it, they were like herders playing the flute before a cow or dogs barking at a passerby as the emperor didn't listen to them and even picked up the ring leaders and threw them in jail as punishment for breaking public order.

He even killed those he found unpleasant to the eyes.

He justified his action of killing important people, such as the previous generation imperial teacher, by mixing black with white and telling the masses that those he killed deserved death, as they were fooling the honest people and leading the petition to question his authority and eventually overthrow him.

People had to believe him when he showed traitorous letters the previous generation imperial teacher exchanged with various officials.

Whether they were fake or not was a mystery!

After this event, everyone understood one thing, the emperor cherished his health less than his third concubine!

After keeping her close to him for seven years, the Emperor married the most beautiful woman of the empire as his thirteenth concubine.

God knows what words she uttered in the emperor's ears or how greatly she pleased him in bed, but the emperor started to favor her more and more until eventually, he let her into his inner chambers.

The third concubine saw someone else invading her territory and felt dismayed by the emperor's betrayal.

Was it not her to whom he had promised undying love?

That night, a war of words erupted between her and the emperor.

The next day he deported his third concubine to the cold palace.

Many people thought that the good times of the Duan sisters were coming to an end, but to their shock, the Emperor didn't keep the third concubine confined to the cold palace for long.

After two weeks, he relocated her near his chambers.

Everyone could tell that He favored her as He also didn't take back what he had given to Duan Yi and let her rule as the lord of the Blue Moon City.

Still, he didn't favor her as much as before as he never took her into his inner chambers.

"Why must we fear Duan Yi making things troublesome for us on purpose when the emperor has fallen out with her sister? He hurt her sister, so why would she be willing to work for his family? Shouldn't she not be taking the royal family's side?" Xie Yang questioned.

Xie Ye replied, "While the Glorious Sun Emperor has become somewhat indifferent to the third concubine in recent years, he still protects her from the empress and all those that want to harm her. She managed to stay away from conspiracies so far because, aside from the empress family, no one makes trouble for her. If the royal family, the uncles, and power-holding relatives of the emperor decides to butt in, things will become hell for her. The emperor can hold his own against one pillar of the empire, but if two pillars press down on him, even he will end up taking a step back. Duan Yi loves this sister of her the most, and the affection of the siblings is mutual. The royal family can use Duan Yi as their knife any time as her sister's well-being is in their hand. If she doesn't fight for them any time they want her to, the one to end up hurt will be her dear sister. She doesn't want that. What do you think she will do not to let that happen?"

Xie Ye gave him a look that said a lot.

"She has no choice but to act against us whenever they want her to."

Xie Yang sighed.

In the end, it wasn't the emperor or Duan Yi who was their enemy, but those members of the royal family, the general public, and the pillars of the empire who were greedy for Northern Cloud City and the massive army under his eldest brother!

"The life of the two sisters must be hell." Xie Yang felt bad for the third concubine and Duan Yi.

Duan Yi had to commit crimes to keep her sister safe, while the third concubine had to keep her silence even after knowing that her sister's hands were becoming red with blood for her sake.

"They are not that unlucky. The emperor's love for her hasn't diminished. The last time a noble family made trouble for the Duan family, the third concubine became so distressed that she fell ill. She had a weak heart since birth, and even cultivating didn't help her much. When she fell sick, her old illness relapsed, and she became bedridden for a while. The emperor found out, and he taught the noble family a lesson, banishing them to the far north. The noble family had been serving the empress family for generations. His actions, of course, led to his relationship with the empress becoming worse. But he didn't regret it. If it were any other concubine who had fallen out of favor, he wouldn't have as much as spare a glance at her, much less help her family out of trouble. Not to mention, his offending the empress family for a mere concubine was something unheard of before he took actions for the third concubine's sake."

Xie Yang's gaze was on Xie Ye as he wondered why it was only now that he happened to find out how good a gossiper his stepbrother was!

"The emperor has said it all with his actions; he still has the third concubine in his heart," said Xie Yang after he tied his loose hair.

Xie Ye smiled and, after remembering something interesting, he said, "She is his childhood sweetheart. Even though he now has someone else in his heart, the memories he has made with her are still there, and he can't forget them even if he wants to. He isn't willing to see her in distress and will cut off any hands that harm her indirectly or directly."

Xie Yang was wondering why the emperor loved a woman more than the empress. Still, after finding out that the third concubine was his childhood sweetheart, he realized that it was the empress who stepped in between their love and forced her onto a man who already had another in his heart!

After digesting everything Xie Ye had told him, Yang sighed again.

"Young master, is something bothering you?" Xie Ye heard his sigh and wondered what was troubling him.

"If we cause trouble for the Duan family and the news somehow reached the third concubine, and she becomes distressed, we will wrong the emperor. If Duan Yi doesn't wrong us when we arrive at her turf, she will wrong the royal family. If the situation is as such, why did father let me come here? What about you? Why didn't you tell this all to me before we set out?"

Xie Yang raised his eyebrow at Xie Ye.

Xie Ye replied, "Master's order."

"I can't understand what he is planning." Xie Yang felt the urge to grab his head and pluck out his hair in frustration, but he didn't do that as he wanted to maintain his handsomeness, for only with a handsome face could he seduce Lin Hua to remain in the bed with him for days on end.

"Young master, why are you covering your face like a maiden?"

Xie Ye saw Xie Yang using a silk fabric to cover his face and coughed when he passed one to him too.

"You too, cover your face well. I don't want any trouble, and I am sure you have the same thought. It is in our best interest to hide our identity and sneak into the city and do everything in secret before sneaking out."

In truth, Xie Ye was not afraid of trouble, and he wanted to enter the city proudly.

Xie Yang was a different breed than the men of the army.

'Pride? What is it? Is it something tasty? Can you eat it? No?! Then I give a damn about it not! Can it cause death? Yes?! What are you waiting for then? An invitation?! Hurry up and burn it to ashes! I did rather throw away my pride than become a corpse or let those I love die before me. Since I am willing to do even that, why wouldn't I be willing to suppress my pride to evade trouble with the Duan Family?!'

Xie Yang had to persuade him for a while before Xie Ye reluctantly agreed.

Xie Ye camouflaged them.

The guards stationed at the city gate didn't notice them when they started passing by them.

However, one of them came too close to Xie Yang.

He was startled and hurriedly stepped out of the way.

As the guard passed from ahead of him, Xie Yang heard him talking about accepting bribes, making things difficult for commoners to enter the city, and telling the guard beside him to do the same if he wants to become rich in this lifetime.

Xie Yang felt that he would shame his legacy if he didn't abuse his undetectable camouflage and teach these abusing scum a lesson.

Xie Ye choked when he saw him tripping the guard again and again.

Xie Yang had the cheeks of playing a prank on the guard!

The newbie guard saw what was happening to his corrupted senior and ran back to his station while cursing and shouting that he was innocent and wouldn't ever abuse his power.

The guard standing before tripping, again and again, attracted the attention of many, but by that time, Xie Yang had long made his escape with Xie Ye.

The two brothers sneaked into the city easily through the open gates, and after entering an alley, Xie Yang laughed out loud at the silliness of the city guards.

A young boy who was passing through the alley heard laughter but didn't see anyone and became so afraid that he started chanting Buddhist scripture while running at the top of his speed.

At this time, he could only curse his parents for not giving him an extra pair of legs.

Xie Ye shook his head and thought, 'My young master is a bit too playful!'