102 He’s Vengeful, She’s Vicious, and You’re Greedy! 3 (1/2)

”Hey!”

Ignoring the startled cry of the member of the Taiyi Sect, the young girl, and nearby passerby, the startled minister barreled through to stand before the stone monolith. His finger flying over the surface of the black monolith, Wei Xuan rapidly searched for the name once again.

There, at the forty-third row and the sixty-seventh column, was a person's name so familiar to him.

Wei An Fei.

His fourth daughter's name.

”You there! What are you doing, this area is restricted!”

The member of the Taiyi Sect rose from the seat in anger, walking towards Wei Xuan with angry strides.

Before he could shove his sect emblem into Wei Xuan's face, the minister had grasped him by his robes, dragging him off of his feet.

”You tell me this minister one thing,” Wei Xuan growled, a domineering pulse of spiritual essence exploding from within his body. Shaking the unlucky sect member, the minister began his series of interrogations in public.

”Who enlisted this name onto this monolith?”

The member of the Taiyi Sect's eyes widened frantically at the terrifying fluctuations of spiritual essence rippling from Wei Xuan's body, fearing that his measly cultivation of the Foundation Establishment Realm was insufficient to preserve his life.

However, upon hearing Wei Xuan's question, the young man gradually calmed down, relief flooding his heart.

”I… I don't know,” he quickly responded, his gaze following Wei Xuan's extended finger to the identified name.

”A young man came by earlier to register on behalf of someone else, and he gave me this name.”

”A young man?” Wei Xuan repeated in surprise, his brows knotting in suspicion.

”Who?”

”I don't know,” the young man quickly shook his head.

”But he had the Imperial Family's emblem in his possession, and registered four others at the same time.”

Imperial Family's emblem?

Wei Xuan paused, panic bubbling within his heart.

Staring at the unlucky young man with a gaze that pierced deep into the soul, the minister stepped forward with an imposing demeanor, asking again with a powerful voice.

”Are you completely certain that the man possessed an emblem from the Imperial Family?”

The member of the Taiyi Sect nodded his head in assent, fear displayed within his gaze.

Feeling the deathly grip on his robe vanish, the young man raised his gaze in a fervor, only to realize that the frightening minister had disappeared.

However, he dared not to fix the creases formed on his clothes, and instead sat back down before the table with shaking limbs and cold sweat dripping from his neck.

-

”Official Wei, please, this way.”

A high-ranking eunuch gestured for Wei Xuan to follow him, an amiable smile on his aged countenance.

Carefully observing the eunuch's appearance and recognizing the purple-golden robe belonging to the highest-ranking palace servants, the minister quickly stood to greet.

”Gonggong is?”

Wei Xuan quietly ventured as he followed the eunuch down a long corridor leading from the central hall of the Imperial Palace. The old eunuch smiled, before dipping his head into a bow.

”This slave is the servant of Her Imperial Highness,” the eunuch replied in a tone that was neither servile nor aggressive.

Though it possessed the customary traits of a eunuch's higher-pitched voice with a weaker emphasis, the placid tone inadvertently caused Wei Xuan to raise his guard.

”Official Wei may call this slave Eunuch Lin. Her Imperial Majesty requested to convene with Official Wei at the Fleeting Spring Pavilion.”

”Why has His Imperial Majesty… chosen not to meet with this one?” the minister suddenly questioned, his gaze flickering with an unfathomable glint.

”His Imperial Majesty knows this official best, it doesn't seem appropriate that Her Imperial Highness is calling this one?”