Feng Fei, the Puppet Monarch

As Feng Fei thought about her next words, Xue Bai suddenly felt another presence nearby. Looking over at the entrance of the Imperial Courtroom, Xue Bai found an old man wearing a black eunuch robe standing at the entrance as he waited to be let in.

"Eunuch Lu." Feng Fei greeted, "You may enter."

"Her Majesty, you are now the monarch of our Gen Empire. There is no need to call me by my title. Just call me Old Lu now." Eunuch Lu spoke with heartfelt laughter as he walked in with great strides.

'So there are cultivators here. And he's even in the Law Engraving realm to boot.' Xue Bai mentally thought. But right after, he realized something.

'Wait, why the hell can I see his cultivation?' Xue Bai was experiencing shock after shock, but he was good at hiding his expression and kept his shocked emotions inside.

Though odd, the fact that he could see the cultivation base of someone so much higher than was something that could only help him, so Xue Bai quickly accepted it and carried on.

Not expecting the Bone Strengthening realm Xue Bai to see through his cultivation, Eunuch Lu became defensive and quickly floated over in front of Feng Fei.

Feng Fei ignored the actions of the overprotective eunuch and continued to think about how to phrase her next words. But very quickly, Xue Bai started to get impatient.

"Answer my question. Why the hell did you give me the title of Prince Consort." Xue Bai spoke up, bringing Feng Fei out of her thoughts, "Let alone a mortal like you. Even if you were in the Spirit Fusion realm, I wouldn't marry you."

Xue Bai was destined to reach the God Great realm at the very minimum with his potential. How could he get forcibly married to a mortal woman without Martial Veins?

Hearing his question, Feng Fei once again sighed deeply, and this time she withdrew all of the indifference and coldness from her face.historical

"Since you were confused about where you were and had no sense of time, I can only assume you aren't from the Northern Continent. However, no matter where you once lived, you must know that power reigns supreme in this plane. So isn't it odd that I, the monarch of this Empire, am a mortal?" Feng Fei spoke in a melancholy tone.

"What of it?" Xue Bai snorted, "This place is a backwater wasteland. Your imperial bodyguard is only in the Law Engraving realm. Maybe your traditions here are messed up."

'This boy is a piece of work!' Feng Fei was enraged about how little regard Xue Bai had for her, but since he had something she needed, Feng Fei could only suppress her anger and continue speaking.

"Eunuch Lu isn't a bodyguard of mine. He is one of the very few people still loyal to me. The Imperial Guards aren't loyal to me." Feng Fei said, slightly shocking Xue Bai.

"So what, you're a puppet monarch?" Xue Bai raised an eyebrow as he asked.

Hearing the term puppet, Eunuch Lu looked like he was about to blow a fuse, but Feng Fei held him back.

"You're not wrong," Feng Fei nodded. However, she quickly continued, "But you're also not right."

At this point, Xue Bai was getting interested in this girl's story, so with a raised eyebrow, he asked why.

"My Father, the previous Emperor, wasn't truly meant to be the Emperor. He was only enthroned because of a tragedy that resulted in the deaths of the entire Feng Imperial Family. From every concubine in the Imperial Harem to all of the princes and princesses. So because of that, my father was made the Emperor of the Gen Empire."

"However, while my father was talented, he was still young, being only in his forties and the Law Engraving realm when he was enthroned. Now suddenly enthroned, my father quickly lost much of the power the Feng Imperial Family usually commanded in the Gen Empire. Knowing this, our neighboring Kun Empire started a war, planning to kick us while we were down. And with no help from the nobles of the Empire, my father died in an assassination after a Domain Lord realm cultivator took action."

"Only ten years into his rule, my father hadn't sown any seeds for the next generation, and I was his only offspring." Feng Fei explained.

"But you ended up being born a cripple." Xue Bai could put the pieces together at this point, "So now, 10 years later, your Imperial Family's influence is almost nonexistent, while your noble clans are getting greedier and greedier. I think I get it now. But that still doesn't answer my question. Why the hell did you announce me as your concubine?"

"Simple. We know that you have a deep background and unfathomable talent, but I also know you're far away from home. So by giving you the title of Prince Consort, I can use the fear of your background to fend away the greedy dogs trying to bring down my family." Feng Fei explained.

"Do the other people of the Empire know of my existence?" Xue Bai asked as he pointed at himself.

"It'd be hard not to," Eunuch Lu spoke with an odd gaze, "You suddenly ripped open the void above the Imperial Capital half a year ago, shocking everyone. One Duke of ours that was in the Law Manifestation realm had thought you were a threat and tried to attack you, but before his sword slash even reached you, it disintegrated, and another slash of greater power flew at him, killing the Duke instantly."

"So the people of this Empire think I am a child of the heavens. And you want to keep that illusion to get the rebellious nobles off your back for a while," Xue Bai said aloud. But he couldn't understand one thing, "Sure, this is a good plan, but what are you stalling for? Sure, your idea isn't bad, and using my deep background as a shield is smart, but you're a cripple. I would get it if you are extremely talented and wanted time to peacefully cultivate and strengthen yourself before counter-attacking and killing the rebels. But no matter how long I can keep the nobles off your family's back, you will stay this weak. And I don't plan to stay here for very long, at most five or so years. After that, I'll leave, and then the nobles that I had scared off will just wring your neck like a defenseless chicken."

Feng Fei couldn't answer Xue Bai's question herself.

"I don't know either," Feng Fei looked distressed, "However, between dying now and dying in 5 years, I'll choose the latter any day."

"No, wait. I can help you with this." Xue Bai suddenly spoke up, confusing the two.

Though being a cripple would be a death sentence for most people, there were natural treasures that could give Martial Veins, albeit extremely rare.

And Xue Bai, with his wealth of memories, knew of almost every single one in the Baishen Plane, with the Mountain Province of the Northern Continent being no different.

So why not give this Feng Fei one?

Xue Bai knew that he'd stay on this continent for a few years at the minimum. He'd leave when his Void Traversal Physique becomes strong enough to travel across continents or he finds a transcontinental teleportation array that is willing to take him to the Southern Continent.

But either way, that would be no time soon.

Thinking that far, Xue Bai came to a conclusion.

Why not, until he leaves, cultivate this Empire into a subordinate, and maybe, should his plans get far enough to take over this continent? The Northern Continent was the second largest and second most prosperous continent behind the Central Continent.

If he could milk this continent for all it was worth, he would have more than enough wealth to create a force of his own after he traveled to the Central Continent.

Sure, the idea was grand and possibly a little far-fetched, but Xue Bai had some confidence in his goal.

The only thing that could truly stop him from accomplishing it was the Northern Contient's Child of the Plane. However, Xue Bai knew the girl's personality and that she wouldn't interfere with his plans. If anything, the girl might just help him.

"What do you mean you can help me?" Feng Fei spoke up, disturbing Xue Bai's thoughts.

"What if I told you that I could help you grow a set of Martial Veins and a low black-grade set at that?" Xue Bai proposed.

"I'd call you crazy and have you get your brain checked," Feng Fei answered with a snort, "Don't tell me you have a natural treasure capable of giving me a set of Martial Veins?"

"You're right, I don't," Xue Bai nodded, but before Feng Fei got angry, he continued, "But I do know where one is. Give me a map of the Mountain Province, and I'll show you where it is."

Feng Fei still couldn't wrap her head around Xue Bai's actions, but since he looked so confident and getting a map of their Empire didn't hurt her, she complied.

Looking over at Eunuch Lu, she relayed Xue Bai's request to him.

Eunuch was prepared and, after going into his spatial ring, pulled out an extremely detailed map of the Mountain Province.

Giving the map a quick glance through, Xue Bai quickly pointed out two locations before speaking.

"You can choose the element you'd like. The one in this location in the Hysteria Forest can give you a low black-grade Martial Vein with the metal element affinity. In contrast, this one in the Burning Steel Mountains can give you a set of Martial Veins of the same grade but instead a fire element affinity." Xue Bai spoke confidently.

Feng Fei, shocked, quickly tried to take the map back to see where Xue Bai was pointing, but to her annoyance, he pulled it back, not giving it over yet.

"What are you doing?" Feng Fei asked, confused.

"I'll show you the locations, but I need something first." While storing the map in his own spatial ring, Xue Bai said, "Since all of my spatial rings have been destroyed from the void, I need resources to grow. Though I am confident in my own safety in this backwater place, I won't be able to leave until I reach the Law Engraving or Law Manifestation realm at the earliest. So I need some resources to cultivate to those realms."

"Impossible." Feng Fei shook her head instantly, "My Feng Family doesn't have any resources at all. The 2 Dukes have almost taken over the Imperial Court and also the Empire's accountants. In their words, 'Since I can't cultivate, there is no need for your family to get resources funneled to it.'"

Towards the end of her sentence, Feng Fei was getting angrier and angrier as Xue Bai could see her fists clenching.

Xue Bai could understand it as well. Imagine being the leader of an Empire, the monarch itself, and being so broke that you can't even nurture one Law Engraving cultivator.

It was humiliating.

"Then is there a faction I can earn these resources myself? I know the Northern Continent doesn't have any sects, but surely there must be an academy?" Xue Bai changed his request.

From what he knew from the game, the Northern Continent was different from every other cardinal continent. Here on the Northern Continent, it was completely dominated by one faction, namely the 8 Trigrams Sect on the Central Continent.

And the 8 Trigrams Sect used the Northern Continents as their backyard, and after years of complete control of it, they decided to split it into eight provinces. The eight provinces were named after eight symbols from their sect; Lake, Heaven, Wind, Fire, Water, Thunder, Mountain, and Earth, and each province was controlled by an Empire.

However, since the 8 Trigrams Sect was so dominated in their control, they refused any other competition in the Northern Continent, meaning that there were no sects, only academies or schools which had to be built by an Empire.

"Our Gen Empire does have an academy that you can join. But there is a problem with it..." Feng Fei grew awkward as she finished her sentence.

"Our Feng Family doesn't have a quota for enrollment. If you'd like to join, you have to take the entrance exam, which is in a week." Feng Fei spoke. But the further she spoke, the lower her voice got until where it eventually became as low as a mouse squeak.

But instead of getting angry, Xue Bai was rather fine with it.

He was expecting something worse. Maybe the Feng Family members couldn't join the academy, or members of the Imperial Harem like himself weren't allowed.

So while the fact that he was forced to take an entrance exam would be slightly annoying, he was fine with it.

If anything, a week was good since Xue Bai still needed to find a wood-type nourishing natural treasure before doing anything.

Right now, he couldn't even cultivate, so joining the academy now would only be stupid.

"Alright. I'll be back in a week then." Xue Bai nodded and, to the shock of Eunuch Lu and Feng Fei, disappeared.