Xin Royal Courtroom, Capital City, Xin Kingdom.
Royal Courtroom was the most famous place in the whole capital, and also the most well-known one.
It was the place where the King and his Subjects had their meeting in harmony.�
The King would usually listen to the complaints and suggestions and then implement new laws, amends, and sometimes, even give a few death penalties.
The Xin Kingdom was ruled by the Xin Royal Clan.
One of the two existing 'Royal' Clans in the Lower Heavens, Xin Royal Clan, was also the most powerful clan, more powerful than any other organization under its rule.�
Be it a clan, simple mercenary group, or big sects, if they were in the land of the Xin Royal Clan, they served under this clan.
At least, this was how it should work.
But in the last few generations of the rule, the Xin Royal Clan had begun to lose its grasp over other clans and sects.
Especially the Sects.
As cultivators, a wish to have freedom flows through everyone's blood.
No one wishes to work and serve under some other power.
This is why, Sects try to make all their disciples as loyal as they can, which deepens their foothold and gives them the audacity to look eye to eye at the Xin Royal Clan and deny them their proclaimed authority.
Such incidents started to become norms slowly, and it was only under the current King Xin that they gradually became rarer.
It was not due to King Xin's power.
Rather, it was because of his Prime Minister's schemes.
With powerful cultivation and a scheming mind, Prime Minister Fang Yuan crushed all his opponents and rose to the top of the power ladder in the Xin Royal Kingdom.
Now, in front of him laid the very last steps that he needed to take before accomplishing what he had started.
But all this took a lot of time - twenty-five years.
For twenty-five years, Prime Minister Fang Yuan played with death and schemed against powerful enemies.
He took his clan from the very bottom of the cradle to become only second to the Xin Royal Clan.
He was proud of this.
But he wasn't satisfied.
He wanted more because his work wasn't done yet.
He had destroyed a lot of enemies, but it was not enough.
He still had very formidable opponents in front of him - not in cultivation, but connections.
One of them was Crown Prince Xin and his little entourage.
He still had to argue with that bunch of old and young 'politicians' in the Throne Room.
He had to do this every day.
Today was no different.
Arguments were flying from one corner to another; nevertheless, there was one thing that we must note.
Prime Minister Fang Yuan also had an ability that allowed him to make his path clearer.
Other than scheming, Fang Yuan was very well versed in the art of befriending and convincing people.
Maybe it was this ability that made King Xin promote him to become the Prime Minister.
This ability also ensured that he was never alone in Royal Courtroom.
He had his own 'army'.
And this allowed him to remain silent and just give a dead stare at the opposite factions.
Sometimes, his stare was more effective than all the arguments flying through the hall.
Today was a similar day - arguments were going from one side to another, and the Prime Minister was giving a dead stare to his opponent.
His opponent?�
Crown Prince Xin.
"This is useless. We should not stoop so low and directly assign a whole battalion!" One of the old court members shouted from behind Prime Minister Fang Yuan.
"Shut up, you old bastard! Do you know how rare this chance is!?" A middle-aged man berated back.
"You--!"�
"What you-you!? Do you know how important this chance is!?"�
"What if it's important? We can't risk war right now, not at any cost!" Someone else replied this time.
"What!? Are you saying that our great kingdom can't afford war!?" The middle-aged man smirked.
"Fu Ker, you bastard!"�
"What? Cursing now!?" The middle-aged man, Fu Ker, snarled.
"This is not about war," this time, someone else stood up.
"Remember when I asked your opinion?" Fu Ker stared at the person, "Me neither."
"You, baldy -!"
"Don't you dare, you hooligan!" Fu Ker snarled at him with a very, very proud expression, "With a body like this, who needs hair?"
His opponent looked at his frail blob-like body and almost spurted blood.
Crown Prince Xin, who had been silent all this time, couldn't help but facepalm.
'How did I get such people in my faction?' He couldn't help but sigh at his luck.
The whole Royal Courtroom was divided into two factions - one side led by Prime Minister Fang Yuan, and the other was headed by Crown Prince Xin.
And in the middle was King Xin, sitting on the throne, his face expressionless as he heard the arguments and curses flying between the two factions.
Ever since today's meeting began, there had been a nonstop barrage of such arguments, trying to convince him for their own favors.
However, King Xin was quite indifferent to all this.
But this couldn't be said the same for his son, Crown Prince Xin.
Crown Prince may not be new to politics but he was still very young and inexperienced in front of Prime Minister Fang Yuan.
Especially when he knew that his own father valued Prime Minister Fang Yuan's words more than anyone else.
This is why, even though his faction seemed to win the argument due to the bald fatty court member, Crown Prince was still not confident because his opponent hadn't said a word ever since the meeting started.
He was waiting for Prime Minister Fang Yuan to speak, only that would decide the direction of the outcome.
And just as he had thought of this, as if fate had read his mind, Prime Minister Fang Yuan suddenly coughed.
Everyone in the courtroom turned their heads towards him as he slowly stood up and cupped his fists at King Xin.
Ready to speak his mind.