(Bu Cai POV)

After 45 minutes of anxiety; Chen Long enters the estate.

All Of us are about to bow, however he just signals with his hand to skip formalities.

He sits down on a chair and then lets out a weary sigh.

Chen Fei wastes no time in directly addressing the crisis and says,

"Father... W-Why Is the Emperor Doing this?!"

"We have always maintained a cordial relationship with the Royal Family and committed no mistakes, So why has he done this to us?"

"Even his official wife is from our faction, no sane person would do this!"

"He must have gone crazy due to power, or there has to be some mist-"

"Stop."

Chen Long interrupts him from continuing and signals us to sit down.

He also tells Chen Guanting to head back to the clan and keep everything under control.

He disappears, and We Sit down Directly opposite from him and await clarification.

...

*Silence*

Silence fills the Room and all three of us are bearing Grim expressions.

Just as Chen Fei was about to talk again;

Chen Long broke the silence,

"I know you two are very worried about this ordeal and therefore I will answer some questions, but we will have to go soon."

...

"To be honest with both of you I was vaguely suspecting this to happen, but not so soon..."

He let out a large sigh then continued,

"To answer you simply; The Emperor has turned his back on us due to his Greed."

"In this world everything is built on the premise of power, nothing else is more important, and it has been this way since primordial times."

"The current Emperor, from what I know of him, is a man who's ambitions are so huge they border insanity."

"And to achieve these ridiculous ambitions, absolute power is a must."

"So what would someone like him do when he gets an opportunity to achieve the power he desires..."

"By merely sacrificing some pawns?"

...

Chen Fei quickly Refuted,

"But what could he possibly achieve from the Blood Supremacists that we couldn't provide!"

"Unles-!"

...

"It's as you've guessed..."

"The co-ordinates and key to our newly found Secret Realm" 

"The Blood Supremacist Faction revealed the location and gave them the key in exchange for Chen Ru marrying The 5th Prince."

Chen Fei's face goes red as he screams,

"THOSE SELFISH TRAITOROUS RATS! I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY WOULD REVEAL SUCH IMPORTANT INFORMATION!"

"We absolutely can't let this happen father! That Secret Realm contains the inheritance of a pseudo-Immortal!"

Hold up...

SECRET REALM ARC?

INHERITANCE + SECRET REALM?

ISN'T THIS A BIT TOO GENERIC?!

Chen Long replies,

"Although we may not have a chance if this was a normal Secret Realm... due to this also being an Inheritance Realm It's not a lost cause."

Don't tell me it's what I think it is...

"There is an Age Restriction on it, which means that people over the age of 20 cannot enter the realm!"

"And I have already spread news about this soon to be open realm so that other Forces are aware. Therefore they won't allow the Royal Family to hog it for themselves, and therefore reduces the chances of them getting the Inheritance."

Of course it's like this...

What was I even expecting from a Xianxia world With Long Tian Being The MC?

Chen Fei responds nervously,

"But Father! Haven't you seen how monstrous the other Forces' geniuses are. And that's not even mentioning the Princes!"

Chen Long sighs again and says,

"I had no other choice, If we left them to have more time, they would have already started to explore it!"

"Plus, don't we have our own monster?"

They both turned to look at me, and gave me an intense stare whilst having a slight smile on their faces...

H-HEY, WHY IS ALL THIS FALLING ON MY SHOULDERS!

"Ummmm, B-But Patriarch... I-I'm Still Inexprienc-!"

I was interrupted by getting grabbed at the back of my collar.

I look to my left and See Chen Fei grabbed as well, then next second we were already high in the sky zooming at absurd speeds...

AHHHHHHHHH!

...

After ten minutes of flying with Chen Long-737. We Arrived In front of a Humongous Palace (It took me some time to actually see it as I was busy throwing up all my Breakfast).

Chen Fei and I got a solid 2 minutes recovery time, before we had to start following Chen Long into the giant palace.

The guards at the gates and doors just let us through as if they were previously ordered to let us through.

Few minutes later, we entered a huge room, that had stairs leading up to a majestic gold throne.

In this huge hall there were only two men present.

One of the men, was laying back on the throne with his hand holding his head lazily as his arm rested on the throne's armrest; He exuded an air of absolute authority and dominance that contrasted with his lazy posture.

He had hair that was so golden/blond that it seemed to shine, and on the top of his head was a crown made of gold which had a large blue gem embedded in it.

He had piercing blue eyes that seemed to see through everything.

He was as handsome as you would expect from a cultivator, and looked like a man in his 20's.

After seeing us enter, his bored expression changed as, he put on a slight smile that gave of a feeling that he was amused.

This man was none other than the current Emperor, Wu Kang.

The other man in the hall looked In his 40's, he had a calm expression on his face as he stood at the side of the throne with a subservient attitude.

This was the Emperor's Personal Advisor, Duan Zhen.

...

After getting a glance of him, we quickly got on our knees and said,

"All Hail Your Majesty!"

The Emperor then said in his deep voice,

"Rise."

And then asked with a curious tone in his voice,

"What brings a busy man like you, Grand Duke Chen, to my Palace?"

Chen Long responded in a calm tone,

"Responding to your Majesty, I have come today to plead fairness on behalf of the Kingdom regarding the Inheritance Realm."

"I believe that we should allow all the younger generation of our glorious Kingdom to compete for it..."

"Lest any dissatisfaction arises between the forces."

"So I humbly beg for your Majesty's benevolence and allow this to be publicly announced so everyone gets an opportunity!"

*Silence*

The atmosphere became tense after Chen Long finished his point.

I felt a cold sweat run down my back as a feeling of fear and vulnerability spread throughout me...

It was a similar experience to when Meng Li exerted pressure on me, Just the effect then was more Physically Suppressive rather Mentally.

This feeling of... destroying any and all will to oppose.

A primal fear arises in your very being.

*Gulp* This guy is no joke.

Soon the intense atmosphere returns back to normal, and a laugh could be heard from above.

The Emperor then spoke again,

"HAHAHAHAHA, let's put aside all the needless formalities and hidden meanings, Chen Long; Is this your last attempt to prevent you and your Faction's fall?"

"If you just handed over the Secret realm as soon as you found it and stayed obedient like the dogs you are; you would not be in such a dire situation."

"However you tried to keep it to yourself... FOR WHAT?!"

"You, out of everyone, should know my ambitions and desire for power!"

"YET YOU TRIED TO STOP ME!"

"So you must be punished for this; and I want you to know that there is absolutely nothing you are able to do to prevent me from acquiring what I want."

"So try your hardest and maybe if you can acquire the Inheritance before anyone else. Give me it and I will spare you."

After the Emperor finished his speech, he waved his hand indicating for us to be gone as he now had an expression of boredom.

However Chen Long Still had something to say...

"I've also come to address another issue..."

"The marriage between the 5th Prince and My Daughter cannot happen!"

Wait... We are intercepting the marriage as well?!

Why am I getting a bad feeling from this?

The Emperor's eyes slightly widened as he looked down at Chen Long and said,

"And why is that?"

"Are you perhaps going against my orders?"

"If you do not provide me a suitable reason; then I will punish you for disobedience, and It won't be light!"

...

Chen Long glances at me then says,

"She Is already deeply in love with one of our core members named Bu Cai!"

Wait...WHAT?!

"Therefore I plead your majesty to show humanity and allow a fated love to Blossom!"

"Surely The Great Emperor of our glorious Empire would not become so tyrannical as to oppose the fundamentals of humanity since primordial times?!"

"If we as humans cannot allow ourselves to love who we want to; what makes us better than the spirit beasts our ancestors heroically fought to create the empire?"

So I beg you give justice to fate!"

...There is no way he will accept such bullshi-

"HAHAHAHAHA, you are correct!"

"How could I possibly try to dictate over the freedom made by our ancestors?!"

"But it would irk me if I ruined the reputation of my innocent 5th Son and the Royal Family like this."

"So I must keep the engagement between them for longer and during this time we will be able to see if the love is truly 'fated'."

"Because 'fate' Would surely bring them together at some point, and by then we will be able to ascertain whether I am being unreasonable."

...Phew, nice shut dow- I mean fuck. I can't believe that didn't work!

And what do you mean by bring together?

That's a very vague word...

Chen Long responded,

"I understand your Majesty! We will leave It up to fate!"

We then got shooed off and told his Advisor/Servant to see us off.

And this time there was no more chat back.

...

Once We Got back, I didn't even get the chance to question anything before Chen Long told us about what is going to happen from now on...

"I will be personally training you after the tournament."

...

He then looked at me and said seriously,

"Make sure to do your best In this tournament Bu Cai."

"If you put on a good performance, It will show other forces that they shouldn't underestimate our Clan; and will also make our Faction more reassured for the upcoming crisis."

"Don't disappoint me."

And then without me being able to ask anything, he left...

As I was left with only Chen Fei, who wasn't in the mood for any chit-chat; I couldn't help but think back to how fucked up this day was.

Needing something to cheer me up or to simply reassure me, I check my one and only...

[Status].

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Author's Notes:

Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed the chapter.

I understand that the Whole Talk about fate was basically waffle, and that if anyone else brought this up in a society where forced marriages are a thing then they would get laughed at; But Chen Long Isn't nobody.

He can still put forward points that are morally correct in some ways and link it to history and therefore even the Emperor will have to take the point seriously.

Hope that makes sense.

Anyways, Stats will be displayed next chapter.

Thanks for reading.