Chapter 31 – Unfit mother

The courtyard of the imperial palace was luxurious, with the size of the centre court over thousands of acres. The different buildings were scattered like constellations around the royal court, forming a sight that resembled stars around the moon. The imperial harem was about five hundred acres, and the three palaces and six courts were unusually luxurious, with court women and eunuchs walking in and out of the place. It was undoubtedly a bustling, extravagant area.

Seated on his little sedan chair, Murong Lin slowly entered the imperial harem to visit his mother concubine.

His mother’s name was Xue Fei, titled by the emperor as concubine Xue. She resided in the large courtyard within the imperial harem.

There were patrolling guards on the road, with eunuchs and female servants walking by. As Murong Tong was in the Sky Reaching realm, aside from work, he spent most of his time and effort cultivating and had very little time to manage the imperial harem’s affairs. However, as the emperor of this country, he had more than a hundred prestigious concubines in his harem. Even if he didn’t touch them, their existence alone in his harem was a boost to his prestige.

Resting with his eyes closed, Murong Lin casually took out a cow blood rat from his ring of holding by its tail, bringing it to his mouth. Letting go, the blood cow rat immediately fell into his mouth, its blood and guts exploding on his tongue with a crunch. The scent of blood wafted in the air, making it so comfortable for Murong Lin that he almost couldn’t hold back a blissful groan.

“Your Highness, we have arrived.” Bai Lao Bo’s voice could be heard as the sedan chair gradually stopped. The curtains were slowly lifted, revealing the sight of a white-walled, red-tiled building in front of them.

This was the garden palace that belonged to his mother, concubine Xue.

Murong Lin walked out slowly, with the servants carrying the chair to the side and Bai Lao Bo following behind.

Watching Murong Lin with scornful eyes, the two guards guarding the entrance greeted him respectfully despite their inner feelings, “We welcome the third prince, we will immediately inform concubine Xue of your arrival.”

“Good job.” Murong Lin smiled with a tilted head and squinted eyes.

He watched as one of the guards immediately run off into the palace, while the other stood by, continuing to guard the entrance.

It didn’t take long for the man to jog out, he quickly spoke to Murong Lin, “Your Highness the third prince, please enter.”

“En, alright.” Murong Lin followed behind, slowly entering the palace garden.

Bamboo plants were scattered all over the garden, a common sight for the entire imperial palace, considering its status as the symbolic national plant for Yan.

Passing through a small bamboo forest and an open space, Murong Lin arrived at his mother’s door. With Bai Lao Bo staying outside, he entered to the sight of a few female servants.

He could see concubine Xue, seated on the upper platform of the hall.

Concubine Xue had a youthful, well-kept appearance attributed to her somewhat decent cultivation. With the merit of giving birth to an imperial prince and the Xue clan’s backing, she lived relatively well in the harem.

“Your son greets his great mother concubine.” Murong Lin cupped his hands.

“En, what are you here for?” Concubine Xue spoke, without even raising her head once. She was dressed in a white robe, with a golden pin adorning her hair and a snow-white cat in her embrace.

“Can’t I visit my great mother concubine just because? Haha.” Murong Lin tried to joke as he looked at the cat in her arms.

“Hmph, then why aren’t you cultivating to increase your strength? I will not help you to ask my elder cousin for his aid, our clan didn’t just lose a few disciples this time! Lin Na has died, along with twenty of our young prospects!” Concubine Xue glanced at Murong Lin in anger.

Her heart and mind were with the Xue clan, and as for her son, he was only useful for stabilising her position in the harem. She could be described as selfish, but not at the same time if you considered her sacrifices for the Xue clan. She could be considered as selfless, but not if you considered her complete indifference to her son, Murong Lin. 

Murong Lin’s head hung low, and he didn’t say a word.

“All you do is play around! Hmph, you are truly hopeless, I’m telling you, even if you weren’t involved with this matter, you must go and apologise to the Xue clan immediately. Aside from that, the tournament is only a month away now. With your strength, it’ll be completely impossible for you to do well in the preliminaries, but you better risk your life trying, got it?” Drops of saliva flew out of concubine Xue’s mouth as she spoke agitatedly, her hands uncontrollably pinching the fat white cat in her arms, causing it to yowl in pain.

She immediately reacted to its cry, quickly consoling the cat with a gentle tone, “Oh, okay okay, don’t cry kitty, mommy will rub the pain away.” As she spoke, she gently caressed the cat, inducing it to immediately spread itself out in her arms in comfort.

Murong Lin watched this sight with disappointment.

This is a fucking mother?

This?

Even a dog would be better.

It wasn’t a wonder that the previous owner of this body hated the Xue clan so much, with concubine Xue being one of the reasons.

His finger twitched slightly as an almost invisible black spiritual power flew out, entering the forehead of the white cat secretly.

“Why are you still standing here?” Concubine Xue raised her head to look at Murong Lin, her expression dark, “Are you expecting me to send you off?”

“You son doesn’t dare.” With the cup of his hands, Murong Lin responded calmly, “Your son will leave first.”

And he left the moment he finished speaking.

He originally held some guilt towards concubine Xue, but this meeting had completely alleviated any feelings he felt towards her.

In this world, self-preservation was the first law of nature.

For himself, he would simply destroy anything that stood in his way.

Murong Lin’s gaze turned cold.

As he walked out of the courtyard, the spectating female servants quickly lowered their heads as they started whispering amongst themselves.

“Wah! Why is the relationship between the third prince and concubine Xue so bad?”

“Hah, you didn’t know that, did you? I heard that concubine Xue never liked the third prince, she treats that cat better than the third prince!”

“I’ve heard about that before! I didn’t expect the third prince to be so pitiful!”

“Most of the people in the palace look down on the third prince, considering that he doesn’t have any chances of seizing the throne, who would bother with him? If they could, they would unhesitantly trample on him to curry the favour of the other princes!”

“Haah, this imperial family is really cold-blooded.”

Murong Lin shook his head as their whispers travelled into his ear, however, he simply left the court.

The same two guards stood at the entrance, and seeing that the third prince was leaving, they simply nodded their heads without showing the proper courtesy towards Murong Lin, the third prince.

Of course, Murong Lin wasn’t bothered. His hands heated up slightly as a black spiritual power shone, speedily flying into their bodies and disappearing without a trace.

With a grin, Murong Lin walked slowly towards his sedan chair with Bai Lao Bo behind.

In the next few days, the two guards died miserably. One of them had his meridians destroyed and his strength crippled, then dismembered by the cat of concubine Xue. The spiritual power of the other guard ran wild, accidentally killing the treasured cat of concubine Xue in his rampage and was then tortured and killed by concubine Xue. As for the cat, it had gone crazy and was smashed into a bloodied mess after attacking the guard. 

In a fit of madness, concubine Xue turned her entire court upside down in a futile attempt to find the cause of this incident.

As for the culprit, Murong Lin, he met with a party as he was leaving the court.

The party consisted of four guards that stood at the front, four carrying the sedan chair in the middle with two female servants following at the sides, and two eunuchs following at the back.

Murong Lin looked at the colourful sedan chair, immediately recognising it as the sixth princess’, Murong Liu who was treasured by the emperor.  

Bai Lao Bo’s pupils constricted as he stood guard next to the sedan chair, “Your Highness, do we need to greet them?”

And before he could finish his sentence, the voice of the sixth princess came from within her own sedan chair, “Murong Lin, don’t leave! Wait for me, I have something to tell you!”