Divine Harem: My Sect of Heavenly Beauties

The carriage was fast, and under Hastor's lead, it quickly left the Grand Canyon and headed towards the Capital City. Since the Grand Canyon wasn't that far away from the Capital City, it took them only a few hours to reach it.

The sun was beginning to go down as it shed its warm light on the mat of greenery the carriage was passing through.

Shen Yu looked outside through the window, thinking about the things he needed to do in the Capital City.

There were only a few things he needed to do, so he was just going through them, like meeting with the Emperor and trying to make him allies with the Shadow Garden.

It was important for their plans, after all.

He also needed to visit the Major Sects, just for sightseeing. He knew the Major Sects were close to the Capital City for two reasons.

The first was obviously to keep an eye on each other, and the second was because the Qi density near the Capital City was the highest.

There were many Qi leylines under the Great Plateau of Grako, the place where the Capital City and all Major Sects were located.

The carriage was actually on the plateau and heading towards the Capital City. This lush green forest was just outside of it.

Shen Yu then thought of something and asked Qing Zhiyan, who was resting her head on his lap with a content smile on her beautiful face.

"Hey, what is your father's personality exactly?"

Qing Zhiyan opened her eyes upon hearing the question and lingered for a while, as if trying to form the words. After some time, she sighed and muttered,

"He can be described in just one word. Greed. I myself don't know much about him as he keeps up the facade of a kind father and a good ruler, even amongst the Imperial Family. But Mom has told me things about him, and after the investigations I did, I found out my mom was actually sugarcoating her words."

She sighed again.

"He has watched his Empire almost crumble away and his family go extinct. Outside powers affect the Empire more than anyone thinks. Occasionally, some new random power from the Holy Lands would come to fight the Major Sects, but the ones who suffer are us."

She smiled wryly, remembering.

"But my father's greed saved the family. His greed knows no bounds, be it in power, status, influence, and even women. He wanted everything, and he would do anything to achieve it. So, I'm not really surprised that he's willing to sacrifice his daughter for something."

Shen Yu tucked her smooth purple hair behind her ears and asked,

"But why did your mom marry such a man?"

A look of disgust appeared on her face as she resisted the urge to spit.

"As I said, Master, he is greedy in everything. He once saw my mom's beauty, so he decided to make her his by forcing my maternal family. When they didn't agree, he slaughtered half of them. Mom couldn't watch that, so she decided to sacrifice herself."

She looked away and continued,

"But after conquering her, he lost interest in her. But my mom holds a lot of power, so he couldn't dispose of her so easily, especially since she manipulated him well enough to force him to make her the Empress. This is why he stays away from Mom's matters, and Mom does the same, well, at least pretends to."

She then remembered an incident and frowned.

"You know what, Master, he actually set his sights on even his own daughter. My elder sister from a different mother was beautiful, so he took her in as a concubine after announcing that she was adopted. Talk about being pathetic. I just survived his clutches by becoming an ugly and weak, useless girl."

Shen Yu squeezed her shoulders and said,

"He is a piece of shit, in conclusion. But you did make a good point—his greed could be useful."

Qing Zhiyan nodded, as she herself had plans regarding that. Unfortunately, she was too weak and didn't have a big backing previously.

"By the way, your maternal family, where are they?"

Qing Zhiyan was going to say something but blushed, remembering something. She licked her lips and whispered under her breath,

"I'll take you to meet them later on."

Although he found her actions suspicious, he didn't say anything about that and said,

"I'm just asking to provide protection to them. The Empire will soon be turned upside down, and they could suffer in that. They already went through it once. So, it would be best if we could move them to our Sect or maybe the Seven Stars Sect once Bai Li conquers it."

Qing Zhiyan nodded but kept silent.

Shen Yu guessed that she probably had a down mood as she was forced to remember her past. So, he let her be and simply enjoyed the Qi-rich scenery.

After some time, Hastor's low voice sounded,

"Young Master, Young Miss, we have arrived. What are your instructions?"

Qing Zhiyan quickly sorted out her emotions and sat properly. But she didn't answer and instead looked at Shen Yu.

Shen Yu smiled at her.

"Let's keep it a secret for now, as you have many things to do. I'll visit you later, and I'll meet your mother there, okay?"

Qing Zhiyan bobbed her head up and down in a cute manner, making Shen Yu want to pinch her cheeks.

He quickly shook off those thoughts and said,

"Just be careful of that Skinwalker, as I'm sure someone in your family is that guy. But you have the Identity Jade Stone and the modified Aura Compass, so you should be alright. Oh yeah, just refine that compass so you won't need to actively use it. It'll just alarm you naturally."

Qing Zhiyan smiled sweetly.

"Thank you, Master."

She then turned to her right and said,

"Enter the Capital, Hastor. Also, remember that nothing major happened in Green Silk Town."

Hastor was an intelligent and experienced man, so he quickly understood her words. He simply voiced out three words,

"As you wish!"

Just like that, the carriage entered the Capital City of the Qing Empire, the lone empire of humanity in the sealed part of the Hollow Mountains.