165: Chapter 165: Punishment or Reward?

Su Chen reached out, his fingertip gently brushing away the lingering tear tracks at the corner of her eye.

Compared to his previous violent actions, this gesture could be considered quite gentle.

"My Beloved Consort had a lot to say in court today."

Su Daji's eyelashes fluttered, not daring to speak.

"Remember your status."

"You are My Noble Consort; you need only please Me."

"Matters of the court, matters of life and death, are not for you to meddle in."

"If there is a next time..."

He applied slight pressure with his fingertips, lifting her chin and forcing her to meet his gaze.

"I wouldn't mind letting you taste what a cleaver feels like as well."

"Your humble servant... has learned her lesson."

She lowered her eyelids, her small tongue darting out to moisten her cracked red lips.

"If I make a mistake again in the future, Your Majesty can just punish me with a caning on the backside. No matter how many strokes, I would endure it gladly..."

"Am I fucking rewarding you now?"

Su Chen was speechless internally. He let go of her, stood up, and stopped looking at her.

"From this day forth, you shall stay here in the Star-Plucking Tower."

"Without My permission, you are not to take a single step outside."

He paused and added.

"And no one shall be allowed in."

This was imprisonment.

Su Daji bit her lip. She didn't argue, nor did she dare to.

Truth be told, however, this punishment didn't have much of an impact on her.

After all, she had come here specifically to assassinate Su Chen.

As for the Hehuan Sect, she wouldn't be like those ministers, having her head chopped off because Su Chen caught them in some wrongdoing.

She and her master both practiced the Hehuan Sect's cultivation techniques; that old hag would have her own ways of contacting her.

Moreover...

Right now, she even harbored a slight hope of maintaining this state of lurking by Su Chen's side.

The later the opportunity to strike appeared, the better.

Su Chen said no more and turned to head downstairs.

Before long, several officials whom he had summoned in secret—those whose names had not appeared on the execution list earlier that day—along with two middle-aged men in plain clothes with steady breaths, clearly not ordinary attendants, quietly arrived at a secret room beneath the Star-Plucking Tower.

These were the subjects Su Chen had carefully selected over the past few days, men who were absolutely loyal to the Great Yin and to himself.

Naturally, necessary Blood Oaths and methods of control were also indispensable.

"The Zheng Territory is suffering from a great drought; the people are starving."

Su Chen didn't waste words. He directly unfurled a crude map and pointed toward the Zheng Territory.

"There are still grain reserves within the royal secret granaries."

"I will allocate a portion, and you few will secretly escort it to the Zheng Territory."

"There is no need to go through the local government. Open the granaries directly to distribute food and provide disaster relief to the victims."

Hearing this, they were all shaken, looking at Su Chen in disbelief.

They were naturally aware of the situation in the Great Yin's royal treasury.

While it wasn't so empty that a rat would commit suicide upon entering...

...with droughts everywhere in the Great Yin and officials controlled by the Ji Dynasty blocking every passage...

...it wasn't much better than that.

Su Chen was actually willing to take out these few remaining emergency rations intended for the royal family and himself to provide relief.

This was completely inconsistent with the image of the cold-blooded tyrant who killed without blinking earlier today.

"Your Majesty, why not announce this to the world and carry it out openly?"

"Not only could it restore Your Majesty's image in the hearts of the people, but it could also soothe their minds!"

An older official couldn't help but ask.

Su Chen glanced at him and spoke helplessly.

"Announce it to the world?"

"And then give those rats hiding in the shadows a chance to poison the grain?"

"Or incite the refugees to turn disaster relief into a riot?"

"Or once this is resolved, let those 'immortals' who care so much about Me send down some other natural disaster?"

He sighed.

"It's useless."

"They control the voices of the people; they control 'Heaven's Will'."

"If I kill someone today, tomorrow they can spread word that I am bloodthirsty by nature and have angered the heavens, thus causing the great drought."

"If I provide relief, they can also say I am putting on an act to buy people's hearts, or even frame Me by saying my grain is tainted and poisoning the people."

"When one's skills are inferior, they get to decide what is black and what is white."

He pointed to several key nodes on the map.

"You must act with extreme caution. Break up into smaller groups and disguise yourselves as merchant caravans."

"These few spots are where I've marked possible Ji Dynasty spies or immortal sect plants; you must avoid them."

"Once you reach the Zheng Territory, find Local Elders or Village Heads who still have a conscience and distribute the food secretly."

"Remember, saving lives is more important than anything else."

"Furthermore..."

Su Chen looked toward the two men with steady breaths.

"The two of you possess extraordinary skills and are familiar with the Zheng Territory."

"Go with the grain relief team, but you have another critical task."

"Investigate thoroughly for Me: besides the weather, are there any traces of human interference behind the Zheng Territory's drought?"

The group took their orders and left, and the secret room returned to silence.

Su Chen sat alone for a moment before slowly standing up and walking back up the high Star-Plucking Tower.

On the Star-Gazing Platform, Su Daji had stopped crying at some point. She was sitting in the moonlight with her knees hugged to her chest, staring "blankly" at the distant starry sky outside the tower.

Hearing footsteps, she turned her head as if startled.

Just now, her master had sent her a message through a secret technique.

There were essentially two main points.

First, continue to use the Zheng Territory drought to frame Su Chen, destroying the reputation of the Great Yin and the royal family he represented.

Second, look for an opportunity to assassinate Su Chen.

Her heart nearly skipped a beat. Seeing that Su Chen didn't seem to have noticed anything amiss, she hurriedly lowered her head again.

Su Chen ignored her and walked straight to the railing, gazing at the city in the darkness just as before.

In his hand, a bamboo scroll had appeared at some point.

On it were the shocking reports of disasters and pleas for help sent from various Zheng Territorys.

The night breeze brushed through his unbound black hair and over his slightly furrowed brow.

Just then, Su Daji carefully carried a small ceramic bowl and shuffled over.

In the bowl was chicken soup that the palace servants had just brewed.

Steam curled upwards.

She had just received the latest instructions from her sect through a hidden channel, which mentioned that if she couldn't find a suitable opportunity for a direct assassination...

...they suggested she use a colorless, odorless, slow-acting poison called "Lovesick Entanglement" that required long-term consumption to take effect.

She was ordered to mix this poison into his food and drink, causing Su Chen to grow weaker day by day until he eventually died after being bedridden for a long time.

Hearing this instruction, she actually felt a sense of relief.

With Su Chen's physique, he could probably hold out for a very long time.

If she were to reduce the dosage used each time just a little bit more...

At this moment, her heart was in total disarray.

In the Hehuan Sect, because she had always refused to capture male cultivators to use as Dual-cultivation Cauldrons...

...she had always been viewed as an outlier and bullied by her female fellow disciples.

Even her master, though appearing extremely kind to her on the surface...

...Su Daji knew that she was merely being treated as a useful tool.

This Star-Plucking Tower, built to imprison her...

...was actually the most comfortable place she had ever stayed in her short life.

"Your... Your Majesty."

Su Daji gently placed the ceramic bowl on the low table beside Su Chen.