In the vermilion palace, a bright flame burned long, and the Princess, still in a scarlet palace outfit, reclined sideways. The long hem of her skirt, like the tail feathers of a Vermilion Bird, dragged on the ground, and an intense and grand aura flowed around her, occasionally manifesting a scene of star constellations, suddenly transforming into a vermilion divine bird.

Clearly, during this time, the Princess had not been idly sitting in the rear; her Qi Mechanism had already climbed to its limit, and she was deeply communicating with the Vermilion Bird Dao Fruit, waiting for the Summer Solstice to complete the Promotion Ceremony.

"Has the battle of the Buddha Country ended?" The Princess, upon seeing Jiang Li, first expressed joy, then eased her demeanor, and asked.

Jiang Li was back, and not in a hurried manner, indicating that the battle of the Buddha Country had ended, and their side had won.

"It’s over. The Awakened is extinguished, Ye Ru has ascended, but he won’t be able to act for a while. The Buddha Country is now to become a brotherly nation to the Great Zhou, but in some respects, it’s no different from a vassal state."

Jiang Li walked directly to the chair in front of the Princess on the left and sat down, roughly recounting the battle situation, particularly highlighting the ill-intentions of a certain good brother and blaming him for containing the Emperor Dao Fruit.

After all, it was the Ji Family that had been in charge of the Great Zhou previously. Although the Princess, as a member of the Ji Family, was not opposed to Jiang Li’s rise in status, there might still be some conflicts. Jiang Li, being a people person, thought it best to find someone to blame.

However, upon hearing this, the Princess did not show any surprise, just a flash of coldness in her expression.

Then, Jiang Li said: "Little brother returned early to discuss something with sister-in-law. I plan to let the Emperor pass away."

The Emperor had long since passed away and, to be precise, had died twice - once at Jiang Li’s hand, and the other when Jiang Li bore the Green Emperor Dao Fruit, the Purple Qi Eastward appeared over the Divine Capital, indicating the Emperor Dao Fruit had an owner. Anyone who understood the meaning of this heavenly phenomenon knew the Emperor was dead.

However, on the surface, the Emperor was still not dead; he was convalescing in the West Garden.

And now, Jiang Li planned to let the Emperor die for the third time and let him truly rest in peace, which also meant the appearance of a new Emperor, and this choice...

"Do you plan to ascend the throne?"

The Princess first showed astonishment, then said: "Yes, you have already borne the Emperor Dao Fruit. Without rightful justification, it is not conducive to the use of divine skills. With the Buddha Country becoming a vassal, even if the Nine Provinces are divided, the power of divine skills can still be advanced, approaching the fullness of the Emperor Dao Fruit."

"I have already broken through, I can bear the name Supreme."

Upon these words, Jiang Li lightly flicked his fingers, a massive aura suddenly transformed, and his whole demeanor became incomparably grand, while the Princess seemed to shrink, with an expression of shock, feeling as if looking up at heaven and earth.

This was not Jiang Li himself becoming larger, but his aura directly suppressed the Princess, causing her perception to diminish, as if she was struck into a lower plane, viewing Jiang Li like observing the heavens.

The anomaly vanished in an instant, everything returning to normal the next moment. Yet that moment of lofty majesty greatly shocked the Princess’s heart and mind, making it difficult for her to suppress the shock and fear of being overwhelmed.

Even if she was about to ascend, she had no power to resist in front of Jiang Li.

After a while, the Princess slowly exhaled, saying: "A Supreme... Great Zhou finally has a Supreme again, the court can stabilize. But——"

The Princess looked towards Jiang Li, "Now, are you Jiang Li, or the Emperor?"

"Does sister-in-law think I am like the Former Emperor? Do I look like I have lost my humanity?" Jiang Li raised his eyebrow.

"No, but whether one has lost their humanity, others cannot see," the Princess shook her head, saying, "The temperament of successive Emperors is actually no different from before ascending the throne, only dealing with affairs impartially, without selfishness. If not for knowing the secret passed down by the Royal Family through generations, I alone wouldn’t have noticed the Former Emperor had already lost humanity."

If the temperament of each Emperor before ascending was different, but became like robots after ascending, this secret couldn’t have been kept hidden for so many years.

Even the Princes didn’t know that their father had already lost his humanity and were still preparing to compete for the position of Emperor.

Though the Emperor had indeed lost himself, he could play the role of himself. And with the Emperor’s ability, he could perform it without any flaw.

As for the change in style, becoming selfless, that can easily be explained by accepting the insights of successive Emperors, resulting in a change in Mental State. Successive Emperors were wise Ming Jun, under the influence of their insights, the successor also becomes a Ming Jun, which is easy to understand.

Or do you think the current Emperor is an irredeemable foolish ruler, that the insights of successive Emperors couldn’t save him, that becoming a Ming Jun is very abnormal?

Jiang Li also knew the true situation of successive Emperors, but precisely because he knew, he found it a bit difficult to answer the Princess.

Because his current situation is — to prove I am myself.

"Sister-in-law, when Yuan Xi and Qing Yue return, they should be able to prove that my nature is not like that of previous Emperors." Jiang Li thought for a while, deciding to leave the problem to Tianxuan and Gongsun Qingyue to solve.

Who knew the Princess would shake her head and say: "No need, the method of proving is simple. You ascend the throne, the Ji Family will surely be uneasy, and there will be turmoil among the kings of each place. If you have lost your humanity, you should use the simplest and safest method to eliminate hidden dangers."

"What method?"

"Marry me," the Princess said faintly.

Jiang Li was stunned.

Jiang Li was deeply shocked.

Upon seeing Jiang Li’s expression, the Princess let out a clear and crisp laughter like a silver bell, "Now I believe you are normal."

This Princess, who always projected an image of sharpness and strength, was now laughing heartily, as if she had rare joy, even losing her composure.

Seeing this, Jiang Li also came back to his senses from the shock.

Though he had some expertise in political intrigue, he was not very accustomed to such somewhat unspeakable political maneuvers, and was momentarily taken aback.

"Sister-in-law, such a joke cannot be made lightly······"

Jiang Li slowly closed his mouth.

He heard increasingly thick resentment in the Princess’s laughter, and an undisguised madness in her eyes.

The Princess laughed for half a moment, then stopped as if out of breath, leaning back in her chair, her voice drifting, "Jiang Li, do you know that I deliberately spread the news that I had practiced Innate Qi before... I had someone take several batches of Spiritual Medicine from the Inner Treasury, and also had the Southern Heavenly Department collect treasure medicine, to make it seem like I was cultivating the ’Divine Farmer’s Hundred Herbs’."

"But in the end······my Long Prince Consort is still missing. You should know what that means······"

This means that even if the Princess seemed to be involved with Jiang Li, Feng Manlou... or rather the Great Venerable, still did not appear, he didn’t care.

"Before, I warned him not to set you up to bear the Emperor Dao Fruit. Now it seems he treated my words like the wind in his ears... no, like nonsense."

The Princess suddenly spoke crudely, staring straight at Jiang Li, "Jiang Li, you say you haven’t lost your humanity, so I ask you, do you hate the Great Venerable? After bearing the Emperor Dao Fruit, you only have a lifespan of a Jiazi, no matter how exceptional your talents, you can ultimately only die at the end of the Jiazi limit like the Former Emperor. Do you hate him?"

Jiang Li: "······"

He had already sensed a certain abnormal trend.

Sure enough, in the next moment, the Princess said: "I want to cultivate Innate Qi."