Chapter 11614 — Shi Wushuang Returns to the Heavenly Dao Academy
The Inner Royal Court was about to face a cataclysm.
This cataclysm would sweep across the whole of the Inner Royal Court—and the Li Inner Royal Court as well.
It was a vast calamity, and also a vast opportunity.
What truly caught Wei Zhao's interest, however, was that one remark of Shi Wushuang's.
"Do you know what manner of being stands above the divine grade?"
By Wei Zhao's former understanding, a divine-grade powerhouse was already the endpoint of any cultivator; the Creator God, and the Heavenly Dao grandees Shi Wushuang had mentioned, were in essence all still within the scope of divine-grade powerhouses—merely those perched at the very apex of the pyramid.
Yet by Shi Wushuang's account, there existed beings who stood wholly above the divine grade!
And what kind of transcendent existence would that be?
It lay even beyond the scope of Jiang Xiaoshang's understanding; likely only his true self could furnish an accurate answer.
To Wei Zhao's question, Shi Wushuang replied with only eight words.
"It cannot be spoken of, it cannot be named."
According to the Heavenly Dao Academy's reckoning, the calamity about to befall the Inner Royal Court was connected to beings of that stratum.
Just how it was connected, however, no one could say.
Two choices lay before Wei Zhao.
Either sever every karmic tie with the outside world and hide away in the new world to evade this cataclysm.
But that would mean abandoning the Realm of Sin.
Though the Realm of Sin was now part of the new world, wholly separated from the Inner Royal Court on the physical plane, it had after all been stained with karma, and so could not escape this cataclysm either.
If he did not cast it off entirely, it would inevitably drag the new world down with it.
The other choice left to Wei Zhao was to make the Inner Royal Court his home ground—to step willingly into this cataclysm and turn it into his own vast stroke of fortune!
The choice Wei Zhao made was plain to see.
Returning to the Inner Royal Court after a year's absence and suddenly stirring up such a great commotion, the world assumed he had come to settle scores; little did they know that in Wei Zhao's eyes, the entire Inner Royal Court was a springboard.
A springboard for touching that which cannot be named!
The Night's End Palace, the seven great princely estates—at best, they were but springboards upon a springboard.
Chancellor Han narrowed his eyes. "Brother Lin, how do you intend to expand? Your expansion plans surely don't include our Han estate, do they?"
At that question, Han Jiechen and the others all started in fright.
One by one, they looked at Wei Zhao with tension, fearful that he might be provoked by the man.
Wei Zhao laughed. "If I say there is, will it make me seem rather unreasonable?"
The Han Chancellor laughed as well. "Brother Lin, don't speak too absolutely. If you say it and then cannot do it, would that not be terribly awkward? Besides, with me standing here, surely you would not refuse me face?"
Even with Han Jiechen's emotional intelligence, he could not help but break out in a sweat, and he signaled with his eyes for the Han Chancellor to restrain himself.
The Han Chancellor was brimming with confidence in this move; he assumed the other side was confident in using the ways of favor and social grace to steady Wei Zhao for the time being.
As it turned out, that was not the case at all.
He, the Prince of Han, had barely said a word, and the Han Chancellor himself was already on the verge of coming to blows with Wei Zhao.
What on earth was going on?
Yet the Han Chancellor was utterly unmoved.
Wei Zhao raised an eyebrow. "To be honest, I would indeed give the Han Chancellor face, since he helped me before. But you, no—after all, you are not the Han Chancellor."
At these words, the whole room was dumbfounded.
Han Jiechen and the others all wore strange expressions. "What does that mean? The Han Chancellor is not the Han Chancellor?"
Still, the Han Chancellor's temperament had indeed changed greatly from before, and the crowd had in fact once harbored suspicions of this sort. But the facts proved that the Han Chancellor was still the same Han Chancellor, and had not been replaced by an impostor.
The strongest proof was that the Han Chancellor's primordial-spirit fluctuations were no different from before in the slightest.
Primordial-spirit fluctuations were the equivalent of an ordinary person's DNA—innate, impossible for anyone to alter, and impossible to disguise no matter how great one's strength.
Han Jiechen stepped forward to vouch for him. "Brother Lin, you misunderstand. Though the Chancellor's temperament has changed somewhat, he is still the same man. I can attest to it."
Wei Zhao did not answer, but only watched the Han Chancellor quietly.
The atmosphere of the scene froze all at once.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The Han Chancellor began to clap, then rose with a light laugh. "You discovered even this. Worthy of the man who can suppress the Six Kings—truly extraordinary."
Wei Zhao swept his gaze over the crowd.
At this moment, not only Han Jiechen and the others, but even Wei Baizhan and the men he had brought along were collectively frozen in place.
It felt as though they had all been placed in another space, and only he and the other man remained at the scene.
Wei Zhao was not without curiosity. "Admitting it so readily—you must be very sure of yourself. Could you tell me how you did it?"
Even with the insight of his World Will, he could not fully see through the other's methods; he could only detect a few irregularities.
That was precisely why this probe had come about.
That alone was enough to prove the other party was no ordinary being.
Chief Secretary Han laughed. "Even if I told you now, you wouldn't understand. But it's no matter—soon, when I transfer myself into your body, you'll experience it firsthand, and then you'll understand everything."
"The only slight regret is that from then on, you will no longer be yourself. From now on, I will be you."
Wei Zhao gave a cold laugh. "So you mean to make a target of me?"
Chief Secretary Han nodded without the slightest pretense. "Even if you hadn't come knocking today, I was planning to invite you. As it happens, this saves quite a bit of trouble. Seeing as you've cooperated of your own accord, if you have any last wishes, you may speak them—perhaps I'll do you the favor of settling them along the way."
Wei Zhao shook his head. "No thanks. The things I need to do, you couldn't do."
As he spoke, Wei Zhao's gaze fell upon the stuffed cat doll in the other's arms.
Wei Zhao suddenly said, "You're possessing Chief Secretary Han through that thing, aren't you?"
Chief Secretary Han's expression changed at once.
"So it really is so."
Toward this undercover agent of the gods before him, Wei Zhao found himself growing more and more interested.
If the other party were Chief Secretary Han himself, who had climbed step by step to his present position in the guise of an undercover agent, then Wei Zhao would have nothing to say beyond lamenting that the Divine Domain penetrated everywhere.
But that was not the case.
Rather, the other had latched onto Chief Secretary Han in a manner akin to a parasitic beast—and the implications of that were far greater.
Because it meant that, given the right conditions, the other could parasitize anyone in the Inner Royal Court.
Take the Prince of Qin, for example.
If it were truly someone on the level of the Prince of Qin, or even those higher existences within the Inner Royal Court, or even parasitizing a god-tier powerhouse—what kind of spectacle would that be?
Just thinking about it was exhilarating.
Wei Zhao continued, "Once you've been stripped away, will Chief Secretary Han still live?"
Given his acquaintance with Chief Secretary Han—though it could hardly be called deep—if he could lend a hand, Wei Zhao would not stand idly by.