Thousands of officials and ministers sauntered to their respective positions inside the Xia imperial palace.
The Emperor watched from above and waited for them to notice his form seated on the throne. However, their attention seemed elsewhere today. He smiled down at them because he knew the reason.
His hard eyes followed their fixed gazes to the center of the luxurious main hall. Standing there were a hundred slim and graceful beauties who were all related to one Xia minister or another.
He had sent for them himself because his thirteen sons would be choosing their concubines by day’s end. It was his way of consolidating power. But he was not the only beneficiary in this arrangement, as this was likewise an opportunity for the court ministers to further their relationships with the imperial family. Naturally, this depended on if any of his sons intended to draw one of them and the influence they represented over to their side. If they did, a daughter or close relative of theirs would become a chosen concubine so that the two sides may unite under one banner.
Therefore, this day also marked the time when his sons would officially begin building up their authority and power within the imperial court. This hope and chance to grow closer to the imperial family was not unique to the ministers, however. They were also shared by the 100 beauties. While the status of a minister’s daughter guaranteed a lifetime of magnificence, the chances to climb the high branch of royalty were too few to pass up. Moreover, they knew the lowest achievement for any Xia prince was Holy Marquis, a title not too far removed from the position of Emperor.
Of course, each of them hoped the prince they married would be the next emperor of Xia. The height of the status of an Emperor’s imperial concubine was not to be laughed at.
Therefore, the 100 beauties let out sweet laughter and tried their best to show off their enticing figures. Their eyes looked eagerly to the imperial princes. But when their gazes fell on Xia Yan, the sickly First Prince in purple robes sitting at the head, they couldn’t help but be worried and afraid. They didn’t want to be selected by him despite his beautiful eyes and starry eyebrows.
It was true that the First Prince was the most entitled and legitimate heir to the throne. He was the oldest. Thus, it would not be strange for them to want to be chosen by him.
Unfortunately, word had spread that the First Prince was a waste. Even the ordinary people down in the markets had long heard the news.
The First Prince had been born emaciated and with a great sickness. He had soaked in various medicine jars ever since anyone could remember, but nothing ever worked. Even now, he still couldn’t cultivate the tiniest bit of spiritual Qi. Meanwhile, his twelve younger brothers had already reached the Mortal Realm 9th stage. Some were even a half-step away from becoming a Yuan Realm expert.
To make matters worse, ever since the death of his mother, no official or minister had dared be intimate with him. He was, in fact, a loner with no power. His title as First Prince was empty, and with his weak constitution, it would surprise no one if he suddenly collapsed and died. If one of the 100 summoned women were to marry him, the best thing they could look forward to was becoming his widow.
. . .
“I knew that if I came they would look at me as if I was some kind of evil spirit… I am the solemn First Prince yet I live worse than the most inferior official… I say when are you going to activate you broken system? It has nearly been a year since I’ve transmigrated. Can’t you at least respond when I’m talking to you?”
A helpless sigh spread from the very depths of Xia Yan’s soul.
He was not the person of this world. He used to be a technical college graduate who sat and waited for death on Earth.
He never thought that one day while returning home after working overtime a thunderbolt would suddenly strike and kill him. Nor did he ever expect to transmigrate like the characters in the countless novels he’d read, let alone to a vast world where strength was venerated and the strong devoured the weak.
Certainly, what was most essential was just as he’d arrived in this world he’d heard the words, “system is activating.” The sudden appearance of that voice had excited him to no end.
He had even thought that from then on, like the leads in countless novels, he would sweep away the six directions and eight desolates. Any immortal, god, or demon would turn to ash before him. However, it had been a year since that prompt and the system still hadn’t activated.
So naturally, all of his expectations for the future were still only a daydream.
If not because he had this identity as First Prince to prolong his life, his weak constitution would have killed him already.
He had even prepared to be absent from today’s discussion of imperial marriage by pretending to be ill because he had expected the looks he was receiving. It was laughable that the solemn First Prince was being eyed like the god of plagues.
Moreover, what would it matter even if he did choose a concubine?
He did not have the “ability to handle affairs” in his condition.
So why would he purposely choose to make a fool of himself?
To have fallen to this position, his current level of helplessness could be imagined.
But the Emperor had demanded his presence. As the First Prince, he had to welcome the many honored guests that would be arriving.
However, this was not the most depressing place–
“Hey, brothers, do you see the fourth female in the third row to the left? The one with the good face and beautiful figure? She’s mine.”
A young man in elegant white clothes with a black sword on his waist smiled and laughed.
Xia Yan shot him a look.
The name of this young man was “Xia Qinyu”. To Xia Yan, his brother was the spitting image of Qin Yu from Stellar Transformations, the first person written on the Golden Grandmist Banner.
“Fourth Brother, I think the seventh female in the first row is more attractive,” said a rather grandiose youth whose black robe revealed the bronze flesh covering his arms.
It was his Fifth Brother Xia Linley, the one who looked like Linley from Coiling Dragon, the second person written on the Golden Grandmist Banner.
“Twelfth Brother Xia Xiaoyan’s rising prosperity, Second Brother Xia Fanghan who likes to cultivate absorption and swallowing techniques, and Sixth Brother Xia Yefan who practices killing by flicking his fingers… System, are you trying to kill me?”
