Chapter 0137: The Obu Family

In the rear garden of the Blizzard Empire’s palace, Lin Er sat there with a pale face, while across from him sat Huang Long with an indifferent expression. Kneeling before them were the Second Prince Lin Ming and Third Prince Lin Ye, along with other members of the imperial family, who had earlier tried to ram Huang Long with a dragon-horned beast. Their clothes were still stained with blood. The area was dead silent.

“How dare you! How dare you attack Senior Huang Long!” Lin Er snapped angrily. The kneeling princes and other royal members fell silent, even the guards standing in the distance trembled. Earlier, upon hearing from his guards that Huang Long was coming to the palace, Lin Er had been overjoyed—only to later learn that the princes had tried to attack Huang Long on the road, filling him with rage.

“Father, Your Majesty,” the Second Prince Lin Ming said tremulously.

“Speak!” Lin Er demanded sharply.

“I, we… we didn’t know it was Senior Huang Long!” Lin Ming stammered.

“Hmph!” Lin Er sneered.

In the end, the Second Prince Lin Ming, Third Prince Lin Ye, and the other royal members kowtowed to Huang Long to apologize. After glancing at Huang Long, Lin Er ordered each of them to receive a hundred lashes as punishment before sending them away.

“Lin Ming has always been arrogant because his uncle, Kol, is the Pope of the Church,” Lin Er said, frowning slightly, seemingly helpless.

The Church? Huang Long was surprised—he hadn’t expected Lin Ming’s uncle to be Kol, the Pope of the Church. No wonder Lin Ming showed no restraint toward the Zhao family. It was said that Kol was one of the candidates for the next Pope of the Church and the most favored one. Even Lin Er, as the emperor of the Blizzard Empire, had to show respect to Kol.

Ever since the Church killed Nado and framed him, Huang Long had become wary of it. He ordered Bogu to gather information on the six cardinals, the leaders of various knight orders, and other high-ranking officials of the Church. This cardinal, Kol, belonged to the Obu family.

The Obu family was a super-large family in the Dark Forest Empire. If the Elan family of the Orc Empire ranked among the top five families on the Hengyuan Continent, then the Obu family could definitely rank in the top three. When Lin Er told him that Lin Ming’s uncle was Kol, the Pope of the Church, the princes and other royal members left the punishment hall, their faces filled with hatred.

Going to a secluded place, Third Prince Linyi said, “Second Brother, I never expected the other party to be that Yellow Dragon. We…”
Second Prince Lin Ming snorted coldly, “What’s there to fear? Just a Yellow Dragon, a mere strongman from a small Holy Land. Hmph!”
“Once he’s dead, I wonder how long the Zhao family can still be proud.”
Third Prince Linyi was shocked and stepped closer, “Second Brother, you…”
“Don’t worry. You’ll know when the time comes. Anyway, that Yellow Dragon won’t live much longer!” Second Prince Lin Ming said with a cold laugh.
……
Tianning Palace was Zhao Miao’s residence.
As the imperial concubine and Lin Er’s most favored wife, Zhao Miao’s Tianning Palace was one of the palaces in the Blizzard Empire’s palace complex closest to the central Dragon Hall.
That day, Zhao Miao sat in Tianning Palace when she heard a maid beside her say that the Yellow Dragon had come to the palace to discuss matters with Lin Er. Anger flashed across her face—just hearing the name Yellow Dragon made her furious.
Zhao Miao stood up and paced back and forth, her expression dark and uncertain.
“Your Majesty, Princess Ai says she has something to discuss with you. She asks you to go to the Wind and Moon Palace,” said a maid who entered, bowing to Zhao Miao before speaking respectfully.
Ai Sha, another of Lin Er’s concubines, had the best relationship with Zhao Miao among all of Lin Er’s wives and was her close friend.
“Oh? Good, I was planning to go to the Wind and Moon Palace anyway,” Zhao Miao said, then asked the maid to lead the way to the Wind and Moon Palace.
As soon as they entered the Wind and Moon Palace, Zhao Miao was taken to its back garden.
“Hm? Where’s your lady?” Zhao Miao asked casually, seeing no one in the garden.
“My lady is waiting for you ahead,” said the maid accompanying Ai Sha, then led Zhao Miao past a rockery in the back garden to a palace inside.
Upon entering the palace, Ai Sha was standing there, along with another woman. But when Zhao Miao saw the woman standing beside Ai Sha, anger flashed across her face.
“Daina!”
Daina, her arch-rival and the mother of Second Prince Lin Ming, had the worst relationship with Zhao Miao among all of Lin Er’s concubines. Their rivalry over favoritism had reached an extreme.
“What’s going on?!” Zhao Miao turned angrily at Ai Sha, not understanding how her best friend could be on the side of the woman she hated the most.
“What’s going on?” Daina giggled, looking at Zhao Miao with a mocking gaze. “Let me tell you—today, it’s not Ai Sha who called for you. It’s me who has something to discuss with you!”

A sense of unease arose in Zhao Miao’s heart, mixed with anger. At this moment, even if she were stupid, she knew she had been betrayed by her closest sister.
“Aisha, how dare you betray me?!” A fierce look flashed in Zhao Miao’s eyes.
“Betray you?” Aisha also laughed and then said, “I’ve always been Dana’s sister!”
“What?!” Zhao Miao was stunned.
“To tell you the truth, Aisha is actually mine. All these years, I’ve had her pretend to be your friend. And you were stupid enough to really think she was your good sister?” Dana smiled happily.
At that moment, Zhao Miao understood everything. Her face turned pale, but then she calmed down, her gaze growing colder as she looked at the two of them.
“I see.” Zhao Miao sneered, “No wonder I’ve felt something was off all these years. So, is this why you called me here today?”
Dana slowly walked over, then clasped her hands together. Immediately, numerous guards appeared around the palace.
Looking at the guards around her, Zhao Miao became even calmer. With a mocking tone, she said, “What? Do you really dare kill me inside the palace?”
“Kill you?” Dana shook her head and sneered, “Of course I won’t kill you. It’s just that someone else wants to kill you.”
Dana had been waiting for an opportunity to get rid of this woman who posed the greatest threat to her, but she hadn’t found the right chance due to certain concerns. Now, that opportunity had arrived, so she took advantage of Zhao Miao’s trust in Aisha to lure her to the Moonlight Palace.
Before Zhao Miao could understand what she meant, she felt a sharp pain in her head and was knocked unconscious. Then, someone put her into a cloth bag.
Standing beside Dana, Aisha looked at Zhao Miao inside the bag, her expression panicked. “Will she really be fine after this?”
Dana glanced at her and said calmly, “Don’t worry. She’ll be fine. That wretched woman will end up dead in the wilderness in a few days. And the Emperor will never suspect you. I’ve already had those involved killed. No one will know about this.”
After what seemed like a long time, Zhao Miao gradually regained consciousness. When she opened her eyes, she saw brightness all around her, in a warm space.
Where was she? Recalling what had happened earlier, she was shocked and stood up abruptly.
“Imperial Concubine Zhao, you’re awake.” A gentle voice came at that moment.
Zhao Miao turned to see who spoke and exclaimed in surprise, “Angel of Light!”
Rexi gave a charming smile. “Exactly.”

A hint of panic flashed in Zhao Miao’s eyes as she recalled what that wretched Diana had said earlier. Could it be that the members of the Holy Church wanted to kill her? She knew that Diana’s brother was the Archcardinal of the Holy Church. Was it Cole who gave the order?
“Cole really has the audacity to dare kill an imperial empress!” Zhao Miao said, her tone fierce on the surface but weak inside.
Even if Cole were an Archcardinal, he wouldn’t dare kill an imperial empress so easily.
Rui Xi shook his head. “It’s not Archcardinal Cole’s intention.”
Not?! Zhao Miao was puzzled.
Could it be? But then, why would the Pope want to kill her?
Even if she and Diana were competing for the throne, the Church would never interfere in such matters.
…
In the Snowstorm Empire’s palace, Huang Long stayed for several hours, discussing alliance matters with Lin Er.
Several hours later, Huang Long left the palace and returned to the Zhao family’s residence.
As soon as Huang Long and the others returned to the Zhao family, Elder Zhao Yang, Zhao Shou, and Zhao Tiandu came over. They had also heard about what Huang Long had encountered on his way and came to understand the situation.
During their conversation, Huang Long didn’t hide the grudges between him and the Holy Church. He told them everything so that the Zhao family could be on guard against the Holy Church.
After learning about the grudges between the Holy Church and Huang Long, everyone was stunned for a long time.
Nine years ago, the death of Archcardinal Tai Ruo was actually related to Huang Long!
And actually, Nado, the eldest son of the Elan family, had been killed by the Holy Church, who wanted to frame Huang Long and provoke a fierce battle between him and the Elan family!
These two pieces of news came as a sudden shock to everyone.
On the Hengyuan Continent, no one wanted to get involved in conflicts with the Holy Church, not even the most powerful beings in the Sacred Realm.
But since this was already a fact, everyone knew it couldn’t be changed.
At the same time, Elder Zhao Yang and the others were also puzzled. If Tai Ruo really died at Huang Long’s hands, the Holy Church probably wouldn’t take action against him. After all, Huang Long’s current status and influence were far beyond those of ordinary powerful beings in the Sacred Realm.
Of course, although they were puzzled, they, like Huang Long, couldn’t figure out the real reason why the Holy Church wanted to deal with him.
The next day, Huang Long left the Zhao family’s residence in the Snowstorm Empire.
Before leaving, he set up several large arrays for the Zhao family’s residence and gave each of Elder Zhao Yang and the others a protective talisman.
Half a day later, Huang Long and his group were already thousands of miles away from the capital of the Snowstorm Empire, traveling along a desolate mountain path. As they walked, suddenly, Huang Long patted the Sky Blue Python Ox, making it stop.

“Everyone, you’ve been following for quite a while now. Aren’t you planning to come out?” Huang Long sneered at the void ahead.
Under the astonished gazes of Bog, Nat, and Gusta, twelve people appeared in the void ahead—actually thirteen: twelve winged angels and one woman.
Bog and the others recognized this woman—Zhao Miao, the empress of the Blizzard Empire.