Having children earns benefit, start competing for dominance in the world by marrying a wife

The Sum Emperor then asked, “So, does the State Preceptor believe that a Grandmaster really did appear in North City?”

Situ Ce answered, “I dare not assert for certain, but judging from the situation on the battlefield, it is indeed possible that a Grandmaster was involved in the battle at Wanning Valley.”

Hearing Situ Ce’s response, the Sum Emperor fell into deep thought.

Why did he now feel that his wretched son was becoming more and more mysterious?

Could it be that he was truly not his child?

At this thought, the Sum Emperor’s face turned very ugly.

Back when Lu Chen was born, he had suspected that Lu Chen was not his child. After all, he had never been fully conscious when he was with Chu Yue, their times together always shrouded in haziness. Who could say whether the child Chu Yue conceived was genuinely his?

If it were not for the need to secure the support of the Chu Family, he would have never married Chu Yue, for he felt no affection towards her.

Moreover, he could sense that Chu Yue did not wish to serve him either; their encounters had been extremely rare, making the chances of her conceiving his child very low. This made the Sum Emperor always suspect that Chu Yue had an affair with another man, and Lu Chen was that man’s child.

Yet he could never find proof. Over the years, he had dwelt on this matter persistently. Even after Chu Yue’s death, he had the Shadow Guard continue investigating men who were close to Chu Yue, trying to identify Lu Chen’s biological father, but to no avail.

Fortunately, Lu Chen had always been rather useless, so the Sum Emperor simply assigned him to North City. However, once in North City, Lu Chen rose unexpectedly, even becoming a force that could threaten the Great Sum.

This only deepened the Sum Emperor’s suspicions. It was highly possible that Lu Chen was not his own, and the reason for Lu Chen’s rapid rise might be the assistance of Lu Chen’s biological father. Such thoughts made the Sum Emperor feel as though he had eaten excrement.

Even though Chu Yue was already dead, he still felt greatly humiliated.

Remembering how he had, due to the circumstances of the time, been compelled to marry a woman he did not love, and even accept a child conceived by another man in her womb—a woman who ultimately caused the death of the woman he loved—he felt exceedingly tormented.

Despite his torment, now was not the time to act against the North Prince. He had borne the humiliation for so many years; a few more would not matter.

He would deal with Lu Chen after resolving the issues with the Aristocratic Families.

For now, he still needed Lu Chen’s fifty thousand Heavy Cavalry to intimidate those Aristocratic Families.

Ever since word spread that North City had fifty thousand Heavy Cavalry, almost all the Aristocratic Families believed that these soldiers belonged to him, the Sum Emperor, and they suddenly became much more compliant.

With the deterrence of the fifty thousand Heavy Cavalry, if he were to discipline one Aristocratic Family, other families would have to carefully weigh their strength before considering rebellion.

This was a good thing for him.

Thinking this, the Sum Emperor sneered, “Who would have thought that I, the Emperor, would end up relying on the power in my own son’s hands to intimidate the Aristocratic Families? What an ineffectual Emperor I have become.”

When the Sum Emperor suddenly stopped talking about the Grandmaster, Situ Ce, curious, asked, “Does Your Majesty not wonder where the Grandmaster in North City came from?”

The Sum Emperor said indifferently, “Let matters of North City be set aside for now. The Shadow Guard has already gathered enough evidence of the Wang Family’s collusion with the Barbarian Tribe.”

“I have suffered humiliations for so many years; it is time to put an end to it all!”