Inside the Zhutian Tower, the crowd watched as Li Daoyi disciplined the little guy Mengmeng, much like onlookers.

"What did I tell you before? Don't go to the palace these days, but you just wouldn't listen. You slipped away without me noticing." Li Daoyi grabbed Mengmeng by the collar, suspending her in mid-air.

"Hmph, it's so boring here!" The little guy wasn't afraid at all.

"Long'er," Li Daoyi called out.

Then, Xiaolongnu's figure slowly appeared.

Li Daoyi threw Mengmeng directly over, and Xiaolongnu reached out and caught the little one.

"Keep a close eye on her. Before Yin Shou ascends the throne, you absolutely cannot let her go out again, otherwise you will not be allowed to cook whatever she wants to eat in the future," Li Daoyi said to Xiaolongnu.

"Oh dear, I won't go out then." Upon hearing that she couldn't eat anything delicious, Mengmeng immediately said obediently.

"Stop being naughty. Come on, I made a new dish. Go and try it." Little Dragon Girl affectionately patted Mengmeng's face.

"Hurry up, hurry up!" Mengmeng's eyes lit up, and with a wave of her hand, the two of them left.

"Sigh, there's just no way to deal with this kid," Li Daoyi said, shaking his head.

"Haha, fellow Daoist, you have no idea how envious we are. Who wouldn't want such an adorable little fellow?" Zhen Yuanzi laughed.

This little incident quickly passed. As the day of the coronation approached, more than half of the feudal lords from all over the land came. The rest were too far away, but they still sent gifts. In addition, many generals from all over the Shang Dynasty also came. With the new king ascending the throne, they naturally wanted to show their loyalty, including Li Jing.

However, Li Jing was standing awkwardly outside Yin Shou's mansion. The gate was tightly closed, and no matter how much he pleaded, there was no response, which caused passersby to stop and linger.

"Su Zhi, I know I was wrong, open the door quickly!" Li Jing shouted.

However, there was still no response from inside.

Just when he was at his wit's end, a person walked out from the crowd behind him.

"General Li," the man called out.

Li Jing turned around and saw that it was Bi Gan.

"Prime Minister," Li Jing hurriedly bowed. Bi Gan was the King's younger brother, of noble status, and also the Vice Prime Minister.

"What? Is Madam still angry?" Bigan teased.

Li Jing's face immediately turned red, it seemed that his story had already spread throughout Chaoge.

"I'm sorry to have made you laugh, Prime Minister."

"Haha, I'll give it a try." Bigan laughed and stepped forward.

"I am Bi Gan, why aren't you opening the door?"

"Squeak..."

As soon as Bigan finished speaking, the gate slowly opened.

Several servants quickly came out to pay their respects.

"Greetings, Your Excellency."

They dared to stop Li Jing, but they wouldn't dare to stop Yin Shou's uncle.

"Get up!"

“Come on, follow me inside,” Bigan said, patting Li Jing on the shoulder.

"Thank you, Prime Minister," Li Jing said quickly.

He then glared at a few servants and followed Bigan inside.

When the two arrived at the backyard, Jiang Rou and Madam Yin were immediately startled.

"Uncle Wang, what brings you here?"

"Greetings, Your Excellency."

“What? They’ve already found their way to their doorstep, and you still won’t let them in? They’re a general, after all. If we turn them away, won’t the people laugh at us?” Bigan said.

“Uncle Wang is right, I didn’t think it through,” Jiang Rou quickly replied.

"Prime Minister, don't blame Jiang Rou, it was all my idea. It was me. I didn't want to see this bastard," Madam Yin said hurriedly, then glared coldly at Li Jing.

"Alright, alright, what's the big deal, Jiang Rou? I'm here to take you to the palace. Yin Shou is about to ascend the throne, and there are some rules and matters in the palace that you need to know." Bigan clearly didn't want to get involved in the matter between the two of them, so he immediately greeted Jiang Rou.

“Yes, Uncle Wang.” Jiang Rou nodded, gave Yin Suzhi a look, signaling her not to go too far, and then walked up to Li Jing.

"Li Jing".

"Yes," Li Jing replied hastily, bowing.

"I know she's pregnant. I hope you won't upset her again, or I'll have Yin Shou banish you to the coldest place." With that, he left with Bigan.

"Uh..." Li Jing was both amused and exasperated. Sure enough, no matter what status or identity a woman has, you shouldn't mess with her.

At the same time, several luxurious carriages stopped at the entrance of Zhutianlou.

Upon seeing this, the waiter at the door hurriedly ran inside, and a moment later, Dongfang Bubai, dressed in red, gracefully walked out.

At this moment, the surrounding people were whispering about the carriages. From their words, Dongfang Bubai learned that these were the carriages of the four great marquises.

Sure enough, several people stepped out of the four carriages at the same time, including Jiang Wenhuan, the son of Dongbo Hou, whom Dongfang Bubai had met before. He helped the fifty-something-year-old Jiang Hengchu down from the carriage and said, "Father, we have arrived at Zhutian Tower."

Following the Marquis of Dongbo were the other three great marquises.

The Shang Dynasty had four major vassal states: Jiang Huanchu, the Eastern Marquis; E Chongyu, the Southern Marquis; Ji Chang, the Western Marquis; and Chong Houhu, the Northern Marquis. Among the four, the Eastern Marquis was the most powerful and had the largest territory, followed by the Western Marquis, Ji Chang.

The four major marquisates were all independent kingdoms, but they were obligated to raise troops to defend the king, resulting in a very complex relationship with the court. In addition, each of the four major marquisates ruled over nearly two hundred smaller marquisates. These smaller marquisates were not powerful in themselves, but their sheer number meant that if they were all unified, they would constitute an extremely formidable force. Furthermore, with the consolidation of central royal power, starting from the generation of Emperor Yi's father (Emperor Yin Shou's grandfather), the conflict between the capital, Chaoge, and the local powers had gradually emerged, and the existence of the four major marquisates had become a major threat to the royal authority.

"Okay, everyone, let's go," Jiang Hengchu said to the group behind him.

"So it's Marquis Dongbo, please come in quickly," Dongfang said with a smile.

"So you are Miss Dongfang? You are indeed as beautiful as a fairy. I'm sorry to bother you," Jiang Hengchu said with a smile.

Soon, the group entered the Zhutian Tower. As had been notified beforehand, the Zhutian Tower was not open to the public today, in order to entertain the feudal lords.

Ji Fa helped Ji Chang walk past Dongfang Bubai. Dongfang Bubai glanced at Ji Fa curiously, thinking to himself, "Is this the chosen one of destiny that the Taoists spoke of?"

Upon entering the building, everyone was stunned by the luxurious decor. It must be said that Li Daoyi's avant-garde style of decoration was quite shocking to people of this era.

"Haha, the four of you, I've been waiting for you for a long time."

A voice came from upstairs, and everyone looked up to see Wen Zhong waiting in the corridor on the eighth floor.

"Haha, Grand Tutor, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting." Chong Houhu laughed loudly.

"This way, gentlemen," Dongfang Bubai said, pointing to a room next to the stairs.

"This?" The group was puzzled. Why go into that small room instead of taking the stairs?

"Please," Dongfang said again.

"Father, let's go inside, to the eighth floor. We can't take the stairs," Jiang Wenhuan said quickly.

Then everyone went inside. Once inside, they saw a white light emanating from Dongfang Bubai's hand, and the room was immediately filled with light.

The group immediately covered their eyes.

"Alright," said Dongfang Bubai.

All of this happened in an instant.

The group snapped out of their shock and found themselves in a spacious, brightly lit room, where Wen Zhong was sitting with a smile at a large table.

“Immortal supernatural powers…” Ji Chang murmured.

"So you are a celestial cultivator, young lady. Forgive our poor eyesight," the four quickly said.

"Haha, come, come, sit down, sit down." Wen Zhong also greeted them repeatedly.

The four men sat down in turn, while Jiang Wenhuan and Ji Fa stood respectfully to the side.

"How was it? Were you startled?" Wen Zhong asked with a smile.

"You flatter me, Grand Tutor," Ji Chang nodded.

"Today I'm hosting four old friends, so please don't stand on ceremony, or I'll be unhappy," Wen Zhong said.

"Hahaha..." Everyone laughed as soon as he said that.

Although the four marquises and the imperial court were somewhat at odds, on the surface, no one dared to openly admit it; otherwise, they would not have come when Yin Shou ascended the throne.

Wen Zhong was very talkative and soon he had the atmosphere lively.

"Grand Tutor, I wonder which master built this Tower of All Heavens? It is so wondrous." Ji Chang stood by the window, gazing down.

“He must be an immortal, there’s no need to ask,” Jiang Hengchu said.

"I mean, who is that immortal?" Ji Chang continued.

Wen Zhong stroked his beard and then spoke.

"It cannot be spoken, it cannot be spoken."

Seeing Wen Zhong's behavior, the others also became curious and began to ask him questions.

In fact, the four great marquises were no strangers to Taoist practitioners; each of them had Taoist practitioners under their command.

"Gentlemen, it's not that I don't want to tell you, but this person's identity is so powerful that even I can't afford to offend him. Please forgive me," Wen Zhong said helplessly. He naturally wouldn't reveal Li Daoyi to them.

Seeing his reaction, the others had no choice but to give up.

Then everyone started talking about Yin Shou's ascension to the throne, when Chong Houhu spoke up.

"I've heard that the new king will be issuing new laws upon his ascension to the throne? Grand Tutor, could you reveal a little about it?"

“There’s nothing to hide. After the new king ascends the throne, in addition to granting a general amnesty, he will also free all slaves in Chaoge and restore their freedom,” Wen Zhong said slowly.

"What?" Marquis E Chongyu of the Southern Marquis suddenly stood up, his face full of disbelief.

Everyone else, except for those who had already received the news from Jiang Hengchu, was shocked.

“How can that be?” Chong Houhu pulled Lord E, who was sitting next to him, to sit down and then said.

"Oh? Why not?" Wen Zhong asked knowingly.

“Slaves are our foundation. If we remove their status, wouldn’t the world descend into chaos? What if those slaves stop working, stop producing, and stop fighting?” Chong Houhu said.

"Tsk, I don't understand what you're saying, Marquis. It's just about freeing them from the word 'slave.' Does that conflict with whether they work or not?"

“Chaoge removed the shackles from the slaves several years ago, and we haven’t seen them run away or slack off. On the contrary, they are more diligent than before. Isn’t that proof?” Wen Zhong said.

The group was speechless. They had known about what happened in Chaoge for a long time. In fact, they had initially hoped to see a joke, but the result disappointed them.

The atmosphere became somewhat awkward for a moment.

Ji Fa, who was standing to the side, frowned and fell into deep thought. In his heart, he vaguely felt that Wen Zhong's statement was correct.