The entire family was stunned for a moment before they all burst out in laughter including the old clan head.
"What else are you going to say? That you are the emperor?" Liu Ren asked mockingly.
Liu Xie on the other hand had a frown because he held more respect for this mysterious general than the emperor himself.
What he had achieved in the past seven years was nothing but stuff of the fairytales, he single handedly ensured six years of peace for the empire which was unprecedented in the last couple of centuries.
Under his leadership, the army had transformed into a terrifying existence within the eastern continent.
The Imperial family had always had trouble dealing with the lords of the various prefectures.
The immortal empire had nine prefectures and twenty-seven regions.
Each prefecture and region was controlled by clans and families who had contributed significantly to the empire.
But over the previous centuries, with the Imperial clan gradually losing their power to the court officials, the lords of the prefectures have also been subtly resisting the empire.
With the attacks from foreign invaders and all that was happening within the court, the imperial clan couldn't deal with them as they would have liked.
The problem was that even if the imperial clan was at its peak, it would still find it difficult to deal with them.
The ruling clans of the prefectures had large armies individually, if they joined forces they could even overthrow the current dynasty.
With all this in mind, the imperial clan had to swallow their dissatisfaction and turn a blind eye to these lords, making them even more rebellious.
The imperial court and clan had deployed troops several times, but all campaigns ended in failures and them paying dearly for it.
But all it took the Grand General was one month to sweep through the nine prefectures and twenty-seven regions.
The arrogant lords who had always been a torn in the eyes of the imperial clan and court were all eliminated within a month even when they banned together.
This news shocked the imperial capital.
The tyranny of those lords had known no bounds and at a point it looked like there was no solution, but all it took was a month to deal with them.
The reason why the imperial court felt threatened by the Grand General was because after wiping those lords out, he didn't hand control of those territories to the imperial court but rather took control of those territories himself.
Now they all felt like the Grand General was surrounding them, and aiming to take them down next, because the only place not in the control of the Grand General was the imperial capital.
"Gu Shang, I'm warning you! You can mess with whoever you want, but don't disrespect the name of the Grand General.
Gu Shang raised an eyebrow, he could see the adoration and worship in Liu Xie's eyes whenever he mentioned the Grand General's name.
Looking around, Gu Shang saw similar expressions on all the faces of the Liu Clan members including the old clan leader.
Even Liu Feiefei's eyes couldn't help but sparkle whenever the Grand General's name was mentioned.
This was the first time he felt jealous of himself.
But Gu Shang couldn't blame them, the Liu Clan was a Clan founded on military principles, so they naturally admired those with significant war contributions.
Gu Shang really wanted to explain that he wasn't messing around, but he knew that he couldn't prove his identity now no matter how hard he tried.
Even if he showed them his seal, no one could verify it apart from the emperor, and the current Liu clan did not have the status to meet the emperor whenever they wanted.
So he gave up, three days wasn't that far.
After that, the old clan head and Gu Shang conversed happily as the old clan head boasted about his time in the military and all his achievements.
After dinner, Liu Feiefei led Gu Shang to their room.
It was a plain and simple, Gu Shang wasn't surprised at all. Liu Feiefei wasn't like other girls, she was rather unique.
The atmosphere became awkward between them when they were now alone.
Liu Feiefei despite her boldness and straight- forwardness couldn't help but fidget nervously.
"You know I'm not going to eat you, right?" Gu Shang said playfully.
"W..w..who's afraid of you? If you try anything s.s.silly, I won't let you go" She said with a stutter as she blushed furiously.
She looked extremely cute with the blush on her face. Anyone who knew the Ice cold deputy captain Liu would be shocked to see her current appearance.
Gu Shang slowly took her slender hands and kissed it gently.
W…what are you doing? She said nervously but didn't move her hands, maybe afraid she might hurt his feelings if she did.
But Gu Shang didn't do anything further than gently smile at her as he pulled her into his arms and whispered in a low voice beside her ears, "Thank you for waiting for me"
Liu Feiefei stiffened as she felt her body in Gu Shang's arm, but her stiffened body began to relax as she wrapped her arms around him.
A bright smile appeared on Gu Shang's face when he saw her respond to his hug.
"I promise that from now on, I'll protect you and the Liu Clan" Gu Shang said while still Liu Feiefei was in his arms.
If anyone had heard this, they would have laughed it out, a mere mortal making such promises?
Even the fart of a Qi gathering realm expert could kill him, but for some reason Liu Feiefei didn't feel like he was boasting at all, on the contrary she felt safe.
Strange…..
After a while Liu Feiefei broke off the hug, sorry I've got to go" she said softly.
"But you just got home'' he wanted to spend more time with Liu Feiefei, but it seemed it wasn't meant to be.
"Don't worry, I'll see you tomorrow morning" she promised before grabbing a few things from her room.
Before she left, she gave a few orders to the maids and servants in the manor to take good care of Gu Shang before she left.
A smile couldn't help but spread on her face as she exited the manor and mounted her dragon horses.
The guards who saw her smile was dazed, today they were numbed by the amount of surprises.
Back in the room, Gu Shang was left alone as he gazed around the room before heading into the courtyard to gaze at the night sky.
In the middle of the courtyard stood a cherry blossom tree that swayed gently in the wind.
Gu Shang stood under the tree and felt the gentle breeze, his silver hair danced gently as he smiled.
"She took good care of the tree!"
A perfect scene of a handsome man with silver hair in white robes standing under a cherry blossom tree as the wind gentle caressed his hair played out as pink petals slowly descended from the tree,
With a crescent moon hanging in the clouds.
The scene looked like something that came straight out of a painting.
The void rippled slightly behind Gu Shang as a man in black cloak appeared.
If anyone was here, they'd probably die of shock, void teleportation!
This was an ability exclusive to only Spiritual King experts.
It should be noted that the strongest existence in the empire was an Orifice tempering expert.
A Spiritual King expert had the power to bring the empire on its knees single handedly.
This was an existence that could shake the entire eastern continent.
The man took down the hood of the cloak behind his head revealing a middle aged man.
The middle aged man clasped his hands and went on his knees.
"Greetings your grace!"
Gu Shang, still with his hands behind his back, didn't even turn as he kept enjoying the breeze.
The middle aged man looked at the scene in front of him with astonishment, this scene was truly reminiscent of something that one could only see in a painting.
Though this was a regular courtyard, the scene being played made it look like something beyond this realm, almost celestial like.
"Rise" Gu Shang suddenly turned his attention to the kneeling middle aged man.
"Report!"
"Your grace, all preparations have been completed'' The middle aged man reported.
"Any movement from the court officials?" Gu Shang asked.
"Your grace, everything is going as planned, they are preparing to suppress and eliminate you upon your return" the middle aged man reported with a sneer.
"Very good, I'll be very disappointed if they don't make a move against me.
"Any movement from the Qing clan?" Gu Shang asked.
"The Qing clan has yet to make a move but their subordinate forces are acting up for them"
Gu Shang frowned slightly.
"What about the Gu clan?"
"The Gu clan are yet to make a decision." The middle aged man reported.
Gu Shang wasn't surprised, the Gu clan were a very crafty and cautious clan, they would never make a move if it was filled with too many uncertainties.
''Any other reports?" Gu Shang asked.
None, your grace!
"Dismissed!"
The void rippled again as the middle aged man disappeared.
This scene would have bewildered anyone who saw it, how could a Spiritual King bow to a mere mortal?
The moment the middle aged man left, a young maid entered the courtyard and gave a light bow.
"Young master, the general seeks your presence in the main hall"
"Lead the way!" Gu Shang said politely before following the maid.
When Gu Shang entered the main hall, he was surprised to see Liu Fan, Liu Jun and Liu Xie.
Gu Shang clasped his hand "greetings to father-in-law and uncle!"
"You wanted to see me?"
Liu Jun nodded at his son, Liu Xie. They all wore serious expressions, upon getting the signal Liu Xie immediately left and returned with a chest.
Liu Xie handed the chest to Gu Shang.
Gu Shang raised an eyebrow, though the box was closed he could see the contents within the box.
"What's this for? He asked in confusion.
"There's twenty thousand gold coins in this chest, take it and leave the capital" Liu Jun said with a sigh.
Epilogue
Twelve years ago…..
In a dense forest outside the capital, a little beautiful girl sat below a tree as she cried loudly. She was alone and scared.
There was a tiger not far away from her, slowly approaching her.
The little girl cried more loudly as the tiger neared her.
But before the tiger could pounce on her, a young boy with silver hair in tattered clothes appeared with a stick and a round shield and began striking the shield with the stick to scare off the tiger. The tiger growled before turning back and fleeing in panic.
The young boy squatted beside the little girl and wiped her tears, let's go I'll take you home.
The little girl had a cut on her legs and couldn't move so he carried her on his back as he swiftly moved through the forest.