Becoming an immortal empress requires strength and... handsome boys!

"It's just as you've heard father, this is why I want to marry him. Is this enough for you to approve?" Su Wuyan asked with a serious expression on her face.

Immediately, the room became silent again.

Has she overdone it?

Just as Su Wuyan thought of revealing the truth, she decided to take a glance at her father's expression. Su Luochen's face was green with anger and a wave of killing intent emanated from his body. He took his sword which he had placed nearby and unsheathed it as he aimed ferociously at the man standing by the door; the man who even until now looked as though his soul would slip out of his body— Lin Wuyi.

Seeing this, Su Wuyan froze. She took a deep breath and tried very, very hard not to scream out the truth. It seems that... she terribly regretted lying about being pregnant!

No, well... It's not like such a white lie could be so serious right?

Thinking this, she built up some courage and tried to call out to her father, "Fa-Father? I was just kiddi–" However, before she could finish her sentence, Su Luochen spoke.

"I don't want to hear any of your excuses, today... this man must die!" he roared as he lifted his sword, preparing to slash at Lin Wuyi. Seeing this, Su Wuyan stood up and ran in front of Lin Wuyi to protect him from her father's slash.

"Father, listen to me! I know what you're thinking, but it's not what it seems! Wuyi is important to me and I won't let you harm him!" She said seriously as she glared at her father.

Wuyi was definitely too handsome to die like this!

Su Luochen, who was originally going to hack Lin Wuyi to death, had to sheathe his sword and swallow the endless anger that was about to burst forth. As a general, he was able to calm down pretty quickly by just taking a deep breath.

"Y-Yan'er, move aside! If he truly impregnated you, then he must pay dearly!" the general argued as he gripped his sword once again. Seeing his stubbornness, Su Wuyan sighed as she said:

"....I was kidding".

Su Luochen thought he had misheard, so he asked to clarify once more.

"E-Eh? What did you say?"

"I.WAS.JUST.KIDDING. Father, why did you have to take it so seriously?! I thought it would be funny if I played a little joke on you, I just didn't expect you to react so ferociously! Geez..." Su Wuyan explained as she rubbed the back of her head in frustration while blushing slightly.

Hearing this, not only was Su Luochen relieved but Lin Wuyi also released a relieved sigh. Honestly, poor Lin Wuyi, he came over in a good mood and was inadvertently thrown a hot potato, how exactly was he supposed to react?

"Wha-What so it was like that! Yan-er, you should have said something, not only did you nearly give me a heart attack, if you had said this one second later I would have really killed him!" he said casually as he sat back down in the chair he had previously sat at.

"But that means you also were not serious about marriage right?" He asked smilingly. After all, a harmless prank from his daughter every now and then is not too bad.

"No, that part was true." she said smiling.

Eh?

As though he misheard, his smiling face grew stiff as he looked at his daughter's eyes.

"Say.... Say that again?"

'That can't be.' he thought.

"No No, like I said, I want to build a harem of beauties!"

'Please don't let it be true....' he tried to remain calm.

"In order to do that, I have to choose 9 people to marry, and Lin Wuyi will be the first!" she said triumphally as she finished her sentence.

Hearing this, the mighty General Su Luochen was at a loss. For a good few minutes he honestly did not know what to say to that.

It seemed... that his daughter's ambitions were just... truly too much!

After calming down some more, he finally mustered the courage to ask.

"Yan'er, no matter what I say you're not going to change your mind, are you? Are you sure that you wish to marry him?"

"Mm, I definitely want this man to be my husband." She stated with a smile on her face.

"Hmm.... Very Well. Since you're determined to do this, I won't get in your way." After saying this, Su Luochen turned to Lin Wuyi, who seemed to be out of sorts and said.

"Wuyi, come with me to my study, there's something I must tell you," he said as he dragged the confused Lin Wuyi towards his study without speaking another word to his daughter.

Su Wuyan, who was left on her own, felt anxious that her father would do this so suddenly. She was afraid that he would do or say something to make sure Lin Wuyi would refuse her. But it seemed her worries were unfounded, since later that day, a high court minister announced to the dukes that a new policy exclusive only to the empress would come into effect upon her official crowning.

As for the specifics of that policy, it was only mentioned to a select few. There was, however no news of her marriage to Lin Wuyi. It was only later when Lin Wuyi came to assure her that she knew they would marry. This calmed her down a little but still made her be slightly on guard against her father.

As for what her father and Lin Wuyi discussed... who knew?

....

Border City, in the outskirts of Ming Country, later that night...

A mysterious blackbird arrived in the sky from the direction of the capital. It flew rapidly and then perched on a young man's arm.

The young man was covered in black clothing up to his head, but if one looked closely they would see platinum grey eyes glowing from within the clothes.

Perhaps if any passerby looked into those eyes they would be awestruck at the beautiful sight of those eyes.

The young man grabbed the note perched on the bird's ankles and read its contents. After a few minutes, he set his eyes on the capital in shock.

It seemed he would have to go back to the capital! He must stop that person from causing any more trouble!

....

The following morning, Su Wuyan was having breakfast in the dining hall together with Lin Wuyi and Zhao Yunxu.

The two men ate quietly, while only looking at their own plates. None of them daring to look at Su Wuyan. The reason for this was simple, the General was sitting in-between the trio, glaring at the boys like he was about to swallow them whole.

One must know, to the General Su Luochen, His daughter was the most precious thing in the world. He was already gritting his teeth and enduring it when she got married to that sinister-looking crown prince. And yet, now... she was about to marry 9 more men!

Su Luochen just didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this point.

Sigh...

"Father, I want to learn martial arts".

Su Wuyan broke the silence as she stuffed a piece of egg on her mouth. As for the awkward silence and her father's worries, she didn't really care!

She only had one goal in this world: To become the perfect immortal Empress!

To have a group of mouthwatering hunks be her husbands is just the cherry on top!

When the general heard this, he was momentarily caught off guard.

"Martial Arts? Yan'er, do you want to become a practitioner?" He asked in bewilderment.

Not only was this Su Luochen's reaction. Lin Wuyi who had just drank some juice nearly spit everything out.

It had to be said, that while the current Su Wuyan was interested in learning it, the past her was only ever interested in marrying the prince. Not once had she shown remotely any interest in martial arts until today.

"Mm! I want to get stronger... in order to find mother..." she said seriously.

Hearing this, both the general and Lin Wuyi seemed pleasantly surprised. After all, Su Wuyan was but a naive and young adolescent girl. Barely of age and already wanting to be introduced to the martial ways...

"Yan'er..." seemingly touched, the general took a deep breath before standing up from the table.

"I understand! I will arrange for your lessons to begin tomorrow!" he said as he walked out of the dining hall.

Hearing this, Su Wuyan nodded before happily stuffing another piece of egg into her mouth.

She was just about to begin her new life in this unknown world... Su Wuyan knew getting stronger was the key to achieving what she wanted.

Eventually she finished her meal before standing up and making her way out of the hall.

Now that her martial training was set to begin, she could finally begin focusing on everything else!

She thought as she skipped away from the hall while humming a little song, seemingly in her own little world.

Meanwhile, two handsome men were left forgotten in the dining hall. One frozen in shock, while the other revealing a smile full of interest at the conversation they had just heard.