Walking out of Changle Palace, Li Mu had to admit that he had been careless this time.
He had been forced by the Empress to swear an oath to the heavens that he would only leave her after helping her destroy the Demon Sect, subdue the Ghost Realm, and pacify the Yao Kingdom.
Fortunately, Li Mu was quick-witted and changed a phrase when he swore.
He said that he would not leave her until he finished these things, and not Shen Du or Great Zhou.
If he could abduct the Empress, then it would not be considered leaving her. Whether or not the Great Zhou could destroy the Demon Sect, subdue the Ghost Realm, and pacify the Yao Kingdom was a matter for the Great Zhou court. In any case, Li Mu had fulfilled his oath to the Empress.
Didn't she like to plant flowers? When the time came, he would open a garden for her next door to where he, Liu Hanyan, and Li Qing lived in seclusion. As long as she did not feel bored, she could plant flowers for the rest of her life.
Li Mu looked back and twitched the corner of his mouth.
If she wanted to trick him, she would have to cultivate for a few more years.
After swearing the oath, he once again brought up the matter of purging the Office of Consecration. What made Li Mu feel helpless was that, at some point in time, the Empress had handed over all the things that should have been done by her to him.
She did not even hand it over to Li Mu. Instead, it was Li Mu who raised the problem and solved it himself. Now, she wanted Li Mu to be her slave for the rest of his life. If she had not given him so much and treated him so well, Li Mu might have gone back to inherit the Fu-lu School long ago.
What really made Li Mu feel that he owed her was that the Empress had always stood by his side when facing the Zhou family and himself. She had also given him the greatest trust and the greatest freedom to reverse the verdict and take revenge for Li Qing's father.
If he ran away like this, it would be too heartless.
For a woman to treat him like this, even if Li Mu could not repay her with his body, he could not be so heartless.
…
Consecrated Office.
Lord Mei of the inner guards had just arrived. He left behind an imperial edict and then floated away.
The contents of the imperial edict made countless consecrators angry and dissatisfied.
From today onwards, the Consecration Department would be under the management of the Bamboo Guards. Although they did not need to be merged into the Bamboo Guards, the Bamboo Guards' Vice Commander Li Mu would be in charge of the Consecration Department.
The Department of Offerings had always been a special existence in the Imperial Court.
They were not from the Academy, nor were they officials of the Imperial Court. Their relationship with the Great Zhou court was more like cooperation than subordination.
The imperial court provided the consecrators with cultivation resources, while the consecrators worked for the imperial court. Both sides took what they needed.
The Department of Consecration had always been an independent department, never under the jurisdiction of an official of the court.
Even the Ministry of Official Personnel Affairs could only request for a consecrator and not order them to do so.
This imperial edict shook the position of the Consecrated Division.
For cultivators, a country was already a vague concept to them. What cultivators pursued their entire lives was supreme strength and the ethereal Heavenly Path. Most cultivators despised becoming a lackey of the imperial court, or rather, a lackey.
However, the path of cultivation was not something that could be achieved by one person alone.
Cultivation required resources, and cultivation resources were not easy to obtain for most cultivators without any background.
In order to obtain cultivation resources like spiritual jades more easily, some cultivators with some strength would put down their pride and choose to become a consecrator of the imperial court.
But this did not mean that they were willing to be under the jurisdiction of the imperial court. After becoming a consecrator, these people were still more unruly than the officials of the imperial court. They would submit to the strong, but would not submit to official rank.
"What is the Empress thinking? She actually let a brat control us?"
"Although his talent is not bad, his cultivation has only just reached the fifth realm. What right does he have to command us?"
"He killed more than twenty people from the old faction and forced Li Mu to ask for exile. Has Li Mu's hand finally reached the Department of Offerings?"
"I don't know if you can tolerate it, but I can't. We must express our stance in protest."
"Everyone, don't come to the Department of Offerings tomorrow. Doesn't he want to be the master of the Department of Offerings? Just let him be the master of the Department of Offerings …"
Most of the consecrators in the Department of Offerings were opposed to this matter.
If the Empress let a sixth realm cultivator take charge of the Department of Offerings, it would be fine. But Li Mu was only at the fifth realm, and had just reached the fifth realm. Any random consecrator here was stronger than him. To make them listen to the orders of a weakling was something that was very difficult to accept.
Of course, among them, there was also a large portion who had long been bribed by the benefits of the old faction and harbored enmity towards Li Mu.
Under this enmity, there were very quickly people who began to incite the other consecrators to take Li Mu down a notch.
A group of people noisily left the Department of Offerings. Two elders with similar appearances stood in the courtyard with their hands behind their backs. The elder on the left said, "What do you think?"
The elder on the right thought for a moment and said, "Killing him a little is good for his spirit. We have to let him know that the Department of Offerings is not a place where he can behave atrociously …"
…
The Empress temporarily placed the Department of Offerings under the Bamboo Guards. As the Deputy Commander of the Bamboo Guards, Li Mu naturally became the direct superior of the Department of Offerings.
A few days ago, he had done a detailed search for information on the Department of Offerings.
Currently, there were two sixth realm cultivators in the Department of Offerings. Both of them had just reached the sixth realm several years ago, and they were a pair of twin brothers.
For the imperial court, fifth realm consecrators were easy to recruit, but sixth realm high consecrators were very difficult to recruit.
When one's cultivation reached this level, they could already be considered one of the few powerful cultivators in the world. Whether it was out of dignity or the pursuit of a higher realm, they would not be willing to be the imperial court's lackeys.
This also led to the imperial court having to pay a huge price every time they recruited a sixth realm cultivator.
Not only did the imperial court have to provide them with large amounts of spiritual jades every year, but they also had to satisfy their various requests. After Li Mu saw the benefits and benefits of the two high consecrators, even he wanted to become a high consecrator himself.
Li Mu could do what they could do, and Li Mu could do what they could not. He could guarantee that it would be worth more than the cost. If the imperial court gave him the resources given to these two people, Li Mu could guarantee that he would be able to create even greater value for the imperial court than them.
Most importantly, these two people did not make much of a contribution every year. Li Mu even killed several dozen elders of the Demon Sect. The contributions of these two high consecrators to the imperial court were greater than the contributions of the entire Department of Offerings. However, other than the Empress's love, he did not receive anything else.
This made Li Mu feel very unbalanced.
He walked into the Department of Offerings and found it abnormally quiet.
There were about a hundred or so consecrators in the imperial court. Not everyone was at the Department of Offerings every day, but no matter the time, there should be at least ten people on duty here.
However, Li Mu went through all the duty rooms and did not see a single person.
He found an old man cleaning in the backyard. After asking, he found out that there were usually at least twenty consecrators in the Department of Offerings, but today, there was not a single one.
It was obvious that they were targeting him.
The entire Department of Offerings was more united than Li Mu had imagined.
There was no one in the Department of Offerings, so there was no point for Li Mu to stay here.
He said to the old man cleaning, "Tell them that in three days, all the consecrators in the Divine Capital must report to the Department of Offerings. Those who do not make it in three days will be expelled from the Department of Offerings."
Before leaving the Department of Offerings, Li Mu took a list of consecrators with him.
On the list, it was clearly written which consecrators were out on missions and which ones did not have missions to stay in the Divine Capital.
It was also very simple to inform them.
The consecrators were treated very well. There was an entire square in the Divine Capital dedicated to consecrators.
Among them, only realm four consecrators could be allocated a courtyard with two entrances. Realm five consecrators lived in residences with at least three entrances and three entrances. The two great consecrators' residences both had five entrances and were fully staffed with servant girls and servants.
When he learned of this news, Li Mu even cried out on behalf of Old Zhang for a while.
In truth, when he had first arrived in the Divine Capital, he would not have had to work so hard if he wanted to live in a larger residence. He only needed to resign his official position and join the Department of Offerings, and he would immediately be given a courtyard with two entrances or even three entrances. The imperial court treated these outsiders much better than the officials.
Li Mu's request that all the consecrators in the Department of Offerings must report to the Department of Offerings within three days was quickly made known to all the consecrators.
"What does this mean?"
"If we're expelled from the Department of Offerings within three days, can he expel everyone if none of us go?"
"I'd like to see what he'll do when he's the only one left in the Department of Offerings!"
"That's not good. Li Mu is not to be trifled with. Look at all the things he's done in the past. Which one of them wasn't serious? What if he really expels all of us …"
"Heh heh, would a Department of Offerings with only him still be called a Department of Offerings? When the time comes, the one to be expelled will only be Li Mu. He'll have to invite us back in the same way he expelled us …"
"Since that's the case, let's not go …"
… …
After leaving the yamen, Li Mu passed by the Department of Offerings on his way home and swept his gaze over it.
Tomorrow was the three-day deadline. He wasn't sure what the outcome would be tomorrow.
But he was clear that a new official would make three sweeping fires. The first fire had to burn brighter.
If he couldn't establish his authority, he wouldn't be able to mingle in the Department of Offerings in the future.
The current problem was that the Department of Offerings had as many experts as there were clouds. That place was not the Imperial Court, and the Offerings were not officials of either party. Any sort of open or secret schemes were useless. In that place, absolute strength was the only thing that mattered.
Unfortunately, Li Mu's own strength was not great, and he was also a commander without any reliable helpers. Just by himself, how could he contend against a group of experts of the same level?
"Fortune telling, fortune telling, fortune telling, treating infertility, guaranteeing the birth of a fat child …"
As he walked down the street, a familiar voice once more sounded by his ear. Li Mu looked in a certain direction and suddenly thought of a plan.
At the corner of the street, the slovenly Taoist priest was currently soliciting customers. In front of his divination stall, a shadow suddenly appeared.
He raised his head and glanced at Li Mu, then waved his hand as if he was swatting away a fly. "Quickly leave, quickly leave. This old man doesn't want to see you."
This time, Li Mu did not leave. Looking at the Taoist priest, he said, "Senior's cultivation is so high. To be a fortune teller is a waste of talent. I don't know if Senior wants to become a Offerings in the Imperial Court …"
"Offerings?" The Taoist priest jumped up from the ground, glaring angrily at Li Mu. Gritting his teeth, he said, "What kind of person is this old man? This old man doesn't even care about the Six Great Sects. What is the Great Zhou court? You actually want this old man to be a dog of the Imperial Court. If this wasn't the Divine Capital, this old man would definitely turn you into a dog first …"
Li Mu continued, "With Senior's cultivation, if you join the Department of Offerings, you can become a Great Offering and live in a five-sectioned residence. The Imperial Court will also provide you with maids and servants …"
The Taoist priest looked at Li Mu and said, "Before this old man changes his mind, you'd best leave quickly."
Li Mu shook his head, saying, "Senior probably doesn't want the Heavenly Fortune Talisman either …"
Just as he turned around, someone grabbed his wrist.
The Taoist priest grabbed Li Mu's hand and said seriously, "Whether it's the Heavenly Fortune Talisman or not isn't important. The main thing is that this old man wants that big residence. You're still young, so you don't understand. After drifting for a lifetime, when you get older, what you seek is a stable place, a place that can shelter you from the wind and rain. Oh right, you mentioned the Heavenly Fortune Talisman just now. What? Is it a Heavenly Fortune Talisman if you join the Department of Offerings …"
[PS: Recommending the Book of the Old Days by the Bear Wolf Dog.
The world is about to be in chaos. Demons are emerging in an endless stream. Chu Qiguang is guarding his territory. Looking at the demons working peacefully and the old employees who have just turned into zombies, he shouted, "How dare you call the sun and moon to change the sky!"]
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