Feng Wei's lips twitched a few times; he wanted to say something but didn't know where to begin.

He turned his head, exchanged a confused glance with his colleague beside him, and then cast his gaze back to the group of aristocratic officials kneeling on the ground.

His gaze lingered on Gongsun Gu and Bai Chengsheng for quite a while.

He noticed that the backs of these two men, usually held straight, were now completely slumped. Their shoulders under their court robes were still trembling slightly, and the back collars of their robes were soaked, clearly drenched by cold sweat.

Feng Wei's pupils contracted slightly, and a guess he dared not even believe himself faintly formed in his heart.

Could it be related to Zhou Ming entering the city with five thousand elite soldiers after the morning court session?

Just as everyone was puzzled, Empress Su Mingyue spoke up.

Her voice maintained that same indifferent tone, yet her words carried a hint of briskness, as if she were simply going with the flow:

"You all have foresight. Since you have proactively requested to promote the new laws, it would be improper for Me to disregard your Face."

She tilted her head slightly and said to Chunlan at her side, "Chunlan, draft the decree."

Chunlan bowed to accept the order and stepped out of Taihe Hall with light footsteps.

Empress Su Mingyue sat upright on the Dragon throne, her gaze slowly sweeping over the Faces of everyone in the hall.

From the day she and Zhou Ming spent the whole night discussing the six policies for governing the country until today, her nerves had been stretched taut.

The power of the noble families—Zhou Ming might not know it, but she was acutely aware of it.

Over these past few centuries, the noble families had intermarried, formed alliances, and pledged loyalty to one another, long ago creating a complex web of interests.

It was as intertwined and complex as a massive root system covering the entire underground of Youzhou.

If one were not careful, pulling one vine would drag out an entire patch of melons.

For the past few days, she had barely closed her eyes.

She had mobilized troops and generals, rotating the deployments of all units where noble family members held positions under various pretexts.

Calling it routine rotation, claiming it was to replenish fresh blood, or citing the need to strengthen training—she had used every available excuse.

She had quietly removed those noble family members from key command positions and replaced them with seasoned soldiers brought up from the old camps of the Northern Border Army, who were absolutely loyal to her.

She had prepared for the worst, even marking the retreat routes on the map, indicating which city to flee to if the noble families revolted collectively and Yongning City fell.

Yet she never expected that Zhou Ming's sword strike would be so powerful.

A single strike beheading several Blood Refining Realm Cultivators was more effective than any imperial decree and more direct than any negotiation.

The hidden dangers she had spent days painstakingly mobilizing troops, rotating generals, and secretly laying layouts to resolve, had been casually swept away by Zhou Ming's single sword strike.

The heads of the noble families, whom she thought would resist to the death, were now kneeling before her one by one, vying to promote the new laws on her behalf.

Empress Su Mingyue sat upright on the Dragon throne, her gaze passing through the hall doors, looking toward the direction of Yongning City.

She withdrew her gaze, lowered her eyes, looked at her fingers resting on her lap, and let out a soft sigh of relief.

The heavy stone that had been pressing on her chest for days had quietly fallen, and the pulverized dust, mixed with the air of relief, had finally dissipated completely.

Inside Yongning City, Zhou Ming did not wait for the soldiers to finish ransacking the Meng Family.

He handed over full command of the scene to Vice Minister Wu Shijun, gave a few more instructions, then mounted his horse alone and galloped along the long street toward the Shangshu Mansion.

When confronting Zheng Yaoming, Zhou Ming had not originally intended to reveal his strength.

His planned script was to use five thousand troops to first test the mettle of the noble families, but plans could not keep up with changes.

Just as he rode to the entrance of the Zheng Mansion, a wave of warmth surged into his Dantian without any warning.

The warm current was quite thick. He could even feel the Purple-Gold Nascent Soul in his Dantian trembling slightly.

The violet-gold halo around his body slowly circulated through his Meridians, and a certain immense power that had been suppressed for a long time was stirring.

Zhou Ming could feel that he was about to make a Breakthrough.

So, he changed his mind.

With one strike, he had completely eliminated Zheng Yaoming's trump card, and also made everyone present see clearly.

Who was in charge in this city.

Since he was about to make a Breakthrough, there was no need to delay.

He might as well take this opportunity to suppress all the noble families, ensuring the smooth implementation of the new laws.

According to his previous plan, these noble families were the first batch of people to receive the Dushi Sutra; the scripture had been nurtured in their hands for over half a year and was already very rich with energy.

He had originally intended to stir up a bloody storm in this Youzhou territory, uprooting all the forces of the noble families, leaving none behind.

By then, a significant portion of the population in all of Youzhou who had Cultivated the Dushi Sutra would inevitably lose their lives.

The noble families whose homes were ransacked and were executed, the die-hard loyalists who resisted, and the retainers and dependents caught in the chaos.

He had thought of using this to push himself to make a Breakthrough to the Soul Transformation realm.

But he hadn't expected that just as he arrived at the Zheng Mansion entrance, the hot current in his Dantian would surge up on its own.

The fluctuations of power surging in from those severed Causal Chains were much thicker and heavier than he had anticipated.

So, he changed his mind at the entrance of the Zheng Mansion.

He would take out the ringleaders, spare the remaining noble families, and let them promote the new laws for him.

Otherwise, given Zhou Ming's vindictive personality, for those who had insulted him to live until the next day would truly be a miracle from the heavens.

Gongsun Gu, Bai Chengsheng, and those who had pointed at his nose in the court and called him a servant-born—he would not let them see tomorrow's sun.

After returning to the Shangshu Mansion, Zhou Ming dismounted, threw the reins to the doorman, hurried through the veranda and moon gate, and dropped a sentence to Steward Meng, who had rushed up upon hearing the news:

"I am going into seclusion to Cultivate; no one is to disturb me."

"Leave the affairs of the front courtyard to Vice Minister Wu Shijun to handle at his full discretion; if there is anything he is unsure about, let him decide for himself."

Steward Meng had been with Zhou Ming for quite some time, but this was the first time he had seen him in such a hurry and with such a solemn tone, so he quickly bowed and agreed.

Zhou Ming walked straight into the master bedroom, pushed open the heavy rosewood wardrobe in the corner, revealing a secret door.

Behind the secret door was a secret chamber.

This was the place where the previous owner of the mansion had Cultivated. The four walls were built of solid granite, heavy and airtight.

In the center of the secret chamber, there was only a low stone couch, and on the stone couch remained faint indentations left by the previous owner from years of sitting cross-legged in meditation.

Zhou Ming bolted the secret door from the inside, took a cushion woven from Spiritual Plant out of his Storage Ring, placed it on the stone couch, and sat cross-legged on it.

Inside his Dantian, the hot current was still surging in continuously.

He closed his eyes and sank all his focus into his body.

The Purple-Gold Nascent Soul was hovering in the center of the Dantian, rotating slowly. A halo circulated around it, and with every inhalation and exhalation, it drove the power in his Meridians to surge like a great river.

He guided the warm current that had surged into his Dantian from the severed Causal Chains.

He introduced them one by one into the Nascent Soul, then slowly refined them using the Nascent Soul as a cauldron.

He tempered those powers that did not originally belong to him into pure power that was completely Fused with his own.

The secret chamber was extremely quiet, with only the faint glimmer emitted by the Spirit Stones embedded in the walls, and his breathing, which was so long and deep it was almost imperceptible.