Ancient Godly Monarch
chapter-1573

Naturally, Qin Wentian could also understand why. After all, he was a bandit and right now, his bandit lord Ye Qianyu was even a prisoner, yet he himself became a governor.

It was fine that he became one and ruled a city region. But the moment he took on the position, he killed the old vice governors and replaced them with his own people, even doing so in the name of the law.

Hence, all the other governors looked strangely at Qin Wentian.

"There's no need for Governor Xia Hou to worry." Qin Wentian smiled, not bothering to fall out. His words were calm but his meaning was clear. He was telling Xia Hou that this has nothing to do with him.

Xiao Hou's brows twitched as he coldly spoke, "The matter of contribution will affect the palace lord, this matter even concerns the Realmlord. Your northern city region is clearly not giving your all. What would the Realmlord think? He would only feel that our Lifire City's governors are useless. Qin Wentian, use your brain when you do things in the future. Don't keep using barbaric methods like mindless slaughter."

Qin Wentian's gaze turned completely cold. Although he was a governor, his identity was extremely awkward. This was why he wanted to keep a low profile and not stir up matters. However, it didn't mean that he was afraid of conflict. This old governor Xia Hou kept setting himself against him and even insulted him.

"For the matter about the contribution, the palace lord and grand governor will be the ones in charge for it. If they want to place the blame, it would never even be your turn. You best just take good care of your own duty. You don't have the qualifications to give orders to me." Qin Wentian icily replied, not giving Xia Hou any face at all.

"IMPUDENT!" Xia Hou berated as a violent aura gushed forth from him. Qin Wentian matched his glare, and when Beauty Xiao saw this, her beautiful eyes flashed with a bright light. What a handsome young lad, he even had such a personality. This is the type of men she loves precisely, he is leagues above that little gigolo Yin Qiu.

"Enough." A calm voice rang out. Everyone turned about and stared in the air, only to see numerous figures walking over here. The man in the lead was none other than the Lifire Empyrean. Beside him, there was a middle-aged man that exuded a tranquil aura. This middle-aged man was dressed in simple robes yet he gave off a feeling of being extremely strong.

This man was none other than the grand governor of the Lifire Palace, Zhuge Xiong. He was an extremely powerful character and had a peak-stage immortal emperor cultivation base. He was a trusted aide of the Lifire Empyrean and he was the leader of the five city region governors. They reported to him directly.

Behind the Lifire Empyrean, there were two more serving girls with extraordinary auras too. Their cultivation bases were actually both at the immortal emperor realm and were exceedingly beautiful. These serving ladies actually could also be considered the Lifire Empyrean's women. Given the Lifire Empyrean's status, he naturally understood how he should enjoy life. How could he lack beauties around him? These two were not only beautiful, they were also powerful and extremely meticulous in their care for him. If not, it was impossible for the Lifire Empyrean to keep them beside him.

"We pay our respects to palace lord and the grand governor." The various governors bowed. As for the two serving ladies, they would just maintain a respectful attitude. But because they didn't really have any status after all, there was no need to pay respects to them.

"Mhm." The Lifire Empyrean nodded. "The time for tribute payment has come again. This time around, everyone must have worked hard."

"To work for palace lord, this is what we ought to do." Governor Xia Hou bowed.

"Good. The two of you bring all the tributes over and account for them. After that, take out 10% and give it to each governor respectively." The Lifire Empyrean spoke to the two serving ladies beside him.

The two serving ladies walked forward as the five governors immediately placed the tributes they collected on the ground. They bowed slightly indicating respect, they didn't dare to show the slightest arrogance in their attitudes.

The tributes were then recorded properly and by rights, there was no way for one to embezzle anything. If one dared to do so, the penalty would be death. There would be no tolerance on this matter. Because, if there was even a single case that went unpunished, what would happen if all the subordinates started to embezzle the resources belonging to the Realmlord?

"Reporting to palace lord, Qin Wentian is guilty." At this moment, Qin Wentian honestly spoke. The Lifire Empyrean glanced at him and asked, "What crime are you guilty of?"

"Because I was tidying up my governor's manor, I have delayed my control over the northern region. Many powers there are unwilling to pay tribute resulting in the fact that this time around, the tribute collected from the northern city regions are the least. As for the 10% reward for governors, this subordinate doesn't dare to accept it. If palace lord wants to punish me, this subordinate would have no complaints as well." Qin Wentian humbly spoke.

The Lifire Empyrean nodded his head, "For many years, the contributions from the northern city regions has always been the least. I naturally wouldn't not understand this point, since you just took over, it's critical that you tidy up your subordinates first. Also, the three ex-vice governors dared to plot against you, attempting an assassination? This is simply outrageous. To speak of it, placing you in that position is actually me pushing a heavy responsibility to you. How could you be guilty of any crimes?"

The eyes of the other four governors flickered when they heard that. The Lifire Empyrean was truly polite to Qin Wentian. But when they thought of the Empyrean's plan, the four of them understood. After all, the main purpose of him making Qin Wentian the northern governor wasn't because of tribute collection, it was to deal with the Jialan Clan.

However, tributes was definitely the trigger point. Hence, given how intelligent Qin Wentian was, he ought to know what to do in the future. If not, if he had no value to him, why would the palace lord still leave Ye Qianyu alive?

"Many thanks to palace lord for your kind understanding. I hope palace lord can give this subordinate some time. I dare to guarantee that the tribute collection of the northern city region will return to normal." Qin Wentian spoke. This was then what he wanted to say. What he needed now was time. The Jialan Clan was a major player, if he wanted to contend against them, he and his subordinates now are simply too weak.

"Oh?" The Lifire Empyrean had an interested expression on his face as he smiled, "Since you are so confident, let this seat ask you then. How much time do you want?"

"A hundred years. This subordinate guarantees that all the powers in the northern city region won't dare to pay an iota lesser of tributes." Qin Wentian bowed. He also didn't know how long he needed but he asked for a hundred years to give him a breather. In this case, at the very least the Lifire Empyrean wouldn't make a move against him within a hundred years. He wouldn't do anything to Ye Qianyu as well.

The Lifire Empyrean gazed at Qin Wentian, Zhuge Xiong the grand governor, suddenly spoke, "What if you fail to accomplish what you said given the time frame? What should we do?"

"Palace lord can deal with me however he like to." Qin Wentian bowed.

"Palace lord regards you so highly, how would he punish you? You are my direct subordinate but since you dare to make such a guarantee to the palace lord, in that case, if you fail to do what you say within a hundred years, I shall deal with Ye Qianyu. But if you manage to accomplish what you say, I will help her beg for mercy instead. What do you think?" Zhuge Xiong laughed.

Staring at Zhuge Xiong's intelligent eyes, Qin Wentian nodded, "Sure."

A hundred years to Qin Wentian was considered very long. He didn't wish to really use such a long time but he had to stretch it out as long as possible. And also, to the Lifire Empyrean, a hundred years wasn't really considered a long time, it was just ten times of tribute collection. To reach his current cultivation realm, he had experienced too many one hundred years.

"Since Governor Zhuge has already spoken, I shall be waiting with anticipation." The Lifire Empyrean laughed. After Qin Wentian was promoted, he had no contributions. But his killing of the three vice governors made the Lifire Empyrean very pleased. After all, that was what he wanted Qin Wentian to do. He wanted Qin Wentian to deal with the Jialan Clan's influence.

This in fact, actually caused the Lifire Empyrean to be pleased as his plan naturally was for Qin Wentian to do his best to help him deal with the Jialan Clan's influence.

The Lifire Empyrean soon left after meeting everyone. Given his status, there was naturally no need for him to remain here for too long. The two serving ladies passed the 10% worth of tributes to everyone, including Qin Wentian too. Qin Wentian naturally didn't reject it.

"Governor Qin, do you want to visit my place tonight?" Beauty Xiao winked coquettishly at Qin Wentian as her arm was placed around his shoulder. However, everyone here already knew what sort of character Beauty Xiao was, they didn't feel strange about it. Only Yin Qiu felt extremely unhappy. He knew that in truth, he and Beauty Xiao were considered people on the same dao path. He had always been drooling over her beauty.

"There's no need to. I still need to return and tidy up my governor's manor." Qin Wentian smiled as he rejected.

"Then would I have a chance to go to the northern city region to look for you?" Beauty Xiao giggled, she already knew Qin Wentian would reject her earlier request.

"If Governor Xiao has the interest to, you can naturally come anytime. I'm only afraid I, Qin, might not be able to provide a satisfactory reception."

"It's fine as long as you personally bring me around." Beauty Xiao leaned against Qin Wentian, while he took a step back slightly. Beauty Xiao giggled even louder before she soared through the air, revealing her fair white legs to everyone as she departed.

"Beauty Xiao, wait for me!" Yin Qiu hurriedly chased after.

"Hmph." Xia Hou coldly stared at Qin Wentian. With a cold snort, he too departed the area.

Lin Ba cast another glance at Qin Wentian. He smiled, nodding his head before he left. Only after everyone left did Qin Wentian soar into the air. He turned his head back and glanced in the direction of the Lifire Jail. He didn't dare to forget that there was still someone waiting for him inside there.

In that dark and gloomy place, she would definitely not be able to get used to it, right? Although she kept smiling during that day, Qin Wentian knew how bad the conditions of the jail's environment was.

...

Although Qin Wentian made the guarantee of a hundred years to the Lifire Empyrean, he didn't do anything after he returned to the northern governor's manor. He headed straight for the cultivation platform and shut himself in for closed-door seclusion.

Right now, the entire manor could already be said to be under Qin Wentian's complete control. Even if there were spies from the Jialan Clan here, at the very least on the surface, Qin Wentian had complete control. The northern governor's manor was still as low-profile as ever, causing the anticipation of the powers of the northern city regions to gradually diminish, as everything reverted back to their earlier calm.

In the past, when they collected tributes, many powers didn't give and the governor's manor didn't take any actions against them. Right now, none of the powers requested the governor's manor to handle anything for them. Their low-profile behavior seemed to have given the powers of the northern city region another reason to reject paying out tributes during the next tribute-collection time.

As time flowed by, everyone gradually forgot the iron-blooded methods the newly appointed governor adopted when he slaughtered the three ex-vice governors. It seemed that the Soul Slaying Needle incident had truly frightened Qin Wentian, which resulted in the governor's manor taking no further actions.

In the blink of an eye, another ten years passed and the tribute-collection date had arrived. The amount of tributes collected from the northern city regions was as little as the previous time. When he went to the Lifire Palace, Qin Wentian was naturally met with mocking looks from the other governors again. Beauty Xiao was still trying to seduce him, Governor Xia Hou still didn't like him but Qin Wentian's state of heart was incomparably calm, he didn't care about all of this at all. It was like his personality changed after taking on the governor's appointment. He became the same as many of the previous northern governors and was only concerned with protecting himself. He was so low-profile that many gradually forgot his existence. The Jialan Clan also didn't seem to be able to find any chance to deal with him. After all, they couldn't simply barge into the governor's manor to assassinate him, right?

There were no commotions in the governor's manor but something happened in the Lifire City. During recent days, an exceptionally powerful character appeared there.

This man was extremely proficient in formations, especially sealing-types formations. As long as someone entered, even an individual whose cultivation base was much higher compared to his, would realize that there was only a path of death the moment they stepped into it. For a period of time, many minor and major powers clamored and treated him as an extremely valuable guest!