An Understated Dominance

Margaret stood before a mountain of nautical charts, her fingertips gliding gently over the yellowed parchment. The cinnabar-red routes drawn on them looked like congealed trails of blood, glowing eerily under the flickering candlelight. When Dustin pushed open the door, he saw her tucking a thick stack of leather-bound ledgers into a rosewood chest. Glimpses of titles like Fresh Water Reserves and Ration Allocations showed her meticulous planning for the upcoming voyage. “Any news from the fishermen?” Dustin asked. Margaret looked up, her eyes reflecting the deepening twilight outside the window. “Su Lan just got back from the harbor. Found an old fisherman with the surname Qin.” “He claims he saw a mirage near the Blackwater Trench three years ago. Said there were floating pavilions and jade towers among the clouds, and at the front stood a stone tablet carved with the word ‘Penglai.’” She paused, tapping her fingers on the desk. “But the old man said the vision lasted ...

When Li Weimin’s decree was issued, reactions across the factions varied. At that moment, Li Wenxing was in his study, weighing the pros and cons of the recent trip to Southern Frontier. Although he hadn’t stood out much, compared to Li Guanglong and Li Juntang, he was still the more capable one. But this minor advantage clearly wasn’t enough to change the overall outcome. Just then, Qian Jin rushed in and reported, “Your Highness! A message from the palace --- His Majesty’s condition has worsened, and he has only a short time left. He has issued a special decree: any royal family member who can journey to Penglai Island and retrieve the elixir will become the future crown prince!” “Future crown prince?” Hearing this, Li Wenxing’s spirits lifted immediately. But soon after, he frowned. He had, of course, heard of Penglai Island --- but only in legends. Whether it truly existed in the East Sea, and whether it held any elixir that could extend life, remained unknown. ...

Five days passed in a flash. The plague in the Southern Frontier had finally subsided, though the situations across the cities varied greatly. The first city hit, Pucheng, surprisingly suffered the least. The people there had been properly taken care of. Next was Wugang, which, due to its proximity to Pucheng and the timely intervention of Margaret, was also able to eradicate the mutated plague after paying a certain price. In stark contrast, Lincheng and Liyang --- though they also managed to eliminate the plague --- paid a devastating price. Tens of thousands of civilians were burned to death, their corpses piled like mountains. Despite Li Guanglong and Li Juntang’s efforts to suppress the truth under the guise of preventing further spread of infection, the news still leaked out. For a time, the court and the public were abuzz with debate. Some condemned Li Guanglong and Li Juntang for their brutality, while others believed that extraordinary times called for extraord...

At this moment, the skies above Lincheng were shrouded in thick black smoke. The once-bustling streets were now deathly silent, the air thick with the choking stench of scorched flesh, blood, and decay --- an odor that turned the stomach. In the mass graveyard in the city’s southwest, raging flames still crackled, devouring the last traces of life. Charred corpses twisted grotesquely in the fire, and occasionally, half-burned limbs tumbled out from the pyre, exposing pale, white bones. Li Guanglong stood atop a slope, clad in a protective suit, gazing emotionlessly over the hellish scene below. There wasn’t the slightest ripple in his sharply defined face, as if what burned beneath him weren’t thousands of human lives, but a pile of worthless dried grass. The dark red bloodstains on his protective suit had long dried, and now glimmered eerily under the sun. “Your Highness, we’ve just found another thirty-seven plague-infected commoners in the western district. They’ve all b...

Li Wenxing’s expression was grim. He was the high and mighty Crown Prince, and yet now Margaret had stolen the spotlight --- he was naturally displeased. If all those infected with the plague had died, he could’ve sealed off the news and buried the matter cleanly. But now that Margaret had stirred things up, it was no longer something he could cover up. Worst of all, it was Margaret who had saved those people. By comparison, he --- this Crown Prince --- looked utterly incompetent. Still, displeased as he was, he had to maintain appearances. The rain had just stopped, and damp steam still rose from the ruins of Wugang City. Li Wenxing stepped through the mud with a smile as warm as a spring breeze plastered on his face. “Margaret, you look worn out --- surely you’ve overworked yourself. Come back to camp with me. I had the cook prepare some ginseng soup --- it’ll warm you right up.” Margaret wiped the rain from her cheeks. Her dark battle robe was soaked through with m...

As the rain finally began to let up, the isolation zone within the wooden barricades started to take shape. Margaret moved through the rows of shacks, her white dress soaked through with blood and grime. Her skirts clung to the ankle-deep mud, but she paid no attention. She didn’t even bother wiping the herbal residue from the corner of her lips. With practiced precision, she drove a silver needle into a child's darkened fingertip, squeezed out half a bowl of foul, blackened blood, and quickly poured warm medicinal broth into the child’s cracked lips. "We still need twenty more stretchers for the third row of shacks!" Her hoarse voice, rasping like sandpaper from constant shouting, echoed across the makeshift camp. Not far away, Dustin was searing the infected wounds of patients with golden flame. Threads of golden light danced through torn flesh, burning away squirming maggots with ruthless precision. The elderly man beneath his hands trembled in agony, biting ...

"You filthy peasants really have some nerve! How dare you attack a Dragonmarsh officer! I swear you'll all pay for this!" Bound in rope, Zhao Hu struggled and shouted threats. Without a word, Margaret raised her hand and slapped him several times across the face. The blows left Zhao Hu dizzy, his cheeks swollen and blood seeping from the corner of his mouth. "A man like you is fit to serve as an officer of the Dragonmarsh? I will personally see to it that you're dismissed and investigated!" "Dismiss and investigate me? Hah! Who do you think you are? What a joke!" Zhao Hu showed no fear at all. He was, after all, a trusted subordinate of Li Wenxing. Aside from the royal family, no one had the authority to remove him from office. "Enough!" Just then, a stern voice rang out from behind. Clad in protective gear, Li Wenxing arrived on the scene with a large entourage. Seeing him, Zhao Hu’s expression lit up with delight. ...