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(A/N: Don't forget to give those power stones to Skyrim everyone!)
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"I swear it upon the spirits of my ancestors, and upon the very blood in my veins," Sima Yi vowed, his words echoing with absolute, unbreakable sincerity. "My family would never, ever think outside of the boundaries you have set. We know our place in the heavens. We will stay absolutely, fanatically loyal. Not just to the state of the Hengyuan Dynasty, but specifically, personally, and eternally to the Lie Clan. We are your swords, your shields, and your servants, until the end of time."
Lie Fan stared down at the kneeling genius for a few seconds longer, ensuring the lesson had permanently branded itself onto Sima Yi's soul. The absolute terror in his brother-in-law's eyes confirmed that the ambition of usurpation had been violently suffocated before it could even take its first breath.
Then, as quickly as the terrifying aura had manifested, it completely vanished.
Lie Fan nodded his head at that solemn oath. A warm, genuinely affectionate smile returned to his handsome face, entirely transforming him back into the benevolent sovereign and family patriarch.
Lie Fan reached down, grasping Sima Yi by the arm and gently but firmly hauling the Minister of War back to his feet. He patted Sima Yi heavily on the shoulder, the physical contact warm and reassuring.
"I know you will, Zhongda. I have never doubted the loyalty of our family," Lie Fan lied smoothly, though the warmth in his voice was real. "The Sima brothers will be a magnificent addition to the inner court. Your younger brothers could come and meet me tomorrow at the palace. Bring them to my private study after the morning court session concludes."
Lie Fan gave Sima Yi's shoulder one last, firm squeeze. "You may accompany them, of course. I will want you present as I test them, and as I check your younger brothers' capabilities to see exactly where their raw talents lie."
Sima Yi nodded his head rapidly, a massive, overwhelming wave of relief washing the tension from his rigid spine. He had walked to the absolute edge of the abyss, stared into the eyes of the dragon, and survived. He had secured his family's future at the very heart of the empire.
"I thank Your Imperial Majesty for your boundless grace, and for your most precious time," Sima Yi bowed deeply once more, his respect now cemented in absolute, unshakable fear. "I shall bring them to you tomorrow. May you have a restful evening, my Emperor."
With that, Sima Yi carefully took his leave, turning and walking swiftly down the corridor. He maintained his dignified, aristocratic posture, but beneath his heavy robes, his heart was hammering a frantic rhythm against his ribs, and his silk undershirt was drenched in cold sweat.
Lie Fan watched him go until he disappeared around a corner. The Emperor smiled softly to himself, turned, and continued his walk toward the Harem Palace, the Yellow Ghosts melting back out of the shadows to surround him.
The next day dawned bright and crisp over the towering, gilded roofs of the capital.
True to his word, Sima Yi had been awake since long before the sun breached the horizon. Inside the sprawling, luxurious Sima family manor, the Minister of War had personally overseen the preparation of his three youngest brothers.
He had inspected their robes, ensured their hair was pinned with flawless, modest precision, and spent over an hour lecturing them with terrifying intensity about the absolute, uncompromising etiquette required when standing before the Son of Heaven.
He made sure they understood that they were not walking into a classroom, they were walking into the den of the most powerful, dangerous man in the history of the world.
By mid-morning, as the massive bronze bells of Xiapi signaled the end of the formal court sessions, the Sima brothers arrived at the inner gates of the Imperial Palace.
Sima Yi walked at the head of the small procession, his expression a mask of serious, focused dignity. Walking tightly behind him, their eyes wide with a mixture of overwhelming awe and palpable nervous energy, were the three boys who represented the future of their bloodline.
Sima Yi brought his three most younger brothers to officially meet with Emperor Lie Fan at the imperial palace.
They were escorted by a senior eunuch through the labyrinthine, breathtakingly opulent corridors of the inner sanctum, eventually arriving at the heavy, iron reinforced oak doors of the Emperor's private study.
The eunuch announced their arrival, and the heavy doors were smoothly pulled open from the inside by two towering Imperial Guards.
Sima Yi stepped into the sunlit, expansive study, immediately bringing his hands together and bowing low. "Your Imperial Majesty. I have brought them, as commanded."
Lie Fan was seated behind his massive mahogany desk, a stack of freshly reviewed northern logistical reports pushed to the side. He wore comfortable, dark blue robes embroidered with subtle silver threading.
He set down his writing brush and looked up, his dark, calculating eyes immediately locking onto the three youths standing nervously behind his Minister of War.
"Come forward," Lie Fan commanded softly, his voice warm but carrying an undeniable, gravitational authority. "Let me look at the famous younger riders of the Sima clan."
Sima Yi stepped to the side, allowing his brothers to step forward into the full light of the study. They immediately fell to their knees, pressing their foreheads to the thick, imported carpets, their voices trembling slightly as they chorused their absolute reverence for the Emperor.
"Rise, and let us dispense with the heavy formalities for today," Lie Fan smiled, gesturing for them to stand. "You are here as family, and as prospective students. Stand tall."
The three boys scrambled to their feet, keeping their heads respectfully bowed, but stealing quick, nervous glances at the legendary conqueror sitting before them.
Lie Fan's eyes swept over them, his mind instantly cataloging their physical demeanors and the raw, unrefined potential hiding behind their nervous eyes.
Standing on the far left was Sima Jin, the oldest of the three at 17 years of age. He was on the very cusp of true manhood, possessing a tall, somewhat lean frame that had not yet fully filled out with adult muscle. He tried his absolute best to project a stoic, brave, and unshakable demeanor, thrusting his chin out slightly and keeping his hands firmly clasped behind his back.
However, the slight, rapid twitching of his jaw muscle and the way his knuckles were turning white betrayed the intense, overwhelming pressure he felt. Lie Fan noted the intelligence in his eyes, but also a rigid, traditional stubbornness, a young man who desperately wanted to prove he was already an adult.
In the middle stood Sima Tong, currently 15 years old. He lacked the tall, imposing height of his older brother, possessing a more compact, bookish build. But what he lacked in physical presence, he entirely made up for with his eyes. Sima Tong's gaze was sharp, darting, and incredibly analytical.
Even while standing nervously before the Emperor, he was subtly observing the room, taking in the stacks of ledgers, the maps on the walls, the placement of the guards, and the ink stains on Lie Fan's fingers.
Lie Fan instantly recognized the spark of a true, cynical strategist in the boy. This was a youth who did not just accept the world as it was presented; he was constantly calculating the hidden mechanics beneath the surface.
And finally, standing on the far right, was Sima Min, the youngest at a mere 13 years of age. He was still very much a child, with soft, rounded features and wide, incredibly innocent eyes that stared at Lie Fan with unadulterated, hero worshipping awe.
He possessed none of Sima Jin's rigid stoicism or Sima Tong's calculating sharpness. Sima Min was practically trembling with pure, uncontained excitement, looking at the Emperor not as a terrifying political entity, but as a mythical figure stepped straight out of the epic stories and legends he had been raised on.
There was a bright, eager intelligence in his youthful face, an entirely blank canvas ready to soak up whatever knowledge was poured into it.
Lie Fan sat back in his high backed chair, a slow, deeply satisfied smile spreading across his face.
He looked at the three boys, recognizing the sheer, terrifying depth of talent that the Sima bloodline consistently produced. He saw three brilliant, unrefined lumps of high quality steel, just waiting for the hammer and the forge.
"Sima Jin. Sima Tong. Sima Min," Lie Fan said, his voice rolling through the study, addressing each of them by name and commanding their absolute, undivided attention.
The boys straightened their spines, holding their breath.
"Your eldest brother tells me that you wish to step out of the academies and into the fire," Lie Fan continued, his dark eyes locking onto theirs, transmitting a fraction of the heavy, suffocating pressure of the throne. "He tells me you wish to learn what it truly means to serve the Hengyuan Dynasty. He tells me you have the potential to become the absolute perfect advisors and scholars for the next generation of this empire."
Lie Fan stood up slowly from his desk, his towering presence commanding the room entirely. He walked around to the front of the desk, stopping just a few feet away from the three youths.
"The academies teach you poetry, philosophy, and history," Lie Fan declared, his voice dropping into a solemn, commanding register. "But poetry does not feed a starving province. Philosophy does not break a charging cavalry line. And history is nothing but the shadow cast by the men who actually forge the future."
He reached out, his hand hovering over the heavy stack of logistical reports from the impending northern war.
"If you remain in this palace as my pages, you will not read about the world; you will carry the parchment that changes it. You will see the ugly, brutal, and terrifying realities of absolute power. You will learn that the ink on these ledgers is written with the blood of millions," Lie Fan warned them, his eyes piercing into their young souls, testing their resolve.
"I will push you. I will test you. I will demand perfection, and I will not tolerate failure," Lie Fan promised, his aura expanding to fill the room. "But if you survive my tutelage... if you can bear the weight of the Dragon's shadow... you will become the very pillars upon which my son, Crown Prince Muchen, will rest the heavens."
Lie Fan stopped pacing and looked directly at the three terrified, awe struck boys.
"Are you ready to abandon your childhoods, Sima brothers?" Lie Fan asked softly. "Are you ready to truly serve?"
Without a single moment of hesitation, without looking to their older brother Sima Yi for guidance, the 17 year old stoic, the 15 year old analyst, and the 13 year old dreamer simultaneously dropped to their knees, pressing their heads firmly against the carpet.
"We are ready, Your Imperial Majesty!" they chorused, their young voices ringing with absolute, desperate dedication. "We swear our lives to your teachings, and our blood to the Hengyuan Dynasty!"
Lie Fan looked over their bowed heads, catching the eye of Sima Yi, who stood silently in the background. Lie Fan offered his Minister of War a slow, knowing, and deeply triumphant nod.
Lie Fan then turned his piercing focus back on the three young Sima brothers, the lingering warmth of his previous smile completely evaporating.
The air in the study immediately grew cold and dense, heavy with the suffocating gravity of the imperial mandate. He looked down at the three boys, who were still kneeling on the imported carpets, their chests heaving with the adrenaline of their sworn oaths.
"Since you possess such a strong, undeniable conviction to serve me and the Crown Prince," Lie Fan told them firmly, his voice echoing off the stone walls like a closing vault door, "your ultimate test will start from right now."
The boys stiffened. Sima Jin's knuckles turned a shade whiter, Sima Tong's eyes darted upward to gauge the Emperor's expression, and Sima Min held his breath, waiting for the first command.
"To serve the Dragon Throne, you must belong entirely to the Dragon Throne. A man cannot serve two masters, and a mind divided by familial loyalty is a mind that will eventually shatter under the weight of this empire," Lie Fan declared, outlining the absolute, uncompromising reality of his court. He began to pace slowly in front of them, his heavy boots measuring the silence of the room.
"Therefore, your connection and communication with the powerful Sima Clan will be strictly cut off during the entirety of your test," Lie Fan announced.
The words struck the boys like physical blows. For aristocratic youths of their standing, their family name was their shield, their wealth, their identity, and their entire world. To be severed from it was to be stripped naked in a blizzard.
"You will not send letters home. You will not receive couriers from your mother or your father. You will not seek out your eldest brother, the Minister of War, in the corridors of this palace to ask for favors, advice, or leniency," Lie Fan warned them, his dark eyes boring into their young souls. "If I discover that a single message has been passed between you and your clan, you will be dismissed immediately, and the shame upon your house will be permanent. You are no longer the pampered scions of the Sima estate. You are my pages. You belong to the state."
Lie Fan stopped pacing, ensuring they understood the grueling timeline of their new reality. "And you must understand, this grueling trial could last for quite some time. It will not end in a week, or a month. It will end when I look at you and see men forged of pure iron, rather than boys wrapped in soft silk."
Despite the terrifying severity of his demands, Lie Fan was not a tyrant who sought to break them through mere cruelty. He was an architect building a foundation.
"However," Lie Fan told them, his tone softening just a fraction to reassure them, "you need not worry about your physical well being. The Hengyuan Dynasty does not starve its servants. You will receive proper living quarters within the imperial grounds. You will be provided with fair, standard wages for your daily duties, paid in copper, exactly as any common scribe or messenger of the court is paid. You will earn your bread with your own sweat."
Lie Fan gestured toward the heavy oak doors of the study.
"I will allow you to go back to your home briefly today. You will pack your belongings, say your farewells, and prepare your minds. But before the sun sets tonight, you will return to the palace gates, and the strict isolation begins," Lie Fan concluded, crossing his arms behind his back.
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Name: Lie Fan
Title: Founding Emperor Of Hengyuan Dynasty
Age: 36 (203 AD)
Level: 16
Next Level: 462,000
Renown: 2325
Cultivation: Yin Yang Separation (level 11)
SP: 1,121,700
ATTRIBUTE POINTS
STR: 1,010 (+20)
VIT: 659 (+20)
AGI: 653 (+10)
INT: 691
CHR: 98
WIS: 569
WILL: 436
ATR Points: 0