He knew his father was planning this banquet.

He knew the Emperor’s edict would legally bind her to walk directly into the heart of his palace.

The staycation was officially canceled, and the rest was an illusion.

"Ji’an! Did you hear?" General Lin turned to her, his face radiant with joy. "Your brother is coming home! The Emperor himself is throwing us a feast!"

Ji’an stared at her father.

She looked down at her right hand, her fingers twitching instinctively, aching for the cold, heavy, comforting grip of her Black Iron Spatula.

"Father," Ji’an said, her voice entirely flat, a thousand-yard stare locked onto the estate gates. "I need you to tell me exactly how many layers of security the Imperial Palace has."

"What?" General Lin blinked, confused by the question. "The Palace is an impenetrable fortress, Ji’an. There are skilled guards at every door. Why do you ask?"

"Because," Ji’an muttered, turning away and marching back toward the kitchens with the grim determination of a soldier walking to the gallows. "I need to calculate exactly how many ladles I can comfortably conceal beneath formal court robes without setting off the metal detectors. I am not walking into that sociopath’s dining room unarmed."

The Imperial Palace of the Azure Empire was not merely a residence; it was an architectural manifestation of absolute, terrifying geopolitical dominance.

Nestled in the very heart of the capital city, the palace grounds spanned miles of meticulously cultivated spirit-gardens, serene lotus lakes, and towering pavilions forged from petrified gold-wood and white jade. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

The defensive arrays woven into the very bedrock of the palace hummed with such a profound concentration of Qi that the air itself felt heavy, sparkling with ambient power.

It was a fortress designed to remind every visiting noble, merchant, and cultivator exactly who ruled the mortal realm.

As the Lin family carriage rattled over the polished obsidian cobblestones leading toward the Main Gate, Lin Ji’an sat rigidly on the plush velvet bench, internally reviewing her mental testament.

’Xiao Yichen is going to be there,’ her internal monologue chanted of impending doom. ’He is going to be sitting on a dais, surrounded by imperial executioners. He is going to single me out. He is going to make some horrifying comment about our carriage ride, and I am going to have to commit high treason with a soup ladle in front of the Emperor.’

She patted the space bracelet she got from her Master.

The heavy, cast-iron grip of her Black Iron Spatula was securely put in there, offering a tiny sliver of comfort against the overwhelming weight of the imperial state.

"Stop fidgeting, Ji’an," General Lin’s deep voice rumbled from the opposite bench, pulling her out of her panic.

The War God of the Azure Empire was dressed in his formal, ceremonial court armor, a breathtaking ensemble of interlocking silver dragon-scales over deep azure silk.

He looked majestic, terrifying, and completely unbothered by the political theatrics of the capital.

"I am not fidgeting, Father. I am just adjusting my center of gravity," Ji’an lied smoothly, pulling at the collar of her robes.

Because it was a state banquet, Ji’an could not wear her soot-stained gray apron.

She had been forcefully wrangled by the nanny, scrubbed until her skin was raw, and dressed in the formal, incredibly expensive attire befitting her newly acquired status.

She wore the pristine, flowing white spirit-silk robes of the Celestial Sword Sect.

The wide sleeves and the hem were intricately embroidered with silver thread, depicting the rolling clouds of the high peaks.

At her waist hung two items: the jade medallion signifying her rank as a Third Generation Elder of the Sect, and a secondary, golden tassel denoting her status as a scion of the Lin General’s Estate.

She looked flawlessly aristocratic and noble. The Yin-Yang Void Locket rested securely against her sternum, perfectly projecting the illusion of a breathtakingly handsome, ethereal young master.

"You have nothing to be anxious about, Third Brother," Lin Xuan piped up from the corner, adjusting his own formal robes, completely recovered from his motion sickness. "You are an immortal master now! Even the Emperor has to be polite to you!"

Ji’an blinked. She looked at her little brother, the words slowly penetrating the thick fog of her paranoia.

’Wait,’ Ji’an’s culinary brain paused, recalibrating the ingredients of her current political situation.

She wasn’t just the disgraced, supposedly talentless third son of a General anymore.

She was the sole apprentice of the Drunken Sovereign, a Martial Uncle of the most powerful orthodox cultivation sect in the Northern Territories.

In the intricate, delicate dance of Xianxia politics, the mortal empires relied heavily on the goodwill and protection of the major cultivation sects to deter demonic beast hordes and rival nations.

To the Emperor, Lin Ji’an was not just a subject. She was also a diplomatic bridge to the Celestial Sword Sect’s Inner Peak.

’Xiao Yichen can’t touch me here,’ the realization hit Ji’an like a blast of cool air in a sweltering kitchen. ’If the Second Prince openly attacks or humiliates an orthodox sect Elder at a state banquet, he won’t just offend my father; he will literally declare war on my mountain. The Sect Leader would have an aneurysm. Master Jiu Zui would probably drop a meteor on the palace. I am politically untouchable!’

The suffocating terror that had gripped her chest for the past three days instantly evaporated.

A slow, arrogant, insufferable smirk spread across Ji’an’s face.

She leaned back against the velvet cushions, crossing her legs with the elegant, careless swagger of a VIP who just realized she had a backstage pass to the universe.

"You know what, Xuan? You are absolutely right," Ji’an declared, brushing a speck of imaginary dust off her pristine white sleeve. "I am a Martial Uncle. I am a guest of supreme honor! If the sociopath looks at me funny, I’ll dock his sect merit points!"

"Go on and show off your powers, brother!" Xuan cheered and clapped for Ji’an as she showed off.