Help finding an old sneak peak novel

[lukelord99]

I am trying to find a novel that was on the site as a sneak peak 5 or 6 years ago. I don’t think it’s on the site anymore but if it is and some one could point it out that would be incredible.

so the MC is one of the many sons of the emperor. His mom died and so he lost his backing and is treated like an outcast. He purposely acts incompetent cause otherwise his other brothers might try to kill him. He’s at the imperial institution and finds a book that ends up being some kind of artifact that proves the emperors right to rule. For context the current emperor doesn’t have it so his rule could be seen as not being totally legit. The artifact is necessary to do the proper cultivation I think? It basically has a lot of uses like cultivation and alchemy. For instance I think I remember MC refining special beetles into pills using the artifact. 
 

so he finds the artifact and starts actually getting stronger. But the novel focus more on MC maneuvering through the political landscape rather than just being a martial god who can beat up whoever tries to stop him. 
 

the last section I remember reading involved MC having to go to the border or another province in order to quell barbarians and or rebellion. Can’t remember exactly. He’s traveling by boat with another girl who I think is a love interest? Can’t remember if she’s one of the princesses or a different type of royal family member but her family has big sway in the imperial court. They get ambushed and he shows off a little bit with what he’s been practicing with the relic. 

that’s as far as the translation went because it was in sneak peak. I think it had only like 30-50 chapters at the time. Had lots of dragon symbolism I think. Like the emperor I think was referred to as like dragon emperor. And the relic was like dragon mandate or something. Maybe not I can’t remember exactly. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me find this novel.

[Angely]

I think it was Dragon Talisman?  The one RWX wanted to translate & same author as Sage Monarch, right? Here the NU link https://www.novelupdates.com/series/dragon-talisman/ 

 

It was unfortunately dropped & now only maybe through MTL if you want to read it in English.

Edited November 1, 2023 by Angely