43: Chapter 43 Preparation

After deciding to head to the Zhongyuan Region, Chen Yuanji was in no hurry to set out. Instead, he spent a month making preparations. During this month, he only did three things every day: cultivating, teaching, and gathering intelligence. These three tasks alternated, and his days passed like a wound-up clock—precise and rigid.

Regarding his cultivation, his Half-Step Divine Realm had already stabilized, but he was still some distance from the true God Realm. The threshold of the God Realm was "neither see nor hear, yet be able to know beforehand," where one could perceive everything around them without needing eyes to see or ears to listen. In his past life, he had practiced for a lifetime without even touching the threshold. In this life, with the assistance of the martial gods heart and the ancient jade, he could vaguely sense where that door was, but he still lacked a key.

"What is the key?" he asked Shen Wuchang.

Shen Wuchang thought for a moment. "Martial will. You were able to defeat Zhou Xuanji by relying on the hard power of your Gang Energy. But the God Realm is not something that can be broken through with hard power alone; it requires 'enlightenment.' If you attain enlightenment, you can break through overnight. If you don't, you'll be stuck outside the door for a lifetime."

Chen Yuanji did not press further. When it came to things like enlightenment, asking others was useless; one could only rely on oneself.

In terms of teaching, both Su Xiaohu and Lu Yao made rapid progress. Under Granny Hu's care, Su Xiaohu's Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox Bloodline finally underwent an Awakening of two tails. Two fluffy, pale-golden tails swayed behind her, and her cultivation jumped directly from the Early Stage of the Guiyuan Realm to the Early Stage of the Shentong Realm. This was the terrifying aspect of a Bloodline Awakening; there was no need to Cultivate, as the Bloodline would improve on its own.

"Brother Chen, I'm in the Shentong Realm now!" Su Xiaohu stood with her hands on her hips, looking triumphant.

"The Shentong Realm was given to you by your Bloodline, not by your own efforts," Chen Yuanji said, dampening her spirits. "A Bloodline can give you a Realm, but it can't give you combat strength. If you were to encounter a battle-hardened Early Stage Shentong Realm expert, they could flatten you with one hand."

Su Xiaohu pouted and obediently went to practice her Stake Training. Lu Yao did not have the advantage of a Bloodline Awakening, but her basic skills were much more solid than Su Xiaohu's. Stake Training, Five Elements Fist, and Eight Trigrams Steps—she had practiced every Move thousands of times, and they had already become muscle memory. Although her cultivation was only at the Middle Stage of the Guiyuan Realm, Chen Yuanji knew that in an actual fight, Su Xiaohu would be no match for her.

"Lu Yao, come here," Chen Yuanji beckoned. Lu Yao ran over, beads of sweat still hanging on her forehead.

"With your current skills, what you lack is not Moves, but actual combat." Chen Yuanji pulled a token from his robe and handed it to her. "This is a token for the Coliseum of the Demon Emperor Palace. Take it and sign up. Start fighting from the Early Stage of the Guiyuan Realm and keep going until you can't fight anymore."

Lu Yao took the token and nodded without asking any questions. She never asked much; she simply did whatever Chen Yuanji told her to do, which was the biggest difference between her and Su Xiaohu. As for intelligence, Shen Wuchang used his old connections in the Zhongyuan Region to scout the movements of the Tiandao Sect and the Seven Ancient Clans.

"The Tiandao Sect has been very quiet lately." Shen Wuchang spread out a map and pointed to the location of the Zhongyuan Region. "After Zhou Xuanji was injured by you, it seems something went wrong within the Tiandao Sect. Some say his status in the sect has plummeted, while others say he is in secluded meditation to heal his injuries. There are all sorts of rumors."

"What about the Seven Ancient Clans?"

"The Jiang Clan has been recruiting experts lately." Shen Wuchang's expression turned grave. "It's said that the Ancestor of the Jiang Clan is nearing the end of her life and is preparing for a major event that requires a large amount of manpower. As for what exactly it is, I couldn't find out."

Chen Yuanji fell silent for a moment. The Ancestor of the Jiang Clan was nearing the end of her life. This meant there might be a power struggle within the Jiang Clan, and since his mother was a legitimate daughter of the Jiang Clan and he had Jiang Clan blood in his veins, he couldn't distance himself from this matter.

"Anything else?"

"There's one more piece of news, though I don't know if it has anything to do with you." Shen Wuchang pointed to the location of the Great Yan Imperial Dynasty on the map. "The Empress of Great Yan, Empress Yan Wuji, has recently been reorganizing the imperial court and purging dissidents. Several major noble families have had their properties seized by her, and among them was... the Marquis of Zhenguos Estate."

Chen Yuanji's gaze sharpened. "What happened to the Marquis of Zhenguos Estate?"

"Don't be nervous, it's not bad news." Shen Wuchang waved his hand. "Empress Yan Wuji only stripped Chen Tianxiong of his marquisate, but she didn't kill him; she only demoted him to a commoner. I heard she even gave him a sum of money to live out his old age in peace. This Empress was quite lenient toward your father."

Chen Yuanji breathed a sigh of relief. His feelings for Chen Tianxiong were complicated; he couldn't say they were close, but that was the original host's father, and he didn't want anything to happen to him.

"Empress Yan Wuji..." he murmured.

The prince who had disguised himself as a man was now the Empress of Great Yan. She had purged the court and seized the properties of major noble families, yet she had shown mercy only to the Marquis of Zhenguos Estate. Was it because of him? He didn't know.

"There's one more piece of news." Shen Wuchang took a letter from his robe and handed it to Chen Yuanji. "This was sent by someone on behalf of Old Xuan."

Chen Yuanji took the letter and opened it. The paper was very thin, with only a few lines of text written in a messy scrawl, clearly written in haste: 'Brat, this old man is still alive. My injuries are mostly healed, and I'm currently investigating something in the Zhongyuan Region. The Tiandao Sect has been excavating an ancient ruin lately, which is said to be related to the Martial Dao Divine Court. If you come to the Zhongyuan Region, find me at this place. The address is on the back of the letter.'

Chen Yuanji flipped to the back, where a location was written: Zhongyuan Region, Cangwu Mountain, Qingfeng Temple. He folded the letter and tucked it into his robe.

"Old Xuan is still alive," he said to Shen Wuchang.

Shen Wuchang was stunned for a moment, then grinned. "That old fellow sure is tough to kill."

A month passed quickly. Chen Yuanji settled the affairs of Heavenly Demon City: Su Xiaohu remained at the Demon Emperor Palace to continue her cultivation, Lu Yao went to the Coliseum for actual combat, Shen Wuchang oversaw the Yaofeng Pavilion, and Bai Xue returned to the Mist Forest to keep an eye on the Tiandao Sect's movements.

On the night before his departure, Chen Yuanji went alone to the backyard of the Demon Emperor Palace. The light was still on in Su Xiaohu's room, and the light in Lu Yao's room was also on. He stood in the courtyard for a long time but ultimately did not knock on their doors. Some farewells did not need to be spoken aloud.

The next morning, before the sky was even bright, Chen Yuanji led his Wuzhui Horse out of the city gate. Behind him, the silhouette of Heavenly Demon City loomed indistinctly in the morning mist. On the city wall, two small figures stood there—one with fox ears and one with deer antlers: Su Xiaohu and Lu Yao. They did not call out to him; they simply watched silently as his figure disappeared into the morning mist.

"Will Brother Chen come back?" Su Xiaohu asked.

"He will," Lu Yao said. "He promised us."

The two girls stood on the city wall until the sun rose and the mist dissipated before turning to walk down. Outside the city gate, Chen Yuanji rode his Wuzhui Horse along the official road toward the Zhongyuan Region. Ahead lay an unknown journey; behind were the people he cared about.

"Let's go." He gently patted the horse's neck. The Wuzhui Horse let out a neigh and galloped away, its four hooves kicking up dust.