Visitors from the Xuan Sect

"Brother Dugu is at the peak of the second tier of the Saint level. Even if he were to run into a Saint at the middle stages, he would at least be able to run away, even if he was unable to win."

"Best head to the royal palace and ask that Saint-level warrior there. He would probably know what happened."

The group toured around the capital city before heading for the royal palace.

They then disappeared like specters and headed into the royal palace.

Back in the Shouning Palace...

Li Mu had a tingle.

Just when did so many Saint-level ones pop up all of a sudden? Didn't someone say that there were no warriors at this level in the country?

He started to watch silently.

One was at the fifth tier of the Saint level.

The other two were at the first or second tiers of the Saint level.

Are they from the Xuan Sect?

These three figures hovered above the royal palace twice and finally stopped at the top of the Library Tower.

"How come I didn't sense the presence of a Saint-level warrior in the royal palace?"

"Now that you mention it, I'm not sensing his presence either," the well-mannered young man commented in a surprised tone.

He was a personal disciple of the Xuan Sect and a warrior at the middle stages of the Saint level.

There was no way any warrior at these stages of the level could hide their presence from him.

He was even capable of peering into those at late stages of the Saint level.

Yet, he was unable to sense the presence of any Saint-level warrior at all.

They looked at each other.

"Maybe the guy is not in the royal palace. That's why we're unable to sense him."

"If that person is indeed such a formidable warrior of the royal family, why isn't there any record of him in the sect?"

The three of them looked at each other with increasingly puzzled looks.

"There haven't been any Saint-level warriors making their way into Great Xia either. If there had been a genius born locally, he would have achieved some fame out in the world as well."

They had checked all records regarding the world of warriors throughout the entire country before making their way here.

The information about warriors at the peak of the Spirit Manipulation Realm was fresh in their minds.

"Let's find an inn and take a break for a few days. We'll look for any information about that Saint-level warrior in the meantime."

"It's been a while since we left the mountain. We'll have fun for a few days here."

The three of them settled in an inn.

Back in the Shouning Palace...

Li Mu frowned. He was getting anxious.

I can't afford to wait any longer.

Regardless if the three of them were from that so-called Xuan Sect, their presence unsettled him all the same.

Back in the Imperial Study Room at night...

The emperor pinched his frowning brow.

Peace throughout the realm wasn't equal to people not trying to stir up trouble. He had read every single memorial at least three times over, before methodically trying to make his decisions.

"Your Majesty, it's getting late, and it's time to turn the pieces tonight."

Sigh~

The emperor sighed and turned over a piece without paying any attention.

He had been sitting on the throne for 16 years.

He had taken a lot of wives and a few had gotten pregnant. However, even those who'd managed to get pregnant had ended up producing offspring who were difficult.

He had initially speculated that perhaps the ones from Clan Dugu were behind it.

There hadn't been a prince who'd managed to grow much for the past three to four years.

Are all these my retribution?

The eunuch then excused himself, taking all the pieces with him, and proceeded to make arrangements about the place he would be staying for the night.

...

The emperor began reading the last two folding memorials.

"Take me to the Imperial Ancestral Temple."

He heard that voice that he had longed for as soon as he put down his brush.

He finally heard the voice again after three years.

He recalled what that voice had sounded like day and night throughout all these years, for fear of forgetting it.

He jolted up right away when he heard that voice again.

"Sir, are you running into some kind of predicament."

"I am."

"All right, I'll see to it at once."

The emperor appeared before the temple a while later with Li Mu in tow.

He then asked, while Li Mu was still in doubt about the location, "Sir, are you still around?"

"I am."

"I'm about to enter the passage. Will you be able to follow? The entrance will shut quickly as soon as the mechanism is activated."

The emperor took a peek behind him as he spoke.

He wanted very badly to take a look at his savior.

However, he was unable to see anything.

"I can keep up."

Li Mu had never expected that there would be an underground passage right under the fake temple.

So that's where it is, huh.

Broooom~

The door of the underground passage opened. A slit could be seen as a broad, thick, heavy stone door opened.

Very soon, the heavy stone door began to close.

No wonder I couldn't detect this underground passage beneath the temple. Given how thick the stone door is, there really is no telling if there are any living beings beneath it.

The two of them went inside the passage as soon as the emperor opened it up.

They came to an underground palace.

There was a deep well at the center of the underground palace.

Prenatal qi was thick in the place, making it feel very different.

"We're here. This the place where the grand ancestor of the royal family trains. You can train here if you need to, sir. The cavern residence over there was where the grand ancestor lived. My father delivered his meals once when he was very young. The door hasn't been opened for over 100 years now."

The emperor explained everything to him.

His tone got increasingly low as he continued.

Li Mu extended his senses behind that stone door and found no breaths in it.

"Right. I have been running into problems with making breakthroughs of late. Do not come and bother me for the time being," Li Mu explained.

"Oh, right, the grand ancestor once told us to never approach that well. I heard that there is a fearsome demon sealed inside it," the emperor added before he left.

He had still been unable to meet his savior.

There had been no need for the emperor to tell Li Mu that.

He could already sense the dangers lurking through his gut feelings alone.

When he sensed that the emperor had left the passage, he murmured, "Check in."

"Congratulations for successfully checking in at the Imperial Ancestral Temple. 200 years' worth of powers rewarded."

The reward was taken in.

He was astonished at just how huge that reward was.

200 years' worth of powers was able to propel him to achieve the fullness of the Saint level right away, making him half a Perfected Person.

A Perfected Person was a term referring to a level that he knew to be the very pinnacle of warrior training.

There hadn't been any records in the Library Tower mentioning what was beyond Perfected Person.

Just one more step! Prenatal qi here looks nice. I'll just train here tonight then.

...

He sneaked out of the passage and returned to the Shouning Palace at dawn.

Then he took a chance to exit the royal palace to locate the three disciples from the Xuan Sect, while Concubine Jing was still unaware of his absence.

The capital city at dawn...

The well-mannered young man took his younger brothers-in-training out for a stroll in the city.

"Brother, this place sure looks bustling. No way the dilapidated look back in the sect could compare."

"Is there even a need to mention it? If things were this prosperous and lively back in the sect, would you all be able to even focus on training? A man's time and mental energy are limited. You would gain less in other fields if you were to waste your time and energy enjoying yourselves," the young man explained.

Broken, dull-looking towns were the only places they had seen on their way to the capital.

Only the villages looked as if they had some life in them.

The prosperous look of the city before their eyes was indeed quite a sight to them.

It was something that they had never seen before.

"There are too many rules back in the sect. How about we just stay around and have fun for two more days. Well, we need to unwind from all that training after all. Besides, there's few information on that Saint-level warrior of the royal family to be had, and gathering intelligence will take time."

The middle-aged man looked at everything on the streets with a curious look on his face.

His feet felt as if they were rooted to the ground in places, especially when he happened to see all the pretty girls around.

"Yeah, we won't be able to find Brother Dugu for a while. Fine, we can rest for two days then."

The young man nodded his agreement.

Given that both of his younger brothers-in-training had asked, he found it hard to refuse their requests.

Despite claiming to stay around for fun, the three of them never forgot to gather information about the warriors of Great Xia.

The three of them gathered around to pool the information that they had gathered several days later.

"Old Demon Han disappeared from the world of warriors 18 years ago. There have been rumors saying that he was caught in the palace. Could that Saint-level warrior be him? What do you think?" The stout man asked.

"Old Demon Han was indeed a genius, and a lot of sects sent their disciples out to get in touch with him. Yet he was also a lazy person by nature and refused all of their offers due to not wanting to be bound by sect rules. If he were to have joined a sect, his powers could have probably reached the peak of early Saint level. What you propose is a viable possibility."

The young man recalled the information he'd learned of the sects and answered.

"Brother, but I have received news that Old Demon Han was defeated by someone in the palace in the first place, which was why he was caught. I feel that the other warrior in the royal palace would have to be halfway into Saint level. As such, I don't think that the Saint-level warrior from the royal palace would be Old Demon Han," the middle-aged man added.

"What else have you two been able to gather?"

The young man held his chin with one hand.

"I heard that there's a genius by the name of Liu Yu, who's the Ninth Prince of the royal family. He began training at 16, yet he was already at the late stages of the Acquired Realm after having trained for only four years. He's definitely a genius like no other."