We have company

When it was getting dark another shadow seemed to be flashing towards the village, but did not move in the very top of trees.

Wudi turned his line of sight in that direction and was already to draw his sword before he heard a voice, "Calm down. Let's see what he is here for. I am also curious where this expert came from."

With the two of the hidden above the trees, almost like merging with them the person that arrived did not even detect their presence at all. He rushed into the village, eventually entering through some cave, that made the two attracted. Or to be more precise curious, as ever since he was reborn in this world he has read a lot of information and the thing that impresses him the most is news about ancient ruins.

From there it was proven that celestial realm really exists and it is also the reason he is confident in trying to achieve it too.

Flashing from where he was sleeping on the tree branch Ren Taijue approached the cave entrance before throwing some stones to check for traps.

After that he entered and Wudi did not follow but took another direction to check out the village and make counter measures in case things go awry.

Along the tunnel, Ren Taijue could see that the decorations obviously this cave was not as simple as it liked on the surface. "No wonder someone gathered all those able bodied men in this place. This does not resemble some ancient ruin recorded in the imperial study at all. Well let's move ahead and it will be easier to find out what is going on."

As he moved further in he could hear the sound of footsteps, obviously someone that had entered ahead of him was not far away. Eh slowed down his movements and with his high attainments in movement skill, he moved without making any noise.

It was convinient, allowing him to follow the man silently but soon he started to hear the sound of water and when he approached, it was indeed confirmed.

It was a pool in the middle of of the cave, and from the blue color of the water, this was not dug by the group rather existed here. Looking at the water, it reminded him of the ocean and he kept himself hidden to listen to any talk.

Lucky for him, other people were present in the cave, and after the man arrived they started to talk.

"You are late!" one of them said, seemingly angry. "I had to be careful and not as carefree as all of you. So when do we start?"

"Wait, we are still making arrangements. With this passage it would be easier to have access to the ocean and after we take those things erasing our trace will also be very simple." Ren Taijue just sat in his hidden zone, listening to their discussions.

From what he knew, the imperial family did not have any current business in the Jiangzhou Ocean region.

But he was more curious about what a group of Transcending Mortality experts were trying to steal. He did not plan to stop them at all, rather he was going to wait here for them.

"Lets see what makes this group of experts so willing to work together. It seems that the message sent from the spies had some inconsistencies or they did not even know what was happening. Just good this way, let's find out from them when the time comes.". With his eyes closed, he already had made up his mind.

*****'

Imperial palace, the emperor was sitting in his brightly lit room with a letter written only a few words.

"Old Man, Son is going out to play."

It was also the only explanation for not attending the court today. Had the emperor not been used to such words he would have gone in rage at this moment. But he also looked helpless, basically his son had a very bad reputation out there. But he did not care, much about it and once he asked him about it he said, "Old man having a good reputation is for you. I am not the emperor right? Good reputation is your problem, my bad reputation can make it easier to help you put some people in line if they try to misbehave."

Over the years he has indeed realized that it works, as long as he is emperor who cares about some vicious crown prince that will not intersect with them in the future. Some officials thought that the crown prince was trying to pretend to protect himself after all the affairs of the imperial family are complicated, but when they met the guy they realized they were overthinking.

Unlike all other members of the royal family the crown prince ussualy says what he is thinking without even swallowing back words. Probably it is the reason he has ways been the emperor favorite, no one can tell if it is true or not.

At the moment, the emperor looked to the side, where a man was hiding in the shadows. Before the emperor looked their no one would have thought someone was hiding there, but at the moment a man walked out and knelt before the emperor.

"There have been findings, but it seems that the crown prince already had made plans. We managed to get them from his men, who made an arrest this evening. Other than that, there have been many master appearing near the Jiangzhou region, and the crown prince seemed to have gone in that direction too."

Listening to the report from the man, the emperor nodded his head before speaking.

"Since Taijue has taken an interest in it, let him handle it. Where did that kid get his lack of ambition from, he actually dated to tell me he will give me a grand son to take over the position of crown prince." The emperor was indeed helpless, after all someone being a fool is not a problem, they can be assisted to be a ruler but someone being unwilling nothing could be done.

When he was young he also seemed to have been fighting against his brothers for the throne but his second son even despite having the tittle of crown prince did not bother with the court politics unless he was seeking trouble with officials.

The only good thing was that he managed to keep those martial arts at their best behavior over the years.

He also has leaned a lot from his son, and understands on being emperor the issue of feeling threatened always is foolishness. So what if others become powerful, then also allow the imperial family to do the same, and does not bother to target the military officials.

Besides, the rewards being offered to the officials in court all exclude land, and this was the policy he came in with.

His son also supported it, a making it such that anyone can be rewarded with a mansion in the capital but land in the country is not a resource that can be given out.

Ren Taijue knows how important land is, and also had plans on it, so it was best for the imperial family to control most of it.

Renting it out was allowed but it also came with conditions that benefited the nation before anything.