Bone Inspection Ceremony!

General Hu left the Hall and went to the Grey Manor with his family. He was carrying General Yang, his grandson, in his hands with a happy expression. General Yang on the other hand simply hugged what little part of General Hu's neck and sniffed the scent of battlefield which he hadn't in the past three years.

"How have you been these past years Xu'er?" General Hu asked with a smile after he sat down in the living room with his daughter, Shang Xu, his granddaughter Shang Shuan and grandson, Shang Yang. The girl in armor went to the kitchen to prepare tea.

Shang Xu smiled and recounted everything that happened the previous years. Naturally she left out all the depressing stuff and talked only about her son, Shang Yang, as that was the only thing good she experienced in the previous years.

General Hu was surprised when he heard that after his grandson had been born, their lives took a sudden change. His daughter's illness completely vanished and she started regaining her youth. His granddaughter's face started healing on its own and she had become even lovelier than before her face had been disfigured.

General Hu looked towards his grandson who had unknowingly climbed on his head and sat there with a smile. It even looked as if he quite liked that place.

"I see, Gu'er didn't do any injustice calling him Angel" General Hu said "I am eager to see what level his Bone Tier would be at." Listening to Genera Hu's words, Shang Shuan body shook fiercely as she looked at her younger brother worriedly.

"Shuna'er, don't worry. I won't let that King and Queen do to Yang'er what they did to you. I would like to see if they have the guts to do that once more" General Hu snorted in anger. His daughter and granddaughter were relieved somewhat while General Yang looked on curiously. It was at this time the girl in armor came with tea and served everyone.

After drinking some tea, General Hu looked towards the girl in armor, "Gu'er, how's your training going?"

The girl in red armor's eyes lit up when she heard the question, "It's going very well actually Grandfather, I have already entered the Whistling with Swing boundary with the sword"

"~hoh~ That is good progress, let's go and see how much you have progressed" General Hu said with a smile and he was about to stand up but his daughter stopped him.

"Papa, you just came from the borders and you cannot sit still for a while. Today you shall rest and spend your day with us" his daughter spoke in a firm tone and General Hu conceded.

......

Within the Green Cloud Palace, the new Queen Lin was walking furiously towards a certain direction. After a few turns, she came before a fairly large door and opened it. One would be stunned to see such a large metal door being easily opened by a woman with frail arms.

"Father, you have to serve Justice for me" Queen Lin exclaimed as she came into the room and walked towards an aged man sitting on the center seat of a semicircle table. This old man had a bald head with no facial hairs. The skin on his face was sagging down and had a large mole beneath his left eye.

This aged man was looking at some papers with a quill in his hands. When the Queen came in and cried, he placed his quill down and looked up.

"My Dear Daughter, who is it that dares to treat you with unfairness?" The aged man asked. The Queen's face was flushed with anger as she began describing her grievance.

"Father, today was my day to let everyone know about the coronation of the new Queen but that barbarian from the borders came today and disrupted everything that I had planned out"

The aged man sighed as he figured who the 'barbarian' his beloved daughter refers to.

"My Dear Daughter, you do know the fact very well that I cannot charge General Hu simply because he disrupted your plans to show-off your new entitlement to the Nobles of the Capital" the aged man sighed and reasoned with his daughter.

"Why Father, you are the Head of the Council as well as the Leader of the strongest family in the entire capital, the Chang Family. No one would dare question your words" The Queen spoke indignantly.

"Be that as it may, I am not the only one in the Council. My words will hold no power if no one would agree with me. The entire Council is filled with wise old fogies, who are not naïve to simply agree with me. The General is someone that makes all of us live carefree lives under our roofs and not worry about our lives" the aged man stated "In addition, if I charge the General with such a petty thing, my position as the Head will weaken considerably. It is why none of the council makes any problem with the Shang Family"

"Then why don't we take care of the General and simply take charge of the army? Then we will have a firm footing inside the Kingdom and no one would dare oppose us, if they like it or not"

"~sigh~ My dear daughter, leading the army isn't as simple as leading a few tens of people. If we destroy the General, no one in this Kingdom will be able to lead the army. Also, the army itself will rebel and destroy us"

"These peasants dare? My son is the personal disciple of a high ranking Teacher, he will be able to personally lead the army and he will do it much better than some old man with a foot in the grave"

"My beloved daughter, why are your aspiration so low? Your Son, my grandson, is someone with peerless talent. This backwater kingdom cannot contain him. Given some time, he will stand at the grand stage and possess the opportunity to enroll into a College within the Empire"

Hearing her Father's words, the Queen angrily turned and left the room. Her bones were made from pride itself; it won't take mere words to back her down.

......…

The next day, the King's Hall was filled once again for the Ceremony which was not commenced yesterday. General Hu along with his family were already in the hall. The eunuch came and announced the King and Queens arrival once more but this time, there was another addition.

"His Majesty, King Murong Baishi, Her Highness, Queen Chang Lin and Prince Han have arrived" The eunuch exclaimed. Along with the King and Queen, there was a young child of three or so years old holding the Queens hand. This boy wore golden robes with a small crown on his head. He had brown hair like the King and black eyes like his Father.

When General Yang saw the Prince, he suddenly frowned as he noticed a peculiar aura coming from the Prince. This was an aura that should not be present on a small boy like him. Focusing on his left eye, General Yang looked at the Prince and information appeared in his mind.

When General Yang went through the information, his frown deepened, 'How is it possible?'. He decided to put this aside for now and investigate about it in future.

Everyone in the Hall kneeled towards the King, Queen and Prince except five people. Three of them were from yesterday and the fourth was General Hu but it wasn't surprising he wasn't kneeling. The fifth one who didn't kneel today was Shang Gu, General Yang's cousin. Since her grandfather was present today, she didn't feel the need to kneel in front of the King and Queen today and plus, the King and Queen couldn't say anything about this either.

The King and Queen, with their teeth gritted at the blatant lack of respect, sat down on their thrones while the Prince sat down in the Queen's seat. The rest of the audience stood up from the kneeling position.

"Everyone must be eagerly waiting for the ceremony and so am I, hence I shan't delay any longer and command the ceremony to begin" The King decreed. The eunuch came forward with a cushion in his hand. On this cushion, many thin rectangular wooden strips were placed.

The eunuch opened his mouth and cried out in a high pitched voice, "All those are here for the Inspection, step forward"

With his words, everyone in the hall bar started moving. All the parents who came with their children stepped to the back of the Hall while the children who were here for the Inspection came forward. General Yang also stepped forwards and stood behind the rest of the kids.

The eunuch started instructing all the children, "One by one, when called step forward" Two servants came to the side of the eunuch. One held the cushion with all the wooden strips while the other held many pointed needles, each having a wooden handle.

One by one, the children were called. After a child's name was called, he or she would step forward go towards the eunuch. The eunuch would pick a needle and gently prick the child's finger after which he will let the blood drop on the thin wooden strip.

Under General Yang's curious gaze, the wooden strip started to visibly burn and decay. There was a scale on the wooden strip and after the burn and decay stopped, the eunuch would inspect how much the strip had been reduced to.

"Tier 3 Bone" the eunuch exclaimed the result of the child's bone tier inspection. The family of the child, the first whose bone tier was inspected became happy and joyful.

General Yang didn't expect the Bone Tier Inspection to be so simple. 'What's the use of doing this on such an occasion? Why can't these nobles just do it at home?' he thought. Although he asked that question to himself internally, he already knew reason.

Nobles and everyone in high positions cared about their so called 'face' and 'respect'. It isn't surprising for innocents to be killed simply because they did something that made these Nobles 'lose face'. This kind of occurrence was even more so in the Cultivation World.

The Bone Inspection Ceremony continued for two hours. General Yang noticed that the lowest Tier that anyone had was a boy with Tier 3 Bone.

"TIER 5 BONE" The eunuch suddenly cried out in surprise. Everyone turned their attention to the eunuch and saw a blonde haired bone standing in front of eunuch who had a half-length wooden strip. They were surprised since the highest that anyone had was Tier 4.

The King and Queen looked deeply at the child. The King suddenly looked guilty and the Queen showed a smirk and looked into the audience. General Yang became curious and followed their line of sight. When he saw who they were looking at and the one who was being looked at was looking down with hands clenched tightly, General Yang knit his eyebrows.

'Sister?'' he pondered as he looked at his sister's unease. He had noticed that whenever Bone Tier was mentioned, his Sister mood became unstable and from the gaze that the Queen and King directed at her, the matter wasn't simple.

General Yang noticed the parents of the children speaking with each other heatedly. He extended his Divine Consciousness to hear what they were speaking.

"A Tier 5 Bone was only ever seen once before" a fat noble stated.

"Yes, and I remember it was the Princess who possessed it" another spoke.

"~sigh~ unfortunately, I still pity her for what happened" a woman commented while looked at Princess Shuan with sympathy.

General Yang noted this and decided to check what all this was about. He would've ignored it if it was someone else but if the matter pertain his family, he didn't want anyone who harmed them to escape scot free.

A few children came after the blonde haired boy. There was one another girl, a red haired one who also awakened a Tier 5 Bone. General Yang noticed a glint in Queen's eyes when she looked at the girl and then at her son.

He knew only one use of these so called Bone Tiers which was that higher Tier Bones release purified Blood which did wonders to the body. Not only it increased the body's defense system, it also vitalized the body and made its natural healing factor shoot through the roof.

It was by increasing the Bone Tiers of his Mother that made her retain her youth and look as if she is 20 years or so while in fact she is more than 40. The same went with his Sister, whose face had not only healed itself but she gained with a more beautiful appearance than before, according to his cousin.

General Yang was amazed by these so called special Bones which weren't present or discovered when he was alive.

Finally, all the children had their bone inspected except two, the Princes. Everyone looked eager and expectant at results.

"I wonder what tier bone the two princes will awaken." A noble in the audience suddenly spoke. The rest of the nobles nodded as they had the same thoughts.

"I still recall the Crown Prince awakening a Tier 7 Bone Tier" another noble recollected with awe in his eyes. General Yang was heard those words and raised his eyebrows. The highest that anyone had in the crowd was the blonde haired boy and red haired girl. The so called Crown Prince possessing a Tier 7 Bone was surprising.

There were only two wooden strips left and two needles. The eunuch turned towards the Prince seated with his Mother, the Queen.

"Prince Han, according to seniority, please come forward to have your Bone Inspected" the eunuch requested amiably. General Yang and his family knit their brows at the eunuch's words and all the Nobles looked on quietly. They had enough tact to not interfere in the matters of the Royal Palace, as their politics were far more dangerous than the Nobles.

Prince Han calmly stood up and came down the steps. The eunuch took one of the two needles and pricked Prince Han's finger. He placed the needle back and took the wooden strip. Dropping the Prince's Blood on the strip, it started burning and decaying.

Everyone looked on eagerly as the wooden strip burned half-way through the strip and it didn't seem to stop. The wooden strip kept decaying and finally stopped after a short while.

"TIER 6 BONE" the eunuch cried out in an extremely high pitched voice. It was so sudden; the General Yang was taken by surprise as he had still released his Divine Consciousness. His Divine Consciousness covered the entire hall, and just imagine the entire hall filled with hundreds of eunuchs all screaming at the same time.

'Never ever release my Divine Consciousness with the eunuch around' General Yang noted to himself as he gently massaged his temples.

The noble parents broke out into a clamor as they looked at Prince Han with amazed and praising looks. Prince Han had truly gone according to their expectations.

"Congratulations Your Majesty, Your Highness" Everyone, except General Yang's family started praising and applauding the King and Queen. The King nodded calmly while the Queen had a prideful smile on her face.

The clamor died down after a while and finally it was General Yang's turn. The eunuch turned towards General Yang and spoke,

"Shang Yang, come forward" the eunuch spoke in a commanding tone. General Yang simply ignored it and walked towards him. The eunuch took the last needle and forcefully pricked General Yang's finger. He deliberately inserted the needle deeply and looked waited expectantly hear General Yang scream but he was destined to be disappointed. He looked at General Yang in surprise and saw him smiling which made the eunuch fell uneasy.

General Yang on the other hand wasn't smiling because of the eunuch's underhanded actions but because of something he noticed with his left eye.

-Blood Erosion Poison: 11th Rank Mortal Poison. Grey grade purity pill concocted by 11th Tier Alchemist. Starts eroding the Blood Essence within the Blood and damages the vessels. Fast acting acute poison used for impeding blood circulation and increases the pain receptor sensitivity, weakening the Blood Essence within the Blood to make it seem to be lower purity Blood.

Weakness: The poison acts fast and for a short amount of time, requires very large amount to damage the vessels considerably…-

General Yang looked at the Queen with his smile. A cold glint appeared within his eyes as he thought, 'You certainly have planned meticulously but are you really so naïve to think everything will go according to your expectations?'

General Yang had decided previously to lay low to not receive much attention but it seemed like he had to have a change of plans. Using his Divine Consciousness, General Yang controlled the blood coming out from where the eunuch had inserted the needle. He controlled blood from another in his Vessels and made it come out.

General Yang's blood dropped on the wooden strip and it began decaying. It decayed half-way through and still didn't stop just like Prince Han. After a while it stopped, exactly where Price Han's had stopped as well.

"T-T-TIER 6 B-Bone" This time, General Yang immediately shut his Divine Consciousness before he received any more damaged to brain. General Yang's family instantly became joyful hearing the result. The King looked calmly but the Queen's expression immediately became worse, as if she had eaten a pig's liver.

The Queen had just received the greatest shock of her life. She girt her teeth and looked at General Yang with extreme hatred and then turned towards the ex-Queen and showed her the same amount of hate.

'How, how, how is it possible? I had used a lot of resources to get that poison to tamper with the result of the bitch's vermin' she thought to herself in rage but the next moment, her expression changed as if she realized something 'if the result was this, then that means…'. The Queen's expression became even uglier and she looked at the previous Queen with her fist clenched and killing intent began emanating from her eyes.

However the moment killing appeared in her eyes, she suddenly felt an extreme chill run down her spine. Her mind blanked out as her heart almost halted beating for a second. The next moment, the Queen lost consciousness.

*thud*

"MAMA!" Prince Han suddenly screamed when his mother's weight came on him and they both fell down from their seat. The King stood up in shock and came near the Queen.

"My Love what happened?" The King became worried. He immediately picked her up and ran towards the Palace Doctor. Looking at his retreating figure and hearing what he had just said, the previous Queen became downcast.

The ceremony had come to an abrupt end and everyone started leaving. Unnoticed by anyone were General Yang's cold eyes that were looking at the fainted Queen in the King's arms.

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Author's Note:

Hey there everyone. Longest chapter of the novel yet, 3.2k words.