Chapter 11: The Emperor Passes On |
The Fearless Lion Imprint that he gained from signing in allowed Lin Jiufeng to have another powerful martial art, the addition of this martial art would surely increase his capabilities.
Previously, he only had a few sword techniques.
But now that he had another technique up his sleeves, he finally had something that he could consider as his trump card.
After signing in, Lin Jiufeng entered the Cold Palace.
Once the gates closed, nobody knew that he had once left the place.
As for the disturbances of the outside world, they all had nothing to do with Lin Jiufeng.
Seven days soon passed.
As always, Lin Jiufeng quietly cultivated, striving to improve his potential. He focused on his sign-in routine for the sake of the Core Condensing Pills that he needed to make an early breakthrough past the Golden Core Realm into the Grandmaster Realm.
If he had been a Grandmaster in the past, he could be considered as one of the country's trump cards. But since the appearance of a Martial Sage, Grandmasters didn't seem to be that of a big deal to him anymore.
He came with delicious dishes and good wine. As usual, he shared the happenings within the imperial capital to Lin Jiufeng at the gates of the Cold Palace.
"Your Royal Highness, the people from the various demonic sects have already retreated, the members of the daoist sects and buddhist sects are also slowly taking their leave. The common people of the imperial capital have resumed their quiet life once more," Dachun said.
"It's a good thing." Lin Jiufeng drank a mouthful of good wine and commented.
"I heard that a few vassals previously wanted to overthrow the Yuhua God Dynasty under the commotion created by the Among Flowers Sect's Patriarch's attack. But now, they seemed to have quietened down. They have expressed their allegiance to the throne," Dachun said.
"Without capabilities at the Martial Sage realm, they wouldn't dare to rise in rebellion." Lin Jiufeng was completely unbothered by these things.
These vassals were loyal subjects who had accompanied the Yuhua God Dynasty on its establishment in the early years. As a reward for their loyalty, they were subsequently given a part of the land to manage, but their descendants weren't as loyal as their predecessors.
Those nine vassals were currently the mortal malady of the Yuhua God Dynasty.
Back when he was Crown Prince, they were also a great worry for Lin Jiufeng.
But they weren't his problems to think about now, they were the troubles of the Sixth Prince and the current reigning Emperor.
He would just sign in peacefully.
After eating and drinking his fill, Dachun left.
Lin Jiufeng's life was very tranquil, he cultivated quietly.
As for Nameless…
Even though he was resurrected because of the Netherworld Corpse Control Technique, and a new soul was born from within him, birthing a new consciousness that formed the current Nameless.
He still wasn't a 'human' in principle.
To be precise, he was merely a puppet that took orders from Lin Jiufeng.
He was at the Martial Sage Realm but was eternally unable to progress.
Moreover, if Lin Jiufeng had no orders for him during the usual days, he would keep lying inside the copper coffin.
Signing in day by day, Lin Jiufeng didn't receive Core Condensing Pills from each of his sign-ins.
He sauntered around the entire Cold Palace.
On this day, he arrived at an abandoned palace.
Qianyuan Hall!
Locked up in this hall were the two brothers who had contended for the throne with the current emperor back in the past. In other words, Lin Jiufeng's uncles.
After they died of grief, this place subsequently became deserted. No one came to tidy it, and it had long become overgrown with weeds that were covered in dense cobwebs. The palace looked dilapidated with broken and collapsed walls. It was evidently difficult to settle here.
Lin Jiufeng looked at the dilapidated place, a helpless streak of sword energy swept across and cleared the weeds.
[Sign-In at Qianyuan Hall?]
A line of words appeared before his eyes.
"Sign in!" Lin Jiufeng said without hesitation.
He wanted to see what he could receive from signing-in at such a place.
[Sign-In successful. Received Millennium Frost Jade Bed!]
Lin Jiufeng looked at this sentence in surprise.
He immediately returned to his courtyard.
As expected, there was a frost jade bed that constantly emanated a freezing cold air in his courtyard. It wasn't considered big though, it was just a single bed in size.
This was a thousand-year-old frost jade bed, an item of great nourishment to cultivators.
Cultivating on the frost jade bed could help one's human body absorb the natural spiritual energies in the air, achieving twice the result with half the effort.
"With this frost jade bed, my path to the Grandmaster Realm isn't far off," Lin Jiufeng said in delight.
He immediately moved the frost jade bed into his room and started cultivating on it.
Sure enough, his gains throughout a single day were equivalent to his cumulative gains of three days without the frost jade bed.
This was already very fast.
Except for his daily routine of signing in, Lin Jiufeng spent the rest of his time cultivating on the frost jade bed every day.
Time moved in a flash, half a year went by.
Within half a year's time, Lin Jiufeng had raised his cultivation base to the Grandmaster Realm.
He was already at the third step of the Grandmaster Realm.
The Grandmaster Realm was divided into nine steps.
Everyone referred to these steps as 'nine steps toward the sky'.
Most Grandmaster cultivators would never be able to complete these nine steps in their entire life, but this wasn't difficult for Lin Jiufeng. Especially after he obtained the frost jade bed, his cultivation speed had truly improved, significantly.
Nothing special happened in the imperial capital in these six months.
Every time Dachun came over, the matters he spoke of were small, trivial ones.
However, when Dachun came this time, he said solemnly to Lin Jiufeng, "Your Royal Highness, His Majesty seems to be dying, the court officials and the commoners are all talking about this issue."
Lin Jiufeng asked curiously, "He's only 50 years old. According to his cultivation base, living up until 300 years would not be a problem. How could he be dying?"
"It is said that His Majesty had forcefully cultivated the imperial household's mystic technique and damaged his foundation, he couldn't be cured at all…"
"In the recent six months, his condition became more severe, the state affairs and whatnot were left to the Sixth Prince's supervision. His Majesty hasn't been going to the court much during these recent three months," Dachun explained.
Lin Jiufeng was stunned.
This Father Emperor of his that he had gotten without effort was really going to pass on?
Then, that younger brother of his would become the Emperor of the Yuhua God Dynasty.
This news that Dachun brought this time caused quite a big fluctuation in Lin Jiufeng's mood.
In any case, he was the father of this body.
It was impossible to be completely indifferent.
…
Forbidden City, Central Hall.
The current Emperor was already a bag of bones.
Half a year ago, he was still the dignified emperor; half a year later, he was on his deathbed.
Outside the Central Hall, court officials knelt in a row, grieving looks were on their faces.
Inside the hall, there was only the current Emperor and the Crown Prince.
The current Emperor has been in a coma for a month.
Right now, he temporarily regained his consciousness right before his death.
He opened his eyes to ask this question, "Child, have you found that Martial Sage senior?"
The Sixth Prince shook his head and answered softly, "I have not. We don't have any information about him at all."
"It seems that this Martial Sage senior does not wish to be disturbed."
"You have to continue searching but do not let up in training your own people."
"Right now, a Martial Sage has already appeared, a great change has come to the spiritual energy of the world, cultivation has become easier to do."
"In the future, there will be many, many, Martial Sages that will emerge…"
"The Yuhua God Dynasty must have its own strength."
The Emperor gripped the Sixth Prince's hand tightly and conveyed some hidden matters with great difficulty.
A great change in the spiritual energy of the world…
Cultivation has become easier to do…
Only a handful of people from some major forces knew about these matters.
"In the future, when the massive change finally hits the world, the Yuhua God Dynasty must have countermeasures for it. And the vassal influences, after you accede to the throne, you have to handle them well."
"I understand." The Sixth Prince agreed.
The Emperor gasped. "About your older brother, back then, it was in a fit of anger that I wiped out his cultivation. At that time, he released the Heavenly Concubine, the court officials and the commoners were extremely displeased…"
"You can improve his life, do not let him out for now, but as for later on…"
Before his words fell, his hands loosened.
The Sixth Prince shouted loudly in sorrow, "Father Emperor!"
Court officials of all ranks outside the hall also started wailing.
…
On this night, Lin Jiufeng looked at the moon from inside the Cold Palace.
He was dressed entirely in white with a peaceful countenance.
All of a sudden, nine tolls of a bell sounded from inside the Forbidden City.
Nine represented the imperial throne.
The bell represented death.
The current emperor, that Father Emperor of Lin Jiufeng, who had become his father without much effort, had passed on.
At his moment, weeping came from everywhere in the imperial capital.
Lin Jiufeng sighed and turned to bow in the direction of the Forbidden City—sending him off.
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