Early in the morning of the sixth day of the first lunar month in the first year of Gengshi, the day after Marquis Dingyuan, Lu Xingzhou’s wedding, the deposed Emperor Gu Zhanting was discovered “missing.”

When the guards delivered his meal, they found the secret chamber empty, with only a small pile of ashes in the room.

This incident, though not major, put a considerable stain on Ye Tinglan’s reputation. With the deposed emperor disappearing under the heavy guard of Tianyao Sacred Land, almost everyone in court and common society believed that Ye Tinglan had taken him, unsure if he was killed or used for some strange ritual.

Ye Tinglan was unable to clear her name.

Although people only dared to gossip in their minds or whisper privately, no one openly spoke. But Ye Tinglan was extremely annoyed; her divine sense could hear many people’s private conversations.

She had maintained her reputation and dignity her whole life, even striving for an engagement spot but not daring to openly marry. Now, at the end, she was inexplicably burdened with such a massive scandal. What was the point of all that effort?

Actually, there was “surveillance” in Gu Zhanting’s prison cell. Even the Yanluo Palace would secretly record business dealings with a Shadow Mirror. How could such an important prison cell as Gu Zhanting’s not have similar devices?

However, the pre-set magical artifacts were shielded and did not function at all.

This also proved Gu Yiheng’s Qianyuan ability from another angle. If not for Qianyuan, how could he shield the Huiyang treasures of Tianyao Sacred Land?

“Lu Xingzhou, say something! My reputation is ruined!” Ye Tinglan grabbed Lu Xingzhou’s collar and shook him. “Don’t you have many clever ideas? Quickly, help me solve this.”

Lu Xingzhou merely smiled, “Isn’t a slightly tarnished reputation quite good? Then you can be a bit more reckless, for example, you wouldn’t have to deceive yourself about finding a man, right?”

“Wrong!” Ye Tinglan fumed, “Even if I find a man, I can’t have that kind of reputation.”

“You’re already a powerful minister who deposed an emperor, just a step away from regicide. Who cares?”

“But aren’t you actually the powerful minister who deposed the emperor?”

Lu Xingzhou: “?”

Ye Tinglan forced a smile, her hand on his collar shifting to straighten it. “Who doesn’t know that the new emperor’s awards lists are drafted by Marquis Dingyuan? He promotes whoever he wants, and the new emperor doesn’t even dare to fart.”

“How did it become the new emperor doesn’t even dare to fart? Who spread that rumor?”

“Of course, Gu Yiheng himself spread it. He wants to create an image of a puppet oppressed by powerful ministers, which will naturally attract a group of loyal officials to his side.”

“…This strategy is novel.” Lu Xingzhou said, exasperated, “So we’ve all become treacherous ministers?”

“After all, the treacherous ministers of the Grand Tutor’s faction are now all revolving around Marquis Dingyuan. This treacherous minister status is probably confirmed,” Ye Tinglan said. “He also had people spread a divination, saying ‘Di Huo Ming Yi.’ Let me test your understanding of this concept?”

“Upper Kun, lower Li, fire entering the earth, dim and unclear? He’s so wronged.”

“Correct. Even if you only learned the basics, it wasn’t in vain.” Ye Tinglan’s smile was dangerous. “So, are you going to clear this reputation or not?”

“No.”

“I’ve never been a treacherous minister before; doesn’t it feel quite good?” Lu Xingzhou said with a grin. “He’s the Li below, and I’m the Kun above? Excellent, I love Kun.”

Ye Tinglan huffed, “In the past, the Huo family bore all the messy reputations. Now, with his guidance, if anything happens again, the world will blame you and me. And you should know, with the current state of Daqian, there will only be more chaos in the future.”

Lu Xingzhou rubbed his chin. “According to this guidance, they could create the ‘Four Thieves of Daqian’: Lu Xingzhou, Ye Tinglan, Pei Qingyan, and Sheng Qingfeng, right?”

Ye Tinglan was both annoyed and amused. “You’re quite happy about it, aren’t you?”

“Guidance is one thing, but it’s not so easy to falsely accuse someone out of thin air,” Lu Xingzhou chuckled. “Besides, we really do have surveillance.”

“Your Black Flame doesn’t have photographic capabilities, does it?”

“The Myriad Soul Banner itself has the function of extracting memories and images from souls and projecting them. As the main soul, Black Flame’s own memories can be projected. However, the Myriad Soul Banner’s power is currently insufficient; it will be capable once it’s upgraded further,” Lu Xingzhou said with a smile. “If Gu Yiheng dares to casually shift blame onto us, I’ll give him a worldwide tour of his parricide scene.”

Ye Tinglan’s anger turned to joy. “I knew you had a backup plan.”

Lu Xingzhou pointed to his cheek, and Ye Tinglan stood on tiptoe and kissed him.

Dugu Qingli, standing by, remained silent.

Seeing her master become increasingly shameless, Dugu Qingli couldn’t help but ask, “Could I first ask to what extent the Soul Banner needs to be upgraded?”

Lu Xingzhou replied, “Qianyuan.”

Ye Tinglan’s kiss almost turned into a bite. “Lu Xingzhou! Why don’t you go die!”

Is Qianyuan so easy? Excluding visitors from the ancient realms, there have only been two Qianyuan in this realm so far: Gu Zhanting and her, Ye Tinglan. And Gu Zhanting’s Qianyuan only lasted for the time it takes an incense stick to burn, while her Ye Tinglan’s Qianyuan has not dared to manifest itself and is still suppressed.

Not to mention something as distant as Qianyuan, just the Huiyang Grand Chasm has already blocked how many heroes and masters in this world?

Huiyang is the transcendent rank in this world, and there are only a few of them openly. Normally, the First Rank is the peak of the world. Look at the status of Pei Qingyan and Huo Liancheng. Even if you count all reclusive transcendent-rank cultivators, and include everything from the seas, overseas, and even various demonic creatures, at most there would be a dozen or so, it’s hard to say if it would exceed twenty.

Lu Xingzhou reaching the First Rank in such a short time is indeed impressive, but who knows how many years it will take to break through Huiyang. Not to mention Qianyuan; is that a goal normal people consider?

Of course, personal cultivation and magical artifacts are not the same thing. In fact, the Soul Banner is already at the Huiyang level. Cultivating it to the Qianyuan level would be a bit simpler than his own cultivation. But how much simpler could it be?

Lu Xingzhou said, “It’s not as difficult as imagined, especially for the Soul Banner alone… Master, please look at this first.”

With a clang, a pill furnace appeared before them.

Instantly, immortal energy flowed, and brilliant light shone, as if auspicious clouds and celestial music lingered around.

Ye Tinglan and Dugu Qingli instinctively held their breath.

They had always known the Huo family had an immortal-grade pill furnace… but never having seen it in person, they truly couldn’t grasp the concept of so-called immortal grade.

After all, Tianyao Sacred Land had collected plenty of ancient exotic treasures. While Qianyuan-grade ones were few, they did exist. Ye Tinglan once thought that even the strongest would only be at the peak of Qianyuan; although they didn’t possess such powerful items, they could still be understood.

But to her surprise, seeing it in person, she realized it was beyond comprehension.

“Could this be the ‘Wu Xiang’ grade mentioned in ancient texts?” Ye Tinglan finally blurted out. “How could such a thing exist in this world?!”

With such an item, even if you just threw in some herbs, it could probably form pills on its own. In the hands of an excellent alchemist, refining immortal pills that surpassed the grades of this world would truly not be difficult. The limiting factor for the quality of the finished product would instead be whether such high-end medicinal ingredients existed in this world.

No wonder Huo Xingyuan so easily reached the First Rank, no wonder Huo Liancheng could break through the transcendent rank, no wonder Gu Zhanting could attempt Qianyuan.

Especially the two fellows from the Huo family; they definitely didn’t have great talents. Logically, even if they cultivated themselves to death, they wouldn’t have a chance at the transcendent rank. They completely relied on this pill furnace to achieve their success.

“That day, I asked Jiang Duxu to break into the Huo family and retrieve the pill furnace. Jiang Duxu wasn’t greedy for this item; our agreement was for him to study it for a few days, and he returned it to me today,” Lu Xingzhou said. “Jiang Duxu said the item is absolutely excellent, but unfortunately, the medicinal ingredients in this world are a hindrance, making it impossible to refine truly good pills… it almost made him want to return to the ancient realms…”

For an illicit traveler who had painstakingly snuck out of the ancient realms to want to go home, it showed the allure of this item—it was a treasure even rare in the ancient realms.

Lu Xingzhou himself was already prepared; this item could refine a little Anuo, which was a power of creation, perhaps beyond the Wu Xiang grade… Ye Tinglan and Dugu Qingli hadn’t even considered it, but they were severely shaken. After a long pause, Ye Tinglan said, “You mean you want to use the pill furnace to refine pills and break through? With the grade of this pill furnace, the pills refined would likely not have issues with unstable foundations. It is indeed a shortcut.”

“Yes. Our resources are not comparable to the Huo family’s. We have quite a few Huiyang and even Qianyuan-grade medicinal ingredients that can be refined. Master can look for more related herbs. In our hands, this item is far more efficient than what the Huo family secretly fiddled with.”

Ye Tinglan hummed, “Understood, that’s certainly possible.”

“Furthermore, although the pill furnace is not for refining artifacts, something like the Soul Banner has a very special nature. It can usually be placed in the furnace to be nourished with immortal spiritual qi, similar to nurturing a soul, which will make future upgrades easier,” Lu Xingzhou said. “Master once suggested I get a Natal Artifact. Now, looking at it this way, it must be the Soul Banner.”

Ye Tinglan sighed.

While she didn’t particularly want Lu Xingzhou to continue with this sinister item, since things had progressed this far, and Black Flame had been cultivated so well, with even transcendent-grade souls in the Soul Banner, abandoning it now would incur too high a sunk cost, something no one would be willing to do. Moreover, with the need for the Soul Banner to project the parricide scene, they could only continue to nurture it.

She could only say, “Since you’ve decided to still use the Soul Banner as your Natal Artifact, then use it. Additionally, I still suggest you get a weapon. Even if you don’t need the sharpness of a weapon, the amplifying effect on combat arts is still very worthwhile.”

“I’ve considered it, and currently, I still think it’s more reasonable to focus on the rings—one Yin and one Yang—to match my Yin-Yang Extreme Intent. Does Master have any material suggestions?”

“The wedding gift Sihan gave you, both the ice crystal and the cold iron, can be forged into a Yin-attribute ring. As for the Yang-attribute one, I’ll find you an item from the Tianyao Sacred Land’s collection.” Ye Tinglan was very pleased that her young man listened to her advice. “Do you have any plans for your next step?”

“These next few days, I’ll first settle down and digest what I’ve gained, forge rings, and refine pills. I’m waiting for a personnel appointment.”

“What appointment?”

“Gu Yiheng is going to start a cleansing inspection of whether officials across the land have been demonized. I want to lead this inspection. Firstly, to personally grasp this matter and have a clear understanding, and secondly, for my personal experience.”

Ye Tinglan pondered for a moment, found it very reasonable, and then a light brightened in her heart: “Qingli always makes excuses about needing experience, but actually just wants to run off to Dongyue Hanchuan. Good, don’t go there. Accompany Xingzhou as his guard and gain experience with him.”