In this age, where superhuman powers burgeon and evolve without cease, neither death nor resurrection are unheard of, and crippled limbs and broken bodies are hardly insurmountable obstacles.

But all things come with a price. As cultivators ascend to ever greater heights of power, their mighty physiques, capable of moving mountains and draining seas, become increasingly difficult to mend once flawed.

For ordinary folk, a single pill of the lowest grade, the Meridian Opening Elixir, suffices to dispel a hundred ailments. Were one to maintain their body with proper care day by day, the possibility of leaping to superhuman strength would become immense, rendering the eradication of stubborn illnesses a mere trifle.

Yet, for a cultivator of the Divine Presence realm, the resources required to restore a crippled limb to its former state can only be described as “terrifying.” An ordinary Divine Presence cultivator, if afflicted by such a disaster, would require at least two years of relentless striving to repay the incurred debts.

Naturally, Jiang Wang and Chong Xuan Zun, having suffered their injuries in service of the nation and amidst the chaos of war, had these resources provided by the Imperial Court of Qi.

Both bore the wounds of broken limbs and both had fought until their hearts failed and their bodies were utterly spent, collapsing in a faint.

The Sleep Immortal Needle, personally administered by the Imperial Physician Order of Qi, not only accelerated their physical recovery but also aided in regulating their Qi and blood, consolidating their cultivation.

Chong Xuan Sheng and Bao Zhongqing had just entered the small courtyard where Chong Xuan Zun was recuperating when they were met with a blocking presence.

The military prodigy, Wen Lianmu, who appeared more scholar than general, stood with his arms crossed, a grave expression on his face. “Young Master Zun has not yet fully recovered and finds it inconvenient to receive guests. Both of you, please forgive the imposition.”

Chong Xuan Sheng’s face contorted in disbelief, his pudgy finger almost poking Wen Lianmu’s face. “The one lying inside might be my direct cousin, a blood relative! Blood is thicker than water, and my heart burns with worry! The moment I had a free moment, I rushed here to see him, and now you tell me I cannot enter?”

Had Wang Yiwu not still been under the three-year prohibition from returning to Linzi, he would have long since used his iron fist to blast Chong Xuan Sheng away.

But guarding this place was, after all, Wen Lianmu.

His identity was not sufficiently high, nor his fist sufficiently hard, leaving him with no recourse but to reason.

“Young Master Zun’s injuries are not dire. Once he awakens, you will have ample time for intimate conversation. Forgive me, I am also considering Young Master Zun’s safety.”

“What do you mean by that? Are you implying the Imperial Hospital is not safe?” Chong Xuan Sheng immediately bellowed, “Who are you suspecting? Do you not trust the Imperial Physician Order? Or are you questioning the abilities of the palace guards specifically assigned to this place? Explain yourself clearly today!”

Wen Lianmu retreated slightly, avoiding the excited jabs of his finger. “The Imperial Hospital is indeed extremely safe, and the Imperial Physician Order himself is a contemporary True Person. One would expect few petty thieves to dare cause trouble here. However… while life safety is assured, certain things are still difficult to avoid. For instance, Young Master Xie Baoshu, while recuperating in the Imperial Hospital, was still subjected to threats. And Young Master Lei Zhanqian, who fainted in the Imperial Hospital, was still almost beaten. Young Master Sheng, don’t you think we should be more cautious?”

Bao Zhongqing, who had remained silent beside them, suddenly realized what he had overlooked. Among those urgently sent back to Linzi for treatment with them at that time, there was indeed a Xie Baoshu.

According to basic aristocratic etiquette, having come specifically to the Imperial Hospital to visit the injured, neglecting Xie Baoshu was truly improper. He made a mental note to conveniently visit the Xie family’s young master later. Then, his ears caught Chong Xuan Sheng’s surprised voice—

“Such a thing actually happened? The world is indeed in decline, and human hearts are no longer what they were! To think that even in a tranquil place like the Imperial Hospital, there are still those so presumptuous!”

Saying this, he pushed forward with his ample frame, actually using brute force to squeeze past Wen Lianmu. “Then I must enter even more so, to personally guard my elder brother!”

Wen Lianmu could not possibly engage Chong Xuan Sheng in a full-blown battle here. Faced with such barbaric conduct, he truly had no method.

Bao Zhongqing touched his nose and smiled at Wen Lianmu. “From ancient times, in the affairs of the gate, one defends against the gentleman, not the petty person. Does General Wen not agree?”

Wen Lianmu gave him a faint look. “Indeed.”

Then he turned and followed inside.

This open door allowed all manner of petty people to enter, and in doing so, also included Bao Zhongqing in the scolding.

Bao Zhongqing felt a sense of weariness but didn’t mind.

Everyone was intelligent; who could truly be swayed by a single sentence?

He followed closely, walking towards the interior. He, too, was eager to know Chong Xuan Zun’s current state. Although the Imperial Physician Order’s medical skills were profound and the Sleep Immortal Needle unfathomable, what if…?

As the future head of the Bao family, he naturally cared deeply about the future of the Chong Xuan family. Even if he had already decided to deliberately seek alliance, the degree to which he should humble himself still needed consideration, did it not?

Within the Imperial Hospital, the environment was naturally excellent. It was highly favored by literati and poets, with the Floating Mountain osmanthus, known as “one branch hard to find,” lining the roadside in a canopy of shade.

A fragrance that calmed the spirit and settled the heart drifted in the air.

Inside the hollowed window frames, purification arrays were placed.

In the most Yuan Qi-dense part of the room, a warm jade bed engraved with life-source array patterns was situated. Strands of heaven and earth Yuan Qi gathered upon it, coalescing into life Yuan, nourishing life force.

The renowned Chong Xuan Fenghua lay supine upon it.

So-called peerless genius, when he lay motionless, his brilliance was not evident.

Especially when Chong Xuan Sheng squeezed to the side of the bed, holding his hand and sighing sorrowfully, he appeared even more like a divine statue whose spiritual light had faded, feeling utterly powerless, truly akin to a clay idol or wooden sculpture, fit only for manipulation.

“Alas, poor you, so young and already afflicted by this calamity, a long sleep from which you may never wake, forever slumbering upon this bed…” Chong Xuan Sheng sighed repeatedly. “Truly, heaven envies talent!”

As he sighed, he still waved towards Bao Zhongqing. “Quickly, come and see my elder brother one last time.”

Bao Zhongqing, however, very much wished this sentence were true.

“Cough!” Wen Lianmu couldn’t help but remind him. “The Imperial Physician Order said that Young Master Zun’s physical condition is excellent and he will awaken at any moment.”

“Even if he wakes, he will presumably be muddle-headed from now on, perpetually deranged and foolish,” Chong Xuan Sheng connected seamlessly. “My elder brother! Indeed, the heavenly Dao must have its fluctuations, not allowing the human world to be complete, eh? This vast family enterprise, relying solely on me—”

On the warm jade bed, Chong Xuan Zun’s eyelids lifted. The hazy sense of dreaming was washed away, revealing a pair of ink pupils as clear as a sky after rain. Chong Xuan Sheng’s plump hand, without a sound, quietly swept over, closing his eyes again, and conveniently releasing a sleep curse. He continued to speak. “Alone, I can only just barely bear it.”

“Remove it.” Chong Xuan Zun’s flat voice transmitted from beneath the plump hand.

Chong Xuan Sheng withdrew his hand without any embarrassment, a look of surprise on his face. “Elder brother, you’re awake!? It wasn’t in vain that I risked my life, flying ten thousand li a day, to carry you back to Qi country from the land of Xia!”

Chong Xuan Zun still lay motionless, but a stirring power emanated from his quietly resting form.

“You carried me back?” he asked.

“Ah, this is all what a foolish younger brother ought to do. To speak of it, at that time, tens of thousands of Xia troops blocked the road, all eager to skin you and draw your tendons. How could I be willing to give you up? Carrying you forward relentlessly, with a pair of fists, I opened a ten thousand li distant path…”

“You flew ten thousand li a day?” Chong Xuan Zun asked again.

“Of course, this is a relatively exaggerated expression. In reality, it wasn’t quite that much; just understand the general idea.” Chong Xuan Sheng’s face remained expressionless.

“At that time, you were already severely injured and dying. You said many things to me. I don’t know if you still remember…”

“What did I say to you?” Chong Xuan Zun asked.

“You truly don’t remember!” Chong Xuan Sheng sighed deeply. “Listen to a piece of advice from your foolish younger brother: the injury you suffered this time is not minor; it’s in the brain. If it’s not nursed for three to five years, it won’t fully recover.”

Chong Xuan Zun quietly looked at him.

Chong Xuan Sheng said with a serious expression. “You were perhaps sad at that time. You cried and said you weren’t good enough, that your path ended here. You spoke of hoping I could take up the great burden, inherit the title of Marquis of Bowang! Actually, I wasn’t willing either. Elder brother, you know me. I have always been indifferent to fame and fortune. To these titles and positions as head of the family, I completely don’t care. But you were on the verge of death at that time, and you said if I didn’t agree, you would die with resentment. I was soft-hearted for a moment…”

“Good.” Chong Xuan Zun suddenly spoke.

“I truly fear trouble. Such a huge pile of things, how am I to manage? But since I promised you, it’s not proper… Hmm?” Chong Xuan Sheng was speaking when he suddenly froze.

Eloquent as he was, for a moment, he was actually at a loss for words.

Chong Xuan Zun looked at this rarely stumped fatty and lightly laughed. “I remembered. I seem to have indeed said such words. So the title of Marquis of Bowang is yours.”

The sunlight slipping in through the window was not as warm as the faint light from the warm jade bed.

The three people in the room, excluding Chong Xuan Zun, were all very silent for a moment.

This was a hereditary perpetual Marquisate!

It was the most prestigious noble title in the Great Qi Empire today.

Inheriting this position not only meant power, status, and wealth, but also something more: the possibility of breaking through to the Cave True realm!

Had Chong Xuan Zun simply let it go like that?

So casually, so indifferently?

Silence spread for a while. Chong Xuan Sheng suddenly stood up and pushed the chair by the bed far away.

“I heard nothing!”

He walked outside in large strides, forgetting even to give Bao Zhongqing a perfunctory greeting in his discomposure.

And in the room, only Chong Xuan Zun’s quite willful laughter echoed for a moment.

“Ha ha ha ha, ha ha ha ha!”

“Ha ha ha ha…”

When people gathered in crowds, that joyous laughter was like surging waves.

Some climbed high and shouted, while others indulged in wild revelry.

The three hundred li giant city of Linzi was already filled with an atmosphere of joy.

Almost all wine houses set up grand banquets with continuous streams of food and drink, opening their doors wide for people to eat and drink freely. After several days of feasting, the government officials would naturally come to settle the accounts.

The entire city was hung with lanterns and decorations, flames soaring straight up into the high sky.

Dao techniques formed illusions that shifted and changed like a fairyland in the high dome.

People carried songs and dances, and beautiful music flowed melodiously.

Commoners, supporting the old and leading the young, came out ten li beyond the city to welcome them…

And it wasn’t just Linzi that was like this?

North to Zhu He, Da Ze, south to Shi Men, Xuan Sha, east to Heng Yang, Chi Wei, west to Lin Hai County, even to Jue Ming Island! Even in the mysterious realms, even in the cities occupied by Qi after the Ten Thousand Monsters Gate War, all places where the banner of Zi Wei Central Heaven Tai Huang fluttered were without exception bathed in vast national momentum, with everyone celebrating!

The renowned scholar Er Fengming wrote an article saying: “Among the sage kings of ancient times, none exceeded the sacred emperor; among those skilled in war in the world, none were like Cao Donglai. Thus, his prestige extended in all directions, vertically through the southeast, establishing an eternal enterprise, fixing the foundation for ten thousand generations!”

Cao Zhao was a native of Donglai County in Great Qi, hence in the article, he was respectfully referred to as Cao Donglai.

This county had produced quite a few famous figures throughout Qi’s history, but from now on, when people mentioned the prefecture of Donglai County, they would first think of Cao Zhao.

It was in the fifty-seventh year of Great Qi’s Yuan Feng era that Cao Zhao annihilated the state of Xia, triumphantly returning and capturing the Xia Emperor Si Cheng, presenting him at the ancestral temple!

A great nation that once possessed the qualification to contend for hegemony thus exited the stage of history. Such a feat of conquest was difficult to match in the world.

According to the day calculated by the ritual officials, the day of the formal ritual offering at the ancestral temple was the twenty-first of the first month.

Cao Zhao led three thousand armored soldiers, representing the triumphant army, entering through Ji Gate. The teachers and students of Ji Xia Academy all released their legal prohibitions on this day, waiting outside the academy to welcome them!

The sources of these three thousand armored soldiers were complex, including troops from the nine armies and three divisions, soldiers from the counties of Great Qi, allied forces from various Eastern Domain countries, as well as a part of the Xia army who had enthusiastically fought after surrendering. Selection and assembly were carried out according to a certain proportion.

Those who were selected for this army were all soldiers who had made outstanding contributions in the war to conquer Xia, while simultaneously, efforts were made to consider the feelings of various parties and weigh the interests of each department as much as possible.

Among a million-strong army, only these three thousand were finally able to follow Marshal Cao Zhao, wearing armor and holding weapons, to enter the city, and even proceed to the ancestral temple. What kind of honor was this?

Every soldier selected regarded this as a lifelong glory.

And as they advanced along the vast territory of Qi, constantly bathed in flowers and applause, such an army appearing and lining up within the ancestral temple meant that every soldier within it was naturally full of high spirits.

Jiang Wang was summoned out the door before the sky even brightened. He was again made to burn incense and bathe, again to tidy his clothes and hat, again taught etiquette, and then sent to the ancestral temple in an eight-bearer grand sedan.

Along the way, whether palace maids and eunuchs, or guards and ritual officials, all looked at him as if admiring a rare jade artifact, seizing the opportunity to steal glances…

Unaware of how clear the weight of those gazes was to him.

Such circumstances made him feel more like a sacrificial offering at a grand ceremony, specially presented for the offering, not one who participated in the grand ceremony.

Fortunately, he was not the only one enjoying this kind of treatment.

The white-clothed young master of the Chong Xuan family, known for seizing the splendor of all his peers, was also sitting in a position nearby at this moment.

In this quite large side hall, only two people sat, so it could be considered having a companion.

Unlike Jiang Wang, who cultivated immediately after sitting down and momentarily freezing, Chong Xuan Zun’s sitting posture was relaxed and scattered, half-leaning and half-not, holding a scroll of a book in his hand and slowly reading.

He read very seriously, occasionally flipping back several pages, as if researching some profound Dao technique.

The sound of flipping pages was too frequent, causing Jiang Wang, who was truly researching a Dao technique, to find it difficult to calm his mind.

During the time they faced two against six in the Sang mansion in the land of Xia, they had a natural, unspoken understanding, entrusting life and death to each other, and ultimately achieved inconceivable results. Now, although the killing had stopped and they had left the battlefield, some friendship still existed.

Chong Xuan Zun flipped back another page, savoring it while casually saying, “How is it that your heart is restless and your temper impatient while cultivating? This is not the cultivation attitude Jiang Qingyang should have.”

Jiang Wang felt a burst of annoyance. He simply stopped cultivating, looked at him, and said, “Young Master Zun is indeed diligently studying. May I know what book you are reading?”

“《Illustrated Guide to the Planting of Five Grains》,” Chong Xuan Zun said without raising his head.

Jiang Wang was unmoved. “With an illustrated guide, no less.”

Chong Xuan Zun said casually, “Farming matters, ah, one cannot be careless. All the details must be thoroughly understood.”

Jiang Wang looked at him quietly for a while, watching until Chong Xuan Zun somewhat bafflingly raised his head.

He simply said.

“Oh?”