Within the Changsheng Palace.

Outside the window, flowers bloomed in riotous colors, though the chill of spring still lingered.

The Ninth Prince of Great Qi, Jiang Wuqi, draped in a fox fur coat, was slowly sipping medicine from a jade bowl of cerulean hue. The medicinal liquid was a dark, murky brown. A strange and unpleasant aroma swirled through the air, enough to make one’s stomach churn.

Yet, his expression remained placid, as he swallowed the draught in small, measured sips.

Upon the desk before him lay a book, his gaze fixed upon its pages as he held the jade bowl, drinking his medicine.

Using the book as a companion to the brew.

Sitting not far away, Lei Zhangan’s brow was furrowed deeply. He truly couldn’t fathom how his cousin could drink such a foul concoction with such nonchalance. He even seemed to savor it, sip by agonizing sip… Just the smell of it was enough to make him feel ill!

“This medicine of yours…” Lei Zhangan asked, pinching his nose, “Could it be that it holds some hidden wonder, its taste utterly different from its smell?”

Jiang Wuqi finished reading the passage before him, then chuckled softly, “If Cousin is so curious, I can have them brew you a bowl. How does that sound?”

“Absolutely not!”

Lei Zhangan quickly declined.

No matter how precious the medicine might be, he had no desire to torment his palate. For a transcendent cultivator with aspirations for the pinnacle, there was almost nothing that could not be endured, but there was also no need to court suffering.

Once Jiang Wuqi had slowly finished the medicine in his jade bowl, he spoke again, “There’s something rather intriguing I must tell you. I sent men to investigate Zhang Linchuan, three waves of them, and none have returned.”

The usually arrogant and self-assured Lei Zhangan showed no trace of his usual sharpness in Jiang Wuqi’s presence. Like ordinary cousins, they spoke freely, chatting idly.

Jiang Wuqi wiped his mouth slowly and deliberately with a silk handkerchief, and casually inquired, “Zhang Linchuan?”

Lei Zhangan smiled. “That’s the alias Jiang Wang used in the Floating Land world.”

Jiang Wuqi carefully folded the handkerchief and placed it aside, his eyes still fixed on his book. “Why are you investigating him?”

“Don’t you think there’s something odd about it?” Lei Zhangan said, “Jiang Wang is just a rootless, bottom-feeding nobody from the Zhuang Kingdom in the Western Regions. I don’t even know how he met Chongxuan Sheng and tagged along into the Heavenly Palace Secret Realm. Then he was nurtured to participate in the Qiyang battlefield. Only then did he put down roots in Great Qi. The thing is, since he’s supposed to be rootless and bottom-feeding, how come three waves of my men have all disappeared into his roots?”

“And what have you discovered?” Jiang Wuqi asked, still not looking up.

Seeing that Jiang Wuqi remained uninterested, Lei Zhangan’s enthusiasm waned. “All I know is that there’s a man named Zhang Linchuan in the Zhuang Kingdom, a Bone Envoy of the White Bone Path. It’s an insignificant, third-rate evil cult.”

A flicker of something passed through Jiang Wuqi’s eyes.

Unlike Lei Zhangan, he had the authority to review the detailed military reports of the Qiyang War. He had meticulously studied that war. He remembered clearly that a White Bone Evil God had appeared on the Qiyang battlefield, only to be chopped into pieces by the ferocious Tu, Chongxuan Chuliang, before it escaped.

The White Bone Evil God, Jiang Wang, both appearing in the Zhuang Kingdom, both appearing in Yangdi. There seemed to be some connection between the two.

But he had no intention of sharing this information with Lei Zhangan, lest his cousin make an unnecessary fuss.

Lei Zhangan suddenly spoke again, “Do you think Jiang Wang might have come from an evil cult? That his arrival in Great Qi is for some ulterior motive?”

The more he spoke, the more agitated he became. “Perhaps he used some kind of dark art to overdraw his potential, which is why his progress has been so rapid!”

Jiang Wuqi sighed inwardly. What kind of man was Lei Zhangan in the past! From a young age, he was laden with great expectations, seen as the hope for the Lei family’s rise, a genius the Lei clan hadn’t seen in a thousand years. The day the Lei Seal Divine Ability was attained, the entire Lei clan erupted in jubilation.

“One seal imprints heaven and earth, I am the master of thunder and lightning.” What terrifying potential! To act on behalf of the heavens, wielding lightning and commanding thunder.

He experienced a minor setback in the Seven Stars Pavilion Secret Realm, but he had already obtained what he needed, and the path ahead was wide open, a grand road to walk.

But after his battle with Jiang Wang, his aura of solitary dominance had been broken, and he had yet to recover…

The fact that he was still searching for excuses was proof enough. He simply couldn’t accept that defeat.

He had watched helplessly as a rising star he could once manipulate had surpassed him in a ridiculously short amount of time. In full view of everyone, he had been easily defeated.

For someone as supremely confident as he was, it was too heavy a blow.

But this could not be said outright, he could only wait for Lei Zhangan to come to terms with it himself. To rip open his wound rashly might cause him to collapse.

“What possibility is there for the Chongxuan family to be involved with an evil cult? And Chongxuan Sheng is certainly no fool,” Jiang Wuqi said, shaking his head. “If Jiang Wang really came from some evil cult, there would be no need for you to investigate. Would Marquis Dingyuan be soft on him? Or Marquis Bowang?”

The logic was simple enough, and Lei Zhangan naturally understood it.

“True.” He sighed.

Jiang Wuqi pondered for a moment, then looked up from his book, speaking earnestly. “Cultivation is a matter of order, some come before, some come after. Speed in the beginning means little. In the end, it still depends on who stands higher. Cousin, your *Nine Heavens Thunder Evolution Art* is profound and unfathomable. When cultivated to its peak, ‘Using the image of thunder to represent the image of heaven, using the law of thunder to evolve all laws.’ What magnificent spirit! Those who dwell in the nine heavens only glance at the mortal world occasionally. Why get hung up on temporary gains and losses?”

Lei Zhangan was silent for a moment, ultimately unwilling to continue the topic, and changed the subject. “Regarding the matter of the Diaohai Tower elder, you could have taken the opportunity to suppress him, but instead you protected him. Why? He harbored ill intentions, using me to gain fame, and my Lei Seal was almost fused by him.”

There were, in fact, dissenting voices within Qi regarding Jiang Wang’s killing of Hai Zongming.

Some felt that it wasn’t necessary to antagonize Diaohai Tower too much for the sake of one Jiang Wang, though this was a weak sentiment. Great Qi would not bow to Diaohai Tower, nor would it fail to protect its own talents.

But Jiang Wuqi had been a vocal supporter of Jiang Wang, believing that Jiang Wang’s killing of Hai Zongming was entirely justified. It didn’t disrupt Qi’s strategy in the near sea.

Jiang Wuqi knew that his support hadn’t played a crucial role; the entire Qi court generally didn’t see it as an issue. Lei Zhangan himself was aware of this. But he still brought it up, simply because he was unable to resolve the knot in his heart, grasping at any excuse.

Despite understanding all this, Jiang Wuqi still replied earnestly, “He is a Great Qi prodigy. Of course I must protect him.”

Lei Zhangan curled his lip. “He’s not even a Qi native.”

Jiang Wuqi closed his book, his expression becoming stern. “Do not speak of this again. He lives in Qi, receives Qi’s salary, holds Qi’s office, is loyal to Qi, fights for Qi. How can he not be a Qi native?”

He was visibly displeased. “Born in Qi is not the only requirement to be a Qi native. Make the world vast, the six directions boundless, rising from where the sun rises, ending where the sun sets, if one’s heart is with Qi, then they are a Qi native. If Great Qi’s ancestors were as shortsighted as you, cousin, Qi would still be a fishing village by the sea!”

Lei Zhangan’s resentment, dissatisfaction, complaints about whomever, judgments of whomever – these were all acceptable. Jiang Wuqi could turn a deaf ear to them. This was the innate intimacy between cousins.

But if he were to say something too outrageous, to do something that would shake the foundations of Great Qi, then Jiang Wuqi would show no tolerance. This was the decorum that a member of the Great Qi royal family had to uphold.

No matter how arrogant Lei Zhangan was, he understood priorities. He was a cousin, but he was also a subordinate.

Seeing that Jiang Wuqi was truly angry, he immediately relented. “I won’t say it again.”

But then he continued, “In the time since Jiang Wang returned to Linzi, he has visited Jiang Wuxie and Jiang Wuyou, but he has never visited you. No matter how fairly you treat him, he will never side with you. And in the future… he may very well become a stumbling block for you!”

Jiang Wuqi coughed a few times, his hand resting on the book, and stood up. “He doesn’t need to side with me.”

He clutched his fox fur coat tightly around himself, seemingly vulnerable to the spring chill.

He walked slowly towards the warmer area outside the palace, saying only, “Siding with Great Qi is siding with me.”

Lei Zhangan remained seated, watching Jiang Wuqi’s lean figure, barely concealed by the fox fur coat, feeling an overwhelming sense of confidence, of certainty.

His steps were slow, but each one seemed to be treading upon his own empire.

He thought. The future of Qi would undoubtedly belong to this man. There was no other choice.