I genuinely appreciate the current atmosphere of book reviews and discussions. It’s not just polite talk, I truly enjoy it. I hope everyone can share their own reasoning and stick to the facts. Of course, lightly scolding the author is acceptable as well. Regarding the urging updates jokes, it was unintentional. Feel free to tease, but don’t take it seriously. I’m serious about this point. But you are welcome to urge me to update every day, pressure is a good motivation. Finally, someone suggested building a “Fierce Character” building. I think it’s a great idea, the group number is 22221655. Lastly, there will be another chapter today, but I slightly regret choosing this chapter title…

Luan Juzi glanced at the high-crowned elder standing one person away from the Great Li Emperor. The elder immediately stood up and began to cast the Lu family’s Yin-Yang arts, concealing the heavens and earth, making it even more difficult for others to observe and probe this place from afar with their minds or techniques.

Only then did Luan Juzi drop a bombshell, “This enormous calamity is highly likely someone else’s covert scheme, at the very least they are fanning the flames. Perhaps A-Liang’s arrival was such a coincidence because someone secretly passed on the information. It happened just after Qi Jingchun’s death, A-Liang came to Great Li. Among the various schools of thought, there must be someone who doesn’t want my branch of the Mo family behind Luan Changye, and this lineage of the Yin-Yang family represented by the Lu family, to help Great Li annex the entire Eastern Treasure Bottle Continent smoothly!”

The Great Li Emperor unclenched his fist, rubbed his cheeks, and said with a cold expression, “What a ‘great contention of the ages’, a chaotic world situation!”

Luan Juzi softly reminded, “Now that things have come to this, we must not lose heart.”

Hearing this, the man in the imperial robe smiled and shook his head, “No, I won’t! Whether it’s ten years or fifteen years, there’s still a lot that can be done! Thinking back to the humiliation and scorn that the Great Li emperors have suffered on this Treasure Bottle Continent, this little bit of internal injury is nothing.”

Speaking lightly, the man forcibly swallowed a mouthful of blood that surged to his throat. He lowered his head, rubbed his neck with his fingers, revealing a hint of ferocity and regret. However, the ferocity lingered on his face, while the regret quickly dissipated. In the end, only a sense of helplessness remained.

It turned out that before ascending, that man used a supreme secret technique to quietly sever the Great Li Emperor’s heart meridian, causing his bridge to immortality to collapse completely. The vitality of what was originally a vibrant hidden tenth-floor cultivator, had now weakened to an appalling level.

Not only that, but Bai Yujing still existed, but half of the twelve flying swords were destroyed, and the whereabouts of the remaining six were unknown.

In simple terms, Bai Yujing, which possessed boundless killing power, was now just an empty shell, a useless ornament. It could intimidate people, but to kill cultivators above the fifth realm was just a pipe dream.

Song Jixin, who had previously panicked, arrived before the three, having regained his composure, but still persistently asked, “Luan Juzi, Mr. Lu, can you tell me what exactly happened? Why can’t I sense any of the flying swords?”

Bai Yujing’s twelve floors, twelve flying swords.

Incense, Pillar, Mountain Suppressor, Mountains and Seas, Peach Branch, Thunderclap, Violet Lightning, Scriptures, Buddhist Chants, Righteous Qi, Red Makeup, Cloud Patterns.

The twelve flying swords, crafted with the power of half the country, were all true national treasures of the Great Li Dynasty.

Among them, the six swords including Incense, were destroyed along with the golden bodies of the six Great Li deities.

But logically speaking, the other six mountain and river deities who made way should not have participated in resisting the enemy. Even if the flying swords had not returned to Bai Yujing in the capital, it was impossible for them to be completely out of contact, like kites with severed strings, leaving Prince Song Jixin, the master of the twelve swords, without any mental connection.

Luan Juzi turned his head to look at the lonely high tower of Bai Yujing, then turned back, sighed heavily, and revealed the truth, “The six flying swords were all snatched away by that fellow on the way to ascension. Although they weren’t taken to the heavens, they should have been discarded in some unknown place. For the time being, it’s definitely impossible to find them back. Even if we do find them, it’s hard to say whether we can use them again.”

Song Jixin was, after all, just a teenager. Overnight, he suddenly transformed from an illegitimate child in Mud Bottle Lane into a prince of one of the top dynasties in Eastern Treasure Bottle Continent. He arrived at the capital in a daze, and was brought here inexplicably. He endured hardships to gain the approval of the twelve flying swords. He finally felt like he could hold his head high and speak confidently in front of that bastard man. He never thought that in the end, it would all be for naught?

So, upon hearing the bad news, the teenager’s tears immediately flowed down. He bit his lip tightly, his face still stained with uncleaned blood.

Luan Juzi didn’t know how to comfort and appease the teenager.

In fact, this old man with a difficult life experience was also somewhat disoriented and in disbelief.

The Mo family, including the wandering knight branch, has always adhered to the ancestral teachings of the first sage and grand master, which included supporting the weak and small countries from being bullied by the strong.

But when it came to Luan Changye, he read through the official histories and unofficial records of various dynasties, traveled through countless mountains and rivers, and witnessed and heard with his own eyes, ultimately reaching a conclusion: simply supporting the weak and making piecemeal repairs was useless. In a century of chaos, when heroes compete for power, supporting weak countries to resist powerful dynasties in a hegemonic posture ultimately leads to far more deaths than the casualties of a strong dynasty unifying the country.

Therefore, Luan Changye needed to find a suitable dynasty, a suitable monarch, to implement his ambitions.

In the end, he found the Great Li Emperor Song Zhengchun, and he was not disappointed. Even though the siege of A-Liang severely damaged the thriving national strength of Great Li, Luan Changye never felt that the matter itself was wrong. The mistake was that human calculations were no match for “heavenly calculations.” Compared to the calculations of some behind-the-scenes bosses, even Luan Changye had to admit his inferiority, but he insisted on gambling, betting everything on an unstoppable trend of the world!

The Great Li Emperor opened his mouth and smiled, “Could you two go check if there are any flaws in Bai Yujing? If that fellow still has any tricks up his sleeve, then I might as well just kill myself. It just so happens that I want to spend some time alone with Song Mu. But let me say in advance, you two must guarantee that you won’t eavesdrop. My son and I are going to say some family words next, please be considerate.”

The two old men quickly got up, one said with a smile that he wouldn’t, and the other said he wouldn’t dare.
The Emperor of Great Li raised his head to look at the stubborn-faced youth, patted the steps beside him, and then secretly crushed the jade pendant hanging from his waist. He said in a deep voice, “Sit down and talk. From now on, I am your father, Song Zhengchun, and you are my son, Song Mu… or let’s call you Song Jixin. Passing down the flame, collecting bit by bit, a very good omen. Song Yuzhang’s name is vulgar, but he put his heart into it.”

The young man obediently sat down beside the man.

The Emperor of Great Li first sighed, “I have to say, the luck of the Great Sui’s Gao family is really too good. And then there’s your boy’s jinxed mouth, it’s really too foul.”

When the two were alone, the young man felt somewhat uneasy.

Even if he appeared unafraid of this man, Song Jixin truly felt the man’s control over the Great Li Dynasty from the attitudes of his Uncle Song Changjing, the maid Zhigui, and the two old gentlemen. That seemingly magnanimous and casual demeanor, in fact, was filled with almost arrogant self-confidence, a bit like the swordsman named Aliang, towards this Eastern Treasure Bottle Continent, towards the entire world.

The man smiled and said, “The remaining six flying swords that left the city, since they haven’t returned, are all gone. Gone is gone, the sky won’t fall.”

Song Jixin felt an inexplicable surge of anger. “Gone is gone?! How can you say it so lightly! Grandmaster Luan and Mister Lu both told me that these twelve flying swords signify the direction of the Great Li’s influence on the entire Treasure Bottle Continent, they have an unspoken…”

But the young man quickly dared not continue speaking.

Moreover, Song Jixin quickly came back to his senses. The creator of White Jade Capital and the flying swords was not himself, but the man beside him who had “accepted his fate.”

The man looked at the roof ridge of a distant palace, where squatting beasts were lined up in order. He said softly, “For a ruler of a country, don’t be afraid of huge troubles. After troubles arise, as long as you can solve them, it means that you and the dynasty have become stronger. If you can’t solve them, it means that your ability to govern the country is not good enough.”

“This unexpected threshold, neither I nor Great Li managed to cross without any close calls. It’s a pity. But I don’t regret it. This is true, I’m not lying to you.”

Song Jixin couldn’t figure it out no matter what. He asked, “Why?”

The man in the dragon robe had a sharp look in his eyes, without any of the previous helplessness and discouragement. He pointed to the roof ridge of the palace and said, “Because this further proves that the Great Li national policy that I personally established is correct!”

“Those on the mountains, practicing qi and cultivating the Way, whether good or evil, need to be locked in a cage! They seek immortality as gods, and Great Li will never interfere, and even be happy to help a little, happy to see it succeed. But a dynasty must have its bottom line, at least to allow those who are above the people to act within certain rules, not to do as they please, not to casually move mountains and overturn seas in the secular dynasty based solely on personal preferences. A casual battle between immortals ends up with the most tragic casualties being the defenseless people of the dynasty. I want all the secular people within the territory of my Great Li, to be willing to revere the immortals, not just out of fear. Even if a commoner living at the very bottom dies innocently because of the fighting between immortals, then my Great Li must have the confidence and ability to seek justice for that commoner, who is like an ant in the eyes of the immortals!”

Song Jixin was shocked beyond measure, his mouth wide open, unable to say a word.

The man held out two fingers, almost touching each other, and smiled, “The justice that my Great Li can seek now is very small, just this big. But compared to other dynasties in the Eastern Treasure Bottle Continent, those dynasties and countries that are slaves to the immortals on the mountains, it is already a world of difference.”

The man casually flicked his wrist, and finally clenched his fist, raising it high towards the roof ridge, as if demonstrating to someone, “I sincerely hope that in the future, the justice that Great Li can reclaim can be this big, or even bigger!”

Song Jixin was already a bit numb.

But for the first time, the young man felt that the man beside him had become flesh and blood, no longer a rigid existence similar to the dragon throne and the dragon robe.

The man in the dragon robe turned his head and asked, “Do you know which sentence of that Aliang made me the angriest?”

Song Jixin plucked up his courage and said, “Was it when that person threatened to make you kowtow and admit your mistakes?”

The man laughed loudly and shook his head. “As the master of the Great Li Dynasty, I can die standing, but I will never live kneeling. If I can’t even do this, how can Great Li want to advance south with its horses and swallow this Treasure Bottle Continent? If people deceive themselves, Heaven will deceive them. If people are strong, Heaven will give them. You better remember this sentence. Furthermore, those immortals keep saying that our Treasure Bottle Continent is the smallest continent in the world, but do you really know how big a continent is? You can browse any history book in this world, who has ever become the complete master of an entire continent?”

Song Jixin’s face was firm, and he nodded. “If people are strong, Heaven will give them. I will remember it.”

The man said with some sadness, “The thing that really angered me was when he said that there wasn’t a single capable person in Great Li. Not a single one. I secretly, step by step, reached the tenth realm of qi refining, which is already very remarkable in this Eastern Treasure Bottle Continent. Your uncle Song Changjing is an even more outrageous tenth realm martial artist, but what happened? In their eyes, they are still the kind who are not capable. But blessings and misfortunes depend on each other, and this is the reason why I was able to survive… one of them.”

“If I had the twelfth realm today, and that guy felt that he had a chance to fight, I’m afraid he would have killed me with one strike.”

The man laughed loudly for no reason, but it gave people a feeling of a hero in his twilight years.

Song Jixin opened a can of worms by asking, “One strike?”

The man nodded and said, “It can be determined that it would be a one strike matter. That guy is a thirteenth realm peak swordsman, a swordsman. That’s why he is so unreasonable.”

Song Jixin’s face was tangled, and he opened his mouth several times but swallowed it back, as if there was a heart-wrenching question, but he didn’t want to ask it.

The man leaned back, supporting himself with his elbows on the ground, and looked at the sky in such a relaxed posture. “Are you wondering why he didn’t kill us, and then ascend to a place unknown to the world?”

Song Jixin rubbed his cheeks hard with the back of his hand, and hummed in agreement.
Before I tell you the answer, let me share an unfortunate piece of news. It’s rumored that powerful figures who have transcended the Thirteenth Realm can return to our mortal world. Although it’s extremely rare, there have been precedents. The various philosophical schools and ancient clans have deliberately kept this a secret for their own purposes.”

Song Jixin, quick-witted as he was, turned pale.

The man sighed. “So, the path we’ve chosen for Great Li is long and arduous. Don’t be discouraged.”

He then pointed towards a certain place within the palace, smiling. “There’s a young man there, raised personally by his mother. He stubbornly refused to study at Cliff Academy. I didn’t bother to argue. That little fellow has an interesting temperament. If a dog even pretends to bite him, whether he’s injured or not, he’ll definitely kill that dog and stew it. He might even find the dog’s extended family and kill them all for good measure. What about you, Song Jixin?”

Without hesitation, Song Jixin replied, “The same!”

The man nodded. “I was like that when I was young. After I sat on the dragon throne, my temper mellowed a bit. Because one day, I suddenly felt a little bored.”

He turned and smiled. “But having that kind of temper and personality when you’re young is a good thing. Bold and ambitious, with an exposed edge. Treat me with respect, and I’ll treat you even better. Deceive me for a moment, and I’ll deceive you for life! That’s what a true man should do!”

Song Jixin said softly, “I thought you’d be disappointed.”

The man patted his shoulder. “Not disappointed. If you hadn’t learned any real skills at such a young age, but had already learned to read my mind and imitate the court officials, using those so-called dragon-slaying tactics, then I’d truly be disappointed.”

Song Jixin leaned forward, resting his hands on his knees and his chin on his hands. “But I know someone who might make a different choice.”

The man straightened up and placed his hand on the boy’s head. “Trust my judgment. That fellow holds grudges better than anyone. He’s just suffered too much hardship from a young age, learning to endure. Such a person, as an enemy, is a true hidden danger. That’s why I chose to turn a blind eye to the assassination attempt at Green Wave Pavilion.”

“But don’t worry, he’s never considered you an enemy. Especially after you did those two seemingly pointless things, following your heart. He won’t even think of it.”

Song Jixin’s face flushed red.

The man in the imperial robes continued, “But when you become the Emperor of Great Li one day, it’ll be a different story.”

“While that person has only just ascended and definitely won’t be returning to the mortal realm for now, we should strike while the iron is hot and eliminate the root of the problem, nipping this potential disaster in the bud.”

The thought had just entered Song Jixin’s mind, and he regretted it as soon as he spoke, contradicting himself and muttering, “No, that won’t do. If that person returns in the future, Great Li will truly be destroyed.”

The man chuckled, pleased. “Do you feel like this problem is unsolvable? It’s alright, that’s because your position, Song Jixin, isn’t high enough yet.”

Song Jixin felt a little deflated and could only silently comfort himself, “Heaven helps those who help themselves.”

The man laughed. “A person needs one or two rivals, friends and enemies at the same time, to make life interesting. I had one from a very young age, and so do you.”

After a moment of silence, Song Jixin asked, puzzled, “You still haven’t given me the answer.”

“Think about it yourself. I’m not so good-tempered that I’d be willing to reveal my scars after being beaten half to death. Oh, and becoming the master of White Jade City only brings benefits, not harm. I lied to your mother about that. I believe you knew I wasn’t lying after you lost control of the flying sword. As for the meaning behind it, ponder it carefully. It’s always good to think things through.”

The man who had revealed secrets had just lifted his backside, intending to leave, when he suddenly sat back down, took the boy’s hand, and said with a chuckle, “Let me read your palm. I know a little bit about it. I never had the chance to use it before, so I’ll try it out on you today.”

The boy handed over his hand, confused.

The man observed the lines on the boy’s palm while casually saying, “In ten or fifteen years, you can still be close to your uncle, Song Changjing, but never become reliant on him. As for trying to win him over or anything like that, forget about it. Don’t even think about getting that martial arts genius to sincerely submit to you, a junior. My brother is too lazy to even hide his ambitions, and even I, his older brother who has always been a step ahead of him, would never dare to try to tame him like a wild beast.”

“No matter who you resent, before you truly grow up, you can think about revenge in your heart, but never act rashly.”

“But don’t harbor resentment towards your uncle because of my words. He is indeed a true hero. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have said the heartfelt words, ‘Is the world only Great Li’s to have heroes?’ So, as long as you become stronger than him in the future, he might acknowledge you.”

After a moment, the Emperor of Great Li smiled and stood up to leave.

The boy clenched his fists, continuing to rest on his knees.

That man had said some polite words that were difficult to understand, but during that time, the man had imperceptibly written four words on the palm of his hand.

“Longevity. Three. Caution.”

Song Jixin suddenly raised his head and called out to the departing figure, “Father!”

The man turned around, smiling and looking at the boy, his expression not at all like that of an emperor. He just looked at the boy.

And this man, whose true ambition was to discuss the rules of the world with the gods and immortals on the mountains, seemed to have poured all his life’s efforts into something that had come to nothing, silently.

Song Jixin stood up, his eyes moist, his lips bitten until they bled. The boy was about to say something.

The man had already turned away, his voice gentle, leaving behind two unrelated sentences: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. And eat your meals on time from now on.”

An old scholar, covered in dust, finally reached the foot of Chessboard Mountain after walking out of it. He adjusted the luggage behind him, supported his back, and sighed sadly, “My old back and bones are suffering, truly suffering.”

End of Chapter