Chapter 682 The Carefree Capital
As if electrocuted, Shen Jian sat up, leaning against the car door, on the ground with one leg crossed, ready to flee at any moment: "My grandmother is a transcendent being, about to head to the front lines. If she learns that her grandson, destined to become a transcendent being, has been brutally murdered by you, she will surely rush to Xiaoyao Capital to seek revenge. Do you dare kill me?"
Shen Jian looked quite young, with a broad back, a square face, thick eyebrows, and tiger-like eyes.
The claim that he "will surely achieve transcendence" is clearly an exaggeration.
However, someone who can cultivate to achieve longevity within a hundred years must be a rare talent within the clan and is indeed qualified to say such a thing.
Li Weiyi said, "If I kill you, can she touch me? Before the competition, the Demon Kingdom will protect me. After the competition begins, the rules of the entire human race will protect me. Brother Hongting, is that right?"
"I've never heard of Chaoran daring to touch the successor of the Crown Prince's Daoist lineage. After all... the Shen family is large and powerful with many members. The consequences... sigh!" Zuoqiu Hongting looked at Shen Jian with pity and gently shook her head.
Shen Jian was stunned, then frowned and said, "You're serious? Impossible! If you wanted to kill me, you would have done it outside the Immortal Forest long ago. Why would you seal your cultivation and plant the Death Spirit Flame?"
Li Weiyi and Zuoqiu Hongting discussed their plan as if no one else was around: "We need to make his death a mess and pin the blame on the Taiyin Sect."
"That's perfect, it avoids a lot of trouble." Zuoqiu Hongting clapped her hands and cheered.
Li Weiyi said in a low voice, "His longevity elixir will surely fetch a lot of money. His golden bones are also valuable; they can be extracted, and the golden essence and marrow can help cultivate the Great Perfection of Golden Bones."
A growing chill ran down my spine.
He was no fool to have achieved his current level of cultivation; he knew that these two were deliberately trying to scare him.
But the crucial thing is, they can actually do that.
Shen Jian's voice grew dry: "Isn't that unnecessary... We just came to test your strength and verify the quality of the Southern Dragon. We're all human, you can't just kill innocent people like this."
“We will never kill innocent people indiscriminately; we will only silence them,” Zuoqiu Hongting said.
Li Weiyi nodded.
Shen Jian's tone became much more earnest: "You clearly made me hear this on purpose! Besides, the Blood Floating Demon Armor's weakness in mental defense is not some big deal. The Demon Kingdom knows this and has corresponding strategies."
"Nanlong was able to break through the seventh-level pagoda because his cultivation was strong enough, while the seven people inside the pagoda were not strong enough. The influence of mental attacks only accounted for one or two-tenths of the reason."
"When I take charge of the array tower, none of your mental attacks will work. An eighth-level pagoda can crush all ninth-generation immortals... Sigh!"
"What exactly do you want? Just say it! I give up, I give up, okay?"
Shen Jian's mind was clear as a mirror, yet he still trembled with fear.
Li Weiyi asked, "Who sent you?"
“Wenren Tinghai,” Shen Jian said.
Li Wei asked, "Who are the other eight people?"
“That’s incredibly unethical! We were just testing each other; we don’t have any deep-seated hatred,” Shen Jian said.
Li Weiyi looked at Zuoqiu Hongting: "Wouldn't it be too noisy to make a move inside the car?"
“I release the cage of spiritual light,” Zuoqiu Hongting said.
Shen Jian then recited the names and origins of the eight people one by one.
Li Weiyi nodded in satisfaction: "I will visit these eight people one by one. I imagine you will be infamous from now on. Even if you go back, you will be ostracized, ridiculed, and retaliated against. If you leak my conversation with Brother Hongting, you are dead. I am quite certain that the Taiyin Sect will kill you."
Shen Jian had been invincible in the Cloud Ruins Realm for decades, believing that his talent and wisdom were unmatched. He originally wanted to come to Xiaoyao Capital to show his skills, but he never expected that he would suffer such a big setback before the competition even started.
...
The Demon Kingdom was established 20,000 years ago. Through numerous expansions and calamities, its territory has changed constantly. Today, it has 565 states (including disputed areas) and 17 medium and small habitats that have submitted to it. It stands proudly in the south of the Hundred Realms, and its national power is awe-inspiring.
However, prosperity inevitably leads to decline. In recent centuries, the court has been plagued by infighting, factions have sprung up, and political infighting has resulted in chaos.
Externally, the Canghai Rice Realm, the Holy Dynasty, and the Winged Dynasty are taking advantage of the Hundred Realms Competition to gradually encroach upon and devour other regions. Border conflicts are constant, killings are endless, strange occurrences are frequent, and many mysteries are rife, indicating that there are signs of great chaos.
The Demon Emperor is dead, and the Demon Lord is in power.
The Demon Kingdom's cultivation methods originated from the Queen of Time, who called herself a demon, but in reality, like the Crossing Calamity Temple, they were born from Taoism.
The two religions have different doctrines. The Demon Kingdom promotes "intercepting the way of heaven and changing one's destiny," which is completely different from the Du'e Temple's concept of "following the way of heaven and accepting one's fate."
For this reason, whenever Lingxiao Realm encounters chaos, Du'e Temple claims that the fate of Leixiao Sect has run out or the fate of Lingxiao Palace has ended, and chooses to support a new force to regain control of the Realm.
However, when faced with life and death, Demon Lord Yu Baxian was determined to fight for change at all costs.
Despite the chaos on the border and the massive gathering of the undead army in the southwest of the Demon Kingdom, Xiaoyao Capital remained prosperous and decadent.
As the year draws to a close and the grand announcement of results approaches, this magnificent ancient city, built amidst the five elements of celestial phenomena and terrestrial landscape, becomes increasingly lively. Every day, new generation heroes emerge, mysterious treasures are born, and exceptional women compete for attention. Furthermore, there are the most intense battles and clashes of this era.
Everyone is crossing to the other side.
Below the Demon Lord are the Three Prime Ministers, the Nine Ministers, the Twenty-Seven Great Demon Officials, and the Eighty-One Yuan Warriors, each a powerful figure who commands respect throughout the land. Each represents a region and controls the resources of at least one state, with countless experts under their command. Li Longshu is one of the Eighty-One Yuan Warriors.
The demons still exist, and any attempt to conquer or annex the Demon Kingdom from the outside, even the Ghost City of Cave Ruins, would come at a terrible cost. They can only wait for internal changes to occur.
The ancestor of the Chang family was none other than the head of the Nine Ministers—the Grand Minister of Works, Hun Tu.
The Grand Minister's Mansion is located in the Water City area north of the Xiaoyao Palace, near the 200-mile-long North Lake.
It is not located right next to the lake.
Instead, it is led in by a tree-lined ancient path, surrounded by a lush green bamboo forest. The path is heavily fortified, making infiltration impossible.
The mansion is secluded and deep, with water from the North Lake used to build inner streams and inner lakes, and arched bridges and corridors.
Li Weiyi and his group arrived the following evening.
A light drizzle and snow were falling from the sky, the sky was overcast, and the entire Grand Minister's Mansion seemed to be shrouded in a dim twilight.
The spirit lanterns hung high, brightly lit, and elegantly dressed servants moved about.
The current head of the Chang family, "Master Shu," Chang Shu, personally hosted a family banquet to invite the two younger members, Li Weiyi and Zuoqiu Hongting. All the core members of the younger generation of the Chang family were present, some holding positions in the imperial court, and others possessing exceptional talent.
The three gentlemen of the Chang family—Mr. Book, Mr. Wisdom, and Mr. Ghost—are all top-tier figures in the Demon Kingdom, capable of challenging Yuan Shi.
Mr. Zhi has the highest talent in cultivation.
Mr. Ghost stayed behind to guard the Changhu habitat.
Mr. Shu was in charge of all matters concerning the court, clan, and prefecture on behalf of the Grand Minister of Works. Only when it came to the highest-level power struggles would the Grand Minister of Works personally intervene.
Chang Yujian and Chang Yuqing are the children of Mr. Shu, who lived through the sixty years of his life.
It is precisely because their parents have strong bloodlines and they have received abundant resources since childhood that they are all at the level of young emperors in the Dao Seed Realm.
"Tonight is a family dinner, there are no outsiders, so everyone please relax and don't be shy."
Mr. Shu possessed a pure immortal body, but his appearance was only above average. He was slightly overweight, dressed in casual clothes, and resembled a middle-aged scholar. It was hard to imagine that the exceptionally beautiful Chang Yujian and Chang Yuqing were his children.
He lacked the sternness of someone who had worked his way up in the imperial court; instead, he was extremely approachable, making it easy for people to overlook his extraordinary cultivation level and his status as a high-ranking figure in the Demon Kingdom.
After Li Weiyi and Zuoqiu Hongting bowed, Mr. Shu led them to the main table. Chang Zhi, however, was nowhere to be seen, clearly uninterested in the atmosphere.
"Every sixty years, I must complete a task: to marry one or two of the most beautiful women in the world who failed to become the emperor's disciples, to have several children, and to raise them to be extraordinary and carry on the family line."
"Over the past thousand years, Yu Jian and Yu Qing have consistently ranked among the top three or five in cultivation talent among all their children, something I am very proud of. Yet, both of them hold you in the highest esteem, readily admitting their inferiority. I have long wished to meet them! Haha!"
Mr. Shu held Li Weiyi's hand tightly and began to talk casually, without any condescending airs.
For a large clan like the Chang family, at least one extraordinary individual is designated in each generation to ensure the continuation of the family line. This is to prevent the undesirable situation where powerful and talented individuals become obsessed with cultivation while mediocre individuals reproduce.
In a powerful clan, cultivating a descendant at the Longevity Realm is considered a successful mission.
But among the Yi Clan, in a grand family like the Chang Family, only by raising extraordinary offspring can one be considered to have passed on the lineage and continued the family business.
The task is arduous.
Mr. Shu's gaze fell on Zuoqiu Hongting: "If you want to have children, it's best to break through to a higher realm before rebirth. The stronger the parents, the greater the advantage their offspring will have in inheriting the child. Especially for women who have transcended to a higher realm, the mother's body nurtures the fetus, and the blood, qi, and spirit are nourished, ensuring that none of their offspring will be inferior. I've been through this myself, so I have a lot to say about it."
Even with her carefree personality, Zuoqiu Hongting looked embarrassed and didn't know how to respond.
Mr. Shu would never let his words fall flat, and he instructed Li Weiyi again: "Women with high enough talent will be targeted by the Yi Clan and the Imperial Court. These old guys from the powerful families are very shrewd and know that marrying a princess or a woman of extraordinary talent is the foundation for the continued prosperity of the family."
"Those proud young women who failed to compete for the Emperor's disciples and the true teachings of the ancient sect, without the protection of the mission to spread the teachings, cannot escape the fate of being married off to the Chaoran, sent to the palace, or forced into a marriage. They can't struggle against it. Little Li, find some time to get married as soon as possible and make it a fait accompli."
Li Weiyi, who considered himself thick-skinned enough, was also about to lose his composure, so he quickly chuckled and tried to change the subject: "After listening to Uncle Shu's words, Weiyi's knowledge has greatly increased. No wonder the Chang family has so many experts and outstanding people. No other clan in our Lingxiao Realm can compare to them."
Mr. Shu's interest was immediately piqued: "Don't underestimate the Lingxiao Realm. If the Mist Emperor and the three Palace Masters of Lingxiao Palace had wanted to have children, they would have been extraordinary figures over the past few thousand years. Look at the Flying Phoenix next door. How prosperous their descendants are! All five Luan birds have become extraordinary, and even the third generation has produced extraordinary figures. There are so many talented demons."
Li Weiyi choked and started coughing.
This time I really felt like a greenhorn!
"Don't say that to the Grand Palace Master. I still can't afford to offend the Crown Prince."
Mr. Shu picked up his wine cup and took a sip, looking relaxed. Suddenly, he said in a mysterious low voice, "It is said that the Second Palace Mistress and His Highness the Crown Prince have an heir."
(End of this chapter)
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