Imperial Mausoleum, Thunder Lake.
The clear, mirror-like lake water reflected Chen Chu’s appearance. He wore a snow-white long robe, his black hair cascading like a waterfall. His features were elegant and otherworldly, and his black eyes were as deep as an abyss.
Behind him stood a black-robed man, his attitude extremely respectful.
“Your Highness the Ninth Prince, the people sent by the Tianchen Emperor to receive you are already on the way. The Sacred Lord sent this servant to tell you that she has decided to make you the Holy Son, and the Longevity Sect will spare no expense to help you rule the world!”
Chen Chu, the ninth son of Emperor Wuzhao Chen Qing of the Tianchen Dynasty. His mother had once been the Saintess of the wasteland Longevity Sect; now she was the Sacred Lord, the hidden empress of the million-mile wasteland.
Chen Chu’s birth was the greatest absurdity in Emperor Wuzhao’s brilliant life.
Twenty-two years ago, after years of diligent rule, Chen Qing had made the Tianchen Dynasty stronger than ever. The nation was prosperous, with banners and cavalry arrayed like a force ready to swallow all directions.
Yet even a hero can fall before a beauty. Chen Qing had fallen into the scheme of the then-most-famous courtesan of the Heavenly Palace. Seeking a single night of pleasure, he instead became a furnace cauldron and had half his cultivation drained away.
Only then did he learn that the courtesan had actually been Luo Xue, the Longevity Sect Saintess in disguise.
To restore his cultivation, Chen Qing went into seclusion for a full two years. Yet something even more disgusting happened.
A messenger from the Longevity Sect carried a one-year-old boy into the palace for an audience. Before the full court of civil and military officials, he declared that the boy was the blood of His Majesty and their Longevity Sect Saintess, personally sent to the imperial city so father and son could be reunited. He also urged His Majesty not to forget that night of intimacy, and to raise their child properly.
The officials were instantly enraged, all of them urging His Majesty to execute the child and cut off this evil bond.
But Chen Qing, who had always acted with ruthless decisiveness, ultimately kept the child. He named him Chen Chu and ordered him sent to the Imperial Mausoleum to accompany the Dynasty’s Ancestor, while asking the Ancestor not to teach him cultivation, but to let him live as an ordinary mortal.
Twenty years passed in a flash.
Three days ago, the martial arts pinnacle Ancestor of the Tianchen Dynasty reached his end.
The moment the Dynasty’s Ancestor fell, his mother, whom he had never even met, urgently sent someone to contact him. Her intentions were plain to see.
Or rather, Luo Xue’s decision to give birth to him had been an open scheme aimed at the Tianchen Dynasty.
Luo Xue had gambled that Chen Qing would not eat his own young. If she lost, at worst she would sacrifice a son whose life and death she did not care about. If she won, she would gain an opportunity to overthrow the Tianchen Dynasty.
Chen Chu turned around and looked at the black-robed man with deep eyes. Though his expression was calm and there were no spiritual power fluctuations, he seemed to naturally carry an unrivaled aura that shook the soul.
He asked quietly, “Does your Sacred Lord want me to rule the world, or does she want to rule the world herself?”
The black-robed man flattered him. “There is no difference between Your Highness ruling the world and the Sacred Lord ruling the world.”
“There is a difference.”
Chen Chu said, “If she is willing to lead the Longevity Sect in pledging allegiance, I will reluctantly agree. But if she wants to make me a puppet and use me to control the Tianchen Dynasty, then her twenty-one years of plotting will be nothing but a mirage. I hate being controlled by others more than anything.”
Upon hearing this, the black-robed man’s reverent expression changed, replaced by a fierce look. He threatened, “To the Tianchen Dynasty, Your Highness was born guilty. Without the Longevity Sect’s protection, you wouldn’t survive half a day after entering the imperial city.”
Chen Chu’s tone carried faint contempt. “Do you make that decision?”
The black-robed man took out a black sandalwood box and opened it. Inside was a strangely shaped golden insect, disgusting to look at.
Chen Chu recognized it at a glance. “Your Longevity Sect only has a few of these Golden Silkworm Gu Worms. So you planned to use it to control me. Quite an effort.”
“Your Highness is rebellious, so this servant had no choice.”
“So now it’s my fault? Luo Xue’s order must have been that whether I obeyed or not, I had to swallow this worm.”
The black-robed man said nothing, which was tacit agreement.
“Are you sure you have the ability to make me swallow the Golden Silkworm Gu Worm?”
The black-robed man laughed. “Your Highness does not understand cultivation, so it is only natural that you know nothing about this servant’s realm. To put it simply, if this servant wishes, I can send the Golden Silkworm Gu Worm from any part of Your Highness’s body straight into Your Highness’s stomach.”
Chen Chu was unimpressed. He said slowly, “A twelfth-rank Heavenly Official Realm. The strength is indeed not bad.”
The black-robed man looked shocked. “Your Highness can see through my realm? No, you guessed it, didn’t you?”
“Can anyone guess that accurately?”
Chen Chu suddenly stepped forward. The black-robed man instinctively tried to react, but to his horror he found himself frozen in place, as if struck by a binding spell, unable to move.
He was a twelfth-rank Heavenly Official Realm expert. How could he be controlled so easily?
Was this the means of the Unfettered Realm, or the Land Immortal Realm?
“Could it be that Your Highness… you obtained the inheritance of the Dynasty’s Ancestor??”
The black-robed man asked in trembling shock.
Impossible!
Absolutely impossible!
For a Ninth Prince to survive at all in the Tianchen Dynasty was already extremely difficult. How could the Dynasty’s Ancestor possibly bestow his inheritance on him?
“No. The Ancestor and I walk different paths. He cultivates martial arts, while I cultivate immortal dao.”
Immortal… dao?
How could there be immortal dao in the mortal world?!
Chen Chu had already reached the black-robed man’s front, meeting the gaze in his eyes that held both fear of death and thirst for knowledge.
He asked softly, “Want to know?”
“Yes.”
The black-robed man followed his heart.
Chen Chu brought his sword fingers together and gently pressed them against the black-robed man’s brow, saying softly, “Have you heard of the Immortal’s Tome?”
“Imm… immortal…”
A wisp of spiritual light entered through the black-robed man’s brow. His body showed no change, but his soul was being violently torn apart.
His final thought before death was that the legendary Immortal’s Tome really did exist in this world!
Unfortunately, he had no way of sending that earth-shattering information back to the Longevity Sect.
Chen Chu threw the corpse into Thunder Lake. In an instant, towering waves rose in the distance, and lightning surged madly.
A massive beast covered in intertwining lightning leaped from the lake, swallowed the corpse in one gulp, and plunged back down to the lake bottom.
At the far end of Thunder Lake stood two towering mountains that pierced the clouds. Beyond those mountains lay Tianchen’s vast territory.
“I will continue the dragon fortune that was severed from the Tianchen Dynasty.”
…
Two silvery-white fine horses pulled a luxurious carriage racing along the official road. The driver was a young eunuch in a purple-blue official robe, with features like a painting and a pair of striking peach-blossom eyes.
Even as a eunuch, he was a very charismatic eunuch.
Inside the carriage, sitting across from Chen Chu, was a young girl dressed in a multicolored immortal dress, with jade-white skin and flawless features.
These two were the entire entourage sent by Emperor Wuzhao Chen Qing to bring Chen Chu back.
The eunuch was named Yu Fengcheng, and he treated Chen Chu with the utmost respect.
As for Xu Zhaoxing, she did not regard Chen Chu as a prince at all. Although she did not openly show much disgust, she certainly did not take Chen Chu’s prince status seriously. Whenever she spoke to Chen Chu, she always started with “Hey.”
The carriage stopped in a valley open on both sides.
Xu Zhaoxing lifted the beaded curtain and looked out. It seemed harmless at first glance, but one look was enough to shock her.
It was the Northern Plains Iron Cavalry.
So many Northern Plains Iron Cavalry!
Three thousand soldiers had formed a wall of bronze and iron ahead, blocking the road with a dragon- and tiger-like might.
“Hey, they’re here for you.”
Xu Zhaoxing sounded a little gleeful.
Chen Chu of course knew it. He bent down and stepped out of the carriage, standing straight on the carriage board.
Yu Fengcheng looked on coldly and took the sword hanging from the roof of the carriage into his hand.
The opposing general rode forward, cast a slightly haughty glance, and said arrogantly, “This general, Liu Chuang, has been ordered by our Northern Plains Frontier Marshal to invite the Ninth Prince to the Frontier Manor as a guest!”
He did not dismount, nor did he bow.
Imposing and valiant.
This was the Northern Plains Iron Cavalry. They acknowledged only the Frontier Marshal, not the prince.
Clang!
Yu Fengcheng drew his sword, and cold light bloomed as he said, “His Majesty did not instruct that the Ninth Prince needs to pay a visit to Marshal Fang!”
Liu Chuang said brazenly, “Then did His Majesty instruct that the Ninth Prince is not allowed to visit the Frontier Marshal while passing through the Northern Plains Prefecture?”
“Heh, so you dare to draw your sword. A little eunuch who lives deep in the imperial city like you has probably never seen my Northern Plains blades.”
The general slashed his hand downward, and only the neat sound of blades being drawn could be heard.
Clang, clang, clang!
The three thousand Northern Plains Iron Cavalry drew their battle swords from their warhorses row by row, pointing them at the sky at an angle, and a murderous air swept across heaven and earth.