Concealing the Truth, Breaking Through to Confucian Path Seventh Rank

Prince Jiang's Estate's Young Master, Wang Lin.

Was assassinated not far from the entrance of Prince Jiang's Estate.

His clothes were stripped off.

By the time he was found, he was already dead beyond dead.

Exactly the same as Zhang Lun's death.

The news quickly spread to the ears of all the high-ranking officials throughout Two Rivers Prefecture.

Inside Zeng Anmin's dwelling.

"Once the seven hundred major acupoints are fully saturated with Literary Qi, you need only wait for the right moment. If you achieve sudden enlightenment, you can fill the Literary Qi to open the Purple Mansion. Once the Purple Mansion is opened, the seven hundred strands of Literary Qi will be drawn into it, coalescing into one—this is called Vast Righteous Qi."

"At that point, you may be called the Purple Mansion Realm."

Within his mind, Zhang Lun's gentle, refined voice seemed to still echo in his ears.

Zeng Anmin slowly opened his eyes and murmured, "Seven hundred and twenty strands of Literary Qi converge into the Purple Mansion, condensing into Vast Righteous Qi."

"Brother Tongyu, I've achieved it."

Although it was because the Dragon Survey Map had opened his Purple Mansion for him first, taking a shortcut that made it this fast.

But regardless, he was now a Confucian Path Seventh Rank, a Purple Mansion Realm cultivator!

His gaze slowly shifted to the Golden Finger's panel.

Congratulations on breaking through your rank

Martial Arts Entry loading complete

Please choose one of the following three Martial Arts Entries

Silver Exquisite Martial Arts: Weapons and spiritual artifacts obtained through this entry cannot be used for forty years. After forty years, they will transform into random auxiliary spiritual artifacts.

Silver Martial Arts Construction: Obtain Martial Arts Spiritual Artifact fragments. After seventy years, the fragments will evolve into a complete spiritual artifact.

Silver Martial Arts Restructuring: All Martial Arts Spiritual Artifacts obtained through this entry will be upgraded to random spiritual artifacts of a higher grade.

Note: Entries not chosen will disappear permanently. Countdown: 30, 29, 28...

Just as he had thought.

This system wanted him to break through the Martial Arts Realm more.

Both of his Confucian Path breakthroughs had given him very useless silver entries.

Only that one Martial Arts breakthrough had given him a prismatic glow.

Case closed—the system discriminates against the Confucian Path...

Zeng Anmin's gaze slowly swept over the three entries.

Exquisite Martial Arts and Martial Arts Construction—their effects did look tempting.

But they required waiting time: one for forty years, the other for seventy...

Direct pass.

By then, the food would be cold, some master would have grown strong, and the teachers from the island nation would have changed careers...

So, he could only choose one.

Martial Arts Restructuring: All Martial Arts Spiritual Artifacts obtained through this entry will be upgraded to random spiritual artifacts of a higher grade.

"Only this one left."

As soon as Zeng Anmin finished choosing, He felt a disturbance in his sea of consciousness.

He moved his mind and looked into his sea of consciousness.

The short blade that had been floating there had now turned into a completely unrelated Hand Axe...

But on that Hand Axe, streaks of Prismatic Glow flickered, ancient and mysterious patterns shimmering on the axe.

Even though Zeng Anmin had prepared himself, his breath still caught at this moment.

"A divine... artifact!"

Although this was a xianxia world, the grading of weapons was not overly flashy.

There were only three grades.

First was ordinary weapons, forged by ordinary blacksmiths.

Second was weapons inscribed with formations by the Profound Formation Division, also called spiritual artifacts.

Third was weapons with a certain level of consciousness, also known as divine artifacts!

"Dean..."

The Steward's expression was grave as he strode quickly toward Qin Shouchang, who held his fishing rod:

"Wang Lin died on his way home last night."

Qin Shouchang's hand gave a slight pause; surprise flickered across his face:

"Dead?!!"

"Mm. Assassinated by a Martial Artist wearing a Black Cat Hood."

"A passerby witnessed it—the Martial Artist wielded an Ornate Dagger."

"The Xuanjing Division is already scouring the city in pursuit."

Hearing this, Qin Shouchang fell silent. After a long time, he let out a cold laugh:

"Dead is dead. He brought it on himself—no one to blame."

With that, he turned his gaze back to the water, but suddenly stopped.

Unbidden, a face with Phoenix Eyes surfaced in his mind.

He drew a deep breath and asked:

"Zeng Anmin... did he leave the academy last night?"

The Steward's expression froze, then turned solemn:

"I don't know, but... it can be checked."

A thoughtful gleam flickered in Qin Shouchang's eyes.

He gently twitched the fishing rod.

Plink~

The float on the water bobbed lightly.

"Bite!! It's biting!! Hahaha!!"

Qin Shouchang's face lit up with joy. After days of catching nothing, the sight of a fish on the hook thrilled him.

Just then, a faint aura suddenly emerged.

Qin Shouchang sensed it at once. He jerked his head up, staring toward the academy.

The hand holding the rod froze.

"A student has broken through—opened the Purple Mansion, condensed the Righteous Qi!"

But because his attention had shifted, the fish slipped free and splashed back into the water.

"Ha, this is truly a double blessing..."

The Steward was about to offer congratulations, beaming.

But the fish's escape caught him off guard, and he blurted out:

"Blessing in the east, harvest in the west."

Qin Shouchang's expression stiffened as well.

He glared irritably at the water, forcing a smile:

"At least my academy has gained another pillar of strength."

As he spoke, hurried footsteps approached.

"Dean, the one who just broke into the Purple Mansion Realm is Zeng Anmin."

A young page, dressed like a servant, ran in breathlessly to report.

"Who?!!" Qin Shouchang's face went blank.

"Zeng Anmin..."

Qin Shouchang shot to his feet. The fishing rod slipped from his hand and fell into the water.

He didn't seem to notice, staring fixedly at the page:

"Are you certain?!!"

The page dropped to his knees with a thud, pointing to the heavens and swearing:

"If a single word is false, may Heaven take my soul!!!"

"Five days... from entering the ranks to opening the Purple Mansion?!"

Qin Shouchang didn't even blink.

He felt as though the world had played a colossal joke on him.

He had never seen—never even heard of—such an outrageous speed!!

Arriving smoothly at the Purple Mansion Realm also proved, from the side, that his earlier suspicions about Zeng Anmin's words were all complete nonsense.

This Zeng Shilin! Why was he better than him in every way??

His literary talent might be slightly inferior, but in Confucian Dao talent, the art of governance, outward appearance, even winning a beauty's smile...

And now, even the ability to sire a son had been crushed by him...

Qin Shouchang stood frozen in place for a full quarter of an hour.

"Dean?!"

The Steward, after all, was not a Confucian Dao cultivator and had little grasp of such speed. He was the first to react, quietly approaching Qin Shouchang and lowering his voice to ask:

"Still investigate?"

"Investigate my ass!" Qin Shouchang suddenly snapped back to himself, staring hard at the Steward. "No matter who comes, remember—no matter who, even if the Emperor himself arrives in person—Zeng Anmin was in his dormitory last night seeking a breakthrough and never left for a single step!!"

"Click."

Zeng Anmin's door was pushed open.

A group of elderly men stared at him in utter shock.

"Zeng Anmin?!! It really is him!!!"

"Three ranks in just five days??!!"

"Unheard of, unseen!!"

"Even the Confucian Sage back in the day probably wasn't this fast!!"

When their gazes locked onto Zeng Anmin, every single one of them fell speechless.

Zeng Anmin looked back at them all and blinked.

Solid.

The buzz of the Governor's son breaking through to the Purple Mansion Realm in five days—

Could it possibly outshine the news of Prince Jiang's Estate's Young Master's death?

He bared his white teeth in a grin and looked cheerfully at the assembled Teaching Masters:

"Quanfu greets all you gentlemen. I wonder if you might..."

Before he could finish, an old man lunged toward him, trembling as he seized his hand and said:

"Quanfu, your teacher is willing to take you as a personal disciple, to pour out everything I've learned. Would you be willing?!"