The Imperial Palace

The night passed without incident, and the red sun rose in the east as usual.

Xiao Fan got up early; no one else in the family was awake yet...

He quickly washed up and prepared to head to Fragrant Pavilion... a famous pleasure house in the northern district of the capital, and also a large-scale "information market."

Many jianghu rumors could be gathered there... Xiao Fan's goal was to collect information on Qin Han!

It was time to meet this wicked young master, but before that, he needed to make some preparations—to learn about the man's daily habits and past misdeeds...

Besides, he planned not to tell his family yet that he had broken through to the eighth rank. After all, it involved the imperial family's secret art, Sovereign True Dragon Heart Seal.

Starting today, he intended to temper his body according to his father's method and have his elder sister hammer him! He could take a beating far better than before.

To avoid being discovered by his elder sister, he definitely could not use dragon scales to withstand the blows. But even so, with dragon bones and dragon sinews strengthening his body, he was still far tougher than someone in the Qi Refinement Realm!

And that was not all. Today, he also planned to find time to visit the Bureau of Celestial Observation and seek out Li Mingyuan, hoping to learn something about the Great Xia Bureau of Celestial Observation from the previous dynasty—especially Xun Huan's true identity, and what entanglements he had shared with the founding emperor.

This information might be directly connected to the details of his father's mission that had caused him to lose his memories!

Yet even that was not everything. The young master of Cloud Rest Courtyard was still waiting for him to guide his cultivation of Sovereign True Dragon Heart Seal...

"Ah, day after day, there's no end to all this business!" Xiao Fan muttered under his breath.

Just as he was about to leave, he saw two armored guards and several horses already waiting outside his home!

What was going on???

"May I ask whether Young Master Xiao Fan is at home?" one of the armored soldiers stepped forward and asked.

Xiao Fan answered truthfully, "I am Xiao Fan. What can I do for you, sir?"

"His Fifth Highness requests your presence. We ask that you accompany us into the palace at once," the armored soldier said with cupped hands, then gestured toward a horse prepared behind him.

His Fifth Highness? Wasn't that Ji Xuanyuan? Xiao Fan was somewhat bewildered. He had originally planned to find time today to visit Cloud Rest Courtyard, ask him a few questions regarding Sovereign True Dragon Heart Seal, and give the young master some guidance while he was at it...

They had already agreed on this, so why had he specifically sent people to fetch him? And judging by these two soldiers' attire... they were palace inner guards!

A prince had no authority to order inner guards out of the palace to seize someone... This had to be the emperor's instruction!

At that thought, Xiao Fan sucked in a sharp breath. His thoughts raced as he wondered, How did Emperor Hongwu find out the moment I started cultivating Sovereign True Dragon Heart Seal? Surely not?!

Or was he... overthinking it?

"Young Master? His Highness requests your presence. Please accompany us into the palace at once and do not make things difficult for us," the armored soldier said, puzzled to see him standing there in a daze.

Xiao Fan nodded lightly. "May I ask why His Fifth Highness wants me to enter the palace?"

"That is not something we are meant to know." The soldier shook his head.

As expected...

Xiao Fan mounted his horse. "All right. Please lead the way, sir."

The three men rode their three horses toward the inner city, and before long, they arrived beneath the palace walls!

The walls stood a full five zhang high, nearly a match for the capital's outer city walls...

No, really... the imperial palace was built like a fortress tower. Was that necessary? Xiao Fan could not help grumbling inwardly.

At that moment, a carriage approached outside the broad arched gate.

"It's you! Princess's carriage is before you, yet you still do not dismount and pay your respects!"

Hua'er, the maid accompanying the carriage, pointed at Xiao Fan blocking its path and rebuked him...

Xiao Fan recognized the sharp-tongued maid. She was Princess Lingxi's personal attendant from that day at Cloud Rest Garden.

"So Her Highness the Princess has arrived!" Xiao Fan immediately dismounted and bowed.

A head poked out from the carriage window. "Eh? You're that... that... Xiao Fan?"

"I am Xiao Fan."

Princess Lingxi tilted her head. "Ah! I remember now—you still owe me a storybook!"

Good grief... In her eyes, this young master was basically a storybook... Xiao Fan's mouth twitched as he grumbled inwardly.

"A storybook intended for Your Highness naturally has to be polished to perfection. I am checking and revising it repeatedly to make sure there are no mistakes," Xiao Fan replied calmly.

In truth, he had completely forgotten about it... Had he not run into Princess Lingxi here, the matter of the storybook would probably have sunk like a stone into the sea.

Princess Lingxi pouted, clearly dissatisfied with his answer. "Then hurry up, all right? I can't wait anymore... Ah, no, Hua'er can't wait anymore!"

The moment those words came out, Hua'er was utterly dumbfounded... She could not even recognize all the characters... But since her mistress had said so, then so be it...

Hua'er cooperated enthusiastically, raising her brows and planting her hands on her hips. "Y-yes! I can't wait anymore!"

Best if it was you who could not wait anymore... Xiao Fan fought to keep a straight face, doing his best to look serious and pretending not to see through Princess Lingxi's nonsense at all.

"Rest assured, Your Highness. The storybook will be delivered within three days!" Xiao Fan promised, thumping his chest.

Princess Lingxi nodded lightly. "Good! You said that yourself! If you dare deceive me... Ah, no, deceive Hua'er, just see how I deal with you!"

"I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare!" Xiao Fan bowed once more.

Princess Lingxi's carriage led the way, with Xiao Fan and two imperial guards following behind as they entered the palace!

This was Xiao Fan's first time entering the palace. Looking around, all he could say was, "Whoa!"

If he absolutely had to describe it, then the Forbidden City was still far too small...

After all, the only well-preserved imperial palace Xiao Fan had seen in his previous life was the Forbidden City, so in his mind, ancient palaces should have looked more or less like that...

But now that he saw this, he realized how shallow his knowledge had been... An imperial palace could actually be built like a small city!

Once they entered the inner palace grounds, Xiao Fan and the other two had to part ways with Princess Lingxi's carriage.

The former dismounted and continued on foot, while the latter rode toward the inner harem.

Climbing the broad steps, Xiao Fan saw a magnificent palace looming ahead. This was the Purple Zenith Hall, where the Emperor held court!

Outside the hall stood someone who looked rather simple-minded... wildly waving at them.

There was no need to guess—it had to be Ji Xuanyuan.

Xiao Fan hurried over and saluted him. "Greetings, Fifth Prince!"

In a formal setting, he still had to be a little serious... No matter how simple-minded he looked, he was still a prince.

Ji Xuanyuan draped an arm over Xiao Fan's shoulder and laughed. "All right, all right, don't make it so formal. There's no one else here."

"May I ask why Your Highness suddenly summoned me to the palace?" Xiao Fan went straight to the point and voiced his doubts.

Ji Xuanyuan explained, "Do you remember what you told me yesterday? The more I thought about it, the more sense it made! So last night, I went to speak with Crown Prince... Guess what happened?"

Ah... what a difficult thing to guess...

Seeing the young master's expectant gaze, Xiao Fan simply put on an utterly baffled expression. "Your Highness, something this difficult is truly beyond my ability to guess!"

"Haha, I knew you wouldn't guess it! Not only did Crown Prince greatly approve of my idea, he even decided to fully support the martial artist I recommended!" Ji Xuanyuan's delight was plainly visible.

Young master, young master, they're using you as a spear... Xiao Fan was utterly calm inside. Everything was exactly as he had expected, yet his face was filled with shock, as though he had heard some earth-shattering news.