True Lord, Mysterious Lord

In the Beast-Fighting Palace, Lin Longyue sat upright in her chair, her face revealing neither joy nor anger.

Her gaze swept across everyone in the hall.

A smile rested at the corners of Chu Linzi's lips, as though she did not take the hall's oppressive atmosphere to heart at all.

Yunhe Commandery Princess cradled a teacup, still wearing that languid expression.

Yang Zhuri was speaking quietly with a richly dressed youth beside him...

As if he had long grown accustomed to such strange beast fights.

Lin Longyue's brows furrowed slightly, for she had seen Qiu Chihu enter the Beast-Fighting Palace.

"Qiu Chihu is at Silver Bone Major Accomplishment, with a deep family heritage. If he fights those beast-fighters, won't he slaughter them all?"

"Yet none of them find this strange? Why didn't Yunhe Commandery Princess tell me sooner?"

Lin Longyue murmured to herself inwardly, her brows knitting tighter.

She recalled the rumors of the past year.

The Crown Prince was quite fond of beast fighting. Over the past year, he had invited the sons and daughters of every household in the Capital Circuit to bring beast-fighters and pit them against one another.

She had heard of it long ago, but had never witnessed it herself.

And this was the first time the Crown Prince had come to Yuan River Prefecture to hold a Beast-Fighting Banquet.

She looked again at the scions of noble houses in the hall.

At the last seat on the right, a young man in a sapphire-blue robe was quietly saying something to his companion, his brows carrying a trace of barely perceptible agitation.

The person opposite him was staring blankly at the vermilion gate at the side of the hall, his eyes filled with undisguised heartache.

Lin Longyue took it all in, and understood a little more.

The beast-fighters these people had raised had likely been fine prospects found only after spending immense effort and vast sums, painstakingly trained for a long time. They had originally hoped to make a showing before the Crown Prince and earn some reward.

Yet now that they had gone inside, no one knew whether they were dead or alive, and not even a sound could be heard.

It seems Chen Lingxi and the other two... are doomed to die. She could not help sighing inwardly. This Beast-Fighting Banquet of the Crown Prince's is far too strange.

Just then, the vermilion gate at the side of the hall silently opened.

Everyone in the hall raised their heads at once.

Lin Longyue's gaze passed over the crowd and settled on the doorway.

A person emerged from the shadowy passage.

It was a young man, his face pale, exhaustion impossible to conceal between his brows.

Chen Lingxi?

Lin Longyue's expression changed sharply.

The hall also fell silent.

Then an uproar spread like a rising tide.

Yunhe Commandery Princess, Yang Zhuri, and Chu Linzi all wore different expressions—confusion, surprise, incomprehension.

Behind the curtains of the jade platform, the seated figure slightly raised his head.

His features could not be seen clearly; only a vague outline swayed faintly behind the silver-red cicada-wing gauze.

Lin Longyue was looking at Chen Lingxi. Amid her surprise and delight, doubts also rose in her heart.

Could it be that Qiu Chihu never entered the Beast-Fighting Palace?

Or did Chen Lingxi kill Qiu Chihu?

The instant this thought surfaced, Lin Longyue could not help shaking her head.

Absurd.

Absolutely impossible.

At that moment, Yang Zhuri's peach-blossom eyes turned toward Chen Lingxi.

"Where is Young Master Chi Hu?"

He asked calmly.

Everyone looked toward Chen Lingxi.

An official slave had emerged alive from the Beast-Fighting Palace, while Qiu Chihu was nowhere to be seen.

It truly was a strange matter.

Chen Lingxi raised his head and looked at Yang Zhuri.

A perfectly measured look of panic appeared on his face, his gaze darting away.

That panic was not exaggerated. It could even be said that he had grasped the measure flawlessly.

It was just like a servant who had luckily escaped a place of death, then was suddenly questioned in public by such an important figure—at a loss, his wits scattered in all directions. Nothing could have been more natural.

He glanced beyond the hall doors.

The doors stood wide open. Beyond them was gray, hazy daylight, and above that daylight hung two precious mirrors.

One was blazing gold like a great sun, the other silver-white like a bright moon, suspended above the nine heavens.

With precious mirrors hanging high, this truly is the Total Perception World.

Chen Lingxi recited inwardly, while his face remained panicked.

He lowered his head and replied, "In answer to you, Young Master, this official slave saw purple qi erupting from a precious vase in the sky within that palace, blanketing heaven and earth, drowning... drowning Young Master Chi Hu and the other beast-fighters."

"That purple qi was too dense, so dense it was like a purple waterfall hanging upside down from the vault of heaven. This official slave was far away and only had time to hide in a crack between rocks. When the purple qi dispersed and I came out again, Young Master Chi Hu and the remaining beast-fighters... had all vanished."

When he finished speaking, he deeply lowered his head.

The hall instantly fell silent.

Everyone's eyes turned toward the curtains.

Behind the silver-red cicada-wing gauze, the seated figure did not move in the slightest, like a Buddha molded of clay and carved from wood.

The son of the Capital Guard Commander had died... This was no ordinary matter.

Silence.

A long silence.

Until a soft cough sounded from behind the curtains.

The cough was not loud, yet it made everyone in the hall hold their breath.

The Crown Prince's shadow behind the curtains slowly shook its head. "Throw him in prison. Interrogate him."

A mere four words.

The voice was not loud, and its tone could hardly be called stern.

Yet when those four words fell, the air in the hall suddenly tightened.

Two silver-armored soldiers emerged from the side of the hall, their steps as uniform as though they were a single person. Their armor reflected a cold, biting gleam in the candlelight.

They came before Chen Lingxi, one on either side, and reached out to seize him.

Chen Lingxi kept his head lowered and did not move.

As expected, this explanation is not enough to muddle through. But... if the Crown Prince could see what happened in the Beast-Fighting Palace, there would be no need for him to imprison and interrogate me.

His thoughts whirled through countless turns. Then I'll probe a little further!

Hiss!

His lowered right-hand fingers twitched faintly.

An extremely fine, faint thread of spiritual qi blossomed from his fingertips, sending a minute ripple through the air.

The ripple was too faint—so faint that even the silver-armored soldiers standing right beside him noticed nothing.

But behind the curtains, the seated figure suddenly paused.

Then the Crown Prince's voice sounded again.

"Wait."

Two words.

His voice remained quiet, his tone still calm.

"Let him enter the East Hall of my palace."

Enter the East Hall?

The dignitaries in the hall did not understand. Was the Crown Prince planning to interrogate him personally?

The old eunuch emerged from beside the curtains and gestured toward the East Hall.

With his head lowered, Chen Lingxi followed the old eunuch through the main hall, around a screen, and onto a shadowy corridor.

Bronze lamps were set into the walls on either side of the corridor. Their candle flames swayed gently in the draft, stretching and shortening his shadow by turns.

At the old eunuch's signal, he stepped into the East Hall.

The East Hall was much smaller than the main hall, yet far more exquisite.

The floor was paved with whole bricks of mutton-fat white jade, smooth and lustrous as grease, bright enough to reflect a person.

Dragon's saliva incense burned within the hall. Its smoke curled upward, dense without dispersing, shrouding the entire hall in a faint, lingering richness.

Only a single lamp was lit in the hall.

It was an antique bronze lamp, and within its bowl burned a bean-sized blue flame, casting everything in the hall into hazy obscurity.

The Crown Prince stood in the hall with his hands behind his back, his back to the door as he faced the enormous landscape painting on the wall.

He was exceptionally tall, his shoulders and back straight as a pine. His bright yellow brocade robe carried a deep, subdued sheen in the candlelight; a white jade belt girded his waist, and a purple-gold crown rested on his head.

The candlelight cast his shadow across the mutton-fat white jade bricks, drawing it long and pale.

Chen Lingxi entered the hall, lowered his hands at his sides, and said nothing.

The old eunuch silently withdrew. The hall doors slowly closed behind him with an exceedingly soft muffled sound.

Only two people remained in the hall.

The candlewick crackled.

The smoke of dragon's saliva incense drifted slowly through the air.

After several breaths, the Crown Prince turned around.

The moment Chen Lingxi saw the Crown Prince's face, he thought, As expected, it is him.

Candlelight fell upon the Crown Prince's face. It was extraordinarily handsome, his brows like distant mountains, his eyes like bright stars, his nose high as a peak, his lips sharply defined as though cut by a blade.

Yet his eyes held none of the high-spirited vigor a young man ought to possess. There was only a bottomless stillness utterly mismatched with his age.

They were like two ancient wells, their waters dark and deep, their depth impossible to fathom and their bottoms impossible to see.

He stared at Chen Lingxi.

His gaze was not sharp, nor could it even be called fierce. It simply fell upon him with utter calmness, yet it made the spiritual qi throughout Chen Lingxi's body stagnate slightly, while the strand of Azure Qi within his dantian involuntarily contracted.

The Concealed Edge Method circulated within him, drawing that layer of spiritual qi concealment even tighter.

The Crown Prince's gaze lingered on Chen Lingxi for several breaths. Seeing the panic on this beast-fighter's face fade into calmness, he spoke. "May I ask where Fellow Daoist comes from?"

His voice was quiet and his tone flat, but at the words "Fellow Daoist," the stone hanging in Chen Lingxi's heart finally dropped a little.

Chen Lingxi's expression did not change. He merely raised his head slightly to meet the Crown Prince's gaze. "I come from the Dao-Below Academy."

The Crown Prince narrowed his eyes slightly. After a moment of silence, he spoke again. "My memories have not fully awakened, but I vaguely remember the Dao-Below Academy."

He paused. "The Academy's Dao Master is a great Golden Core Realm cultivator, one who has attained the position of True Lord. He commands the Golden Core Realm Cauldron Vessel [Heaven-Determining Brush], which can determine a person's heavenly fate. Who knows how many cultivators wish for the Dao Master to write a stroke for them."

"It is said that on the day he breaks through, he may very well ascend to the Nascent Soul Realm, take hold of the Mysterious Seat, and become a Mysterious Lord."

Golden Core Realm!

Nascent Soul Realm!

Those words fell into Chen Lingxi's ears like boulders cast into a lake, raising wave after wave.

Yet his expression remained calm. He only nodded faintly, as though he were hearing something he had long known.

After the Crown Prince finished, his gaze once more fell upon Chen Lingxi.

Meeting his eyes, Chen Lingxi asked steadily, "Then where does Fellow Daoist come from?"

He asked openly, his tone composed.

The Crown Prince did not hesitate. "My master is from the Calamity Sea."

Chen Lingxi's brow lifted slightly.

The Calamity Sea?

His expression remained unchanged. He merely frowned faintly, then shook his head and sighed. "My memories have not fully awakened either. For the moment, I cannot recall the master of the Calamity Sea."

"The venerable one of our Calamity Sea is the Heaven-Marrying True Lord." The Crown Prince's tone was reverent. "He commands the Golden Core Realm Cauldron Vessel [Heaven-Marrying Ladder]. Calamities, karmic ties, tribulations, karmic debt—all may be married onto another."

"Climb the ladder upward, and one may also behold the Mysterious Seat."