"So you're saying I might be the Sixth Prince of Great Jin, lost among the common people, and all I have to do is return to the Imperial Capital with you to enjoy all the riches and splendor in the world?"
Su Qingyang set down the book in his hand. The corner of his mouth twitched as he looked the woman before him up and down.
A black veil covered half her face, making it impossible to see her expression.
Her long black hair was tied back, and she wore a fitted black outfit that hugged her waist and abdomen, accentuating her slender figure.
"Correct." The veiled woman's expression was indifferent. Su Qingyang's teasing did nothing to stir her emotions.
"I belong to Great Jin's Secret Bureau. I came here specifically to investigate your background. I imagine you're curious about it, too."
Liu Qingni fixed her gaze on Su Qingyang, her eyes cool and profound.
She raised a hand and tossed an Identity Token toward him.
Su Qingyang caught the jet-black token and glanced at it. His brows jumped slightly, and suspicion crept into his expression.
He had been in this world for a long time and knew the original owner's past inside out—
Ever since he could remember, he had been an orphan, alone and without family.
He had grown up struggling at the bottom of society and had never heard a single clue connecting him to the imperial family, let alone anything about being a prince lost among the common people.
Of course, he didn't care about his background.
After all, he was a transmigrator, alone and unattached. He had no need for a family he felt no affection for.
Su Qingyang chuckled. "Miss, are you joking? A prince has been missing for nearly twenty years, and only now have you thought to look for him?"
"Isn't that a little too late?"
Liu Qingni looked at Su Qingyang, a complicated, hesitant expression in her eyes. But her voice remained cool as she said,
"I'm sorry. The reasons behind this are complicated, and I can't explain them clearly right now."
"If you want to confirm your background and learn the whole truth, you can come with me to the Imperial Capital."
"So after all that, it turns out even my royal lineage is still uncertain!"
Su Qingyang chuckled and casually tossed the Identity Token back to Liu Qingni. "But I think I'll pass. My natural aptitude is pretty average. How could I possibly be that so-called Sixth Prince?"
At that, Liu Qingni shook her head and frowned.
"Don't sell yourself short. Many forces in the capital are searching everywhere, but in my view, you're the most likely candidate for the missing Sixth Prince."
Su Qingyang grew interested. "Oh? And what makes you say that?"
"Because I'm the Secret Bureau's First Secret Agent. I've never failed a mission I've taken on."
Liu Qingni was proud, brimming with confidence. Combined with her unapproachable manner, she exuded an air of aloofness and arrogance.
She was clearly a tsundere!
Su Qingyang couldn't help chuckling, but he still shook his head. "I wouldn't mind going to the Imperial Capital with you, but right now, I really can't get away."
Liu Qingni's cool eyes narrowed slightly. She stepped forward and frowned. "Do you know what you're refusing?"
"What could possibly matter more than your status as a prince?"
"This may be your one and only chance to rise to the heavens in a single bound. If you let it slip by, uncovering your past and returning to your ancestral home later will be harder than climbing to heaven."
Su Qingyang put away his book and walked over to Liu Qingni. He glanced at her calmly and smiled.
"Of course I know."
He knew exactly what being a prince meant. If it was true, a mere claim to that identity would let him rise smoothly through the ranks and step straight into the highest echelons of Great Jin's power.
Wealth, splendor, and authority would be his for the taking—a fortune countless people could spend their whole lives chasing without ever obtaining.
Unfortunately, he didn't care in the slightest whether he was the Sixth Prince!
Power over the court and the height of wealth and splendor meant nothing to him!
Liu Qingni was about to keep trying to persuade him when she suddenly realized that the temperature throughout the room was rising at an alarming speed.
"But none of that matters to me."
Su Qingyang's voice drifted over, unhurried and utterly calm.
He didn't care!
Because he already stood at the very pinnacle of this world.
Liu Qingni's delicate brows twitched, and her shock was impossible to hide.
A terrifying aura that made her heart tremble surged upward, and fearsome Qi-Blood began to pour out.
It was as if a great sun were rising.
At that moment, she felt as though she stood inside a blazing furnace. Waves of scorching heat billowed and roiled, almost distorting the air.
"Fourth Qi-Blood Breakthrough... Blood Refining Grandmaster..."
"How is this possible..."
Liu Qingni's mind shook. She couldn't help murmuring under her breath.
Such talent, such willpower...
To reach the ranks of a Grandmaster at twenty—there was no monster like him, not even in the Imperial Capital, where experts were as numerous as clouds.
Liu Qingni stared at the young man before her, momentarily lost in a daze.
In the martial world, First-Rate Experts were everywhere, but Blood Refining Grandmasters were practically the stuff of legend.
They had tempered their bodies until even their internal organs were fortified. Their flesh and Qi-Blood became one, and their skin, muscles, sinews, and bones grew harder than steel refined a hundred times. Even a mountain of blades or a sea of fire could barely shake them.
Any Blood Refining Grandmaster possessed the terrifying strength to face a million troops alone.
Across all of Great Jin's martial world, only the handful of legends like "Innate Sword Aura"—figures who existed only in rumor—could compare.
The martial path had two main branches: Internal Forging and External Refining.
As the old saying went, "Internal cultivation trains a breath of qi; external cultivation trains the sinews, bones, and skin."
Internal Forging practitioners focused on cultivating their inner energy. The familiar ranks of third-rate, second-rate, and First-Rate Experts were judged solely by the strength of their inner energy.
Yet in the eyes of true powerhouses, their foundations were ultimately shallow, and most were hardly worth mentioning.
Those who advanced further and truly entered the halls of martial achievement opened the eight extraordinary meridians throughout their bodies and stepped into the Post-Heaven Realm.
Only when their essence, energy, and spirit were perfectly united could they break through their limits and become Innate Experts.
The Martial Dao Grandmasters recognized by the world cultivated a strand of Transcendent Realm True Qi upon the foundation of their inner energy, thereby surpassing the ordinary.
Once they became Martial Dao Grandmasters, they could soar through the clouds and tread the sky, wield immense strength, travel between heaven and earth, and perform unfathomable feats.
But Blood Refining Grandmasters were entirely different...
They had to undergo four Qi-Blood Breakthroughs and cross the profound threshold between life and death, transforming the Qi-Blood of their bodies to its utmost limit.
In a head-on fight, their strength was enough to crush ordinary Martial Dao Grandmasters. They were nearly invincible among their peers.
Liu Qingni stared blankly at the unruffled young man before her,
His face was as handsome as a fine piece of jade. Thick black hair fell loosely over his shoulders and spread across his broad chest. He was tall and well-proportioned, his strength hidden beneath his skin, his physique sculpted to perfection.
His appearance completely shattered Liu Qingni's preconceived notions about Blood Refining Grandmasters.
In her imagination, a Blood Refining Grandmaster should have arms broad enough to gallop a horse upon, a waist as thick as a tiger's or bear's, and a build like a mountain.
Not someone like Su Qingyang, who looked more like a scholar with a strong physique.
Yet the immense heat washing over her, hot enough to scorch the air, and the suffocating pressure of a being on a higher plane of life—like an ant gazing up at a monster—
Left her no choice but to believe that this was a living, breathing Blood Refining Grandmaster.
"You... you... how could you... I..." Liu Qingni's thoughts were in turmoil, and she stumbled over her words. Beneath her veil, though, her beautiful eyes blazed with excitement.
"You've already reached such a realm. Why would a Grandmaster stay in a little county town and handle things personally?"
"If you return to the Imperial Capital with me, even if you're ultimately proven not to be the Sixth Prince, the court will still welcome you as an honored guest on the strength of your identity as a Blood Refining Grandmaster alone. You'll be admired by thousands and hold a position of supreme status..."
Liu Qingni murmured softly, her thoughts tangled into a knot. She couldn't begin to process the sight that had just overturned everything she knew.
Su Qingyang gave her a calm sidelong glance, then withdrew his aura and looked out the window, a trace of warmth in his eyes.
This was why he disliked revealing his strength: it created a difference in level.
The difference between their very levels of existence.
It was almost as if...
He was no longer an ordinary mortal. The very nature of his existence had left humanity behind!
"You should go. Don't disturb me for now," Su Qingyang said softly.
Liu Qingni looked at him for a long moment, torn by countless doubts. In the end, she slowly stepped back and appeared several yards away in the blink of an eye.
Clearly, her martial cultivation was no ordinary thing either.
She had no reason right now that could persuade a Blood Refining Grandmaster to go with her to the Imperial Capital.
But she wouldn't give up. She still believed that even someone who had reached the Grandmaster Realm must have something in this world he wished to pursue.
After all, the Imperial Capital had no shortage of Martial Dao Grandmasters serving as attendants.
Before you continue