As Long as I Don't Train Myself to Death, That Proves I'm Doing It Right!

Hearing Li Chen say that, Li Sining patted his shoulder and said earnestly, "Brother, you still need to work harder. When our crown prince brother was your age, he already had over a dozen consorts."

Li Chen rolled his eyes at her. Wasn't I busy cultivating back then?

Still, the crown prince's death remained a mystery. The investigation had yet to produce any results.

According to some of the intelligence, the crown prince seemed to have known he was going to die, yet he had dismissed his guards at the time. That made no sense.

The Ministry of Justice had been investigating the matter all along. Li Chen really didn't have much spare time to concern himself with it.

As the reigning emperor, however, he had to stay informed about such things.

While he was pondering this, Li Sining spoke again. "But you just need to keep working hard, Brother. Surpassing our crown prince brother is only a matter of time."

Li Chen: "..."

What kind of dark joke is that? I don't even know how to respond.

It's not as if the crown prince can come back to life and take more consorts.

"Anyway, you haven't been messing with the things in my room, have you?"

Li Chen promptly changed the subject.

"Don't worry. I know which things you won't let me touch."

With that, Li Sining went over to the imperial palace she had just built out of LEGO.

Then she kept coughing and swaying back and forth, trying to draw Li Chen's attention.

She looked like a little puppy that had found something nice and wanted its owner to praise it.

If Li Sining had a tail, it would have been wagging nonstop.

"Wow, who built this? It's a work of art! If I get the chance, I simply must meet this master artist in person!"

Hearing Li Chen say that, Li Sining couldn't help curling her soft pink lips into a smug smile.

"Ta-da! The master artist is standing right in front of you!"

After waiting all night, she had finally received Li Chen's praise. Naturally, she was proud.

To Li Sining, all the glory in the world couldn't compare to a word of praise from Li Chen.

The siblings' daily life was just that simple and unadorned. Li Chen coaxed her along as though she were a child.

As long as she wanted to play with the things in his bedchamber, Li Chen never refused.

Except for his figurines, of course.

While they were chatting, Li Chen noticed that his system panel had actually updated.

[Congratulations to the host for completing the mission "Challenge Above Your Level." Reward: Heaven-Grade Meridian-Strengthening Pill ×10.]

[Time-limited mission: Ferocious Secret Realm.]

[Mission requirements: The host must work hard to reach the middle stage of the meridian opening realm and obtain one High-Grade Treasure from a Wilderness Secret Realm. Time limit: 60 days.]

For a moment, Li Chen didn't even know where to begin mocking this mission.

Among the two people he had casually dealt with on Marriage Mountain, there must have been a middle-stage meridian opening realm cultivator. It seemed he had completed it by sheer accident.

These Heaven-Grade Meridian-Strengthening Pills were definitely precious. They could speed up the process of strengthening meridians for meridian opening realm cultivators.

And everything the system gave him was Heaven Grade. Pills in this world were divided into four grades—heaven, earth, profound, and yellow—and each grade was further divided by quality.

The system always gave him the best, so he couldn't exactly call it stingy.

But they were useless to him.

Besides, Wilderness Secret Realms really were rather dangerous places.

As Li Chen understood it, Wilderness Secret Realms were the fastest way for ordinary cultivators to obtain resources, but they were also quite dangerous.

Wilderness Secret Realms appeared randomly, with no fixed spawn points.

Meanwhile, this world's fixed resources, such as spirit fields, spirit mountains, and ore veins, were all controlled by major powers. The Heavenly Strategy Dynasty's government held plenty of them, too.

For cultivators in the Heavenly Strategy Dynasty who wanted resources, entering a Battle Academy was undoubtedly the best choice.

Sects and powerful clans could occupy a region at most, but the Heavenly Strategy Dynasty was an enormous nation.

As long as you achieved outstanding results at a Battle Academy, the state would support you.

That was the main reason both Li Chen and the Previous Emperor placed such importance on this.

Take Kindling Combat Academy, for example. On the first day of school, you might think you were a one-in-a-million genius, unrivaled in every direction.

Then you would discover that your classmates were even more terrifying. They were all Military Champions from their respective regions.

Every one of them had been selected from a million people.

The Heavenly Strategy Dynasty's stability and development depended heavily on these pillars of strength.

Resources were certainly important if you wanted to improve your cultivation quickly.

The major sects formed alliances and came into conflict over the distribution of resources, too.

Li Chen now had nothing but excellent resources on hand, yet they weren't much use to him.

At that thought, Li Chen suddenly looked at Li Sining.

Wait. The system said it could definitely help me cultivate to great perfection of the saint realm. Doesn't that mean that as long as I follow its process, I can produce someone at great perfection of the saint realm?

The system's missions are dangerous, but that's really only true for someone who has just activated it.

In that case, couldn't I use my max-level main account to casually grind out a max-level alt?

As for giving these resources to anyone else, Li Chen couldn't be bothered, even if they rotted in his hands.

But if he gave them to Li Sining, that was certainly worth a try.

Before that, though, Li Chen needed to confirm whether his younger sister had ever cultivated.

"Come here."

Seeing Li Sining's delighted expression, Li Chen called her over.

As though she had heard an "order," Li Sining ran up to him without even wondering why.

"Hold out your hand."

Li Sining held her fair, tender left hand out before Li Chen.

"The other one."

Li Sining held out her other hand without asking why, either.

All she knew was that when Li Chen told her to do something, she should do it.

Li Sining would never refuse any request from Li Chen.

Li Chen placed his fingers on her pulse and examined her physical condition.

Sure enough, the girl had never cultivated. She was a completely blank sheet of paper.

Having made up his mind, Li Chen prepared to level up this alt.

He had chosen Li Sining precisely because she listened to him.

"Do you want to reach the saint realm?"

Li Chen started by dangling a great big pie before her, letting her fill up on promises first.

At the mention of the saint realm, Li Sining's eyes lit up. "Brother, are you going to pass your lifetime of cultivation on to me? Don't worry, though. Once I reach the saint realm, I'll definitely snatch lots of women for your harem!"

Li Chen looked utterly speechless. "Have those novels rotted your brain? At my level, even a tiny bit of energy transferred into you would make your body explode. If that last part hadn't sounded decent, I wouldn't even bother teaching you."

Cultivation in this world began with tempering the meridians. If the meridians couldn't withstand powerful energy, they would be damaged, and activating them too frequently would also wear them down. As a result, most cultivators were much like ordinary people.

Li Sining didn't actually care much about cultivation, but this was an excuse to spend time with Li Chen more often. Naturally, she would work hard.

Seeing that his sister had made up her mind, Li Chen gave her the Heaven-Grade Meridian-Stabilizing Pill and the Nine Heavens Dragon Meridian Art from his earlier beginner's gift package, along with the Heaven-Grade Meridian-Strengthening Pills.

He then began teaching her to cultivate step by step, including which meridian in her body to work on first.

The next day, when Li Chen woke up, he was surprised to discover that after a single night of cultivation, Li Sining had already reached the early stage of the meridian opening realm.

At such a terrifying speed, even a genius on the Second Prince's level would probably be left so far behind that he couldn't even glimpse her dust.

In other words, Li Sining had officially entered the ranks of cultivators.

Li Chen had intended to advise her to slow down. It would be best to consolidate her foundation in the meridian opening realm and let it "settle" a little longer, which would help her progress later on.

But then he remembered that he had reached the early stage of the meridian opening realm in ten minutes back then, and felt that perhaps it was no big deal.

After all, Li Chen's approach to cultivation was simple: As long as I don't train myself to death, that proves I'm doing it right!