In the past, opportunities to practice martial arts had been hard to come by, and his Martial Arts level had only reached level nine last year.
Now, his True Qi level-his actual strength-was only around the seventh rank.
As he pondered, the experience bar advanced another sliver.
Zhou Cheng knew someone else had developed negative feelings toward him. But those feelings were too weak, and they had not come from a plot character, so the filter he had configured had blocked the notifications.
I suppose this counts as crowdfunding my cultivation.
That was what Zhou Cheng thought.
Indeed, the widespread rumors Li Yunrui had mentioned, those circulating through the Capital and among the common people that ruined his reputation, had originated with his own covert efforts.
Those rumors were how he had accumulated several million negative emotion points in just a few years.
Upgrading his Martial Arts skill required only one thousand points for level one, twice that for level two, and so on. Advancing from level eight to level nine already required five hundred thousand, while the cost of reaching level ten from level nine skyrocketed to five million.
With such astronomical figures, if he relied solely on gathering three or five points of negative emotion from everyday trifles, he would remain stuck at the lower levels even if he spent his entire life at it.
So he had devised a method: spread rumors to gather negative emotions from the common people.
"Why not eat meat gruel?" sounded like a joke to nobles and wealthy merchants, but to the countless commoners struggling to survive, it was enough to stir some emotion.
In this world, impoverished commoners made up the majority, after all.
One point, two points... the commoners' contempt and anger toward Prince Cheng, who had asked why they did not eat meat gruel, flowed together into a sea.
As tales of his deeds spread from the Capital throughout the country, and even to foreign lands, the negative emotions he harvested began soaring wildly.
A few years ago, when the stories circulated only within the Capital, he had earned barely over ten thousand a year.
Now, with more versions of the stories and an ever-wider reach, that number had become enormous.
The system really does deliver!
Zhou Cheng was delighted.
As long as nothing unexpected happened, becoming a Grandmaster was already a certainty. All he needed to do was raise the strength of his True Qi.
Even with experience, cultivating True Qi could not be accomplished in a single leap. With Fan Xian's arrival in the Capital fast approaching, he had therefore thought of Great Eastern Mountain.
The Heaven and Earth Vital Energy in the world of Joy of Life was, in essence, nuclear radiation.
Great Eastern Mountain was where nuclear war had erupted before civilization restarted. Radiation there was intense, making cultivation far more efficient than elsewhere. Back then, Emperor Qing had relied on the favorable timing and terrain of Great Eastern Mountain to become a Grandmaster.
Every word he had spoken to Li Yunrui had been true.
From beginning to end, his sole purpose in wanting to go to Great Eastern Mountain had been to practice martial arts.
As for selling Li Yunrui the information about Fan Xian ahead of time, that was merely an extra layer of insurance.
Fan Xian, oh, Fan Xian, don't blame me. The system set your arrival in the Capital as my deadline... I hope this aunt of mine can pull her weight...
The sedan chair moved steadily onward. Zhou Cheng closed his eyes, and the panel's faint glow gradually faded from his consciousness.
Chapter 4: Becoming a Grandmaster
April's blossoms faded, and May ushered in summer.
In early summer, Zhou Cheng left the Capital that had confined him for fifteen years for the first time.
One carriage and several dozen guards departed the Capital without fanfare, heading toward the easternmost reaches of Qing-Great Eastern Mountain.
The carriage rolled along the official road, raising fine dust.
Inside, Zhou Cheng slowly withdrew his gaze from the window, the last trace of fascination with this unfamiliar world disappearing completely from his eyes.
Li Yunrui put in quite a bit of effort this time, but... getting out this smoothly was still somewhat unexpected.
His fingertips tapped lightly against his knee without conscious thought.
Even though he had used "repairing the Divine Temple and restoring his reputation" as a pretext, Emperor Qing had granted permission far too easily.
Given the emperor's suspicious nature, letting him leave like this probably meant he wanted to see what Zhou Cheng would do.
For this journey, Emperor Qing had selected two eighth-rank experts from the imperial guards specifically to protect him.
His every move was, in truth, under Emperor Qing's control.
Still, being able to leave the Capital for Great Eastern Mountain had already fulfilled his objective entirely.
Feeling the eighth-rank True Qi flowing slowly through his body, Zhou Cheng put aside all other thoughts.
He sat cross-legged, stilled his breathing, and focused his mind. His muscles and bones rose and fell slightly with the carriage's jolting, his muscles rippling like gentle waves washing over sand.
The carriage swayed, yet he remained like a boulder planted in a rushing current, utterly unmoving.
His True Qi had reached the eighth rank some days ago, but he lacked any practical combat experience.
Recently, he had begun figuring out how to control his body and balance his strength.
What he was doing now, for instance, involved minute movements of muscle and bone, borrowing force to dissipate force and neutralizing the jolts entirely, thereby improving his control over himself and his True Qi.
After an unknown length of time, Zhou Cheng suddenly opened his eyes.
"Stop the carriage."
The horses and carriage abruptly halted, and the voice of Chen Quan, the guard captain, immediately sounded outside the window. "Your Highness, what are your orders?"
Chen Quan was one of the two eighth-rank experts Emperor Qing had assigned to him. The other was Chen Bao. Not only were both accomplished martial artists, but, more unusually, they were brothers by blood.
Zhou Cheng's calm voice carried through the carriage:
"My eyelid suddenly began twitching, and an unease stirred in my heart. I fear disaster. Chen Quan, take a squad ahead and investigate carefully."
"As you command!" Chen Quan asked no questions and immediately departed to carry out his orders.
Hooves thundered away.
Chen Bao, the deputy guard captain, swiftly directed the remaining men to surround the carriage, and the atmosphere grew somewhat tense.
Quite a few of them came, and they pinpointed my location so precisely... hah!
Inside the carriage, Zhou Cheng looked at the notifications on the panel before him and gave a cold chuckle.
Before long, the faint clash of weapons and short screams came from ahead. After a while, all fell silent.
Soon, hoofbeats approached. Before the riders drew near, a faint scent of blood had already drifted through the carriage curtain.
"Your Highness foresaw the danger! Heaven watches over you!" Chen Quan's voice came from outside. "There was indeed an ambush ahead, all elite death warriors! Thanks to Your Highness's warning, I was able to counter them. All the villains have been slain, save one leader!"
Zhou Cheng pushed open the carriage door and saw Chen Quan, his armor stained with blood, forcing a blood-smeared man to kneel beside the road.
Stepping onto the back of the coachman kneeling on the ground, he descended slowly from the carriage and approached the man.
"Zhang Li," Zhou Cheng said, his voice betraying neither pleasure nor anger, "do you have anything to confess?"
"Hmph! Since I failed, kill me if-" His words cut off abruptly. The man jerked his head up, his fierce eyes widening.
"How do you know my name?!"
Beside them, Chen Quan's gaze flickered at those words.
Before he could ask anything, the man gritted his teeth and spat bitterly:
"Damn it! Damn it! Someone must have sold us out!"
Understanding flashed in Chen Quan's eyes, and he felt that the question in his mind had been answered.
Of course! What foresight, what sudden premonition? There had simply been a mole among the assassins, allowing him to prepare in advance!
Zhou Cheng sneered silently.
Naturally, he had no mole among the assassins.
Nor could he foresee the future and predict disaster.
The system panel had simply produced a sudden string of negative emotion notifications, each worth hundreds of points, revealing the ambush ahead.
As for how he knew the man's name, that was because only one person, "Zhang Li," was still contributing negative emotions to him.
"If you don't wish to speak, so be it," he said gently.
"I have always been kindhearted and dislike taking lives. Chen Quan, cut out his tongue, cripple all four limbs, and leave him by the road to live or die on his own. Remember-cripple him thoroughly."
With that, Zhou Cheng turned around and stepped onto the coachman to climb back into the carriage.
Chen Quan lowered his head in acknowledgment, a slight chill stirring in his heart as he thought:
This prince appears gentle, yet he acts with decisive cruelty, far beyond what ordinary people can fathom. The rumors outside may sound absurd, but perhaps they are not entirely false.
Zhang Li clearly had not expected his target to dispose of him without even demanding a confession.
He immediately screamed in urgency:
"Wait! I'll talk! I work for the Second Prince!"
At the words "Second Prince," everyone who heard him paled.
Chen Quan dislocated his jaw with one swift motion. Looking at the men, who had begun to stir uneasily, he glanced toward the carriage, somewhat at a loss.
The carriage curtain had not yet been lowered. Zhou Cheng's back paused briefly, and his indifferent voice drifted out:
"Did you not hear my orders clearly? Must I repeat myself?"
Cold sweat broke out on Chen Quan's back. Hastily saying, "I wouldn't dare," he dragged the man to the roadside.
A moment later, Chen Quan returned. "Your Highness, it has been dealt with."
"Mm. Move out." Zhou Cheng's voice came from inside the carriage without a ripple.
The convoy set off again.
Chen Quan rode beside the carriage, repeatedly starting to speak and stopping. Finally, he steeled himself and said quietly:
"Your Highness, that assassin's mention of the Second Prince may have been an attempt to sow discord. We are not far from the Capital. Should we escort him back there..."
Inside the carriage, Zhou Cheng had already resumed sitting with his palms, soles, and crown facing heaven.
"Attend to your duties as a guard," he interrupted. He paused, and just as Chen Quan felt an invisible pressure bearing down on him, he added calmly:
"I know what I'm doing."
Inside the carriage, Zhou Cheng's muscles and bones moved in rhythm with its motion as he sneered inwardly:
Someone who knew my route, could deploy death warriors, and could push the Second Prince out to take the blame... interesting!
Before you continue