Had the negative emotion points supplied by the Crown Prince not remained so high lately, he might truly have suspected the Second Prince.
This batch of assassins had been mediocre, their leader only sixth rank.
With two eighth-rank guards at his side alone, it would take over a hundred armored cavalrymen equipped with bows to so much as hurt him.
This ambush had never been intended to succeed. Its purposes were probably, first, to frame someone, and second, to intimidate him.
"That dear aunt of mine probably had a hand in this, too."
Zhou Cheng recalled the vicious madness beneath Li Yunrui's alluring, affectionate exterior.
Recently, the negative emotions contributed by Li Yunrui and the Crown Prince had appeared almost simultaneously, though hers were somewhat lower than his.
Knowing Li Yunrui as he did, Zhou Cheng reckoned that even if that madwoman had not intervened directly, she had certainly fanned the flames. She might even have devised the entire plan.
Li Yunrui openly supported the Crown Prince and had frequent dealings with him.
With Zhou Cheng leaving the Capital, only the Crown Prince and the Second Prince remained there to contend with each other.
Through this move, the Crown Prince could use him to put a thorn in the Second Prince's side while also making him suffer. It was hardly brilliant, but it did kill two birds with one stone.
Unfortunately, this scheme looked like a joke before the system.
He had exposed Zhang Li's name and spared his life not merely to accumulate more negative emotion points, but also to send a message.
Only the Crown Prince and Li Yunrui knew about the assassination plan.
The Crown Prince wouldn't expose himself, so who would be most likely to "leak" information about the assassins to me, their intended victim?
Zhou Cheng closed his eyes.
"I'll put this debt on the ledger for now. Trading one Zhang Li for the Crown Prince's suspicion of Li Yunrui... actually... that's no loss for me."
He paid no further attention to the undercurrents stirring in the Capital.
"For now, Great Eastern Mountain takes priority."
The convoy traveled for nearly a month.
When the air grew damp and a salty sea breeze washed over their faces, an enormous mountain suddenly stretched across the far end of their view.
Great Eastern Mountain!
Its height was unfathomable, its breadth beyond sight. Shaped like an immense inverted stairway, it towered over the shore of the vast sea.
The summit of Great Eastern Mountain was flat as a blade-cut surface, as though a heavenly god had severed it with a single stroke. Crystalline light glittered across the exposed face like glass reflecting the sun.
People often regarded it as a divine miracle, marveling at nature's ghostly axe and godly craftsmanship.
Standing on the summit plateau, however, Zhou Cheng knew it had been caused by an ancient nuclear war in the previous age.
Some unimaginably powerful nuclear weapon had vaporized and melted everything above the mountainside, creating the spectacle that stood today.
Countless years later, the radiation remaining on Great Eastern Mountain still raged like a storm trapped within it.
For ordinary martial artists, cultivating here was not merely useless but harmful. Only high-ranking martial artists could withstand this frenzied "Heaven and Earth Vital Energy" and harness it.
The summit of Great Eastern Mountain was desolate, barely able to sustain vegetation. Only an immense Divine Temple stood there in solitude.
When Zhou Cheng stepped out of his carriage, the priests of the Divine Temple were already lined up to welcome him.
After the banquet, he naturally had no interest in the so-called "supervision of repairs." He went through the motions, then moved straight into a secluded side hall, ordering everything to continue as usual and forbidding disturbances unless necessary.
From then on, he seldom ventured outside. Apart from Chen Quan, Chen Bao, and a handful of other close guards, almost no one saw him.
Half a year passed in the blink of an eye.
On this day.
Chen Quan looked at the tightly shut hall doors and shook his head with a bitter smile.
"His Highness's patience... ah.
"When we first arrived at the Divine Temple, he said he wanted to practice martial arts and dragged us into sparring with him several times a day.
"Then it became once a day, then once every three days, then once every seven... now there hasn't been a peep from him in half a month. He stays shut inside all day, doing nothing but eating and sleeping."
Beside him, Chen Bao curled his lip. "Why fret, elder brother? It's not as though we've sold ourselves to Prince Cheng. Who knows where we'll be assigned once we return to the Capital? Why make trouble for yourself here?"
"Fool!"
Glancing around, Chen Quan reprimanded him in a low voice.
"His Highness hasn't recruited many men since establishing his household. Since His Majesty sent us here, would he transfer us away so easily? The moment we left the Capital, we became Prince Cheng's personal guards. His glory is our glory, his ruin our ruin. What other choice do we have?"
Chen Bao's eyes widened in disbelief. "Elder brother! We're eighth-rank experts! We were both commanders in the imperial guard. Even in the frontier army, we could each command a force independently! Men like us are supposed to follow him around and stand guard at his door?"
Chen Bao made no attempt to hide the resentment in his voice.
It was not that he could not accept serving as a guard. What he could not accept was...
Chen Quan's expression darkened as he listened.
They were eighth-rank experts, figures of note across all the nations, yet even so, their lives were not their own.
After a moment's silence, he could only say, "The imperial will cannot be defied. Besides, His Highness isn't entirely without merit. At least in martial arts, he's fifth rank, isn't he?"
The two of them had sparred with Zhou Cheng many times, so naturally they knew the strength of his true qi.
"Fifth rank is certainly good for someone His Highness's age. But he's Prince Cheng! What use is fifth-rank strength to him? Keeping fit?"
Chen Bao smiled bitterly.
Chen Quan had no answer.
The brothers exchanged a silent look, each seeing anxiety over their future in the other's eyes.
After half a year together, they had long since concluded that Prince Cheng was unpredictable and weak-willed, by no means a worthy lord.
"His Highness isn't entirely without merit. At least in martial arts, he's around fifth rank."
What use were martial arts to princes and nobles?
But...
Just as the two privately lamented their troubled fate, pearls cast into darkness, an indescribable pressure spread without warning from behind the tightly closed hall doors, enveloping the surroundings in an instant!
It was not merely the oppressive weight of an imposing presence, but a deeper, more fundamental terror, as though a slumbering ancient beast had slowly opened its eyes.
The surrounding air froze in an instant, and even the light dimmed. Chen Quan and Chen Bao could almost hear wind and thunder humming in the depths of the void.
Inside the side hall.
"So this is... a Grandmaster."
Zhou Cheng felt the true qi within him surging like ocean tides, while the Heaven and Earth Vital Energy around him obeyed him as readily as his own fingers.
The violent radiation that had accumulated on Great Eastern Mountain for a thousand years had now become an inexhaustible wellspring for him.
Wherever he looked, every thread and speck of dust in the air was sharply visible.
Whatever he heard, from the whispers outside the hall to the distant sounds of priests working on the repairs, sounded as though it were right beside his ears.
With every breath, the energy of heaven and earth flowed according to his will.
Two months earlier, the skill displayed on the system panel had already read Martial Arts Lv10 (Hundred-Forged True Qi max).
Previously, he had used the Chen brothers to hone his combat skills and stabilize his foundations. Once martial arts reached its maximum level, he stopped sparring and entered seclusion, devoting everything to breaking through to the Grandmaster realm.
Even with the martial arts experience bestowed by the system, it had still taken two months for his true qi to undergo its complete transformation.
Only moments ago had the true qi throughout his body finally become a vast river of stars, breaking through heaven's gate in one stroke.
[Ding-The host's designated skill has reached its maximum level. The system's lottery function is now available.] [Emotion points from non-story characters have entered the accumulation phase. Current accumulated negative emotion points obtained from story characters: 3,254 points.] [Lottery wheel unlocked (1,000 points/draw).] [Prize pool: Random selection of items previously owned by the host.]
The panel appeared. The first task was marked complete, but its rewards had not yet been settled.
In addition, a wheel icon had appeared in the center, with the number 3,254 displayed beneath it.
"Emotion points from non-story characters can only be used for the designated skill..."
After consulting the system, Zhou Cheng felt somewhat regretful.
Only one skill could be designated for experience conversion in each film or television world. Apart from emotion points from story characters, all remaining emotion points had to be saved for the next world.
"I can only draw items I've owned before..."
He glanced at the prize pool again, slightly disappointed.
On second thought, however, even a tissue or a pair of underwear had its uses. And in a different world, an ordinary object might no longer be ordinary.
Zhou Cheng did not proceed with a draw. Instead, his gaze turned toward the outside of the hall.
"For now, I should deal with the hidden threats at my side first."
Those hidden threats were, of course, the Chen brothers.
The two were his guards, but they were also Emperor Qing's eyes and ears.
In the past, he had needed to endure and conceal himself. Now that he had become a Grandmaster and completed his primary task, he could act freely in many matters.
Removing the forces Emperor Qing had planted at his side was the first step.
At that thought, he willed it, and the presence unique to a Grandmaster erupted outward!
Deep as an abyss, towering as a mountain, it made even heaven and earth bow and rise!
Three breaths passed.
Boom!
The hall doors shattered with a crash.
Amid flying splinters, two figures charged into the hall. At a glance, they saw Zhou Cheng standing within, his hands at his sides, his robes billowing and snapping despite the absence of wind. Apart from him, there was no one else.
He was clearly still the same man, yet the impression he gave them was utterly different!
Deep and boundless, as though he had become one with all of heaven and earth!
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