Three Years

Inside the study, sandalwood incense curled upward, turning into wisps of white smoke that dissipated in midair.

Qin Chen sat upright at the desk, holding a purple rabbit-hair brush saturated with thick ink.

A sheet of finest-quality rice paper lay spread across the desk. His gaze was focused, his wrist suspended above the surface as his brush raced across the paper like a roaming dragon or a startled phoenix.

"To be opened by Father personally: may these words be as meeting face-to-face. Your son recently happened upon an ancient, extraordinary formula called the 'Dragon-Tiger Pill.' This pill is not intended to help cultivators break through realms, but was created specifically to cleanse the marrow and strengthen the muscles and bones of ordinary soldiers. If refined in batches, it could give every soldier under our Eastern Pacifying Prince's Residence the valor of a Houtian martial artist. Moreover, its medicinal properties are gentle, with no risk of overdrawing their potential. However, it consumes enormous quantities of its principal ingredients, 'Dragon blood grass' and 'tiger bone vine.' I ask that Father immediately mobilize the Dark Web, conceal its movements, and break the operation into small, scattered parts to purchase and stockpile them secretly throughout the continent. This matter concerns the overall situation in the future. Please exercise the utmost caution and secrecy..."

In several hundred flowing words, Qin Chen clearly explained the strategic value of the Dragon-Tiger Pill and the precautions necessary when gathering its ingredients.

Once the ink had dried completely, he carefully folded the letter, placed it inside a specially made moisture-proof bamboo tube, and sealed it with wax, stamping it with a secret mark that only they understood.

An hour later, a pitch-black Spirit Falcon with eyes as keen as lightning shot into the sky from the mountain behind Cloudmist Manor. Like a bolt of black lightning, it instantly vanished into the fierce winds high above, heading straight for Yanjing City.

Several days later, in a secret chamber at the Eastern Pacifying Prince's Residence.

Dim lamplight flickered against the walls, stretching Qin De's burly shadow to an extraordinary length.

He held the letter taken from the bamboo tube, his gaze lingering for a long time on the words "give every soldier the valor of a Houtian martial artist." Even his breathing involuntarily grew heavier.

An army composed entirely of Houtian martial artists?

That would not be an army at all, but a savage beast of war capable of crushing all worldly imperial power and trampling the Chu State's capital flat!

"Dragon blood grass... tiger bone vine..." Qin De murmured, a terrifying gleam flashing in his deep eyes.

He did not doubt the letter's authenticity in the slightest, nor did he probe into where exactly Qin Chen had obtained such a heaven-defying ancient pill formula.

"Attend me!" Qin De called in a low voice.

In the shadows of the secret chamber, a black-clad figure dropped instantly to one knee like a phantom. "What are your orders, Your Highness?"

"Send word to the Heavenly Web's Heaven, Earth, Black, and Yellow Divisions. Effective immediately, suspend all nonessential intelligence-gathering missions. Break all available funds into small sums and distribute them among trading houses, medicinal shops, and black markets in every country on the Qianlong Continent. Purchase dragon blood grass and tiger bone vine in secret, at any cost. Remember, you must never attract the attention of the overlord Xiang Family. Even if you must take roundabout routes and work in separate batches, it must be done without gods or ghosts knowing!"

"Understood!" The black-clad man asked not a single question about the reason. His figure flickered, and he melted back into the darkness.

Qin De stood alone in the secret chamber, watching the dancing candle flame. A gratified yet fervent smile curved his lips. "Chen'er, I will not fail the painstaking care you have put into this. Xiang Family, the time is almost here for you to repay the blood debt you owe our Qin Family!"

Spring passed and autumn came; cold gave way to heat.

Cultivation knew no passage of years, while a thousand years had passed in the world.

For Qin Chen, immersed in cultivation and study, three years passed in no more than the flick of a finger.

Though Qin Chen was now only thirteen, he had grown considerably taller, shedding his childish immaturity. Between his brows lay a steadiness like a deep, still pool and a towering mountain.

As he stood there, even without using any true qi, he seemed to blend into the surrounding heaven, earth, and nature.

Early one morning, the bleak autumn wind swept up several withered yellow leaves, sending them swirling through the courtyard.

Feng Yuzi and Mu Qing had changed into plain, clean robes. Each carried a simple travel bundle on his back as they stood at Cloudmist Manor's main gate.

Looking at the retreat where they had lived for three years, both men had a trace of complicated reluctance flash through their eyes, but more than that was a sense of release, as though a burden had been lifted.

Creak-

The gate was pushed open, and Qin Chen strode out in a moon-white robe. Seeing his two esteemed teachers dressed this way, he could not help pausing in surprise before quickly approaching and bowing deeply with clasped hands. "Uncle Feng, Uncle Mu, what is the meaning of this? Have the manor's servants failed to attend to you properly?"

Mu Qing gave a wry smile, stepped forward to help Qin Chen straighten, and patted his now rather broad shoulder. He sighed. "Chen'er, don't let your thoughts run astray. These three years have been the most satisfying years of our old lives, and also the greatest blow to us. By now, you brat have emptied out every last scrap of knowledge we had about pill refining and artifact crafting. In some ideas, you have even gone ahead of us."

Beside him, Feng Yuzi stroked his beard, a rare trace of embarrassment appearing on his aged face. "Old Mu is right. 'The master leads you through the door, but cultivation rests with the individual.' We now have nothing more to teach you in our fields. If we shamelessly stayed any longer, we would not only be failing our student, but holding back your future. It is time for us to return to the capital to report back, and enter a seclusion we will not leave until we have made progress, to digest the inspiration we have gained from you over these three years."

Seeing the sincerity in the two elders' eyes, Qin Chen felt a warm current rise in his heart.

Over these three years, the two grandmasters had taught him everything they knew, holding nothing back. He had long since engraved that kindness in his heart.

"I will remember the kindness of your teaching until my dying day." Qin Chen bowed solemnly once more, then raised his head, his gaze turning utterly earnest. "But today, I would venture to ask you both to stay a little longer. Not so I can study artifact crafting or pill refining, but... so you can stand guard over my cultivation."

"Stand guard?" Feng Yuzi and Mu Qing both froze.

Among cultivators, only when facing an extremely critical seclusion or a breakthrough into a major realm would one invite someone absolutely trustworthy to stand guard, to protect against outside enemies and qi deviation.

"You're going to break through again, brat?" Feng Yuzi's eyes widened as he looked Qin Chen up and down.

Qin Chen smiled faintly and concealed nothing, calmly saying, "I feel that the true qi within my body has been honed to perfection, and the barrier between realms has loosened somewhat. I intend to attempt a breakthrough into the Golden Core Realm within the next few days."

Clack!

The pair of finest-quality warm jade walnuts Mu Qing had been rolling in his hand instantly dropped onto the bluestone paving and shattered.

Feng Yuzi actually jumped like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. He grabbed Qin Chen's wrist and sent his true qi inside, then recoiled as though shocked by electricity, his face looking as though he had seen a ghost. "You... have you gone mad?!"

"You only broke through to Xiantian Paragon a year ago, and after just one year of consolidation, you're going to attempt the Golden Core Realm?!"

"Do you know what Core Formation means?"