If This Boy Is Talented, He Could Be of Use to Me

Inside the great hall.

Li Zhengjun carefully put the protective talisman away before clearing his throat.

"Yuankai, has something happened to leave you in such a panic?"

His tone was steady, as though nothing had just happened.

Li Yuankai, on the other hand, was so embarrassed that he found himself at a loss.

He forced himself to regain his composure and, after a few breaths, handed over an intelligence report.

"My lord, when we wiped out the Devil Cultivators that day, we seized a batch of correspondence and scouting records from Daoist Lu's desk. One entry was particularly strange. It said, 'There are fluctuations of Spiritual Qi in the capital. A cultivator appears to have entered.'"

"At first, I assumed we'd been careless and exposed our whereabouts. But the more I thought about it afterward, the less sense it made. We had the Mysterious Shell Breath-Stabilizing Disc and numerous breath-concealing Law Artifacts protecting us. Daoist Lu's Void-Observing Mirror was only a crude Fetal Breath-level Law Artifact. By rights, it couldn't have detected us."

He paused, his gaze sharpening.

"But the record of those Spiritual Qi fluctuations was certainly genuine. They even appeared at least a month before we entered the capital. So I concluded that we hadn't caused them and immediately ordered our people to follow that lead. They finally found something just now."

Li Zhengjun took the report and read it carefully.

"Interesting. To think someone like this was hiding in the capital, and even we nearly overlooked him."

The report contained a detailed profile of a young man named Ye Xiufan, eighteen or nineteen years old and one of the first Spirit Root bearers found in the capital.

A note of wariness entered Li Yuankai's voice as he continued:

"We've checked carefully. The boy hasn't begun cultivating, yet there are faint traces of Spiritual Qi circulating within him. Either he's received some inheritance left behind by a Rogue Cultivator, or another faction has tampered with him. Whichever it is, we must investigate."

Li Zhengjun set the report on the desk and spoke slowly.

"His background is clean enough. We couldn't find any holes in it, but his actions don't resemble what an ordinary mortal who hasn't begun cultivating could accomplish."

The report stated clearly that Ye Xiufan had recently been sensing Spiritual Qi. He seemed to have already set foot on the path of cultivation before the Li Household tested him for a Spirit Root.

Li Yuankai continued his report. "We cross-checked the household records against accounts from the streets, going over his background from beginning to end several times."

"The boy's life has been rather extraordinary. He was orphaned and destitute from childhood, barely scraping by in the streets through a mix of begging and odd jobs. Though he never stood out, he always managed to turn danger into safety. His fortunes afterward never brought him great wealth or high standing, but he escaped certain death several times."

"The real change came three years ago. The poor boy's luck seemed to turn overnight, and in just a few months, he reached the Grandmaster realm. Yet, for some reason, he never came to the capital to take the palace examination."

He paused, then continued:

"My lord must remember that a Devil Dao cultivator secretly watched every Grandmaster outside official service. The Devil Cultivator assigned to watch him was listed in Daoist Lu's records as having 'absconded with blood food.' But that isn't what happened. Dongping's investigation found that the Devil Cultivator had been watching Ye Xiufan before he disappeared. If he really had fled with blood food, how could Ye Xiufan still be here?"

Li Zhengjun nodded slowly, his eyes narrowing. "Since that makes no sense, there's only one other explanation. That 'fugitive' Devil Cultivator didn't leave of his own accord; he fell at this boy's hands. A mortal who can always turn danger into safety and even use his mortal body to turn the tables and kill a Qi Refinement Devil Cultivator probably has some providence on his side."

Every so often, a few children of destiny would pop up in the Yuyu Realm, bearing providence, turning danger into safety and stirring up storms across a region.

But of those so-called "children of destiny," eight out of ten were reincarnated True Lords, and the remaining two were most likely bait cast by True Lords. Darlings truly favored by heaven and earth were as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns.

The Great Scarlet Realm, however, was another matter.

This world was rich in Spiritual Qi but poor in Cultivation Methods, and its immortal cultivation system was far less rigid than the Yuyu Realm's. Without those powerful higher-realm cultivators watching and scheming, it might well produce more children of destiny naturally.

Li Zhengjun immediately said:

"Keep him under strict watch. The boy witnessed our Li Household eliminate the Devil Cultivators, yet instead of leaving, he joined our Li Household. He must be plotting something."

Li Yuankai replied, a trace of certainty crossing his face.

"I've already sent Dongping personally. He's equipped with the highest-grade breath-concealing Law Artifact our clan currently possesses. From what we've seen so far, Ye Xiufan hasn't noticed that he's being watched."

Li Zhengjun nodded in satisfaction and added:

"Well done. Don't stop him, and don't alarm him. Once we've learned his true cultivation realm and all his trump cards, it won't be too late to act."

He himself possessed a heaven-defying fortuitous opportunity like the Immortal Mirror, so how could he know there weren't a few children of destiny in the Great Scarlet Realm?

With the Yuyu Realm's higher-realm cultivators turning on those below them in mind, a thought gradually took shape in Li Zhengjun's mind.

"If this boy is talented, he could be of use to me."

So long as he cultivated a Cultivation Method from the Yuyu Realm, it wouldn't matter what kind of heaven's chosen he was or how much providence he possessed. In the future, he would have to obediently submit to Li Zhengjun, or his Dao Path would come to an end.

Once everything had been arranged, Li Zhengjun sat cross-legged, entered meditation, and immersed himself in cultivation.

The capital.

At a secluded house, a young man glanced around before pushing the door open and walking straight inside.

He was about eighteen or nineteen, with a lean figure and features that could just about be called handsome. His brow bones were especially prominent, making the eyes beneath them strikingly bright.

This was Ye Xiufan.

The Li Household did not impose harsh restrictions on Spirit Root bearers. Once they finished tempering their bodies each day, they were free to go where they pleased, though they could not leave the capital without permission.

Most Spirit Root bearers chose to stay in the imperial palace, but Ye Xiufan was different. From his first day in the capital, he had rented this secluded little house for himself, living in seclusion and rarely associating with others.

At the moment, however, the striking young man was behaving rather strangely, talking to thin air.

"Elder Jiang, the Li Household wiped out the Devil Cultivators to the last one, and these past few days they've sent people to every commandery to stamp out Devil Cultivation Methods and devil pills. Some Grandmasters exchanged Contribution Points for detoxification pills, and they really were incredibly effective. They didn't charge a single coin. I've watched them for many days now. They conduct themselves openly and honorably; it doesn't look like an act."

Deep in his sea of consciousness, a deep, slightly hoarse voice slowly emerged.

"Hmph, boy, don't let the Li Household pull the wool over your eyes. This old man has lived four hundred years and been trapped here for a full sixty-year cycle. What filthy tricks haven't I seen in the immortal cultivation world? When those immortal sects and clans first arrive somewhere, which of them doesn't start by scattering a few small favors to buy people's hearts? Once they've won everyone over, that's when they show their true faces."

The voice paused, then took on a tone of earnest persuasion.

"They're recruiting Spirit Root bearers on such a grand scale; there's no way they truly intend to teach you superior methods. Just wait and see. For the first year or two, they'll surely have you Spirit Root bearers doing hard, exhausting labor for nothing. They'll say it's to temper your character and accumulate merit, but in truth, they'll just be using you as unpaid labor."

"Perhaps after a few years, they'll pick a few of their most obedient disciples and pass down some crude Law Techniques. As for truly superior methods? Those are reserved for their own direct descendants. You'll never get your hands on them."

Ye Xiufan nodded silently. Three years ago, he had picked up a ring containing a soul, none other than Elder Jiang.

From then on, Elder Jiang had dwelt in his Dantian, guiding him to defy the heavens and change his fate, transforming him from a poor boy into a Grandmaster.

Elder Jiang was formidable, and every step he had guided him through had been correct.

Even when Ye Xiufan faced that Qi Refinement Devil Cultivator, it was a wisp of Elder Jiang's Law Power that allowed him to turn the tables and kill him, something that should have been utterly impossible.

"Then, Elder Jiang, is there a risk we'll be exposed if we stay here? The Li Household cultivators all seem very formidable."

The so-called Elder Jiang gave two dry chuckles, a note of pride in his voice.

"Those little brats?"