Xiao Tieleng was staring at that distant mountain outside his window, already doing this for a whole hour, watching until his face became even colder, as if there was a layer of frost that formed.

His expression was extremely cold, but there was a wave of vexed and dry heat that was hard to get rid of within him.

He knew that there were quite a few people who admired Lin Xi’s way of doing things in the royal court, especially those who came from Green Luan Academy, those officials who were a bit wild and untamed to begin with. They objected to the way Mu Chenyun’s case was handled to begin with. Once they found out about Mu Chenyun’s death, learning about the events that transpired after, there was even more of a powerful retaliation from these officials. This was especially the case when two of the nine elders seated behind the heavy layers of curtains already, through some of their influence, expressed a certain type of intent.

However, what left him the most gloomy weren’t these things, but rather the two youngsters behind him, Jiang Xiaoyi and Bian Linghan.

In Yunqin’s royal court, Xiao Tieleng was someone who pursued Yunqin law regardless of whether it was on the surface or in private, extremely clean, an official who could be described as clean and uncorrupted.

However, just like those inflexible Imperial Censors, there was one part that he could not overcome, already merged into their bones, precisely the absolute loyalty towards the emperor. If the emperor wanted the subjects to die, then the subjects had no choice but to die.

In reality, for the subjects of this world, as well as the subjects of those dynasties Lin Xi knew about, it wasn’t weird at all for there to be this type of thinking. It was because most people in this world weren’t Green Luan Academy lecturers or professors, they were not powerful cultivators like them. For many upright and plainspoken officials, what they relied on in the end, was the emperor’s mandate. Ultimately, it was still the emperor’s will that carried the most power, what they relied on was still the emperor’s decision. That was why they naturally viewed the emperor like the heavens.

An official like Xiao Tieleng naturally couldn’t question the emperor’s will, nor would he feel that he was being unfair. He was only upset over why these youngsters went against the emperor’s will because he felt like the emperor was brilliant and wise, thinking that in the future, he would definitely repay these exceptional youngsters, grant them glorious prospects.

The sound of rushed footsteps interrupted Xiao Tieleng staring into those distant mountains.

When he turned around, a messenger soldier already appeared at the doorway. After giving him a respectful bow,a scroll recording military records was delivered into his hands.

Ka!

The wooden board below Xiao Tieleng released a groaning noise. He found it hard to hide his emotions, slamming the scroll in his hands on the table between Jiang Xiaoyi and Bian Linghan, saying, “This is the result you two wanted?”

Jiang Xiaoyi and Bian Linghan examined the contents of the report. Jiang Xiaoyi’s expression became a bit pale, but the expression in his eyes still remained resolute. Bian Linghan continued to remain silent, her expression actually not showing the slightest change.

“I reckon you all haven’t visited Three Reeds Peak before, never saw Dragon Tassel Falls for yourselves, so you do not know them. However, falling from that type of height, moreover in an already injured situation, there is almost no chance of survival!” The two individuals’ reactions even more so left Xiao Tieleng in puzzlement, even more so making him erupt with fury. He screamed out fiercely, wishing to wake these two youngsters who obstinately persisted in going about things the wrong way, “Could it be that you all think that he is still fine? Don’t tell me that accompanying him in death one by one is the result you want?”

“Others might not be able to survive, but he can.”

However, what left him stunned was that ever since Lin Xi left, the always quiet Bian Linghan who only knew how to say she didn’t know instead quietly said this, full of natural confidence.

Because she understood Xiao Tieleng’s intentions and because she didn’t say the two words ‘Lin Xi’, Bian Linghan didn’t play any word games with Xiao Tieleng either. When she said this, she was only thinking that she agreed to trust Lin Xi unconditionally, so now was precisely the time for her to trust him, trust that he could win this game with the highest emperor.

…

Within Dragon Light Quarry’s stone room, the seated Lin Xi opened his eyes.

The fire in front of him was already about to die out. As such, he threw in a few more rotten but dry ropes in, and then placed a few wooden slabs inside. The flames immediately burned brighter, lighting up the entire stone room.

The soup in the pot began to boil slightly as well. One could see several gelatin-like pieces of fish skin slowly melt into the soup, the soup becoming more viscous as well. When the soup that became extremely thick cooled off, a layer of white covered the top.

Lin Xi cut a few more strips of fish meat, slowly curing the meat over the fire.

When he felt the warmth that continuously rose from his dantian, sensing that all of the coldness covering his entire body was already eliminated, Lin Xi felt even more at ease.

After many hours of meditation cultivation, a small half of his soul force had already recovered. He could sense the benefits those wisps of warmth brought him, knowing that from here on out, his condition wouldn’t worsen any further, instead, it would start to develop in a good direction.

Following each breath, he could clearly feel that his flesh and skin shook slightly… Because of his body’s weakness and pain in some areas, this type of fine trembling that could only be felt after breaking through to the mid stage Soul Expert level became even more apparent.

Hm?

Lin Xi lowered his head and began to examine the injury on his left chest. His left chest’s injury looked like it was already splitting open, extremely terrifying, but the blood already scabbed, and under the use of soul force, it didn’t seem like there was any chance of infection either. However, right at this time, he released another light cry of surprise.

His eyes stopped over his own stomach.

He could feel that his belly was a bit swollen, a bit uncomfortable.

Even though cultivators’ food requirements were large, it wasn’t a true bottomless pit. He quickly understood the reasoning for this. Because his previous consumption of stamina was too great, feeling a bit too hungry as well, the meat of these Silver Matron Dragons, after being roasted, becoming a bit like crisp-fried sponge cakes, extremely unique, the Scarlet Hemp Tail, fish skin, and lichen simmered soup was exceptionally delicious, thus, he ate a bit too much. He likely ate more than a dozen jin of fish meat in one go, and he also downed two large bowls of thick soup.

Because he ate too much, together with his injured body being weak, it became a bit hard for him to digest everything, thus making him feel as if he had indigestion from eating too much.

Normally, he would always practice the Green Luan Twenty-Four Forms and Glorious King Destroys Restraints out of habit, so after not moving for an entire day, his entire body’s blood flow didn’t seem that free, as if there was just something missing. Now that he was experiencing this indigestion, according to Green Luan Academy’s teachings, the best method was to use movement to aid digestion and increase the blood flow and movements of his inner organs. As such, Lin Xi didn’t think too much, directly standing up and walking out of this stone room, starting to slowly make movements one after another, practicing the Green Luan Twenty-Four Forms.

The Green Luan Twenty-Four Forms was precisely the use of every muscle and ligament in the body, to stretch out every single attack movement to the limit. As his head, neck, limbs, waist, legs and feet moved, Lin Xi felt the heat within his body flow even faster. Even though many areas brought back even more pain, his brain still felt exceptionally refreshed, especially his five viscera and six bowels which almost seemed to be rumbling, something he had never felt before.

After finishing a set of Green Luan Twenty-Four Forms, Lin Xi felt like his entire body was piping hot, pouring with sweat. The soul force in his dantian seemed to have decreased quite a bit, but his stomach instead released gu gu noises, heat seemingly spreading out from within. This was especially the case with his chest which released bits of sweet bloodiness, as if there was a thick clump of spittle blocking that area.

Lin Xi listened to his body’s instincts, feeling like it still didn’t feel content, so he then began to slowly practice the Glorious King Destroys Restraints.

As the yoga-like movements were slowly completed, the sweat on his body turned into white energy, as if his body was burning. After a position that made him curl up his body, squeezing his internal organs was completed, Lin Xi opened his mouth and released a breath. A wave of white energy and a blast of purple-red blood was thus released from his mouth, spraying out six or seven feet of distance, releasing chi chi sounds as they landed on the ground.

Lin Xi spat out blood, stopping. However, he didn’t panic, instead only sighing with amazement.

It was because this was a mouthful of extravasated blood.

Apart from his body’s injuries, the jerking and shaking of his body also left many internal injuries in his body.

This bit of blood was stuck between his flesh and the bottom of his heart, if it remained there for a long time, it would also be slowly absorbed by the body. Only those extremely serious tears in the meridians and blood vessels that released large amounts of blood had a chance of leaving behind blood chunks, later on coagulating into scabs and dead flesh, becoming like small stones, turning into terrible illnesses for cultivators.

However, right now, much of the extravasated blood in his body was directly forced out by him. Now, that stifled feeling in his chest completely disappeared, his limbs and bones feeling a type of indescribable refreshed and free feeling.

Even so, the hot and itchy feeling by his arms and left chest became even stronger.

These were the effects of ‘Glorious King Destroys Restraints’... Lin Xi didn’t know that this ‘Glorious King Destroys Restraints’ was something only Academy Protectors would pass down, but following that exhale, after that blast of extravasated blood shot out from his mouth like a sword, he completely experienced the wonders of this Glorious King Destroys Restraints.

Glorious King Destroys Restraints, what was destroyed were the ‘restraints’ within a cultivator’s body!

The more powerful cultivators became, the more resilient the flesh would become. The bodies of cultivators, for soul force, thus became a prison, a prison that restrained soul force.

For soul force to permeate this prison, it became even more difficult.

However, this Glorious King Destroys Restraints could make this prison’s effects on his own soul force a bit weaker, changing all of his soul force to be like small stone chisels, their penetrative force a bit greater.

Was this the most fundamental mystery of ‘Glorious King Destroys Restraints’?

After this flash of understanding, he then thought about the word ‘perception’ that was similarly important for cultivators.

𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

He immediately recalled the Daybreak longsword that flickered with brilliance within his wooden chest, as well as the words Principal Zhang left on the stele. Then, everything made sense in his head, understanding why there were no recordings in Green Luan’s books, a reasoning only ‘Braveslayers’ and ‘Sacred Experts’ could sense, but couldn’t really explain… This perception of cultivators was precisely the unique reaction produced when soul force dissipated into the world and then reacted with the changes in the world’s vital energy.

“No wonder it’s called soul force…”

Lin Xi took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled. This soul force was just like what Principal Zhang said, indeed more like spiritual energy, or a type of will force. The people of his past world paid more attention towards external objects, the external world and the exploration of the space and cosmos, while the people of this world instead clearly paid more attention towards the exploration of their own world, their own strength.

…

When he sensed the benefits Glorious King Destroys Restraints brought to his body, Lin Xi temporarily stopped practicing the Green Luan Twenty-Four Forms, focusing on training Glorious King Destroys Restraints.

As the strange stances triggered a squirming of his flesh, inner organs and blood, Lin Xi’s soul force consumption became several times greater than normal.

However, the benefits were still clear and easy to see.

When almost all of his soul force was consumed, Lin Xi who was drenched in sweat already felt hungry.

He sat down, finished all of the soup in the pot, but still felt like it wasn’t enough, so he picked up another piece of cooked fish meat that was six or seven jin in weight and ate it, only then did he belch in satisfaction. After adding some firewood and adjusting the fire, he started to close his eyes and carry out meditation cultivation again.

Since he wasn’t in a hurry, he would do things in a relaxed and carefree manner for the next two days. When he woke up from meditation cultivation, he would cultivate Glorious King Destroys Restraints. Once his soul force was used up, which was also when he was completely exhausted, hunger hard to resist, he would then immediately eat and drink.

In just two days of time, pleasantly surprised, Lin Xi already discovered that some smaller injuries were already mostly healed, his left arm’s movements didn’t bring too much pain either. Moreover, not only did he not have any more feelings of indigestion, his appetite instead increased greatly!