Chapter 86.1: The Little Bride???

After a few dozen breaths, Qi Yuan came to a halt, holding his breath.

"So, this is Lu Fei's room, huh?" He grinned faintly. "White Moonlight, here I come."

He stood outside the door, half-hidden in the darkness. Despite listening intently, all he could hear were faint splashes of water.

Even after a long while, there was nothing. Still, Qi Yuan didn't give up. He was patient.

After all, this was a Profound-tier cultivation technique they were talking about. Collecting a few more of them would add to his scripture’s progression.

The more techniques he studied, the more insight he gained. Thanks to his unique skill, he could discern their flaws. Moreover, a higher skill level would reveal deeper patterns.

For example, before obtaining a Profound-tier technique, he could find seven flaws in a Jade-tier method and refine them. But after mastering a Profound-tier one, he could suddenly see ten. Still, he suspected that he wouldn't be able to spot the flaws of a Heaven-tier technique. The deeper his understanding, the clearer the world became.

As night deepened, he kept perfectly still, ears strained and breath steady. People occasionally passed by. Their shadows brushed close, yet none noticed his presence.

Time slipped away.

Then, suddenly, his eyes lit up. "Finally?"

He had caught the rhythm of Lu Fei's cultivation and the whisper of her inner thoughts.

"Chaos to infinity, qi flows through the dantian, the royal path moves and—"

Qi Yuan widened his eyes. He listened with full concentration, afraid of missing a single word.

After some time, satisfaction flickered across his face. "Yin Maiden Grand Art? ... Quite vicious indeed."

He had just obtained the Profound-tier manual Yin Maiden Grand Art. It was truly a technique perfectly befitting the demonic reputation of the Demonic Desire Sect. To master it, one had to dual cultivate with seven men who loved her deeply, and kill them at the height of passion.

Qi Yuan clicked his tongue. "Even that sheep guy from Bluestar didn't have it this bad. This Lu Fei's next-level crazy, she makes you lick her boots, and you die for it too! Someone this vicious doesn't deserve to be my white moonlight. Po Lang is the real deal. Tall, rich, handsome, and brimming with powerful techniques!"

After secretly stealing her cultivation method, Qi Yuan's feelings for Lu Fei were replaced by the cold detachment of a man done with his conquest. He was just about to leave when, all of a sudden, a black-robed figure appeared.

A thief? Or a lover?

The black-robed man slipped into Lu Fei's room. Qi Yuan crouched lower, his thoughts racing. For some reason, the man's presence made his heart pound in warning.

Don't tell me... that's a Nascent Soul monster?

Qi Yuan's expression tightened. It'd be best to disappear as soon as possible. He wasn't sure he could handle such a being. If that monster sensed him, things could turn fatal fast.

He listened a bit longer, but the sounds inside were suddenly sealed off by a silencing art. Nothing more could be heard. Qi Yuan sighed, then quietly slipped away into the night.

***

Two days passed in a blur, but much had changed.

First, this Celestial Dragon Realm turned out to be unlike the previous one. The first realm only allowed cultivators under thirty to enter, but this one strangely admitted even those under a hundred.

The discovery caused an uproar. Princes who lacked the backing of the three great sects quickly joined forces, revising the Dragon-Seizing Contest rules to let Core Formation realm cultivators participate.

The palace boiled with chaos. Then, a Divine Radiance Sect Core Formation cultivator struck down another in broad daylight, forcibly quelling the storm. The proposal was scrapped and the three great sects stood united in rejection. The contest would proceed as before. Many princes fumed, but none dared to defy the sects.

At the entrance to the Celestial Dragon Realm, countless Foundation Establishment realm cultivators gathered, the air thick with tension.

Suddenly, divine light rippled across the skies. A powerful pressure swept down as a white-haired elder appeared above the clouds.

"Greetings, Master!" cried Kang Fulu, bowing deeply.

"Greetings, Martial Uncle!" said Qi Yuan. Despite always cracking jokes to insult old men, he had always respected the elderly.

The crowd of cultivators all bowed low, eyes full of awe. "Greetings, True Lord Taiguang!”

It was none other than True Lord Taiguang, the Five-Light Peak’s master. As a Nascent Soul powerhouse, he was regarded as one of the greatest in the entire Great Shang.

"The Celestial Dragon Realm has changed," Taiguang announced. "Now, even cultivators under a hundred may enter. To prevent chaos, I will personally oversee its entrance."

Faces paled across the crowd. However, the three princes backed by the great sects seemed thrilled. Especially Dong Xian. His foundation was weak; if outsiders slipped in, his chances at the throne would vanish.

Kang Fulu's expression brimmed with pride. "With Master guarding the gate, nothing will go wrong!"

Meanwhile, Qi Yuan was preoccupied. He was still thinking about the black-robed figure from two nights ago. Was that truly a Nascent Soul expert?

A stick of incense later, the Celestial Dragon Realm fully opened. A torrent of spiritual qi burst forth, flooding the mortal lands outside the city. With such thick qi, even ordinary mortals here would live longer, their illnesses fading. Rogue cultivators were already making plans to build huts nearby.

As the portal glowed, a floral fragrance wafted from within.

"Smells nice," Qi Yuan muttered.

The qi density was nothing special to him, as it was still weaker than Seven-Colored Peak’s.

Dong Xian said softly beside him, "They say the Celestial Dragon Realm is an outer-domain secret realm that drifted into our lands. When our ancestors entered the first realm ages ago, they found a crystal coffin inside. Within it, a strange being was asleep. Our ancestors suspected that it was the secret realm’s master, but no one had ever managed to open it. A thousand years later, that coffin had vanished into another realm. If that coffin appears again, whoever claims it will surely become emperor."

Much of what Dong Xian knew came from the royal archives, but some of it came from the Artifact Master. For instance, that the Celestial Dragon Realm had come from beyond their world.

When the Great Shang Kingdom obtained the Celestial Dragon Realm, it inevitably drew the attention of other great powers. Experts from those factions had examined it and concluded that it originated from another domain altogether. In the Canglan World, it was not uncommon for otherworldly relics and immortal realms to drift into their skies.

𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

"I'll do what I can to help you seize any treasures worth having," Qi Yuan said.

His thoughts, however, were entirely occupied with his white moonlight, Po Lang. The royal treasury of Great Shang hardly interested him.

Dong Xian's heart surged with excitement. "Thank you, Senior Brother!"

He knew Qi Yuan's strength well, and that his knife was a true divine treasure. With it, Qi Yuan could even stand against Core Formation cultivators.

If nothing went wrong, Dong Xian's chances of winning the Dragon-Seizing Contest should be very high.

Just then, Artifact Master's voice echoed secretly in his mind.

"Don't get complacent just yet. That Foundation Establishment cultivator named Po Lang is powerful, so much so that he makes it into the Eastern Lands' Prodigy Ranking. He might even defeat Core Formation experts across the realms."

"What?"

Dong Xian's heart wavered, unease flickering across his face.