Chapter 388 – Training and Daily Life at Dawn Manor, an Encounter With the Emperor Before the Mass Grave - Part 3

The same evening.

This time, Yao Jue drew the short stick.

After a bath, Li Yuan put the manuals away, yawned, and headed for bed. Inside, a red candle burned; the silk canopy glowed like a sheet of flame.

Yao Jue lay in silk nightclothes, one long leg flicking the quilt. Propping her chin, she looked up at him with puppy-eyes. “Oh mighty Khagan, have mercy on a poor maiden. My betrothed still waits at home...”

Li Yuan blinked, then stalked over like a brute. “Serve this Khagan well, little lady, and I’ll let you return to your lover.”

“Truly?” Hope flashed,then resolve. “For the sake of reunion, I’ll make you very, very happy.”

Giggling sounds soon rustled beneath the quilt.

A long time later, Yao Jue poked out her head, little fists kneading the ache from Li Yuan’s chest, back, shoulders.

She laughed. “Now we’re all dead weight. The future rests on you alone. Poor, poor thing.”

“Feel lighter since you stopped practicing your cultivation?” he asked.

“A bit lost,” she admitted. “But keeping 300 kids in line, one squawk after another, makes the day fly. And if the sky collapses, well, you’ll be the one holding it up.” She lowered her voice. “My lady still pores over those paintings, hunting the secret inside.”

“Let her look,” Li Yuan said. “But if her mind slips, stop her. Those paintings may house something nasty.”

“Yes, yes.” She flashed a sweet smile. “You sweat and bleed outside; we won’t trouble you over trifles.”

Time passed; a tremor of feeling crossed her face. She edged close, voice quavering, “Khagan... Tonight’s the very last night. Promise you’ll keep your word...” Eyes shining, she whispered, “For my lover’s sake, please...come.”

Li Yuan chuckled. “Little enchantress, maybe I should recommend you to the White Lotus Cult. I see you as Saintess material.”

Then he yanked the quilt back up.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Half a month later.

Ping'an’s youngest son reached his one-month celebration. The house was lively, though only a single table was needed.

His wives were perfectly content. They still didn’t know how strong their father-in-law truly was, but they’d heard their husband murmur that this place hid secrets even deeper than the Holy Tree Temple. Respect shaded into awe.

At the little banquet, cups clinked in a merry blur.

Everyone watched in awe as Tang Nian, clad in scarlet, tossed back wine the way others sipped water. Ping'an refused to be shown up and copied her gulp for gulp, while Li Yuan naturally joined in.

Beside them, Xue Ning, Yao Jue, Sheng'er and Ping'an’s wives kept pleading for them to slow down, yet the three drinkers paid no mind.

Every cup was laced with burning heart flowers.

Ping'an folded first, flopping flat on his back, life-or-death unknown.

Tang Nian, a mere sixth rank physique yet apparently armed with a private liquor antibody, had felled a fifth rank master with raw drink alone.

Eyes half-lidded and sultry, she glanced at the prone Ping'an and declared with haughty pride, “A little bro is still a little bro.” Turning to Li Yuan, she added, “Pops, you’re the real champion.”

A flicker of flame within burned the toxin of the flower to ash. Li Yuan could no longer get drunk this way. Even so, the lively scene filled him with warmth.

After the feast, he sprang onto the tiled roof, leaned against the glazed eaves, let the night wind comb his hair and the moonlight wash over him.

Freedom tasted sweet...but concerns tugged at him. If this were a lesser martial world, he would already be invincible, free to savor life.

Instead troubles still piled annoyingly high.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

The next morning.

Li Yuan was delighted to find that King of Beasts and Phantom Body had both entered entry level.

NEW! Basic King of Beasts - Rank 5 (1/50) NEW! Basic Phantom Body - Rank 5 (1/50)

It now took 50 points instead of 10 to level up. The cost had quintupled compared to sixth rank, matching the same point distribution as his self-created Tranquil Sea Blade.

Clearly everything at fifth rank and above would be pricier.

Li Yuan still had 48,340 available stat points. After a moment’s thought, he allocated a total of 3,098 points into the two skills and maxed them on the spot.

Master King of Beasts - Rank 5 (800/800) Master Phantom Body - Rank 5 (800/800)

Power he had in spades; what he lacked was craft and movement. Phantom Body covered the latter, while mastering King of Beasts might let him tackle the fourth rank follow-up, Crimson Garden.

Knowledge and experience surged into his mind. When the tide ebbed he opened his eyes and stepped from the secret room.

Li Yuan triggered Phantom-Body. Light and sound slipped clean through him, casting only what lay behind. His body threw back no glimmer at all.

He strolled past Xue Ning, who was telling stories to a circle of grandchildren; past the daughters-in-law chatting nearby; none noticed him.

He drifted beside Jing Shuixiang in the kitchen; sometimes she lifted her head, but her gaze sailed right through him.

A chill pricked Li Yuan. This skill was already capable of blinding a fifth rank martial artist’s eyes. How terrifying would the follow-up fourth or even third rank skills be? Luckily he still had the living presence detection of his flame. If it were anyone else, they would’ve been completely vulnerable to this skill.

Next he tested King of Beasts. Compared with earlier, he could now command up to three fifth rank demonics beasts, felt an enhanced affinity for all creatures, and could cow whole flocks into crude obedience.

Scores of birds perched around the manor. As Li Yuan approached, they showed no alarm. A flick of his aura, and every bird straightened like a soldier at attention.

He raised a hand. The flock took to the air in one rippling sheet. A finger-press and they alighted again. Two claps sent them scattering in all directions. When he tried to cow them once more from farther off, nothing happened; the range was only about a thousand beasts, and beasts recently released would not submit again for a while.

Finished, Li Yuan dug out the fourth rank manual for the Crimson Garden. Passages that had baffled him now shone clear. To learn it he needed not only a Master level fifth rank beast taming skill but a Master level fifth rank spirit plant raising skill as well.

In essence, it was tree cultivation.

The skill required one to raise fifth rank demonic trees by hand, spur them to rapid growth, then bend them to one’s will. Powerful, yes. But for now, it was unworkable.

Li Yuan set the manual aside, mind already turning to the next puzzle before him.

The thought at once pulled him back to the huge tree that housed the White Bamboo Hanging Bell Tower.

According to rumors, that tree had been planted by some early ancestor of the Holy Tree Temple, not by Qing Hancheng himself.

Maybe Qing Hancheng never learned Crimson Garden at all,

Li Yuan mused.

That flaming garden he conjured was already beyond fourth rank power and had nothing to do with beast taming.

The manual went back on the shelf. Next time he returned to Holy Tree Temple he would rummage for ninth- to fifth rank spirit plant raising skills.

˙·٠✧🐗➶➴🏹✧٠·˙

Time slipped by, and June arrived.

Li Yuan enjoyed the quiet life with his family while keeping one eye on Gemhill County and the mass grave.

The destroyed carpenter’s workshop had caused a stir but was slowly forgotten. Ghost servants still crawled out of the mass grave, yet none stronger than fifth rank ever appeared.

Time for target practice,

he decided.

Flatten the grave first, then pay that flower shop a visit.

Li Yuan returned to Gemhill County, crossed swiftly into Autumnlake, and stopped beside the row of cottages that lined the brook.

Without hesitation, he stepped into the illusion.

A door creaked; a snow-white hand beckoned. The panel swung wide and a lovely face peeped out.

“Where does my fine gentleman hail from?” she cooed.

The moment she spoke, something felt wrong.

The whole region shuddered.

A freezing black membrane slammed into a blistering red one; Li Yuan’s flame speared through the gloom like a crimson lance.

The ghost domain was under assault. Everything began to burn.

Li Yuan reached forward, ripped the door from its hinges, and flame roared from his body. The panel crumbled to ash, and the illusion dissolved.

He was no longer at a doorway but on the lip of a vast, stinking charnel pit, staring at a corpse whose skin sloughed in foul, oozing strips.

CLASP! CLASP! CLASP!

Dozens of hands shot up, clawing for his ankles.

His ancestral seal pressed against his heart; flame burst outward.

The corpses shrieked as they were engulfed.

Li Yuan stepped back a pace to watch the hole. Lines of numbers flickered before his vision.

The weaker ghost servants at sixth rank or below burned away. The stronger fifth rank ones clawed upward.

He narrowed his gaze and kept burning. Corpses collapsed into greasy smoke, yet the stench only thickened.

Then came heavy footsteps.

Thud, thud, thud!

It was though an armored giant marched along a stone corridor.

Li Yuan suddenly recalled the ancient hero executed by the former dynasty and buried here.

That one should be fourth rank at least,

he thought, half eager to see.

Just then his pupils tightened.

The danger was not in the mass grave. The farthest of his scouting birds had exploded, snuffed out without seeing a thing.

Li Yuan’s guard snapped up. One glance at the mass grave, he abandoned the fight and withdrew.

The instant he left, the turmoil in the pit ceased.

He focused on the distant avian sentries.

A second bird popped like a bubble.

Someone was killing them from tens of kilometers away, definitely fourth rank.

A third bird, in its final heartbeat, glimpsed a scene of impossible splendor, a golden dragon curling around a pavilion-carriage, banners billowing like clouds.

On one flank stood a broad-shouldered man in a triple-pronged coronet and dark-gold armor adorned with a beast mask; on the other, a sickly

beautiful

man in blood red funeral robes, skin pale, lips curved in a knowing smile. Nearby loitered a silver-haired youth so exquisite he looked more fairy than boy.

From hints gathered in Qing Hancheng’s notes and other scraps, Li Yuan recognized them at once.

The Emperor, Lu Xuanxian, Zhao Gutong, and Peng Mingyi... What in the world are they doing here?