Inside the carriage.
Lin Rong spread out the map and reviewed the route.
The location of the four great single-attribute clans, particularly the Min Clan, was secretive. It had taken him several days of investigation to finally follow the clues and find this place.
The Li Clan resided in Tiandou City, and the Yu Clan in Longxing City.
As for the Po Clan, the city in which they were based was home to one of the Seven Major Sects, specifically one of the Lower Four Sects.
From what was known in the original story, one of the Lower Four Sects, located in the same city as the Po Clan, had threatened Yang Wudi not long before the Four Great Clans' gathering.
Meanwhile, during this gathering, the Xiangjia Sect, also one of the Lower Four Sects, had visited the Yu Clan.
In addition, the Xiangjia Academy of the Xiangjia Sect participated in the Elite Soul Master Tournament in the Tiandou Empire's competition zone, which was enough to rule it out.
The remaining sects were the White Tiger Sect, the Wind Sword Sect, and the Fire Leopard Sect.
The White Tiger Sect was a faction of the Star Luo Empire's royal family.
Yang Wudi, however, was not opposed to the royal family's influence, so the White Tiger Sect was ruled out.
At this point, only the Wind Sword Sect and the Fire Leopard Sect remained.
Since the Po Clan arrived last at the Four Great Clans' gathering, it implied that their city was the farthest from Longxing City, likely located in the southern part of the Star Luo Empire.
Although both the Wind Sword Sect and Fire Leopard Sect were in the southern part of the Star Luo Empire, the Wind Sword Sect was farther south.
Additionally, the Lower Four Sect that had threatened Yang Wudi had wanted the Po Clan to join them.
There was a precedent for this in the original story.
The Yu Clan's martial soul was the Plate Armor Rhinoceros, while the Xiangjia Sect's martial soul was the Diamond Mammoth.
Both clans possessed animal-type martial souls, and both focused on defense, which is why Tianxiang Huoyan personally came to the Yu Clan to recruit them into the Xiangjia Sect.
Thus, the Lower Four Sect located in the same city as the Po Clan likely had an inheritance martial soul similar to the Po Clan's—an armament-type martial soul.
The Wind Sword Sect's inheritance martial soul was the Wind Sword, while the Fire Leopard Sect's inheritance martial soul was the Fire Leopard, and the Po Clan's inheritance martial soul was the Po Soul Spear.
Therefore, the only sect that matched the conditions was the Wind Sword Sect.
In conclusion, the Po Clan's city was likely Yufeng City, located in the southern part of the Star Luo Empire.
Since the Po Clan often provided aid to the Min Clan, the two clans weren't far apart.
At White Crane's speed, he could easily reach the Po Clan in less than an hour if he hurried.
But that was White Crane's speed. With Lin Rong's current four-horse carriage, at normal speed, it would take about five days to reach Yufeng City.
Lin Rong wasn't worried, though, about White Crane reaching the Po Clan first and using their old friendship to ruin his plans.
The reason was simple.
Yang Wudi was deeply obsessed with alchemy and poison-making. If he found out that his best friend had a Crystal Blood Dragon Ginseng but kept it from him and then sold it to someone else instead of giving it to him, he would surely be enraged.
Given Yang Wudi's fiery temper, he would be extremely angry.
From then on, although Yang Wudi and White Crane might still maintain a relationship, it would no longer be the same, and their former closeness would be irreparably damaged.
Lin Rong lowered his head and stared at Yufeng City marked on the map, gaining a deeper understanding of the Star Luo Empire's power.
"A city housing one of the Lower Four Sects, if it were in the Tiandou Empire, it would surely be called Wind Sword City."
"But in the Star Luo Empire, it's named Yufeng City. This indirectly proves that the Star Luo royal family's control over the empire is far stronger than that of the Tiandou royal family."
"Even the influence of the Spirit Hall's sub-temples in various cities of the Star Luo Empire is weaker compared to the influence of the royal family's official power."
"If this were the Tiandou Empire, the situation would be the opposite. No wonder three of the four single-attribute clans fled to the Star Luo Empire for refuge."
"And it's all because of that old man, Titan. Since the Haotian Sect's secretive location is near Tiandou City, and Tang Yuehua also has the Yuexuan in Tiandou City."
"He must have thought that by moving to Tiandou City, he could get news of Tang Hao, so he chose to relocate his entire clan there rather than to the Star Luo Empire, where the Spirit Hall's influence is weaker."
Lin Rong was also thankful that he was a hereditary Duke of Tiandou, not of Star Luo.
If he had been born in the Star Luo Empire, fighting for the Star Luo throne would be infinitely harder than fighting for the Tiandou throne, by dozens of times.
The White Tiger Sect alone, which belonged to the Star Luo royal family, was a tough opponent. On top of that, there was also the Zhu family, which was inextricably linked to the royal Dai family.
But the Tiandou royal family was different.
As long as Lin Rong followed his plan to seize military power, he would manipulate Xianren Xue and Tang San into fighting each other until both were seriously injured.
At that time, with military power in hand, he would easily seize the Tiandou throne.
"Though the plan has already begun in full force, there are still many things to consider."
"As they say, mistakes are often made when rushing. Some of the key plans that affect the big picture still have to be executed step by step. There's no need to rush."
Lin Rong put away the map, crossed his legs, and sat on the soft cushion to meditate.
All fear comes from insufficient firepower. In other words, all confidence comes from one's powerful strength.
Plans are always built on the foundation of one's strength. If you reverse this and rely too heavily on planning and scheming,
Once the plan cannot keep up with the changes, all previous efforts will go to waste.
On the other hand, if you have the power to suppress everything, then plans are merely a way of seasoning the mood.
Lin Rong deeply understood this, so he spent most of his free time training the Washing Marrow Sutra to increase his soul power.
The Washing Marrow Sutra has four great realms: Heart Empty, Body Self-transformed; Round Wisdom, Observing Self in Freedom; Manifesting and Concealing, Helping All Living Beings; and with a Snap of the Finger, Transcending the Beginningless.
By the tenth month in his mother's womb, Lin Rong had already nearly reached the threshold of the "Heart Empty, Body Self-transformed" stage of the Washing Marrow Sutra.
However, once he was born, he lost the mysterious prenatal qi that had assisted his cultivation.
Over the past seven years, whenever he trained in the Washing Marrow Sutra, he often felt as though he had reached perfection, but something always seemed to be missing, preventing him from breaking through to the "Heart Empty, Body Self-transformed" realm.
Until recently, when Lin Rong absorbed the head soul bone from the Empty Blue Bamboo, things began to change.
Though the soul bone was only about a thousand years old, its quality was extremely high.
After absorbing the head soul bone, Lin Rong's spiritual power did not increase significantly in terms of quantity, but the quality improved drastically.
Furthermore, the greatest benefit from absorbing this soul bone was not the increase in spiritual power, but the nourishment it provided to his soul's origin.
While the soul bone absorbed life and spatial elements to extend its age, it also imparted some unknown energy that nourished his soul.
With his soul nourished, his spiritual power increased, and the changes in Lin Rong's mindset, all these factors combined.
While cultivating the Washing Marrow Sutra, Lin Rong often felt that he was close to breaking through the "Heart Empty, Body Self-transformed" stage.
Breaking through a realm is a matter that cannot be rushed.
Therefore, maintaining a calm attitude and going with the flow would naturally lead to success.
Today, not long after Lin Rong started cultivating the Washing Marrow Sutra, he sensed the opportunity for a breakthrough.