White Lotus assassins had stormed the Cold Palace, searching for something.
Li Qing had a rough idea why the White Lotus Sect had helped Chancellor Lu three years ago.
Noble Consort Li, once the Saintess of the White Lotus Sect, may had secretly left behind some legacy in the place where she had died.
But he didn't dwell on it.
Even if that was the case, the White Lotus assassins would've already taken it.
Li Qing didn't pay much attention to the affairs of the White Lotus. He had come to the Cold Palace for one reason only: to break through to the Xiantian stage in peace.
After another refinement of his physique, he could now condense five strands of water-type internal energy a day. Unlocking the final three vessels of the Eight Extraordinary Vessels had become significantly harder, but even that wouldn't take him more than a few years.
With Emperor Jianwu leading his armies out on campaign and no consorts left to tend to in the Cold Palace, the place had become a perfect site for cultivation.
Time passed slowly. News of the emperor's personal expedition drifted into the capital like falling snow.
In early spring of the fourth year of Jianwu's reign, the emperor gathered six hundred thousand elite troops in Suzhou and fought a decisive battle against the Steppe Khanate near the border. He slew 150,000 enemies in a single clash, forcing the Khanate to retreat. Confident in final victory, the emperor pushed deeper into the grasslands, intent on wiping out the enemy nation in one campaign.
That winter, despite a string of victories bringing his forces close to the Khanate's Golden Tent royal court, a once-in-a-century blizzard swept across the plains. The emperor had no choice but to retreat to Suzhou. His army suffered heavy losses from the extreme weather.
In the winter of the sixth year of Jianwu, King Wei Nu of Northern Garrison led thirty thousand troops through the deadly Donghai Desert and launched a surprise attack from the rear on the Golden Tent royal court. The strike crushed the enemy, killing fifty thousand and taking countless prisoners. Overjoyed, the emperor personally led his troops back into the grasslands two years later.
In the autumn of the seventh year, the last king of the Khanate was captured by King Wei Nu. The Khanate formally surrendered.
When the victory reports reached every province of the Great Qian Empire, the officials hailed the emperor as a second founding ancestor, praising his unmatched glory.
But among the common people, there was only silence. Their voices of praise had long since faded.
More than four years of war had passed. Troops were levied from every province, wave after wave, tearing countless families apart.
Many people had begun to look back fondly on the reign of Emperor Taikang.
The wars of the Great Qian Empire had nothing to do with Li Qing. As long as the nation wasn't destroyed, he could keep cultivating in peace in the Cold Palace.
As the saying goes, "A kingdom lasts a hundred years, an aristocratic clan a thousand."
Even for a thousand-year-old clan, to Li Qing it's just about ten lifetimes. Once he stepped onto the path of immortality, a thousand years might feel like just two or three lifetimes.
…
The first day of the third month, in the eighth year of the Jianwu Era.
Cold Palace.
Inside a dim wing.
Li Qing sat cross-legged, trying intently to sense something.
After a long while, his face flushed red. He let out a mouthful of turbid air and sighed. "Failed again. Why?"
Five years had passed. He had long since opened all Eight Extraordinary Vessels, reaching their peak.
But the step from that peak into the Xiantian realm had him stuck.
The Seven Forms of Flowing Water could take a person straight into Xiantian.
The seventh form stated, "Let heavenly spirit enter the body, turning the internal into the true."
In other words, once you reached the peak of the eight vessels, you only had to draw the qi of the heavenly spirit into your body to transform internal energy into true qi and step into Xiantian.
But Li Qing couldn't grasp what this "qi of the heavenly spirit" actually was.
Because he couldn't sense it at all.
It didn't feel like a bottleneck that could be broken through by time alone.
I already have the martial aptitude. If even I can't break through to Xiantian, then who possibly can? Li Qing was deeply puzzled.
He couldn't help thinking back to his earlier doubts about the Xiantian realm. In the Great Qian Empire, Xiantian grandmasters were rare.
In the White Lotus Sect, only the current sect leader had reached Xiantian.
Even within the imperial palace, with access to Great Origin Pills and secret methods to enhance one's martial aptitude, Xiantian grandmasters were still a rarity.
There must be some hidden truth about the Xiantian realm that I don't know...
Frustrated, he stepped out of the wing.
"Hey, Little Li, come teach me chess." A bright, feminine voice suddenly reached his ears.
Li Qing turned to see Concubine Ma. Her real name was Ma Zhenzhen. Formerly a princess of the Steppe Khanate. She had been captured by Emperor Jianwu and brought into the palace. True to the open and carefree nature of steppe women, she ignored court etiquette, and within two months was thrown into the Cold Palace for her lack of decorum.
The emperor had returned to the capital half a year ago, but the wars hadn't stopped. Great Qian was now invading Yue, a kingdom to the north near Wuzhou's border.
"Alright," replied Li Qing.
He stepped into the Bing-Wu wing and began teaching her the game of Go, much as Wang Li had once taught him. "Go is played with black and white stones. Black moves first, white second. You take turns placing the stones. To survive, a group of stones must have liberties…"
Concubine Ma frowned. "Why are you so distracted? You taught me all this just two days ago."
"May I ask you something, Your Ladyship?" Li Qing stopped explaining the rules. "Your Khanate must have Xiantian grandmasters, right?"
"Of course. My teacher is one," Concubine Ma answered casually.
When someone actually spoke to her, Concubine Ma was naturally delighted. Life in the Cold Palace was mind-numbingly dull. Otherwise she wouldn't have bothered learning Go from a young eunuch; just a way to pass the time.
"How does one cultivate to become a Xiantian grandmaster?" Li Qing asked again.
"Well…" Concubine Ma hesitated, then said, "I'm not too sure. But my teacher once told me that Xiantian grandmasters are chosen by heaven. It's decided the moment you're born. On the grasslands, we call them 'Heaven's Chosen Spirits.' Only a Heaven's Chosen Spirit can reach the Xiantian realm."
Heaven's Chosen Spirit?
Talent… aptitude… physique?
Li Qing's own physique had been abysmal at birth. What he had now was something he'd forged through effort, not something innate like a Heaven's Chosen Spirit.
In the end, he failed to learn the secret of Xiantian from Concubine Ma.
He walked past the sleeping quarters, past the duty room, and out of the Cold Palace entirely, not stopping until he reached the Pear Garden.
Compared to the past, the Pear Garden now carried a touch of foreign charm.
Great Qian had conquered the Khanate and pushed into the Moon Kingdom, capturing large numbers of foreign women and bringing them into the palace.
Listening to the music and watching the dancers, Li Qing's troubles melted away.
I have the lifespan of a hundred generations. What is there to fear? What is there to worry about? If I'm ever truly cornered, I'll just spend a thousand years building up internal energy, charge into some deadly abyss, and maybe, just maybe, eat a Xiantian spirit fruit and step straight onto the path of immortality.
Besides… I'm nowhere near desperate yet.
He took out the dragon-engraved token he had hidden away for eight years and headed toward the Martial Pavilion of the imperial palace.
….
Within the imperial palace, there were two major martial institutions. One was the Martial Supervision Bureau, staffed by martial eunuchs responsible for the security of the inner palace. The other was the Martial Pavilion, home to the imperial palace elites who protected the emperor himself.
The imperial palace elites only acted when the emperor's life was in real danger. They didn't involve themselves in everyday political struggles.
Eight years ago, when Chancellor Lu had plotted rebellion, Emperor Taikang had deliberately staged a defeat to purge the palace. That night, the imperial palace elites had in fact held back their full strength. Otherwise Chancellor Lu's forces would never have broken into the palace so easily.
The Martial Pavilion's core was a vast library building that housed all the martial arts manuals collected by the Great Qian dynasty.
The imperial palace elites had no fixed residence, hiding themselves throughout the palace.
"Stop right there!"
"The Martial Pavilion is a restricted area. No outsiders allowed!"
As soon as Li Qing approached the pavilion, two gatekeeping eunuchs blocked his way. Both were Six Vessels peak masters.
Li Qing produced the dragon-patterned token.
The guards' expressions instantly changed. One of them grinned. "Ah, so you're one of us. But since when did the palace have a Eight Vessels peak master in his twenties?"
Li Qing was only fourteen, but because he had sacrificed twenty years of his lifespan, he looked much older.
Inside the Martial Pavilion, an elderly eunuch with a face half withered and half healthy sat cross-legged in the middle of the hall, eyes closed.
Li Qing handed him the dragon token.
Entry to the Martial Pavilion wasn't as simple as flashing a token. Each one had to be formally inspected. Just in case an outsider had killed an imperial palace elite and stolen it for malicious purposes.
The dragon-patterned token could be passed down for three generations, and each one bore unique identifiers. When Wei Yang had handed the token to Li Qing, Li Qing's name had been already recorded in the Martial Pavilion.
The old eunuch opened his eyes, verified the token, and said, "This is the dragon-patterned token passed down by Wei Yang. You're young, yet you've reached the pinnacle of the Eight Vessels. You must have taken the Great Origin Pill, mastered Wei Yang's Twelve Golden Needles Meridian Technique, and cultivate the Seven Forms of Flowing Water. What relation do Wei Yang and Li Qing hold to you?"
With just a glance, the old eunuch had seen right through Li Qing.
This was a living Xiantian grandmaster!