After returning to the fortress Xuan Yu gave his report leaving some details like Mei Lin .He left the fact that he entered the realm , reporting he only observed from far and no one dared question his words . Although he was weak he was still a prince.
He returned to the Red Pavilion which was empty then, only he lived there but now he had Mei Lin.Showing her into her room he returned to his room ,it was time to explore the tablet.
He discovered that when the tablet absorbed Qi, it seemed to turn illusionary.Athough he didn't have any hopes of unsealing his meridians with this tablet ,his instincts told him different.And since he already reached the Golden core realm he had time to spare so he began feeding it his cultivation Qi ,he didnt spare even a strand to raise his realm.
The tablet seemed like a bottomless abyss ,it never stopped absorbing no matter how many days he fed it .And looking at the pace in which it was absorbing he knew his qi won't be able to satisfy it .If he was at the capital he could have used the Qi gathering formation to accelerate the rate of absorption by he wasn't.
It wasn't that the Ironhold city didn't have enough Qi energy,it had ,but a cultivator can't funnel all the Qi in the surrounding into his body unless you had a death wish .It was possible if you were experiencing a cultivation breakthrough, but it was also dangerous as it may lead to Qi deviation.
Xuan Yu didn't have anyone to guide him in his cultivation,as he didn't have a Dao guardian.For a prince to not even have a protector you could imagine his predicament.
Since he didn't have anyone he could ask for advice he went to look for Mei Lin . Arriving at her cultivation room he stood there waiting . Every cultivation room in his residence have a defensive formation that not only protected its owner but also informs them of any visitor as long as one was near its sensory range.
Mei Lin had just finished her meditation.She had to began cultivating a new, to unseal her Previous cultivation. Although it was called recultivation it was several fold harder.For her to unseal her cultivation she was required to break her previous cultivation realm limit .If she could previously use the strength of 1000 catties in Qi refining realm she was supposed to break that limit even if it was by a few Catties, to be able to break the first seal and regain a cultivation of the Foundation establishment realm ,In short if she met her previous self in the same cultivation realm she was supposed to have the strength to overpower her.
As she sensed Xuan Yu she smiled slightly as memories of their encounter flooded her causing a tingling sensation in her little sister.Her face turned red with shame wondering since when did she become so sluty.
She composed herself and opened the door ,Xuan Yu was standing there goofing around.
He looked at her and he began undressing her in his mind.
" Ahemm" she coughed pulling his mind from the gutters.
" What do you want " she asked trying as hard as she could to appear cold but it made her cuter.
Making Xuan Yu to close on her but she retreated ." What ! you don't want me now?" He asked softly as he tumbled back placing his hand on his chest throwing her a hurtful gaze.
Mei Lin looked at him wondering how his mind worked.
She ignored his theatrics and invited him in ,Xuan Yu sat directly beside her on the bed .
Pulling her into his embrace they lied down looking at the sealing.She laid her head on his chest breathing softly as she listened to his heartbeat.
" So what brought you here" she asked.
" I have a small problem" he muttered " " I used a object as a core in my dantian but it seemed it wasn't a normal object as it is sucking my Qi making it harder to cultivate " he explained.
" They are a few ways to deal with that ,first you could change and use a different core but that will make your cultivation unstable and you may never raise you cultivation level." She told him while her hand slipped into his pants.
" Secondly you can just remove it completely and your cultivation will return to the Foundation establishment realm,and lastly if the problem is it requires a lot of Qi ,you can just find a place with a lot of Qi concentration and seal it there " she added .
" There are several spiritual Qi veins around the city but they are guarded ,even with my identity It will be tricky to gain access to them without raising some questions " he muttered.
"I can help you with the separating it from your dantian,I know of a technique that can allow you to separate the core from your body ,the only side effect is that you can't cultivate unless you link with it after you finish what you want " she said as she as condensed the technique in her divine sense and transferred it to his mind.
This technique was created by a crazy genius who wanted to refine several cores into his body ,so he came up with a method to refine a core then separate it from the body ,then refine another one ,then merge them together .It was a crazy idea, but which Cultivator didn't have crazy cultivation ideas .He himself ones wanted the create a technique that will allowed him to use his sealed meridian as materials when building new meridian.Cultivation itself was stealing from the World and mending your flaws,interms of physique , strength, soul quality and most importantly lifespan.
Xuan Yu didn't take long to comprehend the technique as it wasn't a high quality one at that .
The only problem was a to find a safe place to seal the tablet and wait for it to absorb the sufficient Qi untill it was full.
Mei Lin suggested he seal it in the core of the city's spiritual vein .It was the safest place and no one inspected the area .
This vein was a high quality one as it produced high quality spirit stones .
It was below the General mansion,deep underground in a sealed cave .This was a military city so it was governed by the General .
Xuan Yu could use his status to enter the cave with an excuse of cultivating but that will arouse suspicion as he was known to never care about cultivation.He didn't want eyes on him during this time he even sealed his cultivation realm when he returned from his mission,no one knew he broke through except Mei Lin.
Lucky for him he had Mei Lin a sealed powerhouse, although she couldn't use her cultivation realm she could still use a few advanced techniques like the spatial tear transfer he only needed to take her to the cave and she could use the technique to bypass the caves formation.
After coming up with a plan they activated their respective talismans with the Aura sealing talisman they easily infiltrated the General mansion.
The general incharge of the city was General Wei.He was at the Void refining realm.
This border wasnt that important as the Barbarian race wasn't that much of a threat to the Empire .The real threat was the other 8 Organizations .
It was easy to infiltrate as the security was a little lax as they had never been a person who ever dared to sneak into the mansion.But they is always a first for everything .
The duo passed the guards smoothly as they used both the Aura sealing talisman and Mei Lin bewildering talisman making them invisible to divine senses and since it was night time they breezed through the manor easily.
They passed through the checkpoints without any problems as some night guard were already asleep.
The problem came when they neared the underground cave entrance.The guards here were alot more serious with their duties .Xuan Yu wanted to knock them unconscious but Mei Li had a better idea she poisoned the surrounding Qi making them experience illusion that they had experienced a cultivation enlightenment,the guards didn't want to waste this opportunity and began cultivating leaving the area unguarded.
" What did you use " Xuan Yu asked curiously
" Red tea powder,it is a made from the weeds growing near a Bothi flower and mixed with an illusionary flower " she explained.
" Did you make it " he inquired.
" Nope stole it " she answered with a smug face.
Entering the underground tunnel they sensed the increase in Qi concentration in the surrounding.
They arrived at the entrance of the Vein cave,The spirit vein was formed when a mine absorbed alot of Qi ,either from a dead powerhouse, blood of a poweful blood line and many other factors like natural formation.
This one was formed due to the battlefield in the area where cultivators died everyday. They were two guards near the cave entrance, they were cultivating.They didn't disturb them Mei Lin used a stand of void Qi and opened a gap in the formation, Xuan Yu separated the tablet and sent it inside the gap and they retreated hurriedly.
The guards sensed an anomaly and opened their eyes as they spread their divine senses covering the areas looking for the cause of the space disturbance,and they found nothing.
They looked at each other and resumed their cultivation.
Sometimes the Qi inside the vein cave reaches a high level causing it to spike so it wasn't unusual for the space to experience turbulence.
Xuan Yu returned to his courtyard with the pale faced Mei Lin.