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nTranslator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

n“Yeah, we have to take this Liu Yu back with us. Have you two picked up anything else?”

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nThey weren’t on a trip to just find their brother, Dugu.

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nThey had another mission, and that was to find and recruit some genius disciples for their sect.

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nNight fell.

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nLi Mu popped a supreme-grade Barrier Breaking Pill back in the Imperial Ancestral Temple.

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nHe had accumulated enough by checking in here during the past several days, and he now felt that he had enough to make it to the level of a Perfected Person.

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nHe made his way to the well after popping the pill.

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nThe prenatal qi was thickest around the underground palace well.

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nA vortex was formed from a huge amount of prenatal qi with Li Mu at its center.

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nBoom~

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nSuddenly, all the animals at Mount Yan about five miles away from the capital city became all riled up, as if they had run into something terrifying.

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nYet, they were only startled for a brief moment before quieting down again.

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nNo one in the city could discover what had happened at Mount Yan.

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nI finally made a breakthrough into the Perfected Person Realm. Li Mu was relieved.

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nHe now deemed that it would be enough for him to hold his own when facing off against those from the Xuan Sect.

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nHe had been able to steer clear of those three at Saint level for the past several days.

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nOne of them was a personal disciple of the Xuan Sect, while the other two were at the very top of the rankings among the inner circle disciples.

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nHe was able to learn a lot about the Xuan Sect listening to their chatter.

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nThe elders of the Xuan Sect were but halfway to the Perfected Person Realm at best. Only the sect master and the grand elder were truly at the Perfected Person Realm.

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nUnder usual circumstances, the grand elder would simply train in isolation all the time.

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nTheir sect master didn’t usually venture outside their mountain either.

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nThose three rascals wanna catch me? In their dreams.

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nHe trained for a while longer. He then emerged from the underground palace of the Imperial Ancestral Palace.

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nCough~ Cough~ “Xiaolizi, where are you? I dreamed about the late empress last night. She said that she missed me and hoped that I’d keep her company.”

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nBack in the Shouning Palace…

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nConcubine Jing climbed out of bed and wiped the beads of sweat from her brow.

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n“My lady, you’re not in good physical condition now. I’ll get you something for that.”

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nLi Mu leaped from the roof and appeared right before the concubine.

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nA woman staying in a “cold” palace for years on end… There were hardly any people around, and it would be odd if she could still stay healthy.

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nHe saw that what she had was a psychological condition.

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nThat was not something he could do anything about.

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nHe’d read something online back in his past life.

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nIt said that women needed to speak thousands of lines every day.

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nIf there was no one around for them to chat with, there would be no way to vent all their boredom and frustration.

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nThe concubine had someone to talk to when the old court lady was still around.

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nThere were even times when the two of them would continue talking about what they had talked about the day before.

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nSigh ~ “I dreamed of the late emperor as well.”

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n“My lady, I heard from the chatter in the palace that lately the Ninth Prince has begun to practice martial arts. It is said that the ones from the Xuan Sect have taken a liking to him and were thinking of taking him in.”

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nLi Mu changed the subject right away.

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nThe two of them had stayed around each other for so many years.

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nThey both took the other person to be their family.

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nIn Li Mu’s mind, Concubine Jing was his first and only family in this world.

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n“Yu is practicing martial arts? How could he practice martial arts?”

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n“Not to worry, my lady. Those from the Xuan Sect like him very much, and they have been teaching him about the arts.”

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n“What is this Xuan Sect you speak of? Would Yu become badly influenced?”

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n“The Xuan Sect is a sacred ground for martial arts training and doesn’t get involved with the mundane world. The place is filled with formidable warriors. The lord is now an adult. There’s no need to worry about him,” Li Mu elaborated.

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n“How did you get to know all of this?”

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n“I overheard people talking about them.”

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nLi Mu was putting the three from the Xuan Sect in the capital city under constant surveillance.

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nIt took him quite a while to coax the concubine to sleep.

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nThe next day was uneventful.

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nHe came once again to the underground palace that night.

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nHe was interested in that stone door that the emperor had spoken of all of a sudden when he was finished checking in.

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nHe extended his senses to behind the door and found no signs of life from within.

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n“The emperor said that their grand ancestor was right behind that door. I’m now a Perfected Person, so I should be able to sense something if there were to be living beings behind the door. That grand ancestor is probably really dead now.”

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nWhat Old Demon Han had sought was probably in the hands of that grand ancestor.

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nWould he still have it?

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nI wonder what was it that had gotten Old Demon Han so fascinated.

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nH*ll, he was even willing to sneak into the royal palace to look for it.

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nHe walked up to the stone door and put his hands on it, before activating his powers and pushing.

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nCrack~

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nThere seemed to be something broken behind that door as the stone door seemed to get stuck on something. Li Mu gradually pushed the door a bit farther to open up a crack.

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nHe then peered inside.

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nIt was a very plain-looking training room.

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nThere was a stone bed, a stone table, and a stone chair, as well as herbs and a bronze furnace.

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nA dried-up corpse was lying on the stone bed.

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nThe herbs that had been left on the table were quickly reduced to dust as the wind blew through the open door.

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nBrooom~

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nHe used his powers to push the door open more, making the opening big enough for him to head inside.

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nNone of the items were usable anymore.

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nEven the bronze furnace was covered in green rust, which caused it to shatter with a single gentle touch.

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nIt would seem that the old man in the room must have died more than 100 years ago.

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nMan! Being dead for so long and yet still being able to cast fear into the hearts of the clans.

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nHe deemed that it was quite a feat to use that last bit of the renown that the old man had earned when he was alive.

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nIt is quite a pity that a supreme regime is nothing more than dust before time.

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nLi Mu walked up to the dried corpse and paid his respects, before taking off the mantle and shaking it a bit.

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nPoof~

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nDust flew all around him.

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nLi Mu dusted off the mantle and put it back on the dried corpse.

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nThat was the final rite he performed for the dead man.

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nThe clothes that the corpse had worn had flaked off at the same time.

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nHuh? What’s this?

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nThe dust cleared.

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nSomething white was revealed on the grey stone bed.

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nLi Mu cleared the dust, revealing the white thing underneath.

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nIt looked like some kind of token pass.

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nIt was milky white, making it look like a piece of jade.

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nThere were weird, mystical runes carved on it, and he was unable to make sense of it despite having looked at it for a while.

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nHe took it with him and went outside the room, closing the door and returning near the well.

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nHuh?

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nHe sensed something as he was about to continue training, that then disappeared right away.

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nAt the bottom of the dungeon of the Ceremony Directorate…

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nLi Mu stared at the man before him.

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n18 years…

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nOld Demon Han had been locked up for 18 years, and he hardly even looked like a person anymore.

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nHis skin was all ashen.

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nHis hair was all silver and his beard a massive mess. He looked totally different from how he had looked 18 years ago.

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nAt that moment, the vague presence of a Saint-level warrior could be sensed from him.

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nLi Mu took a look at him, knowing that the man was about to make a breakthrough.

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n“I’ll give you a hand.”

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nHe pointed with his finger and sent a beam of true qi into Old Demon Han’s body.

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nBoom~

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nThe aura of a Saint-level warrior began to flare.

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nHe sealed the aura up right away, letting not even a sliver of it leak out.

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nThere were three formidable ones from the Xuan Sect in the city after all.

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nThey had been looking for Old Demon Han for days.

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nOld Demon Han’s aura stabilized before long, and he gradually opened his eyes.

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nHe shuddered as he saw Li Mu, who was standing before him.

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nClaaanggg~

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nThe six chains that bound him were shaken and broken.

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nThump~

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nOld Demon Han fell to his knees as he bowed in respect to Li Mu.

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n“Thank you very much for your assistance, sir!”

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n“I was the one who got you locked up here in the first place. You would have probably become a Saint if you hadn’t been locked up in the dungeon in the first place.”

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n“Sir! Few out there can make a breakthrough into Saint level through their own powers alone. It is truly a blessing in disguise that I’ve met you,” Old Demon Han elaborated respectfully.

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nJudging from how he looked, it would seem that breaking into Saint level had been rather difficult.

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nLi Mu thought about it for a bit.

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nHe’d met quite a number who were at the peak of the Spirit Manipulation Realm throughout the years.

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nHe had even killed over a dozen of people at such heights of training.

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nOther than those from the Xuan Sect, he truly hadn’t seen anyone who had broken into Saint level.

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nPerhaps what Old Demon Han said was true.

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n“You were here in the royal palace looking for…”

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nLi Mu seemed to have recalled something.

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n“Yes! I was here looking for an opportunity to make a breakthrough into Saint level, but even if I had found it, it wouldn’t necessarily have been useful.”

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n“What do you mean?” Li Mu asked anxiously.

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