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

nThe young man returned to the brothel.

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nBoth the stout man and the middle-aged man were basically naked. None of the women around them were wearing any clothes either.

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nThe young man returned to his room after seeing them having such a good time, in order to contemplate his findings.

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nThe stout man came to the young man’s room after a while.

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n“Did you find anything, brother?”

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n“I found the guardian of the royal palace up at Mount Yan. He was actually hiding up there spying on the royal palace. What a peculiar fellow indeed.”

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nThe young man caressed his chin out of habit.

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nHe noted that that other man had neither confirmed nor denied what he’d asked.

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nPeak of first tier of Saint level. That was what he had speculated the level of the guardian was as well.

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n“Did you ask him about Brother Dugu then?”

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n“I did, and he said that he had never seen him. His reactions didn’t look like someone who was lying.”

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n“But the warriors of Clan Dugu have all basically vanished from the royal palace. He should’ve known something even if it had nothing to do with him,” the stout man added.

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nThey had finally been able to find some leads regarding the disappearance of those from Clan Dugu all those years ago.

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nThey speculated that Dugu Feng might have worked with the others from Clan Dugu.

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nEight warriors at the peak of the Spirit Manipulation Realm from Clan Dugu had been killed.

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nIf someone at Saint level didn’t go inside the royal palace after that, something would have been very wrong with those from said clan.

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n“That is something that puzzled me as well.”

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nBut then again, the young man thought that it made sense.

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nThere was simply no way someone at the peak of tier one of Saint level could cause the disappearance of someone at tier two of Saint level.

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n“Where is he? We’ll head out and ask again. Some people are very good liars after all,” the stout man said.

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nThe two talked as they walked out of the brothel.

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n…

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nIt took Old Demon Han quite some time before he found a cave that had two entrances at Mount Yan.

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nSuddenly, he heard a voice from not too far away, “That young man from the Xuan Sect is coming here again, and he’s going to use force this time. Run.”

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nSwoop~

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nOld Demon Han ran out of the cave without even stopping to think.

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n“Old Demon Han, the reputation of your legwork really precedes you indeed.” Li Mu chuckled back at Shouning Palace.

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nHe then watched the ones from the Xuan Sect and frowned.

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nHow about I just snuff the three of them out then, eh?

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nTheir presence worries me after all.

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nWhat’s such a big deal about the Xuan Sect anyway?

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nI’m a warrior at the level of Perfected Person after all.

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nHe thought about snuffing out the three guys for a bit, but gave up the thought.

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nIt was still best not to mess with the Xuan Sect if he could help it.

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nThey had yet to mess with him after all.

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nHe simply waited to see if they would indeed come to him.

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nBy the time the young man arrived at Mount Yan, Old Demon Han was nowhere to be seen.

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nThere was only his lingering presence left in a cave.

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nThe young man pursued Old Demon Han over the next several days, yet Old Demon Han was always able to detect the young man’s moves and run away beforehand.

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n“Forget about him then. Let’s bring the geniuses we found back to the Xuan Sect first,” the young man decided.

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nThey had discovered quite a number of geniuses during the days they’d spent looking around in the city.

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nThe most talented among them all was the fifth son of Clan Zhao.

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nThe boy was only 18, yet he was already at the Higher Heaven Realm.

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nCompared to Liu Yu, who was still at the Acquired Realm despite being in his 20s, this man was a genius of a different order of magnitude altogether.

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nThe difference between those at the peak of the Acquired Realm and those at the Higher Heaven Realm was more than just a difference in powers.

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nThose lacking in talents would be doomed to forever stay at the peak of the Acquired Realm, yet those capable of making it to the Higher Heaven Realm easily would have little difficulty breaking into the Spirit Manipulation Realm that followed.

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nIt was entirely possible for these individuals to reach Saint level if they were given good methods.

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nIf the sect or clan involved was willing to prioritize their resources for such people, they could also stand a considerable chance of making a breakthrough into becoming Perfected Persons.

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nThat man was deemed a treasure.

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n“Yeah, that’s what I thought we should do too. Things will only get messier if we linger around here any longer,” the middle-aged man added.

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n“One of you go out and ask Liu Yu about it. If he’s willing to leave with us, then take him with us. If he’s unwilling, then let it be. We’ll come and look at him again next time.”

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n…

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nLi Mu found that those from the Xuan Sect had left two days later.

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nThe Xuan Sect, eh?

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nIt’s just a place with several Perfected Persons among them, which fosters a bunch of exceptional disciples, no?

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nI could do the same.

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nOld Demon Han is one, and the Ninth Lord is another.

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nRight.

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nNo one else, eh?

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nAt the lord’s residence…

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n“Are you not regretting it, my lord? Not leaving with the Xuan Sect?”

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n“What’s there to regret? I have my own teacher, and, besides, even if I didn’t have one, I still wouldn’t leave the capital city. My mother is still in the palace after all,” Liu Yu answered.

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nThe teacher he’d mentioned was none other than that mysterious man.

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nDespite not having seen that mysterious man in person, Liu Yu had taken that man to be his teacher.

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nAt Mount Yan…

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nLi Mu sighed.

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nOld Demon Han was nowhere to be found.

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nThe man had disappeared, just when he needed that man’s help.

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n“Come on, they are just people from the Xuan Sect. Are you really that much of a scaredy-cat? They tried to lynch you a few times and you just disappear like that?” Li Mu grumbled.

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nIt would seem that he would have to look for geniuses all on his own.

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nWhat are geniuses like anyway?

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nHe returned to the royal palace.

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nHe began to flip through the pages of the books in the Library Tower when he had time to spare.

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nSoon three months had passed.

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nThe eunuch who oversaw all the other eunuchs in the Royal Palace came looking for Li Mu one day.

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n“Seeing that you’ve been doing well for all these years, you’re hereby promoted. These robes are yours from here on out.”

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nPromoted again?

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nAnd gosh, such blinding colors with the robes!

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nEmerald?

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nA grand ancestor wearing emerald?

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nJust what the h*ll happened that I need to wear emerald robes indeed?

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nGreen was just fine with me, all right.

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nA little girl of about seven years of age sneaked into Shouning Palace after the eunuch left.

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n“Do you like it, Eunuch Li?”

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n“Like what?”

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n“The clothes! The ones you were wearing didn’t look nice, so I went to my father and talked to him about it. See, I knew the emerald robes would look nice on you,” the little girl tugged at his sleeve and said.

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nLi Mu was exasperated.

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n“Umm, well, could I just have the green back instead?”

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n“Such dull colors don’t look nice.”

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n“Oh, you know nothing,” Li Mu retorted.

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nThoughts of a girl indeed.

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nWhat the h*ll do you mean, dull colors?

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nLow profile, man!

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nDo you know what low profile means?

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nYou’re bullying children again.

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nNo… I’m not.

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nThe promotion had come as a surprise to Li Mu.

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nHe knew that if nothing else happened, he would be wearing those bright emerald robes for the rest of his life.

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nFortunately, he had been allowed to keep the green ones from before.

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nHe could still wear his old ones for a few more months.

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nWhen he went outside of the palace for check-ins that night, he was carrying a book with him as he looked for the so-called geniuses.

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nThe method he’d found in the library for telling the geniuses apart from normal people shouldn’t be that different from that used by the Xuan Sect.

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nThe key was simply to pick ones who have begun training and who have grown very fast despite only training for a short period of time.

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nThis was especially the case with the Xuan Sect, who wouldn’t even bat an eye at those who were below the Higher Heaven Realm.

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nOnly young people capable of breaking into the Higher Heaven Realm in a short period of time would catch their attention.

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nLi Mu held the book in his hand as he summarized the methodology for picking geniuses.

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nYeah, the kid still hasn’t gotten his marriage proposal rejected. Next.

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nWhat was written in the book were all the traits of geniuses that he had read online back in his past life.

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nLi Mu, as expected, wasn’t able to locate a genius for the next several months.

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nIf only Old Demon Han was still around. I wouldn’t have needed to do all this work myself.

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nHe still got nothing.

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nHe had looked everywhere that he thought could probably have geniuses in the city.

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nHe returned to the underground palace and went closer to the well, taking a look at the bottom.

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nI should really stop being so curious.

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nRegardless of whatever is down there, it would definitely be a case of “curiosity killed the cat” if I were to go down there before I got powerful enough.

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nLi Mu then took out the piece of jade.

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nA clan isolated from the world, eh? How about I just hand this thing over to the royal family then? If the Ninth Prince were to have this on him, he would surely get the best resources to train with. But what happens if Concubine Jing misses her son?

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nHe had been pondering about this problem for more than a month.

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nHe was still indecisive about it.

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nHe had actually been thinking about bringing the concubine out of the royal palace in disguise to meet Lord Yu.

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nBut then again, he recalled that Liu Yu was someone very stubborn.

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nThat boy would have wanted to meet his mother using his own powers.

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nBreaking his will without taking adequate precautions would probably end up changing the course of his life from then on.

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nI will let him have it then. The sooner he achieves something with his training, the sooner he gets to return and see his mom.

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nLi Mu packed up and left the royal palace.

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nHe disguised himself as a mysterious warrior and contemplated the origins of the piece of jade.

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nHe actually knew very little about the clans that were isolated from the world.

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nHowever, one way or another, he deemed that it was up to the prince.

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nHe wasn’t about to interfere if the prince were to choose to stay behind.

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nIf the prince were to leave, it would be up to the prince to seek ways to get in touch with the clan isolated from the world.

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