News about his cousin didn"t matter to Han De. The cousin in question was a variant of the Arrogant Young Master template. Him and cultivation idiot had a cordial relations.h.i.+p and they would not step on each other"s toes.
"Little Mo will concoct the pill? Is that the same Transcendent idiot that didn"t say anything while I got drugged?!"
* * *
Xiao Ping, no, Ming Ping was sitting in the lotus position inside the ascendance chambers of the Ming palace. He had spent the last week consolidating his realm after he surpa.s.sed his tribulation. He was now a Nascent Soul expert.
He had access to unlimited cultivation "resources" thanks to his father, the Ming Emperor. Through the amazing Crimson Lotus Scripture, he was able to reach a new height that he didn"t think was possible after his encounter with Han De all those years ago. He should be feeling joy, but inside he only felt rage.
Ming Palace wasn"t a good place for him. He had resources, but his father didn"t restrain his half-brothers. He was deceived, ridiculed, and plotted against ever since he came here. He nearly died the first few times. Once he killed one of his half-brothers, things got even worse. The "heirs" realized their father wouldn"t protect them, just like he didn"t protect their new "brother". A silent bloodbath was initiated once they realized this.
Ming Ping opened his eyes. He reveled in his newfound powers. As he released his aura a comfortable groan escaped from his lips. His spiritual sense was strengthened too. Even with all the formations in this room, he could still sense the 2 figures waiting outside, sitting in front of the door with their backs facing it.
He didn"t need to guess, those two were Ming Nui, his brother, and Zhang Cheng, his brother"s trusted servant. These two never ceased their attempts at getting close to him. Perhaps it was due to their cultivation being low, Ming Ping didn"t feel too guarded when he was near them. Although he didn"t trust them, he didn"t hate them either.
"Ming Nui reminds me of the Emp- father. Among my half-brothers, he is the one that resembles him the most. Perhaps I can trust him, he is the youngest and the one with the lowest cultivation."
Ming Ping opened the doors. Two teenagers in front of him stood up and clasped their hands.
"Big brother, you have succeeded at last! Congratulations, I knew you could do it."
"Congratulations."
Ming Ping, being a Nascent Soul expert, immediately knew there was something wrong. They were hiding something.
"I don"t like schemers, so you better speak!"
Ming Nui and Zhang Cheng looked at each other, both of them were startled by Ming Ping"s sudden change. Neither of them could respond, they could only open and close their mouths.
"Big brother, my apologies. We are not scheming anything… It"s just that… we...."
Ming Nui looked at Zhang Cheng, as if he tried to gain strength from him. Ming Ping wasn"t impatient, he knew these two trusted each other greatly. He also knew they couldn"t hide anything from him.
Zhang Cheng hesitantly continued Ming Nui"s words.
"We received new intelligence from… Starfall Mountain…"
Ming Ping"s eyes narrowed, he stayed silent but his killing intent was leaking. Even if he did consolidate his realm, he was still a rookie in the Nascent Soul realm. It would take him some time to get used to his powers.
Zhang Cheng looked like he didn"t dare delay it any longer.
"Intelligence says, Xiao Lan formed a core, and became a Starfall Mountain elder…"
Ming Ping"s already pale face somehow became even whiter. He stormed away, leaving the two teenagers behind. After a few minutes, teenagers looked at each other, both of them had faint smiles on their faces.
In the palace courtyard, Ming Emperor received a report about these events 5 minutes later. Ming Ping was the most important person for him and he was always informed of matters related to his son within minutes.
"Good. This kid used the information at the right moment after waiting for so long. He is getting better."
Ming Emperor looked at the clouds above him. His face was expressionless, but those who knew him would know that right now, he was content.
"At least 70 years would be saved now. A good push at the right moment might even achieve 100 years…"
While Ming Emperor was peacefully planning his advancement, an intelligence agent arrived without making any sound and placed a sealed envelope in front of him. During his rest, no one would dare disturb the Emperor unless it was news about Ming Ping, or something else equally vital. Emperor frowned after reading the news.
"Possible Transcendent expert ma.s.sacred unknown group at Royal Maw. Traces of pure Fire Qi. It couldn"t be a weak point. A natural aperture? Those that died didn"t have low cultivations either, otherwise there wouldn"t be any traces left. Yet another hidden ent.i.ty."
This was the perfect opportunity for the Emperor to see the power of the Blazing Sun hidden family, and how deep they collaborated with Starfall Mountain. He decided to keep watching before giving a helping hand to these unknown interlopers.
* * *
Han De lazily walked around inside his estate for a few hours after his mother left. He needed to empty his mind to figure out what he could do.
"Most pressing matter is the Crimson Terror. To give, or not to give. Ning Bi already saw it, even if her comprehension was 0 she could still understand that it is something immensely beneficial to her."
"If I don"t give it to her then in the future she might see that as me holding her back, which would be the truth. Depending on our relations.h.i.+p at that time, things might get complicated."
"If I give it to her then her cultivation will soar. With her roots and her talent she"ll be able to absorb an absurd amount of it every time. She doesn"t need to worry about her foundation being unstable with her cheat-level spiritual roots."
"At most I can use her martial arts as an angle and prevent her from chugging the entire flower. I guess that is the best case"
Han De sighed. He needed to increase his own cultivation. Unfortunately, even if he somehow got auto-cultivation from the system, he was still 100% certain that Ning Bi would be able to surpa.s.s him in a short amount of time. Han De had thought of a wide variety of nightmare scenarios. He imagined Ning Bi explaining events with her excited voice.
" "Master! Master look! This random weed I pulled was actually a hundred million years old divine fire ginseng!" "
" "Master! Master look! This little pebble that got stuck on my shoe was actually a primordial void essence crystal that survived the collapse of the previous billion cycles! What are the odds?!" "
Han De gave another weary sigh. He remembered the look in the c.o.c.kroach"s lifeless eyes. The image kept popping up in his mind at the oddest times. Han De didn"t give in to frustration and tried to move on.
"Let someone else do it. Right…"
"Sure, I can re-educate my lackeys and improve their cultivation and martial arts methods. That"s probably the best bang for the buck long term with my current profound points. After that, I should focus on my cultivation. Ning Bi doesn"t need anything, she already has that OP flower..."
[Quest: First Step]
[Difficulty Level: G]
[Status: Issued]
[Summary: Your extremely talented disciple has stumbled on her first bottleneck and cannot make progress inside the sect"s black paG.o.da. As her master, you must carefully guide and nurture her. Help Ning Bi overcome her first bottleneck!]
[Requirements: a.s.sist Ning Bi with surpa.s.sing her limits by helping her reach higher floors of the black paG.o.da.]
[Time Remaining: 7 days]
[Success: 100 Profound Points]
[Notes: Bonus Profound Points will be issued depending on the maximum floor Ning Bi can reach.]
"This… is… surprisingly reasonable?! No fail conditions?! I won"t die if this quest fails?!"
Han De looked at the System pop up. He read it over and over again, he even asked the System (no response).
"It really seems like this is a no loss situation for me. Is the System embarra.s.sed about the Crystalized Tenacity?"
"Still, issuing a quest for a bottleneck? Isn"t that a bit too biased? Will there be a quest for getting a new weapon? No, I already ordered 5 for the next 3 realms, maybe I should"ve waited for a quest."
After getting a piece of rare good news, Han De was in a better mood. There were still 7 whole days, he could afford to relax. With that in mind, he went directly to Peng.
* * *
"These are all of the cultivation and martial arts methods?"
"Yes, Elder De."
Peng had worked extra hard in these last few days. He had returned to the sect on his own without waiting for the spiritual boat and had already collected nearly everyone"s cultivation information.
"Total of 21 cultivation methods across thousands of people?"
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"Yes, Elder De. Our cultivation methods come from the Han family, not Starfall Mountain. There are probably some minute differences among the Nascent Soul experts, but any of the lower realms should be following their methods to the letter. Reduction in different cultivation methods was one of the first orders that the family head gave."
Han De nodded. Of the 21 methods, he also saw his own Starfall Mountain Scripture. Unfortunately only 6 cultivators used it, and none of them were in the Nascent Soul realm. Light element roots were pretty rare, to begin with. It was highly possible that those 6 guys had some blood connection with the family.
He was happy cultivation methods were at least somewhat manageable. Unfortunately, 2000-something experts that were directly under him right now, were using nearly 500 martial arts methods.
"It is also evenly spread. There isn"t a method that is a minority compared to others. These are only their primary methods too, they probably have many supplementary methods. It is possible that there may be some overlap between them, but... Nope, no way I can afford to even learn these 500 methods."
Han De instructed Peng not to collect martial arts methods from now on.
"I have 111 Profound Points left, I could probably master about 4 or 5 of the most popular ones and leave the rest for later. That quest was really timely! I guess I better not ignore it…"