"Buzz! Buzz!"
The originally stiff purple crystal door started to glow, and the glow started to swirl.
As the door was pushed open, there was only a stone wall behind; the entire place was barren.
Fang Yuan licked his lips and took out the jade.
"Whoos.h.!.+"
Suddenly, many gold words appeared on the stone wall. Like tadpoles, they became a glow of light and entered the jade.
"Fang Yuan, my disciple..."
At the same time, a faint light appeared, forming the shape of an old man wearing a crown.
"Master!"
Even though he knew that that was not the real master, he still respectfully bowed.
"If you can reach this stage, it means that you have achieved a breakthrough to the Elemental Gathering Realm, very good!"
Wenxin, no! Master Heartless stroked his beard and looked down. He was filled with emotion, and it did not seem like a simple imagery.
"I will teach you everything that I"ve learnt! After achieving a breakthrough to the Elemental Gathering Realm, you should be the strongest in the mainland. I"m sure you"d harbour thoughts of going to the Da Qian Empire, am I right? If that is so, I can trust you to handle some of my unsettled business..."
After hearing Master Heartless" explanation, Fang Yuan became increasingly stressed.
"Remember, before you are skilled enough, don"t avenge... me!"
Slowly, the light dimmed and Master Heartless"s voice became increasingly soft. Finally, there was silence and the last glow of light fell to the ground and vanished.
"I will follow your orders, Master!"
Fang Yuan remained solemn.
His master was already considered highly skilled among the dream masters; quite ahead of the Illusionary Divine Stage.
To think about it, if he were to face his master"s enemy now, he would only be an ant; or to be more accurate, an ant with a big head, but still an ant!
"I might need to wait until I"ve broken through to the Illusionary Divine Stage and reach the peak of it, or I could complete the Meridian Opening Stage and form the martial artist Divine Body before I have the rights to think about revenge!"
Fang Yuan kept the jade properly, and there was a fire burning in his eyes.
"The Illusionary Divine stage is too hard to break through, and for martial arts wise, I"m slowly approaching a dead end once again..."
This was his sentiment after forming his third spiritual meridian.
After all, most parts of his Giant Eagle Metal Body Technique was discovered by himself. The only reference he had was the Qian Kun Giant Spiritual Technique and the parts on Meridian Opening. Other than that, the various books he had read through in the governor"s office were not detailed and did not have much value for him to take reference.
He didn"t even get his hands on the book which described forming the martial artist Divine Body.
This resulted in him not being able to swiftly advance in his cultivation, and every step he took was an arduous one.
"In Meridian Opening, the first three meridians can be grouped together and are bottlenecks to be broken through before one can form them. However, the difficulty of forming the fourth spiritual meridian is much higher than the first three, and it would be too scary to imagine how I would break through to form the 7th spiritual meridian. But if I manage to do it, I would be a respected even in Da Qian Empire..."
Fang Yuan looked at his stats window and was deep in thought.
He was stuck regardless if it was his martial arts cultivation, his dream master cultivation, or even his skills.
His entire cultivation seemed to have arrived at a "huge bottleneck".
The place he lived in was small and there was not enough elemental energy. This had already caused him some problems in advancing further.
"I am only Level 3 in Medicine. Even though I"ve saved countless lives in the past three years, it is still the same. As for Botany, the spiritual plants I have are of low grades and are no longer able to help me in breaking through..."
Fang Yuan sighed and left the cave. He returned to a specific spot at the boundary of the spiritual garden.
Over here, the land was barren. There was a thick layer of silver shavings forming the shape of a wreath.
That was all. There were no signs of any plant life.
"This is the only chance I have at breaking through my Botany skill, but it"s a pity..."
As his eyes glittered, Fang Yuan raised his right hands and grabbed the soil.
"Whoos.h.!.+"
The ground beneath split, revealing a jet-black seed that was underwhelming, and the seed landed in his hands.
This was one of the treasures he had obtained from Lu Renjia"s secret mansion.
Lu Renjia was indeed a famous alchemy master. His a.s.sets were extremely valuable and all his spiritual pills aided Fang Yuan in his breakthroughs. The hide of the Star-eyed Leopard was slowly made into a piece of armour in the past three years, and Fang Yuan wore it inside him ever since.
This seed was very mysterious. Fang Yuan guessed that it might be of Earth Grade or even Heaven Grade since even the energy from it could help Fang Yuan break through his Botany bottleneck. If it could germinate, it would surely aid Fang Yuan in breaking through once more.
In the past three years, Fang Yuan had resorted to all means, but the seed remained as such, which was disappointing news.
"They might have a way to make it germinate in Da Qian Empire!"
With this thought, Fang Yuan"s hand glowed and the seed was kept safely in the Mountain River Pearl.
"These Vermilion Fruits are now useless to me, split it among yourselves!"
After finis.h.i.+ng up, Fang Yuan came out and saw the three spiritual beasts waiting outside. "I"ll be leaving for quite some time. Take care and guard this piece of spiritual land for me!"
"Keke!"
Thinking about this, the Flower Fox Ferret became anxious. He rushed towards Fang Yuan and nibbled on his robe.
The Red-Eyed White King Bird and the Iron-tailed Black Eagle displayed their reluctance as well.
"Alright, be good!"
These three spiritual beasts already had the cultivation level comparable to a 12th Gate martial artist. However, they have yet to break through to reach Wu Zong.
After all, the gate to unlocking elemental force was not easy to begin with. How could they easily achieve it?
"I"ll miss the three of you, but it will be troublesome to bring the three of you along..."
Fang Yuan sighed.
It was much convenient if he could ride on the birds and fly. However, this journey of his would require him to go through the extreme North of the plains where strong gusts of winds would be constantly blowing, making it extremely arduous to fly.
Furthermore, in Da Qian Empire, spiritual beasts which have not attained Wu Zong were of not much use.
He would rather leave them at home to practise by themselves. Who knows, since Green Peak spiritual land was mystical, together with the spiritual plants, he might come home to a surprise.
Of course, he had to settle tons of other stuff before he could go.
"Let"s go!"
He leapt onto the Red-Eyed White King Bird and commanded it to fly.
In an instant, the Red-Eyed White King Bird spread its wings and flew into the clouds.
Secluded Mountain Prefecture City.
After going through an expansion, this place was now the capital city of Secluded Country. The city spread out like a spider web and pathways stretched across the city. There were many people and the entire place was prosperous, much more prosperous than before.
"Chirp chirp!"
The Red-Eyed White King Bird was rather familiar with this place as it flew above the city walls towards the palace.
"It"s country governor, sir!"
On the city walls, the soldiers on patrol started to kneel down and paid their respects in the direction of the white bird.
"Greetings, sir!"
Before the palace, Niu Dingtian, Zhang Qingfeng and the others had gotten news of Fang Yuan"s arrival and made their way to receive him. This included Zhou Wenwu, Chen Qing, Yu Xinlou and the other ministers.
"Forget about all these useless greetings!"
Fang Yuan came down from the bird"s back and waved his hands casually. "How"s the country?"
"With your reputation and the close partners.h.i.+p with Xia Country, everything is fine. Just last month, we have received gifts from Wu Country!"
Niu Dingtian reported respectfully.
"As for the internal affairs, we have taken in the refugees, allocated barren land for farming and set up another caravan. Trade has been blooming too ever since the previous war. Now that we have another new piece of territory from the Wu Country, the people have started to move there. 10 years is all we need to become the strongest country on the mainland!"
As he spoke, Zhou Wenwu"s eyes were filled with excitement.
"Mmm, pa.s.s the order that I have something important to announce during tonight"s banquet!"
Fang Yuan lowered his head and walked into the palace.
This was where the original Prefecture Master"s mansion was. After undergoing renovation, everything was simple since he was not a person who likes to show off. As he was living in Green Peak spiritual land, there was no use in decorating the palace with gold and silver.
"King!"
As the servants and concubine saw him, all of them paid their respects.
Especially for the concubines, they were all local and selected by the ministers. They had the perfect body shape and all of them looked at him in antic.i.p.ation.
They all wanted to be Queen.
After all, it was weird for Fang Yuan to be King. Although he was the King, he had no wife, no children. This raised a lot of suspicion and the women who were selected to be his concubines got into conflicts, and some of them even died fighting. All of these made Fang Yuan speechless, and he had no choice but to order his subordinates to keep them in check. Only then there was peace.
Although he had no restrictions, he was still unwilling to start a family even though he was not religious.
After all, he was prepared to go to the Da Qian Empire. If he left his wife and children behind, wouldn"t he be leaving them at risk of harm?
Therefore, to avoid this, he decided not to start a family.
"To the royal study!"
He ordered a servant directly.
"Yes, sir!"
This servant had a pleasant look, which reminded him of someone.
One year after the Lin Family was locked up, Fang Yuan remembered them and ordered Zhou Wenwu to release them. Using his dream master"s technique, he erased Lin Leiyue"s memory, and from there cut all ties with them.
As for the alchemy disciple Ling Yin, she was being made a test subject by Fang Yuan. After a few times of altering her memories, she almost became senile. However, she was now loyal to Fang Yuan and was brought to the palace to become a minister.
The royal study.
After dismissing the servant, Fang Yuan walked in and waited for a while.
"Sect Master... we"re here!"
A few delicate voices were heard.
"Come in!"
As the door slowly opened a few people walked in. They had a strong spiritual aura; all of them were Wu Zongs. Among them were two ladies.
"Greetings, sect master!"
As soon as these few people saw Fang Yuan, they bowed and greeted him respectfully.
There was a lady. In her eyes were mixed emotions of sorrow and resentment, but it was unsettled. This lady was s.h.i.+ Yutong!
"Please rise!"
Fang Yuan waved his hands. "All of you are elders of Yuan Sect, please disregard the formalities!"
Three years ago, not only did Fang Yuan start the Secluded Country, but he had also started a sect of his own. He had created the largest organisation of martial artists in the mainland, and it was called Yuan Sect!
Members had to contribute to obtain and share martial arts technique, and among them, there were even people achieving the Meridian Opening Stage. The recruitment did not restrict them based on their family background, and therefore many martial artists started to join. It was not the strongest sect in the mainland, and from then on, the Secluded Country became the holy ground for all martial artists.