For the next few days, Gaojing City remained calm—no wind, no rain.
But within the bustling market streets, the disciples of the literary and martial sects argued fiercely among themselves.
Their dispute centered on one question: was Lu Qian truly “a great sage who stood alone,” or merely “a vassal and traitor to the eunuch faction”? Was he “a man of noble and uncommon character,” or “a hypocritical charlatan who played to the crowd”?
Of course, none of these matters concerned Lu Qian himself.
The day after he was granted the title of Duke, Lu Qian prepared a gift and went to visit the Tian’en Hou—no, the Tian’en Gong residence.
Madam Hu saw Lu Qian as if she had encountered her greatest enemy.
The salt and iron documents promised to her by the Bai family had naturally been nullified once Lu Qian joined the Palace Guards.
Her financial pipeline shattered, but she restrained herself from ordering her men to throw Lu Qian out.
That was already commendable self-control.
On the other hand, Lu Tai was extremely hospitable.
He didn’t mention the matter of ‘Immortality’ but instead arranged a family banquet.
Clinking cups in joy, he pressed Madam Hu to join them and kept pouring wine and serving dishes to Lu Qian, trying hard to restore the familial affection that had waned over the years he had guarded the northern border and grown distant from Lu Qian.
At the banquet, it was agreed that about three hundred households—roughly two thousand Lu family members—would separate from the Tian’en Gong residence and join Lu Qian’s Tianyang Gong estate.
Among those three hundred households, Lu Qian first selected his closest relations, like the Lu An family.
Other families he picked were those who had shown him care and kindness over the years—loyal-hearted, peaceful households with no incompetent heirs.
Once his estate was built, these Lu family members would move to live in the rear streets of the estate.
When leaving the Tian’en Gong residence, Lu Qian took Lu An and several dozen knowledgeable and capable relatives with him.
From then on, Lu Qian focused all his attention on the benefits he gained from the Secret History Bureau.
The nineteenth year of Jiayou, the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.
Rare dark clouds dispersed.
To the east horizon, vast red clouds floated.
In the backyard of the Yushun District Survey Department, snow continually fell from the branches with a soft rustling sound.
In the small building at the back yard was Lu Qian’s room.
Lu Qian sat cross-legged.
Five-colored mists swirled thickly around him.
Before him floated a brilliantly shining ring, slowly rotating.
Threads of five-colored radiance, stirred by the spiritual light of his divine soul, continuously melded into the ring.
This ring came from the inheritance stele.
As the five-colored light wove into it, the fine patterns on the ring gradually lit up, one after another.
It was clear that only one or two final threads remained before the entire ring would shine fully.
In the center of the backyard, the big yellow dog sat before Lu Qian’s building, its muzzle exuding a yellow glow.
From the other four directions, four elder gentlemen also inhaled and exhaled spiritual energy.
The five-colored light, invisible to ordinary human eyes, enveloped the entire yard as if forcibly slicing the space of this courtyard from this world.
Within Lu Qian’s dantian, a pinpoint of Gui Xu Immortal Yuan spun rapidly.
The five-colored mists continuously entered Lu Qian’s body through his mouth and nose, then gathered like countless rivers flowing into the sea, pouring into his dantian.
The small point of Gui Xu Immortal Yuan absorbed the influx cleanly.
When Lu Qian formed his Yuan Gang into this single Immortal Yuan at the Secret History Bureau, it was no larger than a sesame seed.
But after days of trial cultivation, it had swelled to the size of a soybean.
In recent days, Lu Qian experimented.
Once he left the backyard with its Five Elements Feng Shui array, no matter how much strength he exerted, the Infinite Gui Xu body could not move an inch.
But within this backyard, he could freely manipulate the Infinite Gui Xu body, and his cultivation advanced steadily.
When the red sun rose in the east and sunlight bathed the land, Lu Qian’s night of diligent work ended.
He swallowed every shred of five-colored mist in the room at once, then exhaled strands of five-colored glow.
The big yellow dog and the others inhaled deeply as well, slowly absorbing the five-colored light Lu Qian exhaled.
Their fur gleamed with a faint sheen of oiliness.
Their essence and blood surged frantically, faintly bringing the sound of flowing river water—its force many times greater than before in the small courtyard behind the Tian’en Gong residence.
With a humming sound, the brilliance of the ring floating before Lu Qian suddenly flared.
All the patterns on the ring simultaneously shimmered, and between Lu Qian and the ring, a strange sensation of flesh bound to flesh arose.
Sending a probing ray of divine spiritual light into the ring, Lu Qian laughed with satisfaction, “Ha! Such a divine artifact—my luck isn’t bad at all.”
Before Lu Qian appeared a dim little space, spherical with a diameter just over ten feet.
A piece of information flowed out from the ring, and Lu Qian’s smile faded suddenly.
This ring was called the “Beiming Ring”, a symbol of inheritance from the Sect Leader of the Supreme Beiming Celestial Sect—an extremely powerful spiritual artifact with an internal space vast enough to hold mountains, rivers, and valleys across tens of thousands of miles, essentially a small wondrous realm in itself.
But now, the Beiming Ring felt to Lu Qian like a dying relic, barely alive.
The world’s spiritual energy had shattered.
Within the inheritance stele, the Beiming Ring’s own spiritual energy was continuously leaking, long since exhausted.
Its once vast internal space had collapsed, barely preserving a space with a diameter of ten feet.
A spherical space only ten feet across could still hold countless things—this was a great surprise to Lu Qian.
But upon suddenly learning it originally spread across tens of thousands of miles…
Lu Qian’s heart ached.
“Still, it’s not so bad. This treasure is probably the only one of its kind in the world right now,” Lu Qian said softly, sending more and more five-colored mist threads into the Beiming Ring.
Within the ring, the small internal space twitched slightly, and Lu Qian faintly sensed it swelling a little outward.
“Oh? Spiritual energy shattered, but the root remains,” he murmured. “As long as my cultivation grows strong enough, you still have a chance to recover?”
Nodding, Lu Qian’s divine soul light swept across the space inside the Beiming Ring.
This ten-foot diameter space was once the core of the Beiming Ring’s tens-of-thousands-mile expanse—and also the last area to collapse.
Now, suspended in the center of this little space was a single ancient and elegantly shaped long-necked water vase over a foot tall.
With a mental command, the Beiming Ring, already worn on his left middle finger, silently transferred the vase into Lu Qian’s hand.
No sooner had the vase appeared than a tremendous weight struck him.
Lu Qian’s two hands sagged down.
His bones and sinews creaked and cracked as if about to snap under the pressure, nearly tearing his arms apart.
“Ah no!” Lu Qian cried out.
The bed he sat on, and the floorboards underneath, instantly collapsed with sounds of splintering wood.
Like a meteor falling from the sky, Lu Qian flew down five floors, smashing through the boards one after another until he finally crashed onto the main hall’s floor on the first level, hard enough to crack the stone mill tiles and create a deep pit five or six feet wide.
Stunned and dizzy, Lu Qian lay in the hole, every internal organ aching fiercely, nearly fainting from the pain.
“A… treasure!” Lu Qian gritted his teeth and groaned, biting his tongue to draw blood.
Mixing his essence and five-colored mist together, he sprayed it onto the long-necked water vase.
The Beiming Ring on his left hand shimmered, and faint lights flowed into the vase.
Several faint symbol patterns flickered across the vase’s surface.
The essence blood Lu Qian sprayed was rapidly absorbed by the vessel.
Suddenly, the vase’s weight vanished.
Lu Qian’s trembling arms carefully lifted the vase.
This vase was kept in the core area of the Beiming Ring.
All other items in the ring had collapsed; only this one vase remained intact.
Obviously, it was the most precious treasure in the ring, hence stored in the core.
Examining the vase closely, Lu Qian noticed a streak of flowing light flash from top to bottom along its slender neck, revealing a line of tiny characters.
“Taichu Gui Xu Vase!”
The light faded, the characters vanished, and a rush of information flooded into Lu Qian’s mind.
He understood the origin of the vase.
“This treasure… one of the Supreme Beiming Celestial Sect’s seven treasured artifacts, ranked fifth. It gathers the spirit energy of heaven and earth, condenses Primordial Mysterious Elemental Spirit Water, nourishes all living things, boosts the primordial spirit. It is an unparalleled secret cultivation treasure.”
Gently shaking the Taichu Gui Xu Vase, a faint ringing sound came from inside.
Lu Qian peered inside through the mouth of the vase and saw three tiny drops of black liquid, each about the size of a broad bean, moving and rolling like quicksilver amidst a faint light mist, extremely lively and mystical.
These three drops of elemental spirit water had been preserved inside the vase since ancient times; quite possibly the last three drops remaining in the world.
Suddenly, with a loud bang!
The door of Lu Qian’s small building was forcefully pushed open.
The big yellow dog, the rabbit lynx, and a heavily sweating Ahu hurriedly burst in.
Outside through the door, Yu Dianhu and other guards had already surrounded the courtyard, sealing it completely.
Lu Qian waved his hand and walked to the door.
“To everyone outside: I have improved in cultivation and accidentally broke some floorboards. Nothing serious. Send masons and carpenters later to repair this little building.”
Yu Dianhu and the others bowed and then withdrew.
Ahu paced around Lu Qian twice before looking at the deep pit in the hall floor and shaking his head.
“Qian-ge, you’re fooling around again,” Ahu said.
Lu Qian rolled his eyes and glared at Ahu.
“Mind your own business. I haven’t had time to deal with you these days. Did you figure out that Buddha statue I gave you?”
Ahu smiled awkwardly, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
“Qian-ge, I haven’t been lazy. These past days, I’ve been hugging it while sleeping. But… you said the statue contains a treasure, and I haven’t found anything.”
Lu Qian shook his head and waved the水瓶 in his hand.
“My mistake, I should have known. You’re too dense to grasp the mysteries inside. But this is my opportunity, and yours too.”
“Rather than wait for the right day, let’s make it happen today. After all, you’re my brother. If this treasure were used on anyone else, I’d feel pain, but for you, Ahu…”
Lu Qian strode to the door and shouted outside:
“Today’s the fifteenth, right? Go find out if the Bai family is marrying off a daughter today. Go check and see which poor kid has been selected by the Bai family!”
A soft voice of a young eunuch responded from outside.
Lu Qian then led Ahu to the neighboring small building, identical in style to his own residence.
Inside the hall on the first floor, before a messy bed, stood the Buddha statue Lu Qian had taken from the Secret History Bureau, properly placed.
A pillowcase was draped over the Buddha’s head.
It seemed Ahu had really been lying down hugging the statue to sleep all these days.
“Sit down. I’ve been thinking. This method should work.” Lu Qian clapped Ahu down in front of the Buddha statue and shook the Taichu Gui Xu Vase.
“Later, clear your mind and follow my instructions exactly.”
(End of Chapter)