SWNOVELS
Chapter 291 - Yuqin Palace
Everyone thought Long Chen was as good as dead.
The Seventh Commander was famous for being quick to kill. There was once a cultivator at the Heavenly River Realm who made a ruckus after being blocked outside of the gates. The Seventh Commander killed that cultivator in one strike.
Long Chen had done something even worse than that cultivator, so he was most certainly dead.
The Seventh Commander took one look and knew what had happened. He didn’t need his underlings to recount what had transpired. He approached Long Chen and carefully inspected him, just five meters away.
Long Chen felt a strong pressure from the Seventh Commander; it was comparable to Elder Yan’s aura. Long Chen knew that the Seventh Commander was at least as strong as Elder Yan, which was roughly around the Fifth River Stage, so he knew he couldn’t beat him.
“Any last words before you die?” The Seventh Commander’s voice was solemn.
Long Chen was fearless and stated his reasoning. “My name is Long Chen, the Immortal Guard that the Ninth Prince recruited in Yuanling City. I was separated from the Ninth Prince due to special circumstances a few days ago. I am here to find him.”
Long Chen was sure that the Seventh Commander would do nothing as long as he brought the Ninth Prince into the picture.
“The Ninth Prince?” The Seventh Commander was stunned. He had indeed heard the news that the Ninth Prince had been ambushed near the capital a few days ago. What Long Chen meant by “special reasons” was most definitely this.
“How do I know if you are telling the truth?” the Seventh Commander whispered. He couldn’t do anything to Long Chen if Long Chen was telling the truth.
The Ninth Prince had indeed gone out to recruit an Immortal Guard. The Immortal Guards were the direct troops underneath the imperial family. In terms of hierarchy, they were above the guards of the capital. If Long Chen was telling the truth, the Seventh Commander would not dare to do anything to him.
“Let me follow you into the city and you can send someone to notify the Ninth Prince. The person the Ninth Prince sends over can verify my identity.”
The Seventh Commander gave Long Chen an uneasy look. He wanted to kill the kid immediately, but he didn’t dare risk it.
“Fine, follow me. All of you! Go back to your positions! Sun Qin, clear this mess up!”
The spectators had been trying to listen to what the Seventh Commander and Long Chen were talking about. They had barely heard a few sentences when everything was over.
Everyone understood what that order meant. Long Chen was saved! The guards were in shock. They were a tight-knit group, so they felt extremely unhappy to see Long Chen get off scot-free. How could they endure that?
But they could not disobey the Seventh Commander. They glared at Long Chen, itching to tear him to pieces.
The normal spectators were even more shocked.
“That young man must have a special background. Even the guards had to suffer that humiliation. At the very least, the young man must have connections to the nobles.”
“No shit. He’s so young and is already at the Heavenly River Realm. Even though he’s not as talented as the princes, he’s already on par with some of the disciples of the three large families.” contemporary romance
Long Chen ignored their discussions. He had accomplished two things here: killing the guard that planned to take Ling Xi and using the Seventh Commander to notify the Ninth Prince. He had saved himself a lot of trouble.
“Wait here. The person from the Ninth Prince’s faction should arrive in two hours or so. If I find out you’re lying, I will kill you,” the Seventh Commander said coldly as he led Long Chen to a courtyard.
Long Chen ignored his threat completely.
The Seventh Commander left to do his job.
In the courtyard, Long Chen and Ling Xi talked to each other to pass the time. Ling Xi got hungry halfway, and Long Chen gave her a meal prepared by the people on the Goldfish Island.
He suddenly felt like being able to live peacefully like that was a good choice. No wonder Li Xuanji had told him to hide somewhere remote with Ling Xi and just live a good life. They would’ve been able to live peacefully for their entire lives.
But this was not what Long Chen wanted.
He was anxious. There were too many people above him that could crush him easily, and he needed to become stronger than all of them.
If I have to face these challenges, so be it.
Lingqing, Ling Xi and I will find you one day, Long Chen swore to himself.
Two hours passed, and Long Chen stood up. He sensed someone approaching.
The doors to the courtyard opened and two people walked in. One of them was an old man wearing a black robe. It was Elder Yan! The other person was the Seventh Commander.
“Long Chen, I can’t believe you actually survived. It has been more than twenty days since you disappeared, so we thought you were dead since you didn’t show up in the capital.” Elder Yan was part shocked and part reprimanding.
“Sorry, Elder Yan. I had to delay my arrival by several days due to my cultivation.”
Elder Yan inspected Long Chen when he heard his explanation.
“So you’ve progressed to the Second River Stage. Your advancement speed far exceeds the geniuses in the capital. Our Lord thinks highly of you, so don’t disappoint him. He’s waiting at Yuqin Palace for you, so let’s go.”
“Thank you, Elder Yan.”
“It seems that Ling Xi is fine too. Good, good. Our Lord will be happy to see both of you.”
“We apologize for making the Ninth Prince worry about us. We will seek his forgiveness once we get back,” Long Chen said in a serious tone, but he picked up on Elder Yan’s change of tone. Long Chen was an Immortal Guard, while Ling Xi had no connection with the Ninth Prince at all. Why was the Ninth Prince worried about her?
Long Chen raised his guard.
I can’t catch a tiger’s cub if I don’t enter its den. I have to face these challenges to obtain the Nine Heavens Immortal Fruit.
The Seventh Commander took note of the conversation between Long Chen and Elder Yan. He now confirmed that Long Chen had told the truth. He also learned that the Ninth Prince was taking special care of Long Chen. To be fair, someone at the Second River Stage was considered weak in the Ninth Prince faction, but Long Chen’s potential was very high. It was that aspect of Long Chen that attracted the Ninth Prince.
The Seventh Commander was secretly very shocked to find that there was someone with that much potential in Yuanling City. He silently noted down who Long Chen was.
Long Chen hopped onto a fancy carriage with Elder Yan. The carriage was being pulled by demonic beasts, both of which were fast and smart, making their trip nice and smooth.
“When our Lord was fifteen, his achievements in both the written exam and combat exam were highly regarded by the Emperor and he was given a separate palace and a title: King Yuqin. That’s why our Lord is not living in the palace. Yuqin Palace is situated outside of the imperial palace. It’s even larger than the actual imperial palace and is where our Lord works every day. Our Lord is very knowledgeable and socially connected; his cultivation level is also very high. The Emperor has relied on our Lord many times in the past two years, so more and more people are joining our faction! Thanks to his rising reputation, the Heavenly Demon Palace sent someone to kill him!” Elder Yan said proudly.
Long Chen noted down what he had heard and asked, “Elder Yan, what happened to the assassin?”
“That assassin was at the Seventh River Stage. Cultivators at his level are rare even in the imperial palace. Neither me nor our Lord were not his match, so we had to flee. Several commanders surrounded the assassin and killed him when we approached the city.”
“Elder Yan, what is the Heavenly Demon Palace? Why would they dare to attack the imperial family?” Long Chen seized his chance to ask this too.
“The Heavenly Demon Palace? They are the largest enemy of the imperial family. They are hungry for the position of the imperial family and they have experts scattered throughout the Cangyang Kingdom. It’s the only enemy faction that the imperial family is wary of. Their headquarters is situated west of the imperial capital, at the top of Demon Emperor Mountain. The mountain is a treacherous place to even climb. The imperial family has sent expert fighters numerous times to destroy the headquarters of the Heavenly Demon Palace, but they failed every time. It’s not that they are strong, but the Heavenly Demon Palace has the geological advantage while being holed up there.”
Since Elder Yan belonged to the imperial family faction, he needed to maintain the honor of the imperial family. That was why he had been boasting so much. Long Chen filtered out the fluff and understood that the Heavenly Demon Palace was a faction that rivaled the imperial family.
“If you meet someone from the Heavenly Demon Palace, you have to be careful. They are vicious people that would do anything to accomplish their goal. You are certainly dead if you meet them.”
Long Chen nodded.
Is the imperial capital another den of wolves? One day, I will make sure to step on all these wolves. Long Chen clenched his fists.
They soon arrived at Yuqin Palace.
Long Chen raised his head and was shocked to see the scale of the palace. The imperial family was indeed on a whole different level. Yuqin Palace made the Jade Royal Palace look like a small house. There were two massive stone lions at the entrance that radiated a sharp aura. They deterred any would-be intruders from entering.
“These stone lions are carved out of Heavenly River Stones. Those below the Divine Core Realm get carved up by the sharp aura. I suggest that you protect Miss Ling Xi,” Elder Yan advised calmly.
It was unbelievable that the two stone lions at the entrance was enough to deter those below the Divine Core Realm. The authority of the imperial family was not to be trifled with.
“Follow me. Our Lord is already waiting for you.”
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