"You’re different from the others. Look at all the high officials in the Imperial Court. Which one of them doesn’t have a background as deep as the ocean? Your origins, however, are as clean as they come. Besides us eunuchs, the Emperor trusts—or rather, can only trust—those of Literature Cultivation. After all, of all the major powers, who besides the Literature Cultivators and Daoist Cultivators isn’t eyeing the Jinluan Hall and the Nine Dragons Throne? Furthermore, the Fate Measuring Sect behind you is gone. This makes you, in effect, a Fate Master who has risen from the Imperial Court itself. That’s a first. More importantly, you started late. Even if you have a past connection with Lord Zhou Chunfeng, there’s a generational gap, and you have absolutely no ties to the previous Guard Commander, the former Crown Prince. Tell me, with a background like yours, how could the Emperor not like you?"
Li Qingxian shot Fei Yan a look and said, "The most important thing is that my late father offended a whole host of people, and half the Imperial Court are his political enemies. I have no one to rely on except for clinging to the Emperor’s thigh."
Fei Yan gave a dry laugh.
Li Qingxian returned to his room and mulled over Fei Yan’s words. The more he thought about them, the more he felt there was a profound lesson within.
’But what’s most important is my own strength.’
Li Qingxian took a nap, then got up and walked around. The higher-ups still hadn’t decided on a course of action.
The last batch of reinforcements had arrived. Li Qingxian met with Hex Lei and transferred command of Divisions A and B to him before returning to his room.
It had been many days since his promotion to Ninth Grade, and his foundation was now solid. It was time to try Sealing an Eighth-Grade Inner God.
Li Qingxian recalled the scene of Jiangg Youfei guiding him through the Sealing of a Ninth-Grade Child. His heart surged with emotion, and it took a long while for him to calm down. He then picked up the Celestial Cloud Sect’s *Essence of Inner God*, a text only Official Disciples could read, and studied it for a long time before setting up an altar in his courtyard to begin the ritual.
Spirit tablet, Jade Platform, incense burner, lamp pearls, yellow banner, red lantern, Copper Alms Bowl, golden sword...
After arranging the Gradeless Magical Artifacts, Li Qingxian slowly began the ceremony.
Finally, he bowed deeply and performed the Sealing of the Inner God, which meant cultivating the *Transforming Scenery Primordial Thunder God’s Marvelous Method*.
BZZZZ...
Li Qingxian’s vision blurred. The sky filled with a dazzling array of divine flowers, their fragrance assailing his nostrils. Luminous clouds gathered and formed a colossal staircase, with each step shortening as it rose.
At the top of the cloud staircase, a brilliant starry sky was revealed, slowly unveiling a corner of a Thunder City.
Above the layers of clouds, great banners unfurled. One by one, burly men clad in Divine Technique Cloth Robes of various colors descended from the sky. Their muscles bulged, their arms were bare, and they bared their teeth in ferocious expressions.
Ninth Grade seals a Child; Eighth Grade seals a Warrior.
The multitude of Warriors stood upon the stacked layers of bright white clouds, their eyes wide as they glared down below.
The Warriors on the lowest level wore yellow robes, the ones in the middle had purple sashes around their waists, and those on the highest level were draped in red cloaks.
Above these three tiers of Warriors, two other Warriors resided at the peak of the clouds, different from the rest.
A halo floated behind their heads, and their bodies were cloaked in twelve colors.
The male Warrior on the left was bald and beardless. Two bolts of lightning coiled around his arms like whips or snakes, crackling audibly. Floating behind him was a giant drum, ten times his height, with a white surface, a red border, and black patterns. The black patterns intertwined to form a spiraling Black Dragon.
The female Warrior on the right had a slightly slenderer build with well-proportioned muscles. Her black hair fluttered, and her beauty was unparalleled in the cloudy heavens.
The female Warrior held a black wooden, octagonal Sword Scabbard carved with the Big Dipper and the Southern Dipper. A white light rippled from the mouth of the scabbard, but there was no Treasure Sword within.
With just a single glance, Li Qingxian knew the divine names of the two Warriors.
One was the Electric Drum Warrior, and the other was the Sword-Holding and Sword-Sharpening Warrior.
Li Qingxian bowed to the two of them with clasped hands and called out their divine names.
The two Warriors descended from the peak of the clouds, bowed to Li Qingxian with clasped hands, and transformed into two rays of Divine Light that flew into the space between his eyebrows.
The layered clouds and the Warriors filling the sky dissipated.
Li Qingxian focused his mind on his Spirit Platform. There, in addition to the four Children, the two Warriors were also sitting in meditation with their eyes closed.
At the same time, he received two Techniques: one was the "Chaos Seed Sword Technique," and the other was the "Twelve Divine Spells of Sky Changing, Cloud Gathering, Thunder Summoning, and Drum Striking."
At the edge of his Thunder Dragon Fire Seal, a translucent, drum-shaped Great Seal had appeared. Its top half was a drum, and its bottom half was a seal, and it could be used to command the Electric Drum Warrior.
Li Qingxian’s mind connected with the two Warriors, and he began to continuously cultivate the new Thunder Skill.
The Thunder Skills he had previously acquired became more complete, and his proficiency advanced once more.
Finally, Li Qingxian stared at the Sword-Holding and Sword-Sharpening Warrior, pondered for a long time, and came up with a plan.
After performing a spell and activating the Chaos Seed Sword Technique, the Sword-Holding and Sword-Sharpening Warrior vanished.
Li Qingxian withdrew from his Spirit Platform. He repeatedly went over the newly acquired Techniques, combining them with his prior knowledge to commit them to memory.
He cultivated until the afternoon, when a knock came at the door.
Li Qingxian frowned slightly, stopped his studies, and walked outside. Han Anbo and Hex Lei were both there.
Hex Lei, shouldering his large copper hammer, said, "The Ministry of Justice has brought a large batch of reinforcements. I hear they paid a high price to hire a Seventh-Grade Fate Master."
"Are there any Third Grades?"
"No, but there are four Fourth Grades."
Li Qingxian nodded. He recalled the members of the Demon Sect slain by Jiangg Youfei. For the Ministry of Justice to be able to mobilize four Fourth-Grade experts now was already quite impressive.
"And..." Hex Lei sighed.
"What’s wrong?"
"Our second batch of reinforcements was supposed to include people from the Five Cities Military Department, about five hundred of them. But they were intercepted and taken by men from the Ministry of Justice. Eunuch Fei was so angry he was cursing up a storm. Luckily, the constables from the Divine Capital Prefecture insisted they only recognized you and no one else, otherwise they would’ve been taken away too. It was probably Lord Songg Yunjing’s order," Hex Lei said.
Li Qingxian nodded. Songg Yunjing was currently in charge of the Divine Capital Prefecture. As the head of the nation’s capital, he was a great asset to him.
"They didn’t dare touch the Beichang Guard?"
Hex Lei chuckled. "Even if the Ministry of Justice dared to collude with the Ministry of War, the Ministry of War wouldn’t dare to ally with Demon Cultivators. The Beichang Guard General knows full well not to do anything that would make the Emperor wary."
"Let me take a look first."
Li Qingxian took out a Feather Charm, slapped it onto his waist, and leaped onto the roof. He used the Observation Skill to survey the Trend Formation of the entire county. When his Magical Power was depleted, he returned to his room to meditate.
A short while later, Li Qingxian came out and said, "The Ministry of Justice and the Demon Sect have more reinforcements. They’re hiding at least three more Fourth-Grade experts, and their numbers exceed a thousand, but their Trend Formation is chaotic. I did a careful inference. It would be difficult for the Ministry of Justice to mobilize so many people. Could another power be helping them?"
Hex Lei thought for a moment and said, "Demon Cultivators."
Realization dawned on Li Qingxian. "So it’s a joint force of the Demon Sect’s ragtag armies. However, I’m afraid their average Grade Level is far higher than ours."
Hex Lei nodded. "There are more than ten thousand Demon Cultivators around the Divine Capital. If they only picked a thousand, I’m afraid most of them have Entered Grade. This single group of reinforcements alone surpasses our own forces."
"The key is that Seventh-Grade Fate Master. If they’re trying to compete for merit, that’s the real issue," Li Qingxian said.
"Exactly. That’s why Lord Fei is urgently looking for you."
"Let’s go."
The three of them left.
Li Qingxian thought as he walked. When he saw Hall Supervision Army Fei Yan, he explained his inference.
"Just as I thought. No wonder the Internal Factory’s secret reports mentioned a sudden movement of Demon Cultivators; they were all transferred here. I suspect they’ll likely gather ten Fourth-Grade experts. With their Magical Artifacts, that would be enough to counter an ordinary Third-Grade expert. In two days at most, they’ll enter the mountains to search for the Nether Mountain Sub-Branch. Time is short," Fei Yan said.
Li Qingxian leaned back in his chair and said lazily, "Eunuch Fei, let’s be frank. If the Internal Factory or the Night Guard can’t send a Third-Grade expert, I absolutely will not enter the mountains. Not to mention the fact that the Ministry of Justice would just steal the credit and all our work would be for nothing, but just in terms of strength, we’d likely be wiped out by Nether Mountain in one fell swoop. I have no desire to die."
"What did you discover?"