Chapter 60: The Dragon-Shaped Jade Seal! The Former Emperor Cultivating by Borrowing Fortune

"It's you!"

Seeing that the visitor was Lv Lan, Ye Liuyun didn't pay much mind.

He casually put his sword back in its place.

"Is there something you need?"

"..."

Did she always have to come only when she needed something? Seeing Ye Liuyun ask so bluntly, Lv Lan subconsciously frowned, feeling that his attitude towards her was a bit too distant.

Did Ye Liuyun not know that the Extreme Yang Body and the Extreme Yin Body were the most compatible pair in existence?

Wait, perhaps Ye Liuyun didn't even know he possessed the Extreme Yang Body, nor did he know about this compatibility. Lv Lan had simply assumed that what she knew, Ye Liuyun should know as well.

However, she had her master to teach her, while Ye Liuyun had no one.

Seeing Lv Lan suddenly fall silent with her expression shifting constantly, Ye Liuyun looked at her curiously.

"Ahem!"

Noticing Ye Liuyun's gaze, Lv Lan cleared her throat and immediately spoke up.

"Since you've just returned, I wanted to ask about the spirit weapon."

"If I said I didn't get it, you probably wouldn't believe me anyway."

Lv Lan wasn't a fool; if he hadn't obtained the spirit weapon, he wouldn't be looking so relaxed right now.

Hearing Ye Liuyun's response, Lv Lan smiled with relief instead.

She had expected him to be curious about the spirit weapon, but she directly skipped over that topic.

"With your talent and cultivation, coupled with the assistance of a spirit weapon, you'll likely have few rivals among those in the Xiantian realm."

Sometimes, a spirit weapon provided a massive boost to a martial artist's strength.

Take Lv Lan herself, for instance.

Wielding the Cold Jade Sword, she was confident she could defeat ordinary martial artists in the late Xiantian realm, and perhaps even challenge those at the Xiantian grand perfection.

Ye Liuyun didn't respond. Their relationship wasn't close enough for him to share everything; naturally, the fewer people who knew about the Blood Blade, the better.

"Speaking of which, why has it been you coming here these past few days? Where is His Majesty?"

During their previous meetings, Yan Shuzhu had always come out in person. Why did she now have to rely on Lv Lan to pass messages?

Hearing this, Lv Lan sighed helplessly and shook her head.

"Her Majesty left the palace secretly before, but after that incident, the Eunuch-General tightened security in the imperial palace significantly, leaving Her Majesty with no way to slip out."

"Tsk, it almost feels like the Eunuch-General is the true master of the imperial palace."

He was practically riding roughshod over Yan Shuzhu, the reigning emperor.

Lv Lan appropriately displayed a hint of anger, followed by powerlessness, before speaking earnestly once more.

"Sooner or later, Her Majesty will surely set things right and retake the imperial power."

"..."

That kind of talk was fine for fooling others, but she shouldn't fool herself.

Comparatively speaking, Ye Liuyun was much more curious about the strength of this Eunuch-General.

"Is this Eunuch-General also a Grand Master?"

"No, an incomplete body cannot break through to the Grand Master realm. He is only at the Master realm."

Lv Lan shook her head.

Unless Terrestrial Immortals appeared, a Grand Master was the absolute pinnacle existence in the world, and breaking through to that realm was naturally no easy feat. Timing, geographic advantage, and human harmony were all indispensable.

Many people exhausted their entire lives seemingly just a hair's breadth away from the Grand Master realm, yet that hair's breadth was as vast as the distance between heaven and earth, nearly impossible to cross.

Could someone in the Master realm be that arrogant?

Although Ye Liuyun was not yet a Master himself, he understood that while Grand Masters were rare, the Great Qian Dynasty still had a few of them; surely they wouldn't cower before a single Eunuch-General?

As if sensing Ye Liuyun's doubt, Lv Lan shook her head and explained.

"The Eunuch-General was deeply favored by the Former Emperor. They aren't afraid of the Eunuch-General; they fear the Former Emperor."

Likewise, the Eunuch-General was intensely loyal, but that loyalty was directed solely toward the Former Emperor. Who in the imperial court didn't know that the Eunuch-General was simply the most loyal dog by the Former Emperor's side?

The Eunuch-General was a Master.

However, the Former Emperor was a Grand Master—and moreover, a Grand Master currently in seclusion attempting to break through to the Terrestrial Immortal realm.

At this, Ye Liuyun grew curious.

"Is the Former Emperor really in seclusion to break through to the Terrestrial Immortal realm? I heard that no one in this world has stepped into that realm for nearly a hundred years. Can it really be broken through so easily?"

A Grand Master's lifespan was two hundred years.

Once they broke through to the Terrestrial Immortal realm, their lifespan was instantly extended by five hundred years.

Though not true immortality, rumors said their abilities rivaled those of immortals and deities. Surely it couldn't be so easy to achieve?

Her words caused Lv Lan's expression to turn much graver.

"I don't know the specific details either, but from what I understand, whether it's the Eunuch-General, the current Prime Minister, or the Great General guarding the borders, they all seem very confident in the Former Emperor's current seclusion and breakthrough to the Terrestrial Immortal realm."

They were so confident that the Former Emperor would definitely succeed?

There had to be some secret behind this that outsiders knew nothing about.

"Forget it. When soldiers come, block them with shields; when water comes, flood them with earth. There's no point in continuing to worry and obsess over it."

"That's true."

A breakthrough would happen if it was meant to happen.

He couldn't very well go and interfere with the Former Emperor's seclusion.

Even if he wanted to, that loyal hound of a Eunuch-General guarded the Former Emperor's seclusion grounds airtight, making it impossible for outsiders to casually enter or interfere even if they wished to.

After chatting for a little while longer, Lv Lan took her leave.

"Right!"

Ye Liuyun was planning to return to his room to rest when he suddenly remembered he had forgotten to ask about Qi Yuanliang of the Southern Pacification Department.

Others might not know, but as Yan Shuzhu's personal guard, Lv Lan should have some understanding of this Southern Pacification official.

Oh well, asking next time would be just the same.

With that thought, Ye Liuyun stretched his muscles and headed straight back to his room.

***

Late at night!

Within a secluded courtyard deep inside the imperial palace.

The surrounding area was heavily guarded by subordinates arranged by the Eunuch-General, maintaining a strict watch in day-and-night shifts.

No eunuchs or palace maids were permitted to enter.

Not even the Eunuch-General himself was allowed inside this courtyard.

At this moment, a middle-aged man draped in a golden dragon robe sat cross-legged beneath the eaves. Golden internal energy swirled around him, seemingly possessing a will of its own as it morphed into the shape of dragons.

These dragon-shaped energies undulated steadily with the man's breath.

Suspended in mid-air right in front of the man was a palm-sized, dragon-shaped imperial jade seal.

The jade seal emitted a faint golden glow, continuously absorbing a certain mysterious energy from the surroundings, which was then channeled under its guidance into the man's body.

"Hah!"

Exhaling a breath of stale air, the middle-aged man slowly opened his eyes, and the jade seal gently descended and settled in mid-air.

Looking at the dragon-shaped imperial jade seal before him, the middle-aged man's eyes gleamed with boundless imperial authority and dominance.

This man was none other than Yan Shuzhu's father, as well as the true ruler of the Great Qian Dynasty.

"Almost there!"

His cultivation had already reached the grand perfection of the Grand Master realm.

Through years of seclusion, utilizing the dragon-shaped imperial jade seal to channel the dynasty's national destiny to cleanse his entire body, he was now very close to breaking through to the legendary Terrestrial Immortal realm.

He had thought his life would stop at the Grand Master realm, but he never expected to accidentally acquire this top-tier spirit weapon, the dragon-shaped imperial jade seal.

Though breaking through to the Terrestrial Immortal realm via such shortcuts inevitably brought certain restrictions...

A Terrestrial Immortal was still a Terrestrial Immortal, after all.

"Once I break through to the Terrestrial Immortal realm, I will certainly make the Great Qian Dynasty the sole empire across all fourteen prefectures of this world."