How come the celestial technique I stole is so powerful?!

Hu Ji doesn't even care about her own clan's affairs, how could she manage matters of the Heart Pavilion?

Even if she wanted to discuss it, there was essentially nothing to talk about.

Lin Xiaosu understood the Heart Pavilion, not by conversing with people, but through the subtle use of Subdivine Skills.

His Sub-God Skill attainment was increasingly profound, especially in the area of making people speak the truth, he had reached a new level—a Sub-God Soul Searching Technique!

Sub-God Soul Searching, a contact-based soul searching.

A finger touches the opponent's forehead, and the memories in their mind are directly extracted.

This is an extraordinary skill that can make the world take notice.

It's even an extremely terrifying skill.

He touched Li Chengnian's forehead with one finger, and through his Sea of Consciousness imprint, deciphered many things. It was precisely these things that moved him, and made him truly resolute about the next path: to intervene in the Dynasty through the Heart Pavilion.

Why?

Because the Heart Pavilion already had a deep connection with the Great Wilderness Dynasty.

The Crown Prince Hong Ding regards the Heart Pavilion as a close confidant.

The Heart Pavilion also regards the Crown Prince as their lord.

Over the years, they have accomplished many things for him.

The core one among these was gradually weakening the power of the former Crown Prince Hong Lie, facilitating the downfall of this unfortunate front Crown Prince, and enabling Hong Ding, the third prince, to rightfully take the Eastern Palace.

Currently, they are plotting a grander scheme.

Li Chengnian, being merely a steward, is unaware of the specific plan, yet the target indicated by one or two clues causes Lin Xiaosu great unease.

He also learned that in the past five days, Qingqiu and the Heart Pavilion agreed on a marriage proposal.

In three months, the Seventh Princess will marry into the He, Xi, Li Family—Li Chengnian had smugly said to him earlier "the Seventh Princess you pursue will be groaning under me in three months," which is indeed not false.

He also knows that this maid named Yan, who appears on the surface as Li Chengnian's concubine, is actually one of Crown Prince Hong Ding's people.

She believed her identity to be very hidden, but in reality, Li Chengnian had long since figured it out, yet this brat doesn't expose it, and every day comes up with various inappropriate ways to mess with her, like pressing her against the wall, or on the table, or opening the window and lifting a leg, deliberately letting others see.

He uses this method to subtly announce his displeasure with others monitoring him.

Lin Xiaosu also learned the core structure of the Heart Pavilion…

There are two Pavilion Masters in the Heart Pavilion of Desert City, one is a puppet in the open, and the other is the true master in the basement.

The overall strength of the Heart Pavilion is not strong, because their principle is to use wisdom rather than force.

However, even the so-called "not strong" perceived by Li Chengnian, when converted to the cultivation levels Lin Xiaosu can understand, is still astonishing.

The Heart Pavilion of Desert City, the open leader is in the Enlightenment God Realm.

The hidden leader, in the Enlightenment Realm, and their Sub-God Skill attainment is pretty outstanding.

Suspected to be Zuo Zhi.

The Eight Elders, all in the Enlightenment of God.

There are hundreds of miscellaneous elders, like the Black-bearded Elder, who are at the Peak of Enlightenment.

Plus, there's a large number of disciples.

Direct Disciples, Elite Disciples, Servant Disciples, spread across the backyards of various government houses in Beijing.

Among them, there are even several who entered the Eastern Palace, even the Imperial Palace!

Their boat traveled hundreds of miles, the river deepened, wind and clouds stirred ahead, like the reopening of heaven and earth, they finally left the realm of Zuo Zhi Lake and entered the land of Central State.

Central State, a region rich with fish and rice, as the boat sails, the prosperity along the banks is visible.

However, prosperity is always the privilege of the few, his Heavenly Tao Wisdom Eye also saw many common people barely clothed, even saw villagers beaten to death in the grass.

Alright, everything that should exist in a feudal society is here!

As the sun sets, the river turns golden, Saintess Qian Ling came out of the cabin holding a tray with roast meat: "Master, please dine!"

Lin Xiaosu laughed.

With his laugh, Saintess Qian Ling gave him a glare: "What's so funny? I'm trying hard to learn how not to mess up."

"You're destined to mess up!"

Saintess Qian Ling disagreed: "Why?"

"Because of two points! First, on the surface you're Li Chengnian's maid Yan, secretly you're the Crown Prince's spy, and you… you don't even know who your contact person is."

Saintess Qian Ling furrowed her brow, sighed heavily: "Oh my God, playing this kind of game again. I can't stand it. Should I defect?"

"Defect?"

"Hmm, no matter who comes to contact me, I'll kill them, send a strong message to that useless Crown Prince, I won't comply with his orders, I'll only be responsible for my master from now on." Saintess Qian Ling blinked: "Master, aren't you happy?"

"Having a beauty's unwavering devotion, how could any man not feel that this life was worthwhile, how could he not be pleased?" Lin Xiaosu said.

"You said two points of trouble, this was one… what about the second one?"

"The second one… is a bit hard to say…" Lin Xiaosu hesitated, his gaze flickering.

"Come on! What's so hard to say, just say it!" Saintess Qian Ling was impatient.

"Then I'll really say it."

"What do you mean really, hurry…"

Lin Xiaosu sighed deeply: "Li Chengnian, that bastard, really is trash, his maid Yan, he messes with her daily, sometimes even with the window open, he turns this absurdity into silent rebellion against the Crown Prince's monitoring, others have grown accustomed to it, but now we've all changed, you and I are courteous and respectful, but if noticed by someone, it surely will be exposed..."

Saintess Qian Ling slowly bit her lip: "You're making this up, aren't you?"

"Heaven knows, I'm not!"

Saintess Qian Ling said: "I get it, the point is if we don't want to blow our cover, we need to abandon all propriety between us, right?"

"Ahem..."

"You, oh you, habits die hard. I'm also at fault for calling myself your senior sister. Truthfully, I've known for a long time you have a notorious reputation as a 'senior sister slayer,' isn't it true? Anyone you've ever called senior sister hasn't escaped your clutches, right?"

"How is that possible? Stop tarnishing my reputation."

"Not admitting it? Tarnishing your reputation?" Saintess Qian Ling glared at him: "Do you dare say the term 'husband' Feng Ji uttered on her deathbed was a slip of the tongue? Do you dare claim Blue Demon was entirely innocent?"

"Ahem, not the same, not the same!" Lin Xiaosu said: "How about you go to the Spirit Clan, staying by my side ambiguously might really damage your reputation... I genuinely don't want to taint this pure flower bud of yours."

Saintess Qian Ling uttered a single word: "Pfft..."

She had a belly full of words to say, yet she didn't speak!

"Not wanting to taint this pure flower bud," sounds prettier than any song. Who are you trying to fool?

You actually think I can't see through you? You've always wanted to! From our first meeting, you dared to reach your hand beneath someone's waist, what wouldn't you dare to contemplate?

But, do you really think you can taint whatever you wish?

Do you think the pants belt of the Spirit Clan's saintess is like some wild vine?

Even if it were, it'd be a vine of iron...

For the next three days, the Flower Boat flowed downstream, its speed quite swift, yet, for those entire three days, it remained within the domain of Central State. The vastness of this world is truly unimaginable.

At this pace, in what year or month will we reach Beijing?

This afternoon, Lin Xiaosu made a decision: "We won't take the boat anymore, let's fly! "

Saintess Qian Ling frowned: "Li Chengnian isn't like you, he wouldn't fly."

The meaning was clear: if you're going to pretend, go all the way. If your flight path is spotted, anyone will know you're not Li Chengnian.

Lin Xiaosu said: "There's a Magic Artifact Flying Boat ahead, heading directly to Desert City. Though the price is steep, what's to fear? The money spent definitely isn't surnamed Lin."

That's more like it.

The two abandoned the boat and disembarked.

They lightly touched the ground with their toes and entered the next city.

This city is called Thunder City.

Thunder City has a Magic Artifact Flying Boat.

This flying boat is a massive industry chain.

Belongs to a super sect that no one under heaven dares to underestimate.

This sect is called the Xuanhuang Sect.

Yes, one of the Upper Three Sects, the Xuanhuang Sect.

The headquarters of the Xuanhuang Sect isn't in the Dahuang Domain.

It's far away in the Central Domain.

This world is astoundingly large, with the Five Domains and Three Ruins—east, south, west, north, and center—alongside Spirit Ruins, Demon Ruins, and Ancient Divine Ruins.

Every domain has dozens to hundreds of realms.

These realms vary from thousands of kilometers wide to mere inches. In Li Chengnian's memory, the concept of area didn't exist, but through the information within his memory, Lin Xiaosu roughly estimated that the explored regions equate to thousands of Earth's size, and that's only the known areas; vast regions remain unknown.

The current location, Dahuang Country.

It's part of the Southern Domain.

Xuanhuang Sect is affiliated with the Central Domain.

Yet, as a super giant like those within the depths of the three sects, their influence long ago transcended the concept of domains.

For instance, Xuanhuang Sect not only excels remarkably in the cultivation sphere, but also in everyday life among ordinary people—for instance, in the transportation domain, they stand out prominently, utilizing cultivation advantages to manufacture flying boats that span thousands of kilometers in void space, integrating cultivation elements powerfully into the basic societal structure, thus earning continuous wealth.

Upon entering Thunder City, direct your way to the city's east. In the east lies a towering array platform, named "Xuanhuang Space Sky Platform."

This is where you board the void-spanning flying boat.

The base of the platform is crafted entirely from ancient bluestone, merely approaching it feels akin to looming beneath a ten-thousand-meters giant mountain, evoking a strong sense of oppression.

A few disciples clad in standard uniforms guard the underside of the space sky platform, their clothing emblazoned with a large "Xuan" character, encircled by a red ring.

This serves as their identity marker.

Disciples of the Xuanhuang sect have a "Xuan" marked directly on their attire, with their status distinguished by color.

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet—representing rank from lowly to esteemed.

This was initiated by the Xuanhuang Sect and has long swept across the world, with numerous sects now attempting to emulate.

Though merely the lowest-ranking red-circle disciples, they hold their noses and eyes toward the heavens, acting aloof underneath this space platform.

This is the honor brought to them by the sect.

Lin Xiaosu and Saintess Qian Ling came beneath the platform, stating their destination to Desert City, the disciple on the left held up three fingers: "Three hundred Desert Coins per person!"

Six hundred Desert Coins were handed to them and the two ascended the space sky platform.

The cost was truly exorbitant, considering that when Lin Xiaosu rented a Swallow Boat at Zuo Zhi Lake (which was essentially a purchase since they didn't return it), he only spent one Desert Coin.

But it doesn't matter, as Lin Xiaosu said, it's not his money being spent.