Imperial Cultivation

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Chu Zhiyuan chuckled, his smile wanton and unruly.

Chu Liezhao's personality was originally completely different from his.

Yet this starkly different personality, he found rather interesting.

He discovered that being so wanton and frivolous was also quite nice.

Now he was somewhat unable to distinguish whether he was playing the role of Chu Liezhao or had truly become Chu Liezhao.

This was both amusing and a rational choice.

Chu Liezhao's rebirth came with a drastic change in temperament and behavior, but if he changed too much, becoming like another person, it would arouse suspicion.

The Observatory had come to inspect, but it was not foolproof.

Moreover, the Observatory might not inspect just once, and he could not afford to show any flaws.

Xiao Zhu stood at a distance, her face full of surprise.

Chu Zhiyuan turned to glare at her: "What?"

"Your Highness, divine might!" Xiao Zhu quickly nodded vigorously.

Chu Zhiyuan snorted, "Flattery!"

You Lan gracefully entered the small courtyard, laughing: "Bullying Xiao Zhu again! ... Your Highness, the Princess Consort sent someone to call for you."

Chu Zhiyuan frowned.

"Your Highness, do go quickly." You Lan urged.

Chu Zhiyuan snorted with a face full of reluctance, "Alright then."

You Lan breathed a sigh of relief.

This great calamity had eased Your Highness's attitude towards the Princess Consort considerably.

Perhaps he finally realized that the Princess Consort truly had his best interests at heart, contrary to what he thought.

Chu Zhiyuan said, "How's it going with the Inspection Department?"

"The items have been taken by the experts of the Imperial Guard, who are pursuing the Golden Tiger Clan expert."

"That's good." Chu Zhiyuan said, "What about the two traitors?"

You Lan said, "The Outer Court Guard is in pursuit as well, they won't escape."

Chu Zhiyuan snorted, "If they're with the Phoenix Dynasty or the Yuanzhen Dynasty, there must be someone to aid them to escape the Imperial City, out of our Jade Dynasty."

You Lan said, "They won't escape!"

Chu Zhiyuan shook his head.

He thought it's unlikely to succeed; this assassination attempt wasn't a spur-of-the-moment thing, but had been meticulously planned.

How could they not have thought of an escape route?

The Divinity Transformation Realm expert is crucial and will certainly retreat to the Demon Domain; the Imperial Guard's experts couldn't pursue him into the Demon Domain.

He didn't even change clothes, directly wearing the white combat uniform and walked out.

You Lan hurried to follow, and the pretty Xiao Zhu also hurried to keep up.

Upon leaving the Prince Mansion, they hadn't seen any guards, just two guards following.

Chu Zhiyuan shook his head, "Still haven't chosen the guard, is it deliberate?"

You Lan laughed, "This time, they surely want to choose well."

Chu Zhiyuan said, "Probably no one wants to come to our Prince Mansion... or Wei Boyuan is deliberately being difficult, trying to embarrass me."

"Chief Wei wouldn't do that." You Lan quickly said, "Your Highness, say less."

Chu Zhiyuan snorted, "Can't even talk about it? Everyone knows he is close to the Fourth Prince."

"No matter how close Chief Wei is to the Fourth Prince, he wouldn't be biased."

"Heh, he's no saint."

"Your Highness!"

"Aunt, let him know, if by tomorrow there's still no guard, I'll go to his door and scold him!"

"...Alright then." You Lan said helplessly.

Old habits die hard; though Your Highness had changed, he hadn't changed completely.

Chu Zhiyuan walked along the widest north-south main road inside the Imperial City, the Sky-reaching Avenue, heading north, all the way to the Imperial Palace, entering the Fuhui Palace.

In the back garden of the Fuhui Palace, Consort Hui was reclining lazily on a chaise in a small pavilion, her eyes half-closed.

Chu Zhen and Chu Qiao were speaking to her, and she was responding indifferently.

Upon hearing footsteps, the two young girls immediately looked over and came forward cheerfully.

"Big brother, congratulations."

"What joy is there?" Chu Zhiyuan smiled broadly at Chu Zhen.

Chu Zhen giggled, "Big brother, you can finally enter the Great Bright Peak."

Chu Zhiyuan looked towards Consort Hui, cupping his hands, "Mother, is it true?"

"Yes, but don't get too happy yet, there are conditions."

Consort Hui was clothed in a Flowing Cloud Silk Palace Dress, with a Phoenix Golden Hairpin, looking elegant and bright.

She lazily said, "After you enter the Great Bright Peak, you won't be practicing with them; you will practice in a separate place."

Chu Zhiyuan frowned, "Where?"

"Jingsi Cliff of the Great Bright Peak, you'll cultivate there."

"That's the place for imprisoning wrongdoers," Chu Zhiyuan said angrily, "Is Father planning to confine me?"

"Nonsense!" Consort Hui scolded, "No one's confining you, you're not to stay there all the time, just come back after practice each day."

Chu Zhiyuan remained silent with a sullen face.

Jingsi Cliff was the most shadowed area in the northwest of the Great Bright Peak, eternally without sunlight.

Its location was extremely clever, situated in the northern depression, flanked by stone walls blocking the sunlight from both east and west.

After fighting with the Fourth Prince once, he had been punished with a month there.

It left him with very unpleasant memories, and he hated it intensely.

He thought to himself, the Emperor knew this and still sent him there, clearly wanting him to retreat willingly.

It was likely due to impatience with the entanglement between Consort Hui, Chu Zhen, and Chu Qiao that he feigned agreement.

If he didn't want to go, he couldn't blame him.

"Step by step," Consort Hui said, "First get into the Great Bright Peak, then we'll talk. Practice on Jingsi Cliff for a few days, and I'll petition the Emperor. Once the Emperor sees your genuine dedication, he'll relent."

Chu Zhiyuan shook his head, "Father won't."

Consort Hui said, "The Emperor will be pleased to see you improving."

"Mother, you misunderstand my status in Father's heart," Chu Zhiyuan said, "When he sees me cultivating, he'll only think I'm pretending, fooling him."

"Then practice well, prove him wrong!" Consort Hui said, "Show the Emperor your determination to change."

Chu Zhiyuan said, "How could Father, who is so stubborn, possibly change his bias against me?"

Consort Hui's phoenix eyes widened, her fair jade-like face stern: "Enough with the nonsense! You'll go to the Great Bright Peak tomorrow!"

Chu Zhiyuan hummed, "I'll stay no more than ten days. If Father doesn't change my place, then forget the Great Bright Peak."

"Cultivating at the Great Bright Peak yields twice the result with half the effort, do you want to waste your effort? You'll only fall farther behind them!"

"If in ten days there's no change, it shows Father won't allow me to practice. An arm can't twist a thigh."

"It will change, but during this period, you must behave and not mess around."

"I know, I know." Chu Zhiyuan waved dismissively, then smiled at Chu Zhen and said, "Zhen'er, Qiao'er, haven't you gone today?"

Chu Zhen giggled, "Big brother, you're still not recovered, staying with you for a couple more days."

"Sneaking in some laziness, aren't you?" Chu Zhiyuan said, "Tomorrow, you'll go to the Great Bright Peak."

"Alright." The two girls replied reluctantly.

They were also practicing the Infinite Brightness Scripture, deeply resistant to cultivation and reluctant to practice.

Whenever they had the chance, they would take it to be lazy.

Consort Hui took out a White Jade Token from her cloudlike sleeves.

The token was just half the size of a palm, with a sun shining high in the sky engraved on both sides.

She tossed the White Jade Token to Chu Zhiyuan, "Take this, you know how to use it."

"Sigh... Alright then."

Chu Zhiyuan caught it, feeling as if he were holding a piece of cold ice.

This was the token to enter the Great Bright Peak.

...

Early the next morning, Chu Zhiyuan got up early, under You Lan's direction, the maids tidied him up well, dressed in a white combat uniform.

He held the Jade Token, focusing his energy, allowed a wisp of aura from the Yin Yang Fish in his Dantian to enter the token.

A door appeared before his eyes, clear and translucent, seemingly there and not there, and he stepped through it.

The next moment, he appeared at the foot of a magnificent snow-covered mountain peak.

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