Chapter 504: A Whole New World.
Hao Ren watched Grandmaster Kar studied the smaller puppet, and after a few hours, he said, "Marvelous, no wonder the refining saint acknowledged you."
Hao Ren smiled and replied, "Well, I need to send this little one back home, if you don't mind, may I leave?"
Old Man Kar was shocked and then he thought for a bit as he asked, "Grandmaster Ren, if you don't mind, may I visit your house?"
Hao Ren thought for a bit and then he nodded as he said, "Fine, but you would have to swear that you will keep it a secret."
Grandmaster Kar was shocked and then he nodded. Hao Ren held the hand of the little puppet before he left the city with the old man and Sekai in tow. The small puppet gathered a lot of attention and Xiao Mei used spiritual communication, "I need to get a skin wrap as soon as we reach home."
Hao Ren nodded, and they came out of the city. He said to Grandmaster Kar, "Grandmaster Kar, let us pick up the pace. Some people might lose control."
Grandmaster Kar obviously knew what Hao Ren meant and he grabbed Sekai's hand before the young man opened a void tunnel and vanished inside it followed by the old man and his grandson. The people who were following them were shocked, they didn't expect Hao Ren to move so quickly and directly using space tunnel.
A few of them appeared next to the spot where the spatial tunnel had opened and one of them said, "I will try to track down his location. I have a bug that can track through the space."
The people nodded, they have decided to make a move and send the puppet to the others to study and see if they can replicate the artifact. However, the next moment, as soon as the cicada came out, it was met with a strong sword intent.
Hao Ren had left behind a strand of the sword intent inside the collapsing space tunnel. If someone tried to reopen the space tunnel from the same spot, they would suffer a critical injury if not death.
The sword intent shot through the void and it spliced the bug in two, which caused the initiator's face turn pale and then the sword intent preyed upon the cultivator. The man reacted a little slow and his waist was cut from the middle. He died in disbelief and those who lived understood that Hao Ren was not a simple guy and that he was not to be messed with.
They all ran away, while on the other side, Hao Ren appeared inside the Crescent Moon Palace with a calm facial expression and behind him Grandmaster Kar stood with a baffled face. He didn't know that the teleportation array would bring them here, inside a place that they all have been curious about.
Hao Ren smiled and said, "Welcome to the Crescent Moon Empire's capital city."
The young man walked ahead and Xiao Mei said, "I am heading to the lab, will be back in a bit."
Hao Ren nodded and said, "Find me in the study and summon the cabinet."
Xiao Mei rolled her eyes and replied, "Slave driver, humph!"
Then she dashed away quickly, and Hao Ren led Grandmaster Kar along with him. On the way many staff people saw him and they bowed in greeting, "Your Excellency."
Hao Ren nodded and Grandmaster Kar asked, "Ummm, Grandmaster Ren what is going on here?"
Hao Rem smiled and replied, "My name is Hao Ren, and I happen to be the husband of the Empress of the Crescent Moon Empire, Her Excellency, Han Lingshi."
Grandmaster Kar almost tripped while walking, thankfully Sekai held onto him and saved the old man from lifelong embarrassment. As they continued their way inside the palace, they ran into Ye Lan, and Hao Ren said, "Lan, can you arrange for someone to bring these guys for a tour of the city?"
Ye Lan nodded and then she gestured for the two people to follow her, and Hao Ren said, "This is my little sister, Ye Lan, you can go with her, she will arrange a tour guide for you."
Then he introduced the two people to Ye Lan, and the lady understood the emphasis of this. He was saying that these two people could possibly be lured in to work as artifact refiners in the country and excel the field.
After handing the two people to Ye Lan, Hao Ren headed to the imperial study. He found Han Lingshi sitting behind the desk completing her work as usual. She looked at him with a smile and asked, "Did you finish your task?"
Hao Ren nodded and said, "Yes, just a minute."
Then the door of the imperial study was pushed open and a little girl walked in, and she smiled brightly at Han Lingshi as she said, "Greetings mistress."
Han Lingshi was shocked and Xiao Mei said, "Hehehe, see, am I a genius or what? I fabricated the skin cover within a few minutes and added electrodes in various places to keep the movement as fluid as possible."
Han Lingshi moved around her table, she recognized Xiao Mei from her voice, but she could not understand how her body was emitting Spiritual fluctuations. She looked at Hao Ren who said, "I made this puppet so that Xiao Mei could move around with ease and the people don't try to take advantage of her while we are out."
The young lady replied, "You and your ideas, why do you always shock the world?"
Xiao Mei chuckled and said, "Well, you should prepare yourself better then, because something else awaits you in the Cauldron Valley."
Hao Ren flicked his finger on the forehead of the little puppet and said, "Spoil sport."
Xiao Mei rubbed her forehead with a surprise and said, "I felt pain?"
She had never felt anything, it had always been data simulation that she had been impacted, but this time she did feel the pain. Hao Ren smiled and replied, "That is how spiritual neuron connection works, I disrupted the flow of spiritual energy through your body by hitting your forehead and that was why you felt pain.
Xiao Mei could hardly believe what he said, but it was true. Hao Ren said, "Well, is the cabinet ready?"
The puppet woke up from her reverie and said, "Yes, they are all in the throne room."
Hao Ren nodded and said, "Let's go then."
...
In the throne room, all the Ye Generals and ministers have been assembled. They were standing in two neat rows, looking at the throne, or to be more precise, Xiao Mei. Hao Ren said, "You all are aware of what happened a few days ago. The workload is causing Her Excellency to lose control of her spiritual energy. This cannot be allowed. So, we have come to a decision, after tonight, Xiao Mei, will be the proxy for the crown. Although the majority of the work will still be managed by you all, and she will be relaying the big details to us, she will be the administrator head of the government."
The people were surprised but it was not because they had no idea who Xiao Mei was, but it was because they knew who exactly she was, what surprised them was her appearance. They didn't expect her to be a young child.
Hao Ren said, "You all know that Her Excellency is missing out crucial time for cultivation, the threat of invasion on us is growing constantly. We all need to put some more effort in growing stronger. This is why we will be travelling the world and increasing our cultivation levels."
The people nodded and Ye Peng stepped forward as he said, "Your Excellency, you should stride forward as we all are dependant on your strength as well. We will protect the borders with all our might."
The rest of the Ye Generals all stepped forward and pledged the same, while the Government ministers echoed that they will manage the country well. Han Lingshi looked at Hao Ren, who was standing beside her, and the young man said, "Summon the children, we will be leaving at the first light tomorrow morning."
...
Just like that, the verdict was passed, and the preparations began. The three kids were called back from the north where they were training these days, and the couple was surprised. Yang Han (Previously called Yang, the earth roaming bao, aka, Yang) looked at Han Lingshi and said, "Ma, I would like to continue training under the guidance of master. There are a lot of things that I have yet to master, going out might affect me."
Han Lingshi realized that the boy was serious about his skills and thus she agreed. Agnee and Hao Yin, they both agreed to follow the couple, but at the condition that Hao Ren would teach Agnee about alchemy and Hao Yin wanted to learn about swords. Hao Ren agreed and the two of them began to pack.
It was late at night when Ye Lan came back with Grandmaster Kar beside her. The old man saw Hao Ren and directly said, "Grandmaster Ren, I would shamelessly ask you to give me and my family a place to live in this city, we would like to settle our forge here."
Hao Ren chuckled, he already knew that the infrastructure of the city would be enough to entrap this man, and he replied, "It would be my pleasure to have you here. I will arrange someone to look into this matter and they will tell you in the morning."
Grandmaster Kar was ecstatic and so was Sekai, who wanted to pursue the beautiful women of the city and sire a family of his own.