One side was well-prepared, the other hurriedly responded. At the moment when the formation technique was activated, the outcome was already destined: the bodies of the Second Prince and the Third Prince, who should have held all the winning cards, were severed from their heads.
Contrary to everyone's expectations, the Ninth Prince, who was believed to be certain to die, found life in a desperate situation, reversed the tide, and took control of the overall situation. He led powerhouses into the imperial palace and forced the old emperor to abdicate, announcing himself as the successor to the dynasty.
No one had anticipated that the struggle for the throne in the Dahong Dynasty would conclude in such a way. The princes, who had been the focus of much anticipation and possessed great momentum, all ended up as losers, while the obscure Ninth Prince seized the opportunity and rapidly rose to emerge as the final victor.
"Who would have thought that this Ninth Prince was so formidable? He managed to win over the wielder of the Royal Capital's formation technique without anyone realizing. No wonder he dared to attempt to clear the emperor's side of dissidents even without my assistance. His trump card was right here all along," Pei Xuanjing mused in surprise after piecing together the whole sequence of events.
Initially, he had thought the Ninth Prince had the support of a top martial artist or perhaps his own formation master who was confident in taking over the control of the Royal Capital's formation technique. He never imagined that the opposition could have swayed the formation technique's wielder, who was supposed to be loyal to the Emperor.
Putting aside other factors, this alone was enough to prove the exceptional capabilities of the Ninth Prince. He was not just lucky to emerge as the ultimate winner; the old emperor's loss was not undeserved, and the other two princes had to acknowledge his superiority.
...
Next, as the Ninth Prince seized the throne, he began to purge his former enemies and reorganize the court to regain control over everything.
At this time, Pei Xuanjing expressed his wish to leave the Royal Capital. At first, the Ninth Prince feigned an attempt to retain Pei Xuanjing, but when Pei Xuanjing persisted in his desire to leave, the other party smoothly acquiesced.
Indeed, from the Ninth Prince's perspective and position, he did not actually want his brother, the Seventh Prince, to stay in the Royal Capital, let alone to take over the authority of the Royal Capital's formation technique in the future.
The Ninth Prince had obtained the loyalty of the current wielder of the Royal Capital's formation technique and was also aware of his brother's exceptional talent in formation technique, similar to the old Emperor's. After the initial surprise, he harbored a deep wariness towards the capabilities his brother had shown.
Moreover, when he had initially secured the loyalty of the wielder, he had promised to allow the latter to continue controlling the formation technique of the Royal Capital. Relatively speaking, although this wielder's betrayal of the old Emperor made him wary, it was nothing compared to the threat his brother posed.
Because fundamentally, the betrayal by the wielder of the formation could only be labeled as rebellion, but his brother, the Seventh Prince, being of royal blood, also had the potential to replace him.
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Eventually, after the Ninth Prince ascended the throne as the new Emperor of the Dahong Dynasty, all the princes like Pei Xuanjing received imperial edicts and returned to their respective fiefs.
Thus, Pei Xuanjing left the Royal Capital where he had lived for over twenty years and set forth towards his fief. Regardless of the number of people who would be purged and lose their lives in the Royal Capital or how many would use this opportunity for a rapid rise to wealth and honor, all of it had nothing to do with Pei Xuanjing anymore; he would not care.
However, sometimes you can't avoid matters just because you want to, nor can you ignore things by mere will.
Although the Ninth Prince emerged as the ultimate victor and ascended the throne, the old emperor was not yet dead. Since the partisans of the Second and Third Princes had not been completely cleared out, these individuals began seeking vengeance and to reclaim everything that was once theirs.
After the demise of the Second and Third Princes, who were eligible contenders for the throne, news spread from the old emperor that Pei Xuanjing, the Seventh Prince, possessed extraordinary Taoist skill talent, able to control the Royal Capital's formation technique and match Martial Arts powerhouses of the Twelve-Floor Tower within the Royal Capital. Suddenly, the ordinary Seventh Prince became the focal point of countless attentions.
Those who were discontented sought a banner under which to challenge the new Emperor. Forces that had bet on the losing side now wanted to risk it all to recover what they had lost…
Once these individuals united, they turned their attention to Pei Xuanjing, hoping to use him as their banner to issue a challenge to the newly enthroned Emperor.
Even if, according to the news, this Seventh Prince indeed had the qualifications to compete for the throne, and even if the Seventh Prince had been nothing but an ineffectual waste, they would have used him as their puppet to achieve their own ends.
On Pei Xuanjing's journey to his fief, a continuous stream of people orchestrated various "chance" encounters, both openly and secretly seeking opportunities to visit Pei Xuanjing, trying to stir up ambition in the Seventh Prince to lead them in a challenge against the new Emperor.
Although Pei Xuanjing rejected them with righteous words and expelled these people, the news of their contact with Pei Xuanjing also reached the new Emperor, arousing his sense of wariness.
This was precisely the goal of these individuals. After all, sometimes whether you become an adversary or not depends not on what the other party thinks but on whether you have the capacity to threaten them.
Without a doubt, in that moment, Pei Xuanjing's very existence became a threat to the new Emperor. Or perhaps not just Pei Xuanjing alone but all the other returning princes held the potential to pose a threat to the new Emperor, though Pei Xuanjing posed the greatest threat among them.
Assassination followed soon thereafter.
"Haha, such an open scheme is indeed most effective. No matter what, the methods the new Emperor used to ascend the throne have not entirely won over everyone, and he harbors concerns in his heart," Pei Xuanjing chuckled, a hint of murderous intent flashing in his eyes as he turned to his attendants and said, "Go, first kill the people the new Emperor has sent, then kill those who have been the most lively during this time. You do not qualify to use me. If you plan to plot, be prepared to pay the price."
The attendants by his side were all Pei Xuanjing's trusted followers. As a prince, even without power or influence, one would still have some loyal subordinates.
Although the talents of these guards were ordinary and did not compare with those of the other more prominent princes, this meant nothing to Pei Xuanjing. With his capabilities, he could bring up even someone with no cultivation talent if he was willing, let alone these guards who had been appointed to follow a prince; they could not be entirely worthless.
Whether as a True Immortal or now in his current role as a prince returning to his fief, Pei Xuanjing could not possibly attend to everything personally. He needed people to act on his behalf, to gather things for him, to deal with various tasks, and to ward off troubles to avoid affecting his cultivation.
For Pei Xuanjing, especially one who possesses the formidable power of a True Immortal, talent and capability could be cultivated, but loyalty was truly the most precious.
The guards by his side, although of average talent, excelled in loyalty. Especially after Pei Xuanjing's training and cultivation, he elevated these ordinary individuals to their current powerful realms, endowing them with strength that was unattainable for others.
Therefore, for them, all these were undoubtedly acts of defying the heavens to change their fates, allowing them to alter their destinies. Thus, they regarded Pei Xuanjing as a god and revered him to an unimaginable extent.
At this moment, when Pei Xuanjing ordered the assassination of experts sent by the new emperor, these guards nodded in compliance without the slightest hesitation or any questions.
Because in their hearts, Pei Xuanjing, their lord, was everything. As long as His Highness commanded, even if it was the emperor himself, they wouldn't hesitate to draw their swords.
"What? Everyone is dead? This time it was the martial artists of the Martial Arts Twelve-Floor Tower who acted personally, yet the entire operation was overturned by dealing with just a seventh brother? What are you all doing! Could it be that other forces have intervened?"
...
The emperor was very annoyed at the news of the complete demise of the experts he had dispatched. He could not fathom how it was possible for no fewer than three martial artists of the Martial Arts Twelve-Floor Tower to be killed.
Although the Seventh Prince possessed an extraordinary talent for Taoist skill and cultivation, his martial strength was meager, and he had no backing of powerful supporters. The strongest among his guard commanders was but a martial artist of the Martial Arts Ninefold Tower sent by the former emperor. How could he possibly kill three martial artists from the Martial Arts Twelve-Floor Tower?
If this was the case, then was it possible that other forces had meddled, or had the Seventh Prince truly harbored ambitions and opted to ally with those forces? Otherwise, these occurrences were inexplicable.
"Your Majesty, that's not all. Even those forces that visited the Seventh Prince during this period, attempting to win him over, have suffered losses. Each of them had powerful martial artists slain, as if to serve a warning of some sort," reported the emperor's trusted aide on the developments of the situation. Upon hearing this, the emperor's brows knitted slightly, his thoughts unknown.
Regardless of what the emperor thought, the loss of three martial artists from the Martial Arts Twelve-Floor Tower this time greatly angered him, but he could only temporarily halt the matter.
After all, for the emperor, who had just ascended the throne not long ago, many enemies within the dynasty were cleansed by him, but there were still some forces, especially those with martial artists from the Martial Arts Twelve-Floor Tower at their helm, that he could not shake at the moment.
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The experts of the Martial Arts Twelve-Floor Tower in his service were already capable of suppressing a region on their own, and although the loss of three of them was painful, his rationality told him he could not continue like this. Should he suffer more losses of powerful individuals, his reign would become utterly unstable.
It has to be said that Pei Xuanjing's move this time deterred all parties. Although none had confirmed who the perpetrator was, everyone agreed on one thing: the Seventh Prince was exceedingly mysterious, and his outwardly harmless demeanor concealed a backing of powerful forces.
Under the current circumstances, without clarity on the powerful individuals and forces behind Pei Xuanjing, no party dared to act rashly.
Having eliminated these troubles, Pei Xuanjing returned smoothly to his fief. Even the governors could not place any restrictions on this vassal king, so long as he had not openly violated the rules of the Dahong Dynasty.
"Next, have someone construct the royal mansion according to these blueprints, sparing no expense, regardless of the costs," Pei Xuanjing handed over a design blueprint to his guard, instructing him to take charge of the matter.
The blueprints provided by Pei Xuanjing were for a royal mansion, but in reality, they represented much more, or rather, the construction of a vast estate.
It was the embryonic form of a Blessed Land he envisioned, for within his fief he was the authority. So, why not take the opportunity to slowly experiment with evolving a Blessed Land, then test his understanding and ideas of the Earth Immortal Path?
The Earth Immortal Path involves cultivators constructing Forbidden Places of Blessings, then evolving these Blessed Lands into Spirit Realm Cave Heavens, ultimately elevating them to Small Thousand Worlds. The cultivator merges with the Small Thousand World, nurturing a civilization.
Although Pei Xuanjing had fortuitously opened up the Small Thousand World of Longevity within the Divine Kingdom during his previous forays, his grasp on the evolution of Mystical Lands and Spirit Realm Cave Heavens was not as clear.
Now that he has come to this world and is free of pressures, Pei Xuanjing decided to re-cultivate the Earth Immortal Path in this world, retracing the paths he once bypassed to re-experience their mysteries and solidify his foundation in the Earth Immortal Path.
"This life simulation, it seems I truly have no pressure, even wanting to try every path," Pei Xuanjing said with a touch of self-mockery.
In recent days, aside from researching the cultivation methods of this world and pondering the Heavenly Dao, he was also continuously sorting and integrating his own cultivation learning.
Essence, Qi, Spirit. Through countless deductions and trials, analyzing innumerable cultivation systems, Pei Xuanjing gradually integrated all cultivation systems below the Seventh-stage Immortal Path into these three fundamental Dao paths.
These were the initial paths Pei Xuanjing set upon. Later, he developed the Golden Core Dao and came into contact with many cultivation methods of ancient forces in the Sky Wasteland, such as the sacrificial methods of shamans, the Talismanic Skill, the Incense God Path, among others. Ultimately, after Pei Xuanjing's consolidation, all were remerged into these three Dao paths.
The Way of Essence Refinement, whether it's the Body Refining Way of the original Sky Wasteland, the Demon Race's ancestral body reversal, the Demonic Gate's undying demonic body, the Taoist School's nine-turn body, Buddhism School's Golden Body Dao, or the Human Immortal Martial Arts that Pei Xuanjing is currently creating, can all be integrated within, regardless of the detailed classifications. In the end, they all come back to the Way of Essence Refinement.
This is a path that develops the living body's physicality, considered the lowest barrier to entry but also the most arduous, and extremely difficult to achieve great success. After all, this path is easy at the beginning but becomes harder toward the end, as it not only tests the physical body but also inflicts a cruel ordeal on one's willpower.
As for the Path of Qi Refinement, whether it's the Demon Race's absorption of the essence of the sun and moon, the Taoist School's manipulation of various spiritual energies, the Demonic Way's evil Qi, or the visualization and Qi refinement methods of Buddhism School, they all fit within this path.
This Path of Qi Refinement is also easier at first but becomes more difficult later on, even easier to get into than the Way of Essence Refinement. With substantial resources from a wealthy background, one can push their realm to not insignificant heights.