As the Moon Prince listened to the contents of the memorial, his gaze slowly swept across the entire imperial court.
There were more than a hundred ministers in the imperial court. On the surface, they bowed their heads, but who knew how many demons and ghosts were hiding in the dark?
Even the Divine Martial General, who appeared to be righteous on the surface, would have died a violent death long ago if there were no extraordinary people behind him to protect him.
The Moon Prince recalled the threat from that person earlier. Then, he recalled how he was safe and sound afterward. He also recalled his only son's unusual composure. He had a rough idea of what was going on.
But he wasn't sure.
The court meeting ended quickly. The Emperor's face was full of fatigue. He must have slept with too many concubines yesterday. It was said that the Emperor had built a Nature Hall in the White Jade Palace.
Only beauties of superb beauty were allowed to enter. Moreover, any woman who entered would be caught by the Imperial Monarch, and an alluring battle would ensue on the spot.
If it wasn't for the Divine Martial General's angry rebuke, the Imperial Emperor would probably have done even more.
Even so, he had been stopped countless times by the Divine Martial General.
When he thought about this, the Moon Prince could not help but look at the other two princes who were in charge of the army. The commanding prince was not here, and the Zhao Prince looked exhausted. His body was hunched and thin. He was only in his forties, but he looked so dejected. It was clear that he was under great pressure.
As if noticing the Moon Prince's gaze, the Zhao Prince stroked his beard and nodded slightly in their direction.
At this time, the Divine Martial Great General Zhu Chengguo had finished reading the memorials and began to advise the Emperor to do less licentious things and to be more diligent in managing the country.
However, Grand Preceptor Yang Huanzhen stood up and interrupted. He changed the topic to the recent earthquake disaster relief.
The two of them argued for a while before Zhu Chengguo stormed off angrily.
Grand Tutor Yang had a smile on his face as he stood with his hands behind his back. Clearly, he had the upper hand again.
The court meeting ended. The Moon Prince did not waste any more time. The capital was not far from the Moon Prince Mansion. It would only take half a day on horseback to get there.
He was about to leave the Imperial Palace with his guards.
"Royal Brother." The Clear Prince, who had always been mysterious, actually called out to him.
The Clear Prince was a gentle-looking middle-aged man who looked extremely harmless. He had a plump body and a big belly, and he had a serene expression.
But if one looked at it too many times, that unchanging gentle smile would instead make one feel inexplicably uncomfortable.
"What does Brother Wang want?"
The Moon Prince hastily stopped in his tracks and waited for the Clear Prince to approach.
Prince Qing had a smile on his face, and his voice was gentle.
"Royal Brother, you have worked hard for the country. You must take care of your health."
"Thank you for your concern, Brother King," the Moon Prince returned the greeting seriously. "Brother King, please take care of your health as well. Now that the foundation of the country is shaken and chaos is everywhere … "
"Precisely because of this, there's no harm in us getting closer in the future." The Clear Prince inexplicably extended an olive branch. "You and I might not be able to say what we're thinking in the depths of our hearts. As long as we communicate more, the chances of success will be higher, isn't it? "
However, the Moon King had no idea what he meant. His mind was a mess, and he had no idea what the Clear King was talking about.
When the Clear Prince saw this, he did not say anything. He merely reached out and patted the Moon Prince's shoulder.
His slap was very forceful. The Moon Prince was a general who commanded troops. Although he did not have any martial arts, he had trained a lot on a daily basis. However, half of his body felt slightly numb after being slapped by his opponent.
"Be careful on your journey," the Clear Prince said before he brushed past him and left.
The Moon Prince moved his right shoulder without batting an eyelid.
"Let's go," he ordered in a low voice and quickly boarded the carriage.
The group of guards followed closely behind him.
As soon as they left the imperial city, one of the three generals of the Moon Prince Mansion, Sun Hai, would be waiting for them.
However, what surprised the Moon Prince was that the journey back was uneventful.
They continued until they arrived at the mansion.
…
"Clear Prince?"
A dozen candlesticks illuminated the underground cave warmly and brightly.
Lu Sheng sat cross-legged in the middle of the cave. Faint silhouettes of white feathers flickered and vanished from his body.
Xiao Rong, who was more than two meters tall, knelt on one knee before him with his head lowered. He reported his experience in the capital during the day.
"I sensed a faint, unknown aura on the Moon Prince, but I wasn't sure, so I didn't attack. Also, there seemed to be a strange person beside the Clear Prince who sensed my presence, "Xiao Rong replied in a low voice.
"I didn't expect there to be such strange things in the imperial court." Lu Sheng muttered to himself. "I'll visit my father later and see if he's alright. If he's fine, I'll be more careful in the future. If anything happens … "He did not continue.
There were only 12 crane demons in the Crane King Cave now. They were still slightly weak.
"Go. Continue guarding the Moon Prince, "Lu Sheng ordered.
"I understand." Xiao Rong retreated slowly and vanished into the darkness in the blink of an eye.
Lu Sheng sat cross-legged and muttered to himself for a moment.
'Now that I've changed my cultivation base to the White Feather Mantra, my body's functions are slowing down as my cultivation base increases. I'm completely relying on the White Feather Mantra's cultivation base to support my daily consumption. Unfortunately, I can't continue deriving and perfecting the White Feather Mantra. I'll need more similar mantras as reference for further derivations. '
The Muyuan acupoint was now completely connected to his body. It had become a mystical acupoint outside his body.
It was as if this acupoint had existed since the beginning. Lu Sheng clicked his tongue in wonder.
According to the White Feather Mantra's records, the Muyuan was only one of the external acupoints. There were a total of 108 external acupoints, and they corresponded to the stars in the sky. Every time an external acupoint was cultivated, it corresponded to the fate of a star. After that, one's lifespan would increase greatly.
However, the White Feather Mantra was only an ordinary mantra of the lowest grade. There were no special powers in it, and it could only cultivate the most basic Muyuan acupoint.
'Since I can't derive it, it's too much of a waste to simply improve my cultivation base. Looks like I'll have to collect more cultivation sutras.' Lu Sheng made up his mind.
He calmed himself down and stood up. He flew out of the cave and walked up the pitch-black stone path. After a few minutes, he leaped out from behind a fake mountain in the prince's mansion's garden.
After he left the underground cave, someone immediately went to carefully cover it with a stone slab.
This was the prince's mansion's escape tunnel. It was connected to an underground karst cave. However, Lu Sheng was now using it for his cultivation of the cultivation sutra.
Lu Sheng stood in the garden and patted the dust off his body. Then, he strode toward the Moon Prince's side courtyard.
When he reached the side courtyard's entrance, a group of guards happened to be patrolling outside. It seemed like the security was much tighter.
Ever since the assassins' previous attack, although they were mysteriously repelled, the prince's mansion's security had been affected.
"Crown Prince."
The guards bowed.
"No need for formalities. I'll go in and see my father, "said Lu Sheng with a smile.
He passed through the courtyard's entrance. The Moon Prince was wearing a fox fur coat and playing chess in the courtyard. His opponent was Guardian General Yuan, who was also Yuan Jikong's father.
Huang Jing's memory did not contain Guardian General Yuan's full name. Perhaps he had forgotten, or perhaps he had never asked.
This person was tall. His arms reached his knees. He did not look strong, but he was extremely capable. He wore a set of simple, close-fitting leather armor. He did not carry a sword. He looked more like a hunter than a general.
"Jing 'er, you're here?" The Moon Prince looked up and saw Lu Sheng enter. He immediately smiled.
"Come, come, come. It's a coincidence that your Uncle Yuan has something to discuss with you."
"There's no hurry." Lu Sheng glanced at the Moon Prince's right shoulder. As expected, a faintly discernible aura was slowly spreading out.
Any kind of spell, any kind of method, would require the use of external objects. As long as it was a person or a living being, anything that did not belong to them would emit a discordant fluctuation.
With a sweep of Lu Sheng's immensely powerful Spirit Power, he discovered something fishy about the Moon Prince's shoulder.
The thing on the Moon Prince's shoulder seemed to be some sort of mark.
Lu Sheng approached slowly. The White Feather Vital Qi on his body circulated rapidly. He instantly suppressed the strange aura emitted by the mark.
He narrowed his eyes and took a few steps closer. He reached out and pressed on the Moon Prince's shoulder.
The aura on the mark was like a living creature. It suddenly shrunk into a single point and instantly increased its density to its limit. Then, it suddenly exploded.
"Pchht!"
The White Feather Vital Qi was initially suppressed perfectly. However, with this sudden action, the dozen layers of Vital Qi that were laid down were all broken through.
The White Feather Vital Qi was thick and dense. In the face of this strange mark, it was like butter before a table knife. With a single cut, it was sliced open.
Lu Sheng scoffed coldly. His immense Spirit Power came crashing down like a mountain, crashing directly onto the mark.
The Moon Prince's shoulder suddenly sank.
The mark suddenly let out a shrill cry. Then, it fell silent. There was no more movement.
Only then did Lu Sheng loosen his grip on the Moon Prince's shoulder.
Currently, only a few seconds had passed since the beginning of the battle. The Moon Prince and Guardian General Yuan were still waiting for him with strange expressions on their faces. They did not seem to have heard the sound earlier.
"Interesting. Clear Prince …" Lu Sheng sensed his own spirit. His spirit had permanently lost a tiny bit of its total volume.
Although it was only a tiny bit, according to this frequency, Lu Sheng's spirit would not be harmed even if it was reduced by a million times.
However, this was a permanent injury. It should be known that his true form was in the Confusion Realm. In theory, he was a peak expert who could leave the planet and travel the galaxy. Although he could not compare to Void Underworld beings who could destroy a planet with a flip of their hand, his martial prowess was definitely enough to rule over a planet.
Despite his level, he had lost a sliver of his spirit's power.
'This is incredible …' Lu Sheng felt that he might have underestimated this world. 'Although the White Feather Mantra's power is profound, its rank is too low. I can't derive it yet. If I want to play in this chessboard, it looks like I'll have to elevate it to a proper rank as soon as possible.'
The Moon Prince and Guardian General Yuan were discussing something important. It was about Guardian General Yuan's two daughters, Yuan Liuliu and Yuan Yuanyuan.
Guardian General Yuan was here to propose marriage on their behalf. Based on his words, he hoped that Lu Sheng could choose one of them as his future consort.
Lu Sheng was not interested in these matters. He answered them vaguely. Then, he applied for leave from the Moon Prince. He wanted to leave the Prince's Mansion for a while. He only turned around and left after receiving permission.
After leaving the courtyard, he raised his hand and looked at his palm.
What remained in his palm was the remnant power of the mark.
He lifted his hand and looked at it.
The blackness on his palm had already spread to his wrist.
'This thing has lost its vitality, but it can still devour White Feather Pure Qi to strengthen itself?' Lu Sheng's heart skipped a beat.
At this moment, the blackness had already formed a black human face with a round hole between its brows.
Lu Sheng slowly returned to his bedroom. He activated the short knife formation on the table.
Currently, the blackness had already spread to his forearm. His entire forearm was now as black as ink.
He entered the underground karst cave through the entrance under his bed.
Soon, he sat down cross-legged. The Yang Essence in Lu Sheng's body surged out. He simulated various elemental energies to resist the blackness.
After simulating more than thirty different elemental energies, a unique energy that was a mixture of Yin chill, earthly fire, and spirit essence finally managed to suppress the blackness.
Lu Sheng heaved a long sigh of relief. He swung his arm and immediately severed the blackness, along with the tainted White Feather Pure Qi.
"Smack."
A large blob of ink-like liquid shot out and splattered on the stone wall. The stone wall swiftly turned black and purple. A putrid stench wafted out.
'This power … It drained my White Feather Pure Qi of close to a hundred years …' Lu Sheng's expression was slightly grim. This was the first time he had suffered such a great loss ever since he descended.
'I'll return tomorrow to collect the proper scriptures and derive the new White Feather Mantra!' He clearly felt that the current White Feather Mantra was insufficient. Its might was too weak.
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