Chapter 468 - 425: Morning Court (2)

Chapter 468: Chapter 425: Morning Court (2)

News of the morning court session, which had lasted for a full day and night, was quickly dispatched via express post riders to all corners of Xuan Yang.

Seeing this, many sects had no choice but to forcibly halt their clandestine deployments.

For a time, it was as if the entire Xuan Yang region had been freed from its tense atmosphere, regaining a measure of vitality.

...

"His Majesty has returned to court?"

Yang Fangyu stared at the report from the Capital City in his hands, a flash of surprise in his eyes.

Along with the report was an official letter of appointment, signed and approved by the Ministry of Personnel and the Ritual Department. He was now the official Prefect of Lingzhou.

"Ah Yuan, what do you think?"

He looked over at Bai Yuan, who was sipping tea.

Bai Yuan said faintly, "Just proceed as we have been."

Unlike the other Jiedu Envoys who desperately sought to control their territories, Bai Yuan had spent the last six months simply acting in his role as a Jiedu Envoy. If one were to judge by merit, he could even be said to have done an excellent job.

Not only had tax revenue doubled, but he had even reclaimed the lost territory of Dingzhou.

Even if Emperor Li Chengyuan had truly overcome the troubles with his destiny, he wouldn’t move to settle accounts with Bai Yuan.

It wasn’t that he was smarter than the other Jiedu Envoys; he simply had the power to not pick a side.

Yang Fangyu frowned slightly. "Ah Yuan, could it be that His Majesty was faking his illness?"

Bai Yuan shook his head.

Very few people in the world knew that the Emperor was suffering a backlash from his destiny. In all of Shuofang, perhaps only Bai Yuan and Yue Xiaobai were aware.

Since this news was the conclusion reached by Elder Pei and the Sect Leader of the Dragon Tiger Sect, its authenticity was beyond doubt.

Bai Yuan couldn’t help but admire Li Chengyuan for being able to recover so quickly.

While being blessed by destiny allowed one’s strength to grow rapidly, the backlash from its decline was terrifying. Let alone Emperor Li Chengyuan, it was said that some officials had even suffered a drop in their cultivation realms because of it. The impact on Li Chengyuan could only be greater.

He could only attribute this to the deep foundations of the Li Royal Race.

The Li Family had ruled this land for a thousand years; they truly had their own unique abilities.

Peace returned to Xuan Yang once more.

Li Chengyuan not only resumed morning court but was even more diligent in his duties than before. He just never again mentioned purging the Jianghu.

The hopes of many experts in the Jianghu who were waiting to see the two great masters of the Northern Territory clash were dashed.

Without Li Chengyuan’s push, Bai Yuan certainly wasn’t going to go looking for trouble.

Correspondingly, the Celestial Profound Sect was also surprisingly well-behaved.

Aside from managing their little patch of land in Lingzhou, the Celestial Profound Sect was almost nowhere to be seen in the other provinces of the Northern Territory.

A year passed in such peaceful days.

Xiao Qiaoniang’s due date finally arrived.

A Martial Artist giving birth was somewhat different from an ordinary person. Xiao Qiaoniang was an Entering Martial Artist, and her physique was terrifyingly strong, so the standard ten-month pregnancy didn’t apply to her. The baby in her womb stayed there for a full thirteen months.

The birth went smoothly.

Bai Yuan gazed at the small life, less than a foot long, in his hands, a strange feeling rising in his heart.

This was his first child.

It was a boy, with an exceptionally sturdy frame. He weighed a full eleven pounds at birth, a weight unimaginable in the secular world.

Bai Yuan was almost certain that this child of his would have a great future.

’After all, his blood flowed through the boy’s veins.’

The Divine Mansion Technique had modified his genes; the boy’s path on the Martial Dao would surely be unobstructed.

Although Xiao Qiaoniang’s face was still a little pale, she could already get out of bed, completely unafraid of any lingering complications. She insisted on taking the small life from Bai Yuan’s hands, gazing at him gently. "Brother Yuan, have you thought of a name for our child?"

Bai Yuan lovingly stroked Sister Qiao’s hair. "Let’s call him Bai An. All that matters is that he is safe and sound."

"Mm, Bai An is a good name."

Xiao Qiaoniang smiled. Like Bai Yuan, she had no great expectations for this Bai An; she only hoped he would live a peaceful and safe life.

...

「Another spring arrived.」

It seemed Emperor Li Chengyuan had truly forgotten about purging the Jianghu. He didn’t even contact Bai Yuan on his own initiative.

However, compared to his previously diligent appearance, there were now signs of him slacking.

The morning court sessions went from once a day to once a week, and now, they were only held once a month.

The ministers of Xuan Yang didn’t have much of a reaction to this.

No matter how infrequent, they could still see His Majesty the Emperor. Besides, this was actually the norm for Xuan Yang; not every Emperor was a workaholic like Li Chengyuan had been before.

The ministers below were all happy to have less work.

And to everyone’s surprise, the destiny that had been in turmoil had actually returned to normal. No one dared to mention the previous events ever again.

The Demon Sect had retreated, and destiny had been restored.

Everything seemed so perfect.

Perhaps the only person who was worried was Wang Fu.

Wang Fu walked out of the Emperor’s bedchambers with a heavy heart.

Ever since that morning court session, Li Chengyuan had been acting stranger and stranger. This was something that likely only he, a man who had followed Li Chengyuan for a hundred years, could notice.

Li Chengyuan was actually performing alchemy in his bedchambers!

This would have been almost impossible in the past.

Although Xuan Yang had an Astronomical Bureau, in truth, no emperor had ever truly believed in Daoism, nor Buddhism for that matter. They only used the Daoist Family’s methods from the Astronomical Bureau for their own purposes.

But now, Li Chengyuan had ordered the Astronomical Bureau to search the world for alchemy Grandmasters to concoct pills for him—and specifically, the Elixir of Immortality.

Wang Fu was almost certain that something like an Elixir of Immortality did not exist in this world.

Too many emperors of past Imperial Dynasties had already proven this with their own tragic experiences.

He couldn’t let him avoid dying from the destiny backlash only to be poisoned to death by an Elixir of Immortality.

He had tried to persuade him many times, but Li Chengyuan was like a man possessed, refusing to listen.

’I have to do something!’

Wang Fu silently made a decision in his heart.

...

「Meanwhile.」

「Lingzhou.」

Without the strife of the Imperial City, Shuofang was practically a paradise. Under Bai Yuan’s governance, everything was orderly and well-managed.

His son, Bai An, had also finally turned one.

The powerful genes from the Divine Mansion Technique were gradually becoming apparent.

Bai Yuan himself was one of the top experts in the world, so he could naturally see that Bai An possessed the rare Dragon Tendons and Tiger Bones, a constitution born for the Martial Dao.

His talent was so high that it could even rival Yue Xiaobai’s.

After examining Bai An’s bone structure, Yue Xiaobai almost fell into a depressive funk again.

’The father is already ridiculously strong, so how is the son such a monster too?’

Martial Dao powerhouses were one in a million; the saying "a tiger father will not beget a dog son" didn’t always apply. Moreover, the further one progressed, the less effective resources became. Only by relying on one’s own talent could one climb to greater heights.

Barring any accidents, Bai An would have no problem reaching the Mingxin Pass.

In any of the major Jianghu sects, he would be a disciple they would fight over.

Perhaps because a knot in her heart had been untied, and bolstered by the feedback from her tamed beast, Xiao Qiaoniang finally broke through to the Perception Gate. The very next day, Bai Yuan set off for the Northern Plains and caught a Tier Eight Great Demon for her to tame. In the history of Demon Hunters, this was an absolutely explosive event.

A Demon Tamer who could command a Tier Eight Great Demon was a rarity, even in the Southern Border.

With Sister Qiao’s breakthrough, a weight was lifted from Bai Yuan’s mind.

Two hundred years was more than enough time for them to spend together.

Bai Yuan’s life became even busier.

In addition to playing with Bai An, he also had to teach his two disciples, and of course, there was the most important task: grinding.

As his status continued to rise, he had no choice but to consider the matter of cultivating his own power base.

His eldest disciple, Murong Fu, had a calm and steady temperament, but as Bai Yuan’s own strength skyrocketed, his disciple’s aptitude no longer seemed as stunning as it once did. It would be good enough if he could simply defend the foundation of the Divine Mansion Sect.

As for his second disciple, that girl Fang E, she was still in Lu State learning the Divination Technique from Fang Wan, following an unorthodox path.

The one who surprised Bai Yuan the most was his third disciple, Huyan Shan. He was truly worthy of being someone personally chosen by Big Beard, a natural-born vessel for Body Refining Techniques. Bai Yuan naturally passed on his own body arts to Huyan Shan, who would surely become someone who could provide the sect with inner strength in the future.

Besides all that, Bai Yuan and Xiao Qiaoniang were still very young.

They would surely have many more children in the future. With the powerful genes of the Divine Mansion Technique, each child would only be more stunning than the last.

Even without him deliberately cultivating it, this power base was growing stronger before his very eyes.

Perhaps a hundred years from now, a Bai Family would emerge in Xuan Yang that even the great sects would fear.