readytorunbook Chapter 153 The Favor That I Have To Return
Chapter 153 The Favor That I Have To Return
Chapter 153: A Debt That Must Be Repaid
Although Princess Long Yi never doubted Emperor Qing Huan's judgment, when it came to her own path and grand undertaking, she couldn't afford to be careless. That's why she decided to come and see for herself.
Regardless of whether it works or not, she needs to figure it out as soon as possible.
It is well-known throughout the Dao Court that Emperor Qing Huan has a high vision. For example, there are so many outstanding talents surrounding her daughter. Any one of them, with their background and talent, could become the highest leader of their respective forces as long as they don't fall midway. However, even such individuals are considered mediocre and unfit for important tasks in the eyes of Emperor Qing Huan. That's why Princess Long Yi has yet to choose a partner since her debut. Even when the other two emperors begged on behalf of their direct descendants, she refused.
Therefore, Princess Long Yi is indeed curious about this Qin Muling whom she has never met. She vaguely knows that her mother, as a core figure in the Dao Court, must have some special means that are unknown to others, allowing her to see fragments of the future in the river of destiny. That's why she gave him such an extraordinary evaluation.
But now, Qin Muling has gone out on a journey and hasn't returned. Who knows when he will come back? If he insists on not returning, Princess Long Yi may end up waiting in vain.
With Princess Long Yi's keen mind, she can naturally see the true attitude of the high-level members of Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace towards her: they are extremely wary and unwilling to compromise.
If it were any other Supreme Dao lineage, they would most likely accept the conditions set by Emperor Qing Huan, even if they were asking for a monstrous genius from their lineage who is prepared to inherit the lineage in the future. In the face of billions of merits and the friendship of a Dao Court emperor, everything else would pale in comparison.
Therefore, Qin Muling must have some very special secret that allows the high-level members of Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace to offend Emperor Qing Huan and still protect him.
After weighing the pros and cons, Princess Long Yi decided to wait and see, so she proposed to stay temporarily in Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace.
Mu Yinghua politely agreed and selected a beautiful Grotto-Heaven blessed land to accommodate this distinguished guest. The accompanying elders were also arranged properly, with a supreme elder personally in charge to ensure that there were no mistakes.
"Master, what should we do about this matter?" When everything settled down, Yu Lingzhou came to ask Mu Yinghua privately.
Mu Yinghua sighed, "What else can we do? We can't afford to offend Emperor Qing Huan. For now, we can only handle it this way. But we absolutely won't let go of Qin Muling, even if it means breaking ties with the Dao Court!"
Yu Lingzhou nodded, "That's true. In that case, should we suspend the plan to repair the main altar of the sect?"
Mu Yinghua didn't object, "It's fine to pause. After all, it's almost completed now. It doesn't matter to wait a bit for the final finishing touches."
With outsiders present, the sect shouldn't make any big moves to avoid revealing things that shouldn't be seen.
"I will secretly inform Heavenly Monarch Bing Yuan and the others to be cautious and act low-key while they are outside. They must protect Qin Muling. As for Xue Bingxuan and the others, they should focus on their closed-door cultivation."
Mu Yinghua added, as it is normal for high-level cultivators to go into seclusion for hundreds or even thousands of years. Since they have been absent all this time, she doesn't believe that Princess Long Yi will wait here for hundreds of years without leaving.
After pondering for a moment, Mu Yinghua raised her hand and subtly manipulated a spiritual technique. Suddenly, the sky above surged with wind and clouds, and faint thunder roared and echoed. A towering and starlight-shrouded tower, the Falling Phoenix Nebula Tower, appeared in the sky, exuding a terrifying pressure without releasing it.
This is the powerful artifact that has been guarding the central hub of the mountain protection formation, accumulating power from the void spiritual energy—the Falling Phoenix Nebula Tower. Mu Yinghua deliberately revealed its form slightly to intimidate the second-generation Apex Level cultivators who came with Princess Long Yi.
After all, Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace is full of stunning beauty. If these people with excessive energy and a habit of causing trouble were to be attracted by such beauty and cause a mess, it would be embarrassing for everyone.
On the other hand, Princess Long Yi settled down and there was no movement. She only enjoyed herself by cooking wine and playing the qin in the Cave Mansion, without any intention of causing trouble.
After more than ten days, several figures resembling guards and maids quietly returned.
"After observing for these days, did you discover anything different?"
In the quiet room, Princess Long Yi put down the scripture in her hand and calmly asked.
A middle-aged nun added, "Their means of concealing their luck is quite clever, but they couldn't escape the detection of the treasure personally refined by the Emperor. Therefore, they must have encountered something else, which led to such obvious anomalies!"
"Is that so?"
Princess Long Yi pondered. Of course, she couldn't have made the trip for nothing. Even if Qin Muling wasn't there, she had come and had to see the true situation of Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace.
From this perspective, this sect had many hidden things. Originally, in the eyes of the outside world, even if Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace had stopped its decline in recent years and quickly recovered its strength, it was still far from the true Supreme Dao lineage.
"Then, Master Lingmiao, what have you discovered?"
Princess Long Yi's gaze turned to a man in a black shirt who was thin and unremarkable in appearance, but had an unfathomable aura.
Lingmiao spoke lightly, "I investigated everywhere and didn't find anything related to Qin Muling. It seems that... all traces of his existence have been deliberately erased by the Sect Master. The elders who are qualified to know are all tight-lipped, so there isn't much valuable information."
"But one thing can be confirmed, Qin Muling actually already has a Dao companion, the four direct disciples of Sect Master Mu Yinghua."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone present changed their expressions.
"Master, are you sure?"
A beautiful woman in the appearance of a court official asked coldly. She was by Emperor Qing Huan's side and came along this time to guard Princess Long Yi. If the designated husband had already been taken by another seductive woman, what was there to look forward to?
Lingmiao nodded, "It can be fully confirmed. If that Qin Muling is really important, Mu Yinghua will definitely spare no effort to keep him firmly in her grasp and not give any chance to outsiders."
Princess Long Yi pondered for a while and suddenly smiled, "It seems that there must have been other forces that had targeted him before us. That's why Mu Yinghua handled it this way. But I seem to remember that Xue Bingxuan's aptitude is actually inferior to mine, yet he has also reached the Origin Immortal Realm. It seems that he must have had a very special encounter."
"And this news should have been deliberately released by Mu Yinghua, betting that I wouldn't lower my dignity and compete with her direct disciples for a man, after all, it concerns the face of my mother and Dao Court."
The court official asked, "Your Highness, now that things have come to this point, what do you think we should do? Should we immediately report to the Emperor?"
Princess Long Yi glanced at her, "No need. Before setting off, my mother has given me full authority to handle all matters here on my own."
So, everyone who originally intended to speak out was left speechless. Emperor Qing Huan and Princess Long Yi clearly knew more hidden secrets, but it was impossible for them to reveal too much.
Princess Long Yi stood up gracefully and paced back and forth in the room for a moment before stopping and slowly saying, "It seems that Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace is recovering rapidly and can now be regarded as a true ancient Supreme lineage. It has the qualifications to be further supported by the Dao Court."
"How about this, Aunt An, you go and meet Mu Yinghua. Tell her that I can lend her this heavenly merit, but from now on, Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace can only be close to Emperor Qing Huan and cannot have too much involvement with the other two. She should understand what this means!"
The beautiful woman's expression froze for a moment, then nodded, "Alright."
Princess Long Yi continued, "After receiving such great benefits, Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace must owe me this favor, and in the future, it must be repaid by Qin Muling himself and not delegated to others!"
Although the beautiful woman was puzzled, she didn't ask further questions and left. This arrangement was likely made under the instruction of the Emperor, and she didn't need to speculate further.
In just a short while, she returned with news. Mu Yinghua agreed to the matter, but she suggested that the repayment of this favor should be fulfilled by Qin Muling after he achieved the status of a Mysterious Immortal.
"Alright, that's settled then!"
Princess Long Yi smiled and said, "Let them prepare. I will return to the Dao Court tomorrow and prepare to overcome the calamity of becoming a True Immortal. Otherwise, I'll be annoyed by those bastards who come to bother me under various pretexts every day."
"So soon?!"
The beautiful woman was both surprised and delighted. Among the new generation elites in the Extreme Void Starry Sky, there were very few who could achieve the status of an Origin Immortal, let alone a True Immortal! If Princess Long Yi successfully took this step, she would truly become the number one figure among the new generation, and given time, the Dao Court might have another Emperor!
...
In the secret hall, Qin Muling and Luo Huan were enjoying delicious food and discussing their cultivation experiences. Suddenly, a communication jade talisman in Qin Muling's embrace trembled slightly, catching the attention of the couple.
Reluctantly letting go of the milk-white snow, Qin Muling took out the jade talisman from his embrace and infused it with mana to examine its contents. Luo Huan's watery eyes also looked over.
After reading the message sent by Mu Yinghua, Qin Muling fell into silence.
Luo Huan couldn't help but ask, "Junior Brother, are you confident? This favor is not ordinary. The princess is clearly making things difficult for you, and even the Sect Master agreed just like that!"
"You can't say it like that. This should be considered some kind of test!"
Qin Muling smiled and said, "Regardless, Emperor Qing Huan did help the sect a great deal this time. With this resource, Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace should have enough to awaken the third-generation disciple of their founding ancestor."
"As for myself, a favor of one billion heavenly merits is indeed exaggerated, but after I achieve the status of a Mysterious Immortal, this debt won't be a problem. I can repay her double."
Luo Huan looked at her junior brother with confusion. One billion heavenly merits, even with the full strength of a Supreme lineage, would take hundreds or even thousands of years to accumulate, assuming everything goes smoothly.
Moreover, as a sect, they couldn't just abandon everything else and focus solely on earning heavenly merits. It might work in the short term, but in the long run, it would definitely be unsustainable.
The great calamity is approaching, and even the Supreme Orthodoxy cannot protect itself, let alone the numerous enemies of the Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace. If there could be a Monarch Level existence presiding over the situation, then the outcome would be completely different.
Now, the high-level members of the surrounding orthodoxy should be losing sleep, right?
As for earning merit, Qin Muling believes that he has no problem at all. With the power of the Innate Primordial Spirit Seed, as long as he can kill enough powerful descendants of the Demon Race, it is only a matter of time to gather enough merit. Of course, this will have to wait until he achieves Origin Immortal.
However, at present, the amount of heavenly merit that Qin Muling has earned by killing the descendants of the Demon Race and purifying the dead zones is far beyond what other peers at the same level can achieve.
"Younger Junior Brother, how far do you think the senior sisters are from breaking through to True Immortal?" Luo Huan looked at Qin Muling and hesitantly asked.
It is said that Princess Long Yi is going to break through to the True Immortal realm after returning. Naturally, she doesn't want to fall behind. I believe Xue Bingxuan and the others have the same idea.
Qin Muling thought for a moment and said, "With me here, it shouldn't take too long. If we also use the time acceleration array, it will probably take about ten or eight years. After all, we don't have the bottleneck of depleted potential. As long as we accumulate enough, we can ascend."
"That's good then!"
Luo Huan let go of her worries, stretched her jade arm, and hugged him, smiling sweetly, "If we want to improve our cultivation quickly, we can't be lazy. Let's cultivate!"
Qin Muling sighed and in the blink of an eye, he was stripped clean by his senior sister, and her snowy and charming body eagerly entwined with him...
...
In the depths of the Grotto-Heaven secret realm behind the sect's mountain.
Mu Yinghua held the majestic and heavy golden seal in her hand, passed through the long corridor, and went through dozens of tight guard checkpoints to reach a magnificent grand hall.
The grand hall stretched for thousands of miles, filled with the rich aura of the Dao, and every inch of space in the hall was filled with endless light rain dancing lightly. There seemed to be a profound and vast celestial melody echoing in the depths of the soul.
On the pure white crystal platform, there were huge lotus flowers carved from vibrant green crystals, and in the center of each lotus flower lay a beautiful and extraordinary woman.
Of course, in the outermost area, there were already seven empty lotus flowers. This was naturally due to Qin Muling's contribution. After Heavenly Monarch Bing Yuan, six other elders have been restored to their original state under his ability. If he hadn't gone out on a journey later, there would have been even more elders restored by now.
"Has the matter... been accomplished?"
A sweet and elegant voice came gently from the nine green lotus flowers at the top.
"Yes, Ancestor, the junior has fulfilled the mission!" Mu Yinghua slightly bowed and quickly recounted the cause and effect.
(End of this chapter)