Progress on Cultivation
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The result of the duel between Feng Cai and Feng Wei had already traveled far and wide, with the first ones to know being, of course, the royal family, and they couldn't care less about it of course.

After all, Feng Wei had already burned any bridges that could have been formed between them long ago, thanks to his violent temperament. Especially with the Fourth Prince, who had been the one to first discover about the duel's result.

Imperial Academy - Fourth Prince Residence

"So Feng Wei lost in the end?"

A young man was sitting at a table drinking tea. He had earned his mother's resemblance, with luscious golden hair that extended towards his back and piercing blue eyes, which was the only thing he got from his father in terms of appearance.

He wore the blue robes of an inner disciple, clearly marking his cultivation level. He was the Fourth Prince, the 'Golden Lion' Feng Tian.

His servant a late step Spiritual Pillar cultivator which had been selected to serve him not because of his strength, for he had stronger servants, but because he knew to gather information, nodded his head "The Eighth Prince was easily defeated by the Ninth Prince, even if the Eighth Prince displayed two supreme techniques of the All-Consuming Fire Scripture"

Something quite impressing to the servant. Even if he knew that compared to his master Feng Wei was nothing, it was still a great accomplishment worthy of a prince. 

If it was another, surely he would be praised for his genius. Unfortunately, the one who did it was none other than Feng Wei, without a doubt one of the worst princes that the Sacred Heaven Empire had been cursed with.

Feng Tian chuckled as he sipped his tea. "Good, that wastrel got what he deserved, seriously attacking me in broad daylight and for a truly stupid reason"

The servant remembered that incident, which saw a completely one-sided fight similar to how Feng Cai dealt with Feng Wei. He had been ordered by the Fourth Prince to discover why had Feng Wei attacked him for seemingly no reason.

The answer had been fairly disappointing.

"Oh, and what was the reason Feng Wei attacked Ninth Brother?"

The servant had already expected such a question and had already gathered the information on the why which to be fair hadn't been surprising to him. "Apparently my prince, it was the same reason as the one why he attacked you"

Feng Tian sighed, knowing the problem. The problem name being Peng Shuchun, the biggest slut in the Imperial Academy, which ironically made her the complete opposite of her name.[1]

Peng Shuchun was truly a jade beauty, but aside from that, she embodied the term average in pretty much everything. Still in the Qi Gathering for thirty years already while others advanced by leaps and bounds, it was clear she would never advance much, which brought to mind how she had entered the Imperial Academy with such pitiful talent.

That was because she was the type of woman that used her own body to keep going forward in life. She had seduced many men using only her looks and false personality, and then used and discarded them for her benefit. Therefore, she had been given the title of the biggest slut in the Imperial Academy, earning the scorn of many female cultivators who had their partners stolen from them by her.

She had attempted to seduce him, but he had rejected her. Sure, she was beautiful but had a truly rotten personality behind that cheerful smile and given how she got away with her life, maybe she should have gone to a duel cultivation sect instead.

He may have voiced his thoughts aloud as she stormed off, and three hours later, as he was walking towards the merit hall to get his rewards from a completed mission, an enraged Feng Wei had attacked him.

He had been easily defeated, his flames being pathetically weak, and his attack patterns too predictable. He had gone down in less than a minute.

Later he discovered that the reason Feng Wei had attacked him. He had become Peng Shuchun's new boy toy she used to leech off resources like a true parasite, and she had told him that she had been 'assaulted by him.

Which, predictably enough, had sent Feng Wei into one of his infamous rampages, but this time he only wanted to kill one person instead of butchering some lone cultivator. When he had found out about that, Feng Tian had shaken his head in pity.

Feng Wei didn't know that he walked into the ultimate honey trap, and was about to get leeched off from his resources and authority, and in the end, would only realize it too late. Like many others before him. His reputation is already in shambles, no matter how his mother tries to improve it.

This was just the last straw in a long list of disappointments, especially because of the aftermath...

Feng Tian's eyes twinkled as he asked, "Oh right, he got apprehended by the Elders assigned to the Heaven Arena?"

"It is my prince, shortly after the Ninth Prince left the arena, three Elders arrived and collected him, while his punishment is still unknown or even if he is going to receive a punishment at all, he is currently imprisoned in the Earth Sealing Gorge"

The Earth Sealing Gorge was the place the Imperial academy sent 'problematic' students towards. It was both a prison and a recreational facility. Many students which had problematic tendencies before had come out of the Earth Sealing Gorge as completely different people.

That was because the Elders assigned to Earth Sealing Gorge had special methods to 'recreate' the students sent to them. Of course, those who could straighten out anyway, the ones who couldn't, were to be all disposed of.

But even then, Feng Tian doubted these methods would be used against Feng Wei. Even if he was amongst the most infamous disciples of the Imperial Academy, he was still the son of the ruling monarch. And so the only thing they could do was imprison him for an indefinite amount of time.

As for how Peng Shuchun had been involved in this, he could already picture it. She had tried to attain his Ninth Brother trust to leech off the resources and connections he had, but like many others, she was barred from entering, which left her furious.

Then she went and told a sob story to Feng Wei which had sent him into a rage, Feng Wei wanting to impress Peng Shuchun challenged his Ninth Brother to a duel on the Heaven Arena, and the rest was story.

The servant lifted his head a little as he said in an excited tone "My prince, now that the Eighth Prince has been apprehended by the Elders, his reputation has been fully destroyed, so he surely won't be the crown prince, his chances were already abysmal, but now they are non-existent"

Feng Tian sipped from his cup, before giving the servant a disappointing look. "Hou Liang, you served me for approximately twelve years already, so I thought you already knew my desires, but now I see that you still have much to learn"

The servant, Hou Liang, became nervous. Had he said something wrong?

Ignoring Hou Liang clear nervousness, Feng Tian continued, "I do not desire the position of Crown Prince, and I don't care who wins as long as they leave me alone"

Feng Tian's words made it so that Hou Liang felt like he was struck by lighting. For, who wouldn't feel like that upon hearing what Feng Tian had just said?

The position of Crown Prince wasn't just a title held by the heir of the throne, it also granted immense political power, and an abundance of cultivation resources. Even including the precious resources reserved only for the Emperor!

By saying this, Feng Tian stated he didn't want any of that. And for a prince to say such things, especially one as talented as Feng Tian, was inconceivable!

Even as he felt his sense of self-preservation scream at him not to do this, Hou Liang still had to ask "B-but my prince, being the Crown Prince not only means wielding great authority but whoever has it has access to cultivation resources available only to the Emperor!"

Feng Tian had finished his tea, and was just pouring more to himself when he said "All of that is true, but being the Crown Prince means dealing with more politics than normal, with various 'important' nobles coming to visit you daily, and you can't deny them because you are the Crown Prince and you have to make connections especially with the young generation"

Feng Tian sipped his newly full cup before continuing, "I had enough of that in the palace, and it was amongst the reasons I even came here alongside because it is a tradition for princes to attend the academy"

Hou Liang immediately kowtowed towards Feng Tian "Thank you, my prince, for allowing this mere servant to know your true motives!"

Feng Tian waved his hand. "It is fine. My real motives are not even something I need to hide after all"

Hou Liang slowly raised his head and nodded "With your leave, my prince, I shall return to my duties"

"Yes, you can go"

Hou Liang wordlessly got up and left the room, returning to his duties as a spy of the Fourth Prince, leaving Feng Tian alone in his room as he calmly continued to drink his tea.

Imperial Academy - Feng Cai Residence

Standing in his quarters, sprawled in his bed, was the current hot topic of the Imperial academy. The Ninth Prince Feng Cai. Resting and thinking about his fight against Feng Wei.

"Fuck, that was intense!" Feng Cai said, remembering his fight against Feng Wei. His crass language would surely have made quite a few people be shocked.

"Are fights in Xianxia stories usually that intense?" He thought a bit, "Now that I think about it, they usually are exactly like that, complete with the monologues"

Nodding to himself, Feng Cai rose from his bed and looked across his room. "Even if this world doesn't have such things like the internet or television, all this wealth surely makes up for it"

His room was truly worthy of being called a royal's room. A soft enormous bed and pillows, a carpet made of some exotic animal, a wardrobe full of silky expensive robes that have filled with brand new blue robes of an inner disciple, and much more.

In his previous life, Feng Cai had lived a fairly average life, so all this wealth boggled his mind, though he didn't let go up in his head. He could say that he had adapted to his alternative lifestyle without becoming the usual short-sighted idiots of all those novels.

"Being reincarnated as a filthy rich prince should have been a good thing," Feng Cai shook his head "But as I have reincarnated into a cultivation world, I know how it usually for the young masters"

Truly Feng Cai didn't think he had that bad, unlike those protagonists for those novels he used to read. He could think of many examples: getting killed by the women you love, losing your cultivation, being incapable of cultivating since being born, getting their women stolen from them, etc.

It was just that he knew there was an immense chance of him being killed by a murderhobo protagonist that could come out of nowhere and stab him.

That is why he decided that he needed to become strong enough so that the chances of that happening would be equal to zero. That was the path that he traveled and, hopefully, would become true.

'Speaking of cultivating' Feng Cai started walking 'I will go do that now' Exiting the luxurious room he made way to the most inner parts of his home.

Calling his residency, a simple home, would be a mistake. It was essentially a full mansion. Complete with dozens of servants that were handpicked by his mother, the Heavenly Empress, to take care of his home.

Tasks such as cleaning his room, washing the clothes, preparing the food, it was all done by them.

Of course, this was no simple mansion. It possessed defensive formations, and dozens of guards from the Heavenly Empress's troops, the Silver Tigers. Which is an elite fighting force.

She truly had spared little to his protection inside the academy, and Feng Cai would be lying if he said this didn't touch him.

His first genuine memory was himself being held in her hands, as she sings a lullaby to him which made him reenter sleep quick.

He finally came out of his memory trip as he finally arrived in a doorway leading to the inner garden of the mansion. Standing there were five of the warriors of the Silver Tigers' legion forming a line towards the door that led to the inner garden.

They wore silver armor that possessed tiger claws on their gauntlets, a roaring face of a golden tiger present on their chest, a silver helmet shaped like a tiger, and finally, all of them had red capes.

Sensing his presence, all of them simultaneously kneeled, in a perfect show of coordination between them.

Those five warriors possess lofty ranks on the legion, being amongst the commanders of the legion that were only below the general who commanded the entire legion. That general being Feng Cai's mother, the current Heavenly Empress.

This means that they were at least on the low stage of the True Immortal realm, with the strongest captains being on late or peak stage of the True Immortal realm, though there were rumors that there was a captain on the initial stage of the Heavenly Immortal realm.

That such warriors were assigned to protect a child, no matter how much talent that child possesses, should have stung. But it didn't. Such mundane task actually elated the warriors assigned to defend Feng Cai.

This is thanks to the relationship of unwavering loyalty of the Silver Tigers had with their leader, and so they considered guarding Feng Cai a great honor.

Feng Cai put on his best royal tone as he said, "I shall enter seclusion unless something important happens. Do not disturb me."

The silver warriors said or expressed no words or expressions of confirmation, but Feng Cai knew they would follow his orders to the letter.

But looking as they got up from their kneeling position and assumed their positions, with complete and utter silence despite the sounds of their armor, Feng Cai feeling creeped out by their way of being, well, themselves.

Opening the doors and entering the garden, Feng Cai stared at a miniature paradise. Clear jade flowers of all shapes and sizes dotted the space around a small lake that possessed a patch of land in the middle.

This seemingly beautiful landscape served a purpose except for looking pretty.

This entire garden or the lake itself is in actually a grand formation made to help in one's cultivation, gathering the Qi of heaven and earth and concentrating around the garden, with the more profound Qi being in the center, that being the lake.

The name of the grand formation was: The Jade Flower Lake grand formation, and had been a gift from his imperial father, one of many.

Just in the outer boundaries of the formation, Feng Cai could already feel the profound Qi in its enchanting, the already tremendous Qi of the Sacred Heaven Immortal World. Many cultivators would have killed to have this formation available to themselves.

Feng Cai started walking in no hurry towards the patch of land in the center of the lake in complete silence.

Jumping over the water and landing over the patch of land, Feng Cai assumed the classical lotus position and prepared to cultivate.

This world cultivation system was divided into many realms, roughly divided into three great realms: The Mortal, Immortal, and God Realms, each with their sub-realms. Feng Cai was currently in the mortal realm.

The mortal realm was divided into; Qi Gathering, Foundation Establishment, Core Realm, Nascent Soul, and Transcendent Mortality Sage.

In the Qi Gathering stage, one would create a Qi circulatory system through the twelve meridians, possessing ten different stages, each stage making the circulatory system more perfect. There are also Eight Extraordinary Meridians, but they were harder to access if you don't have the right resources. Feng Cai, as a filthy rich prince, naturally had the resources available to do so. This made his circulatory system more perfect than other cultivators who hadn't unlocked the Eight Extraordinary Meridians.

Next comes the Foundation Establishment, in which the Dantian is opened and is divided into three stages: Spiritual Altar, Spiritual Pillar, and Spiritual Crucible. Next came the Core Realm, in which the altar and pillars made were destroyed and then refined by the crucible, which would then spawn forth a core before destroying itself and giving the energy to the core which it had spawned.

Feng Cai was currently in the Spiritual Altar stage.

'Even with the clear advantage that the Jade Flower Lake formation brings to me' Feng Cai thought 'It is not enough' As someone who knew exactly how ridiculous the luck of the average novel protagonist was...

'Fortunately, I have my own ridiculous luck.'

Feng Cai closed his eyes and started drawing the energy of heaven and earth. 

Inside his body, more precisely where his Dantian lived rolling gray mists. Shapeless and formless, they permeated the entire space except for a golden altar that lived in the rough middle of his Dantian.

The mist was an aftereffect of his cultivation method. The Chaos Ascension Primordial Scripture, which granted him access to the power of the primordial chaos.

It also allowed him to incorporate any other cultivation Scripture to it, with zero rejection rate which he had abused before.

And while he had unlocked no specific abilities of the Scripture yet, it was just a matter of time. Especially as he felt nine bases forming themselves in his Spiritual Altar.

Seeing the nine bases, Feng Cai nodded to himself. He was officially in the half-step of the Spiritual Pillar stage, and he had just recently entered the Spiritual Altar stage, though it didn't take long for him to stabilize himself, weirdly enough.

Besides the number of Spiritual Pillars determined the overall talent of the practitioner, in the cultivation world, four are considered being the average in the immortal realm thanks to the sheer density of Qi present in it.

Before he could continue with his cultivation, the door which led to the garden was opened, and one of the Silver Tiger warriors walked in. Kneeling before Feng Cai, the warrior spoke "My Prince a Core Elder has requested your presence, and he carries a royal seal"

This announcement made Feng Cai pause, while a Core Elder coming to visit him was no big deal. As he received lessons from many of them, it was precisely because this elder was carrying a royal seal.

Who is the only that can give out a royal seal? The Emperor, of course! If anyone was found falsifying a royal seal, it was the death penalty immediately, no questions asked.

'Why did Emperor-Father made a royal seal?' Feng Cai thought 'Is it because of Feng Wei? Wait, no, that is impossible. It must be for some other reason.'

Feng Cai mentally sighed before looking at the legionnaire. "Is he in the main guest room?"

"He is my prince"

Feng Cai nodded "Very well then"

Feng mentally sighed once more than he got up and started walking towards where the elder was currently resided, being silently followed by the five captains.

But even with the worry of the royal seal, he was still optimistic it shouldn't be that bad... right?

1. Peng Shuchun means "Pure Maiden"

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