The main guest room of Feng Cai residency was fairly spacious, with long rectangular tables at the right and left sides of it, while in the front resided the upper vertical table that went by distinct steps.

The higher one went, the more important their social status was, or at least that's how it went in other places. 

The builders had made the room for grand feasts to be held, but now was not the case, with the tables and other ornate pieces of furniture removed and replaced with a simple, for a royal standing, circular table.

Two chairs were present, with one being occupied. The occupant was an old man with gray hair and a white beard that reached his neck. He was holding a white scroll.

The heavy ornate doors that led to the guest room and six individuals walked. Five would be immediately recognized as warriors of the Silver Tiger legion, one of the twin royal legions alongside the Emperor's troops, and their cultivation base marked as captains.

The one smaller individual was naturally Feng Cai, that upon seeing who the elder was, smiled a little.

Cupping his hands, Feng Cai said with a respectful tone, "Martial Grandnephew Feng Cai greets Martial Granduncle Zeng Xiang"

For the Core Elder that the legionnaire had said that had appeared was none other than the famous Elder Zeng or Zeng Xiang. He was part of the same generation as Feng Cai's grandfather, the previous Heavenly Emperor of the Sacred Heaven Empire, and who had gone into seclusion after he broke thought to the Celestial Immortal realm.

He had helped in his rise, and their relationship is as close as blood brothers, so naturally, he had received some benefits like others who supported him, but he had received far more than the others.

His cultivation base was at least on the initial stage of the Heavenly Immortal realm. In the past, he had truly soared along with dragons and served as an idol too many in the academy.

He could have become one of the Grand Elders of the Imperial Academy, but decided against that and remained a Core Elder.

Feng Cai felt his worries wash away at the sight of the old man. He knew him since his childhood and Elder Zeng had been one of his tutors even before he had even officially entered the academy.

His lessons helped him understand the Martial Dao in many different ways. He could even be considered being amongst those that indirectly helped fully accept his reincarnation into this world.

Elder Zeng nodded towards Feng Cai and responded with a simple 'My Prince' before extending his hand towards the other seat. Feng Cai promptly seated on it.

The legionnaires took positions on all sides of the spacious room, ready to spring into action should the need arise.

Elder Zeng decided to get straight to the key aspect of the matter. Placing the royal seal on the table, he said, "You are unsure what is happening, aren't you?"

"Yes, this came out of nowhere"

Elder Zeng nodded. "Indeed, but let me first say that you are in no problem," Feng Cai mentally sighed in relief. "The same cannot be said for Feng Wei. " This grabbed his utmost attention.

"Duel between princes is nothing abnormal since the days of the Great Ancestor princes dueled each other to find out who was stronger, but truly it was only sparring, nothing more," Elder Zhang raised his head a little towards Feng Cai "Of course when one prince attempts to kill another the matters become more delicate especially when one prince has shown problems before"

Feng Cai nodded as he understood what Elder Zhang was saying. As Elder Zhang said princes dueling princes was not something considered to be abnormal, the problem lay when a prince attempts to kill the other.

Imperial princes, especially those of the Sacred Heaven Empire, were all abnormally talented. Each one would become pillars of the Sacred Heaven Empire when they fully matured.

Each prince was an investment, so what happened when a prince tried to kill the other? Simple the ruling monarch chooses who is more worth keeping around as he will not allow dissent in the royal family, and these types of grudges only end one way.

With the death of one of the princes.

Even then, it was fairly obvious who the Heavenly Emperor was going to choose.

"Feng Wei won't be executed" Elder Zhang explained after a while "As the clan which he is descended from is the Bai Clan"

There were five dominant clans in the Sacred Heaven Empire, those were the Feng Clan, the Luo Clan, the Shao Clan, the Yang Clan, and finally the Bai Clan.

The great ancestors of the Luo, Shao, Yang, and Bai clans had followed the great ancestors of the Feng Clan. Eventually, they had founded the Sacred Heaven Empire with the Great Ancestor of the Feng Clan, taking the position of Heavenly Emperor.

All of them either have long since died or ascended to the God Realm and interfered little with the affairs of the immortal realm.

Elder Zeng continued explaining "The Bai Clan won't accept if he is executed, mainly for their pride, so he will at most be exiled from both the Imperial academy and the palace, as well as the capital city, this way they at least won't get unruly thoughts"

Elder Zeng seemed to think for a second before finally deciding on something "Alright now for why I am here" He pulled out two papers from his robes and put them on the table "The Royal Financial hall found this after a clerk reviewed the tax revenue of the last month"

Checking the papers, Feng Cai analyzed them with interest and some mild amusement. It truly seemed that taxes would always exist no matter the reality.

They were the annual income that the Sacred Heaven Empire received from its vassals, from the previous year, and then the current year. Why would the Sacred Heaven Empire need vassals you ask? Simply speaking because of the sheer size of an immortal world.

An immortal world is roughly the size of an entire galaxy, this galaxy-sized world had a myriad amount of medicines and myriads of types of minerals that were used in pretty much everything.

Combine that with monsters that keep popping up and rival powers, and you have a true pile of problems.

So accounting for this, and relay manpower to more important areas, many vassal sects were created and assigned to an area which they had near-total control over, the only ones that were above them being the Sacred Heaven Empire.

Of course, they had to pay their taxes to the Sacred Heaven Empire, even if a power struggle happened, the Sacred Heaven Empire would not interfere as long as they pay their taxes.

And that system had worked not only on the Sacred Heaven Immortal World but all the other Immortal Worlds it held dominion over.

So for one of them to not have paid, it would attract the attention of the Sacred Heaven Empire. Feng Cai himself was more impressed by who it was that did it. The Thunder Clouds Sect.

Their leader's power, and their organization's overall power assign the power division between powers.

The strongest were Sacred Powers, those who produced a god. Then came First-rate powers who produced a Celestial Immortal, Second-rate powers who produced Heavenly Immortals, Third-rate power who produced a True Immortal, and finally Fourth-rate powers who produced a Demi-Immortal.

They were also Fifth and Sixth-rate powers, but they were simply impossible thanks to the immortal realm, and also they do not last very long. They were only truly seen in the Mortal Realm.

The Thunder Clouds Sect had become a Third-rate power recently and naturally had their importance risen. While the Sacred Heaven Empire was a Sacred power, having produced many gods since its founding.

Feng Cai put the papers down "So the Thunder Clouds Sect, a Fourth-rate power who was recently risen to become a Third-rate power, has cut the number of resources they send to us, and this is the first time it happened?"

Elder Zeng nodded.

Feng Cai shook his head. "This makes little sense, why would they do this?"

Elder Zhang responded, "Because it wasn't them" Elder Zhang's blunt response shocked Feng Cai a little before he decided it made sense.

Feng Cai had a sudden thought "It was a rival of theirs, wasn't it?"

Elder Zhang had a bit of approval in his eyes, as he nodded "The ascension of the Thunder Clouds Sect to a Third-rate power has affected the power balance in the region, and they already had a Third-rate rival, that one being the Heavenly Thunder Sect"

The relationship between the Thunder Clouds Sect and the Heavenly Thunder Sect could be tense at best, and murderous at worst. This was because of their respective founders.

The founder of the Heavenly Thunder Sect had been a personal disciple of the founder of the Thunder Clouds Sect. But a disagreement happened between master and disciple, which eventually resulted in the disciple leaving the sect and founding his own sect.

He also stole the resources from the Thunder Clouds Sect alongside various techniques. Since then, relations between the two Sects always had a type of tension.

In the end, both master and disciple died during an invasion of the demon realm. Of course, both sides blamed the other and all bridges between the two sects crumbled.

Feng Cai had read about them before, including all the other powers that practiced thunder elemental arts, and had known of their field against each other.

But there was just one tiny minor problem.

"Why I am being informed of this?"

"Because you are coming along" Elder Zhang response shocked Feng Cai, and his shock seemed to have appeared on his face as Elder Zhang rolled his eyes "It is about time you went away from both the capital and the academy for temperament"

"Besides..." Elder Zhang started with his bait "The Thunder Clouds Sect has a region with a perpetual spiritual Thunderstorm close to the sect grounds. It will be beneficial for your cultivation"

The reason Elder Zhang said this is that Feng Cai not only possessed Thunder Spiritual Veins. He possessed Sacred Thunder Spiritual Veins!

This was one of the most guarded secrets of not only the Feng Clan but also the Sacred Heaven Empire as a whole. Those who possessed Sacred Spiritual Veins would at least become Celestial Immortals, or full-blown gods.

So, of course, powers would send assassins would to kill those who possessed Sacred Spiritual Veins and deprive a rival power of a powerful asset.

To the rest of the Immortal realm, Feng Cai only possessed a Heavenly Thunder Spiritual Vein, the same grade as the other princes.

He had gotten it from his Feng lineage, which came from his father, the Heavenly Emperor.

Feng Cai thought a little 'Spiritual Thunderstorms are very beneficial to those who possess Thunder Spiritual Veins. The higher the grade of the veins the better the benefits.' Feng Cai nodded, making his decision. "Okay, I am going along"

"Good, we leave in five hours"

Feng Cai gave Elder Zhang an incredulous look, which he completely ignored as he got up and picked up the royal seal "You can select your guards, as well as wherever other things you need, please don't be late my prince" And like that he left.

Feng Cai sighed, before looking at the captains, "You five shall organize the guard retinue. " The five bowed to him before three of them left as well, to organize the retinue of guards that would protect him.

As for Feng Cai, he left to pack some necessary things. Like life-saving treasures which he had a couple of.

Medicinal herbs, defensive talismans. He had everything, even if most of it couldn't fit in his spatial ring. There were many unique treasures available to him and they were all abundant.

All those treasures that those protagonists risked their life for? He had then since his birth. As expected from a prince of a sacred level power.

Imperial Capital - Royal Port

As the royal family of the Sacred Heaven Empire, the members of the Feng Clan enjoy immense benefits, one of those being that they can use the royal port and some elements of the royal fleet.

The coming of an imperial prince was naturally announced to the workers stationed on the port. And everyone was doing their best to look good towards the prince.

Even as they worked to either construct or repair the vessels of the royal fleet, they didn't ignore Feng Cai's arrival.

Feng Cai was currently one of the principal topics of the capital. The Ninth Prince barely showed himself even before entering the academy, so few knew what to make of him.

His debut was defeating Feng Wei, the Eighth Prince, a descendant of the Bai Clan, and who already possessed a rather infamous reputation thanks to his violent temperament.

But no one could deny that he was truly a genius, evidently when he had produced two supreme techniques of the All-Consuming Fire Scripture which originated from the Bai Clan.

It was the most powerful fire art that the Bai Clan possessed, but it is immensely difficult to cultivate a single mishap and the flames of the scripture would consume them, leaving nothing but ashes behind. Thanks to this, few try it, and only a few have undergone the challenges imposed by it.

Feng Wei had managed to successfully cultivate it, and if not for his infamy, he would have been praised for it. But he had ruined whatever form of praise he would have gotten.

"Ah, my prince you have arrived and just in time," Said Elder Zhang, watching as Feng Cai's entourage arrived at the port.

And what entourage it was. A dozen silver armored warriors marched together in a double line formation, and on the division between them were the five captains guarding the Ninth Prince.

They were all armed with different weapons, be they spears, sabers, or swords, each had a different fighting style. The only thing common between them being their armor.

Feng Cai stepped forward and cupped his hands. "Grand Martial Uncle, ", Elder Zhang nodded before ushering him to enter the vessel.

Feng Cai looked at the immense vessel in front of him and was reminded of the wooden vessels of his world, but there were differences between them.

They had soaked the wood which makes these vessels in the Qi of the immortal realm, so they were naturally very durable. Then they were enchanted by refining cultivators, and only after that they were to be sent to serve as material.

They did this process daily, then on the construction not only the vessel be made but also many intricate formations, be they for attack or defense.

But the major difference was that it didn't just float on the water, they also could go underwater and even fly. And while cultivators could do the same thanks to spiritual energy, the boats were faster.

Even then, these ships were not the ones that were made for war. They were 'simple' transportation vessels, used for transportation of resources or trips to other powers.

Feng Cai did not waste time looking for his room, which, fortunately, he had a guide to. Unfortunately, the guide seemed to be an ass-kisser, probably because he thought that Feng Cai could give him some benefit.

Unfortunately for him, Feng Cai didn't care. The guide was not the first and certainly wouldn't be the last. That was just the reality of being someone in a higher position.

When he arrived, the guide left, while praising him again and again. The room itself was fairly spacious and was divided into two rooms: a dining room with a table, and a bedroom.

Even if it didn't the luxury of his residence in the academy or the palace, it was still something reserved for rich people, complete with paintings, carpets, and chandeliers.

Feng Cai immediately went to the bedroom, idly seeing his entourage taking positions in the main entrance, the dining room, and the door to his bedroom.

Entering, he quickly closed the door behind him, and sat on the bed, and started cultivating. The journey towards the Thunder Clouds Sect would last for several days as it was a long distance from the imperial capital city and it wouldn't hurt to increase his strength.

After all, the chances of him meeting a protagonist during this journey were fairly high.

But he was still optimistic. There was no way he would meet a protagonist just as he left the capital... right?