Qin Yun was leisurely reading under a grapevine in Sovereign Capital. Due to the yesterday’s release of the Heaven roll, Crown Prince and Eighth Prince each sent him an invitation early in the morning. Qin Yun rejected them both.
“Elder Meng! Elder Meng!”
Dong Wan ran in.
“What’s the matter now? I just can’t get the chance to read in peace.” Qin Yun lowered his book in exasperation.
Dong Wan was increasingly amazed by Qin Yun. In the few days since they arrived in Sovereign Capital, Qin Yun’s advice had made him a lot happier! His understanding of the Lockheaven Sword had been greatly enhanced. He naturally began lingering around Qin Yun and showed him greater respect. However, he did not know that Qin Yun had already achieved the Paramount realm in the Lockheaven Sword. Furthermore, he was a sword immortal that had stepped into the Dao! The advice he gave on sword techniques was something no one else from the Zhou Mountain Sword Sect could compare with.
“Elder Meng,” said Dong Wan with a smile. “You are now famous throughout the world. There are naturally many people that wish to meet you. I have rejected invitations from Crown Prince, Eighth Prince, and important figures from many other sects on your behalf. However, there is someone here now that I cannot reject. Nor do I dare to try.”
“Who is it?” Qin Yun was puzzled.
“His Majesty, King Chu,” replied Dong Wan.
“Oh?” Qin Yun’s brows pricked up. With his present status, he could also ignore King Chu if he wanted. “What does King Chu want?”
Dong Wan said, “Elder Meng, he sent someone to invite you to the palace. How should I reply? Should I reject it?”
Qin Yun threw the book in his hand onto a table to his side. He stood up and said with a smile. “Let’s go. Since King Chu has invited me, I’ll pay a visit.”
“Alright,” replied Dong Wan respectfully.
Qin Yun quickly went out the door. There were palace eunuchs and guards at the entrance. An old eunuch said respectfully, “Elder Meng, His Majesty invites you for a personal visit.” As he said this, a young eunuch pulled open the curtains of a carriage.
“Let’s go.” Qin Yun boarded the carriage immediately.
The old eunuch’s face beamed like a blooming flower. An expert on the Heaven roll was not someone King Chu could meet whenever he wished. He was filled with joy that he was able to successfully invite Elder Meng.
…
Ordinary carriages had to stop outside the palace gates but this carriage was brought in without obstruction. King Chu had long given the instructions so none of the palace guards dared to stop it.
“Elder Meng, here we are.”
The old eunuch’s voice spoke gently, afraid that he would alarm Qin Yun.
Only then did Qin Yun pull open the curtains and disembark the carriage.
When he looked up, he realized that he was already inside the royal palace.
“His Majesty is in the western garden.” The old eunuch pointed to the entrance of a garden. Qin Yun could see vegetation past it. It was rare for there to be that much vegetation in a palace.
“Okay.” Qin Yun sensed something and could not help but smile.
He sensed that… there was an existence that had stepped into the Dao inside the royal palace.
“Ranked second on the God roll, God of War, Li Ruji!” Qin Yun thought to himself. “The person who perennially presides over Sovereign Capital is this God of War. He is basically the reason why the Chu Kingdom is able to rule over nearly half the world.”
Before Qin Yun came to this world, there was a total of five people on the God roll!
Those that could enter the God roll were naturally existences that had stepped into the Dao. Their strength was extremely terrifying.
Among the five, two of them did not partake in conflicts between mortals. Each of the other three supported a country. They backed either the Chu Kingdom, Wei Kingdom, or the Yan Kingdom. Each country had an existence that had stepped into the Dao representing them! Among them, God of War, Li Ruji had once ranked first on the God roll for a long period of time. It made the Chu Kingdom extremely powerful. But now, he had fallen to second on the God roll.
“Among the absolute pillars of the Chu Kingdom’s royalty, there is one in the God roll and one in the Heaven roll,” thought Qin Yun.
The newest Heaven roll had a total of twenty-three people.
A small number of them had their whereabouts unknown for quite an extended period of time!
More than half of them were carefree and did not concern themselves with the matters of the throne. After all, at their level, they ruled over an area of their own. The changes of dynasties did not affect them.
Less than half of them had ties with one of the three royal families.
For example, Grand General Xue Chong on the Heaven roll was an absolute supporter of the Chu Kingdom’s royal family! He fought in wars everywhere for the Chu Kingdom. The other two experts on the Heaven roll were the Zhou Mountain Sword Sect’s Meng Yiqiu and the Skyward Conservatory, Yu Zige. These two had rather close relationships with the Chu Kingdom’s royal family. The reason why Meng Yiqiu was listed was that the Zhou Mountain Sword Sect had deep ties with the Chu Kingdom.
“Twenty-three people are on the Heaven roll. Apart from the ones that are unlocatable, and those that are overseas, there are only seven on the Heaven roll that are within the Chu Kingdom’s borders! Four of them completely ignore the royal family,” thought Qin Yun. “As for me, be it due to the long-term relationship the Zhou Mountain Sword Sect has with the Chu Kingdom or for the Chu Kingdom’s arsenal, I have to visit King Chu.”
The Chu Kingdom had been first among the three countries for a long time.
With the God of War Li Ruji, second on the God roll, presiding over the country, the arsenal had amassed a large number of manuals over time. It had even more than the Zhou Mountain Sword Sect, so how could Qin Yun give up such an opportunity?
“This Li Ruji is only good at a formulation that hones his body. It’s how he came to be ranked second. But his Dao would only be considered normal,” thought Qin Yun. It would be a little difficult killing Li Ruji but defeating him would be easy.
…
In the western garden, King Chu was lying on a chair watching a lake. He was getting on in years but when he saw the blue-robed man walk over with a sword hanging by his waist, he still managed to barely stand up with the support of a concubine.
“Elder Meng,” said King Chu with a smile. “Elder Meng, I’m truly envious seeing how young you look.”
“Greetings, Your Majesty,” greeted Qin Yun.
“Elder Meng, please have a seat,” said King Chu immediately.
Only then did Qin Yun sit.
King Chu said with a smile, “When I learned that Elder Meng was ranked on the Heaven roll, and sixth at that, I was delighted! Now, my health is ailing and I won’t waste either of our time. The Wei Kingdom’s eagerness for action probably indicates that a war will soon begin. That worries me! At such a critical point, the appearance of Elder Meng has calmed me slightly.”
Qin Yun understood why King Chu was worried. It was because the person ranked first on the God roll was the one in the Wei Kingdom!
“Your Majesty, the reason you invited me today…” Qin Yun looked at King Chu.
“The Zhou Mountain Sword Sect’s foundation is ultimately a little weak.” King Chu chuckled. “Elder Meng, you are young and you probably need all sorts of natural treasures or even more powerful cultivation formulations. Therefore, Elder Meng, I will allow you to choose any three of my Chu Kingdom’s top formulations.”
Qin Yun said with a smile, “Your Majesty, cultivation naturally requires one to read a lot to broaden one’s horizons. Therefore, I would like to read more of the manuals in the arsenal.”
“Read more?” King Chu’s expression changed slightly. “Might I know how many you would like to read?”
The more powerful a manual, the more it incurred the envy of the heavens.
There was a limit to the number of times one could read it. After that threshold was reached, the manual would be destroyed.
“Since it’s meant to broaden one’s horizons, I naturally mean everything!” said Qin Yun.
King Chu knitted his brows.
Everything?
That was quite an audacious request!
Even the concubine beside King Chu was secretly alarmed.
“What’s the meaning of this. Is this Meng Yiqiu trying to threaten me?” thought King Chu. “That’s right, with his strength, the Zhou Mountain Sword Sect probably doesn’t wish to fight for my Chu Kingdom! I’ve truly reared a bunch of ingrates! When they were weak, they relied on my Chu Kingdom. Now that they are powerful, they begin to turn disobedient. Even giving him a simple gift comes with conditions. He actually wants to read all the manuals!”
Reading all the manuals in the arsenal was such a demanding request that even King Chu did not have the right to approve it.
“Cheng’er, agree to him…” An old voice sounded in King Chu’s ears.
King Chu’s expression changed as he smiled at Qin Yun. “Elder Meng, your request sure isn’t run-of-the-mill! Even I can only read through a few manuals in the Chu Kingdom’s arsenal. However, the Patriarch has already agreed to your request. You can read any manual in the arsenal as you wish. However, my Chu Kingdom’s royal family has a request.”
Qin Yun’s eyes lit up as he said with a smile, “Please speak, Your Majesty.”
“Elder Meng, you have to ensure the safety of my Chu Kingdom’s royalty while you remain alive!” said King Chu. “Should you enter the God roll, all you have to do is help out a total of three times when the reigning king requests it, if the kingdom is ever in trouble.”
Qin Yun was just too young. He ranked sixth on the Heaven roll at age thirty-eight! There was indeed a high chance of him entering the God roll.
“I’ll agree to that.” Qin Yun nodded. “Can I teach the things I learn from the manuals in the arsenal?”
King Chu’s face twitched but he said, “Elder Meng, if you were to teach any of the manuals you find in the arsenal, you have to leave a copy of that manual behind.”
A powerful manual would incur the envy of the heavens. Making a copy was very difficult.
One needed to fully understand it. Furthermore, the material requirements of the manual were very high.
“Alright.” Qin Yun nodded. “Your Majesty, do you still have anything else you need of me? If there’s nothing, I shall bid you farewell.”
“Haha, I won’t hold you back.” King Chu laughed.
The concubine beside King Chu sighed wistfully.
Even the powerful King Chu had to humor a Heaven roll expert!
…
Qin Yun was in no rush to read through the manuals in the Chu Kingdom’s arsenal. He was still busy studying the manuals from the Zhou Mountain Sword Sect and the Duan family’s White Jade Repository. The reason why King Chu agreed to his request was that the God of War, Li Ruji, had agreed. No matter who inherited the throne, they would not dare to back out on the agreement.
“Cloud Water Formulation? This is a manual that leads straight to the Paramount realm. It’s slightly weaker than the Frost Sword Chart and the Lockheaven Sword. However, what it contains is rather interesting.” Qin Yun pondered as he read a manual in White Jade Repository. He practiced the sword technique with his finger, forming Sword Qi that soared around him like it was a dream.
“Master! Master!” Liu Qingsha shouted from afar.
Qin Yun came to a halt.
“What’s the matter?” asked Qin Yun.
Liu Qingsha ran over with a somewhat odd expression. She looked at Qin Yun before saying, “Centaurea Valley’s Fairy Gong wishes to seek an audience with you.”
“Centaurea Valley? Fairy Gong?” Qin Yun frowned. “Hmph, to think she has the nerve to come. Let her in.”