BXBX NOVEL Chapter 67 - 67: You Know Me Well
In the Great Yan Dynasty’s imperial palace.
“Master’s kindness and benevolence are profound,” Emperor Su Yuan said, raising his cup to toast Lu Xuan.
“Heaven cherishes all life, and as a teacher, I also prefer not to engage in acts that would slaughter races and disrupt the harmony of the heavens,” Lu Xuan replied, displaying his kind-hearted nature.
Great Yan’s Prime Minister, Shang Xinyu, sat nearby, observing the interaction between the white-haired disciple and the charismatic master. He couldn’t help but wonder if they misunderstood the meaning of ‘kind-heartedness.’
As an outsider, Shang Xinyu, the Prime Minister of Great, was acutely aware of what the Abyss of the Fallen God represented. It was where the Barbarian God had fallen, marking a boundary. The land south of it, covering only one-twentieth of the Southern Ridge, was perilous due to the residual effects of the god’s demise. It was filled with poisonous miasma and anomalies in spiritual energy, posing grave dangers. Cultivators venturing there would find their powers suppressed by the Barbarian God’s lingering influence, with their cultivation regressing and their bodies deteriorating under the divine miasma.
This was a place even the Barbarian Tribes dared not approach.
Now, the twelve major Barbarian Tribes were exiled to such a harsh environment. They were condemned to survive with their primitive civilization for a hundred thousand years before they could reemerge…
Shang Xinyu shuddered at the thought of how many might perish in such conditions. To any race, this was a catastrophe. Only those who could endure this ordeal would be reborn and accepted by other races of the Archean Eon world.
“After the barbarians’ withdrawal, a vast expanse of land in the Southern Ridge will be vacated. The matters between you and the the Thousand Saints Mountain… Well, whether it’s fighting or negotiating, you know more about that than I do,” Lu Xuan said, taking a sip of his drink.
“I understand, Master,” Su Yuan replied, acknowledging the responsibilities and challenges that lay ahead.
Emperor Su Yuan nodded gravely in acknowledgment.
He hailed from a small town in a minor country within the Southern Ridge. One autumn, during the harvest, his town was ravaged by a nearby Barbarian Tribe. Young Su Yuan desperately fled but was caught by a group of barbarian warriors. They didn’t kill him; instead, they toyed with him like a cat with a mouse, engaging in a cruel game of chase.
This was both entertainment and a trap for the barbarians, who scorned the human concepts of morality, unity, and kinship. They wanted to see if any hidden cultivators would come to the boy’s rescue.
And Lu Xuan took the bait.
Years later, facing Lu Xuan, Su Yuan still remembered the afternoon when his master slaughtered the barbarians in their own territory.
Subsequently, Su Yuan trained under Lu Xuan, returned to the Southern Ridge to establish the Great Yan Dynasty, and protected countless humans. The Great Yan Dynasty rose in the center of the Southern Ridge, resisting the demon tribes of the Thousand Saints Mountain to the north and the barbarian tribes to the south. Su Yuan’s name became synonymous with power and reverence across the Southern Ridge.
It had been three thousand years since then.
“Prime Minister Shang has served you loyally for many years, dedicating himself to Great Yan and the human tribes of Lingnan. On his behalf, I toast you,” Lu Xuan said to Shang Xinyu.
“Please, no, I couldn’t possibly…” Shang Xinyu, overwhelmed, attempted to rise for a formal salute but was gently pressed back into his seat by Lu Xuan.
“There’s no need for formalities, Prime Minister. My master is quite approachable. Being overly formal in our presence is unnecessary,” Su Yuan added with a smile.
“Alright, then…” Shang Xinyu, visibly relieved, quickly emptied his cup.
The banquet was an intimate gathering of just four people: Cheng Lingzhu, Lu Xuan, and the duo of Su Yuan and Shang Xinyu.
Yesha did not join them. After taking Cheng Lingzhu’s suggestion, she decided to go to the Dao Evolution Sect. Lu Xuan was pleased with this, as he was currently traveling and unsure of when he would return. Yesha, no longer the Barbarian God but a rapidly growing cultivator, would be a great asset to the Dao Evolution Sect and would save Lu Xuan much trouble.
As for trusting Yesha, with Lu Xuan’s strength, this wasn’t a concern.
Lu Xuan’s visit to the Great Yan Dynasty was to reconnect with Su Yuan, who had arranged the banquet in his honor. After consulting with Lu Xuan, Su Yuan also invited Shang Xinyu.
Su Yuan had not taken a Daoist partner due to his aspiration for immortality. Shang Xinyu was the most trusted person in Great Yan for him. Su Yuan had shared Lu Xuan’s story with Shang Xinyu, who felt overwhelmed learning about Lu Xuan’s power, especially the part where he could have defeated the Barbarian God at her peak in no more than three punches.
Su Yuan wouldn’t lie about such matters. Recognizing Lu Xuan as the teacher of such an extraordinary being, Shang Xinyu couldn’t help but hold him in high regard.
Lu Xuan smiled as he sipped the wine from his cup. Su Yuan then turned to Shang Xinyu and inquired, “Prime Minister Shang, is the gift I prepared for my Master’s wife ready?”
“Your Majesty, it is prepared,” Shang Xinyu replied, promptly retrieving a delicately crafted wooden box from his storage artifact and handing it to Su Yuan.
Su Yuan respectfully presented the box, “Please accept this, Master’s wife.”
Cheng Lingzhu, intrigued, accepted the box and opened it to find a phoenix-tail hairpin inside.
Su Yuan explained to Lu Xuan, “This hairpin belonged to the ancient Southern Ridge empress ‘Yu’, who prepared it as part of her daughter’s dowry. It contains the dragon fortune of the ancient kingdom. After being lost for many years, it came into my possession. I have nurtured it with the national fortune of Great Yan, restoring its former splendor. I hope my master and master’s wife will like it.”
“You know who to please,” Lu Xuan chuckled. “You prepared such a valuable gift for your master’s wife, but what about your master?”
“I wouldn’t forget about Master,” Su Yuan replied with a wink, producing another wooden box from his storage artifact. “But I suppose Master wouldn’t be interested in artifacts for combat or defense, so I prepared something different.’
Lu Xuan took the box and opened it to reveal a seemingly ordinary shuttle.
“This is the ‘Chaos Quelling Shuttle’, a treasure left by the ancient legalists,” Su Yuan explained. “When thrown, anyone within ten feet of its flight path must immediately straighten their clothes, comb their hair, and lie down properly on the ground, unable to move.”
Lu Xuan was baffled. “What kind of eccentric treasure is this?”
“You do understand me,” he said, giving Su Yuan a thumbs-up.
“Thank you, Master,” Su Yuan said with a bow and a smile.
With his master’s support in the Archean Eon Realm, Su Yuan feared nothing. Even if he ascended to the immortal realm, he was still under someone’s protection. His eldest senior brother was powerful and renowned, the second senior brother cunning and unfathomable. Not to mention the other seniors of Dao Evolution Sect who had ascended before them. Perhaps the sect’s founding ancestor was already undercover as a high-ranking figure in the enemy’s ranks…
Su Yuan pondered, aware that even though the second senior brother was extremely capable, being used as bait in a trap was still a frightening prospect..