Chapter 15: Murky Heart Concentrating Gem
Chapter 15: Murky Heart Concentrating Gem
Chapter 15: Murky Heart Concentrating Gem
Sect Jade Slip?
Inside Taihe Palace, the main hall of the Youyang Palace, a youth wearing a black official dragon robe was standing with his hands behind his back. He spoke in a dignified voice, “Since you two are already back, does that mean Martial Uncle Qingxin has returned to the Dao Palace?”
Standing in the middle of the main hall of Taihe Palace were Zhang Kemu and Zhang Shichuan, who had just returned.
Zhang Kemu took a step forward and said respectfully, “Your Excellency, after Daoist Lord Qingxin returned to Youyang Palace, he returned directly to the Dao Palace.”
“What about that genius from that small clan in Ruyang Region? It was said that he had Upper Third Dao Channels or Profound Meridians, but what Grade was he in the end? Why didn’t you bring him here?” Towards the end of his words, his tone turned strict. This person in the official robe was none other than Zhang Keyu, also known as Crown Prince Xing. Although he was only 30 years old, he ruled firmly over the entire Province, possessing extremely high authority and power.
“Your Excellency, that child has Grade 2 Profound Meridians. He caught the eye of Daoist Lord Qingxin, so he took him directly back to the Dao Palace,” Zhang Kemu said with his head lowered.
“Grade 2 Profound Meridians?” Zhang Keyu turned around, sounding somewhat astonished. He himself was a rare talent with Grade 3 Profound Meridians, and only after he entered into the You Province Dao Palace under Daoist Lord Qingyu could he have the influence to rule over an entire Province.
“Without a doubt, this is true.”
Zhang Keyu nodded, and fell silent for a moment.
Zhang Shichuan saw that Zhang Kemu, who was standing before him, had simply lowered his head without speaking, so he had no choice but to take a step forward. “Father, Martial Grandfather Qingxin said that he wanted you to make a trip over to the Dao Palace,” he finally spoke up respectfully.
“I understand, you two can leave now,” Zhang Keyu responded with a wave of his sleeve.
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
“Yes, Father.”
Evening eventually fell in the Dao Palace restricted area. In the Shangqing Dao Palace, Daoist Lord Qingxin, who was dressed in a light green Daoist robe, was sitting upright on a prayer mat. Clear qi revolved around his body as he meditated with his eyes closed.
Xu Disheng was seated beside him. Although he had been sitting there for the whole day, he wasn’t impatient in the slightest. He just continued to sit there in silence, cultivating his Soul Force.
The sound of footsteps rang out, and a middle-aged Daoist with white hair slowly paced down the steps from the 2nd floor of the Dao Palace. “Junior Martial Brother, the temperament of this new disciple of yours is not bad. He’s actually able to keep his composure despite being only 4 or 5 years old, and he isn’t impatient in the slightest,” he said with a gentle smile.
“Senior Martial Brother Qingyu,” Daoist Lord Qingxin opened his eyes and greeted him. Then he turned to Xu Disheng. “Sheng’er, greet your Martial Uncle.”
“Respectful greetings to Martial Uncle,” Xu Disheng said, standing up and bowing to him.
“You may be at ease. Qingxin, in all the previous years whenever I took in a disciple, you gave out plenty of greeting gifts. But now that you’ve finally taken in your second disciple after 80 years, this Senior Martial Brother of yours can’t be stingy in repaying the favor,” Daoist Lord Qingyu said. He reached into his sleeve and took out an ancient white jade pendant, which he wrapped in a cloud of mysterious light and sent it floating over towards Xu Disheng.
The jade pendant was surrounded by white light, and it was obvious from a glance that it was no ordinary item. At this moment, it was slightly trembling as it hovered in midair before Xu Disheng.
“Senior Martial Brother Qingyu, this Murky Heart Jade was given by Master. Are you actually willing to part with it?” Daoist Lord Qingyu said with a rare hint of surprise in his voice.
“It’s nothing much. This item was given to me by Master for me to use as a Dao protection item. You and I are both stuck at the peak of the Sea of Qi stage, so I won’t be able to use this item anymore.”
Daoist Lord Qingyu flicked his sleeves and continued, “Besides, for your whole life, you only accepted that Su Che as your disciple, and then… 80 years later, now that you’ve finally accepted another disciple, how can I afford to be stingy?”
It seemed that Daoist Lord Qingyu didn’t dare to touch upon the matter regarding Su Che lightly, as he stopped when he spoke to that point and then proceeded to change the topic.
“Then thank you, Senior Martial Brother,” Daoist Lord Qingxin said. When he heard the name Su Che, his pupils shrunk and his aura became turbulent as he was unable to fully control himself.
After a few moments, he retracted his aura and returned to normal. Turning his head to Xu Disheng, he said, “You may receive the gift from your Martial Uncle.”
“Yes. Thank you, Martial Uncle,” Xu Disheng said, reaching out to take the ancient white jade pendant. 𝒃𝒆𝒅𝙣𝒐𝒗𝙚𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝒎
The jade pendant had an excellent spiritual effect. As it lay in his palm, he could feel a stream of refreshing qi circulate through his body from his hand. When Xu Disheng focused, he could feel his mind clearing up and his meridians being cleansed.
“This Murky Heart Jade was given to us by our Master, and it has all kinds of wonderful effects. The people around these parts would call it a top quality Martial Treasure. You can slowly explore its effects yourself,” Daoist Lord Qingxin instructed.
“I understand.”
At this moment, a voice with a respectful tone rang out from outside the Dao Palace. “Yu’er pays respects to Master and Martial Uncle Qingxin.”
“Enter,” Daoist Lord Qingyu said.
Wearing a black official robe, Zhang Keyu came in and lowered his head. “Greetings, Master and Martial Uncle.”
“At ease.” Daoist Lord Qingyu lightly flicked his sleeves.
Daoist Lord Qingxin spoke, “Regarding me taking in a disciple, there are only us four from the You Province Dao Palace in Youyang City at the moment, which makes everything simpler.” He exchanged a glance with Daoist Lord Qingyu, who nodded back at him. He continued, “Here is the sect jade slip.”
From within his sleeve, a dark green jade tablet flew out, flickering with splendor as it gave off a very mystical aura.
“Place a drop of blood on the jade slip.”
Xu Disheng did as he was instructed, biting into the tip of his tongue and withdrawing a drop of blood, which he then smeared onto the jade slip.
Daoist Lord Qingxin watched as the green light coming from the jade slip grew brighter, then made some hand seals above it before speaking in a reverential tone. “Respectful greetings to the Directory Hall on Wenyuan Mountain of the Shangqing Sacred Sect. I, Outer Disciple Qingxin of Zhuri Mountain hereby accept Xu Disheng, with the Spiritual Root of Grade 2 Profound Meridians, as my disciple in the Seventh Mortal Secret Realm of the Chu territory. His blood has already been extracted for record, and I implore you to input it in the directory. Yours sincerely, Disciple Qingxin.”
When he finished speaking, that dark green jade slip began to emit resplendent rays of light, which rushed out of the Dao Palace straight towards the horizon, disappearing without a trace within the blink of an eye.
Daoist Lord Qingyu scoffed. “Those bastards from Wenyuan Mountain’s Directory Hall. Who knows how many decades they’ll let these disciple acceptance jade slips from the Mortal Secret Realms stack up for before inputting them into the directory.”
Daoist Lord Qingxin sighed. “Senior Martial Brother Qingyu, please watch what you say about the sect.”
The two of them weren’t making a big deal out of it, but their words caused a sense of crisis to bud within Xu Disheng’s mind.
Qingyu and Qingxin were both peak Xiantian realm cultivators of Profound Laws. To say nothing of the You Province, these two would probably be considered peak level masters even in the Central Imperial Province. Even the extremely powerful Prince Xing could only be a disciple to Qingyu. He did this so he could use his power as a disciple as a pretext to gain control over a Province and rule over several tens of thousands of li of land.
And yet, these two overwhelmingly powerful Daoist Lords could only be considered Outer Disciples of a mountain range in the Shangqing Sacred Sect? This world was nothing more than a small secret area of the Shangqing Sacred Sect? If this frightening secret was made known to the rest of the world, it would cause an incredible panic!
Xu Disheng’s mind was greatly shaken. He inadvertently looked over at Crown Prince Xing, Zhang Keyu, whose expression was unchanged. When he felt his gaze upon him, he looked back at him and lightly shook his head.
“Sheng’er, since I have accepted you as my disciple on behalf of the sect, you are now part of the Shangqing Path, and from now on you may call me Master. Remember that the first rule of the Shangqing Path is that the Dao Palace is above all else, and you must never lightly insult its honor,” Daoist Lord Qingxin said.
“Yes, Master.”
“Martial Uncle, I have a greeting gift for Junior Martial Brother,” Zhang Keyu saw that the process was over, so he stepped forward and spoke.
“Go ahead,” Daoist Lord Qingxin said.
Zhang Keyu said with a smile, “Junior Martial Brother, this is our first time meeting, but this Senior Martial Brother of yours doesn’t have anything great to give you. I heard that you came from a small clan in the Ruyang Region. In that case, how about I grant the Xu Clan authority over the Ruyang Region, and allow them to rule Ruyang City?”
Xu Disheng was moved, knowing that this youth wearing the official dragon robe was none other than the son of King Xing. In the eyes of Xu Qinying and the others, he was a massively important and high class figure with an overwhelming level of power and authority. At this moment in time, this person had now become his Senior Martial Brother, someone he could be close to. Truly, life could really be filled with all kinds of twists and turns.
Although his thoughts were a mess, his movements weren’t slow. He immediately bowed respectfully, “If you would be so kind, Senior Martial Brother.”
Zhang Keyu turned around and left the Dao Palace, arriving in front of the palace gate. “Attend to me,” he ordered.
There were two armored guards in front of the Dao Palace, who knelt respectfully before him. “Your Majesty.”
“Pass down my decree. Confer power of the entire Ruyang Region to the Ruyang Region’s Xu Clan, and allow them to establish their own capital city,” Zhang Keyu commanded. He paused at this point, then turned around to look at the 5 year old child in the palace hall before continuing. “Leave the position for the head of the Region open for now, and have the Patriarch of the Xu Clan serve as the acting representative. Also, regarding the Guo Clan’s newly relocated fiefdom, the Lin’an Region, give authority over that Region to the Xu Clan as well.”
“As you command, Your Majesty.” One of the armored guards left to fulfill his orders.
Footnotes
The official robe described here is an official dragon robe from the Ming period, kind of like this. The one in this picture looks like it’s a female version of the robe, but it’s good enough as an example.