In the battle at the city gates, Song Qingshan, the eldest disciple of Cloud Abode, lost to Moro of the Great Boundless Palace in one move.

The latter made rude and boastful remarks in front of the people of Tianjing City.

The people of the Zhou Kingdom were ridiculed as weaklings.

After that, it stirred up a sea of unrest.

Shadow Guardian Commander Zhou Wen, who had been confident previously, took on an ugly expression.

It was fine if it was just Song Qingshan losing badly without managing to learn anything useful from the opponent.

However, Moro seemed to have seen through Black Dragon Altar’s plans. They did not care to fight off wave after wave of martial arts experts.

Instead, they chose to turn the challenge into a big scene, making it unsalvageable.

If nobody could defeat him, would that not mean that all the martial artists in the Zhou Kingdom would be considered weaklings?

“This baldy acts like a hothead but hides away his dastardly plans! Despicable! Damn it!”

After returning to Black Dragon Altar’s courtroom, Zhou Wen was a little unruly as his killing permeated from his brows.

He felt like he just dug his own grave. It would not take long for that matter to reach the emperor’s ears.

By then, the Black Dragon Altar would surely be blamed for not handling the matter properly.

“That Vajrayana monk sure has guts to speak so insolently at the city gates. After making such a claim, all the experts within Tianjing City would not sit idly by. They will surely come to challenge him one by one,” Ji Liang said thoughtfully, remaining calm and keeping his composure.

“That baldy is confident to be unbeatable by all those within the same cultivation stage!” Zhou Wen huffed angrily.

“Commander Zhu went to the Heavenly Dragon Temple and has yet to return. Master Yuanhui of Prajna Hall should still be on the way.. If no experts could subdue this person in three days, then wouldn’t this be self-defeating and help the Great Boundless Sect gain fame instead?!” Ji Liang’s brows frowned slightly as he noticed something was off.

Moro had just arrived in Tianjing City. By all logic, he should not know about the situation.

However, from his behavior, he seemed to have come prepared.

Even if Black Dragon Altar did not send Song Qingshan over, the other party would most likely provoke the masses.

“Should we ask for Marquis Zhao Kai?”

Ji Liang was aware that even at his peak, he might not be a match for Moro, who was at the seventh Mortal Stage of Titan Stage.

From what he could see, within Tianjing City, only Marquis Zhao Kai, who was at the peak of the eight Mortal Stage of Spiritual Transformation had a sure chance to suppress Moro.

“No! If the marquis acted, that would be suppressing the opponent with his cultivation stage. That way, we can’t guarantee that the Imperial Preceptor of Yuanmeng Empire won’t personally pay Tianjing City a visit!”

The Zhou Kingdom was weak and the Yuanmeng Empire was strong.

The reason the Great Boundless Palace made such provocations might be to nullify the Yan Province Treaty and reignite warfare!

“Then we’ll just find a few seventh Mortal Stage, Titan Stage experts! I refuse to believe this Vajrayana monk is truly unbeatable within the same stage!”

Ji Liang had a vicious look on his face.

He did not have a good temper to begin with.

With him feeling anxious, he might actually lead his cavalry to hunt Moro down.

“I just flipped through the records. Yun Chenzi of Spiritual Crane Temple; Captain Lin, the chief instructor of our 800 thousand royal guards; Luo Yulong of the Sword-Saber Alliance..just these people.”

Zhou Wen narrowed his eyes as it flashed coldly.

“It’s easy to take action, but we don’t have complete confidence to beat that bald monk!”

From the battle at the city gates, he could already tell.

Moro might seem like a brute, but he was actually a very attentive person.

Even when going against Thunder Sword Song Qingshan who was one full cultivation stage below him, he still chose to expose his tracks and force him out into the open.

After that, he boasted to provoke the eldest disciple of Cloud Abode to use his ultimate move before finally using something like a Lion’s Roar technique to shake the opponent’s spirit and defeat him in one move.

“This person is good at duels and very careful. He’s quite difficult to deal with.”

The reason why Zhou Wen wanted to use a few peak-level Qi Refinement Stage experts to probe Moro was to find out his strength and to better understand the martial arts technique of the Great Boundless Palace.

In a battle between martial artists, whoever knew their opponent’s move, true Qi quality, and ultimate techniques, would have a much better advantage.

“Regardless if it’ll work, we need to send someone to fight him. Otherwise, the Yuanmeng Empire’s morale will grow and the practitioners of the Zhou Kingdom won’t be able to lift their heads. The Black Dragon Altar would also become a joke!” Ji Liang dispelled his other thoughts and proclaimed decisively.

“Alright! I’ll go look for them!”

Zhou Wen nodded vehemently as he held tightly to the bone fan in his hand.

Apart from the masters, chiefs, and Spiritual Transformation Experts of the Three Great Sect, who in the Zhou Kingdom would dare to deny the Black Dragon Altar’s request?

..

A few days later..

Regardless of the storm and disturbance of the outside world, Zhao Mu nurtured his Qi and practiced his martial arts.

That day, he was seated in the study.

He suddenly heard some excited footsteps. Looking up, he noticed his little brother Zhao Yuan appearing at the door.

“What brings you here today?”

Zhao Mu chuckled calmly. The lifestyle of the princes before they reached adulthood was not relaxing.

The imperial tutor gave them a lot of homework, and they had to train and temper their bodies.

Free time each day was extremely limited.

“Hehe, I’ve not seen you for a long time, so I came over to visit!”

Zhao Yuan’s usually cold expression was swept away and replaced with a smile brimming with joy.

He was still a child after all. Upon seeing someone he was close to, he could not maintain the composure of a prince.

“Brother, you stay in the cold palace all year long. I’ll come by when I’m free to keep you company and entertained!”

Zhao Yuan sat beside him and randomly picked up a travel guide.

He tried to keep up his act and secretly peek at Zhao Mu, making him appear rather cute.

“Coincidentally, I’m a little tired.”

Zhao Mu’s lips curled upward. He put down the book in his hand and rubbed his brother’s head.

Through sensing his Qi, Zhao Mu more or less understood his cultivation stage.

Completion of the second Mortal Stage of Body Tempering.

‘Supple muscles and sturdy bones. He must’ve learned the Tiger Demon Bone Refinement Fist.’

Zhao My once copied the drawings of the Tiger Demon Bone Refinement Fist’s moves and hid it within the booklet, where Huo Rulie’s lingering will fragment resided.

It was for his brother Zhao Yuan to have a stronger foundation in martial arts so that he could progress further.

“Brother, did you hear about the Yuanmeng Empire’s ambassador envoy entering the capital? Recently, the entire Tianjing City was talking about this matter!”

Zhao Yuan nudged against the hand of his head, then continued, “There’s a Vajrayana monk who met the challenge of a swordsman from the Cloud Abode. After he defeated his opponent, he dared to mock all of Zhou Kingdom’s martial arts practitioners to be weaklings.

“With that statement, he angered a lot of martial arts experts. Each day, they would stand at the restaurant’s door, waiting to issue him a challenge.”

Zhao Mu’s brows twitched.

Yuanmeng Empire’s ambassador envoy?

Vajrayana monk?

He immediately thought of the Yuanmeng Empire’s Imperial Preceptor Phags-pa from the Great Boundless Palace.

“What’s the cultivation stage of the monk?”

Zhao Mu asked with feigned curiosity.

“I heard the instructor of the royal guards say that he’s at the seventh Mortal Stage of Titan Stage. In the outside world, that’s enough to start his own sect.”

Zhao Yuan took a sip of the tea served to him, then continued, “These days, the royal guard’s chief instructor, Captain Lin, Daoist Yun Chenzi of the Spiritual Crane Temple, and that whatever Sword-Saber Alliance’s leader, were sent back defeated, unable to beat the Vajrayana monk.”

Zhao Mu was slightly surprised internally.

Of the three, he had only heard of the chief instructor from the royal guards, Lin Shiheng.

The captain they referred to had a leopard-like eye with a bushy beard. With that, he was nicknamed “Leopard-Head”.

He had impressive skills with a focus on poles and spears.

The weapons training and close combat skills were mostly monitored by this person.

“Even Captain Lin lost?”

Zhao Mu was quite surprised.

Was the monk from the Great Boundless Palace that powerful?

Seventh Mortal Stage, Titan Stage.

It was recorded in the Buddhist scriptures that dragons had the greatest strength among water dwellers and elephants were the greatest among land dwellers, making them each the titans of their own world.

That was why those in the Titan Stage would develop their body to the extreme, polishing them to a terrifying degree.

Each motion would contain the strength of a flood dragon and the might of an elephant.

They could be considered indestructible and unrivaled!

It would never be an easy task to determine a victor during a duel of two at the same stage.

However, the Vajrayana monk won several matches in a row. That was truly mind-boggling.

“Yeah. That Vajrayana monk’s moves are strange. He has seven glowing discs around him as though he was a living Arhat. With eighteen consecutive fists, he even broke Captain Lin’s spear that was made from refined iron.”

Zhao Yuan described it vividly, as though he witnessed it with his own eyes.

“It’s because this is under the emperor’s nose that the sects are not going all out. Otherwise, if we invited the experts from the Three Great Sects, the monk might not be as mighty as he is now.”

Zhao Mu nodded lightly. The imperial court and the sects had a strained relationship.

Furthermore, with the Four Guardian Commanders and Marques Zhao Kai standing guard, none of them would think of placing their sect in Tianjing City.

‘With this, I’m afraid the Black Dragon Altar will suffer punishment,’ Zhao Mu thought silently to himself.

The men from the Great Boundless Palace were running rampant and showing off within the capital of the Zhou Empire.

If news of that reaches the emperor, he would definitely be furious.

From the looks of it, the four commanders will be having quite some bad luck.

‘It has nothing to do with me anyway.’

Zhao Mu shook his head.

Those days, he would either be studying martial arts in the underground stone chamber or circulating his true Qi while ingesting all sorts of elixirs to help him condense his blood essence.

Fifth Mortal Stage, Foundation Establishment Stage.

It focused on refining one’s Qi essence, condensing blood essence, and manifesting the root bone.

It would one 15, 30, or even up to 60 years for the process.

Zhao Mu had ingested the Blood Bodhi, Qi nurturing elixirs, meridian nurturing elixirs, and even the Nine Aperture Golden Elixir.

With all the strong medicinal strength accumulated in his body, they then activated all in one go, melding into his sea of Qi within his dantian, transforming into innate blood essences.

His body’s strength increased day by day.

Leveling up in peace was much better than seeking trouble outside.

“When is the imperial court planning to meet the Yuanmeng Empire’s ambassador envoy?” Zhao Mu asked casually.

“It should be tomorrow. They will be meeting the envoy at noon and throwing a banquet for them at night,” Zhao Yuan replied.

By then, all the princes would have to be present.

Zhao Mu was no exception.