I added a few more images in the Illustrations chapters. Go ahead and take a look!
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Long Term Goal
At the gate of the number 201 courtyard stood a tall and thin male figure.
Adorned in the same black robe that Xue Bai was wearing, the male figure stood at an above-average height of 1.85 meters, and because of that, his sword-shaped eyebrows were flexed high as he looked down on the slightly shorter Xue Bai.
The man had pristine white skin, with fair hands that weren't very much inferior to a woman, and while he did look slightly effeminate, once someone looked at his chiseled chin or deeply profound eyes, those thoughts would be thrown out of the window.
Overall he was an extremely handsome man. However, when Xue Bai looked at his overly arrogant and pompous facial expression, he couldn't help but grow a slight dislike for him.
The man obviously didn't know this, and most likely, even if he did, he wouldn't care. So rather than drop his haughty act, he instead calmly placed his hands behind his back and then fully released his peak stage Qi Sea realm cultivation base.
"Brat! I asked you a question. And I don't like to repeat myself!" The man shouted once more, thinking that Xue Bai was ignoring him.
Xue Bai promptly ignored the man and his deranged shouting and tried to walk past him.
If he wasn't the courtyard's new owner, then who was?
Did this idiot think that he was just here to sightsee?
Shaking his head slightly, Xue Bai thought the average IQ of Gen Empire citizens must've been low.
"Wait! Dammit, brat, I am speaking to you!" Enraged at the blatant disregard, Lin Fu blew a fuse.
Not holding back anymore, he sent a blast at Xue Bai, who had just passed by him.
At this point, Xue Bai's back had been to the man, and Lin Fu knew this. And his attack was ruthless and full of complete malicious intent. Obviously, he wanted to sneak attack Xue Bai and maim him.
However, Xue Bai hadn't let his guard down, and just before Lin Fu's attack hit him, he activated his physique and disappeared from the plane of reality.
"Huh?" Lin Fu was stunned. But before he could react or even grasp what had happened, he felt a chill on his back.
Trusting the instincts he developed through years of combat experience, Lin Fu's skin glowed as he used his movement technique and instantly turned into three illusory figures that each leaped a different way.
And his instincts were right, as not even a split second after he moved away from his original position, a bright molten red-colored sword appeared out of thin air and swung exactly where his neck was.
Horrified at the sudden life-threatening attack, Lin Fu looked at the owner of the lava-red sword.
'It's that brat!?'
The culprit was obviously Xue Bai. However, now, unlike his tired expression before, Xue Bai had a calm, almost emotionless expression as he slashed at the open air where Lin Fu once was.
ραпdα Йᴏνêl(сòm) Yet to further shock Lin Fu, Xue Bai whispered something to himself.
"Oh? You dodged it?" Xue Bai was slightly shocked at the man's reaction time.
'That's what you're worried about!' Lin Fu felt like crying after he heard Xue Bai's muttering.
While Lin Fu had used a movement technique to increase the distance between the two, he didn't go that far and was only a few dozen meters away, so he could obviously hear Xue Bai's whispering.
And after hearing and processing Xue Bai's words, he suddenly felt like the person he provoked wasn't simple but instead was a calamity walking.
Xue Bai, however, didn't care about the man's thoughts and instead felt disappointed.
'I still can't kill someone in the Qi Sea realm yet. Their Spirit Meridians give them too much of an advantage.' Xue Bai downheartedly thought.
In his entire life, Xue Bai had always been able to cross stages to fight, but it had always been in reasonable amounts. It started from a simple 1 stage leapfrog ability back in his Vein Transformation realm days to his peak of being able to cross five stages when he joined the Soaring Sword Sect.
However, now that Xue Bai had a new heaven-defying physique and comprehended a Dao, Xue Bai felt that to honor his achievements, he should at least be able to leapfrog an entire realm. So once he recognized the fact that he couldn't kill the peak stage Qi Sea realm Lin Fu, Xue Bai couldn't help but be disappointed in himself.
'Well, I have all the time I need and even more whetstones at my grasp. By the time I get back home, I should be able to fight at least a realm and a half above my cultivation level.'
Xue Bai quickly found himself a long-term goal.
But while he was thinking about his less-than-prideful display of strength, Lin Fu was about to lose his mind.
"Are you mad!!" Lin Fu yelled out after he noticed that Xue Bai still looked so nonchalant and even had the time to think over his attack seconds after he tried to kill him.
However, Xue Bai didn't answer the man's question but instead calmly sheathed his sword first.
"You attacked me first." Xue Bai shrugged his shoulders, not caring for the man's shock, "It's only right for me to attack back."
Lin Fu was silenced by Xue Bai's reply.
Yes, of course, Xue Bai could counterattack. Lin Fu had only shouted out of fear and instinct.
It was just that Lin Fu was shocked beyond belief by both Xue Bai's mysterious disappearance and his teleportation.
Of course, being such at Xue Bai's heaven-defying actions was extremely reasonable, but since Lin Fu didn't know how to express his confusion and shock clearly, he could only speak rather stupid words.
Xue Bai could sense the man's lack of sensibility and once again ignored him and continued walking into his courtyard.
"Head Instructor Li gave me this courtyard, and I am going to use it! If you have a problem, bring it up with the old bag of bones. Other than that, leave me the hell alone!" Xue Bai angrily spoke before he slammed the gates shut.
'I'm going to make sure Liu Mei 'greets' that bastard well!'
–
A few miles away from the Imperial Palace, where Xue Bai woke up, sat an equally extravagant and luxurious palace.
With dozens of extra manors and hundreds of separate courtyards that were fit enough for a king, the Grand Duke's Tianmen Palace was something that commoners could only worship.
And since the Grand Duke himself, the 'second-ranked' person on the Empirical ladder, lived there, many people would visit the Tianmen Palace daily in hopes that they could see the Grand Duke himself.
However, since the Grand Duke was a busy man, rarely did the people ever have a chance to see him.
After all, the man had to manipulate the shadows from the shadows while sucking up to a Master. So how could he have the time to go out and socialize with the public? And even if he did have the time, Long Tian looked down on the commoners from the bottom of his heart, so why would he ever converse with them?
Yet, this long-held truth was broken, as while many people took photos in front of the Tianmen Palace or were just sightseeing, for the first time in, most likely ever, the Grand Duke appeared!
Moreover, this time, instead of flying overhead and landing in his palace without even looking at a commoner, he was walking!
But once Long Tian walked closer and closer to his palace, the commoners realized something was very wrong with the Grand Duke.
"Hey, doesn't the Grand Duke look a little… beat up?" One man couldn't help but say as they noticed Long Tian's disheveled look.
Curious and with slight disbelief, the small crowd around the Grand Duke's Tianmen Palace looked at the Grand Duke, who was now in their line of sight.
At this point, Long Tian's once pristine and dust-free Imperial Dragon Robe was almost entirely covered in both metal dust and mud. While his black hair was half white from all of the dust, it sucked up during the time he had spent inside of the wall.
"That damn bird! Once Master kills her, I'll dry age her a century before slowly frying her! No, that won't vent my anger!" While Long Tian was forced to bottle up his revenge because of the strength gap between him and Liu Mei, it didn't mean he couldn't plan his eventual revenge.
So as he walked toward his home, he couldn't help but plot how he would deal with Liu Mei once his Master avenged him.
And because of how deep he was in his own thoughts of revenge, he ignored the crowd of commoners around his palace gates who were discussing his ragged appearance.
"You're right. The Grand Duke does look beat up."
"But who would dare beat up the Grand Duke? Not even the Academy Head would dare to lay a finger on the Grand Duke, and he is the strongest person in the Gen Empire."
Discussions ensued, and very quickly, many theories were made, but since no one knew the truth, they stayed theories.
Eventually, Long Tian got to the gates of his palace, and as he did, he obviously noticed the dozens of people discussing his miserable appearance. But since the man was already in a horrible mood, hearing a crowd of people making fun of him, Long Tian reacted horribly.
"Peasants, leave my home!" Long Tian shouted as he sent out a blast of Spiritual Qi around him, sending the people flying in different directions like ragdolls.
"AH!"
Shouts covered the area, and Long Tian heard many gruesome injuries, but since he thought of all the people here being beneath him, he didn't care.
"Guards! Take out the trash! And if I hear a single cry, shout, or complaint in the next week from any of these people, then you all can join them!" And with a wave of his wrist, Long Tian opened his palace gates and entered.
"Yes, Grand Duke!" The many guards shouted in compliance. But once the Grand Duke left, their obedient and peaceful eyes changed tones, and they turned malicious.
If even the head of a faction was corrupt, how could the lower branches not be?
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