Yun Jhin had his eyes closed as he finished refining the last pill that he created, his 3rd jewel was shining extremely brightly on his crown as he reached the 9th stage of the refinery.
He was ready to make a breakthrough to the 4th stage of the King Realm!
To construct a life jewel he wouldn't need any special ingredients what he would need would be knowledge, a lot of knowledge about life. However, this was the thing that Yun Jhin lacked the least, he lived countless lives and went through tons of adversity.
He knew how life worked in the back of his palm, his yellow-colored life jewel was quickly taking form while spinning inside his soul space, it didn't take much time for it to be fully formed, it was octagonal and it had the character of life inscribed on it automatically by Yun Jhin's soul.
Without any fanfare, the jewel was inserted into his fourth slot on the crown, his body started shining as it filled with a high amount of life force to the point his skin peeled multiple times and regrew, his body rank didn't increase but its strength increase was of an extreme amount as it was filled with life force, with the current life force flowing through his body he was sure that he could live for at least 30,000 years, normally a King Realm expert around his cultivation base would live for around 10,000 years if he was a human.
Since he was a halfling he would live around 15,000 years, but the life force coming from his life jewel double that amount!
Yun Jhin clenched his fists as he could feel the pure life force coursing through his veins for a certain amount of time before it became tame and meek as his body was fully accustomed to the change.
Now that he was at the 4th stage of the King Realm he was sure that he would get a slot in the upcoming imperial tournament, as long as he didn't have to fight an Emperor realm expert, there were none in the King Realm that could defeat him currently unless they had a refined body as good as his along with a very peculiar jewel combination as his, so if there wasn't a second Yun Jhin existing in the Empire there was no chance he wouldn't get a slot!
The Zhu family had a high chance to get 2 slots for the tournament as Zhu Cheng had a high chance of defeating the Emperor realm bracket while Yun Jhin could get a slot as well, unfortunately, only one person could get a place each, so Yun Jhin couldn't hog all of the other slots, in total the Zhu Family could have 5 slots in total, that meant they could get in 5 young geniuses and 5 elders if they won the tournament as Yun Jhin thought.
Yun Jhin breathed out a small cloud of impurities that disintegrated in the air very quickly, there wasn't anything much to do now besides waiting for more hearts and herbs to be sent to him, while hearts would easy to get as Zhu Cheng was sending in a steady supply of them weekly, herbs were scarcer as the Zhu Family didn't have a high monopoly of the capital's herbs, the most profitable businesses were in the hands of the Sikong Family.
Yun Jhin sighed as he left his room, since there wasn't anything to do besides of slowly accumulating starlight he decided that he shouldn't waste his time on such an endeavor.
Unfortunately, the last pills couldn't help him refine his new jewel and it sat at the 1st stage of the refinery currently.
Yun Jhin walked around the Zhu household and observed the training youths that used the public training areas, he observed the formations that surrounded the building and tried to find any weak points if somehow in the future he would become enemies with the Zhu Family and he would need to do a quick getaway.
While he walked around the place, Zhu Cheng was getting reports about his previous exploits:
"Lived in the danger zones for 10 days and above? took over an empire? made the giant tribe and a local sect fight to the death? Hmm, it seems the Sumo Empire made him do quite a few things while he was undercover, I wonder what does this mean, does the Sump Empire want to expand their territory to the middle continents and below? Very unlikely they are too poor..."
Zhu Cheng shook his head as he looked at the freshest report that said Yun Jhin went out of closed-door cultivation, it was around 3 weeks left before the tournament began and it seemed Yun Jhin couldn't stay still anymore.
Zhu Cheng decided to leave his chambers as well, he wanted to see how much did his 'friend' improve during his closed-door cultivation, he coincidentally met with Yun Jhin as he made it look like he was wandering around the family compounds just like Yun Jhin was doing.
Zhu Cheng greeted Yun Jhin with a smile and the following words:
"Oh, brother Yun Jhin, it seems you have improved your cultivation again, it wasn't even a long time ago since you came to the family and you already improved in 1 stage, aren't you talented?"
Yun Jhin gave out a small smile but inside he was sneering heavily, he knew that Zhu Cheng wanted to test his battle power and he might even invite him to another 'youth gathering' like the previous one.
And he did just as Yun Jhin suspected, along with promising him that he would get him some herbs if he did what he said again, Yun Jhin accepted and this reinforced Zhu Cheng's thought that Yun Jhin could be easily manipulated using resources which made him grown into a bigger fool and country bumpkin in his eyes.
Yun Jhin followed Zhu Cheng around the capital but instead of going to the same restaurant as before they now went to the compound of the Bugo family where they met with Bugo Shun.
Bugo Shun invited them in the house and asked why did Zhu Cheng contact him, when he heard that he wanted Yun Jhin to spar with one of his general he just gave out a small smile and said that all of his general were in closed-door cultivation, he saw what happened to Sikong Cui's subordinate and knew that Zhu Cheng came here to make trouble for him, even though he technically on his side in the imperial tournament no one would hold back anything unless they were from the same family.
Zhu Cheng couldn't force him to make a general spar with Yun Jhin so he just gave him a silent smile that meant he wouldn't have a good time if he met him during the Imperial Tournament.
Zhu Cheng came increasingly depressed as no one wanted to spar with Yun Jhin and they returned swiftly to the Zhu Family household, Zhu Cheng didn't say anything as he returned to his room without even telling Yun Jhin goodbye, Yun Jhin knew that Zhu Cheng felt that his authority among the younger generation was challenged as no one did what he told them to.
However, why would they? Even though they respected him on the surface everyone still hated and loathed him, even though Sikong Cui was cold and annoying at least she wasn't a pain in the ass as Zhu Cheng was, he was petty prone to anger, and very vengeful, this could be already seen as he contacted Yun Jhin and told him to assassinate some of the low-level disciples of their families.
Yun Jhin of course just said that he doesn't have time to do that as he got some enlightenment and had to rush back to closed-door cultivation and he might not be able to exit before the tournament began.
Zhu Cheng was almost frothing at the mouth as Yun Jhin didn't accept his order as a good dog would, but on the surface, he was calm as an old well.
He knew he couldn't put all of his eggs in one basket by making Yun Jhin his only general so he decided to confront the twins as they were the more easily swayed ones in the Zhu Family.
When Zhu Cheng met with the twins they were playing chess in their room, Zhu Cheng closed the room's door behind him, the twins got up from their cross-legged positions on the ground and glared at Zhu Cheng but before they could say anything an Imperial aura enveloped the both of them and sent them to the ground.
Zhu Cheng tried to forcefully recruit them into his faction but the twins held fast under the pressure and didn't relent even though their bones cracked and their internal organs were getting squished, the sole reason Zhu Cheng wasn't very respected in the family was that he was an outsider like Yun Jhin, he was taken in the family by the patriarch after he saw his potential in a fighting pit below the capital.
Even though he was strong and young the others looked down on him due to him not being of the same blood as them, especially since he entered the family he was extremely violent and had no manners, with time he grew accustomed to the customs of nobility but inside he was the same violent brute that used to fight in the pits under the capital.
Zhu Cheng gritted his teeth till they bleed as he left the twins room, he knew that the patriarch was watching what he was doing, while he didn't interfere he wasn't sure if he was supportive of what he was doing.
Zhu Cheng sighed, he wasn't very smart as he didn't have a good education since young, he was street smart at best and he only started to start scheming after he got taken in to be nobility, however, he was still very prone to anger and he realized what he did was an enormous mistake, he slicked back his hair as he returned to his room and decided to cultivate for the next 3 weeks until the imperial tournament started so he could cool off his head.
Yun Jhin opened his eyes as he knew it was time to go, he could feel that some attendant from the family was here to wake him up and tell him that the tournament would begin soon.
Yun Jhin opened the door of his room as he frightened the attendant that was ready to knock on the door, the attendant bowed his head low as he told Yun Jhin that the tournament would be starting soon and the head of the house was ready to take them to the imperial palace where the tournament would be hosted.
Yun Jhin ignored the attendant as he went to the open area inside the compound of the family, there were hundreds of cultivators at the 9th stage as every cultivator at the 9th stage at the King realm returned to the family.
Yun Jhin was the only exception as his cultivation was only at the 4th stage but no one pointed at him or laughed as Zhu Cheng was behind him and coming slowly to hug him. The hug was quite forceful as Yun Jhin's bones made cracking sounds for a bit.
Yun Jhin gave a forced smile as Zhu Cheng patted him on the shoulder and said:
"Let's make sure we both do our best in this tournament alright?"
His smile was as fake as it could get, it seemed his cultivation session didn't cool off his head fully.
The head of the family shook his head as he saw Zhu Cheng's acting, he was only putting up with him because he was very talented, he knew that his personality needed fixing and he tried countless times but all he did was make him hide his personality inside, he wasn't sure why his true personality was resurfacing but what he was sure off was that it wasn't a good thing.
Yun Jhin and the crowd were taken to the imperial palace and there they met with the others, Yun Jhin only had eyes for those at the Emperor realm as he didn't care about those at the King Realm anymore, unfortunately, there wasn't any surprise as Sikong Cui and the two others were the only ones at the Emperor realm along with Zhu Cheng. He wanted to see if he could defeat a newly broken through Emperor realm expert but it seemed there was no luck.
Zhu Cheng gave out a hearty smile as he saw Sikong Cui and asked her:
"Did Miss Cui's cultivation base advanced in these three months?"
Sikong Cui didn't say anything as she ignored him, the other two chatted for a little bit with Zhu Cheng before the Emperor appeared.
The Luo Emperor was a hearty man with a robust build and blue colored hair, his imperial robe was adorned with moons and stars and his aura was pure and peaceful, you wouldn't think that this man was a powerhouse at the peak of the God Realm who could control the elements and all of the lives of the people in front of him.
The Emperor didn't give any speech or anything, he just waved his hand and two arenas appeared, one was for the Emperor realm of the younger generation while the other was for the King Realm.
The Emperor realm experts would secure the 1st spot and the other spots would be distributed to those at the King Realm.
Yun Jhin watched as his soul aura was scanned and then randomly intertwined with someone from the crowd, this was the way people would be matched up to fight.
His aura was intertwined with a skinny man with a pale complexion, he was coughing constantly as he stood there and you wouldn't think he would be of the younger generation by his complexion, but his life force said otherwise.
Yun Jhin was one of the first people that had to fight so he jumped on the arena after a few fights went by, the sickly man jumped on the arena as well but he almost fell because he couldn't control his body properly.
Yun Jhin knew that this was an act as he tried to act like a pig to eat the tiger, Yun Jhin decided to play along with him as he would be a pig as well.
Yun Jhin wasn't very popular in the capital but a lot of people still heard of him and his exploits at the younger generation gathering, so the sickly man didn't bite into Yun Jhin's act at first and kept a defensive stance.
Yun Jhin shook his head as he looked at him, acting up and then not following? Quite disappointing, Yun Jhin told him directly:
"I guess I will send you on your way if you don't want to play."
The man frowned as he didn't understand what Yun Jhin meant but then his eyes widened as he looked down and realized that he was pushed off the arena before he felt what happened!