Just as the edge of Huang Xiaolong's robe disappeared into the void and Han Fei's body tumbled to the floor, a figure rushed over, piercing through the wind.
"Who dares to make trouble in my Chen Mansion!!"
This person was an old man in his eighties, with bright green irises, clad in a mulberry robe. This old man was the Chen Mansion's Chief Steward, Jiang Rong.
Jiang Rong floated down to the floor. Watching Chen Dingyuan and Han Fei laying in a pool of blood, he paled noticeably.
"Young Master Dingyuan!" He reached Chen Dingyuan's body in a few strides, crying out almost hysterically.
Before long, the news shook the entire Chen Mansion, assembling Chen Mansion's over a thousand experts to search for the murderer while Huang Xiaolong was already on his way to Northside Merchant City's gates. However, when he arrived at the city, it was on lockdown.
Seeing the city gates tightly shut, Huang Xiaolong sneered coldly. Walking to a deserted alley, Huang Xiaolong's silhouette disappeared into thin air, emerging again inside the Xumi Temple hall. Activating the Ten Buddha Formation, the golden mountain shrunk to the size of a sand grain as Huang Xiaolong controlled its flight, flying out of Northside Merchant City high up in the troposphere.
Of course, Huang Xiaolong had other methods of leaving the city such as using Archduke Ma Bo's token or the Blessed Buddha Token Shi Fantian gave him. However, either one of these actions would attract too much attention. Since he had decided to leave, he didn't want to lead troubles his way.
Out from the Northside Merchant City, Huang Xiaolong continued to travel via the Godly Mt. Xumi, flying southward. Two hours had passed by the time he decided to stop.
In those two hours, Huang Xiaolong activated the Ten Buddha Formation to control the Godly Mt. Xumi's flight, exhausting his battle qi supply. Huang Xiaolong's battle qi and internal force were comparable to a Xiantian Fifth Order's battle qi, yet it was only enough for him to supply the Godly Mt. Xumi with two hours of energy. One can imagine the taxing and terrifying amount of energy needed to activate the Godly Mt. Xumi.
Descending to the ground, Huang Xiaolong went to the side hall, swallowed a drop of Geocentric Buddha Elixir and started the recovery of his battle qi and internal force.
One day later, Huang Xiaolong stopped cultivating, both his battle qi and internal force were brimming full. 'I wonder how long the Godly Mt. Xumi can fly if I used grade one spirit stones to activate the Ten Buddha Formation.' Just as he was thinking to himself, Huang Xiaolong's hand already moved, taking out a grade one spirit stone from the Asura Ring.
With a flick, Huang Xiaolong sent the grade one spirit stone to the center of the Ten Buddha Formation. The sacred ancient formation reacted instantly! The energy contained within the grade one spirit stone whirled out in a hurricane of energy as the formation shone brightly, activating and tearing the space by itself.
The grade one spirit stone lasted two days at the core of the Ten Buddha Formation before it cracked and crumbled into dust, dissipating in the air.
Huang Xiaolong, who was practicing the Godly Xumi Art, furrowed his brows slightly; a piece of grade one spirit stone lasted only two days. Grade one spirit stones were extremely rare, even if he offered ten thousand gold coins in the auction houses, he might not be able to buy one. The cost was too high.
On the bright side, after the four treasures merged into one, Huang Xiaolong noticed when he was practicing the Godly Xumi Art in the Ten Buddha Formation that the Fire Dragon qi from the Linglong Treasure Pagoda, the ancient God Tribe's energy from the God Binding Ring and the soul qi from the Absolute Soul Pearl were tempering his physique just like the Buddhism energy from Godly Mt. Xumi's Ten Buddha Formation.
Four different types of energy tempering his body as he cultivated greatly enhanced Huang Xiaolong's progress speed, so much that he could feel the improvement in strength every single day. The continuous tempering by these four great energies elevated Huang Xiaolong's physical defense to higher than that of a Xiantian Fifth Order, both in defense and power aspects.
Huang Xiaolong journeyed back to Duanren Empire while practicing in the Xumi Temple, leaving behind Blessed Buddha Empire's territory quickly. However, due to the unbearable price of activating the Godly Mt. Xumi for flight, most of the time Huang Xiaolong preferred not to use it. Calculating the journey's time span, he would use a grade one spirit stone every four days on the Ten Buddha Formation.
Although grade one spirit stones were valuable, this way, Huang Xiaolong wouldn't delay his journey nor his cultivation. He had just enough grade one spirit stones for him to reach Duanren Empire, he would think of a way to procure more in the future.
Four months came and went.
Huang Xiaolong rushed and finally made it back to Duanren Empire.
In cultivation, the higher the realm, the harder it was to progress and Huang Xiaolong was no exception. After breaking through into Xiantian Fourth Order, his cultivation speed was slower compared to prior. Still, he managed to reach peak late-Xiantian Fourth Order in four months' time, half a step more and he could advance into Xiantian Fifth Order.
Just as Huang Xiaolong calculated, his twenty pieces of grade one spirit stones were spot on. The last one crumbled to dust as he arrived in Duanren Empire's territory and he spent another ten days to reach Duanren Imperial City. Staring at the familiar city gates before him, an inexplicable emotion washed over Huang Xiaolong's heart, just like what he felt after returning to the Huang Clan Manor from Luo Tong Royal City the first time he left home, more than a decade ago.
Inhaling deeply, Huang Xiaolong lifted his foot and walked towards the city gates.
There weren't many changes to Duanren Imperial City, scenes filled his eyes that weren't that much different a year and a half ago, still as bustling and lively, the endless lines of carriages and prosperous buildings on the streets.
"In a few days, it is the Guo and Huang Family's big wedding celebration. I heard that this time, all of the over one thousand kingdoms under Duanren Empire sent either their emissary or Prince to congratulate the event!"
"Not only that! The news I heard is that even Emperor Duanren himself would be appearing at the wedding ceremony!"
"What is that Huang Xiaolong's real identity? Also, what is the relationship between out Emperor Duanren and his guard Zhao Shu?"
"Who knows, but I heard Huang Xiaolong is not in the Imperial City at the moment."
Huang Xiaolong listened to the grapevine around him as he strolled along the streets.
His younger sister Huang Min and Guo Tai's wedding was in three days, a union between the Guo and Huang Families, and the Imperial City was in a festive atmosphere with colorful lanterns hung high in the streets.
Catching the young men in front saying Huang Xiaolong wasn't in the Imperial City as the moment, Huang Xiaolong couldn't resist laughing, "Little brother, where did you hear it from that Huang Xiaolong is not in the Imperial City at this time?"
The young man who heard Huang Xiaolong calling out to him turned around, scrutinized Huang Xiaolong up and down a few times before laughing, "Little brother? You don't seem to be that much older than me. I have a close brother that is working as a guard in the Huang Estate, of course I would know. From your appearance, you must have followed your family's elders over to the Imperial City to congratulate the Huang Estate right?"
Huang Xiaolong was stunned for a moment at the young man's words. He laughed it off and did not say anything. However, this young man seemed to be someone from the lower kingdoms, thus he did not recognize Huang Xiaolong's face.
Seeing that Huang Xiaolong did not deny, the young man thought he had guessed correctly, "This must be your first time in Duanren Imperial City right?"
At this time, an abrupt ruckus swept the bustling streets, a series of surprise and shock exclamations rang in the air.
Huang Xiaolong and the two young men looked over and saw a group of people sprinting down the busy streets on horsebacks.
One of the young men paled: "It's the Tie Family's people!"
"Tie Family?" Huang Xiaolong was puzzled.
"The Tie Family is also the Guo Family's in-laws. The current Patriarch of Guo Family, Guo Shiwen's younger sister, Guo Xiaoqing, is married to the Tie Family's Patriarch, Tie Fang!" The same young man explained.