Faced with Yang Kui’s accusation, Wang Ping remained calm. He feigned ignorance, asking, "And who might your son be?"

Yang Kui immediately unrolled a scroll. It depicted a dashing young man with a handsome face, dressed in a long white robe. He stood beneath a peach blossom tree, a folding fan in his hand.

The two officials accompanying Yang Kui then unrolled two more scrolls. The painting on the left showed the scene of Yang Jing and his servant frozen solid. The painting on the right depicted a vast expanse of land encased in ice—rivers, mountains, villages, and towns had not been spared.

"Was this your doing, Daoist?"

Suppressing his rage, Yang Kui pointed at the three scrolls and glared at Wang Ping.

Wang Ping’s expression remained placid. He met Yang Kui’s gaze and said, "If you mean those bandits, then yes. I was the one who eliminated them, a service to the people."

"You! My son is the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War! How could he be a bandit? You..."

"My memory of whether or not he was a bandit is quite clear. Do you dare to see for yourself?" Wang Ping extended his hand, and a cyan halo of light appeared in his palm.

Without waiting for Yang Kui’s reply, he sent the halo of light into the center of everyone’s forehead.

A stunned expression washed over everyone present.

"And this proves my son was a bandit? He clearly stated his identity!"

"Has your official post addled your brain?"

Wang Ping looked at Yang Kui, amused. "His actions were banditry, plain and simple. He even tried to steal the artifact in my possession. Not annihilating his entire clan was an act of extraordinary mercy. What more could you possibly want? For me to see this matter through to the end?"

Yang Kui was seething. Just as he was about to speak, someone beside him leaned in and whispered in his ear.

The man had not even finished speaking when the sound of hoofbeats echoed from the end of the street. Another contingent of the Imperial Guard galloped toward them, led by a presiding priest in a pale yellow robe.

He reined in his horse about a hundred feet from Wang Ping and dismounted swiftly. Leading a group of Imperial Guards, he walked forward. Without so much as a glance at Yang Kui, he stopped at the foot of the steps before Wang Ping. He took a wooden box from an Imperial Guard Captain, held it respectfully with both hands, and offered it to Wang Ping. "This is something you left behind, Daoist."

"Oh?" Wang Ping was intrigued but didn’t reach for it.

"After we cleansed the contaminated Spirit Body of the Taiyan Cultivator, we captured his Primordial Spirit. This box contains that Primordial Spirit. It is rightfully your spoil of war, Daoist!"

The presiding priest explained graciously.

"How very thoughtful of you."

Wang Ping accepted. This was the key for a Taiyan Cultivator to ascend to the Third Realm. He knew the Emperor had sent it in the hopes that he would cultivate Xia Wen Yi to the Third Realm.

’As for who to train,’ he thought, ’that will depend on who is more talented.’

Seeing Wang Ping accept the box, the priest’s smile widened slightly. He turned, gestured to the Imperial Guard he had brought, and said, "Daoist, you must be returning to Nanlin Road. The journey may not be safe, so please allow them to escort you. The spirit of every one of them is connected to the Imperial Palace."

Wang Ping followed the priest’s gaze, studying the two squads of Imperial Guards more closely. They were clad head-to-toe in silvery-white heavy plate armor, their faces obscured by identical black masks. Most striking of all was their spiritual presence. It formed a permanent Sacrificial Array, with faint golden threads of light stretching from them all the way to the Imperial Palace.

’They feel like puppets,’ Wang Ping thought, ’but I know they’re not.’ He suspected they possessed special bodies, transformed by a Divine Technique. Like the Emperor, their bodies had to constantly withstand the corrosion of that Divine Technique. As long as their physical reserves held out, they would be as strong as tigers.

"Please thank His Majesty for his kind intentions, but I prefer to travel alone."

’I don’t want to be so conspicuous,’ he thought.

The priest wasn’t surprised by Wang Ping’s refusal. He smiled. "Then I will return to make my report."

With that, he turned decisively, mounted his horse, and led his two squads of Imperial Guard away. From start to finish, he never once spared Yang Kui a glance.

Yang Kui’s face was thunderous. Finally, he said to the men beside him, "We’re going to the Imperial Palace!"

The Emperor’s last move had been a strong one, but he was still heavily reliant on mortals. It was clear that this Prime Minister Yang intended to leverage the power of his clan to have a "discussion" with the Emperor.

Wang Ping couldn’t care less. He reached out his hand, catching one of the large snowflakes that had begun to fall again, and stepped off the stairs.

...

Shangjing City was quite large, and Wang Ping didn’t make it out of the gates until Late Afternoon.

The journey was uneventful. He wasn’t worried about Zi Hong and the others, either. As a precaution, he had erased all traces of his presence before entering the West Garden.

In the first month of the year, the sky over Shangjing City was already dark by 5:00 PM.

Wang Ping walked along the frosted, straight road, gazing out at the vast, dimly visible landscape, faintly illuminated by the distant glow of the bustling city’s lights. For some reason, he felt a flicker of anticipation for the Xiao Shan Lord’s ascension.

He glanced back at Shangjing City with anticipation, then gave a soft wave of his hand. A faint pulse of Wood Spirit Qi shimmered into existence over the vast tracts of farmland on either side of the road. In the next instant, the winter cabbages in the fields began to grow at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Haha!"

Wang Ping let out a hearty laugh. His body became a streak of light, vanishing into the roiling Wood Spirit Qi. A few moments later, two figures appeared where he had been standing. One of them produced a bronze-like Eight Trigrams Plate. A complex Array was etched onto its surface, within which a gray Demon Race spirit was sealed.

They lingered for only a moment before transforming into two streaks of light themselves, skimming just above the ground in swift pursuit.

「Half an Hour Later.」

The sky was now completely dark.

The two figures landed in front of an abandoned camp by a riverbank.

A large bonfire blazed within the camp. Wang Ping sat before it, watching the two newcomers coldly. "How should I address you two Fellow Daoists?" he asked.

"You knew we were coming, yet you waited for us. That doesn’t seem like your style. What are you banking on?"

One of the men stepped closer to the bonfire, revealing his face. He was a middle-aged man with a square jaw, a mustache, and a dignified air. He wore a purple robe befitting a high-ranking Military Officer, though it bore no insignia.

Wang Ping smiled. "I wasn’t the one waiting for you. Someone else was."

The square-jawed man froze, instinctively halting his advance. He paused for a fraction of a second, then shot backward. But just as he tried to flee, two pillars of milky-white light engulfed him and his companion.

"You—" The single word was all he managed before his body vanished without a trace, as if dissolved by the light.

"Many thanks, Fellow Daoist!"

Guan Xi appeared at the edge of the firelight, where light and shadow intertwined. His body flickered, making for a dramatic entrance. He held two Primordial Spirits in his hand—the ones belonging to the two recent arrivals.

"Their memories are important!"

As he spoke, Guan Xi stored the two Primordial Spirits away and took out the Eight Trigrams Plate the men had used to track Wang Ping. "My lucky day," he mused. "Scored a nice little item."

"Aren’t you going to explain, Fellow Daoist?" Wang Ping asked as Guan Xi walked closer.

Guan Xi chuckled and quickly explained, "The man you were talking to is named Yang Guangyuan, a Commander of the Court’s Imperial Guard. And don’t give me that look—he had nothing to do with the earlier fight. He’s connected to a different matter entirely. For example... he’s the one who plotted against your Qianmu Temple more than two hundred years ago."