Chapter 393: Chapter 392 Imperial City Commander, Calculating Every Step

After leaving the Subspace, Li Jing released control over the attendants of the Princess of Da Xia from his Spirit God whispering.

Due to the subconscious suggestion, they only remembered that the convoy was robbed, not even recalling that they had entered the Subspace.

Looking at the convoy, now only comprised of twelve fine horses, everyone was at a loss.

They couldn’t believe that they had been so easily robbed and had no memory of how it happened.

It felt as if it had never happened at all.

What had plunged the two male and two female "powerful guards" into collective self-closure was

As soon as they regained consciousness, they found that their storage spaces, housing years of precious treasures, were emptied, nothing was left.

For them,

This was simply a devastating loss...

What’s worse, they didn’t even know what had happened.

Upon suddenly finding Li Jing and Liu Sisi amongst their group, everyone was immediately on their guard.

Even though they had no recollection of anything, how could they not be on edge when two strangers in simple clothes seemingly appeared out of nowhere after such a shocking event?

At that point, the Princess of Da Xia stepped forward and explained the situation to everyone.

Don’t you know,

Despite being a common person at the mercy of her subordinates’ duplicity at every turn, her words carried a significant degree of persuasion.

After all, she was the one who suffered the largest loss from the convoy.

Two extraordinary treasures, tons of high-quality spiritual objects; she, a mere mortal, could not have collected them using her own power.

And her subordinates were no help either.

True,

She had four guards from the Six Realm.

However, these four wouldn’t unconditionally pledge their loyalty to help her collect spiritual objects. Instead, they would only bleed her dry, basking in the resources she provided.

All the items that the princess had arranged to be taken from the Imperial City to the Emperor of the Da Xia as a birthday gift were painstakingly gathered and bought by her own means and with the taxes she had painfully collected from her territorial holdings over the years.

As mentioned earlier,

This princess was not particularly favored.

Her princess status was reserved only because the blood of the Da Xia Emperor flowed in her veins, giving her a certain "commercial value" to the Royal Family, where she could serve as a political pawn to be married off when needed.

An incapable princess who had no chance of advancing in the path of cultivation,

The Da Xia Emperor himself did not hold her in high esteem and even found her objectionable.

How could his lineage tolerate such a useless person?

For various reasons, barring a few ceremonies and rituals, the princess was seldom allowed to appear in the Da Xia Imperial City.

Outsiders did not know the real reason for this, but those who were aware certainly understood.

Therefore, to maintain the "value" of this princess, the Da Xia Emperor granted her a large patch of territory for her to manage herself.

Whoever married her in the future would also gain control of that territory.

This "marketing tactic" succeeded spectacularly.

Throughout the Da Xia political arena, nobody knew just how many people had their eyes on this princess.

In the Da Xia Dynasty, possession of territory equated to enjoying countless resources.

What if they have to marry a worthless princess?

There’s no rule that says marrying such a princess leaves them unable to find a second one, right?

Leaving these thoughts aside

The princess’s intentions behind bringing so many valuable items back to the Imperial palace for the Emperor’s birthday were also very clear.

Winning the Emperor’s favor was one part of it.

Secondly, due to the opening of the passageway to the Big World in the Heavenly Saint Land, numerous individuals from the Big World were about to arrive there.

Put simply,

She had spent a lot of money to come in contact with the people of the Big World, all in an attempt to change her own life.

Her attendants were aware of this.

There was also no reason to hide something like this.

The princess was a smart woman.

Knowing that she would not be able to contact the individuals from the Big World on her own, she splurged her money with the intention of pleasing the Da Xia Emperor, in the hope that the Emperor would negotiate some benefits for her during his interactions with the Big World people.

Now that everything had been robbed,

The princess’s years of hard work had been wasted, and without an appropriate birthday gift, there was no way of knowing how the Da Xia Emperor would treat her.

Being robbed does indeed elicit sympathy,

But the Emperor wouldn’t care about such things.

In conclusion,

When the princess stepped forward, she easily earned the approval of her subordinates.

To avoid any doubt, the princess gave Li Jing and Liu Sisi the identities of a pair of Taoist companions living in seclusion in Southern Barbarians, as a convenient justification of their simple attire.

Thanks to the aura of strong individuals who had rescued them from danger,

The rest of the group did not question Li Jing and Liu Sisi’s origins and expressed their gratitude, as well as apologized to the princess, one after the other.

They could not shirk their responsibility for this robbery.

They needed to take responsibility for their negligence.

This had nothing to do with whether the princess was incapable or not.

Otherwise, if the Emperor decided to investigate, they would have to bear the consequences.

After the incident, the team got back on the road.

The subordinates suggested using Sky Control to fly to the Imperial City with the princess, considering they had just been robbed of everything, including the carriage.

But the princess rejected their suggestion, insisting on going on foot.

This left everyone in a state of confusion.

Only Li Jing and Liu Sisi knew the reason.

She really believed in someone’s strange tale in the Secret Realm.

Leaving that aside,

Not too long after the team set out again, there were hundreds of streaks of lights rushing in their direction from the Imperial City.

Seeing the lights approaching, the princess, who was still catching her breath from the short walk, stopped and silently adjusted her appearance.

Meanwhile.

Over a hundred streaks of light approached and landed, revealing a group of soldiers clad in armor.

The leader was a handsome young man.

His silver armor radiated the aura of a tenth level spirit weapon, hinting some immortal energy. It was evident that it’s about to be transformed into an Immortal Item.

The strikingly high health bar of 9123 above his head made Li Jing envious.

This amount of experience was negligible for him at present.

But surely this Seventh Realm individual should be rich, right?

Over there.

The young man led the group onto the scene. His gaze landed first on Li Jing and Liu Sisi, who were wearing ordinary clothes, then on the caravan with only twelve horses left, and finally knelt down on one knee in front of the princess.

"My sincerest apologies, Princess Wenqu, for my belated rescue," he said.

The princess didn’t really feel like entertaining him.

It’s been a while since they had come out of the subspace.

The rescue team only appearing after such a long time, wasn’t that more than merely late?

Her caravan being suddenly transported into another space... the imperial city should have been alerted by this anomaly.

No one immediately came, the reason was easy to guess.

The guards at the imperial city were uncertain about her situation, and no one wanted to take great risks for her, a useless princess.

As expected, the princess was extremely displeased about this.

But she maintained a superficial courtesy.

"Please rise, General Shao. The culprits have been dealt with and I have only suffered some material losses. The fact that no lives were lost is already a blessing."

After speaking casually, she glanced at Li Jing and Liu Sisi who were in the crowd.

"If it weren’t for the intervention of these two strong ones who usually reside in the Southern Barbarians, I wouldn’t even be standing here today."

Hearing the princess’s words, the man known as General Shao lifted his eyes to regard Li Jing and Liu Sisi afresh. He looked surprised as he spoke.

"I was initially puzzled seeing you two in ordinary clothing yet possessing cultivation. It turns out you two are the strong ones who reside in the Southern Barbarians. I thank you for intervening. If the princess had met with a mishap, I would certainly be punished by the emperor as the city’s defender."

Liu Sisi’s eyes twinkled as she turned her gaze to Li Jing.

It was her husband’s turn to speak.

Seeing her gaze, Li Jing smiled faintly and then looked at General Shao.

"General Shao, your words are too kind. My wife and I simply did what we should."

With that, he cocked his head.

"However, it was indeed a dangerous situation and we did remove a big problem for you, General Shao. So, how do you plan to repay us?"

"..."

Liu Sisi.

"..."

The princess and her entourage.

"..."

The hundred people behind General Shao.

?

General Shao himself.

He was wondering.

He had just uttered a few courteous words and Li Jing was already asking him for a reward in return?

Did he have no shame?

But since Li Jing had said so, he had to respond.

Even if Princess Wenqu had been killed halfway, the Emperor of Da Xia would not do anything to him, at most he would receive a light punishment. But he did arrive late after all.

Moreover, Princess Wenq was still here.

Could he not give a reply in the presence of the victim?

Glancing coolly at Li Jing, General Shao stood up and began to smile apologetically.

"I indeed owe you two a reward. How about this, we first proceed to the city. Once the princess is settled, I will prepare a fine meal and drinks..."

Before he could finish speaking, Li Jing interrupted flatly.

"You think a meal can settle such a big matter, General Shao? As a cultivator at the initial stage of the Convergence Realm, how can you be so unfamiliar with the ways of the world?"

"..."

General Shao.

His original intention was to brush it off casually, who would have thought that Li Jing would press on so insistently.

That’s not all.

This person had casually mentioned his cultivation level.

Earlier, while walking on the road, Li Jing had discreetly asked Princess Wenqu about the realm division of this world.

From the first to the tenth realm, the Heavenly Saint Land corresponded to the more standardized set behind the numerical codenames in the Dragon Universe.

Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Golden Core, Yuan Infant, God Transformation, Convergence, Ascension, Cauldron Questioning, True Immortal.

This meant that the Heavenly Saint Land indeed had a certain connection with the Dragon Universe in the real world.

All the civilized alien species friendly to humans had their own interpretations of the ten realms of cultivation, completely different from the real-world template.

Li Jing revealing his cultivation level at this moment was mainly to act imposing and keep General Shao guessing about his own depth.

After connecting with Princess Wenqu, Li Jing had other considerations as well.

Now he spoke up, and the effect was very good.

Not only was General Shao astounded, but apart from Liu Sisi, everyone else present also looked dumbfounded.

Without seeing General Shao make a move but easily discerning his cultivation level, it indicated that Li Jing was not only powerful but also possessed some rare divine methods to see through others.

The princess hadn’t known beforehand of Li Jing’s ability to see through others’ cultivation levels, simply aware of his astonishing strength as a Big World person.

Now looking at Li Jing again, she truly admired her own foresight.

In the entire Da Xia Dynasty, there were no more than three people who could easily discern others’ cultivation levels.

This was indeed the right thigh to cling to!

General Shao looked at Li Jing carefully and replied with a forced smile.

"Your seniority teaches me right. It is my ignorance. Upon returning to the Imperial City, I will prepare a grand gift to thank you in person."

The people of the Xia Dynasty were pure in a certain way.

That is, they respected the powerful.

Simply put.

Here, the one with the bigger fists is the one who is right.

As long as you are strong enough, even the Emperor must give you some face.

Li Jing looks at General Shao, who immediately acknowledges him as a senior and announces that he will prepare a generous gift. He somewhat recognizes what the Xia Dynasty is all about, but doesn’t think much of it.

"No need for personal thanks, just have someone send your generous gift to Princess Wenqu, and she can pass it on to me."

He said calmly, then turned to Princess Wenqu.

"Princess, those who should come have come. We shouldn’t be walking this road. You are weak, I will take you and we will enter the city directly."

Princess Wenqu was slightly startled when she heard this.

Before she could react, Li Jing, along with her and Liu Sisi, transformed into a bolt of lightning and "whooshed" into the sky, causing quite the commotion.

Everyone present, including General Shao, was taken aback by this sudden event.

Looking up at the sky, the bolt of lightning had already reached the distant imperial city.

This...

What kind of speed is this?

In an instant?

No!

Not even half a moment!

Flying through the sky without a vehicle while carrying two people...

The people present looked at each other in amazement.

This man must be far stronger than the one with the highest cultivation level here, General Shao...

General Shao himself is fully aware of this. In addition to being surprised at how Princess Wenqu had gained the favor of such a top-tier strong one, he glanced at the princess’ entourage that had been left behind.

Meeting his gaze, the six people accompanying the princess looked at each other. In the end, the man who was first knocked out by Li Jing spoke up.

"General Shao, I’m ashamed to say, we were caught off guard and lost consciousness when we encountered the villain earlier. By the time we woke up, the princess had already been saved by the senior. We don’t know the exact details of the senior. Perhaps the princess knows a little."

Having said that, he hesitated and added.

"On the way here, I saw the princess laughing and whispering with him, while his wife was left out. It seems that the princess is deeply loved by him."

General Shao was very astute.

After hearing the man’s explanation, he began to have some doubts about Li Jing and Liu Sisi.

According to the princess’s entourage, they didn’t even know how this couple from the Southern Barbarians appeared.

How can there be so many questions unanswered?

But after hearing what the princess’s entourage had to say, he realized his doubts were unfounded.

Princess Wenqu couldn’t possibly be staging a show for no reason.

If she was being threatened, how could she possibly be deeply loved by Li Jing?

Thinking back on it, when Li Jing and the others were present earlier, he noticed that the light in Princess Wenqu’s eyes, when she looked at a certain person, was different, much like a young girl in love.

God damn!

Where did this powerful man come from?

Though General Shao was confused, he was certain of one thing.

After this battle, Princess Wenqu might "rise" to power.

Li Jing is at the very least a cultivator of the Seventh Realm, and is far stronger than he, the guardian of the Imperial City.

There aren’t many strong men of this level in the Xia Dynasty, most of them concentrate in various sects, and they don’t work for the dynasty just because of the royal authority.

With Li Jing’s favor, Princess Wenqu will certainly be given priority by the Emperor.

Reflecting on this, General Shao realized something else.

Li Jing seemed to have...

A fair amount of ambition!

Someone exposed his cultivation level in public, which is sure to become widely known when he returns to the Imperial City.

He took the princess and flew to the Imperial City at an extremely fast speed. It wouldn’t go unnoticed by the city authorities.

And then there’s himself.

A man like this has come to the Imperial City, and as its guardian, he is aware of it. He must immediately report to the Emperor.

What a tactic!

General Shao narrowed his eyes.

In his view.

If it weren’t for an accident, Li Jing might be yet another strong one who aimed for the Big World.

Quite a few such "free agents" had recently arrived in Xia Imperial City, wanting to get a share of the benefits of the Big World from the Xia Dynasty, and they had made various preparations for this in secret.

The Xia Dynasty was also going to great lengths to guard against them.

But Li Jing, who tried to make direct contact with the dynasty and used open tactics, was the first of his kind.

This matter needed to be reported immediately.

Without hesitation, General Shao gestured to the hundred or so subordinates he had brought with him, saying.

"I will go first. You escort the princess’s entourage along the way to her mansion. There must be no mistakes."

With that, he flew into the sky.

...

Meanwhile.

Li Jing, Liu Sisi, and Princess Wenqu arrived at the main gate of the Imperial City in a flash of lightning.

As Li Jing had anticipated, there were already teams waiting inside the Imperial City to welcome Princess Wenqu.

At the very least, she was a princess with royal blood.

The arrival of the three of them caused quite a stir among the soldiers guarding the city and the waiting welcoming party.

Those who dare to make such a high-profile appearance in Xia Imperial City are either fools or top-tier powerhouses.

Clearly, it was the latter in this case.

Apart from anything else.

People didn’t even see clearly how the bolt of lightning came.

Among the welcoming party for Princess Wenqu, apart from the ceremonial team arranged by the royal family, there were also some characters who coveted her territory.

Regardless of the honor guard, all the rest are the best of mankind.

At a glance, it is clear that the princess has connected herself with someone of extreme power, everyone else has derived numerous schemes of their own.

The honor guard, however,isn’t naive.

Despite being promised a full procession, only the princess arrived, but an extraordinary figure accompanied her, and the pre-arranged parade continues as planned.

The drums had just begun to beat when a horde of cunning individuals gathered to meet them.

If it had been any other day, Princess Wenqu would have indulged in these interactions.

Despite being aware that none of these people had good intentions, her lack of participation in cultivation left her with very little advantages to exploit. If she did not employ them wisely, she would have no future in Da Xia.

However, with Li Jing by her side, Princess Wenqu was not willing to deal with these calculative individuals.

She urgently wanted to arrange accommodations for Li Jing and Liu Sisi in the palace, then pay her respects to the Emperor and provide a report, and finally sit down with the pair to discuss important matters.

Princess Wenqu is known for her integrity and understanding; she also understood why Li Jing had acted the way he had.

She knew that Li Jing heralded from the Big World, and she was not foolish enough to believe he was here for the Big World’s benefit.

However, she did not care about his motives.

All she cared about was whether she could achieve her goals and if worldly cultivation practices could change her predestined tragic life.

In the meantime, before anyone could approach, Princess Wenqu looked towards Li Jing.

"Senior, you might not like the ensuing procedures, so why don’t we proceed directly into the city?"

Li Jing raised an eyebrow at her suggestion.

Everything he had done was indeed to attract the attention of Emperor Da Xia.

Though this brought about some unavoidable issues, he had foreseen them.

The imperial court was not all there was to Da Xia. He had realized this when he had seen two individuals on the outskirts of Liaoping Town who were clearly from different Sects.

On the whole, Da Xia’s situation was rather complicated.

The more complex the situation, the more intense the explicit and covert struggles that ensued.

At this moment, everything was unfolding just as he had predicted.

He had only just arrived, and the non-parade participants in the welcoming party, dressed in various official uniforms and armor, looked at him as though they were eyeing a beautiful girl stripped bare, their eyes glowing green.

Managing these people would be an inconvenience.

He disliked inconveniences.

Princess Wenqu’s suggestion was extremely pleasing to him.

Without overthinking, Li Jing asked in a low voice.

"Would it be alright if we directly flew into the city?"

"Da Xia has always respected the strong."

Princess Wenqu gave a meaningful smile before answering.

"My residence is located east of the Imperial Palace."

Having received this reply, Li Jing nodded and in full view of everyone, he transformed into a bolt of lightning and left with Princess Wenqu and Liu Sisi.

For the sake of the spectacle, he purposefully created a loud noise.

The sudden blast of thunder startled all those gathered at the city gates into deafened silence, not to mention that a large portion of the Imperial City could hear the resounding thunderclap on this cloudless day.

...

A moment later.

Under Princess Wenqu’s guidance, Li Jing and Liu Sisi landed in her residence.

Unbelievably,

Although Princess Wenqu was not a favored member of the royal household, her mansion was rather big.

However, since she was unable to return to the Imperial City when necessary, there were very few servants and maids present in the residence.

Having reached the residence, Princess Wenqu hurriedly arranged quarters for Li Jing and Liu Sisi to rest and instructed the servants to prepare meals for them before she hurriedly left for the Imperial Palace.

Left alone, Li Jing and Liu Sisi stayed put in their room.

After the servants had delivered their meals and left, Liu Sisi finally queried.

"Husband, I have been meaning to ask, do you truly intend on giving Princess Wenqu the worldly cultivation method?"

"It’s not that rare a thing. If we weren’t to give it, someone else would."

Li Jing laughed as he replied.

"Compared to that, our prior entry allowing us the first taste of benefits is nothing but good news. Particularly, as Princess Wenqu has not yet participated in cultivation and is clearly resentful, we can obtain a lot of necessary information from her and won’t need to go around collecting it ourselves."

Liu Sisi agreed with his reasoning after some thought and then voicing her doubts.

"You brought me and Princess Wenqu into the Imperial City with such fanfare and had previously shown off to General Shao. I can guess that you had a sudden idea to meet the Emperor of Da Xia. Would we run the risk of exposure throughout this process?"

Speaking of which, she added.

"When we first entered this secret realm, the court official at the entrance saw us, so he knows what we look like."

"That’s not an issue."

Li Jing laughed before commenting.

"The communication system in Da Xia is not as advanced as in the modern world, where news can be relayed quickly and accurately. That court official is standing guard at the entrance to the secret realm, and until a representative from the modern world makes contact with the Xia Dynasty, it is unlikely that he will leave the encampment at the entrance. While he may recognize us, it does not mean that everyone else does. We simply need to avoid bumping directly into him."

Having heard Li Jing’s explanation, Liu Sisi also saw the logic in his words.

No longer worried about that, she cheerfully asked.

"We got quite a bit of good stuff this time around, would we need to report these to the Management Bureau afterwards?"

"There’s no need." 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Li Jing shook his head.

"Our mission on this expedition was not to explore the secret realms of Longyu and this trip was different from previous ones to those realms. However, we should organize and keep handy those things we can use and offer up those we can’t use for merits in the future. That’s far more beneficial than letting them rot in our pockets or trying to sell them for money."

Having said this, he pulled Liu Sisi towards him.

"Come, let me take you to my Little Universe. Let’s organize."

?

Liu Sisi.

Was about to ask what Little Universe was when she felt a faint pull around her.

This was the sign that she was about to enter another space.

Trusting Li Jing, she did not resist this force.

The next second.

The two entered the Little Universe.