Chapter 482: Imperial Palace

"Hahaha, good, very good."

"Zhang Zilu, Anguang, with you here, why should my Great Yu not flourish!"

The sound of the Emperor's hearty laughter came from the Imperial Study.

Eunuch Zheng, who was familiar with the Emperor's temperament, had long since sent away the palace maids and eunuchs outside the Imperial Study; after all, the Son of Heaven must have dignity, how could he be overheard at will.

He had been able to serve by the Emperor's side for so long.

It was because he was meticulous and tight-lipped.

Of course, it was also because he had already been a little eunuch serving closely when the Emperor was brought into the palace from Shu.

He didn't know how many great eunuchs envied him.

Grand Secretary Zhang looked at his nose and his heart, bowing slightly: "This is the minister's duty."

This head of the civil officials, famous throughout the world, was extremely observant of rules; his etiquette had not the slightest overstep, even reaching the point of being rigid.

Standing beside Grand Secretary Zhang.

Was a burly middle-aged man, who was none other than Marquis Duke Dingyuan, Liao Qi, courtesy name Anguang.

He was the other person the Emperor spoke of.

Marquis Duke Dingyuan also cupped his hands: "It is the Emperor's wisdom."

But besides the two of them.

The third person in the Imperial Study appeared somewhat special.

Li Rui stood behind the two big shots, not speaking, just listening quietly; if one didn't look closely, one wouldn't even be able to notice he was in the room.

After the morning court session today.

The Emperor had called the three of them—him, Grand Secretary Zhang, and Marquis Duke Dingyuan.

It was precisely because he was very satisfied with the significant decrease in the number of cultivators causing trouble in various places recently.

Grand Secretary Zhang was the Chief of the Search Mountain Division, so being praised was expected.

As for Marquis Duke Dingyuan.

It was because after Yuan Yuan Dingting was enfeoffed as a Marquis and went south, his influence in the military became even greater; he supervised the thirteen military towns, and his contribution to suppressing the cultivators' unrest was also indispensable.

The Emperor was in an excellent mood.

He kept the three of them for quite a while longer.

Suddenly.

He brought up a matter out of the blue: "The Fourth Prince has been steady in his work recently, but he has been used to being idle in the past; Zhang Zilu, Anguang, you can teach him more in the future."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The two big shots in front acknowledged.

Li Rui also bowed his hands in following.

In his heart, he was secretly pondering.

After the Fourth Prince Zhu Ting entered the palace, the Emperor had called this former Prince of Discourse to be responsible for coordinating the supervision of cultivators throughout the world; to put it bluntly, it was to build good relationships with the Search Mountain Division, the Imperial Observatory, the Ministry of Rites, and the major military towns of the world.

Judging from the results.

Zhu Ting had done quite well.

Of course, Li Rui's matchmaking was also indispensable.

After having a meal with Zhu Ting last time, Zhu Ting often sought him out, and he helped whenever he could.

The relationship between the two sides was good, and Zhu Ting's performance was also quite good.

Although there was nothing particularly eye-catching, in the imperial court, stability was already the greatest achievement.

Especially for a prince.

But what made Li Rui pay more attention was the Emperor praising Zhu Ting in front of the three of them.

Especially Grand Secretary Zhang and Marquis Duke Dingyuan.

It was very worth pondering.

Clearly, the Emperor wanted to cultivate the Fourth Prince.

Although it was just a sprout, for Zhu Ting, it was already a great joy; this meant that Zhu Ting had truly entered the field of vision of his imperial father.

For a prince like Zhu Ting, whose maternal line was weak and who was not favored, this step could possibly be a chasm.

After the Emperor finished speaking.

He heard Eunuch Zheng's voice outside the door: "Your Majesty, it is time for a meal."

Upon hearing this.

The Emperor slapped his thigh and stood up: "Let's go, Zhang Zilu, Anguang, and since Minister Li is here too, how about hot pot?"

Grand Secretary Zhang immediately spoke: "My wife is waiting at home, so I am afraid this minister cannot accompany Your Majesty."

The Emperor couldn't help but feel regretful: "Zhang Zilu, you really don't have the life to enjoy blessings."

Everyone in the capital knew.

Grand Secretary Zhang was henpecked.

Afterwards.

Li Rui accompanied the Emperor for a hot pot meal.

Besides him, there was also Marquis Duke Dingyuan.

The Emperor still ate heartily; most of the time, he was talking with Marquis Duke Dingyuan.

Regarding this Marquis who had the greatest authority before Yuan Yuan Dingting was enfeoffed, Li Rui's knowledge was only in the intelligence reports.

It was said that this Marquis Duke Dingyuan was heroic and unparalleled.

But at least today in front of the Emperor, he was just a man of few words.

After finishing lunch.

He then left the Imperial City and arrived at the Search Mountain Division office in the Thousand-Step Corridor.

"What a tyrannical spiritual power..."

In the room of the Search Mountain Division.

Li Rui pondered secretly.

That day, he had swallowed Daoist Su Xuan Yu's spiritual fetus directly, obtaining the spiritual power within it.

Calculating it.

It was much more potent than even top-grade spirit stones.

'Sure enough, robbing others is the fastest; it's no wonder that demonic cultivators in the world can never be wiped out.'

Li Rui thought, smiling and shaking his head.

He would naturally not become a demonic cultivator.

Demonic cultivation had many advantages, but the mere fact that the casualty rate far exceeded that of other cultivators was enough for Li Rui to completely rule it out.

"Very good."

The corners of his mouth lifted slightly.

With the massive spiritual power provided by Daoist Su Xuan Yu's spiritual fetus, as long as he refined it patiently, it wouldn't be long before he could steadily step into the initial stage of the Heaven-Observing Realm, with the fetus formed.

In fact, even if ordinary cultivators swallowed Daoist Su Xuan Yu's spiritual fetus.

They couldn't possibly break through the realm so easily.

One reason is that the spiritual fetus's spiritual energy is contaminated with living souls, making it more complex and extremely difficult to absorb.

The second is that forming the fetus has a bottleneck.

Otherwise, wouldn't everyone be able to become a great cultivator as long as there was enough spiritual energy?

However, these two problems were not problems for Li Rui.

He was the Primordial Immortal Martial Dao Fetus, a higher-dimensional existence compared to the spiritual fetus, and he was not afraid of contamination by impurities at all.

As for the bottleneck.

Li Rui had even less of one.

Just waiting for the Dao Fetus to completely digest Daoist Su Xuan Yu's spiritual fetus, he would be able to stand firmly in the Heaven-Observing Realm as a matter of course.

"It's Ji Lei again."

A figure appeared in his mind.

Swallowing Daoist Su Xuan Yu's spiritual fetus also happened to obtain all of Daoist Su Xuan Yu's memories; in Daoist Su Xuan Yu's memories, Li Rui discovered good news.

This realm had the contemplation method of the Profound Great Dao.

And there was also bad news.

That contemplation method was in the hands of the North Pole Immortal Sect.

'It's just a bit tricky.'

Li Rui pondered secretly.

Contemplation methods are extremely important existences in every Immortal Sect; let alone that he was still on the opposing side, even an elder of the North Pole Immortal Sect might not necessarily be able to obtain it.

'The contemplation method still can't be rushed.'

Li Rui shook his head.

Fortunately, the greatest function of the contemplation method is still in the step of integrating with the Dao; there is still a long time before reaching that step.

What he lacked least was patience.

Putting away his thoughts.

Li Rui began to operate the Wan Gu Chang Qing Gong, helping the Dao Fetus little person digest the spiritual power within Daoist Su Xuan Yu's spiritual fetus as quickly as possible.

At this time.

In the Imperial Palace.

"Fourth Brother, are you going out of the palace?"

The Fifth Prince Zhu Gan looked at the Fourth Prince Zhu Ting, who was walking out of the palace gate, and said with a smile.

Zhu Ting saw Zhu Gan and slowly stopped his steps:

"So it's Fifth Brother; that's right, I'm going to the Search Mountain Division."

Zhu Gan: "Fourth Brother is quite diligent in going to the Search Mountain Division."

While speaking, he also sized up this Fourth Brother whom he had never paid attention to before.

There were actually not many princes who could enter the Imperial City, just four or five.

In the past, the Fourth Prince Zhu Ting's reputation was not prominent.

To put it bluntly, Zhu Ting's mother was a low-class show girl selected from the countryside by the royal family for the sake of reputation; how could he compare to him, the Fifth Prince backed by the Gao family and the Imperial Preceptor.

But he never expected.

After taking a Witch tribe wife, he actually entered the Imperial Palace.

I heard he even received praise from his imperial father.

It was truly turning the world upside down.

"It's all for the sake of Father's affairs."

Zhu Ting smiled slightly.

Zhu Gan narrowed his eyes: "Then Fourth Brother must be very diligent."

Smiling on the surface, he sneered in his heart.

Who didn't know that Zhu Ting going to the Search Mountain Division was highly likely to be looking for Li Rui.

He couldn't see it yet.

This Fourth Brother was clearly trying to use Li Rui to befriend Gu Gu Changsheng.

'The abacus is well-calculated, but it's a pity you don't have that ability.'

Zhu Gan bowed his hands.

In his view, except for the First Prince, whose status was generally noble and who had long since stepped into the Heaven-Observing Realm, the other brothers posed no threat to him at all.

Suddenly.

He asked with a smile: "I heard Fourth Brother has an excellent relationship with that Minister Li?"

Zhu Ting: "Fifth Brother is joking; Minister Li is reliable in his work, and I ask him for advice often."

Zhu Gan said "Oh."

Then he said nothing more, turning and walking in the opposite direction to Zhu Ting.

He had just obtained a secret.

Li Rui was not the secret guard set up by his imperial father in Qinghe as rumored, but had only started practicing martial arts after the age of seventy.

In other words.

In a mere thirty years, he had stepped into the Below Tongxuan Realm.

'Such bone structure...'

Zhu Gan licked his lips.

'No rush, no rush.'

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 483 =====