Chapter 18: Han Imperial Kin

"By the way, there's also the Body Annihilation Divine Art—I got this treasure for just one low-grade Qi Stone! Once I return to Earth next year, I'll find an organization to restore it, but for now, let me take a look."

Cang Luo flipped open the first layer of the Body Annihilation Divine Art, planning to try cultivating it briefly to gauge its difficulty and understand how it differed from techniques learned via technique jade tablets.

It stated: first, mobilize Qi through the Chong Meridian to locate the Gong Sun acupoint.

Pause for one breath, then proceed through the Ren Meridian to find the Lie Que acupoint, pause for two breaths, then move to the Dai Meridian, Ren Meridian, Nei Guan acupoint, and return to the Chong Meridian...

"Uh... this is complicated."

Cang Luo’s head spun; he pulled out his phone, turned it on, activated flight mode, opened the photo of the "Human Meridian and Acupoint Atlas," and studied it while using his Qi awareness to internally inspect his own meridians and acupoints.

After comparing both sources, Cang Luo spent an entire hour searching and still found only one-third of the meridians and acupoints required by the first layer of the Body Annihilation Divine Art.

Cang Luo felt mentally drained—this was the result of internal inspection consuming his Qi awareness. He ended the internal observation and abandoned the search, deciding to revisit it later.

At that moment, Cang Luo suddenly heard voices and footsteps approaching from outside the room.

They were getting closer to this dormitory; Cang Luo quickly tucked away the Body Annihilation Divine Art and his phone.

Creak...

The old wooden door swung open, and three teenagers, around fourteen or fifteen years old, stood at the dorm entrance, drenched in sweat.

The lead boy spotted Cang Luo immediately and warned sharply: "Who are you?"

"What's going on?"

"There's someone inside—someone who isn't from our dorm."

The two boys behind him also saw Cang Luo.

Cang Luo noticed their soaked clothes and guessed they had just returned from cultivation—but why only three of them?

The boy on the left, with a buzz cut, was the shortest of the three and looked noticeably young.

The boy on the right, with his hair tied up, had a scholarly air, appearing like a bookish scholar.

The one in the center—the first to speak—was strikingly cold and handsome, his long, flowing mid-length hair giving him an aura of cool charm, like Chen Haonan from "The Young and the Dangerous."

Cang Luo quickly rose and greeted them, clasping his fists: "Greetings, senior brothers. I’m Cang Luo—Cang from 'Cang Tian,' Luo from 'luo nan.'

I’ve just been assigned to this dormitory; please guide me."

As he spoke, Cang Luo pulled out his identity jade tablet and stepped forward, wondering if there even was a dorm leader position...

The cold-faced lead boy took Cang Luo’s identity jade tablet, examined it, and immediately relaxed his guard.

He did find it odd when he saw the age entry, but didn’t dwell on it.

He returned the tablet to Cang Luo and returned the gesture: "So you’re Senior Brother Cang. I’m Cang Feng, Warrior Fourth Layer, Tongzhou Danyang County."

"No, no—Senior Brother Cang is too kind." Cang Luo quickly returned the bow, then turned to the other two.

After introducing himself, Cang Feng’s two companions stepped forward to introduce themselves.

The buzz-cut boy clasped his fists: "Junior brother Li Zhanxing, Warrior Third Layer, Tongzhou Taishan Town."

"Greetings, Senior Brother Li." Cang Luo bowed in return.

Huh? When introducing themselves, they all stated their origin and cultivation level—is that the custom on the Yuanwu Continent?

Cang Luo thought for a moment, then re-introduced himself: "Junior brother Cang Luo—I’m also Warrior Third Layer, like Senior Brother Li Zhanxing, from Tongzhou Diqiu Village."

Cang Luo named a random place—he didn’t believe they’d go check.

Li Zhanxing, hearing Cang Luo shared his cultivation level, immediately beamed: "Senior Brother Cang, we’re the same level—we can train together properly now!

Before you arrived, I was the weakest among the nine of us in this dorm. When we trained martial techniques, everyone paired off to spar, and I was stuck punching rocks—so boring!

Now it’s perfect—I finally have someone to train with."

Hearing Li Zhanxing mention the others’ levels, Cang Luo secretly broke into a cold sweat—he was glad he’d just reached Warrior Third Layer; otherwise, he’d have been utterly humiliated.

"Alright, let’s progress together," Cang Luo said—he also wanted a sparring partner. Strength alone wasn’t enough; technique mattered too.

After all, even if you mastered Thunderclap Palm to perfection, what good is it if you can’t land a hit?

With that, Cang Luo turned to the scholarly boy with tied-back hair and bowed: "May I ask your senior brother’s name?"

The scholarly boy bowed back: "I am Liu Xuande, Warrior Fifth Layer, Tongzhou Zhuo Commandery."

Liu Xuande?

Cang Luo was speechless—he’d actually taken the courtesy name of Liu Xuande as his own name.

Did you even ask for permission? Well, Liu Xuande isn’t here anyway.

Wait—could Liu Xuande actually exist in this world? At the very least, his descendants might.

Curious, Cang Luo asked: "Uh... Senior Brother Xuande, are 'Xuande' your courtesy name or your given name?"

Liu Xuande’s eyes lit up at the question. He exclaimed excitedly: "Senior Brother Cang knows about courtesy names?

On the Yuanwu Continent, no one has used courtesy names for a thousand years—most of the younger generation don’t even know what they are!"

"Uh, yes, I’ve heard a little," Cang Luo nodded vaguely.

Could Liu Xuande really exist?

"Heh, Senior Brother Liu’s going to start bragging again," Li Zhanxing shook his head with a wry smile, heading off with Cang Feng to change out of their sweat-soaked green robes.

Liu Xuande ignored Li Zhanxing and continued: "Senior Brother Cang, 'Xuande' is my given name—but it’s also the courtesy name of one of my ancestors.

My ancestor was named Liu Bei, courtesy name Xuande."

Cang Luo froze—he hadn’t expected Liu Xuande to truly exist, and now this man was his descendant.

Damn, a Han imperial relative! Cang Luo couldn’t help but glance at Liu Xuande several more times.

But how had Liu Xuande, the Han imperial prince from Earth’s Three Kingdoms era, ended up like this? Liu Xuande didn’t look like a wealthy nobleman.

He didn’t even look like a member of the imperial clan.

Right—this is a world where martial strength reigns supreme. Liu Xuande must have been weak in martial cultivation.

Then what about the other Three Kingdoms heroes? What were their statuses and cultivation levels here?

Had the divine warrior Lü Bu, Lü Fengxian, reached the Martial Saint realm?

What about Guan Yu, Guan Yun Chang, the Martial Saint?

What about Zhao Yun, Zhao Zilong, the fearless hero?

Liu Xuande, still thrilled, continued: "Over eighteen hundred years ago, my ancestor Liu Bei was quite famous.

Though his cultivation wasn’t high, he knew many Martial Saints personally and could speak with them."

So my grandfather named me after him, hoping I’d be as accomplished as my ancestor..."

Liu Xuande had told this story countless times before—he never grew tired of it. Li Zhanxing and Cang Feng had heard it so often their ears were numb.

Cang Luo nodded. Knew many Martial Saints? That meant there must have been many Martial Saints back then on the Yuanwu Continent.

Heroes remain heroes no matter the world—so why are there only four left now?

Seeing Cang Luo listen intently, Liu Xuande was eager to continue recounting his ancestor’s heroic deeds.

But Li Zhanxing, now changed into fresh clothes, interrupted him: "Senior Brother Liu, stop talking—let’s go eat lunch. Senior Brother Cang, have you eaten yet?"

Only then did Cang Luo remember he hadn’t eaten a single grain since his arrival—he felt his stomach growling and blushed: "I haven’t eaten."

Li Zhanxing grinned: "Perfect—let’s go eat together."

Cang Luo nodded immediately, glanced toward the door, then asked: "By the way, where are the other six senior brothers?"

Cang Feng, now changed, walked over and casually flicked his long hair: "They’re on missions."

"Missions? Like the ones from the Outer Gate Mission Hall?" Cang Luo asked.

"No—every month, outer disciples must complete mandatory tasks. Let’s eat first—I’ll explain on the way. Afterward, I’ll take you to report to Master Liang."

Master Liang was the steward managing Dorm Xin Yi Qi Liu; all new disciples must report to him.

As he spoke, Cang Feng tied his flowing mid-length hair into a ponytail and urged Liu Xuande: "Hurry up."

"Alright, alright, coming!" Liu Xuande replied quickly.

Cang Luo noticed that although Cang Feng wasn’t the strongest among them, both Liu and Li subtly deferred to him—he must have some exceptional ability.

Wow—good-looking and talented. You can’t envy someone like that.

The four dressed and stepped outside; Li Zhanxing was the last to leave, locking the door behind them.

On the way to the outer gate cafeteria, the four chatted freely—mostly the others talking, Cang Luo listening.

Occasionally, he mentioned a few things about his hometown, "Diqiu Village," which amazed them, and soon they were all laughing and talking like old friends.

Through Cang Feng’s explanation, Cang Luo learned that outer disciples must complete a set monthly task quota.

Though the tasks weren’t difficult, they carried some danger, so outer disciples usually went in teams—rarely alone.

The monthly tasks were assigned by the Outer Gate Mission Hall to stewards, who then distributed them to the ten outer disciples under their charge.

The tasks mainly fell into two categories. The first was gathering materials for elixir refining and array deployment.

Such as low-grade spiritual herbs and first- or second-tier beast beasts—alive or dead, both accepted. These collection tasks were typically carried out along the outer edges of the Beast Mountain Forest, 135 li north of Xuantian Sect.

Cang Luo had seen via satellite that the Beast Mountain Forest covered an enormous area—equivalent to half of the Da Meng Province on Earth.

They told him the forest was incredibly rich in resources—beast beasts and rare treasures were countless, inexhaustible.

Hence, Xuantian Sect and the four imperial-level sects of Tongzhou all established their bases near the Beast Mountain Forest, leveraging its bounty to grow their sects.

But though the forest held endless treasures, one needed the strength to claim them.

Warrior and Martial General disciples dared not venture deep into the forest—only the outer fringes, to hunt first- and second-tier beasts and gather low-grade spiritual herbs.

Spiritual herbs were divided into nine grades; low-grade herbs referred to grades one through three.

Low-grade herbs could generally only refine into Yellow-grade elixirs, but that didn’t mean Celestial-grade elixirs didn’t require grade-one herbs.

As for elixirs, they were divided into Celestial, Earth, Mystic, and Yellow grades, each subdivided into upper, middle, and lower tiers—just like the classification of techniques.

The Qi-Casting Elixir Cang Luo took yesterday was a Celestial-grade middle-tier elixir—extremely precious.

The second type of task involved driving away beast beasts that invaded towns and villages to cause destruction, and assisting imperial troops against petty thieves and bandits.

Of course, only within Xuantian Sect’s sphere of influence—too distant towns were beyond their reach.

While chatting, the four arrived at the outer sect cafeteria...