Chapter 1126: Prejudgment

What worries Cheng Wenjun even more is that Ye Liuyun and the Feng Clan will merge, inevitably suppressing the Cheng Clan everywhere, causing the Cheng Clan to completely lose its competitiveness.

This is no longer just a personal grudge; it affects the clan's future.

He felt vexed for a moment and had no choice but to go disturb the Cheng Clan Ancestor again to ask for advice.

Although the Cheng Clan Ancestor was slightly displeased, he still patiently listened to him finish.

Then he asked: "Have Ye Liuyun and the Feng Clan merged?"

"Not yet, but in the future..."

Cheng Wenjun hadn't finished speaking when the Feng Clan Ancestor interrupted: "Don't use your own preferences to judge how things will develop! Has the Imperial Family taken action against Ye Liuyun? Do you think the Imperial Family isn't worried about the Feng Clan growing powerful? Then why haven't they acted?"

"You mean the Imperial Family thinks Ye Liuyun couldn't possibly merge into the Feng Clan?" Cheng Wenjun's face showed a hint of joy.

"I don't know!" The Ancestor poured a basin of cold water over Cheng Wenjun.

"I'm just telling you: never make decisions based on subjective judgment!"

"Yes, disciple has been taught!" Cheng Wenjun replied earnestly.

The Cheng Clan Ancestor looked at him helplessly: "You're still inexperienced and restless! Follow me into secluded cultivation for a while, so you don't keep making mistakes!"

After seclusion, if Ye Liuyun hasn't merged with the Feng Clan, go find him to discuss cooperation! If he has merged with the Feng Clan, then the Imperial Family will come to you to discuss cooperation! There's no need to wildly speculate now!

"What? Go talk cooperation with him? Our Cheng Clan suffered a major loss entirely because of his scheming..."

Cheng Wenjun said, puzzled. But his words were again cut off by the Ancestor.

"The matter is already over; if you still hold a grudge against him, you'll only make enemies and keep making mistakes!"

"I ask you, even if you killed him, what then? What would the Cheng Clan gain? His army would be absorbed by the dynasty, his business taken over by the Feng Clan, and the Cheng Clan would only face retaliation from his kin and friends."

"Look at it another way: with his own strength he nearly overturned the Cheng Clan while quickly boosting his own power—such talent, can our Cheng Clan find? Isn't it worth cooperating?"

Cheng Wenjun thought for a moment, then said: "Given the grudge between our Cheng Clan and Ye Liuyun, even if we wanted to cooperate with him, he might not want to cooperate with us!"

"Sigh!" the Cheng Clan Ancestor let out a long breath: "You're again judging things based on your own preferences!"

Then he explained to Cheng Wenjun: "He schemed against our Cheng Clan once, which also counts as avenging his mother! As for you, clinging to a woman and embarrassing yourself, you've also paid the price for that."

"You two are even now! As long as you truly consider the clan's interests and can let go of the grudge, why wouldn't he cooperate with you? Given his current standing, he needs cooperation, not hostility!"

Hearing this, Cheng Wenjun also fell into deep thought.

"Don't leave; stay here for a few days, calm your mind properly, and go when you've figured things out!"

The Cheng Clan Ancestor feared that his agitated mind would lead to wrong decisions, so he directly detained him.

Ye Liuyun originally thought the Cheng Clan would launch retaliation against him.

His clone had already prepared in Yi Cheng. All the beast-fighting arenas had also increased their guard strength.

Unexpectedly, after a few days, everything was calm and peaceful.

Only the Fourth Prince found him and proposed that he help in the candidacy for heir.

The Crown Prince and the Seventh Prince had already returned to the Imperial City, beginning to recruit aides for the great contest over the succession.

Each prince can recruit ten aides.

This is both the princes' struggle for the succession and an opportunity for these people to enter the Imperial Family's Secret Realm; otherwise, they would have no chance to enter that Secret Realm.

In previous years, aides who entered the Secret Realm saw their cultivation levels surge straight upward after exiting.

However, everyone has signed a Divine Soul Contract with the Imperial Family, keeping silent about the Secret Realm's interior, so outsiders don't know what exactly lies inside.

Even those princes themselves don't know the situation inside beforehand.

Ye Liuyun also felt this was an opportunity to boost his strength and immediately agreed.

The Fourth Prince specially instructed Ye Liuyun not to break through to the Earth Sovereign Realm; only those in the Zao Hua Realm are qualified to enter the Secret Realm.

"No wonder these princes' cultivation levels are stuck at the Ninefold Creation!"

Only then did Ye Liuyun understand why they weren't in a hurry to raise their cultivation.

He also told the Fourth Prince: "I'm only at the Sixfold Creation; I definitely won't break through to the Earth Sovereign Realm by then, so rest assured!"

According to his cultivation speed, there isn't enough time for him to break through to the Earth Sovereign Realm.

Thus the Fourth Prince directly told Ye Liuyun that at the beginning of next month there will be a preliminary selection; Ye Liuyun just needs to show up then.

"What does preliminary selection mean?" Ye Liuyun asked.

"Each prince will first find over fifty aides, then hold trials, finally determining the ten winners! Your final slot I'll definitely reserve for you, but you still need to go through the motions; otherwise it'd be hard to explain to the others!"

The Fourth Prince explained to Ye Liuyun.

"Oh! Then you don't need to reserve a slot for me; I'll just join the trials normally! Perfect, I can also have some fun!" Ye Liuyun had no objection to the trouble.

The Fourth Prince smiled, knowing he wanted to take the chance to practice, and agreed as well.

During this period, Ye Liuyun would take his companions into the training secret realm during the day to fight monsters when he had nothing else to do.

Feng Yunfei has now moved back to her former residence; Ye Liuyun and his father, along with Feng Wanru, naturally moved there as well.

His mother had already promised him that after staying a while in the Feng Clan, she would leave with Ye Liuyun.

Ye Liuyun knew his mother wanted to bid farewell to her relatives, so he didn't urge her.

Feng Wanru's killing sword intent improved especially fast during this period.

Ye Tiandao's sword intent also rose quickly, but she did not condense a sword intent seed; instead, she directly fused her sword intent into the sword-shaped elemental elixir.

Ye Liuyun was also curious about what Ye Tiandao would ultimately cultivate into.

Wu Qingcheng, Su Miaoji, Ye Tiandao, Lei Ming and other monster beasts also took the chance to fight to their heart's content.

After extensive training over this period, plus ample resources and the acceleration of Xuan Kong Shi, their realms all broke through.

Even those high-ranking monster beasts saw their realms rise by one level.

Xiao Lanbing and Xuanwu, however, did not see their realms rise because breaking through to the Tianzun Realm is too difficult.

They also went to the Secret Realm this time to train, and upon reaching its depths, they actually encountered opponents of the same level.

Unfortunately, however, even Xuanwu couldn't reach the deepest part of the Secret Realm.

Going further ahead, he will also encounter high-level monsters, who can discover his traces.