Chapter 172

"What?! Again?"

Shamoli was awakened from the dim and deep stone chamber. Upon hearing the news from the person in front of him, he was stunned for a moment, feeling deeply ashamed, and muttered to himself:

"How come there's another one... this... which one is this?"

"Reporting to the Prince, it is already the fifth one!"

Shamoli only felt a bitterness in his mouth. He had been cultivating here among the Easterners for two years and had consumed several spirit fruits, finally breaking through to the fifth level of the Embryonic Breath stage. He had originally thought this was a speed to be proud of, but who would have thought that what was faster than his cultivation speed was the pregnancy speed of his wives and concubines.

"The first child born here can already walk... it is truly astonishing."

Shamoli also had wives and concubines in the palace of the Eastern Shanyue, but the palace had received instructions from Mu Jiaoman to keep his wives and concubines from giving birth. Who would have thought that after coming here, children would pop up one after another.

Shamoli walked out of the courtyard in a daze, looking at the crowd of wives and concubines in front of him, almost unable to tell which face corresponded to which name. The pregnant concubine walked up with a smile; she had become pregnant before he went into seclusion and was now close to giving birth.

"Must be... must be... must be my seed..."

Shamoli felt a bit uneasy in his heart. Having not seen the crowd of wives and concubines for several months, every face looked new. He pulled over the pregnant wife, looked at her shy face, and could not remember when he had been intimate with this woman.

"Forget it, forget it. Anyway, the eldest son must be my seed..."

Shamoli looked toward the woman standing at the very front of the crowd, holding a child who looked to be one or two years old. The child's eyes were slightly narrow, and his skin was a healthy wheat color; one look and it was clear he was the seed of the Mulu clan.

This wife had become pregnant when he first entered the Easterner's territory. Shamoli had obtained his first offspring and cherished the treasure dearly, so he had watched over her carefully and had calculated the time in his heart, confirming that this child was his own seed.

"That is the future heir to the throne!"

Shamoli proudly took the child and teased him a few times. Soon, an attendant walked up in the courtyard and said respectfully:

"Prince, Young Master Jiao has arrived."

Upon hearing this, the smile on Shamoli's face immediately faded, and he secretly slandered:

"Damn it... it must be to deliver spirit fruits, and I'll have to go back to cultivate again."

Shamoli wanted to be intimate with his wives and concubines, but living under someone else's roof, he had to give up the idea of being lazy. He cursed in his heart, but his face was full of smiles. He hurried out to greet him and smiled:

"Young Master is here!"

Shamoli had also lived in the Easterner's territory for two years and finally had some understanding of the Easterners' rhetoric. He was finally polite for once. Li Yuanjiao walked quickly into the courtyard, raised his brows, and said:

"Cousin, why are you so polite today?"

"Hehe."

Shamoli laughed foolishly twice. He had only learned these first two sentences and had not expected Li Yuanjiao not to follow the script, but instead to ask him back. He immediately crashed, laughing awkwardly, not knowing how to answer.

The crowd of wives and concubines all withdrew. Shamoli greeted Li Yuanjiao into the courtyard, the two sat down, and the servants served tea. Only then did Li Yuanjiao speak:

"Cousin has broken through to the fifth level of the Embryonic Breath stage, and is one step closer to breaking through to Qi Refining and killing your way back to Eastern Shanyue to seize the throne. Truly, congratulations!"

Shamoli laughed hehe, nodding clumsily, but saw Li Yuanjiao wave his hand and say nonchalantly:

"Your eldest brother, Jimu, has already sat firmly on the throne, gathered the tribes and followers in the country, and not a single one of your brothers has survived. He is truly glorious and triumphant now."

"Truly hateful!"

Upon hearing this, Shamoli was both jealous and hateful for a moment, unable to help but curse. Who would have thought that Li Yuanjiao would drink a sip of tea and reveal, as if inadvertently:

"Your eldest brother can be considered to have some vision. Having sat firmly on the throne, he immediately sent out a merchant caravan, loaded with five or six carts of tribute, and is going to marry off his daughter to maintain the marriage alliance. Now, the streets are bustling with traffic, and everyone has gathered to the edge of the town to watch."

"What!"

These words were like stepping on Shamoli's tail; he nearly jumped three feet high. At this moment, he was not just jealous and hateful, but also filled with fear and panic. For a moment, his head was overwhelmed, and he opened his mouth, unable to speak.

Shamoli was now living a carefree life, not only with a crowd of wives and concubines, but his strength had also reached a higher level. All these things were tied to the Li family. Shamoli was just insensitive, not a complete fool. Shamoli at least knew that his value lay in bringing a well-behaved and obedient Eastern Shanyue.

And his own brother was never a person who saved trouble; he was probably well aware of these things, so he had hurried over to submit. Shamoli felt he had lost his usefulness, so how could he not be terrified? His legs trembled with fear, and he could not spit out a single word.

Picking up the teacup and drinking a few large gulps, Shamoli finally put the teacup down with trembling hands. Although he usually did not calculate much, he still had some brains at critical moments, otherwise he would not have fled to the Li family in such a hurry. He immediately stammered:

"Young Master... Young Master... Jimu is greedy, he is not... a person who is content... he is definitely not submitting sincerely, but is waiting for an opportunity..."

"Sigh."

Seeing that he was scared to death, Li Yuanjiao deliberately remained silent for a period of time. Seeing that his eye sockets were red, he felt the timing was about right, and then said sternly:

"Cousin, rest assured, Cousin Jiao understands. You are my good brother. That Jimu killed his brother and father; how could he be submitting sincerely?"

"Yes, yes, yes, he killed his brother and father, he is definitely not submitting sincerely!"

Shamoli nearly clapped for Li Yuanjiao. This deduction was logical, making Shamoli breathe a huge sigh of relief. He did not expect Li Yuanjiao to show a look of difficulty and grit his teeth:

"But it is hateful that he disguised himself so well that several elders in the family actually believed him. Yuanjiao argued strongly on just grounds, which is why they didn't hand you over... it's just..."

"Just what?!"

Shamoli was so excited he was about to shed tears, deeply moved by his cousin's all-out assistance, but he did not expect Li Yuanjiao to change the subject, as if there were hidden meanings, and asked hurriedly.

"It's just that brother's cultivation is truly too slow... making the family lose confidence."

"Thump!"

Shamoli stood up in a hurry, and the large wooden chair under his butt had its leg snapped off by him, crookedly falling to the ground. Shamoli's face turned red, and he shouted:

"Damn it! I'm going to cultivate right now!"

"Wait!"

Li Yuanjiao did not expect this person's reaction to be so great, and he was stunned for a breath by his shout, and said in a deep voice:

"Brother, are you cultivating the native methods of Shanyue?"

Shamoli's face turned awkward, he nodded with difficulty, and stammered:

"That's right... this method has a very slow cultivation speed, and when breaking through, it also gathers a trace of miscellaneous Qi from the Great Void. It only needs to be condensed for more than a month before it can be swallowed. It cannot compare to the exquisite cultivation methods of you Easterners."

The problem of cultivation methods was the pain of the Shanyue people for thousands of years. Every Shanyue person who dominated in their territory, once they emerged and came into contact with the outside world, knew that they were nothing in front of cultivators. They did not even need to be in the same realm; as long as it was a cultivator who practiced the orthodox method, facing a Shanyue Qi Refining cultivator with simple methods and who had swallowed miscellaneous Qi, one fighting three or four was not a problem.

"Brother, I know your cultivation method is not good, so I specifically asked the family, hoping to bestow an orthodox method..."

"What?"

"Brother treats me like this, Shamoli will keep it in mind. Please don't offend the elders in the family for my sake..."

"Rest assured."

Li Yuanjiao shook his head and said in a deep voice:

"As long as brother can reach the peak of Embryonic Breath within these few years, Yuanjiao will have the confidence to let the family bestow an orthodox method, and seek a Qi for brother, allowing brother to rival the Jiani Xi of the past!"

Upon hearing this, Shamoli could no longer hold himself back. His heart was agitated, tears streamed down his face, he nodded vigorously, bowed deeply toward Li Yuanjiao, and gritted his teeth:

"Great kindness cannot be expressed in words! From now on, as long as I am in Shanyue for one day, Brother Yuanjiao will be the King of Kings of my Shanyue!"

(End of chapter)