Duke Han
After the little hiccup known as Ling Yi, Xue Bai continued to hole himself in his room.
Earlier, Xue Bai was slightly reluctant to use Spiritual Stones for cultivation as he already had so little, but now with 600 more to his net worth, he had no qualms about it and continued to use them religiously.
Holding one in each hand, Xue Bai slowly and methodically absorbed the Spiritual Qi within it and continued to cultivate diligently.
There was only one more stage between him and the Organ Tempering realm, and he wanted to get that stage out of the way as soon as possible.
After that, he would finally be able to use the Five Elements Mystic Spirit Tree. And Xue Bai knew that by eating those five fruits, he would be able to speed through the Organ Tempering realm.
He could envision heaven-defying cultivation speed in the future, and all he needed to see through his goals was to break through the god-forsaken Bone Strengthening realm.
Xue Bai had been in this damn realm too long.
–
The Gen Empire wasn't as big as the Great Xuan Empire, just about two-thirds the size of it.
So after two days of travel, the group of 50 odd Black-Robed Students and Feng Hui arrived at their destination.
Their destination was the northeast border of the Gen Empire, where the Kun Empire and Gen Empire clashed.
However, since the secret realm hadn't fully opened yet, Feng Hui landed at the border city instead of going right to the forest where it was found.
Named Steel Moon City, the border city of the Gen Empire was the first line of defense that protected the Gen Empire from the Kun Empire devils.
The naming of the city was rather simple since, like Frontier City back in the Great Xuan Empire, Steel Moon City had a large metal wall that surrounded it. And a few generations ago, a famous poet referred to it as the Steel Moon of the Empire.
Ever since then, the name has stuck.
Simple and to the point.
After landing the ship just outside of the city walls, Feng Hui promptly announced their arrival and then shepherded the students out of the Black Ghost.
"Students, we have arrived!" Feng Hui loudly yelled through the announcement systems, gaining a large number of curses from the students he nearly sent into Qi deviation.
Annoyed and slightly pale-faced, the 50-odd students and ship workers left their rooms and exited the Black Ghost along with Feng Hui, Lin Fu, and Xue Bai.
"Students, the secret realm won't open for at least another two days, so for now, you all can find a motel and get a room to stay in until it does." Feng Hui said calmly, ignoring the anger-filled gazes he was receiving.
And without a word of apology, he stored the Black Ghost and left, only taking Lin Fu with him.
Xue Bai didn't socialize with the students either and left, entering the city a few steps behind the master and disciple.
The guards manning the city gates didn't hassle Xue Bai either, and after a simple identification process, he entered Steel Moon City.
Steel Moon City was a place full of two kinds of people. Rogue cultivators wanted to earn a quick buck from the deep and resource-filled environment outside the city, or soldiers who cultivated to protect the Gen Empire from any threat, whether it was a demonic beast stampede or the Kun Empire devils.
This meant that the average cultivation base of Steel Moon City was even higher than the Imperial Capital!
And Xue Bai saw through this instantly.
From just sweeping his gaze around the city streets casually, Xue Bai saw no lack of Qi Sea and Dharma Idol realm cultivators, while Law Engraving realm and Law Manifestation realm cultivators weren't that rare either.
However, that's where the cultivation bases topped off. No matter how hard Xue Bai looked, he couldn't spot a Domain Lord realm cultivator.
Furthermore, the Law Manifestation realm cultivators he did see only had cultivation bases in the early stages of the realm, while every once in a while, Xue Bai would see someone in the middle stages.
And even so, the auras of the Law Manifestation realm cultivators were weak. If Xue Bai hadn't clearly been able to see their cultivations, he wouldn't even have thought that they were in the Law Manifestation realm and would've assumed they were in the Law Engraving realm.
'Most likely, the people here forcibly raised their cultivation to the Law Manifestation realm through unorthodox means.' Xue Bai thought to himself.
Such a thing wasn't rare or even looked down upon. Not everyone was able to cultivate to their true limit.
Maybe they had an impoverished background that made their cultivation base stagnate due to a lack of resources, or maybe they encountered a bottleneck due to a lack of comprehension of their cultivation technique. There were many reasons a cultivator wouldn't be able to reach their full potential.
And to work around this, cultivators would take pills that would sap away the little potential they had in exchange for a stage breakthrough.
Back in the Great Xuan Empire, Wang Yichen had mistaken Xue Feng's crazy advancement pace for such pills.
Of course, Xue Bai had no care about this, so after a curious glance, he continued walking through the city.
His goal?
The No Man's Land between the Kun and Gen Empire.
Xue Bai wanted to see if he could nab a Kun Empire student who knew Xiao Xuan. It would be better to be informed before entering the secret realm.
–
As Xue Bai entered and left Iron Steel City, Feng Hui and Lin Fu entered the City Lord's mansion.
The City Lord's mansion sat dead center of Steel Moon City. The City Lord's mansion was practically a small village covering a large area of more than 10 square miles.
"Master, why are we going into the City Lord's mansion? I heard that Duke Han is….." Lin Fu hesitantly said as he scanned his surroundings.
Obviously, he was scared that the person he was gossiping about would be nearby and listening.
However, after scanning the area around him with his eyes and Spiritual Sense and making sure no one was nearby, he finished his sentence.
"Brutish."
Feng Hui clasped his forehead at his idiotic disciple's actions, but he still answered it.
"First, I am near you and would be able to detect if he was listening in." Feng Hui shook his head disapprovingly, "And second, yes, he is. After all, how can someone who mans the borders not have such a personality."
Lin Fu felt embarrassed at having his stupidity pointed out so bluntly and blushed. But he still continued his train of thought.
"Master, you didn't answer my question, though. Why are we visiting him? Wouldn't it be better for us just to find a courtyard and wait until the secret realm opens?" Lin Fu said.
The border guard of the Empire was a man named Duke Han, and because of this, the man was eccentric, to say the least. But below all of his eccentric personality and odd habits, the man was dead loyal to the Empire.
However, he wasn't loyal to the throne or the Imperial Family, but just the Empire itself. In his mind, it was not the Feng Imperial Family that ruled the Empire but its citizens, so he didn't care about who was on the throne.
But because of this, he also wouldn't attack whoever was on the throne. It would cross his bottom line.
And since Lin Fu's and Feng Hui's loyalty to the Grand Duke wasn't a very big secret, Lin Fu thought that it would be extremely stupid to visit the man who was so against them.
Weren't they just asking to be thrown out?
Lin Fu had already been embarrassed so much just a few days ago. He didn't want to experience it again. It would hurt his psyche too much.
"I also don't want to visit the Border Duke, but the Grand Duke gave us orders. Thankfully we aren't here to recruit the brute, but just send a letter." Feng Hui replied.
Feng Hui also was slightly fearful of the Border Duke and didn't want to meet the man, but how dare he disobey the Grand Duke?
The Border Duke was a man with a cultivation base no inferior to the Grand Duke and the Imperial Guards Leader.
However, going to the Border Duke would result in, at most, some humiliation, but disobeying the Grand Duke?
Feng Hui would be lucky to get a swift death.
So with such a thought process, Feng Hui walked into the core area of the City Lord's mansion.
Yet, he never did get far, as the very person they were talking about manifested in front of them.
"What does a high and noble man like you want with this poor soldier?" An indifferent and pleasant voice drifted by.
In front of the master and disciple duo, a gentle blanket of water unfolded and revealed a thin figure.
Adorned in a pure white robe unstained from any worldly dust and holding a thin paper fan of the same color, the figure who appeared looked no different than a scholar in the Imperial Capital.
But Feng Hui and Lin Fu knew better than to think the man in front of them was anything scholarly.
The person in front of them was the Border Duke of the Gen Empire, the man who was almost single-handedly held back the Kun Empire, a force 2 ranks higher than them on the Empirical ranking list.
Enshrouded in a thick layer of mystery, nothing about the Border Duke's youth was known. The only public knowledge about the man started just about a decade ago when he appeared and asked to guard the border.
And at first, the Gen Empire refused. After all, who wouldn't?
Ten years ago, the Border Duke was still in the late stages of the Domain Lord realm, but even then, how should an Empire react if randomly a Domain Lord realm cultivator appeared and asked to guard their most precious city?
However, even after he was refused, the Border Duke was accepting and just sat on the border himself. With his signature paper fan in hand, the man silently protected the border without praise or thanks for nine years.
It was through this spectacular act of heroism that the Empire realized that the Border Duke was a simple man who only loved to fight and protect his Empire. Anything beyond that, whether it be the Imperial Capital schemes or the fight for the throne, the Border Duke had no care about.
As long as his border was still standing and he had the ability to fight, he would.
So they gave him a Duke title and allowed him to continue protecting the Empire he loved.
Feng Hui knew the story behind the Border Duke, and because of this, he couldn't help but shiver in fear.
However, he had a mission to complete!
So pushing down his fear and the overwhelming desire to run, Feng Hui stood his ground and fulfilled his mission.
"The Grand Duke told me to pass this letter on to you." Feng Hui shakily spoke as he pulled out the letter in question.
However, he didn't dare hand it to the Border Duke and instead kept his distance.
One of the many quirks the Border Duke had was that he was a germaphobe. And any unauthorized attempt to touch the man would result in heavy punishments.
Even some of the Imperial Officials weren't exempt from this. The Border Duke even dared to kill an Imperial Advisor. Feng Hui wouldn't dare to touch the man even if he had ten times the guts.
And thankfully, with a curious hum, the Grand Duke waved his hand, and the letter gently floated toward him.
Feng Hui sighed at the sight of his completed mission and was fully prepared to turn and run away from the man, but before he could, something on the face of the Border Duke changed, and the air became heavy.
"You said Long Tian wrote this?" Duke Han's calm voice echoed.
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