"You intend to go to the Imperial Capital?"
At the Immortal Domain Grotto-Heaven, Li Dalong looked at Fei Heng expressionlessly and said, "Young Master, consider this carefully. Crown Prince Sheng has gone mad, and there is no telling how many people are currently eyeing the position of Crown Prince."
"Fei Heng has made up his mind to go."
Three hundred years had passed.
Once, Young Master Fei Heng's temperament was erratic and tyrannical, but now he had become much calmer—neither arrogant nor rash.
He was no longer the man he used to be, who would demand the execution of someone's nine generations at the drop of a hat.
He sighed,
"All these years, thanks to the care of everyone in the Li family, I have lived in peace.
Over the last two hundred years, I have also witnessed the endless natural disasters and man-made calamities in the Azure Cloud Prefecture.
While the Azure Cloud Prefecture is now a land of peace, my Azure Dynasty still has thirty-four other prefectures, all of which are plagued by these chaotic times."
"There are those with unfathomable motives like Prince Qian; those who throw our land into chaos like the Zhao Clan; and those in high positions who abuse their power like Crown Prince Sheng.
The Wu tribes bully our dynasty, thinking we lack capable men; the Demon race harbors ceaseless malice; and my elder brother, Fourth Prince, has never ceased his ambition to ascend to the highest peak."
"Though I, Fei Heng, am of meager talent, I possess a heart of burning ambition.
I go to administer the realm in my Royal Father's stead, vowing to restore the glory of our dynasty and bring clarity and peace to both the court and the country."
Seeing that matters had reached this point, Li Dalong did not obstruct him further.
Instead, he ordered men to secretly escort him to the Imperial Capital.
Li Xinnian arrived upon hearing the news.
"Great Ancestor, now that Young Master Fei Heng is heading to the Imperial Capital to vie for the position of Crown Prince, he likely believes he will not tread the same old path as Crown Prince Sheng.
Furthermore, this matter implicates our Li clan.
He has lived in peace within our Merit Grotto-Heaven for three hundred years, and our ties with him are deep.
It is not just him; the entire world assumes that we are his backers. And now that we have just annihilated the Immortal Zhao Clan, his wings have truly grown strong."
"This is precisely why he dares to go to the Imperial Capital." The old patriarch of the Li family laughed.
"It goes deeper than that. Relying on our relationship, as long as he isn't foolish, he can pull strings to obtain the Lord Grand Preceptor's assistance.
With Min Youguo alone backing him, he can sleep soundly in the Imperial Capital.
Xinnian, you have stayed within the family all these years; what is your assessment of him?"
Li Xinnian replied without hesitation, "Diligent and eager to learn, broad-minded, and upright in character."
"Let him go, then. If it concerns matters of no great consequence, help him where you can. Send a letter to Min Youguo."
"Yes."
As Li Xinnian departed, Xu Cuihua approached.
With a look of dissatisfaction, she touched Li Dalong's face.
"Husband, I still can't get used to your face.
Back then, your complexion was rosier, and there was more meat on your cheeks—how good was that?
Swear to me that you weren't bewitched by some lustful female ghost down in the Underworld."
"Hahaha!"
Li Dalong ruffled Xu Cuihua's hair.
"There are no lecherous ghosts in the Underworld, but Pink Skeletons are everywhere.
What? Can my precious wife actually be jealous of a skeleton?
Who ever complains that their husband is too handsome?"
Amidst loud laughter, Li Dalong chanted a technique and instantly restored his original appearance.
He spun around in front of Xu Cuihua, then frowned playfully.
"Actually, this look is even more popular with the female ghosts."
"You're asking for a beating!"
After the couple bantered for a while, they floated up into the air above the Immortal Domain Grotto-Heaven; they had decided to return to the Underworld together.
Gazing down at the descendants within the Grotto-Heaven, Li Dalong felt a mixture of melancholy and gratification.
"In the blink of an eye, our family has built such a massive foundation—far greater than when I became the Prefecture Lord.
With the child Xinnian here, I am truly at ease entrusting the family to these juniors."
Immediately after, the two bade farewell to the children one by one.
Li Yaozu and the others nodded slightly.
However, the moment Li Yaotie opened his mouth, everyone's faces turned black.
"Dad, Mom, are you two running off to elope again? Even if you want to hide away to bill and coo, wouldn't hiding inside the Heaven-Piercing Coffin be better?"
"...."
Sporting a head full of bumps, Li Yaotie stood with the clansmen, watching Xu Cuihua depart.
At this moment.
Li Wei looked at the panel before his eyes.
[Your descendant Li Dalong has regained the Heaven-Piercing Coffin, breaking through the Seventh Layer limit of the Heaven-Piercing Coffin—]
[Death Abode]
[The Death Abode contains multiple Laws.
It holds the Natal Dharma Treasure left behind by a peak Mahayana cultivator, the "Heaven-Imprisoning Lock."
By absorbing enough Death Qi, the space can be filled with numerous Laws of "Death," leading straight to the Great Dao.]
Inside that Death Abode, the ghostly atmosphere was dense and eerie.
In the sky above it, a chain could be seen flowing like a roaming dragon!
"Hiss... an exclusive Dharma Treasure!"
A trace of envy flashed through Li Wei's eyes.
He could sense that this "Heaven-Imprisoning Lock" was on the same level as his own North Star Spirit-Breaking Spear, Saber, and Myriad Dao Pagoda.
Yet, faintly, this thing seemed on the verge of breaking through the limits of a Spirit Treasure!
At this moment, inside the seventh layer—the Death Abode—corpses lay strewn across the space.
The corpse of the Zhao Clan Patriarch, having been drained of its blood, was floating amidst them.
"No wonder Dalong wanted to go to the Underworld.
That place has the most Death Qi, which allows him to break open the limits of the Heaven-Piercing Coffin.
Moreover, regarding a Body Integration realm Zombie, the materials needed to refine it can likely only be found in the Underworld."
It wasn't just Li Dalong; it was evident that Xu Cuihua, standing beside him, now moved with even greater allure.
[Your descendant-in-law Xu Cuihua has received a gift from her son Li Yaozu: Zhao Wan's Storage Ring, which contains Zhao Wan's "Ten Precepts Seduction Art."]
[Earth Rank Cultivation Method: Ten Precepts Seduction Art]
[The cultivator can comprehend the Ten Precepts. Upon perfecting all Ten Precepts, a Hundredfold Allure is born.]
Li Yaozu knew firsthand just how powerful Zhao Wan's seduction arts were.
However, Zhao Wan's aptitude was not necessarily superior to Xu Cuihua's.
Zhao Wan possessed Innate Charming Bones, yet suffered the misfortune of being born in a male body.
Xu Cuihua, on the other hand, was extraordinary; she possessed the Demon Fox Body and was a natural-born cultivator for seduction arts.
Once she broke through to the Void Refining realm, she would likely become even more terrifying than Zhao Wan.
"Dalong is in peril."
Li Wei sighed with deep emotion.
There was no need to guess—the first person to suffer disaster once Xu Cuihua mastered the Seduction Art would inevitably be Li Dalong.