"All right, it's getting a bit late. If there's nothing else, Linglong, you can leave now."
"Wait, Emperor Son, Linglong has one more thing!" Jiang Linglong cried out in a hurry.
"Hm? Go ahead, what is it?" Jiang Chen looked at the somewhat fidgety Jiang Linglong, feeling that something wasn't quite right.
"Hehe, hehe, Emperor Son, do you still have any of that rice you used for cooking today? If you do, could you give Linglong some?" Jiang Linglong asked, looking a bit embarrassed.
"You..." Jiang Chen's mouth twitched involuntarily. Good grief, she had her eyes on his rice!
"Sigh, there's still some left at home, you can go get some yourself. But don't take too much~" In the end, Jiang Chen gave in with a helpless sigh.
"Thank you, Emperor Son~" Hearing this, Jiang Linglong smiled happily and darted straight into Jiang Chen's room.
Before leaving, Jiang Linglong casually grabbed a bowl from inside the room and filled it to the brim with rice.
"Emperor Son, I'll be off then. I only took one bowl, you know~" Jiang Linglong flashed the bowl in her hand and, without waiting for Jiang Chen's permission, bolted away in a flash.
"This girl... she leaves, but she still makes off with one of my bowls~" That bowl had been a reward from the System after Jiang Chen completed a task. Jiang Linglong had no idea at the time that this very bowl would later save her life.
Gazing at the somewhat desolate courtyard, Jiang Chen sat cross-legged on a stone by the pond.
Looking up at the rising moon, Jiang Chen closed his eyes and began to circulate his Great Freedom Visualization Method. Although every time he finished practicing, the cultivation he had so painstakingly gathered would quickly be absorbed by the System, he still did not give up.
Every evening, he would sit cross-legged in the courtyard and cultivate for a while.
Meanwhile, Jiang Chen, deep in his cultivation, did not notice that several goldfish in the pond beside him were conversing.
"Hey, Master has started cultivating again~ What a pity our powers are damaged and are still a far cry from recovering to our former realm."
"Let's just wait a bit longer. Every time Master cultivates, all living things in this courtyard can feel their own cultivation recovering. Although it's just a drop in the bucket, I believe our strength will soon recover to how it used to be."
"Once our strength recovers, we'll be able to follow Master out of this courtyard..."
Meanwhile, Jiang Wanjie, having returned to his palace, immediately prepared to go into seclusion to consolidate the realm he had just broken through.
"Listen to me, do not let anyone in to disturb me unless it's something important."
As soon as he reached his bedchamber, Jiang Wanjie instructed the guards at the door.
"Understood, Divine Son."
Deep within the palace, Jiang Wanjie sat quietly in a quaintly decorated secret chamber. This was the place he usually used to store various rare spiritual herbs and crystals.
Perhaps fearing he might need some spiritual herbs and crystals later, Jiang Wanjie had come straight to his secret chamber.
"Alright, let's begin~"
Jiang Wanjie sat with his eyes closed as his surrounding aura slowly converged like a murmuring stream. The aura around his body climbed steadily, gradually stirring up the spiritual energy within the entire secret chamber.
Suddenly, Jiang Wanjie's body shook violently, and a powerful aura erupted from within him, shooting straight up into the clouds. At the same time, nine blazing suns materialized behind him, each one intensely hot and radiating a dazzling light.
These nine blazing suns seemed connected to Jiang Wanjie's soul, rotating as his inner qi surged. The heat and light they released bathed the entire secret chamber in a golden glow.
The spiritual herbs and crystals inside the palace seemed to be summoned by some mysterious force, continuously channeling their own spiritual energy into Jiang Wanjie's nine blazing suns.
As time passed, the light of the nine blazing suns grew brighter and brighter, as if they would melt the entire secret chamber. Jiang Wanjie's aura continued to climb as well.
Outside the palace, the golden light occasionally pierced through the gaps in the doors and windows, casting brilliant, shifting patterns of light and shadow on the surrounding stone walls.
The guards outside the palace stood at their posts, their gazes occasionally darting toward the flickering golden light. They could clearly feel a touch of scorching heat added to the air.
Time drifted by slowly, and this phenomenon continued until the following morning. The early sun rose, and its golden rays bathed the palace, complementing the golden light emanating from Jiang Wanjie's cultivation to create a magnificent spectacle.
Just at that moment, Jiang Taixu stepped into the morning light, purposefully coming to see his son, Jiang Wanjie. He wanted Jiang Wanjie to follow Jiang Chen in his cultivation more often to enhance his own strength. When he reached the entrance of the palace, he noticed there were more guards than usual, and flashes of golden light kept sweeping across the grand hall.
"Hm? What's going on? Where is Wanjie?" Jiang Taixu frowned and asked the guards at the door. A hint of doubt and concern laced his voice; clearly, he was curious about this abnormal phenomenon.
The guards answered respectfully, "Reporting to the Patriarch, the Divine Son is cultivating inside. Ever since he came back last night, the Divine Son has been cultivating right through till now."
The palace doors suddenly opened slowly, and Jiang Wanjie walked out of the hall with a broad smile, excitement flashing in his eyes. However, when he saw Jiang Taixu standing outside, the smile on his face froze slightly, replaced by a look of puzzlement.
"Oh? Father, why are you here?" Jiang Wanjie asked with some surprise as he looked at Jiang Taixu by the door. In his memory, his father rarely came to see him this early, which struck him as rather strange.
Jiang Taixu's gaze instantly turned solemn. He stared fixedly at Jiang Wanjie, as if trying to see straight through his heart. According to Jiang Wanjie's usual habits, every time he returned to the clan from an expedition, he would rest well for a period of time and basically not engage in cultivation. Yet this time, Jiang Wanjie had cultivated straight through the entire night. That was clearly abnormal.
"Wanjie, tell your father the truth, what happened to you?" Jiang Taixu looked at Jiang Wanjie with a stern expression, his voice tinged with concern and worry.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Wanjie immediately grinned triumphantly, pride flashing in his eyes. "Hahahahaha! Father, you probably don't know yet, I've broken through the Dragon Transformation Realm!"
"What?!" Hearing this news, shock appeared on Jiang Taixu's face. He stared at Jiang Wanjie with wide eyes, as if he couldn't believe his own ears. Breaking through the Dragon Transformation Realm was a huge leap for any cultivator, let alone for someone as young as Jiang Wanjie.
"You... you really broke through the Dragon Transformation Realm?" Jiang Taixu asked, stumbling slightly over his words. After all, as far as he knew, only a handful of people in the entire world could achieve a breakthrough from the Dragon Transformation Realm at Jiang Wanjie's age.
Jiang Wanjie nodded, the smile on his face growing even brighter. "Yes, Father, I succeeded!"