A quarter of an hour later.
Yu Xian dug out a small wooden box from beneath the large tree in the inn's backyard.
The most dangerous place is the safest place. No one would have guessed that Chen Xiao would keep all his worldly possessions right inside an inn.
Yu Xian opened the wooden box to find five gold bars and two hand-copied ancient texts.
One was an immortal cultivation technique called *Everlasting Spring Art*. Practicing it over a long period could prolong life and promote longevity, but much like his own Xiantian Qi-Refining Technique, it was just another low-grade technique flooding the Immortal Cultivation World.
The other was a *Poison Scripture*, which was the culmination of a certain cultivator's lifelong research into poisons.
"Am I being too greedy?"
Yu Xian looked at the contents of the box, though he wasn't too disappointed.
Just as he had expected, Chen Xiao had achieved his current success precisely because he had stumbled upon the legacy left behind by a deceased cultivator.
However, cultivators who ended up dying in the Mortal Realm were, nine times out of ten, those who couldn't cut it in the Immortal Cultivation World. It was already a stroke of luck that they had anything left behind at all.
If he hadn't awakened his golden finger, he would have been even worse off than Chen Xiao. If he could manage to pass down a diary a hundred years from now, he'd be doing well—expecting spirit stones was pure wishful thinking.
He casually flipped through the *Poison Scripture* and found that it contained descriptions of various venomous creatures, along with several methods for poisoning.
A few of the poisons could even affect immortal cultivators.
Chen Xiao's Five-Poison Palm had been derived from this very scripture. He had taken an unorthodox path, extracting the venom of five toxic creatures and channeling it into his own True Qi, turning himself into a living vessel of poison.
Though this shortened his lifespan, it also granted him terrifying combat prowess. Ordinary Xiantian martial artists who fought him for even a brief moment would unknowingly have their bodies invaded by toxic Qi.
As for the enmity between Chen Xiao and Prince Fu's Estate, Chen Xiao had made no secret of it.
Thirteen years ago, the Chen family had angered Prince Fu and suffered a tragic extermination under charges of treason.
Chen Xiao had narrowly escaped, falling off a cliff and inadvertently stumbling into the cave dwelling of a deceased cultivator. There, he obtained the two secret manuals, eight low-grade spirit stones, and learned of the existence of the Immortal Cultivation World through the cultivator's final written testament.
Chen Xiao had originally believed he could become a legendary immortal cultivator.
Yet even with the aid of spirit stones, after two and a half years of bitter cultivation on the *Everlasting Spring Art*, he had achieved very little. If he continued down that path, he would likely exhaust all his spirit stones without ever breaking through the Qi Refinement Realm.
He still had a deep blood feud to settle and dared not gamble on those slim odds.
Thus, Chen Xiao resolutely switched to cultivating his family's ancestral martial arts.
Perhaps due to the foundation laid by the *Everlasting Spring Art* and the spirit stones, his martial arts cultivation progressed rapidly. In just five years, he used spirit stones to draw the spiritual Qi of heaven and earth into his body, becoming a Xiantian grandmaster.
After breaking through to the Xiantian realm, he spent several years honing his skills in the jianghu, developing his own Xiantian martial art—the Five-Poison Palm—based on the *Poison Scripture*, and returned to exact his revenge.
And so led to the events that followed.
The young girl was Chen Xiao's younger sister.
Before fleeing after his assassination attempt failed, Chen Xiao went to pay his respects at the ruins of the former Chen family estate, where he happened to run into his sister, who had heard that Prince Fu was severely wounded in an assassination attempt and had come to pay respects to their ancestors.
As it turned out, his sister had been swapped out as an infant by an old family servant using his own child.
Reunited after a long separation, the siblings were naturally reluctant to part. Coupled with Chen Xiao's overconfidence in his formidable martial prowess and his underestimation of Prince Fu's Estate, it led to today's outcome.
Hearing this, Yu Xian felt not a single ripple in his heart.
If Chen Xiao had actually managed to escape today, it might have been the classic rise of a protagonist.
Unfortunately, there were no "ifs," and he had no choice but to be relegated to a supporting role.
***
Prince Fu's Estate.
Chen Xiao and his sister knelt in humiliation before Prince Fu, looking utterly battered and devoid of any lingering aura of a street-brawling, invincible demon king.
Yu Xian sat to one side, watching coldly as an indifferent bystander.
While he appeared leisurely sipping tea, inwardly he was sharpening his vigilance, taking this as a warning.
Even though a single Fireball Spell from him would cause Xiantian martial artists to melt on the spot if caught off guard, his Mana was limited, and how many Fireball Spells could he actually throw?
If he truly encountered a situation like Chen Xiao's today, given his meager reserve of spiritual spells, once his Mana was exhausted, he would likely be forced to his knees nine times out of ten.
And if the opponent had even two more Xiantian martial artists assisting from the sidelines...
At the thought of that scenario, a chill ran down Yu Xian's back, hardening his resolve to maintain a low profile.
Perhaps there was another reason low-grade cultivators were unwilling to come to the Mortal Realm: if you were ever taken down by a mob of ordinary people, you would die with your eyes wide open and your grievance unresolved.
Fortunately, once one reached the Qi Condensation Late-stage, spiritual sense could leave the body to manipulate objects, allowing one to refine Dharmic Instruments. Protecting oneself with the might of a Dharmic Instrument would provide initial immunity to swarming attacks.
With his Dao companion Yulan to help him—even if he pampered his body and only gained an average of one cultivation point per day—it would take him at most another half a year to break through to the Qi Condensation Late-stage.
The only question was: where on earth was he supposed to get a Dharmic Instrument?
Yu Xian fell into a sweet dilemma.
On the other side.
Prince Fu's expression was livid, tinged with a hint of vindictive satisfaction as he said, "Chen Xiao, when you tried to assassinate this Prince that day, did you ever expect this outcome?"
Chen Xiao lowered his head, saying nothing.
At this point, saying anything else would merely be the dying whimpers of a defeated dog, as the Consort Yu earlier had already demonstrated to him.
What good would a few defiant parting words do him? What did it matter if he wasn't afraid of death? Angering them would only bring harm to his sister.
"Guards, throw him into the dungeon and keep him under strict surveillance. No one is to approach without my command."
Prince Fu waved his hand in an order.
Though he desperately wanted to finish Chen Xiao off right then and there, the poison in his body still required Chen Xiao's antidote.
Doctor Huang's Detoxification Pills could only suppress the poison, not eradicate it; ultimately, the one who tied the bell had to untie it. Despite his outwardly nonchalant demeanor in front of the Princess Consort, given the choice, who actually wanted to die?
Before being dragged away, however, Chen Xiao suddenly began to struggle, shouting toward Yu Xian:
"Consort Yu, do not forget what you promised me! Otherwise, I will not let you off even as a ghost!"
"Oh? I wonder what Consort Yu promised this assassin?"
Prince Fu looked at Yu Xian, a deeper meaning lingering in his gaze.
Now that Chen Xiao had been brought to justice and his greatest threat was gone, Yu Xian, this Xiantian grandmaster, was no longer as crucial to him as before.
Knowing that he could not keep his interrogation of Chen Xiao hidden from Prince Fu's spies, Yu Xian was quite frank about it.
"This Yu took a few things from him and promised to spare his younger sister's life. Therefore, I would like to ask the Prince to grant me this favor."
Prince Fu fell silent.
A moment later, he stared coldly at the girl kneeling on the ground and said flatly:
"If Consort Yu can persuade Chen Xiao to purge the poison from this Prince's body, I can grant you this favor."
After a brief pause for thought, Yu Xian didn't claim he could give it a try, but instead put on a troubled expression. "Chen Xiao is currently relying entirely on this trump card to save his life; I fear he would rather die than comply. This Yu can only say he will do his utmost."
A faint smile forced its way onto Prince Fu's face as he nodded. "Do your best, then. This Prince is not an unreasonable man."
"Many thanks for your understanding, Your Highness. This subordinate will take his leave."
Yu Xian bowed and withdrew.
He didn't ask about a reward for capturing Chen Xiao, nor did Prince Fu mention one.
This served as a tacit understanding between the two men, meaning that his unauthorized interrogation of Chen Xiao and the items he had taken from him were now considered water under the bridge.
After another moment passed.
Prince Fu suddenly asked in a low voice, "What did Consort Yu obtain from Chen Xiao?"
With that, Chen Xiao's kneeling sister raised her head, her expression stern and resolute, bearing no resemblance whatsoever to a frail maiden.
"Reporting to Your Highness, it was two spirit stones, two immortal cultivator secret manuals, and five gold bars."
"It seems Chen Xiao truly regarded you as a sister."
Prince Fu chuckled, his gaze drifting into the distance as a trace of nostalgia crossed his face.
"Back then, leaving a stray piece on the board was just a whim, but I never expected it to actually come in handy. Since Consort Yu wishes to protect you, follow him from now on, Chen Yi."
"Understood!"
The girl, formerly nameless and now known as Chen Yi, bowed respectfully and withdrew.
In this world, there were no such things as mere coincidences.
The greatest mistake Chen Xiao had made was exposing his identity while attempting to assassinate Prince Fu.
He never imagined that Prince Fu would keep the old Chen family servant alive and turn the situation to his advantage by having Chen Yi pose as the young Chen sister to wait at the old family ruins.
Only then had Prince Fu had the time to leisurely orchestrate his plans and deploy his forces.
Yu Xian's involvement had simply been a matter of being in the right place at the right time.
Even without Yu Xian, Chen Xiao still wouldn't have escaped the chess game Prince Fu had laid out today.
"Still... yet another heritage left behind by immortal cultivators..."
Prince Fu coughed softly, a look of yearning in his eyes as he muttered under his breath:
"What kind of world is that, really?"
To the imperial family, immortal cultivators were no deeply guarded secret, and the barrier between the Immortal Cultivation World and the Mortal Realm was not absolute.
In their youth, direct descendants of the Yue State's imperial lineage were tested for aptitude by powerful experts, and those with exceptional talent were sent into the Immortal Cultivation World to cultivate.
Once they achieved success in cultivation, they could give back to the imperial family.
The same held true for all other dynasties in the Mortal Realm; it was only by leaning on cultivation families within the Immortal Cultivation World that imperial fortunes endured endlessly.
Otherwise, how could ordinary mortal emperors possibly resist the bizarre and varied methods of immortal cultivators? They would long since have been overthrown in usurpations and lost their lives.
After all, mosquito meat was still meat, and the same applied to the resources of the Mortal Realm.
A Golden Core Master might turn their nose up at them, but Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment cultivators certainly wouldn't.
Prince Fu had also been tested for aptitude in his youth, but he was deemed unsuited for cultivation, so he remained in the secular world as an idle prince.
By now, his imperial elder brother who had ascended the throne should be much the same as him, because any crown prince who desired cultivation could never become emperor—otherwise, they would undoubtedly mobilize the entire nation's resources to pave the way for their own cultivation, which ran counter to the interests of the cultivation families backing the imperial house.
Yet his imperial brother had somehow managed to persuade the imperial family's supervising immortal masters, actually beginning his cultivation with great pomp and circumstance.
In Prince Fu's eyes, this was a path to ruining the country, and the current chaos in Yue State served as proof.
***
The departing Yu Xian naturally knew nothing of these secrets.
Ever since he transmigrated, he had merely been a humble farmer.
His social circle was so small, how could he possibly know about the entanglements between secular dynasties and cultivation families?
Hearing that immortal cultivators could live like lords in the Mortal Realm, he had eagerly rushed right over.
Fortunately, having lived a second life, he placed caution above all else and never let his identity as an immortal cultivator inflate his ego to the point where he viewed mortals as pigs and dogs.
Otherwise, fresh soil might already be piled atop his grave by now.
Upon returning to Heaven-Tier Building No. 2, Yu Xian didn't rest; he immediately resumed his decadent lifestyle as a pampered master.
"Yulan, show this lord your talents!"