Chapter 68 - Weasel Gang Leader

As Xi Shen walked through the familiar paths, looking at the familiar buildings, he came upon the north wing of the Imperial Palace after about an hour and a half of walking. The Imperial Palace was big enough that most people would use carriages or tamed Spirit Beasts to go from one wing to another, but Xi Shen didn’t mind the walk as he was always intrigued by the beautiful craft pavilions, and he could casually train his movement technique.

During his walk here, Xi Shen’s figure would vanish mid-step before reappearing several dozen meters further ahead. If he hadn’t done this, he wouldn’t have reached the north wing in such a short amount of time.

As Xi Shen came upon the two large pillars that one goes through to signify entering another wing, one could visibly see a difference in the east wing Xi Shen was in before and this one, and it pertains to the servant activity, and the Li Clan family members mingling together.

The entire Imperial Palace itself was split into the north, south, east, and west wing.

The south wing was located at the front of the Imperial Palace and was where the pavilions which host the visiting guests of the Palace were.

The east wing as mentioned before was where the concubines have their living quarters, as well as Xi Shen’s own.

The west wing is for the branch family of the Li Clan, where Xi Shen’s cousins and distant relatives lived.

As for the final wing, the north wing, this was the most important wing inside the Imperial Palace, as this was where the Emperor and the Queen’s chambers are, including Fu Wei the crown prince.

Even though the four wings weren’t separated by high walls and the various paths leading to the north wing weren’t heavily guarded by palace guards, there was still a collective consensus of some sort that everyone in the Palace instinctively obeyed, and that was to avoid entering the north wing unless you have no choice to or it’s to deal with a very important matter.

It’s just an unenforced and unwritten rule that people in the Palace followed, though this rule to Xi Shen was mostly more enforced than the average person in the Palace, as the north wing was where the secret archives of the Li Family were located.

Upon entering the north wing, Xi Shen began walking along paths with more and more people on them. He had thought about disguising himself, but Tai and Little Snow hadn’t returned yet, and if he wore something to cover his face that would draw just as much attention to him if he had openly showed his face.

So as Xi Shen headed for one of the three large Pavilions where his brother was supposedly holding upon in seclusion, several people turned to look at him in shock and horror.

However, these people were in the Sea Expansion Realm, as Xi Shen was still using his basic movement technique spectral steps, to lessen the time to reach his destination. This made it difficult for people below the Sea Expansion Realm to see him moving along the paths with his hands behind his back and taking leisurely steps.

They could only feel a warm breeze whiz past them as they chatted amongst each other.

As for the cultivators above the Sea Expansion Realm they had their eyes open wide as they followed his figure disappearing further along the path.

However, one should note something peculiar, or rather it was expected. Most of the people which Xi Shen could consider family was either around his age or a few years older.

This was due to the fact the Li Family didn’t personally teach their younger generations martial arts and cultivation, they left that to the numerous Academies on the Maple Continent or the Imperial Academy which was located inside the City.

The Li Family members usually join the Imperial Academy or the Divine Star Academy, sometimes there would be a deviant who chose to enter the Celestial Academy.

This was one of the reasons why there was no one from the Li Royal Family bloodline that had entered the Celestial Academy for the past couple of years, besides the crown prince and the second prince.

So the highest cultivation for the surrounding people where at least the 1st or 2nd level of the Foundation Realm. As for the adults and older generation, they mostly chose to stay in seclusion and only come out during important decisions being made in the Li Family.

This left the Palace to be occupied by mostly the younger generation, who was young and immature, would usually cause trouble for no apparent reason.

As Xi Shen’s figure flickered once more, he appeared closer and closer to his brother’s residence, but before he could take another step forward, a youth around his age appeared in front of him causing him to place his foot back onto the ground.

Seeing two more youths appearing behind the first, Xi Shen rolled his eyes so far back into his head he could almost see his brain conjuring the thoughts, ‘What the hell do they want? Did they stalk out here hoping I’ll show up in the north wing?’

The three youths that appeared in front of Xi Shen were of course from a part of the Li Royal Family, but due to its massive size, Xi Shen didn’t know exactly how they are related to him. Even if he looked at the Li family tree in the Imperial Library and found these youth's names, he would have a hard time coming up with the correct way to address them, so he just settle to calling everyone who isn’t old his cousins.

The youth in the front of him had on golden robes made of the finest silk cloth. Expensive accessories were hanging around his neck and several gold rings were on his fingers.

To be honest Xi Shen found it ridiculous that this youth and the others behind him were dressing like this. But, he guessed they were dressing to fit the name given to people like them in the Li Family.

“The Li Weasels, or Weasels of the Li Family.”

These names were given to the few members of the Li family who chose to forsake their responsibilities and only live off the Li Family’s status and riches.

Though despite that, these youths who were about one or two years older than Xi Shen, had already reached the Sea Expansion Realm, meaning their innate talent was high. But this wasn’t strange since if you had the Li Family bloodline running through your veins you are guaranteed to have a high innate talent.

Whether it was from the precious elixirs the Li Clan could afford to increase it while they were inside their mothers' wombs, or it was the natural talents the Li Clan bloodline’s provided.

As Xi Shen had these thoughts running through his head, the youth who looked like the leader of the group sported a serious expression on his face as he stared at Xi Shen. After which he then bellowed to his two followers behind him, “Weasels of the Li Family!! Welcome the return of our Weasel Gang Leader!!”

This shout from the youth had drawn a few people’s attention, and when they look over to see them and Xi Shen standing together, most of them pull weird expressions, while some quickly left the area.

As the first youth shouted that cringey title, Xi Shen stood there with an embarrassed expression, while the two youths bellowed out a welcome back greeting to Xi Shen, “Welcome back from your travels our Weasel Gang Leader!!”

With that, the three youth’s cupped their fists and gave an exaggerated bow in Xi Shen’s direction.

Coughing awkwardly a few times, Xi Shen then said in a forced serious tone, “Li Bai, Li Minhua, and Li Anu, how has the Weasel Gang been since my departure? I hope you two are keeping everything in order during my absence?”

Li Bai, the leader of this trio, perked up and said, “Don’t worry Gang Leader, we’ve been keeping everything in order, though there were a few weasel members that had stepped out of line, we’ve used your divine punishment pole to straighten them out.”

The other two youths nodded their heads vigorously at the youth’s words.

Xi Shen nodded as well before he swished his sleeves and said, “Alright, that’s good to hear. I have a few things to take care of in the north wing so your Gang Leader can’t accompany you. Continue what you’ve been doing.”

All three youth’s who wore fanatical expressions on their face beamed with joy at Xi Shen’s words. As Xi Shen’s figure disappeared from in front of them, they hollered out into the dumbfounded crowd who had watched this exchange ears, “Thank you Weasel Gang Leader!!”

Xi Shen used a bit more speed than before to get away from those youth, and he couldn’t help but let out a helpless laugh.

When Xi Shen had decided to gather those Weasels of the Li Family together he hadn’t thought that a day like this would come.

This whole situation was because of a simple encounter that had blown out of proportion.

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~Fun Fact~

Word Count: 1553