C35

The figure of the beast had suddenly appeared in the air above Qian Yuan City, startling everyone who was watching the breakthrough. The whirlpool of spirit energy that had already liquefied was slapped into the Duke of Wei's mansion by the shadow of the Royal Spirit Beast, which made those close to the Lu family even more worried. The spirit energy of heaven and earth that was compressed to the point of mercury couldn't be endured by just anyone.

Gu Qingcheng, who was already extremely worried, instantly lost her composure and cried out in alarm when she saw this scene.

Before this, both Gu Qingcheng and the rest had all assumed that Lu Que was compressing the spiritual Qi in the air in preparation of breaking through to the seventh chakra. However, what they did not know was that just now, the space spirit energy had been ignited by the Zhou Tian Star Force due to the extreme speed of compression from the Spirit Controlling Cauldron. If not for the sudden appearance of the Spirit Beast and the suppression of the Heavenly Star Flame, Lu Que would have suffered a backlash from the spirit energy.

"Qingcheng, don't worry." A pair of soft and strong hands rested on Gu Qingcheng's shoulders. The one who came was Gu Jianyun, who had watched Lu Que grow up.

"Aunty ~" Gu Qingcheng turned and hugged Gu Jianyun.

"Silly girl, don't worry. It is Lil 'White. They have been together since they were young. They have a deep relationship, so it won't harm Qu'Er." Gu Jianyun gently caressed Gu Qingcheng's back with his left hand while his right hand lifted up a strand of her hair. He played with it in his hand as a hint of ridicule flashed across his eyes. I never thought that my beautiful daughter from the Gu Clan would fall so quickly.

Hearing Gu Jianyun's words, Gu Qingcheng, who had just put down her worries, couldn't help blushing. Her cheeks were flushed red as she rubbed her chin against Gu Jianyun's shoulder, "Aunt, what are you saying? When did I worry about him? Besides, no matter how strong he is, he's still a little brat, I don't want to marry him. "

"Really?" Gu Jianyun teased.

"Really." Gu Qingcheng replied, even nodding her head.

"Oh? Is that true? " Gu Jianyun dragged his voice and asked.

"It's true." Gu Qingcheng's aura weakened slightly.

"Are you sure it's true?" Gu Jianyun continued asking.

"I'm sure it's true." As if feeling her aunt's gaze, which was filled with laughter, Gu Qingcheng shyly turned around and lowered her head to look at the white-feathered Jackdaw in her arms. She quietly replied, but her tone of voice was no longer as firm as it was before.

Standing at the side, Gu Danxue saw the Gu Clan's most outstanding woman of two generations playing word games, and couldn't help but twitch the corner of her eye. She suddenly felt that if she continued to stay here, she might be killed in the future, and she didn't have time to continue watching the situation in the Lu Manor.

Gu Jianyun and Gu Qingcheng both laughed softly when they saw Gu Qingxue walk out of the house in such a hurry.

After laughing for a while, Gu Qingcheng realised that her aunt seemed to be laughing at different things. Gu Jianyun's mocking gaze was fixed on her face, while Gu Qingcheng's heart was thumping wildly. Her face was burning, and she was extremely bashful.

When the shadow of the beast appeared in the sky, Su Loyi, who had been watching the movements of the Lu mansion, turned around with a smile and returned to his room.

Shi Kuan, Mu Chi, and Feng Si, the three people from the Feng Xiang Army's encampment also put down their worries. They looked at each other and laughed loudly.

"It's a pity that Big Brother Lu is not in the capital. Otherwise, we would have to celebrate properly." Shi Kuan, who was about seventy to eighty percent drunk, said loudly.

"Even if Big Brother Lu is not from the capital, we will still have to go to the Duke of Wei's estate tomorrow to ask for a cup of water and a wine from the Grand Princess." A few months ago, he had obtained the Cyclic Lock from Lu Que. After a few months of research, he had also improved tremendously with the enlightenment he had gained from the woodwork institutions that had stagnated for more than ten years. He had already made a new one, and this was the perfect opportunity to return it to Lu Que.

"Let's not talk about all of this for now. We have watched Little Que grow up, and from today on, his name will spread throughout the world. As uncles, we will also have honor. Tonight, the three of us will not return until we are drunk." Feng Si carried a big jar of wine from his side, opened the seal, and filled the bowl in front of the three people.

"That's right, that's right. We can't leave until we're drunk."

The three of them picked up their wine bowls and said in unison.

"This first bowl is to honor me and the world. I am at peace and happy."

"This second bowl is for the fellow soldiers of our army, with the same thoughts."

"This third bowl is to honor me with the future pillars of glory, the mighty Lu Que."

"Cheers!"

"Cheers!"

"Cheers!"

The three of them gulped down three bowls in a row and guffawed towards the sky.

At the same time, the Imperial Spirit Cauldron suspended above Lu Que's head, like a whale absorbing water, swallowed all of the spirit liquid that the Imperial Spirit Beast slapped into the room. At the same time, the Imperial Spirit Cauldron that was floating above Lu Que's head, like a whale absorbing water, swallowed all of the spirit liquid that the Imperial Spirit Beast slapped into the room.

With the help of the spiritual energy purified by the crucible, coupled with the fact that Lu Que already knew the secrets of the heart, everything went smoothly. At the same time, the shadow of the beast in the sky also disappeared, as if it had never appeared before.

As he opened his seventh eye, Lu Que's aura that was like a raging fire had disappeared in the blink of an eye. His aura had returned to its normal calm state. Lu Que closed his eyes and carefully sensed the condition of his body. He felt a warm current that was completely different from before. It flowed through his body along with his heartbeat.

Lu Que could clearly feel that with every circulation of his blood, his physique became stronger by a little bit. Although this change was not obvious, it was happening at every moment. Lu Que, who had no experience to draw on, did not know the limits of this change and could only let it happen.

Lu Que stood up and stretched his body. He clenched his fists. He could clearly feel that his strength had increased by at least three points. His face showed an expression of both excitement and fear. Just now, he already felt that he broke through the seven orifices of the Heart Flame overnight. He was in too much of a hurry. If Little White didn't help him, there was a large chance that he would be devoured by the spiritual energy.

Lu Que didn't expect the 'True Sutra of the Yuan and the Great Concordat' to be so domineering. He couldn't help but drive the spiritual liquid. This was the shocking scene from before. However, with the previous experience, even if he still had the strength to break through the blood cavities in his spleen, he did not continue to try. Instead, he resolutely stopped. As the saying goes, haste makes waste. Cultivation is cultivation of the heart. One's heart can be steady, and one's foundation is firmly fixed.

In the blink of an eye, it was already spring and March. However, what happened two months ago on the night of the New Year's Eve was still the subject of great interest to the citizens of the imperial city. That night, as Lu Que stopped breaking through, the spiritual energy in his body regained its stability. Duanmu Ye, Zhuge Yan, Bai Fuguang, Wisdom Sect, and the others also began their breakthroughs. Perhaps it was due to the influence of Lu Que's Seven Apertures of the Heart's Flame that the four young men, who were in the same tier as Lu Que, had unleashed their full potential.

Duanmu Ye broke through his inner six chakras consecutively. When he wanted to break through his seventh chakra, he felt that he had reached the limits of his body. Under the persuasion of the old marshal Lei Xuanji, he stopped. As for Zhuge Yan, who was known as the 'unruly young master', he barely managed to break through to the sixth chakra.

If it was said that Zhuge Yan, who was at the 24th level of the Foundation Establishment Stage, could barely break through his inner organs, then it would still be understandable. After all, the Zhuge family had the reputation of being the think tank of the empire, with generations of outstanding people in their family, it was not strange for them to have some cultivation techniques and elixirs to assist in their breakthroughs. However, it was hard to understand why a level 22 Foundation Establishment cultivator like Bai Qing Guang was able to break through the six aperture of the Heart Flame at the same time. Generally speaking, a person below level 24 could only open five aperture at the first time he entered the Blood Meridian Realm.

However, what no one knew was that because Bai Qing had lost one position to Zhuge Yan in the test, her grade was two notches lower than his. Losing two times to Zhuge Yan in a row made him extremely indignant. Before the New Year began, Bai Zhiguang consumed a spiritual herb given to the first generation Protector of the Kingdom by the founding Queen. Only then did he bring up his Foundation Grade to the 24th grade, just like Zhuge Yan.

Compared to the other four, the wisdom and actions of someone who had broken through five innings were much harder to take.

Today was the day that the new students of the Phoenix Cry School would report to the Academy. Lu Que, Duanmu Ye, and Zhuge Yan all rose early and hurried towards the Academy. According to what Zhuge Yan said, the student dormitories in the academy were also divided into five levels: a dormitory, a bunkhouse, a dorm, a house, a house, a house, and a house. The first time an ordinary student entered the academy, they would start at their dorms. Based on their aptitude, academic performance, and daily performance, they would be able to apply for higher level institutions one after another.

As for the Imperial College students, the lowest possibility was that they would be allocated to the upper echelons of the academy. As for students like them, there was a high probability that they would be assigned to the Lishi residence. It must be known that the living environment at every level was absolutely different.

There were four people in a room, each with a bed.

The bungalow had two rooms for four people, one for resting and the other for a study.

The upper house had four people and a small courtyard. Each person had their own room.

Lisbeth was a large two-way courtyard for four people, each with his or her own bedroom and study. There was also a garden water element system and a pavilion with a flowery pavilion.

As for Risshe, there was only one school, and that was the residence of the head of the school. There was a proper hall and a side yard, built according to the rules of a rank 3 official. However, since the end of the Academy Chief, Shang Qingchen, last year, he had yet to receive a new master. It was likely that this year's competition for the position of the Academy Chief would be extremely intense.

The reason why Rachel had the students of the academy scramble to her place was not only because of their living environment and status. The most important reason was that this one and only Rachel was located between Golden Scale Valley and Wutong Valley. It had to be known that Wutong Valley was the residence of the imperial academy female students. For those students who were still young in the academy, there was no better benefit than this.

Because it was the students' time to report for work and there were too many people coming and going, the carriages were not allowed to enter the vicinity of the Monolith of the academy. The three got off the carriage at the Monolith carved with the Phoenix Cry Academy and walked towards the main entrance.

As he walked, Zhuge Yan also urged Lu Que to participate in this year's Academy Champion competition because the Academy's chief had the right to invite his good friend to stay in Risshe. Duanmu Ye was extremely moved by Zhuge Yan's narration, but he knew that with his ability, even Zhuge Yan might not win, not to mention Gu Xianxue, Yun Xian Si, and the others who had already been in the Academy for several years.

He did not care about the so-called title of chief or the unique Phoenix Cry. The reason he had entered the Academy was all because of his parents' wishes and he himself was not too passionate about it. As for becoming an official in the future, he had never even thought about it.

When the three of them arrived at the entrance of the academy, they saw Yu Tianxiang and Gu Qingcheng leading a group of people and waiting at the entrance. As the face of the Phoenix Cry School, the two people who had the title of Empire's Shuangshu were naturally sent by the Academy's head, Luo Canglan, to welcome the new students.

"Lu Que, what have you been doing recently? Why haven't you been at the Duke of Wei's Mansion for the past few times? Tell me, are you intentionally avoiding me?" Upon seeing the three of them, Gu Qingcheng welcomed them with a huff as she spoke. She hadn't seen Lu Que since the New Year and had visited the Duke of Wei's estate several times. Lu Que wasn't at home and she had no idea what he was up to. She could understand one or two times, but she had been unable to see him again and again, so she had to think too much about it.

"Sister Gu, you might not know this, but Lu Que has been helping the chefs in the Hundred Treasures Pavilion all this time." Zhuge Yan leisurely fanned a few times with her fan. The fan in her hand seemed to have been worn by a butterfly as she twirled it around her fingers. With a flick of her wrist, the fan opened up with a "pa" sound and faked a few fans. Not far away, there were a few senior sisters who were staring at the folding fan in Zhuge Yan's hands with glowing eyes. They were obviously attracted by this gorgeous set of movements. Seeing this, Zhuge Yan couldn't help but clasp his hands at the girls.

Gu Qingcheng stared fixedly at Lu Que for a while. Seeing him smiling and nodding, she finally let go of the small grudge in her heart. She had heard from her aunt Gu Jianyun that Lu Que had a very good culinary skill. Hundred Treasures Store was a family business owned by Lu Que, and they all used the secret recipes of the imperial palace's chefs. Lu Que was interested in it, so it made sense.

"Little brother." At this time, Yu Tian Xiang also walked up and said, "You're very interested in this. I'll send you a few books of recipes from the palace chef in a few days. You can study them yourself." It's best to not go to that Hundred Treasures Pavilion too often. It's different now, you're the son of the Crown Prince, you know? "

"Little brother understands, thank you sister Tian Xiang for your advice." Lu Que replied with a smile. He knew that Yu Tian Xiang was doing this for his own good. Although he didn't feel that cooking was a shameful matter, with his current status, he, the ancients, would more or less care about the opinions of the outside world.

"I didn't expect that the dignified prince of Wei, would actually like to cook? "Didn't you say that you would only do what lowly people do when you are far away from us? This brother would advise Brother Lu that it would be better if he didn't do it too much in the future, lest he embarrass our capital's young master." At this moment, a strange voice came from behind them. Everyone's gaze followed the direction of the voice and saw an eighteen to nineteen year old man, whose face was slightly pale, walking over from the back.

"This is the Ran Zhao of the Marquis Mansion." When Zhuge Yan saw the newcomer, he whispered into Lu Que's ear, "This is also one of the pursuers of your sister Qingcheng."

Lu Que nodded his head and glanced at Ran Zhao. He saw that this person's body was thin, his face was green and white, and his blood had dried up. Gu Qingcheng and Yu Tian Xiang, who were standing at the side, did not say anything. Instead, they waited to see what Lu Que would do next.

"Brother Ran, please." Lu Que smiled and saluted as he spoke, "Just now, Brother Ran said that I have humiliated the Young Master of the imperial city. May I ask if you are included in this Young Master of the imperial city?"

"I am the son of the Marquis of Wenchang, what about it? It has been a year since you returned to the capital. You have not even heard of my name? " Looking at Lu Que, Ran Zhao twitched his mouth in disdain. After the fixed products and the new year festival, Lu Que's name filled the entire capital. He naturally had different opinions on the environment in which he grew up in these past few years. However, these aristocratic families all agreed that Lu Que should be living in seclusion with his parents deep in the mountains. Thus, as someone who harbored wild thoughts towards Gu Qingcheng, he looked down on Lu Que who had grown up in the mountains.

"I've heard that Marquis Wen Chang is an erudite and knowledgeable person, and I believe Brother Ran has only learned a few things. I have a question in my mind and would like to ask for your explanation." Lu Que rolled his eyes and said.

"What's the problem? Tell me." However, there were many people here, including Princess Yu Tian Xiang. Due to Lu Que's status, it wasn't good for him to lose face for Lu Que.

"I've heard that only the son of a Prefecture Duke has the right to be called 'Young Master' since ancient times. I wonder if that's true?" Lu Que asked sincerely.

"You're right." Hearing this question, Ran Zhao heaved a sigh of relief. He knew that Lu Que was an outstanding student. He was afraid that Lu Que would have problems and make things difficult for him.

"If I don't have the position of duke in a county, then only the son of the duke can be called young master. Then, what should the son of the duke be called?" Lu Que's voice was still gentle and sincere, but there was a strange magic within his voice.

"Isn't this simple? Of course it's Hou Zi." Ran Zhao answered without even thinking.

"Brother, thank you for your guidance." Lu Que smiled and bowed to Ran Zhao again before returning to Duanmu Ye's side.

"You …" Seeing that Lu Que had only asked such a well-known question, he couldn't help but be stunned. When he saw Yu Tian Xiang and Gu Qingcheng's strange expressions, he realized that he had been played by Lu Que. He looked towards the crowd and discovered that many people were glaring at him. Amongst the students who were preparing to welcome the new students, there were quite a few who were born in the house of the Marquis, which was equivalent to scolding all of them.

According to the ancient rules, only the Duke and the son of a Prefecture Duke could be called young master. However, since the founding of the Great Gan Kingdom, the etiquette system wasn't as strict. Until now, the son of the Marquis family was also known as Young Master. Lu Que had only used the dead angle of Ran Zhao's thinking, coupled with the sound of his soul being taken, to make him lose face in front of everyone.

Gu Qingcheng, who was standing at the side, looked at Lu Que with glowing eyes. She had not expected the usually quiet and somewhat stiff Lu Que to have such a side.

Ran Zhao knew that he wouldn't be able to regain his dignity today. He pushed his way through the crowd and was about to enter the academy, but unexpectedly, Zhuge Yan blocked his path.

"I wonder where Brother Ran is going?" Zhuge Yan giggled as she asked.

"I suddenly remember that I have to go see the Deacon Lin Feng today, so I won't keep you company."

"A monkey returning a mountain, it's only right. This little brother won't hold you back, Brother Ran, please." With that, Zhuge Yan closed the folding fan in his hand and made a gesture of "please".

With a ferocious expression, Ran Zhao glanced at Lu Que and Zhuge Yan before squeezing through the crowd and leaving without even looking back.

Not far from the entrance of the school, the crowd that had been holding their breath for a long time let out waves of roars of laughter.