"Naturally, she's your Lord's old flame."

Su Ziyue curled her lips.

A glint of interest flashed in Chen Yuan's eyes. Jiang He had an old flame? Chen Yuan thought that with the other man's personality, he should be as aloof as he was to women.

Single-mindedly pursuing the Dao...

Of course, as for what 'Dao' Chen himself was pursuing, that was up to individual interpretation.

"Please, Miss Su, elaborate."

Chen Yuan would normally have no interest in gossip, but Jiang He was different. He had always presented himself as a sword immortal, taciturn and aloof.

He would never have imagined that the man would have an old flame.

"Her name is Li Hongshuang. They met when Jiang He had just started to show his talent before forming his Golden Core. They were like rivals, unable to see eye to eye at first.

Later, as they sparred more and more, a spark ignited between them, and then..."

Through Su Ziyue's narration, Chen Yuan gained some understanding of the love-hate entanglement between Jiang He and Li Hongshuang. Overall, it was somewhat cliché, nothing more than a case of 'enemies become lovers' and mutual affection.

But later, Jiang He had some disagreements with the Li family, and gradually distanced himself from Li Hongshuang. He even severed his ties with love to form his True Core, becoming a true representation of a man without woman, naturally excelling.

What Su Ziyue found most unfair was that she suspected Jiang He only accepted Li Hongshuang later in the hopes of using this wisp of affection to suppress the flaws in his heart.

Ultimately, he hoped to pass the second hurdle of forming the Golden Core, the trial of life and death, the inner demon barrier.

But after Jiang He formed his Golden Core, he immediately severed ties with Li Hongshuang and ceased all contact, leaving her to pursue him fruitlessly for many years.

Chen Yuan paused, understanding the situation.

So, what Li Hongshuang was pursuing was nothing more than 'Jiang He going downhill'. (A play on words, where "Jiang He Ri Xia" sounds like "Jiang He in Decline.")

"What disagreement did Jiang He have with the Li family?" He changed the subject and continued to ask.

"It mainly concerned Li Hongshuang's elder brother, Li Feiyu. Back when Jiang He hadn't yet revealed his talent, he wasn't valued by the Li family, who felt his background was poor and disapproved of Li Hongshuang marrying him. Later, Jiang He rose to prominence, making it into the top twenty of the Potential Dragon List, and they became more amenable. When Jiang He entered the top three, they stopped obstructing.

That's precisely why Jiang He stopped contacting Li Hongshuang after forming his Golden Core..."

"Is that all?"

Chen Yuan was somewhat suspicious. Based on the protagonist's template, he had anticipated many things, and suspected that it wasn't as simple as Su Ziyue described. There might be hidden secrets.

"That's all I know. Neither Li Hongshuang nor Jiang He ever mentioned anything else." Su Ziyue's displeasure with Jiang He stemmed from this.

In her view, if Jiang He disliked the Li family, he could have simply eloped with Li Hongshuang. There was no need to distance himself because of it.

Causing two lovers to separate.

Chen Yuan retorted:

"Do not advise others to be kind unless you have shared their suffering. Since Miss Su doesn't know the truth, it's best not to interfere."

"I've never interfered, I just feel uncomfortable," Su Ziyue sighed softly.

She had joined the Dao God Palace around the same time as Jiang He, and she and Li Hongshuang had been close friends even before joining.

So her intention was for them to be together, for lovers to be united in the end.

"Li Hongshuang, Li Feiyu, Li family..." Chen Yuan frowned, as if realizing something.

"Don't guess. Li Hongshuang's father is Li Kuangxiu." As if sensing Chen Yuan's curiosity, Su Ziyue reminded him.

Chen Yuan suddenly understood. He wondered why the surname Li sounded so familiar. It was because of Li Kuangxiu. No wonder Su Ziyue said earlier that Li Hongshuang might be able to help him in the capital in the future.

So that was the reason.

Li Kuangxiu was none other than the Grand Marshal of the Da Jin Dynasty, nominally in command of all the armies in the land. He was known as the Divine Martial True Lord and was said to have made great contributions to the Sima family's seizure of power from the former Chu Dynasty.

He was also a veteran of four dynasties, with a very high position in the court. The Li family also possessed immense power in the Da Jin military.

If he could draw on the power of the Li family, everything would indeed be much easier in the future.

Of course, this was just a thought. Su Ziyue added that Li Hongshuang was Li Hongshuang, and Li Kuangxiu was Li Kuangxiu. Because of Jiang He, Li Hongshuang's relationship with her family was strained.

But no matter what, she was still Li Kuangxiu's legitimate daughter, and had a good relationship with the concubines and princesses in the imperial harem.

She could still provide Chen Yuan with significant assistance.

"Thank you, Miss Su."

Chen Yuan knew that Su Ziyue gave him the Youth Preservation Pill so that he could present it to Li Hongshuang, with the intention of helping him expand his connections in the capital.

Making things easier for him in the future.

Otherwise, with Su Ziyue's abilities, how could she truly be unable to spare the time?

"Repay me in the future."

Su Ziyue waved her hand, not taking it to heart.

Chen Yuan nodded in agreement, and said in a deep voice:

"Chen is used to being straightforward and never says polite words. In the future, as long as Miss Su has balls, Chen will definitely get hard!"

Responding to every request!

Su Ziyue giggled upon hearing this:

"I can see that your personality is indeed quite erect, but I don't know if it will truly be 'ying' (hard) in the future."

"Chen Yuan always keeps his word!"

......

......

After a few casual words, Su Ziyue ultimately did not linger for long. Watching her figure fly away, Chen Yuan breathed a long sigh of relief.

This trip was a complete success!

Not only had he resolved the troubles of the Qingyun Sword Sect and the Yun family, but he had also successfully refined the divine pill with the Heaven and Earth Furnace. Feeling the powerful force within his body.

He felt a sense of joy.

After more than a year of cultivation, he had finally made some progress from his humble beginnings. No matter where he was placed, a Core Realm Grandmaster was a solid pillar of strength.

Worthy of being called a Grandmaster!

Seen as an immortal by mortals.

And the powerful among the Core Realm, could even dominate a state, and be called Gold Envoy-level court officials. Although they couldn't be called feudal officials, they were not far from it.

Having already gained extraordinary powers in the Upper Three Realms, he had taken a big step forward on his path to the pinnacle of martial arts.

After Jiang He, Li Suqing and the others left, Chen Yuan did not stay in the Locking Dragon River for too long. The thousand-year-old Earth Dragon Qi contained within had been absorbed and refined by him.

It would take hundreds or thousands of years of nurturing to become a new blessed land once again.

When Chen Yuan came, he traveled by boat, but when he left, he no longer needed it. He flew directly into the air. The divine core in his dantian absorbed the surrounding Heaven and Earth vitality, able to sustain that little bit of consumption.

After all, he was a Grandmaster now, so he would naturally fly instead of running.

His harvest on this trip was not only the formation of his Golden Core and the extermination of his enemies, but also truly becoming an official member of the Dao God Palace, and knowing their respective identities.

At the same time, he was also shocked by the widespread power of the Dao God Palace.

Eternal Spring Dao Lord Li Suqing was the Great Elder of the Goddess Palace, one of the Ten Great Immortal Sects, with extraordinary power. Demon Prison Dao Lord Chu Changfeng was an old founder of a sect, in charge of a top Jianghu force,

With great power in Yang Province.

Evil Ghost Dao Lord Yang Huatian was a rogue cultivator in the Southern Border, a complete villain, and a giant of the evil path.

Heavenly Sword Dao Lord Jiang He was a Gold Envoy of a state, in a high position with great power.

On the other hand, he didn't know much about the identity of Seven Emotions Dao Lord Su Ziyue. Not only did Li Suqing and the others not mention it, but Chen Yuan had also inquired about it indirectly before.

But she concealed it.

Chen Yuan guessed that her identity might also be problematic. At least he had never heard of the name Su Ziyue in the Jianghu. Unless he spent a lot of effort to investigate, but there was obviously no need for that.

Of course, the most mysterious was the senior Moro who was suppressed by the imperial court in the Jianghu. He was the one who created the Dao God Palace and granted the various Dao Lords peerless techniques.

His origins were suspected to be from Buddhism, and Li Suqing, Chu Changfeng and others considered him to be a Sixth Realm Immortal level figure.

And from what Chen Yuan knew from the Immortal Realm of Martial Emperor City, it seemed that this senior Moro was the 'demon monk' mentioned by the elusive strong man whose name he couldn't even remember.

Chen Yuan didn't tell the other Dao Lords the truth. He didn't say that the Dao God Palace seemed to have been exposed a long time ago. He had a premonition that if he said it, it wouldn't be so easily resolved.

And that forgotten, mysterious strong man's strength was probably extraordinary as well.

However, after only one or two days, Chen Yuan's memory became even more blurred. If he hadn't written down some things in advance, he would probably only remember that secret realm...

This power to conceal the secrets of heaven was even more terrifying and elusive than when he forgot his uncle and others before...

He guessed that there were probably legendary Sixth Realm Immortals in Martial Emperor City as well.

It was that blurry figure whose name and appearance he couldn't remember...

Traveling rapidly, Chen Yuan's speed in the air was very fast. It only took him a short time to cross Yun Province of the East Sea and arrive in Qing Province. At the same time,

The true shock in the Jianghu began!!!

The Jianghu hadn't recovered from the previous Ascension Battle. Everyone was still discussing how Chen Yuan defeated all the heroes in the world to reach the top, and his feud with the Gu family.

They were also discussing how Zuo Chengzuo had been reborn from death, drawing down heavenly lightning and forming an abnormal Heavenly Pill in the process.

But with the emergence of a piece of news, the attention of the Jianghu martial artists was quickly diverted, first because the Ascension Battle was already in the past, and most people already knew the various news that had come out.

The other reason was that the Ascension Battle was no match for this kind of news.

Qingyunzi, the Huayang ancestor of the Qingyun Sword Sect, had fallen!

At the same time, the sect leader Xiao Yuncheng and an elder also perished. And this was only one of them. The Yun family's ancestor had also fallen, and the family had suffered heavy losses of experts.

The news came from Qing Province and swept across the world.

The Jianghu was immediately in an uproar. After all, both the Qingyun Sword Sect and the Yun family, one of the Five Great Families, were forces that had been inherited for hundreds of years in the Jianghu.

They had a great influence in Qing and Shu Provinces.

And Huayang True Man hadn't been heard to have fallen for several years. Now that two had died at once, how could people not be shocked?

As the news spread, the Jianghu was full of discussions, arguing about why the Qingyun Sword Sect and the Yun family were destroyed at the same time. Some said it was the imperial court who did it,

Some said it was the work of demonic cults, and some said it was the work of Dongying (Japanese) martial artists. There were many different opinions, and many idle martial artists joined in.

Some people even said that the reason why the Qingyun Sword Sect and the Yun family were severely damaged was related to Chen Yuan, saying that these two forces had one thing in common, which was that they were both enemies of Chen Yuan.

And the force behind Chen Yuan was very terrifying, which was why this happened.

However, this news disappeared as soon as it came out, because no one believed it. How was that possible? Chen Yuan was only a Tongxuan cultivator, but the Qingyun Sword Sect and the Yun family both had Huayang True Men guarding them.

Moreover, one was in Shu Province and the other was in Yun Province. If Chen Yuan really had so much power, he wouldn't have stayed in a small Ping'an County for so many years.

Some people even mocked, saying that if you want to frame Chen Yuan, you should find a better reason. This is simply nonsense, and whoever believes it is crazy.

Although there were forces within the Dao God Palace fueling the flames, it also coincided with what many Jianghu martial artists thought. They didn't believe that Chen Yuan had anything to do with the fall of the Huayang True Men.

The news of the destruction of the Yun family and the Qingyun Sword Sect was still fermenting, but the Gu family had no reaction, as if they didn't even know that their True Man had fallen.

But in reality, that was not the case. In fact, when the Gu family's Huayang True Man had just fallen, the soul lamp left in the Gu family had been extinguished, attracting attention.

At the same time, the Gu family's True Monarch awakened and ordered a strict investigation into the matter.

Starting the investigation from the East Sea...

Some people in the Gu family knew that the Gu family's True Man was inseparable from Chen Yuan and felt that it must be related to him, because the Gu family had also received some close news before.

Qingyunzi and the Yun family's ancestor were preparing to attack Chen Yuan and frame the Gu family, so that they would bear the court's anger. That was why the Gu family's True Man held a memory stone to record that scene.

But just as the Gu family's experts were looking for Chen Yuan, a hidden message came from the Southern Border, saying that the Gu family's Huayang had actually fallen into the hands of the evil Daoist Yang Huatian.

Becoming a main soul in his divine weapon, the Myriad Ghost Banner. This immediately angered the Gu family. They didn't even have time to seek revenge on Chen Yuan. It was said that the Gu family's True Monarch was born and wanted to kill Yang Huatian.

But he couldn't find any trace of him and could only let it go.

Of course, this was just a later story, news that Chen Yuan had learned from the Heavenly Book. In order to prevent the Gu family from finding Chen Yuan, Yang Huatian directly exposed himself.

Fortunately, the gap between them was too big to be associated with each other...

The turmoil in the Jianghu continued. As time passed, some people finally couldn't bear it anymore, and under the encouragement of the Dao God Palace, they brazenly began to encroach on the Yun family's interests.

Once there was one, there would be two. The former allies couldn't care about anything else and all rushed to dismember the Yun family. The Shangguan clan was one of them and gained a lot of benefits.

After destroying the Yun family, these forces would not give up and began to kill the Yun family disciples. For a time, the entire Shu Province was in turmoil.

Without a Huayang True Man guarding them, the Yun family was just a lamb to the slaughter, especially when others were deliberately pushing it. They had no chance of survival.

Although the Yun family killed many people with their foundation, it was still just a drop in the bucket and couldn't stop those forces who coveted the Yun family's wealth.

The Yun family was divided and eaten. Many forces in Qing Province naturally also decided to follow suit and attack the Qingyun Sword Sect. It was just a pity that they were one step late.

The Demon Prison Gate, a major sect in Yang Province, directly occupied the entire Qingyun Mountain and took away all the valuable treasures. All that was left for those forces were some other resources left by the Qingyun Sword Sect.

But this was enough to drive people crazy.

Mines, spiritual gardens, treasure mountains...

These resources that could not be taken away were the targets of many people's competition. The only pity was that Chen Yuan's previous premonition had come true. Xiao Yuncheng had indeed left a backup plan.

His only daughter, Xiao Qingmu, had secretly left Qingyun Mountain with a small group of people before Chu Changfeng took action, without alarming anyone.

And these people were the spark of the Qingyun Sword Sect and the future hope of the Qingyun Sword Sect.

Naturally, Chu Changfeng would not let them go so easily. He used a lot of power to search for these Qingyun remnants and killed many people, but some people still escaped in the end.

Xiao Qingmu was one of them...

The turmoil in Qing Province was not limited to this. Because Chen Yuan had told Jiang He about some things about those Dongying dwarves, it also made him a little unhappy. Under Chen Yuan's promotion,

The Qing Province government thoroughly investigated the entire territory and destroyed all the Dongying dwarves' longevity tablets. Han Yu and others also took the opportunity to extend their forces to Yunyang Prefecture due to Chen Yuan's previous orders.

And destroyed the Jinhua Temple!

Yue Shan and the others either threw those dwarves' longevity tablets into the latrine, or found skilled craftsmen to embed them in the stone slabs in front of the gate of Tangshan Prefecture, so that ten thousand people could trample on them.

When such a thing happened, it immediately enraged those Dongying martial artists, setting off a shock in Qing Province. However, Jiang He would naturally not indulge them and joined forces with the military to quickly suppress them.

At the same time, he declared to the outside world, how could mere Dongying dwarves be worthy of being enshrined in the Central Plains?

One stone stirred up a thousand waves, and the Jianghu was in an uproar.

It also made many people call out that it was too lively for nearly half a month. First, there was the Ascension Battle, then the fall of the Huayang True Man, and then it also involved the Dongying dwarves. It could be said that wave after wave came.

And the leader of these events, the hidden Mr. Chen, was still on his way to Tangshan Prefecture...

He had been delayed for some time due to some small things along the way. Otherwise, with his speed, he should have returned to Tangshan long ago.

Amidst the waves of turmoil, the stories about Chen Yuan were also rapidly disappearing, and everyone's attention was gradually shifting to other places.

But it was different in the imperial court. Chen Yuan shocked the court again!

And this time, the shock was extraordinary. It was the first time since the founding of the Da Jin Dynasty that someone had won the first place in the Potential Dragon List as a court official and was invincible in the Ascension Battle!

This was definitely a record-breaking event.

In the early years, there were not a few court martial artists who made it onto the Potential Dragon List. Not to mention first place, even the top three was something that had happened more than a hundred years ago. In the past hundred years, no one had even made it into the top three.

And Chen Yuan?

He took first place!

He publicized the power of the imperial court, boosted the prestige of the imperial court, and greatly pleased Jingtai. He praised the several divine envoys of the Inspection Department in the court meeting,

At the same time, he also mentioned the matter of summoning Chen Yuan to the capital.

Everything was progressing in a good direction...

————

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