Although pleased, Yang Hong did not become complacent.
In this imperial palace, a Grandmaster was not invincible.
As far as he knew, although there were no Grandmasters in the entire palace, a Grandmaster would fall under the siege of three thousand Innate Grandmaster guards.
Moreover, there were thirty thousand guards below the Innate level, and their combined attack could easily kill a Grandmaster.
This was why he, even as a transmigrator with a system, remained very low-key.
Yes, Yang Hong was not from this world.
He was a transmigrator.
The original owner of this body was also named Yang Hong, and was the Sixth Prince of the Great Sui Dynasty, once the prince most likely to ascend to the throne as Crown Prince.
However, he was imprisoned in the Cold Palace by Emperor Yang Jian of the Great Sui on charges of treason.
On the very day this Sixth Prince was escorted into the Cold Palace, he could not bear the despair and died of anger.
Then, Yang Hong, an ordinary person from Blue Star, took over this body and inherited his identity.
At first, Yang Hong thought he had transmigrated back to the Sui Dynasty of Blue Star, and was preparing to curry favor with the Second Prince, Yang Guang.
But after some investigation, he discovered that this Great Sui was not that Great Sui.
This world was called Taiyuan. It was said to be vast and boundless. Yang Hong still did not know exactly how large it was.
Because he was constantly obstructed by Crown Prince Yang Yong, the information he could obtain was extremely limited.
He only knew that the Great Sui ruled a territory of 10 million square kilometers and had a population exceeding 100 million;
Around the Great Sui Dynasty, there were four other dynasties: Great Ming to the east, Great Song to the southeast, Great Tang to the west, and Wu Zhou to the southwest.
The strength of these four dynasties was no less than that of the Great Sui. They were allies to each other, yet also had friction.
However, the five dynasties dared not engage in large-scale warfare, because in the north, they had a common enemy: the grassland people – the Great Yuan Dynasty.
That was a terrifying existence that could easily crush any one of the five dynasties!
The rulers of the five dynasties had always harbored ambitions of annexing other dynasties, unifying the five, and achieving imperial glory.
They even had the aspiration to defeat the Great Yuan Dynasty.
But the five dynasties were of similar strength and had intermarried, leading to a stalemate for over three hundred years, and they remained five dynasties.
And Yang Hong, this Sixth Prince, was a "product" of such intermarriage.
His father was naturally the Emperor of Great Sui, Yang Jian, and his mother was the former Grand Princess of Wu Zhou, who was the younger sister of the current Emperor of Wu Zhou, Wu Zetian.
With such a background, he should not have been confined to the Cold Palace.
However, six years ago, when this Yang Hong was just thirteen years old, his mother, to find him an ally, arranged a marriage for him with Princess Li Lizhi, the current Sixth Princess of Great Tang, before she died.
Not long after, his mother died of illness;
And Yang Hong began to fall into misfortune. First, it was revealed that his identity was questionable, and then he was accused of plotting rebellion, leading directly to his imprisonment in the Cold Palace.
It was under these circumstances that Yang Hong from Blue Star transmigrated.
It had been five years and six months since then.
After initial panic and the fear of imminent death, one day when he was watering a wild wheat plant, he accidentally activated his golden finger.
[Planting Infusion, Cultivation Returns Ten Thousandfold System]
Any plant cultivated by Yang Hong, upon infusion of his cultivation, would yield a return, ranging from tenfold to onefold.
This infusion was of cultivation, not water.
Therefore, the activation of his system was truly unexpected.
Even with the system, Yang Hong dared not be careless, let alone expose it.
Because his own talent was too extraordinary. Before the age of thirteen, he was already a renowned prodigy, possessing photographic memory.
He was also considered the most likely candidate for Crown Prince in the Great Sui.
Therefore, he had always been wary of and ostracized by his imperial brothers, who eventually colluded to have him sent to the Cold Palace.
Even so, his brothers were still not at ease.
As soon as he entered the [Wangwen Pavilion], this small courtyard was not allowed to have any books related to martial arts. The eunuchs and maids serving him were also forbidden from practicing martial arts.
Later, even cultural books were forbidden, leaving only some agricultural books that Yang Hong had specifically requested.
Finally, today, not a single character was allowed to exist here.
His brothers intended to keep him like a pig, fattened up.
As for why they didn't kill him directly, it was because each prince had their own concerns, they wanted to maintain the royal dignity, and also because they were afraid of provoking the Wu Zhou Dynasty.
This gave Yang Hong a chance to survive in the cracks.
However, from today onwards, he no longer needed to be so cautious.
"Hahaha~ In this world, martial arts are revered. Even though dynasties rule the land, martial artists hold very high status. There are many transcendent existences in the martial arts world of each country."
"The Three Sects of Great Sui, the Six Gates of Wu Zhou, the Seven Sects of Great Tang, the Eight Observatories of Great Song, and the Nine Mountains of Great Ming all have the right to obey or disobey orders.
And Grandmasters are the highest known combat power."
With an excited heart, Yang Hong walked to the corner of the wall on one side of the vegetable garden's courtyard, where a pile of stones was discarded.
He picked up a stone about the size of a winnowing basket and brought his palm down forcefully.
"Bang~ Crackle~ Crackle~"
The large stone split in response, shattering into pieces the size of footballs.
"Haha~ Not bad, I now possess ten thousand jin of strength. It seems that the improvement from Innate Martial Artist to Grandmaster is indeed significant."
Looking at his still fair and delicate palms, Yang Hong chuckled with satisfaction.
"Your Highness! Did something happen?"
Zhou Neng heard the sound of Yang Hong smashing the large stone and appeared ghost-like outside the vegetable garden.
Without Yang Hong's permission, he would not enter the vegetable garden casually.
"It's nothing. I'm just dealing with these stones. I want to plant some fruit trees."
Yang Hong walked out with a small iron hammer and handed it to Zhou Neng.
"Since Uncle Neng is here, please help me smash all the large stones by the wall. Just make them about the size of a head; I'll use them for a fence."
"Yes, this old servant will finish it quickly."
Zhou Neng did not suspect anything, took the small iron hammer, and began smashing with "bang~ bang~ bang~".
It truly only took a few minutes.
An Innate Grandmaster possesses a minimum strength of eight thousand jin. Smashing stones was no trouble at all.
Yang Hong walked to a stone table on the side, sat down, and opened his system to examine it.
[Yang Hong: Sixth Prince of the Great Sui Dynasty.
Daily Infusion Count: 3/3
Lifespan: 19/150
Cultivation: 1 year True Qi (Martial Grandmaster, Ten Thousand Jin Strength)
Cultivation Techniques: Basic Breathing Technique Level 1, Basic Body Tempering Technique Level 1.
Special Abilities: Photographic Memory, Agricultural Mastery.]
Yang Hong's current attribute panel was very simple and straightforward.
His gaze fell on the lifespan column.
When he had just activated his system, his maximum lifespan was only 30 years. With the continuous returns from the cultivation return system, it had finally reached a normal upper limit.
According to statistics from the Taiyuan world, ordinary people and martial artists before the Innate Grandmaster level had a maximum lifespan of 100 years. Upon reaching the Innate Grandmaster level, their lifespan could reach 120 years, and for Grandmasters, it could reach 150 years.
If one practiced special longevity techniques, their lifespan could be further extended by 30-50 years.
In the Taiyuan world, cultivation not only bestowed powerful strength but also a longer lifespan.
No one was willing to die.
Especially Yang Hong, who had already died once.