After listening to Yang Zixuan's reluctant introduction of her family's strength, Yang Hong suddenly felt a little pity for Emperor Yang Jian.
The Five Directions Heavenly Pride Competition was not a friendly exchange, but a battlefield where lives were decided and national resources were allocated.
This time, Yang Jian would not only lose face but also lose money.
However, these were of no concern to Yang Hong. For the next seven days, he would focus on conditioning Yang Zixuan's body.
Although Yang Hong had not studied medicine, his true qi level and quality were too high. Just by holding Yang Zixuan's hand, he discovered that although she had broken through to the first-class realm, her foundation was very weak.
This was the flaw of using elixirs to improve cultivation, and the reason why major sects and dynasties would not easily give elixirs to their excellent disciples.
Having discovered the problem, Yang Hong spared no expense to condition his sister's foundation.
Yang Hong paused his infusion of three top-grade spiritual plants and specially cultivated grade 1 spiritual plant vegetables for Yang Zixuan, at least one per day.
After upgrading the Breathing Technique, Yang Hong could infuse up to fifty days of cultivation at once.
Moreover, with the purification of his true qi, cultivating high-quality ordinary plants became even easier.
He also contributed all of his precious Jade Wine.
"Burp~ Brother, this wine is really good~ Hehe~ Hehehe~"
She downed a small half-liang cup in one go,
and Yang Zixuan was drunk.
This little girl's tolerance for alcohol was truly terrible.
Yang Hong thought the Jade Wine was too strong, but after drinking it himself, he realized it was less than 5% alcohol.
"This little girl, truly..."
"She must never drink again."
Yang Hong shook his head, turned, and went straight to the bathroom to prepare a medicinal bath for Yang Zixuan.
It was a medicinal bath, but in reality, it was a wine bath. "Clear Spring" for conditioning meridians and "Fireworks" for tempering the body were poured into the tub in proportion, along with several heat-clearing and detoxifying herbs.
The herbs were, of course, special herbs cultivated by Yang Hong.
Refusing the overly familiar help of Concubine Zhou, he let Xiao Cao and three palace maids give Yang Zixuan a bath.
This bath was like slow-cooking Zixuan in a large pot. A small fire burned beneath the giant copper bathtub, maintaining a temperature around 50 degrees Celsius.
This was to ensure the medicinal and wine properties entered Yang Zixuan's body.
This stewing process lasted for a full hour.
After it was cooked, she was taken out, put to bed, and slept soundly.
The next day, she woke up and continued to eat spiritual plants, run madly, and practice martial arts.
Yang Zixuan did not appear for the first six days of Yang Zhong's stay.
However, on the seventh day, Yang Zhong stayed the entire day.
"Are you so idle today?"
Seeing Yang Zhong causing trouble, Yang Hong rolled his eyes. With him around, Yang Hong dared not bring out the Jade Wine or spiritual plant vegetables.
It wasn't that he dared not, but he didn't want to.
If Yang Zhong discovered the Jade Wine and spiritual plant vegetables, he would definitely try to steal them.
"My dear grandson, your vegetables are truly remarkable. Little Zixuan's first-class martial artist cultivation has already advanced to the mid-first-class realm, and her foundation is stable, very stable."
After dinner, outside the small building.
Yang Zhong removed his hand from Yang Zixuan's wrist, his face full of surprise.
He had just used his internal energy to investigate Yang Zixuan's physical condition, and his excitement could no longer be suppressed.
He was well aware of Yang Zixuan's cultivation. Under his protection, she had just broken through to the first-class martial artist realm, and her return to the imperial palace was successful.
However, in just three days, Yang Zixuan had leaped from the early-first-class to the mid-first-class realm, and she was a mid-first-class martial artist with a stable foundation.
"Are there any of my vegetables that you haven't tried? Are there any you don't know? As long as they are paired correctly, the effect of these vegetables will be greatly enhanced."
Yang Hong casually made up an excuse. He would not tell this old man about the spiritual plants.
"Brother, is there no wine to drink tonight?"
Yang Zixuan, standing nearby, waited for a while and, seeing that Yang Hong had no intention of giving her wine, asked proactively.
"Yes, but you must first practice a set of punches or a set of swordplay to aid digestion, and then you can drink."
Yang Hong pointed outside the small building. Yang Zixuan was a little reluctant but nodded and went out to practice.
After all, her Imperial Grandfather Yang Zhong was watching, so she dared not be lazy.
"Dear grandson, you've been giving Zixuan wine to drink. But won't using medicinal wine to improve cultivation lead to an unstable foundation?"
Yang Zhong was a little worried.
Although he drank Yang Hong's medicinal wine every day to recover his cultivation, he also knew the danger of improving cultivation too quickly and having an unstable foundation.
"As long as the wine is right, there's no problem. You'll see after a while."
Only when Yang Zixuan was covered in sweat did Yang Hong let her stop.
It was still half a liang of wine, but this time it was not Jade Wine, but "Flaming" wine.
"Gulp~"
This time, Yang Zixuan got drunk even faster. She didn't even have time to speak nonsense before she curled up under the table.
"Old man, this is the correct way to use 'Fireworks'."
"You~ You~ This wine is for bathing?"
Seeing Yang Hong pouring the wine into the bathtub, Yang Zhong's face turned a little green, and his throat itched.
How much bathwater had he drunk?
"All the wines can be drunk, but absorbing 'Fireworks' through bathing is better. Adding a little 'Clear Spring' for mixing is best."
Yang Hong explained to Yang Zhong as he adjusted the proportion of the wine.
A few days ago, after hearing Yang Zixuan's introduction to her faction's strength, Yang Hong realized that the royal family of the Great Sui was truly in decline.
The contestants in the youth group had only just entered the innate realm, and the adult group was only at the late innate realm.
With such strength, let alone comparing it to the great sects, even the middle-tier sects were inferior.
Thus, Yang Hong had the idea of giving the Great Sui royal family a little help.
In the evening, Yang Hong put on his precious night-traveling suit, used his Qinggong to fly out of the imperial palace at high speed, and headed towards the reception area of the Five Directions Heavenly Pride Competition.
"Eh~ This sect is not bad, with 6 Grandmasters and 30 Innate Grandmasters.
The Snow Mountain Sect, a middle-tier sect of the Great Ming, has such strength, and it's only a middle-tier sect. What kind of strength do the great sects have?"
"This is Wulong Temple, a lower-tier sect of the Great Song. A lower-tier sect has 2 Grandmasters and 7 Innate Grandmasters.
Does the condition for establishing this sect require having a Grandmaster?"
"The Five Peaks Sword Sect's base camp. This is a martial arts sect, sending out 30 Grandmasters at once? It's more terrifying than the Great Sui royal family!"
"I need to find the Yin Gui Sect's base camp."
Yang Hong hid in the darkness, quietly observing the approximate strength of the arriving factions.
The more he looked, the more he was shocked.
"The Yin Gui Sect also has 30 Grandmasters. The great sects all sent out 30 Grandmasters. Did they agree on this?"
After a round, Yang Hong discovered that all thirty-three great sects had sent out 30 Grandmasters.
"This means that these great sects have more Grandmasters, and these are just the ones they are showing to the public."
Yang Hong's body went cold. Only now did he understand what Yang Zhong had said before: the Five Directions Dynasties were actually the Five Directions Dynasties of the thirty-three great sects.
"Let's go and see the strength of the other dynasties."
He flickered and disappeared into the night, Yang Hong continuing his reconnaissance mission.
"The Great Song and the Great Ming are definitely in cahoots. Both have 3 Grandmasters and 10 Innate masters, and they seem to be very ordinary in combat power."
"The Wu Zhou is a bit strange. 3 Grandmasters, 100 peak Innate masters, and peak Innate masters who can break through at any moment. Who are they planning to trap?"
After observing the Wu Zhou Dynasty's contingent, Yang Hong almost blurted out "Holy shit."
With such a setup, it was definitely a trap.
But upon arriving at the Great Tang's base camp, Yang Hong truly blurted out "Holy shit."