113: Chapter 113 Three Top-Tier Secret Techniques

You look at her tear-stained face, your chest feeling as if it is blocked by something.

You open your mouth, wanting to say something.

You want to say that this world has always been this cruel, that it is not that you have changed but that you had no choice, and that everything you have done is to survive, so that one day you can protect her.

But in the end, you say nothing.

Because you know that to Mother Lin, these words are nothing but excuses.

Mother Lin slowly stands up.

She does not look at you again, turning and walking out of the hall.

Her steps are slow, her back hunched.

When she reaches the doorway, she pauses, not looking back, leaving only one sentence: "Wanwan, Mother only hopes that you... will be safe and happy, and peaceful year after year..."

Then, she leaves.

You stand where you are, watching the closed hall door, standing for a long time.

In the end, you take a deep breath, turn back to the desk, and pick up the vermilion brush again.

Three months later.

The Imperial Study.

Standing before you is a sixteen-year-old youth.

His name is Crown Prince Lin Chengan, originally named Zhou Chengan, the only son of your cousin Zhou Mingyue. After you ascended the throne, the Zhou family went from being a small household on Yongan Street to imperial relatives overnight. Three months ago, with a single imperial edict, you brought this boy from the Imperial Academy to your side, bestowed upon him the surname Lin, entered him into the imperial register, and recorded him in the jade genealogy as an "adopted son."

At this moment, the youth stands before you with his back straight, yet he cannot hide the trace of excitement at the corners of his mouth that he cannot suppress.

He takes the memorial you handed him with both hands, carefully unfolds it, reads it earnestly for a few moments, then looks up and asks: "Aunt, no, Your Majesty, should this memorial regarding water conservancy in Jiangnan be approved or rejected?"

"What do you think?" You lean back in your chair and pick up your teacup.

The youth lowers his head to look at it again, bites his lip in thought for a moment, and tentatively says: "This subject thinks... approve. Jiangnan just suffered from floods this year; if the embankments are not repaired during the dry season, the flood season will return next year. However, the Ministry of Revenue lacks sufficient funds, and it would be necessary to divert a portion from the military budget..."

"Divert the military budget?" You set down the teacup, your voice devoid of emotion. "If you divert the military budget, what will happen if something goes wrong at the border?"

The youth is stunned, his face flushing slightly. He lowers his head, thinks for a moment, and changes his answer: "Then... let the various prefectures in Jiangnan raise the funds themselves?"

"Raising funds themselves means increasing taxes. Having just exempted them from taxes for a year, if you turn around and add them back, what will the common people think?"

The youth is completely stuck, fine beads of sweat appearing on his forehead.

You look at his embarrassed state, not giving him the answer, only saying indifferently: "Go back and think about it, and answer again tomorrow."

"Yes!" The youth, feeling relieved, bows and retreats with the memorial.

You watch his retreating figure and shake your head slightly.

Still young, but the foundation is not bad. Given time, supporting a peaceful and prosperous era will not be a problem.

You do not need him to become you; you only need him to be able to guard the foundation you have left behind.

Not long after the youth leaves, the door to the Imperial Study is pushed open again.

The new Left Commander of the Black Tiger Division kneels on one knee, presenting a black lacquered wooden box with both hands.

"Your Majesty, the items you requested are all here."

You take the box and wave the Left Commander away.

The box opens, and inside are three neatly placed yellowed hand-copied booklets.

On the cover of each book is a different vermilion seal; that is the Sect Head seal of the School they originally belonged to.

The first book, "Shadowless Swan-Goose Steps."

From the Spirit Wind Pavilion, it is the top movement technique in Great Li. When cultivated to Major Achievement, one's figure is like a swan-goose skimming over water, silent and traceless. Within a hundred paces, one can instantly shift position three times. The speed is so fast that even a Great Grandmaster can hardly capture its trajectory; an ordinary person's naked eye can only see a residual image.

The second book, "Breath-Concealing Origin-Returning Art."

From the Myriad Phenomenon Tower, it is a secret technique specifically for concealing one's own Qi. When cultivated to Perfection, one can completely conceal all True Qi fluctuations within the body, turning them into a void. Not only can Martial Artists of the same Realm not sense it, but even experts at the Earthly Immortal level can only detect anomalies within ten paces.

These two Cultivation Techniques, if placed in the Jianghu, any one of them would be enough to trigger a bloody storm.

But you only glance at them before putting them aside.

Your gaze falls on the third booklet.

"Thousand-Face Faceless Art."

The Thousand Illusions School's founding treasure, passed down only to the Sect Head of each generation.

You open the first page, and on it is the handwriting of the Thousand Illusions School's first Ancestral Master:

"Entering this art allows one to change skin texture and modify facial contours, but it has form without bone, and can be distinguished upon close inspection. Only after reaching Major Achievement can one reshape the bone structure, from the skull to the jaw, from the zygomatic arch to the bridge of the nose, truly achieving a complete transformation, making the false pass for the real."

"However—"

"This art can only reshape bones once in a lifetime; it is irreversible and unchangeable. After performing the art, the practitioner can freely switch between the original appearance and the new appearance."

You close the booklet, raise your head, and your gaze falls on the bronze mirror in the corner of the desk.

The mirror reflects a face.

Dark hair like a waterfall, skin like congealed fat, eyebrows like distant mountains containing dark green, eyes like autumn waters rippling. The face is like a silver platter yet not appearing round, the jawline is smooth and exquisite, the lip color is naturally red without needing rouge. Coupled with the blessing of the Peerless Elegance entry, the whole person seems to be shrouded in a layer of soft light; even just sitting there without makeup, she is so beautiful that people cannot look away.

You look at yourself in the mirror, your gaze calm.

This face, in the Mortal world, is the majesty of an emperor, the faith of the masses.

But in the Cultivation World...

A Mortal woman with no Spiritual Root and no background, appearing before a Cultivator with a peerless face.

That is not called an opportunity.

That is called delivering benefits.

Half a month later.

You have cultivated the "Thousand-Face Faceless Art" to the entry Realm in the secret chamber of your sleeping palace, but reshaping the bone structure can only be performed after reaching Major Achievement. With your talent, it will likely take another three months.

You are not in a hurry.

Because lying before you is an even bigger problem.

Earthly Immortal.

You have been stuck at the Peak of the Great Grandmaster for several years now.

No matter how you circulate your True Qi to impact the Bottleneck, that invisible and intangible barrier remains unmoved, always missing that one thread, a thread you simply cannot grasp.

You know what you are missing.

But you cannot find it.

Another year passes.

You still have not achieved a Breakthrough.

On the desk of the Imperial Study, there are piles of notes from Earthly Immortals collected from across Great Li.

A total of seven copies. In the last five hundred years, there have been no more than ten Earthly Immortals clearly recorded within Great Li. Seven of them left behind fragments of their insights on the Breakthrough, which are enshrined as town-Sect treasures by their respective Sects. Now, they have all been "borrowed" by the Black Tiger Division.

You read them one by one.

The first one, the notes of the Patriarch of the Martial Dao Sect, Jiang Buzhou: "...In the twelfth lunar month of the Bingzi year, I sat withered for three months in the back mountain of the Sect. One morning, when I was circulating the visualization method, I suddenly felt a wisp of clear Qi from heaven and earth pouring into the top of my head, like an enlightening infusion. My Meridians opened on their own, my True Qi transformed, and thus I reached this Realm."