Chapter 749 - 482: Song Mansion, the Marshal Returns! (Double-Length)

Chapter 749: Chapter 482: Song Mansion, the Marshal Returns! (Double-Length)

Cui Bai Main City, Core District, Song Mansion.

With the ability to establish a residence in this Core District and being part of the Song Family, the identity of the mansion’s master is self-evident.

Song Changming moved into the Core District five years ago.

At that time, the old Song Residence in the Second District was outdated and needed significant renovation.

Upon learning of this, Prince Cui seized the opportunity and earnestly invited Song Changming to the Core District.

Initially, Song Changming had no intention of relocating, as living in the Song Residence in the Second District wasn’t bad at all.

As for the honor of residing in the Core District, Song Changming didn’t care much, as he had no noble family background and didn’t need such titles.

Thus, Song Changming declined once.

However, coincidentally that year marked Song Changming’s centenary. At his centenary banquet, Prince Cui again offered the Song Mansion as a gift.

Coupled with Hu Tomb’s persuasion, Song Changming no longer declined and moved into the Core District after the centenary banquet.

The vast Song Mansion, in fact, was the old Zhao Family residence that had been annihilated.

Song Changming previously had past grudges with the Zhao Family, never expecting that years later he would reside in a mansion fitting only for top noble families.

As for the Zhao Family, they had long turned to dust in history.

No one talks about the Zhao Family of the past anymore.

Most people only remember now that this mansion belongs to the Song Family.

Within the mansion, there are about a hundred servants and maids, all old servants who followed from the old residence, well-acquainted with the family.

In addition, there are over three hundred guests, reliable talents who have fought alongside Song Ping’an to establish the foundation and are now part of the Song Mansion.

The number of people in the mansion is over five hundred in total.

While this number doesn’t seem small, compared to the residences of other noble families within the Core District, it’s not even a fraction of theirs.

Even the forces of many noble families in the Second District have much larger populations than the Song Mansion.

Due to this, many fine courtyards in the vast Song Mansion remain vacant, and if not for the servants’ daily cleaning, most of the courtyards would have been overgrown with weeds.

This is also one of the main reasons Song Changming hadn’t initially planned to move into the Core District—he didn’t need a mansion of this scale, and it felt wasteful to him.

At night, a streak of light like a shooting star swept across the sky, rapidly descending into the city and landing precisely within the Song Mansion.

When the figure appeared, it turned out to be Song Changming, returned from Lei Province.

The Rune Protection Array of the mansion was about to be activated against this unexpected guest, but Song Changming raised his hand, and everything calmed down.

These talisman arrays were his creations, and interrupting their activation was a simple matter.

In the patriarch’s courtyard, Song Changming shook the robe he’d worn the entire journey and was about to call for a maid to change his clothes.

Just then, the voice of Hu Tomb reached his ears.

"Changming, something’s happened."

Song Changming’s eyes flashed, and without changing his clothes, he left the Song Mansion directly.

Soon, he arrived at the Military Department, which he hadn’t visited for over a month.

"Marshal!"

In the Marshal’s Cabinet, several civil servants working late into the night saw Song Changming enter, and were startled, quickly standing to salute respectfully.

Song Changming nodded, glanced at the pile of memorials on their table, indicating that the Military Department had been dealing with heavy affairs, something significant must have happened.

He went upstairs and soon met Lv Yuchen and the one who had transmitted the message to him, Hu Tomb.

Hu Tomb was indeed the first to notice his return.

"Oh, could it be that you’ve advanced in cultivation again?" Hu Tomb looked Song Changming up and down, keenly noticing a change in his aura.

"Yes, Middle Stage." Facing Hu Tomb, one of his own, Song Changming did not hide anything and directly admitted having just achieved a breakthrough to the Middle Stage of Grandmaster.

"..." Hu Tomb stared, speechless for a moment.

From memory, over the past twenty years, every time Song Changming returned from a journey, his strength would improve.

He was used to it by now.

However, to suddenly break through to a Middle Realm Grandmaster was still beyond words for him.

Since when did reaching the Middle Realm Grandmaster become so easy?

If remembered correctly, it took Song Changming only a little over twenty years to advance from the Early Realm to the Middle Realm.

"Simply unbelievable..."

Hu Tomb sighed inwardly, thinking such things could only happen to Song Changming.

Song Changming’s journey of growth was already quite extraordinary, not something that could be measured by conventional standards.

After the sigh, Hu Tomb detailed the matter of the Xuwei Demon to Song Changming.

"A treasure capable of traversing realms..." Song Changming, after hearing, first took an interest in the Copper Mirror Fragment.

As for the new portal in the Celestial Ruins Realm connecting to the Nine Netherworld, he had known for a long time since the uproar in Cloud Emperor City long ago made it unavoidable.

Hu Tomb, without holding back, directly showed the Copper Mirror Fragment taken from the Xuwei Demon to Song Changming.

At first glance, the Copper Mirror Fragment appeared ordinary, no different from a common broken copper mirror.

But Song Changming knew most treasures hid themselves—they appear plain, but in fact, are extraordinary.

Song Changming enveloped it with his Spiritual Perception, attempting to activate it just like Hu Tomb had initially.

However, the Copper Mirror Fragment emanated some mysterious energy, unmoved.

The Light Gate Passage mentioned by Hu Tomb was not opened.

"Perhaps it truly requires someone with a specific physique or bloodline, whether human or demon, to normally use this treasure..." Song Changming mused to himself.