Chapter 136 - 135: The Ambition of the Prince of Great Chu

A minister in court robes appeared in the deep pit, pressing a hand to Fang Can's chest and casting a sacred healing spell.

As his body was only at the Transcendent Body Realm, it had no resistance to Magic and relatively low physical strength. Healing him wasn't difficult.

Amid a tingling numbness and a slight itch, Fang Can's body regenerated.

However, this wasn't enough to wake him. Compared to the agony of having his body torn to shreds, the current discomfort was practically nothing.

In just a dozen breaths, Fang Can's head had grown back, but he remained curled up in a ball on the ground.

'This…' The minister was slightly stunned as he looked at the completely healed Fang Can.

Most of Fang Can's once jet-black hair had turned to snow-white strands, shimmering like the finest silk.

And that was just the change on the surface. Inside, his blood began to turn gold.

His bones, once white as steel, took on a jade-like luster, and beneath his eyelids, his eyes glittered like a pair of rubies.

Beyond the external alterations, changes to his very cells, skeleton, and even the structure of his leg bones made him vastly different from a human, on both a macro and microscopic level.

The minister simply found the differences puzzling. 'How did his appearance change just from a fight?'

Ye Yonglie was taken aback when the middle-aged man in official robes suddenly appeared.

Although he didn't understand the man's intentions, judging by his healing of Fang Can, he couldn't be an enemy. Ye Yonglie immediately clasped his hands and said humbly, "May I ask who you are, sir?"

The minister stroked his beard and said amiably, "I am Li Leiyang, Director of the Imperial Medical Academy. I happened to be passing by and witnessed young friend Fang Can's battle, so I came to add to the happy occasion."

'Director of the Imperial Medical Academy? Doesn't that mean he's at least Second Turn?' The hearts of the people around them skipped a beat.

Although Martial Artists generally looked down on the imperial court, that all depended on who you were comparing them to. Now, seeing a Second Turn master in person, they couldn't help but feel a little unnerved.

"Thank you for your help, Director Li," Ye Yonglie said gratefully, his posture impeccable.

"It's nothing. You must all be escorting young friend Fang Can to the Capital City. I have important matters to attend to and cannot stay long, so I will await you in the Capital City. Allow me to congratulate young friend Fang Can in advance for taking first place on the next Hidden Dragon Ranking."

"It's just… what happened to Ah Can's appearance…?" Ye Qingshi asked with concern from the side.

"That wasn't my doing. It must be a result of young friend Fang's own power." As Li Leiyang said this, a hint of investigative curiosity showed in his eyes.

As a physician, he was truly fascinated by a specimen like Fang Can.

As he spoke, Li Leiyang took a gold-stamped invitation from his robes and handed it to Ye Yonglie. "If you have time in the Capital City, you may come visit with this invitation."

Upon receiving the golden invitation, Ye Yonglie saw it was from the Fang family. But wasn't the Director in front of him surnamed Li?

And the family name was Fang? 'Could it be the god's family?' he thought. 'In that case, we have to go.'

When he looked up again, everyone realized the Director of the Imperial Medical Academy had already vanished.

"Wow! The Director of the Imperial Medical Academy must have been drawn here by our god's battle! He came specifically to show his goodwill!" a believer shouted, but others quickly clamped a hand over his mouth.

The surrounding believers glared at him angrily. 'Can't you see the Lord God is sleeping? What are you shouting about?'

Ye Yonglie reached out, handed the golden invitation to Ye Qingshi, and instructed, "Tell the god about this when he wakes up. For now, let's not disturb him."

Ye Qingshi put away the golden invitation, her mood sinking as she looked at the sleeping Fang Can.

During the entire battle, she had been completely unable to help. If Ye Yonglie hadn't stepped in to protect her, she probably wouldn't have even survived the aftershocks.

Her body was so frail that her eyes couldn't even follow Fang Can's movements during the fight. She could only stare blankly at the plains that had been abruptly blasted apart.

Now, with Fang Can unconscious, her weak body only allowed her to watch helplessly as other Martial Artists carried him into a sedan chair, while she struggled to keep up behind them.

'I can't do anything…'

Ye Qingshi thought sorrowfully as she looked at Fang Can's unconscious form.

This feeling of powerlessness made her crave strength like never before—the strength to protect everything.

Right now, she couldn't even manage to princess-carry the unconscious Fang Can.

...

Meanwhile, in the imperial court, the Patriarch of the Fang family was met with a barrage of disdainful glares.

"When did you get in with Director Li?" a minister on good terms with him asked via a secret voice transmission.

Ignoring the curious, disdainful, and probing gazes from those around him, the Fang family Patriarch stared straight ahead.

"What is everyone looking at? The imperial selection should be more important right now. Since the princess is safe, let's resume our discussion of the selection matters."

Though he said this, the Fang family Patriarch was gloating inwardly.

While these people were still obsessing over the outcome of the battle, he had already lent a Second Turn Sacrificial Artifact from his family's treasury to Li Leiyang for a period of 200 years.

To call it a loan was a stretch; it was practically a gift. He had paid a hefty price to establish this connection.

'Oh, my dear ancestor,' the Fang family Patriarch prayed in his heart. 'I've already paved the way for you. You absolutely have to come.'

...

「At the same time.」

In a small forest outside the capital of the Great Chu Country, Xiang Xitao staggered out, his body covered in bloody wounds.

Blood spurted from the wounds inside his body, and with every step he took, crimson drops splattered onto the ground.

But despite his physical exhaustion, his eyes were bright and spirited, and a satisfied smile played on his lips.

Behind him, in what was once a lush and verdant forest, countless trees so thick it would take four or five people to encircle them were snapped in half at the trunk.

In the center of the forest, within a crater over ten meters wide, lay a burly Martial Artist. His eyes were filled with pain and humiliation as he lay motionless in the pit like a corpse, his vacant gaze suggesting his very soul had been snatched away.

SWOOSH!

Behind Xiang Xitao, an old man watched him with fanatical eyes.

"The feeling of defeating a First Turn expert is truly extraordinary. After overpowering and defeating him in a direct confrontation, I feel my Martial Dao has advanced yet again," Xiang Xitao said with satisfaction.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince's divine techniques are peerless. In a few days, when the Hidden Dragon Ranking is announced, everyone will know of your great deeds," the old man behind him said respectfully.

Faced with the old man's flattery, Xiang Xitao sighed instead. "Alas, what a pity."

"What troubles Your Highness? Might this old servant be able to help ease your worries?"

"It's nothing. I just find it a shame that this Fang Can from the Hidden Dragon Ranking made his debut so late."

Xiang Xitao lamented, "A peerless talent like that… if he had another year to cultivate, we could enter the grand tournament of nations together. Humiliating him then would be far more satisfying."

As he spoke, he recalled how ever since Fang Can became famous, people throughout the Capital City had been putting the two of them on the same level, which irritated him.

Although he didn't really care about that fellow Fang Can, he had heard so much talk that he'd grown a little curious. Especially about that "Number One Human Cauldron" title!

At this thought, Xiang Xitao licked his chapped lips.

He eagerly anticipated their first meeting, many years from now, when he would have mastered his divine arts and would lead a great army to raze the capital of the Great Yan Country to the ground.