The Crown Prince sat and stared at his father. The King had been in closed door cultivation for months. His lifespan had almost expired. The Prince could barely feel a weak pulse from the man. The King’s skin was paper thin, and he was breathing so shallowly that the Prince had to hold an hand in front of his mouth to make sure it was still there.
It had not been hard for the Crown Prince to gain access to the King’s cultivation sanctum. It was needlessly opulent place. The King had covered the walls in beautiful but functionally useless quartz crystals. He had become convinced that the crystals would aid him in his cultivation.
It would not be long now. It was almost time for the Prince to take his place as the ruler of the kingdom. A sudden change came over the King and his dying cultivation surged back to life. Qi rushed towards him, swirling towards his dantian.
The King started to fill with life as he broke through to the second level of the golden core stage.
The Crown Prince breathed in deeply and said, “finally.” He pulled out a wicked looking spike and dropped a bit of his blood on to the metal. The whole spike turned red and the smell of blood permeated the room.
The Prince plunged the spike into the King’s naval. The King’s eyes shot open and he screamed silently as the qi stopped sweeping towards him and instead started to bleed up the metal and merge with the prince’s cultivation.
“Your time is done old man,” hissed the Prince. The King’s new lease on life started to reverse and over the course of a few minutes he was reduced to little more than a skeleton.
The Prince shoved the corpse aside and replaced him as he used the influx of qi to achieve his own break through into the golden core stage.
As he broke through the malicious metal spike became black instead and merged with the skin of his right arm, making the skin patchy and sickly looking. The diseased skin was a small price to pay for obtaining the power of the Capital.
The Prince rose to his feet and exited the cultivation chamber blasting the skeleton of his father with black flame which he released from his right hand. Golden Core cultivation had finally led to the realisation of his flame-based cultivation method.
Outside several servants knelt to the new King. “Send out word that my father has finally passed away. A state funeral will be held to honour his memory and also as an opportunity for the sects to reaffirm their loyalty to the crown.,” he ordered. A hint of fire in his voice.
“Yes, my King,” said the servants before they departed to carry out his commands.
The only thing he needed to do now was crush his sister and there would be nobody between him and ultimate power.
___
Xiulan giggled as her Parrot played keep away with Elder Xin and his morning toast. Yanlin had been making several trips from the living stone to the mainland. Without Xiulan being there to use the system to match demand the most effective strategy to sell the material was at small auctions that were held in the mainland port city once a week.
The Auction house took a cut, but Xiulan had manged to earn close to a hundred spirit stones after selling five pieces of stone. The influx of the currency led to a sharp rise in her own cultivation. It was clear that the spirit stones had a marked advantage over gold when it came to her cultivation method.
She was now at the ninth level of energy storage. The rest of her lovers were accelerating to a similar level of cultivation. Xiulan estimated that within in a few weeks they might break through to the golden core level.
Xiulan had noticed that the prices of the store had risen after her purchase of the qi siphon technique and had therefore held off on buying anything else yet. Apparently, the system was going to up the prices whenever she purchased something new.
She was looking over a list she had complied of competing interests she could spend some of her new wealth on when she heard a bell tolling from the canal.
A qi enhanced crier could be heard shouting, “The King is dead. All loyal citizens of the Blue Crane Kingdom are encouraged to make pilgrimage to the capital for the crowning of the new king.
Xiulan sat up at the news. This was expected but coming sooner than they had thought it would. The interior was not yet strong enough to oppose the combined might of the Capital.
Lijuan came into the room with a worried look. “We are not ready,” she said.
Xiulan nodded, “I think our best response is just to do nothing for now. He will spend some time preening in the Capital after he is crowned. You are so popular in the interior now we could probably declare you as queen ourselves. Eventually his ego will force him to confront us on our own turf.”
Lijuan grimaced, “that is not going to end well for the people in the Capital. For years the only thing restraining him was my father. I shudder to think what he will do with power even for a few weeks or months.”
Xiulan stood up and hugged her soothing, “there is not much we can do about it at the moment. Given a little time I will make us strong enough to fight him. For now maybe we can help people flee to the interior and get them opportunities here.”
The Crier on the canal screamed, “this city is being constructed without royal permission. Leave now and avoid the wrath of the king.”
Xiulan rolled her eyes and commented, “it looks like his ego is already a little ruffled by the idea something is going on that he isn’t a part of.”
The Crown Prince sat and stared at his father. The King had been in closed door cultivation for months. His lifespan had almost expired. The Prince could barely feel a weak pulse from the man. The King’s skin was paper thin, and he was breathing so shallowly that the Prince had to hold an hand in front of his mouth to make sure it was still there.
It had not been hard for the Crown Prince to gain access to the King’s cultivation sanctum. It was needlessly opulent place. The King had covered the walls in beautiful but functionally useless quartz crystals. He had become convinced that the crystals would aid him in his cultivation.
It would not be long now. It was almost time for the Prince to take his place as the ruler of the kingdom. A sudden change came over the King and his dying cultivation surged back to life. Qi rushed towards him, swirling towards his dantian.
The King started to fill with life as he broke through to the second level of the golden core stage.
The Crown Prince breathed in deeply and said, “finally.” He pulled out a wicked looking spike and dropped a bit of his blood on to the metal. The whole spike turned red and the smell of blood permeated the room.
The Prince plunged the spike into the King’s naval. The King’s eyes shot open and he screamed silently as the qi stopped sweeping towards him and instead started to bleed up the metal and merge with the prince’s cultivation.
“Your time is done old man,” hissed the Prince. The King’s new lease on life started to reverse and over the course of a few minutes he was reduced to little more than a skeleton.
The Prince shoved the corpse aside and replaced him as he used the influx of qi to achieve his own break through into the golden core stage.
As he broke through the malicious metal spike became black instead and merged with the skin of his right arm, making the skin patchy and sickly looking. The diseased skin was a small price to pay for obtaining the power of the Capital.
The Prince rose to his feet and exited the cultivation chamber blasting the skeleton of his father with black flame which he released from his right hand. Golden Core cultivation had finally led to the realisation of his flame-based cultivation method.
Outside several servants knelt to the new King. “Send out word that my father has finally passed away. A state funeral will be held to honour his memory and also as an opportunity for the sects to reaffirm their loyalty to the crown.,” he ordered. A hint of fire in his voice.
“Yes, my King,” said the servants before they departed to carry out his commands.
The only thing he needed to do now was crush his sister and there would be nobody between him and ultimate power.
___
Xiulan giggled as her Parrot played keep away with Elder Xin and his morning toast. Yanlin had been making several trips from the living stone to the mainland. Without Xiulan being there to use the system to match demand the most effective strategy to sell the material was at small auctions that were held in the mainland port city once a week.
The Auction house took a cut, but Xiulan had manged to earn close to a hundred spirit stones after selling five pieces of stone. The influx of the currency led to a sharp rise in her own cultivation. It was clear that the spirit stones had a marked advantage over gold when it came to her cultivation method.
She was now at the ninth level of energy storage. The rest of her lovers were accelerating to a similar level of cultivation. Xiulan estimated that within in a few weeks they might break through to the golden core level.
Xiulan had noticed that the prices of the store had risen after her purchase of the qi siphon technique and had therefore held off on buying anything else yet. Apparently, the system was going to up the prices whenever she purchased something new.
She was looking over a list she had complied of competing interests she could spend some of her new wealth on when she heard a bell tolling from the canal.
A qi enhanced crier could be heard shouting, “The King is dead. All loyal citizens of the Blue Crane Kingdom are encouraged to make pilgrimage to the capital for the crowning of the new king.
Xiulan sat up at the news. This was expected but coming sooner than they had thought it would. The interior was not yet strong enough to oppose the combined might of the Capital.
Lijuan came into the room with a worried look. “We are not ready,” she said.
Xiulan nodded, “I think our best response is just to do nothing for now. He will spend some time preening in the Capital after he is crowned. You are so popular in the interior now we could probably declare you as queen ourselves. Eventually his ego will force him to confront us on our own turf.”
Lijuan grimaced, “that is not going to end well for the people in the Capital. For years the only thing restraining him was my father. I shudder to think what he will do with power even for a few weeks or months.”
Xiulan stood up and hugged her soothing, “there is not much we can do about it at the moment. Given a little time I will make us strong enough to fight him. For now maybe we can help people flee to the interior and get them opportunities here.”
The Crier on the canal screamed, “this city is being constructed without royal permission. Leave now and avoid the wrath of the king.”
Xiulan rolled her eyes and commented, “it looks like his ego is already a little ruffled by the idea something is going on that he isn’t a part of.”
