by Dragon King
“It’s so late already. Where are you going?” Yue Yang stuck her head out of the kitchen, but he had already dashed toward the door.
Hao Ren walked to the back of the house with his backpack. He created a red energy sphere, placed a white sword energy under his feet, and flew toward the ocean.
Hao Ren now had 75 openings, and his nature essence was a lot stronger than before. Thinking back, it was hard for him even to create one opening when he wanted to get to Kan-level, and the Li-level that required ten openings was extremely difficult to get to as well.
He could unlock two to three openings daily according to his current progress, and his technique was also improving at a fast speed; faster than most dragon cultivators who were practicing ordinary techniques.
The Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll’s improvement was going slow due to the thin nature essence on First Heaven, but Hao Ren’s current cultivating spot’s nature essence intensity was five or six times thicker than First Heaven. Therefore, his efficiency was five or six times higher as well. It made up for the fact that the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll was hard to cultivate.
Boom!
Hao Ren’s red energy sphere smashed into the ocean, splashing waves over ten meters.
Due to the array formation of the East Ocean Dragon Palace, ordinary cultivators couldn’t enter at all. However, the soldiers who were guarding the gate the would open it up as soon as they saw Hao Ren.
Hao Ren got into the East Ocean Dragon Palace smoothly. He walked to Zhao Yanzi’s little palace with his backpack, and he felt like he was in a rush as he was excited to meet up with his little lover.
Zhao Yanzi calculated the passing time as she waited in her room. Since she was grounded in the dragon palace, there wasn’t even anyone for her to chat with. The more bored she was, the more she missed Hao Ren.
She picked on Hao Ren a lot before, thinking he was wordy and annoying, but those had all become good things about him at the moment.
“Zhao Yanzi!” Hao Ren shouted from outside of the little palace with the bag in his hand.
Zhao Yanzi immediately hopped off her bed when she heard Hao Ren’s voice, but she wasn’t going to say anything nice. “Come in, dummy!”
Hao Ren laughed and walked inside; he knew she hadn’t slept yet.
“Why are you here so late…” Zhao Yanzi pouted when she saw Hao Ren smiling. But she suddenly caught the mistake she made and said again, “Why are you here again!”
“I brought you something to eat,” Hao Ren walked over and sat on the side of the bed, one meter from Zhao Yanzi. He put the bag in the middle and quickly opened it up.
There were all kinds of snacks in the bag including sunflower seeds, chips, beef jerky, little walnuts, chocolate…
Grandma would prepare these for Hao Ren every single weekend for him to share with his roommates; she wanted him to get along with his classmates.
However, Hao Ren already got along well enough with them already, so he brought these for Zhao Yanzi instead.
Zhao Yanzi wouldn’t even care about snacks like this if it was before. But now…
“Woah!” she couldn’t help but shout; she eyes shone as if she was a hungry wolf.
She was grounded here every day, and the people in the dragon palace had been sending her delicate dishes daily. It wasn’t bad, but a little girl like her sure liked snacks. She didn’t realize that before since she used to eat it every day. Now that she hadn’t had any snacks for a few days, she was craving it!
“These are all for you…” Hao Ren hesitated for a second after she robbed the bag from his arms.
Zhao Yanzi poured the snacks out and piled them up at the side of the bed. Then, she handed the empty bag to Hao Ren. The second she looked back at Hao Ren, she got a bit touched.
She never mentioned this to Hao Ren, but he thought of it himself. Sometimes caring was not about giving her high-end gifts that were worth several thousand dollars when she was in a good place, but being thoughtful and caring while she was down.
Zhao Yanzi didn’t know how to express this, but she felt the warmth deep in her heart.
She was emotional, but Hao Ren didn’t think that far. He put the bag behind him and picked up the textbook on the table.
“Let’s review Series and Parallel Inductors today. You seem to have made a lot of mistakes on those questions.”
Zhao Yanzi looked at how serious Hao Ren was. She twisted her lips and thought, “What the hell? I just got so moved, but you didn’t react to it at all!
“Dummy! Dummy! Dummy! Dummy…” Zhao Yanzi’s fists landed on Hao Ren’s chest like a windmill, which completely confused Hao Ren.
343 The Beauty of Su Han
When the two-hour tutoring session with Zhao Yanzi ended, it was almost sleeping time in the dragon palace.
Hao Ren was about to talk to her about other things when Premier Xia’s voice sounded outside. “Princess Zi, your night snack has arrived.”
It was a reminder to Hao Ren that it was time to get out of the Princess’s room.
Hao Ren had planned to talk to her about other stuff, but he had no choice but to back out of the room. After all, Premier Xia was kind to him, and he didn’t want to make trouble for him.
Premier Xia had explained the rules to him when he walked Hao Ren to the gate of the dragon palace the night before.
Although Hao Ren was given the title of ‘Fuma’, it was only in name. After all, the wedding of a dragon princess would be a high-profile event. Before the wedding, Hao Ren was only a Fuma candidate who was on probation.
Therefore, he had to abide by the rules in the dragon palace when he was in there, and thus he couldn’t stay long in the Princess’s room, except with Zhao Guang’s permission.
While Zhao Yanzi was grounded in the dragon palace, Premier Xia was already slack with the rules to allow Hao Ren into her palace. If he stayed too long or even the whole night in her palace, Premier Xia, the head manager of the dragon palace, would have to take responsibility.
Anyway, it was because Hao Ren was only the ‘Fuma in Name’ that the senior elders dared to suggest that the dragon palace should dump him to get the East Ocean Dragon Clan out of trouble.
“Fuma Hao!”
Hearing no response from the room, Premier Xia called out again.
“Coming!” Hao Ren answered. He looked back at Zhao Yanzi before walking to the door.
Zhao Yanzi snorted with resentment. It was due to the many rules in the dragon palace that she didn’t like to come back.
When Hao Ren walked out, he saw Premier Xia standing outside with a smile on his face. After he came out, a maid immediately walked into the room with an exquisite meal box in her hands.
From the moment he entered Zhao Yanzi’s ‘cell’ until now, it was exactly two hours. As the head manager of internal affairs in the dragon palace, Premier Xia knew precisely when Hao Ren had arrived at the dragon palace.
“Um…” Premier Xia turned around, feeling a bit embarrassed. Despite his personal relationship with Hao Ren, he had to abide by the rules and keep the meeting time within two hours.
“Premier Xia,” Hao Ren walked alongside Premier Xia and asked, “Who is Zhao Haoran?”
Hearing the name ‘Zhao Haoran’, Premier Xia shivered before answering respectfully, “He’s the old dragon king of East Ocean.”
“Oh? He’s Zhao Yanzi’s grandfather?” Hao Ren asked immediately.
He had wanted to ask this question for two days. Seeing Premier Xia’s embarrassment, he used this question to distract him.
“The old dragon king retired more than 20 years ago and had lived out of the mortal world as a hermit.” When he talked about Zhao Haoran, Premier Xia looked quite cautious.
Hao Ren guessed that Premier Xia must have known that Zhao Haoran was coming back from overseas, and he seemed to be a bit respectful and fearful of the old dragon king and didn’t want to go more in-depth on this topic.
“Does the old dragon ki
ng know about the thing with Zi?” Hao Ren asked.
Premier Xia became alert. Then, he leaned toward Hao Ren and whispered, “The old dragon king didn’t know about the arrangement between you and Ms. Zi. The dragon king didn’t tell him.”
Hao Ren was stunned at the news. He had meant to ask if Zhao Haoran knew that his granddaughter was grounded in the dragon palace and got this unexpected information.
He could imagine how Zhao Haoran, the highest ruler of the dragon palace, would react after he learns about the engagement between him and Zhao Yanzi.
In fact, the whole thing hadn’t gone as Zhao Guang had hoped. According to Zhao Guang’s plan, as the candidate for Zhao Yanzi’s Fuma, Hao Ren would have three years to cultivate. With his strong fortitude and the aid of elixirs, he would reach Dui-level by that time.
Then, Zhao Guang could talk to his father about the engagement, and it wouldn’t be a big deal.
However, the fluctuations in Mingri Group’s business alarmed Zhao Haoran who had been living his retired life in the U.S.
Sensing the crisis that the East Ocean Dragon Clan was facing in the Dragon Tribe, he had decided to return to China and take things into his own hands.
Then, the engagement between Hao Ren and Zhao Yanzi was inevitably revealed to him.
Zhao Yanzi had lost her dragon core, and she would marry an ordinary mortal man… Even Zhao Guang wouldn’t be able to withstand Zhao Haoran’s fury!
Premier Xia was alarmed with the situation. Due to his concern for Hao Ren, he gave Hao Ren a heads up.
“Oh, so it is like that…” Hao Ren nodded.
Hao Ren didn’t know that Zhao Yanzi had a grandfather who was living his retired life in the U.S. or that Zhao Guang hadn’t told the old man about what had happened to Zhao Yanzi.
Right now, the Mingri Group’s business on land plunged, so did the East Ocean Dragon Clan’s reputation in the Dragon Tribe. Meanwhile, Zhao Yanzi, the heiress of the dragon palace would marry an insignificant mortal man…
From the fact that Zhao Guang tried to hide these things from Zhao Haoran, Hao Ren could guess the personality of the old dragon king.
“Hehe…” Premier Xia forced a chuckle helplessly and continued to walk Hao Ren to the gate.
Zhao Guang took the helm of the East Ocean Dragon Clan only 20 years ago, but Premier Xia, an experienced internal affair manager, had worked under Zhao Haoran for a long time and was familiar with the latter’s temper.
Zhao Haoran had earned all the properties the East Ocean Dragon Palace now possessed. Although Zhao Guang started the Mingri Group, it was the connections of the old dragon king that had helped the Mingri Group spread its businesses all over the country and even around the world!
In the past few days, the East Ocean Dragon Clan was quietly waiting for the perfect storm!
More importantly, Zhao Kuo, Zhao Haoran’s favorite third son who had the best cultivation talent and held his greatest hope, had failed in the Heavenly Tribulation and even had his dragon core damaged!
Every one of the older people in the dragon palace knew that Zhao Kuo was Zhao Haoran’s favorite. But right now, Zhao Kuo was not even in the dragon palace! Who could calm down Zhao Haoran’s burning fury?
In the whole East Ocean Dragon Palace, except Zhao Yanzi who didn’t know about her grandfather’s imminent return, everyone else was holding their breaths.
Rustle… Hao Ren and Premier Xia walked across the empty square while the guards stood as straight as statues around the buildings.
The red lanterns that were put up to ‘celebrating’ Zhao Kuo’s success in the Heavenly Tribulation had been taken down, and the dragon palace was eerily quiet.
“Premier Xia, it’s still early. I want to pay a visit to Su Han,” Hao Ren broke the silence and said.
His voice echoed slightly in the silent dragon palace.
“Ok…” Premier Xia turned slightly and led him to Elder Xingyue’s palace.
In the building, cultivators were cultivating in the side rooms. Elder Xingyue had a rather high position in the dragon palace because she was the female cultivator with the highest cultivation realm and was the leader of all the female cultivators. She had even tutored Zhao Yanzi when the latter started cultivating.
The female cultivators cultivated elsewhere during the day and returned to Elder Xingyue’s palace in the night. With more disciples than any other elder, her words held a lot of weight.
However, regarding Hao Ren’s situation, neither Premier Xia nor Elder Xingyue could offer him great help. After all, the East Ocean Dragon Clan didn’t have to take risks for a Fuma in name to counter the anti-East Ocean alliance led by the West Ocean Dragon Clan.
Both Elder Lu and Elder Sun, who were two purple-robed elders, favored Hao Ren, but faced with the opposition of over ten purple-robed elders stationed in the dragon palace, they had little say on the matter. After all, the purple-robed elders were all old subordinates of Zhao Haoran, and even Zhao Guang couldn’t veto them if they got stubborn.
“Premier Xia, you are here again. Do you have more good stuff for us tonight?” Elder Xingyue walked out of her room and asked with a smile.
Her voice was cold, but her expression was not.
“Childe Hao wants to see Su Han, so I brought him here,” Premier Xia answered with a smile.
“Su Han is in her room. You may go see her now,” Elder Xingyue nodded slightly at Hao Ren and said.
“Ok!” Hao Ren quickened his steps while he crossed the small garden and headed toward the independent side room where Su Han lived.
He looked back and saw the straight-backed Elder Xingyue and the hunch-backed Premier Xia talking.
Without a doubt, they were discussing the imminent return of the old dragon king.
Hao Ren strode across the garden to Su Han’s door. He was about to call out when her voice came from inside, “Come in!”
He pushed the door open and saw Su Han in her blue robe, practicing calligraphy with an ink brush in her hand under the candlelight.
In the flickering candlelight, Su Han, who was holding the ink brush in one hand while pulling up her big sleeve with the other, looked like a perfect beauty of ancient times.
Hao Ren walked over and studied her complexion, finding that it was much better than last time. He knew Premier Xia had given the godly elixir pills to Su Han.
Su Han slowly put down the ink brush and turned her gaze to Hao Ren. “Do I have acne on my face?”
Embarrassed, Hao Ren took half a step back. “No… I just wanted to check your complexion.”
She smiled, and her eyes shone in the candlelight. Each detail of her expression was alluring.
“Thank you for those precious godly elixir pills,” Su Han said lightly.
It was the first time that he heard ‘Thank you’ coming from her mouth. After all, Su Han had been helping him all the time, and it was the first time he gave her some help and received her thanks.
“Well, I had no use for them. I thought they might be useful to you in recovering from your severe injuries.” Hao Ren smiled graciously.
When facing Su Han in this secluded room, he felt out of breath.
“Su Han is cold, but Qin Shaoyang is still fascinated by her, showing the power of her immortal beauty,” Hao Ren thought to himself while circulating the Spirit Concentration Scroll to calm himself down.
“With the help of your godly elixir pills, I have recovered from my injuries and even got a small breakthrough.” She said in a casual tone as she picked up the rice paper from the desk to appreciate her handwriting.
Knowing that she was a cultivation maniac, Hao Ren knew she must be ecstatic with this small breakthrough despite her calm appearance. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be in the mood to practice calligraphy.
[Once having seen the best, the rest is not worthwhile to look at.]
Hao Ren glanced at the exquisite and elegant calligraphy, finding her handwriting quite dashing.
“Qin Shaoyang will soon
be placed here as a regional inspector,” holding the rice paper in her hands, she turned her gaze toward Hao Ren and said.
344 The Most Powerful Inspector
“Huh?”
Hao Ren was surprised by the information.
“Right now, the Dragon God Shrine thinks that my severe injury has damaged my cultivation strength, making me unable to carry out my duties as an inspector. With the absence of an official inspector in East Ocean City, Qin Shaoyang took the opportunity to move here,” Su Han continued.
Hao Ren knew Qin Shaoyang belonged to the Metal-Elemental Dragon Clan which had the least number of members but enjoyed the greatest individual cultivation strengths. Their average cultivation strength was closest to the Heavenly Dragon Realm, allowing them to enjoy a high status in the Dragon Tribe.
As a metal-elemental dragon, Qin Shaoyang had a unique position in the Inspector System. While Su Han was absent in supervising the East Ocean City for weeks, he took the opportunity and used his connections to move to the city.
“And… what’s your plan?” Hao Ren asked her.
“My vital essence is still recovering, and I need to solidify the realm after the breakthrough that the godly elixir pills helped me achieve. I plan to rest for a while in the dragon palace. Besides, I don’t want to meet Qin Shaoyang, so I will watch how things go from the sideline,” Su Han said.
“In other words, you will pretend you have not recovered from your severe injury and won’t come out to fight for the position of regional inspector with Qin Shaoyang. In this way, you can find out what Qin Shaoyang is up to, Right?” Hao Ren asked her.
Su Han smiled and didn’t answer. But secretly, she admired his quick thinking.
The godly elixir pills had better effects than she had expected. In fact, she was now more powerful than before. If Qin Shaoyang didn’t experience a major breakthrough, she could suppress him with ease. However, she wanted to observe the Dragon God Shrine’s attitude on this issue.
Last time, the Dragon God Shrine had reassigned Qin Shaoyang to the cold and remote place in the Northwest to satisfy Su Han. After all, she was one of the most powerful regional inspectors, and the Inspector System would suffer a significant loss if she resigned from her position. That was why the Dragon God Shrine would instead give a small punishment to Qin Shaoyang to keep Su Han.
