Destiny is ashes

Chapter 951 I'm not being modest (13)

The newcomer possessed a deep and reserved aura, with a square face, yet unlike the usual imperial princes who commanded respect without anger, he exuded a relaxed and at ease air. Without a doubt, he was none other than the Northern Frontier Prince, Prince De, Xuan Guangge.

"Uncle Guangge?"

Upon seeing the incarnation of Prince De appear, You Ruhui first frowned, then calmly said, "Call me Ruhui. I am no longer Princess Mingjing of the Imperial Court."

"Row."

Prince De smiled. His true form had to stay in the Imperial Court, but his avatar could travel freely. Although Prince De was the Prince of Zhen who succeeded Prince Jing, You Ruhui knew that he was a good person who had helped An Jing, so the conversation between the two was not particularly awkward: "I was worried that you were not in good condition, but now it seems that your cultivation is going very smoothly, your aura is harmonious, and your foundation is far more stable than expected, much stronger than I was back then."

Turning his head to the side, he changed the subject and looked at An Jing: "Nature Master is truly remarkable, to be able to transform you in such a short time."

"Please sit." An Jing was actually more relaxed and at ease talking to Prince De in private, but since they were currently at a grand banquet in the Dragon Palace, he couldn't let the Imperial Court know about his friendship with Prince De. Prince De naturally sat down, and a dragon-blood maidservant brought him a wine cup. He took a small sip and remarked, "The Dragon Palace's iced wine is truly a secret recipe. If it weren't for this grand banquet, the Imperial Court would rarely get to drink it..."

As he said this, he raised his wine glass, and An Jing clinked glasses with him, laughing, "Your Highness, why did you come here so suddenly? There was no news of you at all."

He thought that the Great Chen Imperial Court was so focused on the blooming of the Immortal Tree that they had no energy left to attend to the Scale-Reflecting Banquet.

"It was a spur-of-the-moment decision, made with His Majesty's permission."

Prince De said frankly, after finishing his cup of fine wine, he looked at An Jing and said, "I have two main official purposes for coming here this time... First of all, it is related to our Lord of Tianjian Mountain."

"I?"

An Jing, the master of Tianjian Mountain, raised his eyebrows upon hearing this, knowing what the Great Chen Dynasty was about to say: "Could it be..."

As expected, Prince De nodded, his voice clearly reaching An Jing's ears without lowering his voice, ensuring that those nearby who were paying attention could hear him clearly: "Yes, according to the court's deliberations, it has been unanimously decided that you will serve as the representative of our Great Chen Dynasty for this Dragon Palace Banquet!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the words "Representative of Dachen" immediately caused a stir, and countless curious gazes were cast toward An Jing.

Standing nearby, Hui Tianyu was even more shocked: "What? The Imperial Court actually has this plan? Instead of sending anyone themselves, they're directly appointing An Jing?"

"What a bargain!"

“Interesting.” An Jing paid no attention to the discussions and gazes. Because of the blooming of the Immortal Tree Flower, the Great Chen was in chaos and was no longer able to send imperial blood or truly top ministers. Choosing him, who was theoretically also a member of the Great Chen, as the ‘Lord of Heavenly Sword Mountain’ was unexpected, but also reasonable.

However, he raised his eyebrows, chuckled, and shook his head, saying, "But if you ask me, we should find someone more capable. I'm not joking, how can a peak master of the Mingjing Sect be the representative of Dachen?"

Don't refuse, there's really something good here.

Prince De's eyes flashed, and he said solemnly, "Such an important task, who else but you? Please do not refuse, Mountain Lord." An Jing understood, and went with the flow, "Since the court values ​​it so much, then I will take on this responsibility."

After the invitation and the refusal, a flash of light appeared in Prince De's hand, revealing two items. He first handed over a token, which An Jing took and examined for a while.

The token has an ancient and simple design, resembling scales or some kind of extremely smooth fiber. It is entirely lapis lazuli in color and has dragon patterns carved on its surface. The four large characters "Lord of Heavenly Sword Mountain" are engraved on the front, while the back depicts a scene of Heavenly Sword Mountain that has been divided in two by the marks of the Heavenly Sword.

An Jing could sense with a slight touch that the token contained an extremely powerful imperial dragon aura, which was clearly the token he was using as the representative of Da Chen this time.

"Wait." After a deeper perception, An Jing's heart stirred. He observed carefully without making a sound and immediately realized the essence of this thing: "This is... divine wood?"

"Neither gold nor jade, with dragon scale wood grain... Fu Xie, can you tell what material this is?"

“Eternal and immortal—this is the core of the divine tree!” Fu Xie, who had been observing it, now made a clear conclusion. He exclaimed in surprise, “Dao Court, if nothing unexpected happens, this is definitely the core of the ‘Yingtian Immortal Tree’ from the Great Chen Dynasty!”

"Has Da Chen gone mad, giving you this?"

"Don't say that, they just don't know." An Jing wanted to laugh in his heart—the Great Chen Dynasty really didn't know about his relationship with Xiao Qi and Zu Long, let alone that An Jing had already set his sights on the Yingtian Immortal Tree.

He was still thinking about how to get involved in the events related to the Immortal Tree after the Dragon Palace banquet, and now it seems that everything has come to him like a dream come true!

Prince De was naturally unaware of this matter. When he saw An Jing accept the token with a look of surprise, he smiled and said, "This token contains the life force of the Immortal Tree and is itself a divine weapon with healing powers."

"If it still exists after the grand banquet, with the power of your sect, you might be able to upgrade it into a top-tier divine weapon that possesses a heavenly restriction and spirituality!"

Magical artifacts are restrained by laws, and divine weapons are forged by spirits. However, there is a huge chasm between divine weapons and celestial weapons, which is the 'spirituality' that can spontaneously interact with the laws of heaven and earth and grow spontaneously.

The King of De's Kanming Bell is such a top-tier divine weapon, and the Heavenly Forbidden Zone is the spiritual core of the Heavenly Spirit, which is formed by the convergence of many supernatural powers.

If one wishes to advance further, one must transform supernatural powers into great supernatural powers, convert the celestial restrictions imbued with the spiritual essence of heaven and earth into divine restrictions, and forge twelve celestial divine restrictions similar to the 'Heavenly Profound True Talisman'. This will form the foundation of the Lingxiao Dao Weapon.

An Jing's own cultivation of the 'Tai Bai Hao Ling Divine Restriction' is actually a similar method. Every nine restrictions constitute one divine power, which is equivalent to one heavenly restriction. When cultivated to perfection, the twelve divine powers are the twelve cycles of heavenly restrictions, allowing one to ascend to the position of Lingxiao.

The path ahead is for you to find yourself.

"That imperial court is truly generous."

An Jing nodded slightly. For the imperial court, the best option would be to leave such a valuable item in the earth's veins to suppress its fortune. Giving it to him would be a huge financial loss.

You should know that when Prince De ascended to the throne, he was penniless and hadn't even received such a good thing! This can be seen from the envious look on Prince De's face.

But this is not the end.

"As for this..."

Immediately afterwards, the Prince presented another strangely shaped magical artifact, which looked somewhat like a leaf, and in fact it was. This made An Jing's brow twitch again: "A leaf from the Undying Tree?"

No, it's a 'jade slip' made from the leaves of the immortal tree!
An Jing took it, and with a slight movement of his divine sense, he explored its contents. Instantly, he and the Demon-Subduing Sword Spirit were both startled: "This Daoist aura?"

An Jing and Fu Xie were knowledgeable and experienced, and theoretically they wouldn't be too surprised by anything good, but the Daoist essence contained in the leaves of the Undying Tree was indeed precious.

【Imperial Book of Heavenly Laws, Mysterious Imperial Rule, Return to the Origin Secret Manual】

"The fundamental secret method of the Imperial Court?"

(End of this chapter)