Chasing after her husband? Is it even possible to win him back?

"As for the marriage proposal that Madam just mentioned, let's leave it aside for now. This is not something we can decide directly. We also need to consider the attitudes of both Xiaolingdang and Chu Xunfeng. Otherwise, if we make a big fuss and the two of them have different attitudes, it could easily turn into a joke." The sect leader spoke, which can be considered as finalizing Baidi City's attitude towards Chu Xunfeng.

"Regarding this wanted criminal, let's help him first. We can work on bringing Chu Xunfeng back to Baidi City, but that's not the most important thing. The most important thing now is to overturn his status as a wanted criminal." Having received many different opinions, the Baidi Sect Leader is now quite confident in arranging the plan.

"Brother, do you know where Chu Xunfeng is right now?" Bai Di turned his gaze to Xu Jiujing.

“Although I don’t know, I can guess.” Xu Jiujing smiled. “He’s either in the Ghost Clan’s Black Forest or on his way to Yan Kingdom. Considering the matter of the Demon Clan, he probably won’t go to Yan Kingdom. He should be in the Black Forest.”

"He probably needs some help right now. Does your brother have anyone in mind?"

"Let my eldest disciple Mo Xun and second disciple Xue Changyun go. Xun Feng is not lacking in wisdom, but he lacks the strength to confront the bronze beast head-on." Xu Jiujing agreed with the White Emperor's arrangement and nodded slightly.

"Next, Fifth Brother, get Xin Pavilion up and running. We need to know the whole story of why Chu Xunfeng was designated as a wanted criminal, and why he was implicated by our fathers."

"Hmm." The Fifth Elder nodded slightly.

"Let's leave it at that for now. We'll talk again when we have more information..." Before Bai Di could finish speaking, the Fifth Elder suddenly raised his hand to stop the sect leader. The Fifth Elder covered his right ear, pretending to listen attentively.

The seven immediately understood that the Fifth Elder was communicating with the Xin Pavilion spies using a secret method.

After waiting for a while, the Fifth Elder lowered his right hand, which was covering his right ear, his expression filled with surprise and trepidation. "The demon race has made its move."

Upon hearing the Fifth Elder's words, everyone's expressions immediately brightened.

"How so?" Bai Di frowned slightly.

“The Dragon Clan’s Ao Xiu has left the Wild Marsh Wetlands as an envoy to visit the Xu Kingdom.” The Fifth Elder looked uneasy. “The previous royal family dispute has come to an end, and the demon clan has never sent a royal family member to visit the Xu Kingdom directly. Moreover… it is this Snake Lord. He is probably going to see the emperor with the attitude of the Azure Dragon God Lord.”

"Is it confirmed? Or is it just speculation?" the Second Elder asked.

"Disciples of the Xin Pavilion witnessed the black dragon appear in its true form in Bianzhou, flying over the city in a high-profile manner without any obstruction, showing a clear intention to come and go freely."

"If they hadn't made arrangements beforehand, the demon race wouldn't have dared to act so ostentatiously in the Xu Kingdom."

Bai Di pondered for a few seconds, then looked up at Xu Jiujing.

"Brother, have Mo Xun and Xue Changyun set off immediately."

Chapter Fourteen, Ao Hanli's Feelings

Summer in the Yeze Wetlands is indeed not as pleasant as when Baidi City is located.

Summer in the wetlands is always sultry and hot, the air so humid you could almost wring water out of it, and incredibly hot.

Such a humid and hot climate should be incredibly unbearable, but for the demon race, or rather most demons, the climate is not a problem at all. And for dragons who can charge into the sealed-off South China Sea with their bare bodies, the external climate is never a concern for them.

On the training ground outside the imperial city, Ao Hanli held a spear that had been reforged by the craftsmen of the Heavenly Craft Workshop. He used the spear shaft to knock away the city guards who were also wielding spears. With displeasure in his golden eyes, he glanced at the city guards who were struggling to get up. His gaze swept over the several square formations surrounding the training ground, and he said loudly, "Next!"

The city guard who had been knocked away got up and quietly retreated back into the army formation. Then, another city guard stepped forward with his weapon and began to fight Ao Hanli.

Meanwhile, on the city wall of the imperial capital, Ao Ning and Hong Ji stood side by side, their eyes fixed on Ao Hanli, who was fighting more and more fiercely on the training ground.

“The seventeenth one.” Seeing that Ao Hanli’s opponent’s spear was knocked away by an upward flick, Ao Ning shook his head with a smile.

“Most of the city guards are at the fourth level. Even if a Renxuan comes forward, they can’t withstand more than a few moves from Sister Hanli.” Hongji shook her head as she watched Ao Hanli spar with a new opponent. “She’s already on her way to the Earth Profound Realm. Instead of fighting the city guards here, we should find a spy from the Demon Suppression Division to spar with her.”

"A spy from the Demon Suppression Bureau..." Ao Ning pondered for a few seconds. "If we go directly to the Demon Suppression Bureau to find someone, since Second Brother is not in the capital right now, it will inevitably cause others to overthink if we go there with our identities. It would be better to ask Tuo to handle this matter."

“That’s what I was thinking. Besides, we’re kind of his guardians, so we should check on Bixie’s progress.” Hongji smiled and took her fiancé’s arm, leading Ao Ning down the city wall and heading straight for the training ground.

The sudden arrival of these two caused a brief commotion in the training ground, but the disturbance in the military formation did not affect Ao Hanli's beating of his opponent.

"Next!" After defeating her nineteenth opponent, Ao Hanli finally showed a smile. After all, the level of her opponents varied, and she had finally warmed up. Once she had defeated twenty people, she planned to fight multiple opponents at once.

After all, the city guards never relied on individual strength; their true strength lay in their coordinated formations. Their strength was demonstrated by their ability to launch attacks in groups of three to five.

Ao Hanli was wielding the spear that she was getting better and better at using when she didn't expect that the soldiers who came out of the army formation were not soldiers in armor, but her sister-in-law in red.

"Sister Hongji?" Ao Hanli raised an eyebrow in confusion. "You... want to spar with me?"

"This is outrageous! They even want to hit your sister-in-law." Ao Ning also stepped out of the military formation. He had just been talking to Commander Xiong of the city guards, so he was a few steps late. "Let's go. You've been fighting on the training ground for three days now. It's time to rest and let our soldiers rest too."

Hearing her fourth brother's words and reflecting on her actions over the past three days, Ao Hanli had to admit that her fourth brother was right. She could only nod and then, after turning her wrist to put away her gun, she clasped her hands and looked around the military formation. "Thank you all for accompanying me in my fooling around for the past three days. Hanli thanks you all!"

Hearing this, Ao Ning frowned slightly, and Hong Ji covered her mouth and chuckled. However, the surrounding military formation responded with a resounding roar, showing that the soldiers of the city guards were quite pleased with the Second Princess's words, which had a strong martial arts flavor.

"Let's go." Ao Ning was somewhat helpless with his younger sister and could only glare at Ao Hanli.

Ao Hanli simply smiled.

The three of them walked out of the training ground, passed through the south gate of the imperial city, and avoided crowded and conspicuous places. Only then did Ao Ning speak to his sister, "Don't bother the city guards anymore."

Ao Hanli knew that she had gone a bit too far these past few days. After all, she was the second princess of the Dragon Clan, and spending all her time in the training ground was indeed a bit improper. Moreover, she herself was not very satisfied with the strength of the city guards. After listening to her fourth brother's words, she nodded.

Seeing his sister's indifferent attitude, Ao Ning gestured to his fiancée, Hong Ji, who quietly nodded in agreement. He then took Ao Hanli's arm, lowered his voice, and whispered, "Hanli, why are you suddenly in such a hurry to improve your strength? What exactly happened at Longquan Sword Manor?"

Ao Hanli pondered for a moment, then turned to Hong Ji and asked, "Sister Hong Ji, let me ask you, if one day you suddenly find that you're not smart enough to help Fourth Brother, and you're not strong enough to do anything, and can only watch him work hard for something, only to end up with nothing to show for it, how would you feel?"

Hong Ji looked into Ao Hanli's clear golden eyes but did not reply immediately.

“I’m not really good at things like thinking, plotting, and setting up schemes. Back in Longquan Sword Manor, I really couldn’t understand the schemes Chu Xunfeng set up and the human nature he was thinking about. So I have to change direction so I don’t fall too far behind him…” Ao Hanli tilted her head slightly. “Otherwise, I’ll only be able to see his back in the future. If I don’t work hard now, am I going to end up like Ning Qiuning, desperately trying to catch up with him?”

"I don't want to end up like that, and if it really comes to that, I'm afraid I'll give up, it would be too embarrassing." Ao Hanli shook her head with a smile, "But I don't want to give up now, so I have to work hard."

Hong Ji gently patted Ao Hanli's hand without saying anything.

“We’re going to find Lao Wu now.” Ao Ning glanced at Ao Hanli. “You probably don’t know, but he’s currently in charge of teaching Queya and Bixie. Those two are always accompanied by Tuo from the Demon Exorcising Division. I’ll talk to the Tuo for you and ask the Demon Exorcising Division’s spies to spar with you. As for the city guards, don’t go there anymore.”

Ao Hanli blinked, then nodded vigorously, "Okay."

“You don’t need to worry about Chu Xunfeng. Your second brother went to the capital of Xu Kingdom early this morning with Mother’s edict.” Ao Ning stopped in his tracks. “I can roughly guess what Mother is thinking. This time, Mother probably finalized your relationship with Chu Xunfeng directly in the edict to the Emperor of Xu Kingdom.”

"..." For no apparent reason, Ao Hanli's heart skipped a beat. "What relationship?"

"What else could it be?" Hong Ji tugged at the dragon girl's arm. "You don't actually think you two can escape the traditions of our dragon race, do you?"

"Besides, this is an urgent matter, and only by establishing this relationship can we have a legitimate reason to help him." Hong Ji saw Ao Hanli's hesitation and knew exactly what was going on. "Don't worry, Mother and Second Brother will take care of everything for you."

"Now that you've found your place by his side, helping him solve his problems, then work hard." Hong Ji tapped Ao Hanli's flushed cheeks.

Ao Hanli took a deep breath and nodded.

"Ah."

Chapter Fifteen: The Naked Human Heart

Only by witnessing the power of thunder can one understand the true nature of swiftness.

Only by feeling the spirit of the gentle breeze can one understand the meaning of swiftness.

Within the spiritual space, above the thunderclouds, Chu Xunfeng sat cross-legged, his gaze calm as he watched the movements performed by the figure formed from the power of wind and thunder.

Most of the inherited power left by Canglong Aojie was absorbed by the system. Now, in this spiritual space, the number of times one can receive inheritance is decreasing with each use. Although the system's [Scripture Pavilion] records the techniques, the techniques recorded in the Scripture Pavilion are just inanimate objects and cannot compare to the ultimate skills performed by the agile figure in front of him.

Therefore, Chu Xunfeng watched very carefully, immersing almost all his thoughts in the movements of the wind and thunder figure. Even if he couldn't fully comprehend it at the moment, he at least wanted to record it in his mind without any mistakes.

Chu Xunfeng has already forged his own path in both the physical and military cultivation systems and has mastered them. However, in the cultivation of magic, Chu Xunfeng only refines his visualization techniques. He rarely develops any special skills. After all, the cloud energy of the dragon race's divine power can perfectly carry the wind and thunder spiritual energy. Chu Xunfeng once thought about fully integrating the power of magic cultivation into his bloodline divine power.

But Ao Jie's illusory performance clearly told Chu Xunfeng that he had fallen into a misunderstanding.

The true power of Dharma cultivation has never been direct confrontation, but rather its application and development.

The advancement of military and physical cultivation cannot be achieved without opponents, without life-or-death battles.

But if one can grow simply by visualizing, is this not unfair?

Actually, that's not the case. Physical cultivation involves strengthening the body, and military cultivation involves learning techniques, both of which are simple and direct applications. But magic cultivation... requires the complete development of one's power.

The illusory image before them had stopped moving. Ao Jie's illusory figure clasped his hands in a fist salute to Chu Xunfeng, who was sitting cross-legged, before dissipating into wind and thunder and disappearing from the spiritual world atop the thunderclouds.

Chu Xunfeng stood up and began to try to replicate the special skills performed by the illusory image of Ao Jie, based on everything he had just seen and the cultivation technique records displayed in the system's scripture pavilion panel.

Chu Xunfeng was completely immersed in his own world, almost losing all sense of the outside world.

While the dance was being performed in the spiritual world, in the courtyard outside, Hongzhu, who had been busy all day, returned to the courtyard exhausted.

Before she could even sit down to rest, Hongzhu was hurriedly dragged by Old Wang to the door of the east wing of the courtyard.

However, just as she approached the gate, Hongzhu abruptly stopped. Inside the room, the wind howled and thunder roared. As a newly born ghost, Old Wang had very little Yin energy accumulated in his body, so he was naturally not easily affected by the howling wind and thunder.

However, Hongzhu, as a member of the ghost clan, has existed for many years. His body is filled with thick and turbid Yin energy. If someone were to rashly step into this room, they would either die or lose most of their skin.

“Young Master is cultivating, there’s no need to make a fuss.” Hongzhu pulled Old Wang away from the east wing, explaining to this new clansman who knew nothing, “The greatest help we can give him is to not disturb him.”

Old Wang didn't understand cultivation, but the young master trusted Miss Hongzhu very much, so after hearing what Hongzhu said, he felt relieved. "Thank goodness, thank goodness I didn't wake the young master."

“Young Master is already in a deep meditation. Even if you call him from outside, you won’t be able to wake him.” Hongzhu looked at Old Wang, who knew nothing about the basics of cultivation, and a question that seemed unimportant but strange to her suddenly popped into her mind: “By the way, Old Wang, don’t you remember your own name?”

Old Wang sat down opposite the red candle and shook his head. "I don't remember. The only name I remember is someone else's."

"Someone else's name?" Red Candle raised an eyebrow curiously.

“Yes, Wang Yuan’er.” Old Wang nodded. “In the Ghost Forest, the young master told me that this name should be a woman’s name, perhaps my wife’s, or perhaps my daughter’s.”

Hongzhu carefully examined Old Wang's face and agreed that what Young Master Chu said made sense. She didn't believe that Old Wang's name was Wang Yuan'er.

"However, it's strange that someone like you, who doesn't understand cultivation and doesn't seem violent, can still exist, and with such clear thoughts, it's rare." It's impossible for Chu Xunfeng not to have any thoughts about Old Wang's situation, or even Chu Xunfeng's concern. If he didn't have any thoughts, he wouldn't deserve to be a ghost.

"Is it rare...?" Old Wang looked down at his hands, somewhat bewildered. After all, the experiences he had had with Chu Xunfeng for just a day or two made him feel out of place in the atmosphere of the Black Forest.

Although he didn't understand cultivation, Old Wang was not completely ignorant of human relationships and social customs. He could also sense the atmosphere in certain places.

"Yes, the existence of the demon race is, to put it bluntly, an obsession. A demon is, simply put, the embodiment of an obsession. We, as demons and as living people, can actually be seen as two completely different beings."

Although Hongzhu had accomplished a lot, Chu Xunfeng was immersed in cultivation, so she simply gave this new member of the same clan a lesson: "In terms you can understand, when we are alive we are a complete person, but when we die we become ghosts, and we are now an extension of a certain thought before we died."