Brocade Robe Unparalleled

Chapter 141 Leniency for confession
One hundred thousand mountains.

Xuanwu Department.

Aya sat cross-legged on the grass outside the valley, a dried fish dangling from her mouth, glancing in a certain direction from time to time.

She had already eaten all the delicious food her older brother brought her last time.

When he left, he said that next time he came back, he would take her to see the world, something she had been looking forward to for a very long time.

She still hadn't seen him today. She got up from the ground, brushed the grass clippings off her skirt, and turned to walk into the wooden house not far behind her.

There were no wooden houses here originally. After the older brother left last time, the saintess had a house built here.

Inside the wooden house.

Youmeng sat at the table, a thick book in front of her.

Aya didn't disturb her. She quietly walked to a meditation cushion, sat cross-legged, and began to meditate.

When her older brother wasn't around, she and the saintess practiced their spiritual cultivation here every day.

At one moment, Youmeng paused slightly as she turned the pages of the book, a faint smile appearing on her lips.

She slowly stood up and walked outside the wooden house.

"Sister Youmeng!"

A surprised voice reached her ears, and then a figure suddenly rushed into her arms.

Youmeng looked at the woman in her arms, paused for a moment, then smiled with a hint of guilt mixed with surprise, and said, "Qingluan, what brings you here?"

Tian Qingluan held her hand and said happily, "I missed you. Lin Xuan said he would bring me to the Xuanwu Department to see you, so I came with him..."

Youmeng, holding Tian Qingluan's hand, glanced at Lin Xuan behind her and said, "Let's go back to the tribe and talk about it."

Aya skipped over to Lin Xuan and asked expectantly, "Big brother, you said you'd take me with you this time, is that true...?"

Lin Xuan patted her head and nodded, saying, "When have I ever lied to you? As long as your parents agree, you can come with us and stay as long as you want..."

Aya said happily, "My parents agreed a long time ago. They said I'm all grown up now and can make my own decisions!"

After returning to the Xuanwu tribe, Youmeng led them to the Holy Maiden Temple.

Youmeng glanced at Lin Xuan cryptically.

He probably didn't tell Qingluan about that.

She breathed a slight sigh of relief, then pulled Tian Qingluan back to the bedroom to talk.

Lin Xuan was left standing aside. He handed Aya a small box of pastries he had brought for her, then walked out of the Holy Maiden Temple and went to another large hall next to it.

A figure sat cross-legged on a prayer mat. Lin Xuan stood in the hall, clasped his hands and bowed, saying, "Greetings, High Priest."

You Lian didn't open her eyes, and asked calmly, "What was the result?"

Lin Xuan said, "High Priest, the imperial court has successfully wiped out the Yang family and asked me to express their gratitude to the Xuanwu tribe. I requested that the court build a village for us outside Sizhou, and the court agreed to allow some members of the Xuanwu tribe to live there..."

You Lian slowly opened her eyes, and a hint of satisfaction flashed in her eyes as she looked at Lin Xuan.

His willingness to consider the interests of the Xuanwu tribe shows that he truly considers himself a member of the tribe.

Lin Xuan added, "In addition, if the tribe needs any supplies in the future, you can make a list for me, and I will purchase them outside and send them to the designated location in Bozhou or Sizhou. The High Priest can then send people to bring them back..."

He had originally asked Lu Feng for 100,000 taels of silver, but since the silver notes couldn't be spent here, he decided to give them to Qingluan. In the future, the Tian family could be directly responsible for the tribe's supplies.

You Lian nodded slightly and said, "You and You Meng can discuss these matters."

Remembering something, Lin Xuan asked, "High Priest, have you ever heard of the Qi Gathering Pill?"

You Lian raised an eyebrow and nodded, saying, "I've heard some things about it. It's said that this pill can break through the limitations of one's innate talent and accelerate the cultivation of a mid-to-third-grade martial artist. I wonder if it's true or not..."

Lin Xuan took out a brocade box from his sleeve and said, "I am fortunate to have obtained two Qi Gathering Pills. I wonder if my Jiuli clan can replicate them?"

On the futon, Youlian's figure vanished in an instant.

When it reappeared, it was already beside Lin Xuan.

She opened the brocade box, and looked at the two pills inside with a strange expression.

Lin Xuan was not in a hurry to take the two Qi Gathering Pills. With the Jiuli tribe's expertise in alchemy, if they could replicate the Qi Gathering Pills, the tribe would have a group of fifth-grade or even fourth-grade experts, and he would have no worries about his cultivation.

You Lian picked up a pill and took a deep sniff of its fragrance.

Having refined medicine for decades, she could distinguish the herbs needed to make this elixir from its fragrance.

She placed the pill back into the brocade box and said, "The ingredients for this pill are not particularly rare, but the required age is extremely high. If that were all, it wouldn't be difficult for my Jiuli clan to gather them. However, to fuse the medicinal properties of different spiritual herbs and refine such a pill is not easy. This person's alchemy skills have reached their peak, and even in our Jiuli clan, no one can match them..."

You Lian looked out of the hall and calmly said, "The royal family of Yong has always produced many powerful figures. This emperor of Yong has even created a unique path of alchemy. These two pills must have been made by him..."

Even though Lu Feng had already told him that these two pills were personally refined by His Majesty.

But when Lin Xuan confirmed it with the high priest, he couldn't help but be somewhat surprised.

Who would have thought that the most powerful alchemist in the world was actually His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Yong Dynasty?

Both elixirs and the path of spirit runes require strong mental power as support.

Given that he was able to refine such a pill, it's not hard to deduce that the Emperor of Dayong must also be a top-tier expert.

When the Prince of Zhennan was over thirty years old, he had already entered the upper three ranks.

The power of the Emperor of Dayong was probably no less than his.

In this world, what determines the upper limit of a person's strength is not effort, but bloodline.

The Jiuli tribe, with tens of thousands of people, has more experts of the third rank than a country with tens of millions of people. The Yang family only possesses the bloodline of the Jiuli tribe's holy maiden, yet their descendants have produced many powerful figures and dominated Bozhou for hundreds of years.

The fact that the Dayong royal family has been able to maintain its lineage for generations suggests that their bloodline is not simple.

Not long after.

In a spacious hall of the Xuanwu tribe.

Lin Xuan sat cross-legged in the hall, opened the brocade box in his hand, took out a Qi Gathering Pill, and slowly put it into his mouth.

After the pill entered his mouth, it gradually transformed into a warm current that flowed into his meridians.

The vital energy in his meridians began to show signs of circulating on its own.

Lin Xuan immediately activated the Zhenyue Gong. In an instant, driven by an invisible force, the speed of his true qi circulation increased dozens of times. What used to take half an hour to complete one cycle now only took a few breaths.

A martial artist's true energy grows slowly through repeated cycles of circulation.

Even if each increase is negligible, the improvement of cultivation is a process of accumulating little by little.

The Qi Gathering Pill acts more like a catalyst; it doesn't increase true qi out of thin air, but rather shortens the time required for this process by countless times.

Such an opportunity is rare and hard to come by, so Lin Xuan dared not delay at all. He concentrated all his energy on circulating his cultivation technique and tried his best not to waste a single moment.

He has already told Youmeng and Tian Qingluan not to let anyone disturb him during this time.

Outside the hall, Youmeng said to Tian Qingluan, "It will take him a long time to finish. Let me take you to see other parts of the tribe."

Tian Qingluan habitually took her arm and said, "Okay..."

Upon arriving at the Xuanwu tribe and meeting Youmeng, he filled a void in her heart.

She genuinely considered Aro her best friend, but she was deceived by her from beginning to end.

But Sister Youmeng would never lie to her.

As Youmeng and Tian Qingluan walked through the Xuanwu tribe, she asked seemingly casually, "Are you and Lin Xuan already together?"

Tian Qingluan blushed and nodded slightly.

Seeing her shy expression, Youmeng felt a complex emotion, but she concealed it well.

Although it wasn't her intention to do that, she had ultimately done something to wrong Qingluan, and after seeing her, the feeling of guilt in her heart grew stronger and stronger...

She pretended to be nonchalant and asked, "Have you decided when to get married?" Tian Qingluan shook her head slightly and said, "We probably won't get married."

Youmeng looked at her and asked, "Why?"

Tian Qingluan didn't care at all, and said with a smile, "I'm already very satisfied with things as they are now..."

Lin Xuan's identity meant that they could not be together openly.

He was no longer the lowly flag officer he once was, but a special envoy of the Jingye Division who could arbitrarily decide the affiliation of the imperial merchants in the southwest. Countless eyes were secretly watching him, and if their relationship were to become known, it would likely affect his future.

Moreover, he has made too many enemies regarding the Yang family matter, which is also a form of protection for her.

Youmeng looked at her and asked, "But don't you feel wronged?"

Tian Qingluan smiled gently and said, "There's nothing to feel wronged about. I even thought about marrying him along with another woman, because during the time he was in trouble, I even considered never marrying again. Now that he's back by my side, it's already the greatest blessing from the Witch God. I have no more desires..."

Youmeng's eyebrows twitched slightly as she asked, "Marrying him along with another woman... what's going on?"

Tian Qingluan sighed softly and said, "This matter is a long story..."

Two days later.

Inside the main hall, Lin Xuan slowly opened his eyes.

He took two Qi Gathering Pills in succession, and his internal energy circulated at high speed for two days, becoming much stronger than before.

Lu Feng once said that the effect of the Qi Gathering Pill is related to one's talent.

The stronger one's talent, the greater the effect of the Qi Gathering Pill.

After undergoing the bloodline baptism, Lin Xuan's martial arts talent was forcibly reversed. These two Qi Gathering Pills allowed his cultivation level to rise from the initial sixth rank to the mid-sixth rank in one fell swoop.

Two days saved him at least a year's worth of spiritual practice time.

As the effects of the medicine wore off, his cultivation speed gradually returned to normal.

Lin Xuan slowly stood up, stretched his body, and his bones cracked with a loud popping sound.

He stretched out his hand, and an invisible aura covered his palm, more than twice as thick as before.

Serving the imperial court is dangerous, but the rewards are truly enormous.

Before infiltrating the Yang family, Lu Feng assured Lin Xuan that his strength and status would be greatly enhanced after the mission was accomplished. At that time, Lin Xuan only thought about faking his death to escape, treating it as a pie in the sky that Lu Feng was making for him.

Surprisingly, the promises he made back then actually came true.

Not only was his status elevated to above the rank of commander, but his strength also saw a significant improvement.

Lin Xuan walked out of the main hall and found that it was already late at night.

The effects of the Qi Gathering Pill are said to last for twelve hours, but in reality, the cultivation speed is still faster than usual after twelve hours, so Lin Xuan cultivated for a few more hours.

Seeing that Qingluan's residence was still lit, Lin Xuan walked to the door and knocked.

Tian Qingluan opened the door and saw Lin Xuan. She looked around and, seeing no one outside, immediately pulled him into the room.

They were deeply in love, and after not seeing each other for two days, they naturally started with a light, intimate moment.

A moment later, she nestled in Lin Xuan's arms and asked, "How was it? Did the pill work?"

Lin Xuan nodded slightly and said, "The effect is very good. It should already be considered as the mid-stage of the sixth rank."

Tian Qingluan couldn't help but recall that when she first met him, he had just advanced to the eighth rank.

At that time, she could not have imagined that just over six months later, his strength would surpass hers.

Of course, she never imagined that the two of them would go through so much together in the past six months and eventually come together.

She leaned against Lin Xuan's chest, quietly listening to his heartbeat, marveling at the wonder of fate.

Lin Xuan, however, was thinking about something else.

Lin Xuan didn't intend to keep Youmeng's accident a secret from her forever.

In this world, Qingluan was the closest person to her, without exception.

Rather than waiting for her to find out, it's better to tell her in advance.

If Youmeng had told her first, the meaning would have been completely different.

After a moment of silence, Lin Xuan looked down at her and said, "There's something I've never told you..."

Tian Qingluan sensed the seriousness in his tone, released his arm, and slowly sat up straight.

She looked at Lin Xuan, as if realizing something, and asked, "Did you do something to betray me?"

A woman's intuition is so sharp, Lin Xuan nodded slightly.

Tian Qingluan asked suspiciously, "That time you went to a brothel, did you do more than just touch her?"

Lin Xuan shook his head and said, "No, don't make wild guesses..."

Tian Qingluan asked in surprise, "What is that?"

He looked at Qingluan, let out a soft sigh, and said, "That time when I helped Youmeng climb Ancestral Spirit Mountain, enter the Temple of the Witch God, and receive the inheritance of the Ancestral Spirit, some unexpected things happened..."

Listening to Lin Xuan's story, Tian Qingluan stared at him blankly, her pretty face gradually revealing a shocked expression.

After a long silence, she said in astonishment, "You, you were influenced by the ancestral spirit's legacy, and Sister Youmeng..."

Lin Xuan nodded slightly and said, "None of us expected such an accident to happen. At that time, it was the crucial moment for Youmeng to receive the inheritance. She had no way to resist. If you want to blame someone, blame me. Don't hate her..."

Although his account of Qingluan differed slightly from the truth, it did not affect the outcome.

In his account, he was influenced by the ancestral spirit's legacy, which led him to do that to Youmeng.

This would not only save face for him, but also save face for Youmeng.

They had been close since childhood, and Lin Xuan didn't want her to have any resentment towards Youmeng.

Tian Qingluan looked at Lin Xuan, speechless for a long time.

Actually, she had already mentally prepared herself for what was to come. Even if he did have something happen with the prostitute, it was for the sake of his undercover mission. Although she would feel uncomfortable, she wouldn't blame him.

It was a blessing from heaven that he was able to return to her alive.

But she never expected that he would actually be with Sister Youmeng...

At that moment, she didn't even know whether it was good news or bad news.

The good news is that he did not have an affair with a prostitute.

The bad news is that she took many of his firsts, but lost the most important one.

She felt a pang of sadness, but not exactly angry.

After all, for a long time, she envisioned the three of them living together in the future.

Compared to A Luo, Sister Youmeng is clearly a better choice.

But she quickly thought of something that filled her with worry: he was now a member of the Jiuli tribe, and the Jiuli tribe had always practiced monogamy. What if he chose Sister Youmeng...?

The Jiuli tribe would not allow him to have any other women.

She has already lost him twice, and it has been so hard for her to get to where she is today. She can't imagine what it would be like to lose him again.

She clung tightly to Lin Xuan's arm, panicking, "You can't abandon me! I won't take anything from Sister Youmeng. Even if you marry Sister Youmeng, it's fine. You can secretly support me outside... No, I can support myself!"

Lin Xuan was slightly taken aback. Qingluan's obedient nature touched his heart. He gently tapped her forehead and said, "What are you thinking? I could never abandon you in this lifetime. I'm even afraid you'll get angry and leave me..."

Tian Qingluan finally relaxed, gave him a reproachful look, and said, "I wouldn't be so unreasonable, it's not your fault..."

The next moment, worry returned to her face, and she asked softly, "But what about Sister Youmeng? The Jiuli tribe values ​​chastity so much, how will she ever get married? We can't let her be alone forever. Why don't you marry Sister Youmeng and then secretly keep me outside, without letting the Xuanwu tribe find out..."

(End of this chapter)