Jiang faintly heard the bangings on his door and tried to ignore it but couldn't, because they became even louder and somewhat aggressive. "Young Mistress Lei Yue! Young Mistress Lei Yue! The Emperor has summoned you to the Grand Hall. His Majesty don't like to be delayed, so Young Mistress is advised to wake up now." The arrogant tone and loud volume of the Eunuch's voice woke up Jiang.
Jiang was so startled that he got up abruptly and ended up falling from the bed, hurting his bottom upon impact with the hard floor. He hissed from the pain and tried to soothe it by massaging them. It wasn't a very lady like thing to do, fortunately, there was no one to see him in action. He could pretend enough to be a noble lady while in the presence of witnesses but he couldn't be bothered to act elegant and refined when alone, and he believed it wasn’t necessary.
"Is everything okay, Young Mistress Lei Yue?" The Eunuch asked politely this time. There was a hint of worry in his voice, which surprised Jiang because just a moment ago the Eunuch's tone was very arrogant. Jiang wasn't offended by his earlier actions because he believed almost everyone in the Palace would treat him rudely, he came to this conclusion because of the reception arranged by the Emperor last night. Maybe, the Eunuch was different and didn't mean to be rude earlier. Maybe he was just confused as to how to treat him, Jiang thought as he smiled slightly.
But still, he grudgingly stood up from the ground and started getting ready to go and greet the Emperor at the so-called Grand Hall. Wearing lady's dresses was something Jiang had reached a verdict that he would never get used to it, in his haste he had forgotten to put on heavy makeup on his eyelids at the very least as that was something taught to him at the Lei's manor before his departure, according to his tutors that taught him how to behave like a noble lady, most especially his sister, makeup was something his sister and pretty much every young mistress in the empire could never do without it, and these makeups, as well as ladies clothes, were among the items he had later on that day ordered Chen to get for him as he didn't come with any when running for his life, Jiang's eyes were still puffy by the time he left his room. He was feeling really grumpy with exhaustion, after all, he hadn't had the opportunity to have a good rest after his long journey. He even had to spend most of the night cleaning that pigsty they called a room!
"So, that's the Empress elect!" Jiang heard a court lady exclaim, rudely pointing at him. He was walking behind the Eunuch who came to wake him up and was his guide to the Grand Hall. "She is so weak. Are you sure she is the Empress elect?" Jiang heard another court lady asked and that piqued his curiosity somewhat. He was genuinely confused with the way they were talking about him. He had a bad feeling about this whole Empress elect business. It was like there was something he didn’t know but everyone else did. Nevertheless, he wasn't going to dwell on such matters, he would know soon enough. Jiang didn't think it was his business to try and figure it out, it was not like he knew or could trust anyone in the Imperial Palace. These court ladies might be just trying to rile him up by being rude. Besides, he was used to this kind of behaviour from people.
In Yin province, they were times when Jiang would travel to small towns that weren’t too far or too close, without his family’s knowledge or being accidentally discovered by his father’s people. He used to sell the meat of the wild animals he caught in the forests. Not everyone was as skilled as Jiang when it came to hunting and not many people dared to go deep into certain forests, or the forest that was owned by the Leis which certainly had a better quality wild game. Of course, Jiang never disclosed to anyone where he got his wild game meat from. Jiang took such risks not only to see a tiny bit of the world but also to obtain some money to buy spices and anything other than meat to improve his diet and to have a variety of choices.
Jiang was lucky to have a certain number of faithful customers, petty businessmen willing to patronise him when he visited their towns. He didn’t care whether it was because they pitied him or they genuinely loved game meat. He just knew that if it wasn't for their patronage, he wouldn't be able to earn money to pay for his other necessities. Besides, he would be forced to keep on eating only bland tasting meat.
What Jiang could still remember was that whenever he ventured into the towns to sell his catch, there would be people like the ones in the Palace right now, talking rudely about him in mocking tones. Most people stayed away from him because of the stench produced by his body from time to time, courtesy of the black markings that covered most of his body. Those markings were gone now, but just thinking about them made him remember his pain. Jiang's unpleasant memories caused his brows to crease in a frown as he continued walking towards the Grand Hall.
The court ladies probably thought his reaction was the result of their mocking so they became more complacent and spoke more daring and audacious words, words that under normal circumstances they wouldn’t dare use to speak to an Empress elect. Anyway, Jiang didn’t mind or take notice of them, instead, his thoughts were still dwelling on the memories of his visits to those small towns. He knew that the court ladies were avidly gossiping about him and decided to filter their voices out of his hearing range and ignored their behaviour like he usually did when people gossiped about him.
However, Jiang couldn't understand the connection between his strength and his status as the Empress elect. It wasn’t like he planned on keeping that title any longer than he had to. After all, the Imperial edict wasn't meant for him and he had other plans of his own. Jiang wondered, "What does this all mean? Why do I feel like something is about to go terribly wrong, or am I just overthinking things as usual?" His father had told him that he was coming to the Imperial Palace as the Emperor's Empress elect and was supposed to marry the Emperor any day from the time of his arrival. But the marriage could be delayed as well since nothing was set in stone. Jiang believed he was summoned to the Grand Hall because of this matter.
But when Jiang considered the way he was treated upon his arrival, the disdain, and mockery from the court ladies and the disgust in their eyes, he didn't believe his father had told him the truth about the situation. Additionally, his father had even tried to murder him or had successfully done so in his previous life. Thus, Jiang had no reason to believe anything his father had said to him previously. He wondered why he didn’t think of this sooner. He sighed deeply because he had a hunch that he wasn’t going to like whatever he was going to learn. No matter how he looked at it, the way he was treated wasn't how the supposed future life partner of the Emperor was to be treated even if said future partner was not favoured.
"She is just at the tenth great circle of the Spirit Magus Realm. She will be crushed in an instant, dead without even been able to put up a fight. She would surely be the first Empress elect in history to accomplish that feat." Yet another group of court ladies mocked and chuckled as they stared at Jiang like he was walking corpse. They didn't even care that Jiang might overhear them. Actually, their loud discussions had made him realise that he made yet another breakthrough in his cultivation.
Jiang was rather disgruntled when he was woken up without getting sufficient sleep. Then he had been too busy trying to get ready for his audience with the Emperor that he didn't even notice the change in his body. So, he was covertly checking his body now after hearing those court ladies disparaging his level. Jiang discovered that he was just a stone throw away from the Magus Realm, a realm where one stopped aging, one's body would still develop in certain areas if they were lucky and wanted it to, but they wouldn't ever age again. He didn't think he would be so close to this realm so quickly. It normally took a cultivator many years to reach the Magus Realm. All his worries about what was in store for him flew away.
It was a remarkably happy coincidence that Jiang broke through in his cultivation again while he was asleep! He was somewhat amused and wondered if all his big breakthroughs were to take place when he was asleep. Nevertheless, he was very excited about this latest miraculous breakthrough. Jiang's level of powering up was really astonishing and he was very proud of himself. After all, he was on the verge of reaching the Magus Realm and it hadn't even been more than seven days since he started cultivating. If he wasn't a monster of cultivation then who would be? Though he had to admit that he was slightly worried that such a rapid increase in his cultivation levels might make his foundation unstable. But he believed that he would eventually find a way to deal with that problem.
The cultivation levels in Tang Qin Shang empire was very complex and profound. If Jiang had not spent all his years reading the old books his mother gave him about the fundamentals of cultivation, he probably wouldn't be able to recall all of the many levels of cultivation in the empire.
There were many stages of cultivation, starting with the Spirit Novice Realm which was further divided into ten ranks, and after that came the Novice Realm which had eight ranks. The same format applied to the Spirit Magus Realm, Magus Realm, Spirit Disciple Realm, Disciple Realm, Spirit Expert Realm, Expert Realm, Spirit Divinity Realm, Divinity Realm, Spirit Grandmaster Realm, and Grandmaster Realm. Only after a cultivator had passed all these stages and shed their mortal skins could they truly be called cultivators.
When cultivators were at the later stages of cultivation, they were considered as treading the path of immortality. These later stages were the Empress Realm and the Emperor Realm which were differentiated into early, middle, and peak. Finally, there were the higher realms, namely the God Realm and the Ultimate Supreme Realm both of which also had the same differentiation as the Empress and Emperor Realms.
It had been ages since someone had passed the early stage of the Ultimate Supreme Realm. Thus, the rumored immortality realm was more like a mythical or legendary realm that people only talked about, but no one in recent history had actually attained. Nevertheless, cultivators were people who defied the natural order of the universe. So, even if they were not certain that immortality could be attained, they would still not back down in the pursue of the same.
When Jiang finally entered the Grand Hall, he was met with different kinds of gazes from the people in the Hall, but the one that caught his attention the most was the cold stare coming from a person with fiery red eyes. Jiang looked away almost instantly because his eyes began to sting somewhat painfully the moment he made eye contact with that person.
That person’s irises were unlike any Jiang had ever seen before. They not only resembled the shapes of blazing flames but also gave off the pressure of an inferno. Although the area covered by the irises wasn't large, however, when Jiang stared into those eyes it was like he was right in the very middle of a dangerously out of control fire that could kill him in an instant. And yet why did he find those eyes recklessly intriguing?
From the very brief moment that Jiang looked at that boy's eyes, he had the impression that the boy was a very dangerous individual, someone he should be wary of. The boy was sitting on a throne that looked like a coiling dragon. He had a golden crown on his head, which had a board made of a special material leaning forward when placed on the head. It gave the illusion that the wearer was bowing to the people present with consideration and respect. Attached to the board were chains of golden beads hanging in the front and back, the crown was fastened to the boy's head by a golden coloured hairpin. He truly looked exalted!
The appearance of the boy was very grand and majestic. Although Jiang didn’t know much about robes, he had a strong inkling that the robes and pieces of jewellery worn by the boy were one of a kind, the finest, most expensive and exquisite grade. The throne he sat on was situated in the centre of a beautifully decorated stage made of marble that glitter in the light and sparkle beautifully. In front of the throne was a stair with four steps. on the right side of the throne and two steps down, there stood a Young Master who Jiang actually recognised. He was 'Fang Mu', the man who shared the fish he roasted with Jiang in the forest clearing when Jiang was on the run from his father's men. Jiang was so stunned by this unexpected encounter that he ended up staring at him for a long time, longer than was deemed polite.
His abnormal behaviour didn't escape the attention of either the young boy on the throne or Fang Mu, who was disconcerted by the stare and must be wondering why General Lei’s daughter was staring at him so rudely. He was also a little perturbed since he somewhat understood the thinking process of the young boy seated on the throne, and silently prayed that he wouldn't make any remark upon Young Mistress Lei Yue’s behaviour. He should have known better, because what he hoped wouldn’t occur, actually did!
Just as Fang Mu feared, the boy opened his mouth and asked insinuatingly, “Young Master Fang Mu, with the way this Young Mistress is passionately staring at you, could it be that the two of you are secretly acquainted?” Jiang thought that the boy might look to be the same age as him but he sounded way more mature and domineering than his age.
Fang Mu quickly made a slight bow with his hands pressed together as he seriously stated, “Please do not misunderstand this humble servant, Your Majesty. I have never met Young Mistress Lei Yue of Lei Manor before.”
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