Chapter 39: Bringing Li Yuanyuan Back to the Sect

Li Yuanyuan rose and bowed again to Liao Chen, saying, "Thank you, Master, for the elixir. Your disciple has finally broken free from the family curse and is no longer burdened by the illness that siphoned away my lifespan. With my cultivation now broken through to the Saint Realm, I no longer fear the curse. From this day forward, I resolve to remain by your side. I beg you to grant me this wish!"

Liao Chen nodded and said, "Very well! But are you truly willing to relinquish the imperial power of the Great Yong Dynasty?"

Li Yuanyuan had not expected her master to have already guessed her identity, and she replied with a touch of shame, "Forgive me, Master. I concealed my identity from you before."

Before Liao Chen could respond, the four attendants—Chunxiang and her companions—looked at him with heightened vigilance. Chunxiang demanded, "Who exactly are you, and how did you know the Empress’s identity?"

Liao Chen chuckled and replied, "There is no need for such tension. With my strength, is it truly difficult to discern such a simple truth? Since I dare to call myself the Invincible Ancestor, I naturally have the foundation to back it up. If I so desired, you four would not have lived to see this moment."

Chunxiang wanted to retort, but was hushed by Li Yuanyuan. Li Yuanyuan pleaded on behalf of her attendants, "Master, these four have served the successive Empresses of the Great Yong Dynasty for generations; they only act out of concern for my safety. Please, Master, be magnanimous and do not take offense at their conduct."

Liao Chen waved it off casually. "It is fine. These four girls are merely concerned for you. I shall not hold it against them."

Qiuxiang, standing to the side, curled her lip and muttered, "Hmph! You call us girls, yet your own bone age is likely no more than thirty!"

Xiaxiang and Dongxiang quickly tugged at Qiuxiang's sleeves, signaling her to hold her tongue, lest the man become enraged.

Liao Chen held no fondness for the four of them and said, "Yuanyuan, these four do not please me. You may dismiss them. I shall take you back to Morning Light Sect to meet your three senior brothers. And, since you wish to stay by my side, you may pass your throne to someone else."

Li Yuanyuan nodded, took out a piece of spirit jade to draft the imperial decree of abdication, and instructed the four women to return to the imperial city to issue the summons. She had already decided on a successor: the Empress's uncle, Li Wei. Under normal circumstances, the throne would not pass to him, as the line of succession was long established; the reigning Empress had to voluntarily renounce the throne, for otherwise, any other royal family member seeking it would have to seize it by force—a path with unimaginable consequences.

If a coup succeeded, it would be one thing, but failure would implicate the innocent and potentially collapse the dynasty. The chance of success was zero, as every Empress inherited the cultivation of her predecessor, boosting her combat power to the Fifth Heaven of the Saint Realm—a level of strength no sect or aristocratic family within the Great Yong Dynasty could match.

The Morning Light Sect resided within the territory of the Great Yong, but the Ten Thousand Demon Mountain Range did not fall under the dynasty's jurisdiction. As one of the ten great forbidden zones of life, the mountain range was more of an overlapping landmass than a subject of the Great Yong. Previously, the mountain range had no master, but with the emergence of the Morning Light Sect, it now had an owner.

***

Chunxiang and the others departed with the decree, helpless to do otherwise. Upon returning to the capital, they announced that the next sovereign would be Uncle Li Wei. At that moment, Li Wei had been ten years into his preparations for a coup, having allied himself with the Sword Sect, the Tianyuan Sect, and the Changle Sect to overthrow the Empress.

The sudden summons threw his plans into total disarray. If he announced his alliance with the three sects now, he would surely face their joint suppression. But if he proceeded as planned, whose throne would he be usurping?

Li Wei was utterly bewildered. Plans could never keep up with changes. Caught in a dilemma, he eventually decided to confess his scandalous intentions to Li Yuanyuan. After all, she was his niece, and with the backing of the Morning Light Sect, he knew that if he dared to betray her, he would be a dead man even if he ascended the throne.

Thus, Li Wei wrote down his thoughts and had the four attendants deliver them to the Morning Light Sect.

Meanwhile, Liao Chen had brought Li Yuanyuan back to his sect. Although she had been an Empress and had seen much in her time, she felt like a country bumpkin entering a city. Upon seeing the layout of the sect, she realized she had been like a frog at the bottom of a well; only now did she understand the true meaning of opulence.

Looking around, she saw that both sides of the sect’s main path were lined with supreme-grade Enlightenment Tea Trees, as if they were mere roadside landscaping. Elsewhere, even ordinary Enlightenment Tea Trees would be under the heavy protection of sects or dynasties, but here, supreme-grade trees were planted casually along the road. It was truly beyond belief. Many disciples who entered the sect with mediocre aptitude had seen their cultivation and combat power skyrocket through meditation beneath these trees, making the overall strength of the sect far superior to all others.

Li Yuanyuan finally understood what a "holy land of cultivation" truly meant. The holy grounds of the Tianyuan Sacred Domain were not even in the same league. She had visited them before, and they only grew ordinary spiritual herbs—even if they were thousands of years old, they could not compare to the rarity of these tea trees.

Furthermore, she saw supreme-grade Bodhi Trees—sacred trees for comprehending the Heavenly Dao. For a sect to possess even one ordinary Bodhi Tree would be an incredible feat, yet the Morning Light Sect had over a hundred, each of supreme quality.

"What kind of sect is this? Was the Master just speaking casually before? Is this real?" Li Yuanyuan approached a Bodhi tree, trembling, and gently touched the trunk. Instantly, the vast rules of heaven and earth appeared before her eyes. To her shock, these rules were entirely complete. It was beyond comprehension.

She hurried to Liao Chen’s side, agitated. "Master, tell me, is this an illusion? These are supreme-grade Bodhi Trees! Even the Tianyuan Sacred Domain does not have a single one. Where did they come from?"

Liao Chen chuckled. "Yuanyuan, you do not need to know where they came from. You only need to know that you are now my disciple and that you are destined to become a powerful being. Come, let us go meet your four senior brothers."

Liao Chen led her to his residence, where Jiang Qian, Qin Tian, Hu Ling'er, and Ye Wushuang were soon summoned.

"Greetings, Master!" the four spoke in unison.

***

Liao Chen nodded and introduced Li Yuanyuan. "This is my newly accepted disciple, Li Yuanyuan. She was the Empress of the Great Yong Dynasty, though she is no longer. Get to know one another. Ling'er, go prepare some tea for me!"

"Greetings, four senior brothers," Li Yuanyuan said, bowing with cupped hands.

"I am Jiang Qian, the Eldest Senior Brother. I specialize in the Dao of formations; I possess the Formation Dao Body. If the Fourth Junior Sister wishes to learn formations, I can teach you!"

"I am Qin Tian, your Second Senior Brother. I specialize in the Dao of the Sword; I possess the Peerless Sword Body. If the Fourth Junior Sister wishes to learn swordsmanship, I can teach you!"

"I am Hu Ling'er, your Third Senior Brother. I am the Young Master of the Fox Clan. I specialize in illusions; I possess the Innate Illusion Spirit Saint Body. If you want to learn illusion arts, I can teach you!"

"I am Ye Wushuang, your Fourth Senior Brother. I specialize in boxing; I possess the Supreme Saint Body. If you want to learn boxing, I can teach you."

Jiang Qian, Qin Tian, Hu Ling'er, and Ye Wushuang were all fond of their new junior sister. They saw the purity of her soul and spirit, and thus they did not hide their own constitutions and areas of expertise. Li Yuanyuan was astonished to find that all four brothers possessed Nine-Star constitutions. She wondered how her master had managed to find such talents; if she could possess such a gift for finding people, it would be of great benefit to her in the future.

Li Yuanyuan kept her thoughts to herself and bowed again to thank her brothers. They each presented her with a small gift, much to her delight.

Liao Chen instructed Hu Ling'er to stay and prepare tea and massage his shoulders, while Jiang Qian, Qin Tian, and Ye Wushuang were tasked with taking Li Yuanyuan to tour the sect. The three accepted the order and departed.