Wu Estate.
Martial Hall Palace's thirteenth elder, Li Xuemeng had arrived to meet with Wu Clan's patriarch, Wu Fuxiang.
"Town Head Wu, I've arrived at a decision on your proposal. I will be helping you with it!" Li Xuemeng said seriously.
"Oh? Why did you change your mind?" Wu Fuxiang asked, surprised.
"Are you aware of the incidents yesterday?" Li Xuemeng asked instead of answering.
"Are you referring to Elder Zhen Peng reaching the King Realm?" Wu Fuxiang said, a longing look on his face.
"Yes," Li Xuemeng answered.
"How is that related to this business between us?" Wu Fuxiang asked.
"After my explanation, you will understand," Li Xuemeng said before telling Wu Fuxiang everything that had happened the day before. Li Xuemeng's words sent Wu Fuxiang into a long daze. A King Realm expert had actually bowed to an Astral Realm kid? That was simply ludicrous! But he knew Li Xuemeng would never joke around about something like this.
"I now understand why you’ve changed your mind. You do not want the Martial Hall Palace to lose Elder Zhen Peng, right?" Wu Fuxiang said.
Prior to this, Wu Fuxiang had invited Li Xuemeng to collaborate with them and kidnap Xiang Shaoyun. Li Xuemeng, however, had not immediately agreed. He only gave some noncommittal response, most likely because he had his own misgivings about it.
But now, Li Xuemeng had come to a decision. Perhaps the incident yesterday was the reason for that change of mind. But of course, there was also a possibility that there were some other factors at play.
Li Xuemeng nodded. "Yes, but apart from that, you should be aware that I am not on friendly terms with that Zi Changhe. Otherwise, you wouldn't have looked for me in the first place." After a slight pause, he continued, "I have a clue as to why you want that kid, just be sure to not skimp on what you promised me when the job is done."
"Don't worry, this old man will not go back on his words. But the kid now has Elder Zhen Peng by his side. It won't be easy to touch him anymore," Wu Fuxiang said.
"Well, I'll need Town Head Wu's help with that. If you can go pay Elder Zhen Peng a formal visit and distract him, I will be able to kidnap that kid," Li Xuemeng suggested.
Wu Fuxiang gave it some thought before saying, "Ok. I'll pay this new King a visit today. It'll be too impolite for us Wu Clan to not do so."
The two discussed further in detail, and Li Xuemeng left once they were done.
...
Today, the Martial Hall Palace was much more lively than usual. Any person with status in town came to pay Elder Zhen Peng their respects. In Wu Town, the birth of every new King Rank cultivator was a major event.
Elder Zhen Peng did not like dealing with such social events, but Xiang Shaoyun told him to go deal with it. Otherwise, those people would continue visiting endlessly, and that would ultimately disturb his cultivation.
Elder Zhen Peng could only helplessly promise to finish dealing with this as soon as possible before focusing on standing guard for Xiang Shaoyun. As for why Elder Zhen Peng had decided to follow Xiang Shaoyun, even he himself found it a radical idea. But he did not regret his decision as he could clearly sense how extraordinary Xiang Shaoyun was. Perhaps this choice would be the turning point of his life.
As for Xiang Shaoyun, he was focused on healing his injuries in his residence. He had charged through four limit rooms in a row the day before, and he had sustained rather heavy injuries in the fifth and sixth room. He needed to spend some time recovering. After a night of recovery, he had nearly regained his full strength, but his external injuries still lingered. But at present, he couldn't be bothered about these external injuries. He was busy grasping the essence behind the power of presence.
Yesterday, under Elder Zhen Peng's suppression, the presence of a king was forced out of Xiang Shaoyun. His presence of a king was different than the presence of someone at the King Realm. Rather, it was an innate presence of a person born to be sovereign. It allowed him to be fearless in the face of other presences, and no ordinary power of presence could hope to shake his power of presence.
Although he had grasped an initial understanding of the presence of a king, it wasn't easy to fully master. First, he had to possess the heart of a king who could reign above all others. This was a criteria he had long fulfilled. Secondly, he had to possess sufficient strength to back up this presence. Otherwise, his power of presence would be an empty shell.
"The presence comes from the mind. By strengthening one's mind, the presence would be all powerful, unshakable, akin to the power of the heavens!" Xiang Shaoyun meditated on the sensation of presence without rest as he tried to increase his comprehension on the power of strength.
His hard work rewarded him with a growing understanding of the power of presence.
Of the power of presence, the empty presence was shapeless. He had reached this level. And if he grew further in strength, he would be able to give form to his presence and use it against others.
Generally speaking, only those at the Transformation Realm or beyond would be able to even sense the power of presence. But Xiang Shaoyun was clearly an exception as he had done the same as a second-stage Astral Realm cultivator. One ought to admit that he truly had an excellent aptitude for cultivation.
Xiang Shaoyun took out the illusionary star flower and a few stalks of other old medicines. He muttered to himself, "I hope I can further expand my astral cosmos sea."
He then stuffed all the herbs down his throat. The illusionary star flower was very beneficial in helping one awaken one's stars, but for those already in the Astral Realm, this herb seemed useless.
But why had Xiang Shaoyun bought it? Because it was also useful for growing the astral cosmos sea. After reaching the second stage of Astral Realm, his astral cosmos sea had also grown in size. It initially had the space the size of a fist, but now, it had the space the size of two fists.
If Xiang Shaoyun kept this up, he only needed to keep advancing to grow his astral cosmos sea to the point he could store more and more items in it. But he was impatient. He thus needed to rely on spirit medicines to help with the growth. The medicinal power flooded his body as his astral cosmos sea started spinning rapidly to absorb all the medicinal power.
The illusionary star flower was indeed worthy of being a spirit medicine. The energy contained within it was extremely beneficial, and with the old medicines acting as the catalyst, a pure power streamed into the astral cosmos sea, helping it grow at a rapid pace.
As the astral cosmos sea grew, the nine stars of Xiang Shaoyun also reacted accordingly, creating a river of light within Xiang Shaoyun's body, one that looked enchanting and magical. Even his physical body seemed to glow. If someone saw the current him, they would most likely cry out in shock that the child of heaven had descended upon the mortal world.
Xiang Shaoyun was unaware of what was happening, and his only sensation was of warmth and comfort. Unfortunately, that sensation did not last long. In less than an hour, the medicinal power was fully absorbed.
"It's over just like that?" Xiang Shaoyun muttered in disappointment after opening his eyes.
The illusionary star flower was a spirit medicine; thus, its medicinal power was pure and thick. At the very least, that was the case for people of Xiang Shaoyun's cultivation level. Even so, it did not last long at all.
"Let's see how much the space has grown." Xiang Shaoyun did not keep thinking about the issue and quickly moved on. He walked to a corner of the residence, stared at a pile of random objects, and willed with his mind.