This Young Master is not Cannon Fodder

When Tianyi returned to the palace, he didn’t inform his mother of the assassination attempt. With her power and having a eunuch following him, there was no way that she wouldn't have known. Since she did not bring it up, Tianyi would not bring it up as it was a personal matter for him to deal with.

Which cultivator didn't have an enemy or two? Those enemies were often good whetstones for cultivators as well.

How the hell did Lei Jingye even come to the Xi Dynasty in such a short time? The last time I met him was in the Northern Region, and the Xi Dynasty is closer to the south. It would take years for a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator to traverse that far. Tianyi thought to himself as he ordered eunuch Gao to gather information concerning Lei Jingye for him.

“Older Cousin.” Tianyi smiled as he greeted the ninth prince of the Xi Dynasty. As for what the ninth prince’s name was? He had long forgotten it.

“Your highness.” Xi Ri said with a smile as he gave a slight bow to Xi Tianyi. His face was without blemish, a simple jade coronet held his hair in place, and he wore the official ceremonial robes of the imperial family. Xi Ri had a temperament that was like a spring breeze, pleasant to be around.

“Older Cousin, you’re family, and we’re going to be fellow disciples. Just call me by my name.” Tianyi said.

“How could I?” Xi Ri said as he shook his head. “In terms of status, your mother is far more powerful and has an exalted status. As for your highness, I am only at the Qi Gathering Realm while you are in the Foundation Establishment Realm. The difference in personal strength is obvious. And it remains yet to be known whether I can enter the Buzhou Immortal Sect or not.”

Tianyi could only shrug helplessly.

“If your highness insists, then I can only offend you by calling you Senior Brother Tianyi.” Xi Ri said with a pleasant smile. Tianyi nodded.

Tianyi nodded. Although it wasn’t what he wanted, at least half of his goal was accomplished. “Older Cousin, where are you going?”

“I’m going to listen to the Sword Empress expound upon cultivation.” As for why it wasn’t expounding upon the Dao, it was merely that the many people who attended her lecture would not be able to comprehend anything. Rather than give them an impossible task, would it not be better to teach them how to create a more stable foundation so that their Immortal path will continue a bit longer?

Tianyi nodded as he followed his older cousin towards the main cultivation hall where his mother sat at the center in a lotus position with rows of people separated by strength and status sat in front of her, also in the lotus position.

His mother, Xi Mengfei, had been doing this every day since she had arrived aside from the day of her arrival. It was clear to see that she held her brother in high esteem as it was rare for her to even show her face to the rest of the sect, much less give pointers to disciples.

Yet, for these few Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators, she actually gave pointers and guidance on how to cultivate. Aside from his Emperor-Uncle, who was at the Nascent Soul Realm, Tianyi spotted three Core Formation Realm cultivators and numerous Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators. But the most eye-catching group was the Qi Gathering realm pupils near the middle of the group. Including Xi Ri, there were seven youths in the Qi Gathering Realm. Tianyi naturally noticed Daoyi’s sisters, whose name he had long forgotten.

They must be the promising youths that mother spoke about taking back to the sect.

Jiang Daoyi was also naturally there, and she sat in the first row. She stuck out like a sore thumb because she was the only non-imperial family member to sit on the front row, and she was mortal with no cultivation at all. Her brows were scrunched up in concentration, trying to understand every single word that Xi Mengfei spoke.

In fact, it wasn’t just Jiang Daoyi who had slight confusion on their faces, but rather many occupants of the room were like that as well. The better ones were the Xi Emperor, the Core Formation Realm cultivators, Xi Ri, and Daoyi’s second sister.

Is it really that hard to understand? Or maybe it was because I grew up listening to mother’s lectures that I got used to it... or maybe I’m actually a super genius. Tianyi inwardly chuckled to himself at his last thought so that no one would notice. He would never voice that thought out loud, wasn't that just asking people to mock him?

For the rest of his stay in the Xi Dynasty, Tianyi no longer went to his mother’s lecture as he did not feel it would be beneficial to him in any way and instead quietly cultivated and trained his various techniques.

Daoyi, on the other hand, attended all the lectures and committed as much information as possible to her mind as if making up for lost time. During this time, the information Tianyi had ordered eunuch Gao to gather had arrived.

“Lei Jingye, 19 years old and just stepped into the Foundation Establishment Realm.” Tianyi read aloud.

Lei Jinye appeared in the Great Xi Dynasty about a month ago, and eyewitnesses saw him snooping around Duke Qi’s residence once or twice. He attended an auction and bought several herbs for martial cultivation. It is suspected that he cultivates a high-level martial cultivation manual and has even gotten into a few fights displaying great strength beyond the average cultivator.

Tianyi continued to read the information till the last drop. It seemed that after he had killed Lei Jingye’s avatar, the man had vanished from the Great Xi Dynasty after that day with no words of his appearance.

“How does a nineteen-year-old have such expertise and worldly knowledge?” Tianyi muttered, but he was more concerned about the fact that Lei Jingye was seen snooping around Duke Qi’s residence. Still... I'm amazed that he could get into so many fights within such a short period of time. He even managed to offend one of the ducal families. If it wasn't for me exterminating his avatar, I'm afraid he would have actually fought them and turned them into his stepping stones.

A person immediately came to mind as to why Lei Jingye would visit Duke Qi’s estate. Jiang Daoyi’s second sister. “Is Lei Jingye the reason why Daoyi’s sister could advance so quickly? No, the information only said about a month ago... but perhaps he had already arrived several months ago and only showed himself recently. That stare during the jewelry shop should be his right?”

Tianyi was filled with tremendous curiosity as to the story of this Lei Jingye. He even felt strange anticipation for the next meeting between them. Before he knew it, it was the day of departure. Tianyi stood behind his mother and Daoyi and the seven other hopeful Buzhou Immortal Sect disciples as they bid farewell to the Xi Emperor.

On the way back to the sect, aside from Xi Ri and Daoyi, Tianyi didn’t interact with anyone else. In his eyes, aside from Xi Ri, they had less than a one percent chance to pass the trials to become a disciple, and thus, interacting with them would be pointless since they will be sent back to the Xi Dynasty.

They would be people of two different worlds, after all, never to meet again. Even Daoyi's second sister wasn't any different in his eyes. Tianyi heard that she a triple Spiritual Vein, so the chances of her being accepted would be incredibly low even with her abilities to cross stages. Which Buzhou Immortal Sect disciples couldn't accomplish such a feat against external cultivators? There would have been a higher chance for her to be accepted if she had higher talent as a martial cultivator, but she had no fleshly cultivation from Tianyi's observation.

“Older Cousin, why do you want to enter the Buzhou Immortal Sect?” Tianyi suddenly asked. He and Xi Ri were standing next to the rails watching the ground blur past the boat. Tianyi allowed himself to relax as he listened to Daoyi play her erhu on the deck. The music was lighthearted and full of joy.

There was a sense of freedom and liberation from the notes that Tianyi didn’t even know the instrument could produce. He rubbed his spatial ring and thought about his welcoming gifts.

“Hm?” Xi Ri said, breaking out of his gaze. He revealed a slight embarrassment at being caught in a daze. “Senior Brother Tianyi, I’m sorry I was not focused. Could you repeat that?”

Tianyi tilted his head. “I said, why do you want to become a Buzhou Immortal Sect disciple? Although your Heavenly Spiritual Fire Vein is rare, it is not unique. There are plenty of disciples with Heavenly Spiritual Veins, and there are some double Spiritual Vein disciples that are even more amazing than those with Heavenly Spiritual Veins.”

“I do not know?” Xi Ri said after some delibrance. “Since I was young, I was given the name Ri, not only because of my Heavenly Fire Spiritual Vein but because my Emperor-Father hoped that I would usher in a new dawn for the Xi Dynasty. Since young, I have been meticulously taught by my father and various tutors to the point that my siblings grew extremely jealous of me.”

Xi Ri gave a bitter smile. “Emperor-Father constantly said that I would enter the Buzhou Immortal Sect as a disciple, so I accepted it as my fate. Truthfully every day there, I felt like I was living with chains on me. Like I was a puppet with no control over my own fate. Although it is Emperor-Father’s wish that I enter the Buzhou Immortal Sect, it is also my own wish. I feel like I can become free if I were to enter, away from the chains of the imperial palace.”

Tianyi paused as he took in Xi Ri’s words. “But you will no longer be respected, and you’ll be treated like a common disciple. Can you really adjust to that after years of living as an imperial prince? Some people would rather be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix.”

“Who can say?” Xi Ri smiled. “I have not experienced it, so I do not know. But what I know is that right now, entering the Buzhou Immortal Sect is my deepest wish.”

Xi Ri’s eyes were crystal clear, the black and whites of his eyes perfectly distinct and mesmerizing as if the world was filled with perfection and nothing were wrong.

Tianyi stilted before he smiled, and admiration colored Tianyi’s gaze. “Haha, I guess as your senior brother, I should help you adjust to the life of a disciple then. Although I’m far from an ordinary disciple, I still have some common sense that I can pass onto you.”

Xi Ri cupped his hands. “Please.”

Tianyi nodded and then cast a glance at Daoyi. “Junior Sister, please listen as well. This will be beneficial.”

Daoyi stopped playing on her erhu and then gave Tianyi her full attention. Tianyi could see Daoyi’s sister at the edge of his sight inconspicuously listening, but he ignored it. After all, what he said wasn’t exactly a secret. If the other Qi Gathering Realm potential disciples were to attempt to listen in, he would praise them instead of rebuking them.

“I don’t know how you address Foundation Establishment cultivators in the Xi Dynasty, but in the Buzhou Immortal Sect, they are as common as clouds. No, even more so, and Core Formation cultivators are just as common."

"I guess I should talk about how you should address them as well," Tianyi added after a pause.

"First, cultivators are separated into three distinct types depending on their style of cultivation: spiritual, martial, and soul. For convenience's sake, the addresses are based on spiritual cultivation since it is the current mainstream method. That’s a person who focuses on qi cultivation instead of fleshly body cultivation. All of you are currently spiritual cultivators."

"For Qi Gathering Realm cultivators, they are called Qi Gathering Pupils because they have started on their Immortal path, and unless you reach Foundation Establishment, no one will pay attention to you because of your realm."

"Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators are known as Foundation Establishment Disciples because that is the realm where they truly begin their immortal path."

"Core Formation realm cultivators are known as Core Formation Masters, while Nascent Soul realm cultivators are known as Nascent Soul Grandmasters. They are called this because, in the outside world, they are powerful enough to start forming a sect. Although you will never find any master or grandmasters starting a sect in the Central Heaven Region where the Buzhou Immortal Sect and many first-rate powers reside, they are simply too weak and aren’t worth mentioning here."

"Most cultivators with enough resources can eventually make it to the Core Formation Realm, and it is only the Nascent Soul Realm that those with a chance to become Immortals show themselves. Many of the so-called geniuses fall at this step." Tianyi curled the edge of his lips. Naturally, he didn't include himself in the failing group.

"After that are the Unity Realm Venerables. Unity Realm represents harmony and the unification of your cultivation, including your Spiritual Core and Nascent Soul with heaven and earth. Once you finish that process, you are just one step away from Immortal ascension. Martial Cultivators will have to unify their Martial Body and the soul. Naturally, if you are both a Spiritual and Martial Cultivator, you will have to fuse your Spiritual Core, Nascent Soul, and Martial Body. An extremely difficult path, so many Spiritual Unity Realm Venerables abandon their martial body or vice versa."

"Finally, there is the Transcending Mortality Realm Sages. They are known as sages because they are the closest to Immortality among mortals, worthy of great respect. This is the greatest and last step a cultivator takes before the Immortal Ascension Heavenly Tribulation comes down. Many are blocked and even perish at this stage. On a side note, unless you use special treasures, your lifespan will be limited to thirty-six hundred years. Even a Nascent Soul Grandmaster can have the same lifespan. In other words, the limit of a mortal's lifespan will be reached at the Nascent Soul Realm."

"Then there are the Immortals. Truthfully I do not know much about the Immortal Realm, just that they are commonly called True Immortal, Monarchs, and Emperors. To reach the Immortal Realm, a Transcending Mortality Sage must harmonize with heaven and earth, gaining acknowledgment from the Heavenly Dao."

"There is also another pseudo stage in between mortal and Immortal and that is the Earth Immortals, Transcending Mortality Sages that failed to overcome their Immortal Ascension Heavenly Tribulation but survived.” Tianyi looked around before lowering his voice.“The previous name was False Immortals, but many of them disliked that name and started to call themselves Earth Immortals. Immortals who failed to ascend to heaven.”

Tianyi continued to speak about little tidbits about life in the Central Heaven Region, including the many peaks at the Buzhou Immortal Sect, all of which were governed by Immortal Realm Peak Lords like his mother.

There were also the Pill Sub Hall, Artifice Sub Hall, and various other specialties that could be found in the Buzhou Immortal Sect and unique training grounds to help temper disciples.

Like this, Tianyi spent the rest of the days enlightening Daoyi and Xi Ri, and soon Mengfei’s immortal boat reached the mountain gate of the Buzhou Immortal Sect. Even Tianyi had to say he was shocked at the sheer number of people that had gathered outside the mountain gates. This was his first time witnessing the event himself, after all.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that there were hundreds of thousands of people, maybe even millions camping outside to wait.

“Welcome back, Jade Peak Lord.”

Tianyi looked up to see a voluptuous woman dressed in pink robes that slightly showed off her cleavage walk in the air and greeted Mengfei, who was on the boat. He recognized the fox-like beauty. She was a Unity Realm Venerable called Elder Jiao or Unity Venerable Jiao. Despite having such provocative attire, there was a sense of pure innocence that harmonized with her appearance.

Xi Mengfei nodded her head in greeting. Venerable Jiao led Xi Ri and the six others to the ground to wait for the Disciple Acceptance Ceremony to start. Mengfei, Tianyi, and Daoyi stayed on the boat and flew to Jade Peak.