Chapter 13

Chapter 11: Princess Ziyu

Tuo Ba Ye's internal situation was unstable, with the head of the family missing, and the main branch of the family was likely to decline. In such a situation, the imperial family, the Situ clan, still arranged for a princess to be betrothed to Tuo Ba Ye. What was their true intention? Even Tuo Ba Ye could not guess.

Tuo Ba Ye had never shown his true strength, and it was believed that the Situ clan did not know he was a born genius with extraordinary talent. The only explanation for the Situ clan's favor was that the imperial family had another agenda.

"Mother, what's really going on?" Tuo Ba Ye asked.

"I'm not entirely sure, but Empress Yuwen Wen Yi seems reluctant. She only agreed to betroth Situ Yu'er to you because of the Emperor's command. Situ Yu'er is already six years old, with exceptional talent, and has been noticed by a cultivation sect. I don't understand the Emperor's intentions, so I agreed on your behalf," Xia Yuxuan smiled.

Tuo Ba Ye said, "The Emperor must have a plot, and Situ Yu'er is probably not truly betrothed to me. Forget it for now."

Seeing Tuo Ba Ye's troubled expression, Xia Yuxuan laughed, "Xiao Ye, you're so young but so wise. How do you know everything?"

Tuo Ba Ye was speechless, "Mother, I'm going to practice."

He bounced away quickly.

Xia Yuxuan watched Tuo Ba Ye bounce away and laughed again, "He still looks like a child. Xiao Ye, you've suffered so much at such a young age, having to bear such a heavy responsibility."

The capital, where the winds of change were blowing.

Following the imperial family, the Du family also began to take action.

The upper echelons of the Du family contacted Tuo Ba Wei, clearly stating their willingness to help him secure the position of head of the family.

Tuo Ba Wei had always wanted to become the head of the Tuo Ba family, which was well-known.

The Du family's offer was a perfect match for his ambitions.

Tuo Ba Wei pretended to cooperate with the Du family and learned many secrets.

Although the Tuo Ba family had always been in charge of military affairs, and the Du family handled political matters, the Du family had still managed to place many people in the military, with the highest-ranking one becoming a general in charge of ten thousand troops.

The Du family's intention was clear: to support Tuo Ba Wei's forces in the southern border to eliminate Tuo Ba Jie, thus allowing Tuo Ba Wei to become the head of the family smoothly.

Tuo Ba Wei's plot against his family members was used by the Du family as leverage, forcing him to obey them in the future.

Their plan was well thought out.

If Tuo Ba Wei had not reconciled with Tuo Ba Ye and did not know his true strength, he would have definitely agreed to the Du family's offer due to his great ambition.

Tuo Ba Wei informed Tuo Ba Ye, who broke out in a cold sweat. It was fortunate that they had reconciled, stabilizing the Tuo Ba family. Otherwise, Tuo Ba Jie would have been in grave danger in the southern border.

However, Tuo Ba Ye suspected that Tuo Ba Xiong's disappearance was related to other families, but he had not uncovered any leads.

Tuo Ba Wei had probed, but the Du family's upper echelons were tight-lipped, and he could not ask too much to avoid arousing suspicion.

Through Tuo Ba Wei, they identified the strong individuals hidden in the military by the Du family, but they did not alarm them.

The Qian family and the Yuwen family had not yet made a move, but they would surely act soon. It was better to wait for them to act and then strike together.

If they acted too early against the Du family, it might alert the Qian family and the Yuwen family, making their actions more secretive and detrimental to the Tuo Ba family.

Tuo Ba Wei played a delaying game with the Du family, not actively cooperating, making it difficult for the Du family's plans to be implemented.

Tuo Ba Ye, on the other hand, did not involve himself in these matters. He focused on his cultivation and the training of Zhan Meng and the Eight Dragon Guards.

His cultivation speed was fast, but most of the absorbed elemental energy was absorbed by the divine root and the divine punishment jade talisman, leaving him with very little. The later he progressed, the slower his cultivation speed became, and it would only get slower in the future.

In the future, his cultivation speed might even be slower than that of ordinary cultivators, especially after entering the initial stages of cultivation, where progress would be very slow.

Of course, the energy was not wasted. If the divine root and the divine punishment jade talisman could recover, the benefits would be immense.

Taking advantage of this rapid improvement stage, Tuo Ba Ye worked hard to cultivate, striving for greater strength.

He was too young to act, so he focused on training the Eight Dragon Guards and Zhan Meng to rely on their strength to protect the Tuo Ba family.

The Eight Dragon Guards' strength improved rapidly, and Tuo Ba Ye began teaching them martial techniques.

After careful selection, he chose a set of saber techniques called the War Dragon Overlord Saber to teach them.

The Eight Dragon Guards would protect the Tuo Ba family and even participate in wars, so saber techniques were the most suitable for them.

The War Dragon Overlord Saber was extremely powerful, especially suitable for group battles.

To help the Eight Dragon Guards practice the War Dragon Overlord Saber, Tuo Ba Ye selected a batch of sabers from the Tuo Ba family's armory, all of which were excellent.

Tuo Ba Xiong loved collecting weapons, and his collection of sabers was naturally excellent. If Tuo Ba Xiong were still around, he might not have been willing to part with them.

Tuo Ba Ye did not care and took Tuo Ba Xiong's collection, giving it to the Eight Dragon Guards.

With these excellent sabers in hand, the Eight Dragon Guards were invigorated and practiced even harder.

The War Dragon Overlord Saber was indeed very suitable for them. They had participated in many wars and had decent martial techniques, but compared to the War Dragon Overlord Saber, they were far inferior.

The War Dragon Overlord Saber was carefully selected from the martial arts manuals Tuo Ba Ye had collected in his previous life and was among the best in the Divine Martial Continent.

The entire Warring States might not have such exquisite martial techniques.

In Tuo Ba Ye's eyes, martial arts were divided into many grades: non-grade, grade, low-grade, middle-grade, high-grade, and supreme-grade.

The strongest martial arts of the Tuo Ba family barely reached the middle-grade. The War Dragon Overlord Saber was a supreme-grade martial art, far superior to ordinary martial arts.

As for supreme-grade martial arts, Tuo Ba Ye only mastered a few, including the Overlord Divine Fist.

Techniques like the Nine Transformations of Gods and Demons, the Divine Talisman Way, and the Talisman Way could not be described as martial arts but were more like divine techniques or divine methods.

Zhan Meng followed Tuo Ba Ye in practicing the Overlord Divine Fist and the Overlord Divine Body, focusing mainly on enhancing physical strength.

The Overlord Divine Body, like the Nine Transformations of Gods and Demons, was specifically for enhancing physical strength. In the Galaxy World, it was a well-known and excellent method for physical cultivation, though it could not compare to the Nine Transformations of Gods and Demons.

The reason Tuo Ba Ye did not teach Zhan Meng the Nine Transformations of Gods and Demons was not out of stinginess but because Zhan Meng could not practice it, as he was not a born genius with extraordinary talent.

Zhan Meng was a genius of the War Clan, with naturally strong physical strength. Now, focusing on the Overlord Divine Body to enhance his physical strength would bring him immense benefits.

Tuo Ba Ye did not teach him any qi cultivation methods because he did not have many good ones. In his previous life, due to the lack of a spiritual root, he had to focus on physical strength, so he collected many physical cultivation methods.

Teaching Zhan Meng a random qi cultivation method would not help but harm him.

One day, Zhan Meng might meet a good teacher and then practice qi cultivation, which would be better for him.

Focusing on physical strength and martial techniques now would make it easier for him to progress, and his strength would improve faster.

Moreover, strong physical strength would bring many benefits in the future.

In the cultivation world, there was a saying: "Cultivating qi is easy, but forging the body is difficult."

If Zhan Meng could successfully forge his body, cultivating qi would be easy, and he would make rapid progress.

Cultivating both physical strength and qi was the strongest and most correct path.

This was not a secret, but many cultivators had limited talent and time, so they could only specialize in one area. Cultivating both would lead to failure. Forging the body was extremely difficult and progressed slowly, so few cultivators chose this path. Usually, only those without talent for qi cultivation would choose to forge their bodies. However, if successful, the combat power of those who forged their bodies was very strong, surpassing those of the same level who cultivated qi.

Zhan Meng was different. He had the talent for forging his body, and with an excellent golden attribute constitution, his qi cultivation speed would also be fast, allowing him to cultivate both. He was expected to achieve great success in the future.

After teaching Zhan Meng and the others, Tuo Ba Ye naturally did not forget Xia Yuxuan.

He found a martial art suitable for women called the Jade Maiden Profound Canon, which recorded cultivation methods, body techniques, sword techniques, and fist techniques. This secret manual was definitely a supreme-grade martial art.

However, the Jade Maiden Profound Canon was only suitable for women and could not be practiced by the Eight Dragon Guards.

Xia Yuxuan was influenced by Tuo Ba Ye and the others and had recently started practicing whenever she had free time, showing great interest.

"Xiao Ye, I want to buy some talented female slaves and teach them the martial arts from the Jade Maiden Profound Canon. Is that okay?" Xia Yuxuan suddenly had this idea.

"Of course, no problem," Tuo Ba Ye highly agreed. He had previously overlooked buying female slaves.

As a woman, Xia Yuxuan should have female slaves for protection, which would be more convenient.

Moreover, women were less likely to attract attention and might serve an unexpected purpose.

"Xiao Ye, will you accompany me to select the female slaves?" Xia Yuxuan was eager.

That afternoon, the sun was bright.

Tuo Ba Ye took Zhan Meng, Long Yi, and Long Er to accompany Xia Yuxuan to the capital's slave market to select slaves.

Tu'er Ye also went, sleeping in Tuo Ba Ye's arms.

Tu'er Ye was mysterious, always eating and sleeping, eating a lot, and only meat, more than the Eight Dragon Guards combined.

Tuo Ba Ye asked him several times, "Tu'er Ye, what kind of demon beast are you?"

"I'm just an ordinary rabbit," Tu'er Ye said.

"Tu'er Ye, rabbits eat grass," Tuo Ba Ye laughed.

"I'm not an ordinary rabbit!"

"But you just said you were an ordinary rabbit."

"Slip of the tongue! Can't I make a slip of the tongue?"

After asking several times without results, Tuo Ba Ye gave up.

They quickly arrived at the capital's slave market and found the same boss.

"Little Master, Madam, it's a great honor to see you again."

"Boss, let's skip the formalities. We're here to select some female slaves. We hope you can help us," Xia Yuxuan said. "Same as before, let's start with young girls, then select some high-quality innate martial artists."

"No problem!" The boss was delighted.

"Boss, are you there? Princess Ziyu has arrived, why aren't you coming out to greet her!" At that moment, a proud voice came from outside.