Chapter 4

Xianyang City.

In the central area adjacent to the Xianyang Palace, there is another grand mansion.

The Chancellor of the State of Qin, Lu Buwei, the most accomplished scholar of the contemporary Zajia school, sat solemnly in the main hall of the mansion.

"Wei Yang, tell me about the process of welcoming the Crown Prince back."

Lu Buwei wore a silver-gray robe. His frame was large, but he was not bulky, tall and slender, sitting with great presence, immovable like a mountain.

An elderly man knelt on the seat below him.

This old man was the one who had infiltrated Handan to bring Zhao Huizhong back. His name was Wei Yang, a guest of Lu Buwei, highly favored.

After Lu Buwei finished speaking, Wei Yang presented a bamboo scroll: "Sir, you have been away from Xianyang for several days. To avoid any omissions, I have already recorded the process of welcoming the Crown Prince back. Please review it, Sir."

Lu Buwei took the scroll, lowered his head to read it, his face calm and composed, showing no emotion.

He read very quickly, scanning through it once and then raised his head: "The Crown Prince, without any cultivation, could see through the problem with the female ghost?"

His voice was deep and pleasant.

"Indeed, the Crown Prince is calm and composed, broad-minded yet decisive. Even as a hostage in the State of Zhao, he could maintain such a mindset, which is truly remarkable. Given time, he will be a great fortune for our Great Qin.

However..."

Wei Yang continued under Lu Buwei's gaze: "However, the Crown Prince, having been a hostage in Zhao for several years, has a deficiency in his innate essence, making it difficult for him to achieve great success in cultivation."

Lu Buwei still maintained his calm demeanor and slowly said: "Are you sure?"

"On the way back, I personally examined the Crown Prince's constitution and found that the hidden problems in his body are hard to resolve."

Wei Yang stopped there and fell silent.

With Lu Buwei's intelligence and insight, he would naturally see through other matters.

Lu Buwei glanced at the bamboo scroll one last time: "It seems my expectations were too high..." and threw the scroll aside.

He stood up from his seat: "Send the information we know to Lady Xiuli."

"Understood," Wei Yang replied.

——

"According to the message sent by Chancellor Lu, the son of the King and Queen Zhao, while a hostage in Zhao, had his foundation damaged?"

Inside the Qinyang Hall of the Xianyang Palace, a calm voice echoed.

The owner of the voice was a graceful woman sitting on a mat.

This woman had beautiful features, skin as white as jade, and especially long legs that were not fully concealed even by the multiple layers of her palace gown.

Her long hair was tied into a high bun at the back of her head, resembling hanging clouds when viewed from the sides. She wore a black outer robe and a light yellow inner shirt, exuding a dignified yet gentle and alluring demeanor.

This was another favorite concubine of King Zhuangxiang, and the mother of his second son, Chengjiao—Lady Xiuli.

Two close female attendants stood on either side of her.

One of them replied: "The message indeed says that."

Lady Xiuli pursed her lips and smiled slightly, saying calmly: "Even if the son of Queen Zhao was not harmed by the Zhao people, his years as a hostage have been a waste of time, and his character and talent are far inferior to those of Jiao."

The female attendant bowed slightly and agreed: "Now that the son of Queen Zhao is injured, he is even further behind Prince Jiao."

Lady Xiuli nodded lightly and finally laughed out loud.

...

King Zhuangxiang pointed ahead: "Look at that stone wall."

Directly in front, on both sides of the stone wall, were the spirit tablets of the deceased ancestors of the State of Qin. In the center stood a massive stone pillar.

Its color was light green, with an ancient and vast aura, rising up in sections as if it could reach the heavens.

At a glance, the entire surface of the stone pillar was engraved with countless seal script characters and intricate patterns of rare birds and beasts, carrying unknown content.

"Our clan has gained much from this stone wall and pillar, including the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, cultivation techniques, and agricultural methods. More than half of these come from the records on this stone pillar," King Zhuangxiang said.

"Huizhong, the stone hall you see is called the Ancestral Temple, but it is actually an ancient divine object.

From the Battle of Zhuolu, where the Emperor and Chiyou clashed, they were fighting over these remnants of the stone hall. It is said that the core content on these remnants contains the secret of immortality, allowing one to ascend to the immortal realm and transcend life and death.

This stone hall is heavily guarded, and only the current rulers of Qin and the crown prince are allowed to enter.

After you leave, you must not reveal the details inside to even your mother."

Zhao Huizhong was surprised: "Transcend life and death?"

King Zhuangxiang: "Yes, it is said that when the stone pillar was intact, it connected to the abode of the immortals. In ancient times, the stone pillar was a ritual object used for sacrifices, and offerings to it could elicit a response from the immortals.

Unfortunately, the stone pillar is broken, and our Great Qin only has its base. Using it for sacrifices, the legend of communicating with the immortals can no longer be realized."

King Zhuangxiang continued: "The other remnants of this stone hall are scattered among the six states.

The six states and our Great Qin rose to power based on these remnants, dividing the world."

Zhao Huizhong's heart stirred: Could the reason this world is different from what he knows be due to these remnants of the stone wall, guiding the world in a different direction from the Earth of the future?

King Zhuangxiang: "Some of the content on the stone pillar has already been mastered by our ancestors.

Some of our ancestors cultivated according to its methods and nearly reached the realm of transcendence, almost becoming immortals or demons."

He then took out a jade-like, crystal-clear bamboo scroll from his robe:

"This scroll records the engraved content of the Immortal Platform chapter. I will explain it to you in detail, and you can refer to the original text on the stone wall to gain a preliminary understanding of cultivation."

Zhao Huizhong felt inexplicably excited.

In this world of supernatural forces, only by mastering true power can one survive better!

He immediately focused his mind and listened attentively as King Zhuangxiang pointed to the scroll and explained it word by word.

He had already been arranged a teacher by King Zhuangxiang upon his return to Xianyang, with a full schedule of lessons to catch up on various knowledge areas.

Combined with the memories inherited from his predecessor, although it was his first time encountering cultivation content, he was not completely unfamiliar and could naturally follow the instructions in the scroll to begin his cultivation.

"The initial part of the Immortal Platform chapter is not dangerous for our Qin clan. You can practice it with peace of mind."

Zhao Huizhong was so engrossed in the content of the scroll that he did not even notice when King Zhuangxiang finished speaking and left the stone hall.

As he sat on the mat and began to meditate according to the content of the Immortal Platform chapter, imagining himself merging with the void and communicating with nature, a sudden change occurred within his body.

A strange sound arose from the void around him, as if the space was cracking. On a level invisible to the naked eye, a substance contained in the void began to collapse and flow into Zhao Huizhong's body.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

With each breath, he could draw a large amount of void substance into his body, merging with it.

The breath entering through his mouth, nose, and every pore gathered in his chest and abdomen, like rivers converging into the sea, then flowed down to his lower abdomen, turned to the coccyx, and rushed up to the back of his head, then descended from the forehead back to the chest and abdomen, completing a small cycle within his body.

However, the speed of Zhao Huizhong's internal circulation was much faster than that of ordinary people.

The breath gathered in his body gradually divided, extending like tentacles to various parts of his body, like a vast ocean continuously generating new tributaries, exploring every corner of his body.

Suddenly, hundreds of tributaries converged in his lower abdomen, then lay dormant, accumulating more and more, like a spring settling in, gushing out an inexhaustible supply of 'energy' to nourish his entire body.

Zhao Huizhong opened his eyes and could clearly sense the changes within his body, feeling somewhat puzzled:

"Father said that forming a spirit spring within the body through cultivation takes at least half a year. I've only been practicing for a short while, maybe an hour?

This speed..."

Zhao Huizhong clicked his teeth, his heart stirring as he tried to sense the presence within his body.

He immediately discovered that it was moving with the breath within his body, currently residing in the newly formed spirit spring in his lower abdomen.

"Is my cultivation speed related to its enhancement? When it resides in the dantian, it can increase the quality and frequency of absorbing the essence of heaven and earth."

Zhao Huizhong thought for a moment, then looked at the second layer content of the Immortal Platform chapter recorded in the bamboo scroll.

He then closed his eyes again and continued his cultivation.