Chapter 285: Rapid Growth of Cultivation

. After Ye Xiu killed An Yunshan, he rarely inquired about the subsequent events.

However, despite his indifference, Ye Xiu still heard about the subsequent events, mainly because Ruyan and Ji Yaohua had been helping to pass on information.

An Yunshan's original plan was for Ruyan to impersonate the Emperor of the Song Dynasty and abdicate to him.

To perfectly portray the Emperor of the Song Dynasty, Ruyan diligently memorized the Emperor's every move, every word and demeanor, every hobby, every detail, every gesture, every relationship—she had to reproduce it with perfect fidelity.

It could be said that Ruyan's understanding of the Emperor was even deeper than the Emperor himself.

However, after all her efforts, Ruyan's impersonation of the Emperor was no longer identifiable. With An Yunshan's death, the abdication plan was terminated.

Ruyan then continued to assume the Emperor's identity, unsure of what to do next.

She even approached Ye Xiu specifically to ask if he wanted to take over An Yunshan's position as Emperor.

However, Ye Xiu had no interest in this and flatly refused.

"If the master doesn't want to be emperor, Senior Sister has an idea," Ji Yaohua, acting as the messenger, told Ye Xiu.

"Does Ruyan have an idea? What idea?" Ye Xiu asked curiously.

"Senior Sister thinks being an emperor seems interesting, so she wants to try it out," Ji Yaohua said to Ye Xiu with a strange expression.

A woman becoming emperor had never happened in this world of martial arts. At least, Wu Zetian hadn't even entered the palace yet, so there was no precedent for a woman becoming emperor. So even though Ruyan was disguising herself as an emperor, it still shocked Ji Yaohua.

"Ruyan wants to be emperor? Okay, if she wants to, but isn't she worried about being exposed? A lot of people know she's pretending to be the emperor, right?" Although Ye Xiu was a little surprised, he didn't try to stop her. He thought Ruyan becoming emperor would be quite interesting. However, Ye Xiu did have some concerns about Ruyan's plan.

"Actually, only An Yunshan knew that Senior Sister was impersonating the Emperor. After all, the more people know about this kind of thing, the more likely it is to go wrong. So, An Yunshan never told anyone about having Senior Sister impersonate the Emperor," Ji Yaohua explained. Ye

Xiu nodded. This arrangement made sense. Since no one knew Ruyan was impersonating the Emperor, and no one could expose her, if she wanted to, then so be it.

And so, Ruyan began to reside in the Great Song Imperial Palace, posing as the Emperor.

Ruyan's ability to impersonate the Emperor was not only due to her incredibly powerful disguise skills, making it virtually impossible for outsiders to detect any flaws, but also because An Yunshan had previously killed the Grand Master of Astronomy, who was stationed at the Great Song Imperial Palace.

With this Grand Master in charge, the Great Song Imperial Palace was completely safe, and the Emperor didn't need to worry about any martial arts masters entering the palace to assassinate her.

In reality, all other imperial palaces were like this, each staffed with experts.

However, the Song Dynasty's Grand Master of Astronomy was murdered by An Yunshan, a man with long-held ulterior motives. He bribed eunuchs, guards, and palace maids, and was subsequently poisoned and assassinated, ultimately killing him tragically at his hands.

An Yunshan had gone to great lengths to secure the throne, but in the end, Ruyan benefited.

Ruyan, however, remained in the palace, pretending to be the emperor and even inviting Ye Xiu into the harem.

Ruyan argued that she didn't have the skills anyway, so rather than leaving the harem idle,

she might as well give it to Ye Xiu. Ye Xiu, as a respectable man, felt that since someone needed his help, he couldn't refuse. At most, he could offer a little physical effort to help Ruyan defend the palace, preventing any breaches from being discovered. This, in turn, would stabilize the Song Dynasty and prevent a Mongol invasion. He could truly be said to have saved the lives of millions of people in the Song Dynasty, a truly immeasurable deed.

So just for this merit, Ye Xiu had no choice but to move into the palace.

As for how Ruyan would deal with the officials in the court and how to appease the army, all of this was left to Ruyan to handle on her own.

As for Zhuge Zhengwo, the Divine Marquis—

Ruyan seemed to have completely ignored him. She didn't say anything about reinstating Zhuge Zhengwo's Divine Marquisate, nor did she say that Zhuge Zhengwo would be recaptured after escaping from the Heavenly Prison. She simply pretended that Zhuge Zhengwo didn't exist.

"Uncle, An Yunshan has been dealt with, and it seems that the affairs of the court have been dealt with. Why doesn't the emperor reinstate my official position?" Tie Shou frowned and muttered a little unhappy.

"Okay, Tie Shou, my martial arts have been abolished, and I've become a useless person. The emperor's decision not to let me continue to be a Divine Marquis is also a way of protecting me. You don't need to say anything." Zhuge Zhengwo smiled and waved his hand, but even though he said so, his eyes still revealed a hint of disappointment.

"That's not right. Uncle Shi has done so much for the Emperor. Now that you've become like this, he can't just ignore you, can he?" Tie Shou said unhappily.

"Perhaps the Emperor has his own considerations..."

Wuqing, sitting in a wheelchair, listened to the conversation between Tie Shou and Zhuge Zhengwo, head bowed, face slightly flushed.

Others didn't know the inside story, but she knew that the current Emperor wasn't the original one. The original Emperor had long been killed by An Yunshan. The current Emperor was Ruyan in disguise.

Even to avoid being discovered, Ruyan wouldn't reinstate Zhuge Zhengwo. After all, reinstating him would give him the opportunity to meet the Emperor. Although Ruyan's disguise skills were exceptional, what if Zhuge Zhengwo discovered something?

Furthermore, Zhuge Zhengwo had offended Ruyan's master, Ye Xiu. Ruyan hadn't issued an imperial decree to recapture him, out of respect for Wuqing.

However, Wuqing knew this, but she wouldn't tell Zhuge Zhengwo and the others.

Wuqing felt that the current situation was actually quite good.

First, with the original emperor dead, her great vengeance had been avenged, fulfilling the Sheng family's legacy.

Second, with Ruyan impersonating the emperor, the court would remain in turmoil. Without chaos, the martial arts world would remain in turmoil, and the Mongols would have no chance of invading the Song Dynasty. Therefore, Ruyan's impersonation of the emperor, in a sense, saved countless people of the Song Dynasty.

Finally, if Zhuge Zhengwo discovered Ruyan's identity, given his personality, he would likely oppose her impersonation, which would mean another conflict between Zhuge Zhengwo and Ye Xiu.

Back then, Zhuge Zhengwo still had his martial arts skills, and even using his trump card wouldn't have stopped Ye Xiu.

Now, Zhuge Zhengwo's martial arts skills were completely lost, while Ye Xiu had achieved even greater breakthroughs, becoming a Grandmaster of Celestial Phenomena.

If Zhuge Zhengwo and Ye Xiu clashed, there would be no other outcome except for a slap from Ye Xiu. Therefore, keeping Zhuge Zhengwo from knowing too much was actually a way of saving his life.

In addition, Ruyan pretended to be the emperor. She had never been an emperor, so could she handle state affairs?

How should I put it? The emperors of the Song Dynasty, one by one, were actually not very capable. Although they were not as absurd as the Carpenter Emperor, Taoist Emperor, and General Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, they were essentially even worse than those emperors. In fact,

instead of letting these emperors blindly command the throne of the Song Dynasty, it would be better for the country and the people to put a dog on it.

So even if Ruyan didn't understand many major national affairs, as long as she didn't speak carelessly, she was already quite good.

Therefore, the situation in the court seemed to get better with the passage of time.

Time passed little by little, and the affairs of the court were almost dealt with, and the situation of the army was almost settled. Everything seemed to have returned to the previous state of continuous music and dance.

At this time, the imperial edict once again came to the Shenhou Mansion - no, it was the Zhuge Mansion.

Zhuge Zhengwo's eyes lit up when he read the imperial edict. He thought he would be reinstated. Although he had become an ordinary man without martial arts skills, he felt that after all, he had contributed so much to the court and the court would not forget him. Now that the court's trivial matters were dealt with, wouldn't they issue him an imperial edict, allowing him to be reinstated as a Divine Marquis?

However, when Zhuge Zhengwo heard the contents of the imperial edict, he almost vomited blood.

Because the imperial edict didn't allow Zhuge Zhengwo to be reinstated as a Divine Marquis. Instead, it gave the position of Divine Marquis to Wuqing—

yes, to Wuqing. From the moment the imperial edict appeared, Wuqing was no longer just Wuqing, but the Divine Marquis named Wuqing.

And then, there was nothing else.

"Uncle—" Wuqing couldn't help but look at Zhuge Zhengwo.

"Congratulations, Wuqing," Zhuge Zhengwo said to Wuqing with a smile, suppressing his discomfort.

"I, Uncle, I never thought I'd end up being—"

"I know, I know, Wuqing. Actually, the Emperor's actions aren't entirely unwise. After all, I've become a useless man without any martial arts skills, truly unfit to continue holding the Divine Marquisate. On the contrary, it's a win-win situation for you, Wuqing." Zhuge Zhengwo analyzed seriously.

"Alright." Wuqing nodded gently.

"But Wuqing—" Zhuge Zhengwo addressed Ye Xiu again.

Wuqing looked at Zhuge Zhengwo, trying to gauge what he was going to say.

"Wuqing, regarding the Sheng family and the Emperor—Wuqing, for the sake of the country and the people, I think you should perhaps give up some of your ideas." Zhuge Zhengwo said implicitly, "Even for the sake of the people, I think it's best for you, Wuqing—"

"I understand, Uncle." Wuqing's tone was a little low.

Afterwards, Wuqing, as the new heir, began to make relatively frequent visits to the palace.

...

Ye Xiu closed the diary with anticipation.

This time, Ye Xiu was truly more excited than ever, because the diary's reward had arrived.

Moreover, this time, the reward, due to the check-in time in the diary, became an annual award.

Previously, Ye Xiu's monthly summary only gave him a month's worth of internal energy cultivation, but this time, he received four years' worth.

Now, Ye Xiu's internal energy cultivation in one year was equivalent to ten years' worth. Four years meant the equivalent of forty years' worth of cultivation.

As the cultivation merged within him, Ye Xiu's cultivation began to rapidly increase. In the blink of an eye, he went from being a beginner Celestial Grandmaster to a mid-stage Celestial Realm cultivator, and then continued to rise.

Grandmaster Seventh, Grandmaster Eighth, Grandmaster Nineth, then Grandmaster Nineth Beginner, Grandmaster Nineth Intermediate, Grandmaster Nineth Advanced, and finally, he was on the verge of reaching the peak of the Ninth Grandmaster realm.

However, Ye Xiu still hadn't fully consumed this internal energy; the zhenqi within him continued to circulate rapidly.

Pop—

Ye Xiu had unexpectedly seized the opportunity and ascended to the Celestial Realm.

After achieving this status, Ye Xiu paused, a look of shock on his face. He hadn't expected to reach this level so quickly.

According to his original plan, Ye Xiu would have to continue writing his diary diligently for a while to achieve the breakthrough to become a Celestial Realm. However, this time, the monthly summary reward suddenly became an annual bonus, and the reward was incredibly generous.

Ye Xiu's cultivation began to rapidly increase, and he successfully achieved Celestial Realm status.

Sensing his own cultivation level and gazing at the completely different visual world before him, Ye Xiu was almost at a loss for words to describe what it would be like to reach the Celestial Realm.

The gap between a Grand Master and a Celestial Realm is something that can only be understood, not described.

"Heavenly Realm! Already a Celestial Realm!" Ye Xiu couldn't help but glance in the direction of the Mongols.

Meanwhile, within the Mongols, Pang Ban, stationed at the Magician's Palace, seemed to have telepathy and glanced in Ye Xiu's direction. The two men seemed to be gazing at each other from afar.

Ye Xiu's smile became brighter. In the Heavenly Man Realm, Ye Xiu can now challenge the Mongol Yuan Dynasty magician Pang Ban.

It has only been a short time.

The last time Ye Xiu was with Pang Ban, he sent Jin Bingyun to Ye Xiu's side. As a result, the shadow of Pang Ban began to appear in Ye Xiu's heart, making him suspicious.

In the end, in order to avoid Pang Ban, Ye Xiu traveled thousands of miles to the Great Sui Dynasty.

Now, Ye Xiu finally does not need to avoid Pang Ban like this.

This time, Ye Xiu even wants to return to Huashan and sleep with Pang Ban's woman Jin Bingyun.

Ye Xiu just wants to see what kind of expression Pang Ban will have at that time.