Volume 4 Epilogue 1

A man dodged back just as two long spears fell toward him.

The cultivators pressed on immediately, swinging their weapons in curved arcs from both sides. The spearheads cut through the air with sharp whistles, but the man held his stance and caught both shafts with his bare hands.

Before they could pull away, he tugged.

Both cultivators were dragged toward him at once, but they reacted quickly. They let go of their spears and jumped forward instead, striking his shoulders with their palms and knees. The force pushed him back half a step, yet from his expression, it might as well have been nothing.

He only smiled and gestured for them to come again.

The two cultivators pulled new spears from their spatial rings and rushed forward once more.

The ring of enchanted steel against flesh echoed through the garden as the man defended himself. He did not avoid every strike. In fact, most of the time, he simply took them head-on, letting the spears land against his arms, chest, shoulders, and back.

Hours passed like that.

Midway through the session, three more cultivators joined in. Two carried swords, while the last one used a heavy club. Together, they surrounded the man and attacked from every direction, changing rhythm whenever one of them slowed. Spears thrust in from the front. Swords cut at his sides and the club came down with enough force to crack stone beneath his feet.

Thousands of strikes landed on him.

Not one left a bruise.

There was not even a single cut on his skin.

The man didn’t look exhausted either. His breathing stayed calm, his posture steady, while the cultivators were barely holding on with the help of pills. Sweat soaked through their robes, and their arms trembled every time they raised their weapons again.

They could not understand it.

How could all of them be this helpless against one man?

It was not as if they were weak. Every one of them had reached the foundation establishment realm, and all of them had touched its peak at least half a decade ago. In most places, they would be respected cultivators, powerful enough to become elders, guards, or leaders of smaller forces.

Yet here, they were like children striking a mountain with sticks.

The frustration was there. Of course it was.

But none of them showed it openly, and none of them complained. In truth, they had already accepted the difference between them and the man standing in front of them.

After all, he was not someone normal.

He was Prince Xuan, the eldest son of Emperor Xian and the man who would one day govern the entire empire.

It was a heavy responsibility, one that would have crushed many people under its pressure, but everyone around him knew Prince Xuan looked forward to it. He had trained his body for years with that future in mind, pushing himself until he became strong enough that few people in the empire would dare stand against him.

Even now, he stood close to seven feet tall, taller than most cultivators could ever hope to become. His body was packed with muscle, the kind of strength he had possessed even before reaching the qi refinement realm. Cultivation had only sharpened what was already there, turning him into something that felt less like a prince and more like a weapon raised inside the imperial palace.

To maintain that strength, he trained almost every moment he could spare.

He slept only once a week. Yet he never looked like a man who needed rest.

At times, the cultivators serving him wondered if he was truly human. None of them could say for sure, and none of them were foolish enough to ask. What they did know was that he was relentless. Once training began, he did not allow any of them to take breaks unless he decided the session was over.

So they continued.

Salvation only arrived when a servant entered the private training grounds and bowed deeply toward the prince.

“Your Highness, Prince Yuelan has graced your estate with his presence,” the servant said. “He wishes to see you. He is waiting in the main meeting room right now.”

As soon as the servant finished speaking, Prince Xuan paused. He took in a slow breath before looking at the five cultivators in front of him.

“Training ends here,” he said. “Good work.”

At once, all five cultivators dropped to the ground. It was partly to kneel and partly because their legs could no longer hold them properly. Their chests rose and fell heavily as they tried to catch their breath, but Prince Xuan paid them no more attention.

He followed the servant out of the training grounds.

The estate he lived in was attached to the imperial household, but it was still one of the largest residences in the empire. Courtyards, gardens, training fields, guest halls, armouries, servant quarters, and private pavilions spread across the land in every direction. Walking would take too long, so both prince and servant stepped onto flying swords to move quickly through the estate.

Prince Xuan could have simply run.

It would have been faster, but he also would have destroyed parts of the estate, and that was something he would rather avoid. So he flew quickly instead, moving through the hallways, over the stairs, and across the gardens until he finally reached the main meeting room.

The servant hurried ahead and opened the door.

Prince Xuan stepped inside.

His younger brother was waiting there with tense shoulders. As soon as Prince Yuelan saw him, he stood and bowed immediately.

“Brother,” Yuelan said, “I have been wanting to see you for months.”

Prince Xuan did not answer at once.

He only huffed softly and looked around the room. There was no one else inside.

That told him enough. Yuelan knew what was about to happen here, and he did not want anyone else to see it. It was a decent enough ploy to save face, and if he was trying to save face, then it meant he had already lost quite a lot of it.

Prince Xuan almost frowned.

Instead, he walked to the main seat and sat down.

“I have been waiting to see you too,” he said. “Especially because you should have come here long ago.”

Yuelan’s expression tightened.

Prince Xuan leaned back slightly. “You couldn’t even make it to the sixth floor of the pagoda and simply bought your way out. Is that right?”

Yuelan flinched, and did not dare sit down. “There were circumstances,” he said.

“There are always circumstances,” Prince Xuan replied. “I will decide whether they were adequate enough for you to fail in your task, especially when the Guardian sects are still inside.”

Yuelan swallowed, but he didn’t lower his head further.

“But they are not doing well,” he said. “Trust me on that. And there is a reason I was late.”

“And what is that reason?” Prince Xuan asked.

Yuelan answered immediately. “The reason is… Although I failed to climb far inside the pagoda, I remained near it and kept my eyes outside. When some people inevitably gave up and came out, I was able to gather a lot of information about what was happening inside. Apparently, there's a new lord of the pagoda called Eternal and he's going to change things inside.”

Prince Xuan said nothing, so Yuelan continued.

“Also, a large part of why our plan was ruined is because of our dear sister, Yanyue.”

Prince Xuan’s expression did not change much. “She was always bothersome, but she is not strong enough to harm you. Father may have given her guards of her own, but they are all trash.”

“They are, Brother,” Yuelan said. “But she has gained new subordinates. Or maybe she finally sold her body to get a very resourceful man to help her.”

Prince Xuan tilted his head slightly.

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That did not make sense.

There should not have been anyone like that inside the pagoda. The Guardian sects would definitely not help Yanyue beyond a temporary alliance, since they had their own goals. As for the noble clans, they were already divided between different support groups. Their younger sister barely had any support worth mentioning.

Prince Xuan liked to keep track of every piece of useful information in the empire. That was why Yuelan’s words sounded strange to him. In the end, he asked, “Who is this man?”

“His name is Chen Ren,” Yuelan said.

Chen… Ren…? Prince Xuan searched his memory and found nothing.

“I have never heard of him.”

“He is a nobody,” Yuelan said.

“A nobody?” Prince Xuan’s eyes hardened slightly. “You would not be standing here telling me about him if he were a nobody.”

Yuelan staggered back slightly at the qi in his brother’s voice.

He caught himself quickly, but the reaction had already happened. His face tightened with shame for a moment before he sighed.

“Even if I hate to admit it,” Yuelan said, “he is good. Weak, but good.”

Prince Xuan’s gaze stayed on him. “Then tell me what he is good at.”

Yuelan nodded.

For the next half an hour, he spoke about everything he had gathered from the pagoda. He talked about how their sister had managed to perform better than expected, how she had survived floors that should have slowed her down, and what the latest rumours said about her after she came out.

But more than Yanyue, he spoke about Chen Ren.

Apparently, the man had become something of a celebrity inside the pagoda. He was someone even the Guardian sects were wary of, despite having no real reputation outside. He had started a shop called the Divine Coin Pavilion, earned a huge amount of money, and remained inside the pagoda while many others had already left.

The latest information said Chen Ren had dropped in the rankings there, but that had not weakened his reputation much. He was still known as the richest cultivator in the pagoda, the man who had somehow managed to stand against the Guardian sects, and there were even rumours that he had connections with city lords who were considered peak existences inside the pagoda.

That made Prince Xuan very curious.

There was no mention of Chen Ren anywhere in his memory. He was no member of a noble clan. No Guardian sect disciple. No rising genius from a known family. According to Yuelan, he was not even at the peak of the foundation establishment realm, and that made his achievements even more striking.

Who was he? Had some powerful cultivator raised a bastard child without him noticing?

Prince Xuan did not like that possibility. He kept careful track of the empire’s promising talents, especially those who might one day affect imperial politics. A man who could enter the pagoda with no name and become important enough to trouble Yuelan should not have been completely invisible.

As Prince Xuan thought that, Yuelan finished his explanation.

“Anyway,” Yuelan said, “our sister is still around the pagoda even though she came out of it. But Chen Ren is still inside.”

Then Yuelan added, “I also spoke to more nobles who came out recently. They all talked about this Lord Eternal, but I don't know much about him.”

Prince Xuan nodded. “Is there nothing more?”

“No, Senior Brother,” Yuelan said. “That is all there is for now. No one knows what changes this Eternal is going to make. But the Guardian sects still have not reached anywhere near the top floors, so I am sure some of them will return from the pagoda soon.”

“Probably,” Prince Xuan said. “Unlike you, they must have gained enough from the pagoda to make the trip worthwhile.”

Yuelan shivered at that.

The way his eyes moved toward the door made it clear what he was thinking. He expected punishment. Honestly, he might have received it on any other day, but Prince Xuan had too much information to process right now.

The Pagoda of Eternity had always been important.

Prince Xuan had known from the beginning that it would be a good way to learn more about ancient cultivators and whatever secrets they had left behind. The only reason he had not gone himself was because he was no longer in the foundation establishment realm. Even if he could suppress himself, entering such a place carried too many risks and too many political complications.

There was also the matter of time.

Things had been too hectic for him to abandon his duties for months over the pagoda, so he had sent Yuelan instead. His younger brother was useless in many areas, but he knew how to use people, and he had enough support to make progress if he acted carefully.

Yet he had failed miserably.

At the very least, he had managed to gather useful information after leaving. The details about Yanyue, Chen Ren, the Guardian sects, and this Lord Eternal were worth more than another beating. For now, that was enough.

In the end, Yuelan himself was not important.

What mattered most was what was going on inside the pagoda.

His sister had suddenly found someone capable enough to leave even the Guardian sects behind. A man like that must have benefited greatly from the Pagoda of Eternity, perhaps more than anyone else inside. If Chen Ren had truly entered with no background and still managed to gain that much influence, then there was either a secret behind him or the pagoda had given him something extraordinary.

In Prince Xuan’s opinion, geniuses who appeared out of nowhere were extremely rare.

A true genius did not stay hidden forever. First, they made a name for themselves in a small clan, village, or town. From there, they would move to larger cities, stronger factions, and higher stages where their abilities could be tested properly. It was a step-by-step process, and that process was necessary to sharpen a cultivator.

That was also why the capital rarely produced the kind of geniuses that shook the empire.

There were too many exceptional cultivators here. Too many powerful families, too many resources, too many young masters raised with rare pills and famous teachers. Talent that might have looked dazzling in a small town could be buried in the capital before it ever had the chance to shine.

Most true geniuses came from other parts of the empire.

But even then, they left traces behind.

Someone would mention them. A local clan would boast about them. A sect elder would try to recruit them. The Guardian sects would eventually hear their name and send someone to investigate. That was how talent moved through the empire.

Chen Ren was not like that.

He had appeared inside the pagoda as if from nowhere.

Maybe if Prince Xuan looked carefully enough, he would find something. There should be some trace of him outside. Anything that explained how someone unknown had suddenly become important enough to trouble the Guardian sects.

Even with his sister's support, he shouldn't have been able to do so much. His sister was not special in his eyes.

She was troublesome, yes, but not powerful enough to create this kind of result. That meant Chen Ren himself was the variable. Prince Xuan wanted to know what type of person he was. Whether he was useful enough to take in, or annoying enough to destroy before he became a larger problem.

Even a single variable could change the direction of the empire if left alone for too long.

Hence, Prince Xuan looked at Yuelan after a while. “Get me information on Chen Ren,” he said. “Every bit of it outside the pagoda. I want to know exactly where he came from.”

***

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