Chapter 1050: Senior Please Be Gentle

Thirty days passed in the blink of an eye, and the Palace Grand Competition in Yujing City was about to begin.

Holding the token given to him by Prince Ning, Li Qing proceeded without hindrance to the foot of the Imperial Palace in Yujing City.

A magnificent vista of ornate towers and palaces unfolded before him. Each structure was crafted from pure glazed tiles and spirit gold, and even the paving stones were made from materials suitable for refining magic artifacts.

"So you are the one Prince Ning recommended. Please, follow me!" Upon seeing the token in Li Qing's hand, the eunuch's expression turned respectful as he led him into the palace.

The moment Li Qing stepped into this territory, he felt the surrounding spiritual energy actively surging into his body—it was so dense it seemed almost unbelievable.

A seventh-rank spirit vein... truly extraordinary.

Cultivating in such a blessed land, it would be difficult not to advance one's cultivation rapidly.

If I could reside and cultivate here long-term, Li Qing marveled inwardly, I could probably shorten the time to reach the mid Void Refinement Realm by another thousand years.

However, if one did not possess the royal bloodline, the only way to reside and cultivate in such a place long-term was to enter the imperial bureaucracy and become part of the Great Yu Dynasty's system.

One would have to start as a local magistrate, accumulating merit before gradually ascending to the imperial court.

Of course, there were other, more crooked paths. For instance, the eunuch leading Li Qing into the palace had simply castrated himself to gain entry.

If one were powerful enough, they could even become an imperial guard.

Some immortal cultivators had once entertained such ideas, willing to castrate themselves and serve the palace nobles just to enjoy the benefits of the seventh-tier spirit vein.

They planned to leave the palace once their cultivation had advanced and then use the Body Severing and Rebirth Technique to regrow what they had lost.

However, all of them had come to regret it. The Great Yu Dynasty's royal family possessed a secret medicine that, once ingested, rendered a person permanently impotent. Even the Body Severing and Rebirth Technique was useless against its effects.

Led by the pale-faced eunuch, Li Qing passed through one lavish palace after another, venturing deep into the heart of the Imperial Palace.

They arrived at a range of continuous peaks. Though still on the outskirts of the seventh-tier spirit vein, the spiritual energy here was noticeably denser.

"Senior, this is your temporary cave abode. Tomorrow is the day of the Grand Competition, and a designated guide will lead you to the Dao Discussion Arena."

"The other cave abodes here belong to other seniors; you must not trespass. Furthermore, the palace has strict rules and many forbidden lands. It is best that you do not wander about on your own."

"Lastly, spell duels are strictly prohibited within the palace. Violators will be thrown into the Cold Prison at the lightest, and at the heaviest, have their cultivation crippled or even be executed!"

Hearing this, Li Qing's heart tightened slightly. He then nodded and said, "I understand. Thank you for informing me!"

After speaking, he took two high-grade spirit stones and pressed them into the eunuch's hand.

Sensing the extraordinary spiritual energy of the two spirit stones, the latter's expression changed slightly as he said, "Senior, I dare not accept such a heavy gift."

But despite his words, the hand clutching the two spirit stones never once relaxed.

"You've worked hard on this journey, Fellow Daoist. Just take them. Additionally, I'm still a bit unclear about the rules within the Imperial Palace. I hope you can explain them to me in detail, lest I inadvertently violate them." Li Qing gave a mysterious smile and then pointed to his cave abode.

Seeing this, the eunuch smiled knowingly and said, "So that's how it is. Then please, Senior, listen as I explain in detail."

As he spoke, the two walked into the cave abode. Once inside, Li Qing casually placed a soundproofing restriction.

The cave abode was somewhat chilly and sparsely furnished, but the floors were crafted from gold and jade, as luxurious as the Imperial Palace.

The fair-skinned, white-faced eunuch began to untie his clothes as he walked, saying in a slightly bashful tone, "Senior is truly a man of passion, far more direct than His Highness the Ninth Prince. However, my cultivation is low, and I am not skilled in body tempering, so I beg Senior to be gentle..."

At this sight, Li Qing's pupils constricted sharply, as if he had just experienced an earthquake.

"Wait... you..."

The amount of information was suddenly overwhelming, and even Li Qing couldn't react in time. What did he mean by "far more direct than His Highness the Ninth Prince"?

He seemed to have just learned something incredibly significant!

"Fellow Daoist, please compose yourself! I didn't call you here to do these... sordid things. I want to ask who is participating in the Grand Competition this time and what their cultivation levels are!" Li Qing's voice abruptly became much more serious.

Hearing this, the eunuch's eyes widened instantly. He hurriedly pulled on his clothes and knelt before Li Qing, kowtowing. "Please, Senior, keep this a secret. This servant will be eternally grateful."

Li Qing rubbed his brow and then waved his hand. "As long as you answer my questions truthfully, I will act as if I heard nothing just now."

Upon hearing this, the eunuch kowtowed in tears of gratitude. "Thank you, Senior! Thank you, Senior!"

"There should be twenty-eight participants in this Palace Grand Competition, including four His Highnesses the Princes, three Her Highnesses the Princesses, eight His Highnesses the Imperial Grandsons, and two His Highnesses the Imperial Great-Grandsons!"

"The rest are either recommended to participate in the Grand Competition by other princes, like Senior, or are descendants of court officials!"

The eunuch was very efficient, immediately revealing all the information Li Qing wanted to know.

Li Qing had originally thought the man would hesitate, but he hadn't expected him to be so forthcoming, without the slightest concern for the crime of slandering the Royal Family.

But then again, what crime could be greater than having an affair with a prince?

Furthermore, these eunuchs reported directly to the Emperor of the Great Yu Kingdom and avoided getting too close to the princes and princesses in private. Doing so would be considered a grave taboo.

"Among them, the two Imperial Grandsons are only in the early Divine Transformation Realm, making them the weakest competitors. Their participation in the Grand Competition is merely to gain experience in spell dueling. However, both are exceptionally talented and may one day be worthy of being enfeoffed as kings."

"The most formidable competitor is undoubtedly Prince Liyang. He is the thirteenth prince in line of succession. In recent years, he has been leading troops on the frontier to quell the demon race's uprisings. His cultivation has already reached the late Void Refinement Realm!"

"Additionally, Prince Qinghe is highly skilled in the Dao of Formations. Although he is only at the Peak of the Divine Transformation Stage, he once used a formation to trap and kill a cultivator in the Void Refinement Realm."

"Then there is Prince Louheng, the fifth-ranked Imperial Grandson. His cultivation has reached the mid Void Refinement Realm, and he too shows the potential to be enfeoffed as a king in the future."

"Aside from the princes, Senior, you should be most wary of the two non-royal cultivators recommended by the other two Princes."

"Prince An and Prince Huai are both determined to obtain the Black Iron Token. Each has recommended a late Void Refinement Realm expert to participate in the Grand Competition."

"The rest are descendants of court officials. The strongest among them is Li Yu, the eldest grandson of the Prime Minister's Manor, who is also at the mid Void Refinement Realm."

The Emperor, having lived for tens of thousands of years, had an incredibly convoluted family tree. Even Li Qing found it a headache to listen to; some imperial grandsons were even older than the princes.

Fortunately, he wasn't a member of the Royal Family and didn't have to navigate the palace's inner workings. He only needed to listen and make a mental note of the rivals worth watching in tomorrow's Palace Grand Competition.