Chapter 92: Chen Yuruo, Past and Present Intertwine

The day before the Grand Parade, Lu Shishui made his decision and went to the mansion of the Director of the Department of Appointments alone.

When he returned that evening, his expression was unusually calm.

Lu Hai only needed to look at him once to understand why.

"You agreed?"

Lu Shishui nodded, "Yes."

Lu Hai didn’t say anything for a moment before finally speaking with a sigh.

"Congratulations on climbing up the official ladder then, son."

Lu Shishui smiled bitterly.

"There isn’t anything to congratulate yet, father."

"There will be." Lu Hai patted his son’s shoulder, encouraging him.

"You’ve already walked through the hardest part."

Lu Shishui lowered his head at these words.

The decision itself had been difficult, but once he made it, everything else became much simpler. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

He would marry again, accept the new family, and do his best to fulfill the responsibilities that came with it.

As for the future... no one could be sure about that.

Lu Yang learned about his decision that evening.

His reaction was exactly the same as before.

"Congratulations, father."

He wasn’t particularly excited, nor was he opposed.

To him, it was simply another change in his fourth life.

Since his father had made his choice, then there was no reason for him to interfere.

...

The following day, the Grand Parade finally arrived.

The Imperial Capital was more lively than it had been in months, even more so than on the day when the Imperial Examination results were announced.

The streets surrounding the Imperial Palace had been cleared while countless citizens gathered along the roads.

Officials stood in orderly rows, merchants closed their businesses for the day, and even Spirit Awakening cultivators who normally paid little attention to the affairs of ordinary mortals came to watch.

After all, the Grand Parade of the newly appointed Jinshi was an important event.

The top scholar was naturally the center of attention.

When he finally appeared, a wave of exclamations spread through the surrounding crowd.

He was riding a pure, snow white horse.

It wasn’t an ordinary horse or a Body Tempering Realm mutated beast with Demon Beast bloodline, but a true Demon Beast.

Known as the Frost White Steed, the creature was more than four meters long, its entire body covered in snowy white fur that appeared almost impossibly soft.

Its four hooves stepped steadily against the ground. Every movement was graceful, yet beneath that elegance was an enormous amount of power.

The Frost White Steed was a Spirit Awakening Realm Demon Beast.

Only creatures that had reached the Spirit Awakening Realm could truly be called Demon Beasts.

Before that, they were merely ordinary mortal animals or mutated beasts with varying degrees of intelligence and bloodline potential.

But after entering the Spirit Awakening Realm, their intelligence would rise sharply and they would give birth to spirituality.

Most Spirit Awakening Demon Beasts possessed intelligence comparable to that of a human child around three or four years old.

They could understand commands, recognize people, and even communicate through simple gestures or Blood Qi fluctuations.

The Frost White Steed was one of the fastest Spirit Awakening Demon Beasts in the entire dynasty, cultivated only by the Great Qian Imperial Court.

When galloping, it could maintain a full speed of more than two hundred miles per hour for as long as twelve hours, and even more depending on its specific cultivation base.

It was undoubtedly one of the fastest methods of land transportation in Great Qian.

Even Lu Yang couldn’t help but look at it for a few moments.

In his modern life’s terms, this thing was essentially a luxury sports car.

Except that the sports car could recognize its owner, protect itself, and if necessary, kill ordinary Body Tempering cultivators with a single kick.

A Spirit Awakening Realm Demon Beast was still a Spirit Awakening Realm being, regardless of whether it was used for transportation.

Behind the top scholar came the second and third ranked scholars.

They were also riding decorated horses with Demon Beast bloodlines. However, their mounts had only reached the Body Tempering Realm.

Compared to the Frost White Steed, there was an obvious difference, but they were still extraordinary creatures in the eyes of ordinary people.

The crowd cheered while most of the scholars maintained calm expressions.

However, from their subtle facial expressions, it could be seen that many of them were also far from calm.

It wasn’t strange, as for most of them, this was probably one of the greatest moments of their lives.

Lu Yang watched quietly from the roadside, his gaze finally landing on his father.

Lu Shishui was walking around the middle of the procession together with the other newly appointed Jinshi, his clothes neat and his expression calm.

He didn’t stand at the front and wasn’t among the most dazzling figures, but he had made it and finally become an official of Great Qian.

Lu Yang looked at him for a moment, a faint smile appearing on his face.

"Father."

His voice was so quiet that no one around him heard it, but Lu Shishui happened to turn his head at that moment.

Their gazes met for an instant as Lu Shishui nodded with a smile.

...

A few days after the Grand Parade, the marriage was officially finalized.

The Lu Family was now connected to the family of the Director of the Department of Appointments.

It wasn’t a particularly large wedding, at least not when compared to the marriages between major aristocratic clans, but it was still quite lively.

Before the wedding, Lu Shishui gradually learned more about his future wife’s family.

The Director of the Department of Appointments only had three daughters and no sons.

His eldest daughter was married to the young master of a prominent Spirit Awakening Realm clan in a distant province, his second daughter was married to a young lieutenant in the military, and now, his youngest daughter was going to marry Lu Shishui.

Lu Yang’s expression was somewhat strange when he heard this.

He looked at his father and thought about it carefully.

Literature, military, and cultivation, the Director’s three daughters had each married into three different circles.

Was this fellow trying to control the entire Great Qian Dynasty?

Of course, that was an exaggeration.

Still, it was a very good strategy.

Powerful families often did similar things.

They didn’t necessarily need every descendant to remain in the same place, instead spreading their children throughout different factions.

One might marry into another noble family, one might become a disciple of a major sect, one might join the military, and one might become a civil official.

Over time, these relationships formed an enormous invisible network.

One family might not appear particularly powerful, but when something happened, countless people would stand behind them.

The Lu Family from Lu Yang’s past life was the same.

Unfortunately, their enemy had the indirect backing of a Spiritual Platform Realm powerhouse, which automatically rendered all connections meaningless.

Ultimately, it all came down to who was stronger in a cultivation world.

Lu Shishui could learn all of this because he was now considered one of the Director’s own people.

After the marriage was settled, there was naturally no need for the Director to hide such things from his son-in-law.

The wedding was held roughly a month later, and that was also when Lu Yang met his stepmother for the first time.

Her name was Chen Yuruo, and at first glance, she appeared to be in her early twenties, naturally a few years younger than her actual age due to being a cultivator.

Her face was beautiful without being excessively delicate, her eyes were clear, and her posture was graceful.

There was an air of composure around her that made it obvious she had grown up in an influential family.

Her cultivation was at the Fifth Stage of Body Tempering Realm.

For a woman of her age, it wasn’t particularly extraordinary among the powerful families of the Imperial Capital, but it was certainly not weak either.

At the same time, being only slightly younger than Lu Shishui, the two of them standing together...

Lu Yang had to admit, they looked quite good.

His father had never been particularly handsome in his own opinion, but Lu Shishui had a calm and scholarly appearance, possibly described as handsome to some people.

Combined with Chen Yuruo’s beauty and composure, the pair looked rather harmonious.

Lu Yang stepped forward.

"Greetings, mother."

Chen Yuruo’s eyes widened slightly before her lips curved up into a smile.

"You must be Lu Yang. Can I call you Yang’er?"

Her voice was gentle as she reached out to lightly touch his head, a faint tenderness in her eyes.

Lu Yang was slightly surprised at the gesture.

She genuinely seemed to have a soft spot for children, otherwise, she probably wouldn’t have agreed to this marriage so easily.

After all, she was a cultivator at the Fifth Stage of Body Tempering Realm at twenty-seven years of age and possessed the right to choose her own husband.

Even if her father was powerful, he couldn’t force her to marry someone she absolutely disliked, at least not without causing serious problems within the family.

But she had agreed, and she was even treating Lu Yang gently, which didn’t seem fake or deliberate.

It seemed that this marriage wasn’t merely an arrangement for her and she had also considered it carefully.

Lu Yang nodded.

"Of course, mother. Thank you."

Chen Yuruo’s smile became even warmer at his response.

"You don’t have to be so formal with me."

Lu Yang nodded again, "Okay."

...

Just like that, a few months passed.

Lu Shishui and Chen Yuruo gradually became accustomed to living together.

Lu Yang also didn’t interfere with them, continuing to cultivate quietly.

Around this time, Lu Hai finally began bringing him to the Imperial Prison.

At first, Lu Yang didn’t officially become a member. He was still too young for that, and Great Qian laws restricted children under twelve years of age from working for government offices even as errand runners.

Thus, he simply followed his grandfather and learned, becoming familiar with the place.

The Imperial Prison was far more interesting than he had expected.

Inside it were a vast variety of individuals, ranging from petty thieves, cultivators, merchants, and officials to people involved in fraud and disputes, people who had offended powerful individuals, and people who had committed genuine crimes.

There were all kinds of people.

Sometimes, he would spend an entire day doing nothing except observing these people.

He didn’t cultivate openly or display his intelligence too much, behaving just like an ordinary child accompanying his grandfather and getting acquainted with Lu Hai’s coworkers and subordinates.

It was exactly the kind of life he wanted, quiet and stable, a life where he could cultivate, learn, and observe the Great Qian Dynasty from a place that didn’t attract too much attention.

Then, four months after the Imperial Examination results were announced, news about Lu Shishui’s appointment finally arrived.

The location was, of course, a prosperous region.

There had been no major turmoil there for decades, the people lived relatively peacefully, taxes were collected on time every year, and there were no particularly powerful bandit groups or large scale conflicts between cultivators and mortals.

It was almost the ideal place for a newly appointed County Magistrate.

When Lu Yang heard the news, he initially didn’t think much of it until he heard the name of the place.

Wuyuan Province, Canglan Prefecture, Xihe County.

For a moment, he was somewhat dazed, countless memories emerging in his mind.

Canglan Prefecture, the same place where he had been born, lived, and died in his previous life.

Now, his present life father was going there fifty-six years after his death.