Five Years Have Passed

Emperor Yuan passed away.

He was still so young, yet he had to leave this world for his own ideals.

In order not to disappoint his Big Brother Lin Jiufeng after inheriting his title of the Crown prince.

As a result, he had been working extra hard.

Lin Jiufeng looked at the lifeless Emperor Yuan. A sense of emptiness washed over him.

This person was the person who was closest to him in this world.

They were born to the same mother.

Connected by blood.

They never had a disagreement with each other.

Emperor Yuan was so much younger than him.

And he left just like that.

Lin Jiufeng's heart, his hands, and his eyes trembled slightly.

He didn't say anything.

He simply closed Emperor Yuan's eyes and then spoke tiredly to Lin Tianyuan.

"Your father… is gone."

Outside the hall, Lin Tianyuan said mournfully to his guards. "His Majesty has passed away!"

As soon as he spoke these words, sounds of crying reverberated.

The Grand Secretary and the other senior members of his court even desperately rushed into the hall, wanting to see Emperor Yuan for one final time.

Each of them used to be depressed scholars. In this world where cultivators had all the power, they were unable to make their ambitions come true.

But Emperor Yuan invited them to his court and gave them a stage to fulfill their aspirations and show off their talents.

To ordain conscience for Heaven and Earth, to secure life and fortune for the people, to continue the lost teachings of past sages, and to establish peace for all future generations!

These four sentences were the lifelong pursuit of scholars.

Under Emperor Yuan's command, they were able to realize all of them.

They reformed the evils of the dynasty and worked hard to remove the vassal kings. They suppressed the high and mighty privileged families and prevented the annexation of land by these people. They saved the refugees and gave them a place to settle…

These things were nothing in the eyes of cultivators.

But for them, these were the things for which they would strive to achieve in their entire lives.

All of these were realized under the command of Emperor Yuan.

Emperor Yuan was worthy of being an emperor through the ages.

Although his reign was short, his influence was far-reaching.

The grief of the court officials was real.

They rushed into the hall and upon seeing Emperor Yuan lying on the bed, motionless.

They cried.

Some even fainted on the spot.

Lin Tianyuan didn't grieve.

He asked the guards and eunuchs to take the court officials who had fainted from crying somewhere safe and help them come back to their senses.

He raised his eyes and looked into the hall.

Lin Jiufeng was nowhere to be seen.

He mentally heaved a sigh of relief. His Uncle should have already taken his leave.

Lin Tianyuan put his mind at ease and started to deal with the funeral.

He let the ministers cry for a while, then he brought the coffin over and placed Emperor Yuan's body inside…

Lin Tianyuan handled these in an orderly manner.

His face was sad, but he did not shed a tear.

It wasn't until Emperor Yuan's body was placed into the coffin that Lin Tianyuan knelt down and cried, heartbroken.

From today onwards, he no longer had a father!

He had been forcibly holding back his grief until this.

In the Great Council Hall, the literary officials and the military commanders sobbed sorrowfully.

The entire Forbidden City was filled with sorrow.

But Lin Jiufeng—who Lin Tianyuan thought had left—had been in the hall all along.

He was standing right next to the coffin of Emperor Yuan.

But no one could see him.

Lin Jiufeng's cultivation base allowed him to modify the space around his body.

In addition, with his cultivation base stronger than anyone else in this hall…

No one detected his presence.

When Emperor Yuan's body was placed into the coffin, Lin Jiufeng also wept.

He stroked the copper coffin, full of reluctance on his face.

…

Lin Jiufeng stayed in the Great Council Hall for three days.

During these three days, people came and went.

All the civil and military officials…

Anyone who was affiliated or related to the royal family came to pay their respects to Emperor Yuan.

But no one saw Lin Jiufeng.

Three days later, Emperor Yuan's body was buried in Emperor Mountain.

This was the imperial cemetery of the Yuhua God Dynasty.

Because Emperor Yuan was very young, his tomb had yet to be renovated.

It was just a very ordinary tomb.

Lin Jiufeng watched as Emperor Yuan's coffin was being carried out of the Council Hall.

When the crowd disappeared from his eyes, it finally dawned on him.

His younger brother was gone.

Lin Jiufeng accompanied him on his final journey.

His heart was filled with sadness. He wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes.

Lin Jiufeng was about to leave the empty Council Hall.

Emperor Yuan was gone and there was no longer anything left for him in the Forbidden City.

He wanted to return to the Cold Palace and remain within it.

He did not want to get too deeply involved with the outside world.

Lin Jiufeng hated this kind of parting.

[Do you want to Sign-In at the Forbidden City Great Council Hall?]

A line of words appeared before Lin Jiufeng's eyes.

He was stunned.

He had been in the council hall for three days already, but this line only appeared today.

'Was it because I was too sad before?' Lin Jiufeng thought to himself.

"Sign in!" Lin Jiufeng agreed.

[Sign-In successful. Received Heaven Patching Technique!]

A peerless skill appeared in Lin Jiufeng's mind.

"This… this doesn't seem like a martial arts manual, but a terrifying daoist manual."

Lin Jiufeng's mind cleared up.

He didn't study the Heaven Patching Technique in the Great Council Hall.

Instead, he left the hall and returned to the Cold Palace. There, he began to cultivate it.

…

Cold Palace.

After Lin Jiufeng returned, he closed the door tight and stayed in his courtyard.

He laid on the frost jade bed, studying the Heaven Patching Technique.

The Heaven Patching Technique was a terrifying secret technique that utilized the will of martial arts to perceive the general situation of the world and use that as leverage to strengthen one's Martial Will.

The Heaven Patching in the technique meant that one would become so strong that they were able to patch up the sky.

This was not just an offensive skill, it was also a restorative one.

"I haven't advanced much since I broke through the Martial Sage Realm. I can use this Heaven Patching Technique to cultivate." Lin Jiufeng closed his eyes with satisfaction. He channeled True Qi throughout his body and cultivated the Heaven Patching Technique.

As for matters of the outside world, Lin Jiufeng had no interest in them at all.

The Yuhua God Dynasty should be very stable by now.

After all, he had just gone out for a walk.

Just as Lin Jiufeng thought, the outside world was turbulent.

Countless great forces were constantly in contact with each other.

But no one dared to come forward.

Even though Emperor Yuan was dead.

Even though the Yuhua God Dynasty was mourning at a national level.

There was no one foolish enough to make trouble at this time.

After all, as long as they were not stupid, they would not choose to cause trouble at this timing.

Creating trouble when the entire Yuhua God Dynasty was grieving, were they tired of living?

Even if one was not afraid of the soldiers from the Yuhua God Dynasty, were they not afraid of that sword hidden in the imperial capital?

Many forces were investigating frantically to find out the identity of that mysterious man.

But they found nothing.

Because most people in the Yuhua God Dynasty did not know his identity either.

Perhaps only Emperor Yuan and the newly enthroned emperor knew.

But would they tell them?

When the identity of the opponent was shrouded in mystery, and there was no way to resist such an enigmatic enemy. It was best to stay put and be quiet.

Emperor Yuan passed away and the whole country was in grief.

After the mourning period, the new emperor ascended the throne.

Lin Tianyuan changed the era of his reign from [Yuan] to [Ming].

This year would be the first year of the Yuhua Ming era.

After he ascended the throne, he had to deal with many things right off the bat. With the assistance of the various court officials, he methodically took over everything left behind by Emperor Yuan. Then, he continued along the path that Emperor Yuan had set for him.

During this period, Lin Jiufeng never left the Cold Palace.

Lin Tianyuan didn't come to trouble Lin Jiufeng either.

Time flew by and five years passed.

In the past five years, Lin Tianyuan had established himself firmly on the throne.

He did not trouble Lin Jiufeng even once.

Many people had forgotten that there existed a dethroned prince in the Yuhua God Dynasty.

Lin Jiufeng had lived through three dynasties.

As for why there weren't a lot of people that still remembered him?

It was because he was extremely low-key.