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Meeting The Emperor: Part One [Cosplay Cultivator Chap 84]New39 minutes ago

Meeting The Emperor: Part One [Cosplay Cultivator Chap 84]

With the additional resources that he had been handed, Tang Ze managed to reach the fourth minor realm of Qi Condensation in the coming months, right before he was to meet with the emperor. He wasn't the only one who had made progress - Zhang Long had managed to get to the ninth minor realm of Qi Condensation by now.

"Seems like you're going to reach Qi Refinement soon," Tang Ze said to him one day.

"Nah," Zhang Long said. "Jumping a major realm is much harder than going up a minor realm." The gap between Qi Condensation and Qi Refinement wasn't too big, but it was certainly larger than the gap between minor realms at Qi Condensation. And as one progressed, jumping up major realms would get harder and harder.

Nearly everyone could get to Qi Refinement in their lifetimes so long as they were serious about cultivating, though for many people, it would take longer than the thirty years of maximum service demanded from Initiates. Zhang Long's progress was this good because of his talent, fortuitous encounters, and access to resources others wouldn't have; but it would still take him a few years at minimum to make that kind of jump to the Qi Refinement realm.

The gap between Qi Refinement and Golden Core, however, was another matter entirely. Most people could not do it within their lifetimes, with only about one in twelve succeeding on average.

However, those with overwhelming resources like the Imperial Family had a clear advantage even here - with nearly everyone in the Imperial Family who occupied a position of importance being able to reach this stage eventually.

Out of maybe one hundred Golden Core cultivators, one person would reach the Nascent Soul realm. Here, even the resources of the Imperial Family would fall short, and success depended greatly on one's aptitude and luck.

Tang Ze was less worried about these future hurdles and more worried about his upcoming visit with the emperor.

"Relax," Chen Yu said to him. "You're worried about him executing you? Don't - remember that he invited you as a guest. How do you think it would look like if he lopped off the head of someone after he invited them personally? Well - he could do it, but it would look bad on him, and you're not worth that kind of effort."

His last words did not do much to ease Tang Ze's heart.

"What if they feel threatened by my talent or something? Didn't they kill that person who awoke with three of the Five Attributes?" Tang Ze mused.

"Well, that isn't the same as this," Chen Yu said.

Chen Yu explained that several things were different about that scenario.

For one, it was during a period where there was a war of succession and things were somewhat chaotic at the time. In this current age of relative peace, such an action would not be as easy to get away with.

Secondly, the person who had been killed had been a normal villager. The Imperial Family had many relatives, Chen Yu being an example, and the bureaucrats couldn't keep track of everyone despite their best efforts - there were always people who had flings or disappeared for periods of time. It just so happened that this villager had been someone like that who had fallen through the cracks. However, Tang Ze was different as he had the protection of the Rising Phoenix sect and they couldn't just openly execute him without a reason.

Tang Ze had thought that the Raswatian Empire was an absolute and clear autocracy, but the Imperial Family did not possess the overwhelming authority one might expect of such a system. It was closer to a feudal monarchy like medieval France in the regard that the eight sects were like powerful feudal lords somewhat keeping the Imperial Family's power in check.

Thirdly, having three of the Five Attributes really was quite a threat - even with Tang Ze's strength, he could not really compare. At least, not at this stage.

"Have some faith in humanity," Yin Tiang added.

"I lost all faith in humanity when I learned that someone on this side of our sect division had made a ranking list of all the female Initiates based off of how attractive their feet are," Tang Ze retorted - to which Yin Tiang didn't really have a response.

There was another factor to things. Hospitality was highly valued within the Raswatian Empire. There was a story of a warlord who had captured two enemy generals. To one of them, he offered a glass of water with his own hand - marking this general as one of his guests and someone who would be protected as a prisoner of war. The other general, however, was a scoundrel and despised by the warlord, and when that general also reached for the glass of water, he was summarily decapitated before he could take a sip.

It was a story often told to mark how important a guest was. And sure, if Tang Ze behaved unruly, he would be punished regardless, still, the others doubted that even someone like him could mess up that badly.

Tang Ze was invited to visit the Imperial Palace via an imperial carriage drawn by two wyverns. Their speed outmatched that of the pegasi as they were considered equivalent to Golden Core cultivators, not to mention, the carriage was extremely comfortable, to the point that Tang Ze could easily fall asleep within. The usual turbulence that one might feel while traveling through the air was basically nonexistent - he didn't know whether that was due to the wyverns being better at flying, or some property of the carriage itself that made the ride feel so smooth.

Everything about the ride was perfect - not only was there no turbulence, but the temperature inside of the carriage was neither too hot nor cold (if he had traveled via flying sword or magic carpet he most definitely would've felt the cold of such an altitude), and there was a tray in front of him that magically produced nearly anything he would want to eat.

The only thing that was lacking was an in-flight movie, but Tang Ze supposed that that would've been asking for too much.

As they began to descend, he glanced out of one of the windows at their destination.

The Imperial Palace complex was huge - now, Tang Ze had expected it to be big, but he had greatly underestimated just how big. The entire complex was nearly the size of an entire district within a major city back on Earth.

It was larger than any city he had seen in this world up till now - though granted, he had not seen the largest cities the Raswatian Empire held.

Broadly, it was divided into four sections, forming four squares within a larger square of the whole palace complex itself - though there was a smaller fifth section in the middle of the larger four sections that was located on elevated ground.

It was here, in the smaller fifth section, that the Imperial Family resided.

One of the sections was a huge garden, and if Tang Ze's eyes weren't deceiving him, it looked like one of the streams that flowed through that garden were made of wine, not water. Either that, or dark blood, though he couldn't see why anyone would make a stream of dark blood or how that wouldn't clot. It was filled with trees that shone in the bright sunlight and delicate structures littered the place. Tang Ze had heard that there were trees with roasted meat skewered upon them, though he wouldn't be able to see such a detail from this distance.

The second section looked to be the servants' quarters - though this also included people who were servants to those who occupied higher roles and not just direct servants to the Imperial Family. Only the ministers themselves were allowed to stay in the fifth segment. This section was further divided according to the ranks of those within. Even in servitude to the emperor, there were various layers and hierarchies, with people like cleaners and the like at the bottom while those who were more skilled occupied higher positions.

The third section was devoted to the imperial concubines and their families - only those who were close to the emperor could actually stay there, with time, given the sheer number of them, those who lost favor or were very low on the hierarchy would be sent elsewhere.

Chen Yu's family originated from a line who had started off living somewhere there.

The fourth section was for the soldiers who manned the twin walls that surrounded the palace's complex. The walls were each thirty meters in height and at least ten meters in thickness.

The fifth section, in the middle of the four, was not only on elevated ground, but was also surrounded by a moat. Above this area, there were countless number of guards soaring amongst the clouds - some were mounted on creatures like pegasi and wyverns, while others were riding atop inanimate objects like flying carpets.

Tang Ze constantly checked the pocket where he had the invitation from the emperor obsessively - as if he was constantly worried that it might have teleported away at some point or somehow misplaced it.

His anxiety had reached its height now that they were actually at their destination. He struggled to remember all the rules on court etiquette that Chen Yu had taught him - for that matter, even the sect had asked for a tutor for Tang Ze in this regard so that he didn't commit a massive blunder in front of the emperor.

At the end of twelve such lessons, the tutor had deemed his performance as 'passable' which was one of the few hopes that Tang Ze clung to within his heart.

No one was permitted to land within the fifth section save for the Imperial Family themselves, and so Tang Ze was dropped off five hundred paces from one of the entrances to the fifth section. A set of stairs consisting of three hundred steps led to the fifth section from where they landed, and there were guards and people glaring at him at every opportunity.

'Don't look suspicious, don't look suspicious, don't look suspicious, don't look suspicious,'- Tang Ze kept repeating this to himself in his mind like a mantra, as if saying this would increase his stealth somehow.

As he crossed the threshold into the fifth section, he felt a strange sense as if something was pressing on him, and his internal Qi flow was temporarily disrupted, though this vanished the moment he crossed it. This was likely some sort of defense mechanism - though he had no idea what it was. No one had told him about it either, but it didn't seem to have any long-lasting effects upon him.

The emperor was quite busy and his schedule could change at a moment's notice - as such guests were usually called a few days before their appointed time. They might end up meeting him earlier than expected, or later, in either case, they would be housed within special guest rooms until they were called upon.

Tang Ze went to sleep almost immediately in the room he had been allotted. It was three times as big as their common living area back in the sect, though he had it all to himself. He just had to ring a bell, and a servant would come in, running, in casse he needed anything.

Over the next few days a sense of great boredom crept in, replacing the anxiety he was otherwise feeling. There was quite a bit to see around the palatial complex if you wanted, though there were areas where guests like him couldn't walk into.

Several celestial beasts were wandering around the area, likely both to function as impressive scenic pieces, and also to act as guards.