Chapter 19 The Master has Returned

Cheng Guang carefully reviewed the task given by the Midnight System last night.

Apart from noticing that the Town-Nation Duke's Heir was very likely an unawakened sycophant, he also paid attention to another matter mentioned by the system.

"The Princely Heir refused the advantageous marriage arrangement his mother Mrs. Wu had set for him..."

Cheng Guang knew that at this time, his mother Mrs. Wu had already started to worry about his marriage. Regardless of whether the Princely Heir would return or not, the marriage would eventually fall upon his shoulders.

At the moment, Cheng Guang did not yet know who the other party in this advantageous marriage arrangement was.

However, since the system mentioned it was an advantageous marriage, he thought it probably wouldn't be bad.

Cheng Guang meticulously went over every word spoken by the system, eventually focusing his attention on the mission target, the Qing Luan Fox Clan's Saintess Bai Shuxuan.

"For the Saintess of the Qing Luan Fox Clan to have captivated the well-travelled and beauty-indifferent Princely Heir to such an extent, to the point of willingly becoming a dignity-less sycophant, she must either possess extraordinary methods or astonishing beauty..."

"Now that I have decided to play the role of the Princely Heir, I will undoubtedly meet Bai Shuxuan in the future..."

"Regrettably, the system's mission prompt doesn't mention when or where the Princely Heir first met Bai Shuxuan; otherwise, I could have made preparations beforehand."

Cheng Guang murmured to himself.

After pondering for a moment, he felt that it was highly unlikely he would meet Bai Shuxuan in the short term, so he decided to put the task aside for now.

As for the reward for this mission, the Divine Power known as Charm Eyes, Cheng Guang was naturally extremely envious.

Each Divine Power was an exceedingly rare existence.

Generally speaking, only when Martial Artists reached the Fourth-grade Divine Realm would they have the opportunity to merge Qi and Martial Arts into a unity, forming a seal, and materialize Divine Powers into unimaginable spells.

This is just one way for Martial Artists to obtain Divine Powers. Depending on the path of cultivation, the method of acquiring Divine Powers also varies.

For example, Spirit Dao Cultivators, they inherit the Divine Powers of their ancestors from their bloodline.

Such abilities are known as Bloodline Divine Powers and are often both scarce and powerful.

Cheng Guang speculated that the Divine Power named Charm Eyes might as well be a Bloodline Divine Power.

It had a significant connection to the Qing Luan Fox Clan and was likely one of the Divine Powers awakened from their bloodline.

Thinking of this, Cheng Guang became somewhat interested in the Charm Eyes. The idea of a human like him obtaining a Bloodline Divine Power from the Qing Luan Fox Clan seemed rather amusing.

But at this moment, he had no clues about how to complete the task, and despite his coveting of the reward, he could only watch helplessly.

Cheng Guang got up, dressed, and after a simple wash, came out to the courtyard.

Lin Cheng was in the midst of Martial Cultivation, each punch and movement he executed with the ferocity of a tiger descending a mountain, each action causing every muscle and bone in his body to move in minute ways, honing his sinews and vital energy.

Martial Cultivation was like that, constantly maintaining the growth of vital energy and conditioning the body.

He paused to observe Lin Cheng's training for a while.

Soon, Lin Cheng noticed Cheng Guang's presence, quickly stopped his exercises, and came forward to greet him.

"Princely Heir."

Cheng Guang, seeing Lin Cheng still guarding his own courtyard, nodded in satisfaction, finding that although Lin Cheng was quite simple-minded, his thoughts were not rigid, and he was extremely loyal to him.

Cheng Guang nodded slightly, "Come with me to the Library."

Lin Cheng readily nodded, without asking further, and silently followed Cheng Guang towards the Library.

Upon arriving at the Library, Lin Cheng promptly halted.

He dared not enter the Library.

Cheng Guang didn't pay him any mind, entering the Library alone to continue perusing the books and materials.

In the next few days, he planned to come to the Library every day, firstly to continue reading up on the world's information, enhancing his knowledge reserves, and secondly, to prepare for the return of his father, Duke Zhihai.

Now that he had resolved his bloodline issue, he just needed to explain how he overcame the dark injury to deceive Duke Zhihai.

Of course, Duke Zhihai was cunning, and Cheng Guang didn't believe he could easily fool him; he would need some concrete actions to prove that he had solved the issue of bloodline incompatibility, and not that the incompatibility had spontaneously resolved itself.

His frequent visits to the Library were to create the illusion that he was constantly researching how to solve the incompatibility.

"The Princely Heir is not foolish, on the contrary, he's extremely intelligent. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to deceive Duke Zhihai and Wu Yuemei, managing to sneak out of the Cheng residence secretly."

"But even so, the excuse that he figured out how to solve the incompatibility issue on his own seems a bit far-fetched. I must think of other reasons to enhance the persuasiveness of my story."

Cheng Guang mulled over this in his heart.

In fact, he could have avoided thinking so much at this point.

At the moment, whether it be in aura or in mannerisms, he was completely identical to the Princely Heir and could deceive Duke Zhihai on the surface.

Logically speaking, given Cheng Zhihai's favoritism towards the Princely Heir, even if Cheng Guang made up some excuse to muddle through how the rejection reaction had disappeared, Cheng Zhihai would not have said anything. Instead, he would have laughed heartily and said, "My son, you have the bearing of a Sky-Man."

But it's not the myriad of possibilities one fears, but the one in a million chance something could go wrong, so Cheng Guang still wanted to be cautious and ensure that everything was foolproof with no loopholes.

Thus, three days later.

This morning, Cheng Guang went to the Book Collection Pavilion and continued to feign researching materials, flipping through books.

By noon.

When Cheng Guang returned to his courtyard, he discovered that Qing Luan was already waiting inside, her beautiful and valiant face filled with solemnity.

She quickly stepped forward and said to Cheng Guang, "Princely Heir, the master has returned."

"He's currently in the great hall, summoning you."

Cheng Guang's eyebrows slightly raised, then he smiled, "Finally back, even slower than I expected."

Having said this, Cheng Guang did not hesitate and walked towards the direction of the great hall.

Qing Luan hastily followed behind Cheng Guang, mimicking his steps, yet she still maintained a certain distance from him.

Walking on the road.

With a somber expression, Qing Luan couldn't help but feel a little worried inside, her brows lightly furrowed, "Are you really okay? I've found some Spiritual Medicine that can disguise injuries during this time. If you take some, perhaps it could mimic the extent of the Princely Heir's injuries and deceive the master."

Cheng Guang shook his head slightly, "There's no need, I'm confident. Randomly using these injury-mimicking Spiritual Medicines instead might backfire."

Qing Luan was unaware of the specific situation inside the Princely Heir's body.

She still naively believed that the injury within the Princely Heir's body was a lingering ailment left by an assassin's strike from his youth, not knowing that it was actually a side effect of fusing with an external royal bloodline.

After all, forcibly extracting and merging with royal bloodlines was a matter of great taboo throughout the Four Directions Mortal World, and once exposed, it would lead to execution by all the dynasties across the realm.

Even Duke Zhen Guo, Cheng Shiyuan, dared not casually reveal this.

The only people who knew the details of this matter, apart from Duke Zhen Guo, Cheng Shiyuan, was his father Cheng Zhihai.

All others were completely unaware, including the Princely Heir himself.

This was also an aspect that Cheng Guang could use to his advantage.

The fusion of Great Xia royal lineage within his body was precisely the winning card he could use to fool Cheng Zhihai. Perhaps in the end, he might even obtain the cultivation methods of Spirit Dao from Cheng Zhihai's hands, sparing him the trouble of seeking out that disgruntled Wu Ling.

As Cheng Guang pondered this, his mood wasn't heavy.

Instead, it was Qing Luan who was a bit worried.

Previously, Qing Luan hadn't paid much attention to Cheng Guang, but after that one night, she began to worry about his situation at every turn.

Along the way, she offered many suggestions for Cheng Guang, and also instructed him on many details about how to interact with Cheng Zhihai.

The underlying message in her words revealed Qing Luan's concern for Cheng Guang.

Cheng Guang listened to her with a smile, neither objecting nor speaking out.

In this era, women regarded their chastity as more precious than life itself, and once they became someone's woman, most would follow them through life and death. Qing Luan's change before and after was within his expectations.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have taken the risk of a do-or-die situation, treating Qing Luan the way he did that night.

Although it took some effort, the outcome was ultimately good.

Before long, a quarter of an hour's time, the two arrived at the great hall.

Approaching the destination, the guards' presence grew increasingly formidable.

The air was filled with a sense of oppressive force.

Solemn, cold, and stern.

Qing Luan no longer spoke, pursed her lips, and paused outside the great hall, watching Cheng Guang enter.

Just as Cheng Guang was about to enter the great hall, Qing Luan quickly handed him a fistful of elixirs.

"If it doesn't work, take one, it should be useful at least."

Qing Luan said so.

Cheng Guang chuckled and shook his head, without further explanation, pocketing the elixirs and then walking into the great hall.

Upon entering the great hall, a figure immediately caught his eye.

...