Chapter 4 (Chapter 5 included)

Chapter 4

Once he was back in his room, Yun Hao could almost feel like his mind would explode because he had to suppress his own strength from leaking out continuously in front of Yun Xiuming. She too was constantly examining his cultivation and her technique seemed to be even stronger than that of Yun Tianwu, causing Yun Hao a severe headache as he had to circulate his concealment skill almost beyond the current limit that his mind could support. He could feel his mind stretch uncomfortably but the System did not provide him any notifications as it was dormant, he would not receive its help for a while as he remembered the 45 day long 'upgrade' it had notified him about before.

Yun Hao calmed himself down and decided to let his current passive skills help him instead of constantly hoping for new things to appear, however, he decided to wait and let his mind rest as he was genuinely exhausted from the exchange with his great grandaunt. He rested for a while, ate dinner with his parents and sister and then headed back to his room to sleep, as he could still feel his mind throb throughout the meal.

In his sleep, suddenly a vision appeared, due to his now innately assimilated comprehension skill, although unconscious. In Yun Hao's mind, a man appeared, standing high among the clouds wielding a simple, unadorned longsword. Facing this man was what seemed to be an angel, the two seemed to be having a conversation but none of it was understandable to Yun Hao's conscience. Soon the two were standing opposite each other and Yun Hao found that he could understand the man now, who seemed to just be speaking in Chinese, "Alright you overconfident winged prick, let's see if you feel you are still the most blessed once you witness the true strength of my sword", the man sneered teasingly at his opponent, although, the angel himself did not understand chinese, he could tell that the human being in front of him was insulting him. 

"Heavenly Wind Demon Slaying Sword Art! First Stance! Agility!", the man said as his figure blurred and reappeared instantaneously behind his opponent with a simple slash the angel was forced to block with his spear. The angel then retaliated with his own attack with an extremely quick and fierce series of almost, snaking spear stabs and sweeping blows that seemed to cover all escape trajectories of the man. "Second Stance! Splitting Blow!" exclaimed the man, in the same moment, he countered the numerous attacks with one single sword attack that forced the angel back as it had an extremely tricky trajectory as well. "Third Stance! Raging Gale!" The man shouted as he pursued the angel with another attack, this time an almost solid projectile-like attack flew from the tip of his sword as he swung it numerous times a second towards the angel. This surprised the angel and he had to avoid the numerous attacks that targeted his weak points viciously. Again, the angel retaliated with a projectile-type of attack and a golden phantom left his spear's tip and flew at high speed towards the man, "Heh, finally I can actually take this seriously," he sneered at the incoming barrage of golden spear phantoms as the angel also attacked in a similar style to him, "Thirteenth Stance! Abyssal Demon Slaying!", as he sneered, the man's sword seemed to glow with a silver light, further pronounced by numerous small, silver lightning bolts. The man seemed to be charging up a fierce attack and the spear blows that approached him were simply assimilated into the growing silver energy that was building up on the edge of his sword. 

A look of astonishment came across the angel's face as he withdrew from his attacks and prepared to avoid another fierce attack that seemed to contain the power of Heavenly Lightning. However the man did not spare him another moment, just like the first stance his figure blurred before appearing in front of the angel and the following attack cut through the angel's spear as he attempted to block, like a hot knife through butter, stopping only a hair's breadth from severing his head from his body, "Concede now, it would harm my interests more if I killed you", were the last words uttered by the man before the vision dissolved from Yun Hao's vision. 

As Yun Hao roused from his sleep, he noticed it was already the crack of dawn and clearly remembered the vision. The sword art of the Yun Clan seemed to have been derived from another similarly named, yet undoubtedly superior sword art, the "Heavenly Wind Demon Slaying Immortal Sword Art!" Yun Hao sorted through the information of the sword art when he absorbed it from the jade tablet, it was only supposed to have the 3 stances that the man displayed as his first three attacks. It turns out that there are actually at least 13 stances! And each is exponentially stronger than the last…

However, the 4th through the 12th stances were not in the vision and the so-called 13th stance also felt extremely vague although he had seen it and felt its unrestrained, almost catastrophic power just like he was present to witness that battle in person. The concept eluded him completely, leaving him with a memory but no way to comprehend and turn it into his own skill just yet. Savoring this feeling, Yun Hao continued to digest the three stances that were clear to him as he bathed simply, keenly perceiving that each of the attacks felt increasingly familiar as if he had practiced them hundreds of thousands of times if not millions of times for many years. There was no surprise epiphany this time however he could tell that he had almost comprehended the purest essence of these three stances. As he changed into some simple clothes and strapped his sword to his hip, he could feel its consciousness cheering in his mind. Curious, he approached the sword projection in his mind and heard it, "Master! Master! What an exquisite skill! What an exquisite skill! That untalented boor Tianwu could only master the three stances but there are almost 15 of them!" Yun Hao had a drop of sweat simultaneously appear as he hoped that this impetuous sword spirit's thoughts would not be heard. Deep in the Imperial Palace, in the Emperor's Chambers, Yun Tianwu sneezed himself awake. 

"Quiet you fool! There are about 13 stances but I do not have all of them in the first place!" Yun Hao's mental form flicked the blade of the sword hologram, "Aiya! I'm sorry!~" the childish spirit squealed. Yun Hao realized as well that this was only one part of the true "Heavenly Wind Demon Slaying Immortal Sword Art" that he discovered hidden in the very essence of the technique that he had absorbed into his mind from a simple jade tablet- in a relatively small place in a relatively large continent of a relatively small world, yet it revealed to him the existence of what seemed to be a Heavenly Realm, and confirmed the existence of demons once more in regards to its name. As he calmed down and reexamined the sword hologram, he realized that it was no longer a sword, but had actually formed a type of cocoon after he flicked it. Sighing at how quickly things were progressing, Yun Hao continued about his day as usual- he completed some basic physical fitness training and bathed once more before heading to breakfast.

As he returned back to his room, Yun Hao realized that more of his 'hidden meridians' had opened up, although not as many as the first breakthrough, he still had a total of fifteen of them open up by now. They silently filled with Chaos Qi, as that seemed to come from a different source entirely, compared to the worldly Qi he was used to and felt was lacking in his surroundings. He decided to call them Chaos Meridians for the time being and it seemed to fit well. He could acutely feel that the cocoon around the sword hologram in his mind was beginning to quake slightly. As he returned to his mind space to examine it, it crumbled open to reveal a chubby little child that resembled a 5 or 6 year-old Yun Hao, except Yun Hao was never chubby. It was endearing, to say the least, as this child gained consciousness it turned and looked at Yun Hao with naive excitement brimming in its eyes. "Master! Please name me!" It squealed in joy, causing Yun Hao a slight headache as he often struggled with naming things, "So you're a spirit sword already huh… let us see… dragon… how about I call you Little Long?",

Although simple, it was concise, the child winced a little but soon accepted his name, "Xiao Long". Afterwards, Yun Hao sat in the study room of his courtyard, carefully examining his sword. Xiao Long's existence did not drastically change any of the visual style of the sword however there was a distinctly different sharpness emanating from its blade… He sheathed it and tried to extend his concealment into the scabbard, successfully feeling the emitted wave of sharpness conceal itself within the scabbard cleanly.

Yun Hao was anticipating the fist technique as well, since it had a domineering name of its own, and his body enhancing passive would heavily compliment hand-to-hand combat just the same. For the time being, Yun Hao continued to familiarize himself with the newly evolved Xiao Long. He could tell through his experimentation that the connection between them was much deeper than when Xiao Long was just a newborn consciousness. At this point, Yun Hao verified that he can maintain sword flight for a short while already! However, it is obviously too flashy for him who is trying not to stand out too much. Not to mention, his 'outstanding' Perfected Visceral Realm strength- let alone his true Qi Meridian realm strength would have brought him many troubles if it were not for the protection and monitoring of Yun Tianwu, with Yun Zhuyang knowing of course. The two brothers were actually genuinely close to each other and disdained internal conflicts for minor benefits over each other.

This did not follow the logic that Yun Hao was used to from reading many novels in his past life, almost always there would be a powerful aunt or uncle, ready to take out the genius that the main character becomes to further their own interests. Then he remembered his ambitious second and third mothers, as well as all the cousins who were favored as 'geniuses'- secretly and openly disdaining and mocking Yun Hao with the more shameless ones directly acting against him. They were of course, still too weak to be of any effect against him as his strength was constantly growing further and further away from what they could even dream of touching in their lives.

Examining his Chaos meridians, Yun Hao realized that he had hit another bottleneck and would have to repeat the condensation of chaos qi wisps into chaos qi needles to attempt to break through the next barrier. Judging by the current 24 Qi meridians in total he already surpassed the known limit of Qi Meridians of ordinary cultivators by three times! What was even more shocking was that his was not anywhere near his ceiling of 120 total main, and hidden qi meridians. Yun Hao decides he should look at cultivating the "Heavenly Tiger" fist technique he obtained from the secret arts pavilion to see if it could also help him breakthrough more of his meridians through an epiphany. Although it felt like his breakthroughs were going too smoothly, Yun Hao had no choice but to deal with it as it came since he cannot take his personal strength seriously enough if it cannot protect him and his loved ones. 

As he begins to focus, once again due to his unprecedented comprehension- a vision appears before his eyes.

Yun Hao could feel immense power well up inside his body, which he realized was no longer his own but that of what seemed to be the Heavenly Tiger itself! Yun Hao was clearly witnessing this Heavenly Tiger preparing to attack a man with an unadorned sword on his hip. Inwardly realizing who the man was, Yun Hao wished he could shout out and stop the tiger from running to its death. He had no choice in the matter however, as the Tiger continued to charge forward, Yun Hao could feel an inexplicable gathering of power in the front paws of the beast as it prepared to launch its first attack. He could feel as if the punching force of his fists was constantly multiplying by numerous factors in quick succession. In the moment that the beast's attack was about to land on the man it was attacking- he simply caught it out of mid-air in the middle of its leap. "What an interesting fellow, what an interesting technique… say, I won't kill you if you become my pet", unexpectedly, this unfathomable swordsman was not at the same level as the vision in which Yun Hao witnessed him absolutely outclass a Heavenly Angel. With that statement the vision came to an end and Yun Hao awoke from his trance-like state, discovering that 6 more Chaos Meridians had opened up this time bringing his total meridians up to 30 in total. The reason it opened up one more compared to when he had the epiphany of "Heavenly Wind Demon Slaying".

It seemed slightly suspicious that the Yun clan possessed these two seemingly related secret arts of such a powerful cultivator yet it was only a ruling power of such a remote place on the world's continent. Either some great misfortune befell the Yun clan, or there was a mass revolt by the other human dynasties, even then, when the Yun clan would have been the absolute authority due to their ancestor's strength they showed mercy and did not kill every single dissident other than those who did not know their limits and charged into the Yun clan's territories attempting to rally more support to revolt. History was unclear, and with the current strength of the Yun clan it was already too difficult for Yun Hao to imagine why they had not fought to take back the territory that was originally theirs from the surrounding kingdoms. It could be said that the current emperor, Yun Tianwu was quite forward sighted and had the attitude of a great businessman and would bygones be bygones so long as he could continue to profit steadily and develop the nation that his father left behind for him. 

Once again, Yun Hao was forced to reconsider the true strength behind his uncle that allowed him to be so nonchalant towards the surrounding kingdoms that were established on territory that was initially of belonging to his ancestors. This required integrity of character unlike anything that Yun Hao could even imagine. He respects his uncle even more after pondering these thoughts, although he seemed to be too carefree as an emperor- he hid his true strength extremely deeply. This caused Yun Hao to hope he never had to turn against his uncle unless it was an unresolvable feud that needed him to do something like that. As it stands, there is no immediate need to do so, even if it seems like his newly formed sword spirit would lead to a conflict. 

Yun Hao controls the phantom of Xiao Long in his mind and uses the vast amounts of chaos qi that his body was constantly absorbing as it constantly cultivated even without his input. The chaos qi seemed to serve another purpose- it could isolate the aura of a sword spirit emanating from Xiao Long. This inspired Yun Hao to try and use his own overflowing chaos Qi to hide his cultivation but it felt like he could almost do it yet it would not hold. Perhaps it was still too early in his cultivation to hide that deeply. The world already knew he was a 'Perfected Visceral Tempering realm' martial artist and even then it was not his limit to conceal his strength even further against those without appropriate detection techniques. Yun Hao took a deep breath and broke out of his concentration, realizing that it was already past sundown, quickly approaching dinner time. He tidied himself up and made his way to eat dinner. Today, Li Xu Yue had made some Demon Boar Trotter stew and stir-fried mushrooms with a chilli oil. Yun Hao ate while savouring these familiar chinese flavours he was used to in an even enhanced state due the quality of the ingredients being so far beyond the best he had ever found in his past life…

"Xu Yue 'er, this husband of yours has something to say, I wonder if you will hear him out?", Yun Zhuyang spoke at the end of the meal, "Let us make another child, if we could be blessed with one more Hao'er, or even one more Jue'er that would be a great blessing don't you think?", he added with a wide smile on his face. Lin Xu Yue was so flustered that her husband would say something so inappropriate in front of their children. Inwardly however, she agreed with him manyfold and blushed deeply, "Mn", was all she uttered before the Yun siblings made a hasty yet silent exit to avoid interrupting their parent's 'special spring time'. Yun Zhuyang chuckled as he then proceeded to princess-carry his beautiful wife to their bed-chambers and the rest of the details are better left omitted…

Several days pass, and Yun Hao has almost broken through a total of 30 Chaos qi Meridians, having almost 40 total qi meridians in his body! However it seems to have multiplied in difficulty for the fortieth meridian to be broken through, as if the capacity of his current state was insatiable with his Chaos qi intake at the moment. 39 Qi Meridians seemed to be his utmost limit and he could not go any further in his current environment. This posed a new dilemma, if he had to go out, that naturally meant running into conflicts of interest with others but Yun Hao realized that this was the general progression for heroes in the novels of his past life. With that in mind, he decided to visit his father and ask if there was an academy or the sorts where he could find higher qi density than here. Although it confused Yun Zhuyang at first- Yun Hao decided to trust this father who had poured near-endless resources into trying to save his son's constitution and revealed a wisp of his true strength to him by isolating his father's study as an independent space using the chaos qi concealment method he had been experimenting with. Heaven defying comprehension was truly too good. However, it was still only barely able to contain and conceal a wisp of his true strength. 

Yun Zhuyang's eyes widened as he realized how much trust his son had put in him by revealing such strength to him, even more so when he realized that there seemed to be a restriction cast on this room with his son as the source, concealing the immensely powerful Qi wisp's existence from the outside world perfectly. "Good son… It is your father's greatest blessing to have his son be so powerful at such a young age, so early in your cultivation journey! Let me have a word with brother, he might have some connections to get you into a Heavenly Arts Academy on the continent", he said, clearly having a look of genuine pride on his face- this is his son! His son is so much stronger than him already, who is struggling to reach Nine Perfections of the Qi Meridian realm! He thanked his fate vigorously in his mind for giving him such an exceptional child, despite the bumpy time when he was born. Despite all the torturous and extreme treatments he had to put this child through, to then receive such unconditional trust and respect. He was a proud father.

Chapter 5

With Yun Zhuyang's enthusiastic promise, Yun Hao was once again at peace to continue developing his own Chaos Qi Concealment method, although it seemed an inefficient use of Qi to hide Qi the Chaos Qi had the nature of chaos and was therefore able to camouflage very easily with the surroundings. It was better to say that Yun Hao was not really isolating or hiding his immense Qi Aura, it was simply that it blended too perfectly with the surrounding Qi for even Yun Xiuming to discover anything amiss. In short, Yun Hao was never really hiding his strength with this method but perfectly blending it into the surroundings so that he does not tire himself out like he had to when he used his old concealment technique. In fact, he then discovered that the two methods could also overlap, therefore hiding and not hiding at the same time. Even if a powerful expert were to discover that Yun Hao was concealing his strength, that was only one barrier that they had broken and unless they too could cultivate Chaos Qi and notice its unique properties in Yun Hao's aura- He was safe to continue to advance freely, it was just that his current environment could no longer support him. 

While the system remains dormant, having roughly 33 more days before it completes its upgrade, Yun Hao continues his regular training routine, getting more and more used to the sheer power that his physical body could generate. It felt like he could take on the Bai clan all at once with just his physical body. This was no exaggeration, the Bai Clan Patriarch, Bai Fengshou was actually also just barely stronger than Yun Zhuyang but since Yun clan is the imperial family, Yun Zhuyang holds more status. Bai Fengshou definitely felt uncomfortable like this, not to mention that the Emperor was clearly playing favorites when he dismissed the murder of Yun Baihu. The murder that Yun Hao had committed at the martial contest of his birthday banquet. Familial love certainly is blind to all the facts as he conveniently ignored the fact that Yun Baihu had almost directly insulted the Emperor's brother directly in front of the Emperor himself and almost attracted an even bigger calamity upon the Bai clan. This was part of the reason why they kept their silence that day, quietly deciding that there would be another chance to claim their revenge.

Yet, Yun Hao felt that if he were to go and attack the Bai clan, he could win without employing any Qi nor any spells, just his physical body alone had grown strong to the point of uncontestable annihilation if they decide to cross him unnecessarily. 

He could almost anticipate that that opportunity would not be let go of when they discover that he will be travelling to a Heavenly Arts Academy outside of the continent. It would be the perfect opportunity for them to strike. Yun Hao knew this too well, such situations were not rare in the stories he was used to reading before. But what would a cheat character's life be if not constantly in danger of being attacked by jealous and unconvinced opponents?

The next day, Yun Hao continues his morning routine as usual and upon having an unusual moment of inspiration, decides to try integrating the 'Heavenly Tiger Fist' with the first three stances of 'Heavenly Wind Demon Slaying Sword Art' by himself. He felt that if he did not have to reveal his sword spirit, it would be for the best if he could still fight bare-handed. 

As he began to perform the First Stance 'Agility' Yun Hao's vision blurred, when it cleared- he realized that everything around him seemed to be almost at a standstill. A pair of sparrows were frozen mid-flight from the tree in his courtyard- he accustomed himself to this feeling in a moment and then began to try to perform the 'Heavenly Tiger Fist' in this state… 

A success! As he punched forward with his entire body behind the force of the punch, uncoiling his tensed muscles according to the memories he had witnessed when comprehending the technique. His fist was so powerful and he could definitely feel that his punch was breaking through the sound barrier as a large, almost tangible shockwave erupted behind his thrown fist. The most terrifying part was that the first shockwave was followed by three or even four more similar shockwaves. 4 or 5 times the speed of sound! Yun Hao realized that his fist had nearly 5 times more speed than some of the most advanced and high caliber weaponry that used to exist in his past life! He had literally turned his fist into a devastating attack- which if combined with his lustrous gold fist would prove to be far more effective as an anti-materiel weapon! He was now a walking tank destroyer! The world of martial arts is truly vast! Even a simple punch carries such destructive power! 

'Yun Hao the .50 cal AMF', he chuckled 'Anti-materiel Fist? Hahaha, it's even more powerful than that!' and this was not the wrong assessment- exceeding Mach 4 speed greatly increased the impact of his already freakish raw strength. It was completely incomparable to the simple punch he threw to erase Yun Baihu's breath at the banquet a few nights ago. The two were pretty much heaven and earth in difference to each other's destructive power.

Yun Hao had to pause his comprehension and snap out of his punch forward as he realized that his fist was approaching the wall of his courtyard! Although he managed to control his body and dispel the force he had generated in the motions behind the punch, Yun Hao's anti-materiel level fist stopped barely an inch from going straight through the wall he was facing. Even though he had stopped himself, the sheer force of the shockwaves echoes soon followed, carving devastatingly deep 'scars' into the solid rock wall, and this was not even the attack involving the Third Stance! Yet he already had some kind of 'projectile-esque' attack damage! The 'scars' on the wall then developed further cracks as each of the successive sonic booms followed behind the first- by the time all the waves echoed and hit the wall, a hole had formed through and through sending stone debris flying towards the private forest land that surrounded the Yun Manor. Yun Hao decided he should just sit down and try to see if he could control how fast his fist could go, but before he could concentrate he was greeted by Yun Zhuyang, who seemed to be in a rush. 

"Son! Are you alright? Who dares to attack my Yun Manor in broad daylight!?" he shouted, many guards were following him in a panic because they could be blamed for this potential intruder even if they simply could not perceive or discover the aggressor. Upon entering the courtyard, Yun Zhuyang stops as he realizes that Yun Hao is simply sitting near a section of the wall in his courtyard that seemed to be destroyed by a single attack. A questioning look came over his face- it was not possible! Not even after knowing his son's true strength could he understand how he would have pierced through the protective formation of the Manor. It was supposed to be impervious to attacks below the Golden Core at least!

Yet, Yun Hao's troubled expression raised a counter to the doubt running through his mind. "There were no intruders father, I… was just practicing the Heavenly Tiger Fist art that I learned from the Secret Arts Pavillion a few days ago… I… uhh… just lost control of my attack…" his answer stopped Yun Zhuyang and the manor guards following him flat in their tracks. After a few moments, Yun Zhuyang regained his senses and waved the guards away after instructing them to send the stone mason over to repair and reinforce the wall.

Yun Hao was once again troubled by the lack of control he felt over his own strength, yet he felt that it would be a great advantage to advance as far as possible before the system was done upgrading. He anticipated great rewards since he remembered the then large amount of points it had gifted to him for breaking through the Body Tempering Realm's sub-realms consecutively and should have rewarded him for the Qi Meridian realm breakthrough as well. He supposed there was a kind of 'newbie' limit on the system at first and further anticipation for the system's upgrade bloomed in his mind. Yun Zhuyang left after letting the stonemason and builders into the courtyard to go about their work, he silently marveled once again at the strength of his son, strengthening his resolve to speak with his elder brother regarding Yun Hao's admission to the Heavenly Arts Academy he had heard about in his youth but was unable to attend due to lacking enough of a foundation and talent. He did get much stronger since then but he is past the age that students are accepted into that academy. Now, his own son would be among those he wished to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with. 

He felt proud as a father, although he knew it was bad to live vicariously through his child- he could not help but feel elated. As he left Yun Hao's courtyard, Yun Zhuyang continued to wonder how to ask his brother about his son's request without leaking his true strength to him. Yun Zhuyang was also quite experienced in matters of politics within the royal family, so although he knew exactly how Yun Tianwu felt about his son, he stuck with his son's trust and resolved himself to ask carefully.

Later that day, Yun Zhuyang requested a private audience with Yun Tianwu and the two were soon seated across from each other in the Imperial Palace's study room. "Yun Zhuyang greets elder brother", he greets, "Well met, well met little brother, what seems to be the case that you requested a personal meeting?" came Yun Tianwu's greeting followed by a question. "Well, dear brother as I'm sure you saw how talented Hao'er and Jue'er are, I was hoping to request if they can be granted a chance to be admitted to the Heavenly Arts Academy in the North", Yun Zhuyang answered. "Ah, that's a simple matter, I have already been in touch with one of the old teachers there- she should be here soon to take them along with her- you don't have to be so cautious haha! In fact, I have also arranged for that child Lin Yuling to go with them, along with one of my most talented daughters Yun Jing", Yun Tianwu was already far ahead of Yun Zhuyang's request it seemed- in a good way at that too. "Ah little Jing is also going? She should also have just reached the perfected Bone Tempering realm if I am not mistaken?" Yun Zhuyang observed the smile of pride on his brother's face and in his eyes. 

Even though he knew that this brother of his lamented not being able to have any sons, he was truly proud of all of his daughters and their achievements, no matter how small. He inwardly commended Yun Tianwu's exceptional fatherly mentality, and thanked his fate that they were close enough to ask for all those favors to save Yun Hao's constitution. 

At dinner time in the Yun Clan Manor, Yun Hao sat near Yun Linjue at the left of his father's seat. Yun Zhuyang had been back from his meeting with the emperor and had not said a word yet. Yun Hao was slightly worried, but he did not sense any worry from Yun Zhuyang- he probably wanted to surprise everyone at dinner so he stayed tight-lipped about his discussion with Yun Tianwu. As the family finished their dinner, Yun Zhuyang held a glass of wine and stood up from his seat, "Alright, alright, I know you all have been waiting for me to speak about my meeting with my elder brother, here's the news, hahaha!" he chuckled before downing the glass of wine and telling them about Yun Tianwu's intentions. 

Yun Hao was surprised to hear about Yun Jing also joining them, as his memory of her was faint- but he did remember that she seemed to be one of his bullies that Yun Linjue had scared off when they were toddlers. He was not afraid of her, but he was definitely not close to her. On the other hand, he was looking forward to attending this Heavenly Arts Academy alongside Yun Linjue and Lin Yuling. Yun Linjue was also inwardly celebrating that she was not separated from her little brother and maintained a quiet yet ecstatic smile as she digested the news. Lin Xu Yue was also extremely happy that both her children as well as her prospective daughter-in-laws would be travelling together. Yes, she was still thinking about starting Yun Hao's harem early on in his life. Yes, she knew he said that he was too young to think about it, but she is a mother. How could she not be concerned about her son's future wives?

After dinner, each of them returned to their respective courtyards with their own thoughts circling in their heads- all looking forward to the next few days when said Instructor of the Heavenly Arts Academy would arrive.