Chapter 17 Banquet

He left the Water Pavilion at sunset and headed to the front hall.

From afar, he could hear the joyful laughter coming from inside the house.

He heard Bai Ningshuang's unprecedentedly cheerful laughter and entered the room after Zou Fang opened the thick felt curtain.

"Yuan'er, you came at just the right time." Bai Ningshuang, sitting by the sandalwood round table, waved her hand with a bright smile: "Come over, come over!"

Chu Zhiyuan sat beside her, glancing at the smiling Chu Yi and the beard-stroking Chu Minghou.

"Mother, did someone come to visit?"

"Yes, someone did visit."

Chu Yi leaned in: "Brother, not only did someone visit, but there were two groups. One from the Household Affairs Office, they're finally going to start renovating our Prince Mansion."

"So they finally came?" Chu Zhiyuan chuckled.

As expected of the Household Affairs Office, well-informed and quick to act, they move at the slightest hint, slippery as they come.

There's really no good way to deal with them; venting one's anger wouldn't change their way of doing things.

It's an old problem, unless one becomes the chief steward of the Household Affairs Office, but that position is really too burdensome and troublesome, to be avoided at all costs.

"Truly fair-weather friends! But brother, there's even bigger good news!" Chu Yi shook his arm.

Bai Ningshuang beamed: "Yuan'er, have you heard of Duke An?"

"Duke An... could it be that someone from Duke An Mansion visited?"

Da Jing was founded with four kings and eight dukes, the four different-surname kings, and the eight state dukes were the founding merits of Da Jing. Their ancestors are enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple, and portraits are displayed in Lingyun Pavilion, as hereditary nobility that shares the nation's fortunes.

But Da Jing does not raise idle nobles; even princes and heirs must contribute to the court for merits, let alone the four kings and eight dukes.

A gentleman's blessings last three generations before declining; over a millennium since Da Jing's founding, the four kings and eight dukes have declined. Yet, like Prince Qing Mansion, no matter how they decline, they remain a Prince Mansion or a Duke Mansion, with status unreachable by ordinary nobility.

"Yuan'er, you're already twenty, it's time to marry." Bai Ningshuang joyfully said: "I was quite anxious, I didn't expect a marriage proposal would come!"

Previously, I was always worried, even Consort Rou in the palace was worried since the Prince Qing lineage is a single transmission. A minor mistake, and the lineage would be cut off. Having a next generation is truly secure.

We were preparing to thicken our face and seek a good marriage; if we couldn't find a family of power and influence, then seek a good girl from the common folk.

Unexpectedly, someone came to connect with Duke An Mansion for us.

Duke An Mansion is an excellent family.

"Yuan'er, I was friends with Duke An when we were young." Chu Minghou stroked his beard and said: "Duke An has a steady temperament, acts with integrity, and his family values are excellent, his legitimate daughter will not disappoint."

"I will go to the palace tomorrow, let my mother help investigate how this Duke An's legitimate daughter truly is."

Chu Yi hurriedly said: "Yes, yes, investigate thoroughly, can't be sloppy, big brother needs to marry someone satisfactory."

Chu Zhiyuan smiled: "Father, let's wait a bit longer."

It must be because the news of the winter hunt spread.

If winning the small competition might have had an element of luck, still being observed, then the performance during the winter hunt was enough to prove exceptional talent.

But there is no need to rush to marry.

With the Heavenly Yuan Technique, the Earth Origin Technique, and the Jade Lock Gold Barrier Skill, his cultivation speed will be exceedingly fast, perhaps in another year or so, he might become a Grandmaster.

A princely heir stepping into the Grandmaster realm is not in the same league as one in the Innate Realm, the status would also be entirely different.

By then, would there be any fear of not having a good girl to marry?

Bai Ningshuang waved her hand: "Yuan'er, don't worry about it, just focus on your practice, your Imperial Grandmother and I will carefully consider it."

Chu Minghou said: "Madam, let's listen to Yuan'er, don't rush to decide yet."

"Got it." Bai Ningshuang waved her jade hand.

——

When Chu Zhiyuan arrived at the Mingwu Hall, there were already three people on the martial arts training ground in the morning light.

Chu Zhitian and Chu Zhichuan were there, he wasn't surprised, the two were secretly competing, neither convinced by the other, determined to win.

The surprising one was actually Chu Mingxuan.

"Uncle Eighteen?" Chu Zhiyuan stepped forward, smiling with a cupped fist greeting.

Chu Mingxuan stood solemnly in the Purple Sun Stance and snorted: "Fourth, what are you smiling at?"

Chu Zhiyuan laughed: "Is Uncle Eighteen on the verge of stepping into the Innate Realm?"

"That's right." Chu Mingxuan grinned, retracting the Purple Sun Stance: "In just a few days... Oh, come to my place for drinks tonight, I got a great jar of wine!"

Chu Zhiyuan raised an eyebrow.

Chu Mingxuan said: "Ninth and Tenth are coming too, the four of us will make a table!"

Chu Zhiyuan laughed: "Alright."

It seems the winter hunt had a large impact; his interpersonal relationships finally thawed, with Chu Mingxuan actively inviting him into the circle.

Chu Mingxuan's cultivation wasn't the highest, his talent not the best, but he is a prince, a generation higher, holding the highest status among all the princes and heirs in the entire Mingwu Hall.

His initiative in accepting him meant that all the princes and heirs in Mingwu Hall had accepted him.

That day, he focused on practicing the Qi Cleansing Technique and the Binding Dragon Rope.

The Qi Cleansing Technique route was complex, most people would feel dizzy just looking at it, but he practiced it like a fish in water, becoming proficient after just an hour.

Then he began practicing the Binding Dragon Rope.

He mastered the Binding Dragon Rope in even less than a quarter of an hour.

Then, combining the Qi Cleansing Technique and the Binding Dragon Rope, he purified the inner qi in his dantian with the Qi Cleansing Technique, then according to the cultivation technique of the Binding Dragon Rope, gathered it into a single meridian.

By late afternoon, the twelve meridians in his body, aside from the governor and conception vessels, had a latent strand of purified qi rope in each of the remaining ten meridians.

A string of white qi, as thick as a thumb and half an arm's length.

The qi rope seemed tangible. In his inner vision, it appeared as a pale white ribbon, floating within the meridians.

In the Postnatal Realm, the power of the Binding Dragon Rope isn't apparent, but once in the Innate Realm, when inner qi transforms into True Qi that can be externalized, it can invade an opponent's meridians and cause blockages.