CHAPTER 1208: CHAPTER 53: I’M NOT MODEST EITHER (1/3)

The person who arrived had a deep and restrained aura, a square face, but unlike the usual Imperial Court Town King, who naturally exuded authority, he instead had a relaxed and easy-going demeanor. Without a doubt, it was the Northern Border Town King, Prince De, Xuan Guang Ge.

"Uncle Guang Ge?"

Seeing Prince De’s incarnation appear, You Ruhui first furrowed her brows, then calmly said, "Just call me Ruhui. I am no longer the Princess Mingjing of the Imperial Court."

"Alright."

Prince De smiled. His true body needed to remain in the Imperial Court, but his incarnation could travel freely. Although Prince De had taken over King Jing’s position as Town King, You Ruhui also knew he was a good person who had helped An Jing, so their conversation wasn’t particularly awkward. "I was worried you weren’t in a good state, but it seems that your cultivation is quite smooth. The Nature Master truly is remarkable."

"Alright." Prince De Xuan Guang Ge smiled and did not press the matter. His true body needed to oversee the central area of the Imperial Court, allowing this incarnation to visit. His gaze swept over You Ruhui, carrying a hint of imperceptible admiration: "I was worried you weren’t in a good state, but it seems your cultivation is extremely smooth, your energy is harmonized, and your foundation is much more solid than expected, far exceeding my capabilities back then."

He turned his head and changed the subject, looking at An Jing: "The Nature Master truly is remarkable to transform you so completely in such a short time."

"Please sit." An Jing privately interacted with Prince De more casually and comfortably, but since they were still at the Dragon Palace banquet, he couldn’t let the Imperial Court know about his relationship with Prince De. Naturally, Prince De sat down, and a dragon blood servant delivered a glass of wine. He sipped it and marveled, "The ice brew of the Dragon Palace is indeed a secret tradition. Were it not for the grand banquet, even over there at the Imperial Court, one would rarely get to taste it..."

While speaking, he raised his glass and An Jing clinked glasses with him, smiling: "Prince De, why did you suddenly come over? There was no information at all earlier."

He thought the attention of the Da Chen Imperial Court was entirely attracted by the flowering of the Undying Tree, leaving no energy to deal with the banquet of Zhaolin.

"It was a last-minute decision, guided by His Majesty’s intention."

Prince De straightforwardly said, after finishing his glass of jade liquid, he looked at An Jing: "This time, I mainly have two official purposes for coming here... Firstly, it concerns our Heavenly Sword Mountain Master."

"Heavenly Sword Mountain Master?"

An Jing, being the Mountain Master, perked up at this, realizing what the Da Chen Imperial Court intended to say: "You don’t mean..."

Sure enough, Prince De nodded, his voice clearly transmitting to An Jing’s ears, without lowering the volume, enough for those nearby paying attention to overhear: "Yes, according to the court discussions, it has been unanimously decided that you will serve as the representative of our Da Chen Imperial Court for this Dragon Palace banquet!"

Upon hearing this, the words ’Da Chen representative’ instantly stirred a commotion and numerous curious glances were cast towards An Jing.

Hui Tianyu was particularly shocked: "What, the Imperial Court is planning this? Not sending their own people and just letting An Jing be the representative?"

"Such a convenient opportunity!"

"Interesting." An Jing paid no mind to these discussions and looks. Due to the flowering of the Undying Tree, chaos within Da Chen made it impossible to send top officials or true blood of the Emperor, so choosing him, theoretically also a member of Da Chen, as the ’Heavenly Sword Mountain Master’ was unexpected yet somewhat logical.

However, An Jing raised his eyebrows, chuckled lightly, and shook his head: "But frankly, why not find someone more capable? I sincerely say, as the Sect Master of the Bright Mirror Sect, how could I serve as the representative of Da Chen?"

[Don’t refuse, there’s truly something good]

Prince De’s eyes flashed, and he solemnly said: "For such an important task, who else but you? Please don’t decline, Mountain Master." An Jing understood and followed suit: "Since the court values it so highly, I shall take on this responsibility."

After the polite refusal and acceptance, a stream of light flashed from Prince De’s hand, revealing two items. He first handed over a token, which An Jing received and toyed with for a while.

This token had an ancient appearance, resembling scales or some extremely smooth fiber, exhibiting a greenish-gold color all over with dragon patterns carved on it. The four large characters ’Heavenly Sword Mountain Master’ were inscribed on the front, while the back displayed the Heavenly Sword Mountain landscape split by a sword mark.

An Jing slightly sensed it, immediately aware that this token contained immense and boundless Emperor’s Dragon Qi, clearly signifying his identity as the Da Chen representative this time.

"Wait."

Upon deeper sensing, An Jing was even more surprised, observing quietly and noticing the essence of the item: "This is... Divine Wood?"

"Neither metal nor jade, dragon-scale wood pattern... Subdue Evil, can you tell what this material is?"

"Eternally enduring, indestructible and immortal—this is the heartwood of the Divine Wood!" Subdue Evil, who was also observing, confirmed with surprise: "Dao Courtyard, this is undoubtedly the core of the ’Heavenly Undying Tree’ of the Da Chen Imperial Court!"

"Is Da Chen crazy, giving you this thing?"

"Don’t say that, they just don’t know." An Jing couldn’t help but want to laugh—indeed, the Da Chen Imperial Court had no clue about his relationship with Little Qi and the Ancestral Dragon, nor did they know that An Jing had already set his sights on the Heavenly Undying Tree.

He had been considering how to engage with events regarding the Undying Tree after the Dragon Palace banquet, and it seemed as if everything was being handed to him on a silver platter!

Prince De, of course, knew nothing of this. Seeing An Jing slightly shocked after receiving the token, he smiled and said: "This token contains the vitality of the Undying Tree and is in itself a divine weapon with healing divine skills."

"After the banquet, if it’s still intact, perhaps your sect could enhance it to embody a celestial prohibition, achieving a spiritual pinnacle divine weapon!"

Magic artifacts hold skill prohibitions; divine weapons are forged with divine prohibitions, and between divine weapons and Heavenly Martial exists a great chasm called ’spirituality’ capable of naturally interacting with the law of heaven and earth and growing autonomously.

Prince De’s Kanming Bell was such a pinnacle divine weapon, with a celestial prohibition where spirituality, gathered from numerous divine skills, rested at the central point of the Heavenly Spirit.

To progress further, one must transform divine skills into great divine skills, converting celestial prohibitions into divine prohibitions, forging twelve Circulation Divine Prohibitions akin to the ’Heavenly Profound True Talisman’ — that lays the foundation for Lingxiao Daoist Weapon.

An Jing’s personal cultivation of the ’Taibai Luminous Godly Ban’ was a similar Dharma Gate, where every nine prohibitions equaled a divine skill, akin to a celestial prohibition. When perfected with twelve divine skills, it reached twelve Circulation Divine Prohibitions, attaining the status of the Lingxiao position.

The path beyond that needed to be discovered independently.

"The court truly is generous."

An Jing nodded slightly, understanding that for the Imperial Court, such a valuable item would be best reserved to suppress destiny within the earth vein, yet bringing it out for him showed extreme generosity.

After all, Prince De, when he rose to power, had nothing of this sort as a gift! This was evident from the envy in Prince De’s expression.

However, this was not the end.

"As for this..."

Next, Prince De provided an oddly-shaped Great Void Magical Instrument, resembling a leaf, and indeed it was. It made An Jing’s eyebrows jump again: "An Undying Tree leaf?"

No, it was a Jade Slip made from an Undying Tree leaf!

Receiving it, An Jing instinctively sent his Divine Sense to probe, and both he and the Evil Suppressing Sword Spirit were shocked: "This Dao rhyme?"

An Jing and Subdue Evil had seen a lot in their time, seldom being overly surprised by treasures, but the Dao rhyme contained within this Undying Tree leaf was extraordinarily precious.

[Emperor’s Book of Celestial Decree, Profound Cyan Imperial Secret]

"The core secret technique of the Imperial Court?"