#86 - Chapter 86: Nineth Level of Golden Core

The Seventeenth Princess's own cultivation had reached the tenth level of the Golden Core stage, making her one of the strongest princes and princesses after the Fourth Prince and the Thirteenth Princess. The number of secret realm slots and cultivation resources she controlled was also relatively large.

Therefore, you accepted the Seventeenth Princess's invitation.

Although the Fourth Prince and the Thirteenth Princess certainly controlled the most secret realm slots and cultivation resources in the Wu Kingdom, with your current ranking of around twenty, you wouldn't catch their eye.

Becoming a guest retainer under the Seventeenth Princess was a relatively good choice for you at the moment.

You arrived at the Thirteenth Princess's residence. Inside, a banquet was being held. Besides you, there were six other invitees. Among them, a young man in white robes had a rather arrogant expression, sitting alone to the side.

The other five people were quite friendly when they saw you, nodding and greeting you.

You smiled in response, recognizing their identities. The five people who greeted you were also promising candidates in this Immortal Examination, with rankings similar to yours, all around the teens and twenties.

That arrogant young man in white robes was also a promising candidate in the Immortal Examination, named He Bai. His ranking was much higher, placing fourth! No wonder he sat alone with an arrogant expression. After all, he was fourth, almost in the top three, and almost qualified to become a guest retainer under the Fourth Prince and the Thirteenth Princess.

Presumably, this young man in white robes felt that being fourth placed him a level above you, hence his rather arrogant demeanor as he sat alone.

After a while, the steward of the Princess's residence arrived. The steward informed you that the Seventeenth Princess would arrive in a quarter of an hour and had prepared great gifts for everyone.

Afterward, the steward set you aside and went to He Bai's side, engaging in a rather flattering conversation. While conversing with the steward, He Bai cast his gaze towards you with a rather arrogant look, as if to say, 'See? This is the difference in treatment between me and you!'

The other Immortal Examination candidates' expressions were not very good due to being snubbed, but you didn't care too much. Your main goal this time was to lie low and slowly improve your cultivation. Everything else was secondary.

A quarter of an hour later, the Seventeenth Princess arrived, wearing a black palace dress, poised and graceful.

The Seventeenth Princess was quite skilled in dealing with people. Unlike the steward, she didn't specially treat He Bai differently at the banquet because of his high ranking. Instead, she treated each of the six promising candidates she recruited this time equally, making everyone feel like they were basking in the spring breeze.

After the banquet, you marveled at how these princes and princesses were indeed better at handling interpersonal relationships.

In addition, during the banquet, through some conversations with the Seventeenth Princess, you also understood what you would be doing as a guest retainer.

Simply put, the Seventeenth Princess would provide the necessary locations, spiritual veins, cultivation resources, and some precious secret realm slots.

What the guest retainers had to do was help the Seventeenth Princess go as far as possible in this imperial succession competition.

The Seventeenth Princess frankly stated that with the Fourth Prince and the Thirteenth Princess around, she had no chance of contending for the throne. Her goal was to contend for a first-class princedom.

In ancient times, not all sons of emperors were qualified to be enfeoffed as princes. Generally, only those who were favored or performed well could be enfeoffed. Now, in the Great Wu Dynasty, it's the same. Not every prince and princess is qualified to be enfeoffed.

The current Emperor of Great Wu has more than five hundred sons and daughters combined, but only a dozen or so are qualified to be enfeoffed. The Seventeenth Princess's goal is to compete for those dozen or so slots.

In the Great Wu Dynasty, being able to be enfeoffed as a prince is considered among the top echelon.

The Seventeenth Princess stated that the higher she ranked among the many princes and princesses, the more cultivation resources the dynasty would allocate to her. Naturally, you, the guest retainers, would also receive more cultivation resources.

In short, you are bound together in a mutually beneficial relationship.

After the banquet, you rested for a night in the residence granted by the Seventeenth Princess. Then, on the morning of May 21st, 330th year of the Taixu Calendar, you began your life as a guest retainer.

For the first two years, your life was very monotonous and simple, just breathing in spiritual energy and cultivating every day. The last three years were slightly busier. You followed the Seventeenth Princess to handle some miscellaneous matters of local sects' rebellions, but overall, the days were still peaceful, without encountering too much danger.

After five years like this, in the 335th year of the Taixu Calendar, your cultivation reached the fourth level of the Golden Core stage, breaking through to the mid-stage of the Golden Core realm!

"Not bad, one level up in five years, and breaking through from the early stage to the mid-stage, this speed is quite good."

Lin Changqing internally inspected the spiritual power in his dantian. He was very satisfied with his arrival at the fourth level of the Golden Core stage.

Ordinary cultivators, if they want to break through from the third level of the early Golden Core stage to the fourth level of the mid-Golden Core stage, some may have to grind for forty or fifty years, and some may not be able to break through in their entire lives.

For example, Real Person Changming of Qingzhou has been stuck at the third level of the Golden Core stage for almost his entire life.

Even if he is a Nine-Pattern Golden Core, with extraordinary talent, generally speaking, it would still take more than ten years of polishing to go from the third level of the Golden Core stage to the fourth level.

So he was really satisfied with breaking through in five years.

Lin Changqing's breakthrough of one level in five years, in addition to the abundance of spiritual power in Central Continent, another important point is that he has the Seventeenth Princess to rely on, so he can enjoy many of the Wu Kingdom's top cultivation resources, such as many rare elixirs.

With the blessing of various factors, he was able to go from the early Golden Core stage to the mid-Golden Core stage in five years.

"Breaking through one level in five years, even if the speed slows down in the later stages, I still have nearly three hundred years of lifespan. I can grind to the tenth level of the Golden Core stage in this lifetime."

Lin Changqing thought optimistically.

Although you were already very optimistic, no one expected that the speed of your cultivation breakthrough would be even faster than you thought.

From the 355th year of the Taixu Calendar to the 360th year of the Taixu Calendar, your peaceful life was slightly disrupted. The Great Wu Dynasty discovered a Heavenly Wolf Secret Realm near the Demon Kingdom of the Ten Thousand Mountains in the Northern Desert.

The princes and princesses were assigned tasks, requiring them to enter and explore. You and the other guest retainers followed the Seventeenth Princess in.

The Heavenly Wolf Secret Realm is a secret realm left behind by a Demon Emperor of the ancient era, with many opportunities inside.

In these five years, you followed the Seventeenth Princess and obtained many benefits in the Heavenly Wolf Secret Realm. In just five years, you went from the fourth level of the Golden Core stage to the sixth level, breaking through two levels in five years!

You exclaimed, "As expected, it's good to level up with the Central Continent Dynasty behind you. If I hadn't become a guest retainer under the Seventeenth Princess, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to enter this Heavenly Wolf Secret Realm at all."

On June 18th, 360th year of the Taixu Calendar, you heard even more shocking news.

It is said that many Nascent Soul Heavenly Lords of the Great Wu Dynasty joined forces to break through the deepest part of the Heavenly Wolf Secret Realm and obtained unimaginable benefits.

The Great Wu Human Emperor decided to take out some of the benefits from the deepest part of the Heavenly Wolf Secret Realm as a competition reward for the princes and princesses.

This competition is intended to test the princes and princesses' level of cultivating their respective forces. In short, it is to have the guest retainers under the princes and princesses compete, divided into the Nascent Soul level and the Golden Core level.

The first prize for the Golden Core level includes a Nascent Soul spiritual object, a high-grade Dao artifact, and a bottle of Heavenly Wolf Liquid. The Heavenly Wolf Liquid is transformed from the true essence left behind by the Heavenly Wolf Demon Emperor of the ancient era. Taking it can allow a person to break through three levels in a row at the Golden Core level without side effects!

Hearing this news, you were moved. Not to mention the Nascent Soul spiritual object, just the Heavenly Wolf Liquid...

"If I can get the Heavenly Wolf Liquid, I can go from the sixth level of the Golden Core stage to the ninth level in a short time!" Lin Changqing narrowed his eyes, he was very tempted.