Chương 29: 19.2. The Faram Estate

Miu poked at some ants on the ground with a stick she had found. They were the only things weaker than her in this place. Even the servants were all at the peak of Qi refining or in the Meridian Opening realm. She stiffened. A pressure pressed down on her, giving her a headache. This level of headache meant there was another Nascent Soul monster nearby. Apart from that other one that obliterated her disguise technique with one finger. All her savings for that technique so she could quietly leave the city.

All for nothing. The old butler of the estate— the one the 4th princess had dragged her to— ran towards the front gate, pausing a moment before unlatching it and pushing it open.

"Welcome back, lord Faram."

"Apologies for being late. I happened to be looking over my masterpiece around the Grand Archive when I met a man of similar mind. Please, prepare a room for him."

"Of course my lord."

"I would love to continue talking, but I have an appointment tonight that I should already be late for."

"Apologies for distracting you from your work. Thank you once again for hosting me tonight." Miu saw a white robed, young looking scholar in a black and white yin yang robe, with long and thick silver hair, rush through the courtyard and towards the main building where she remembered the princess had been waiting impatiently.

"I'll show you to the foyer first. Since you're a guest personally invited by lord Faram, it will take a few minutes to prepare a room."

"Thank you." Miu watched as the old butler escorted another young man in. They had long blond hair tied into a ponytail at the back, with a gold looking hair ornament that dangled down near their ear with some loose strands of hair. He was wearing purple and gold robes, with Clear Mirror Sect embroidered on the back and with some goldish bracers with intricate patterns. And, as was the rule in this place the princess had dragged her too— The newcomer was naturally at the Open Palace realm as well.

Heavens forbid, someone with lower cultivation than her entered the estate. She sighed, looking back down to the ants, poking one with the stick. One ant didn't die when she poked it, so she poked it again. The stick was snapped by a small, sudden surge in Qi, then the ant started trying to rush up her foot and Miu threw the stick across the path in surprise before she slapped the ant, hard, with her hand. It died this time.

"Haaaahhh…." Miu groaned standing up. At this rate even the ants were going to be beating her up within a few more months. So much for being the most talented and strongest person in her village. Let alone higher realms, she had discovered she wasn't even strong among her own realm, late stage of Qi gathering.

"Mountains beyond mountains… Heights beyond heights." Miu recited the poem, before idly following the old butler and newcomer. She had nothing to do anyway. The princess had said that since she didn't come in the morning, she had to stay here until she took care of something— which she said could take a few days— before they returned to the Imperial Palace. Miu wasn't looking forward to that.

She turned her attention to Jung, who was poking his head out from beneath her outer robes, looking at the old butler and newcomer as well.

"What do you think, Jung?"

"Sssssss."

"Yeah, that seems about right." Miu agreed. The pressure around just this one person in purple robes was even stronger than the royal guards that accompanied the princess, holding her flag. Jung must feel it even clearer than herself. Miu sighed. She had accidentally made a new friend while exploring the capital like… as a country bumpkin. She thought they were just a well-mannered commoner, who didn't mind showing a country bumpkin around the city for a bit. Nope. They turned out to be the fourth princess.

A fact Miu only discovered after she accepted visiting her home for a while. A maid at the Golden Core realm appeared out of thin air and gave her a token and a letter containing "directions." It was only at that moment that she realised. She f#cked up. She managed to do it again when she spent all her savings on a disguise technique and on an early return trip ticket. It started when the ship's captain said there was a delay. Then Jung had hid in her clothes, trembling.

The next moment, a voice announced the princess's arrival and what must have been hundreds of thousands of people all bowed simultaneously. Yet as the princess called her out, not only were the people bowing, but she could feel their gazes on her. There were so many. It was like she could feel them pressing against her. The old butler led the newcomer to a foyer in one of the side buildings, before bowing slightly and leaving with swift steps.

A maid in a tight green cheongsam brought out tea and snacks, placing it on the bench beside the newcomer, before excusing herself.

"I'll be nearby, please call out if you require anything sir." The maid disappeared while Miu peered in through the open doors, from the covered walkway that surrounded the single story buildings. The newcomer looked around for a bit, sampled one of the snacks and then tried the tea. Then, his gaze landed on Miu.

"Can I do something for you, miss?" He asked. Miu wondered what she should say. She had just followed out of boredom. She sighed in her heart and supposed she should still be respectful.

"Miu, from Green Terrace Province." Miu stepped into full view, giving a small bow. She hadn't seen the princess bow ever and the cupped fist salute had seemed like a more militaristic form of respect, so she wasn't sure if she was meant to do so or not. The newcomer eyed her for a moment, before standing up, cupping a fist, but not bowing, "Faust, Inner Disciple of the Clear Mirror sect." He introduced, before sitting back down. It went silent for a moment. Miu looked around idly. The servants were… Well…

Subservient. The guards were stone faced and the princess made very one sided conversation while those two maids, Rin and Lin didn't speak much. Answering questions —or refusing to answer— as concisely as possible with no further room for small talk or anything else.

"Uh… What's Clear Mirror Sect?" Miu struggled to find something to talk about.

"..." The newcomer, Faust, just stared at her. I know it was a stupid question, but can you please not stare at me like that. It's making it more embarrassing. Miu thought, bearing the gaze.

"Well…" Faust finally began, "... It's a sect."

"..." Miu felt her eyes twitch. Another terrible conversation partner.

"One of the six first rate sects in the empire. Far from the level of those independent sects." He continued and Miu perked up. There was hope after all.

"Though, supposedly those independent sects have an agreement with the empire where the mortal population is still administered by the empire, just with a few caveats." Faust finished.

"Can you tell me more? I've heard of the big sects, but I don't think I've heard their names!" Miu jumped onto a nearby seat. He wasn't the greatest conversation partner, but he was still better than anyone else she had found in the manor so far! Faust looked at her strangely for a moment, before clearing his throat.

"Well— There's the Holy Sea sect… Or church… If that's what you want to call it… To the South of the empire." He started.

"Then, there's the Divine Moon Sect… Or Cult, according to the Holy Sea. To the empires southwest. Up in the northwest is the Red Dragon sect. The Empire's closest ally on the continent, basically a part of the empire since the current sect leader is from the royal family." Miu nodded along, trying to map it out in her head.

"What else is around the empire?" She urged.

"... The empire's vassal, the Starry Skies Kingdom, is to the south, between the Holy Sea and Divine Moon sects. The barbarian tribes territory is to the west, between the Divine Moon and Red Dragon sects. Then the whole north is the continent's Northern Wastelands."

"The northern wastelands?"

"Two people above the Void Returning realm fought there."

"Whats above the Void Returning realm?"

"I don't know." Faust sipped his tea calmly.

"..." Wow. Miu thought. He must have been the first person she'd ever met who outright admitted he didn't know something. She thought about all those pretentious pricks she'd met, who'd dug themselves into the deepest holes and taken massive reputational hits when they could have just said their wrong and moved on. Miu sighed, "Why can't those heirs admit when they're wrong?" She complained, melting into her seat.

"Authority is hard to maintain when you're always wrong." Faust answered simply.

"People will follow the man who's never been wrong in their life over the one who's made multiple mistakes." He shrugged, "But that's just my theory. We can never truly know." Miu almost teared up. Apart from his cultivation, he was a normal person. She almost didn't think they existed in this city. The old butler returned, "Your room is ready, Sir Faust." Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work! Faust nodded and stood up to follow.

Miu wanted to follow and keep talking, but she felt like it would be strange if she followed someone to their room. She watched as the two left then sighed, standing from the chair she had sat on before she reluctantly left.

"Ssssss!" Jung stuck his little green head out again, before curling around Miu's neck from under her outer robes.

"I know! It's a miracle. I wonder if I can talk him into helping me escape the capital? Surely the princess can't follow me that far… Right?" She said excitedly, but she doubted he would cross the princess. His expression had been rather… resigned when the old butler told him the princess was here. Miu sighed again, walking back through the courtyard to the other side on the east, passing through an interior boundary wall of the estate, where two royal guards stood at attention.

She had tried to get them to talk, or even react to her, but even when she attacked as hard as she could, they didn't even flinch. Rather, she almost broke her hand against their armour. The estate's whole eastern courtyard was swarming with red uniformed officers that the princess had explained were from the imperial military's Westoria garrison, where she held the strongest influence.

Coming up to the most heavily guarded building, surrounded by several royal guards, Miu entered the room given to her, under the scrutinising gaze of some of the guards. Even closing the door and hearing a low thrum as formations and arrays activated, Miu could feel the pressure of another Nascent Soul monster, the princess's personal bodyguard, from two rooms over. Really, she couldn't imagine having a bodyguard at the Nascent Soul realm.

She dreamed of forming a Golden Core and being the strongest person in the town near her village— where the town lord was at the peak of the Open Palace realm. Even now, slumping back against the room's doors and sliding down, Miu felt the constantly shifting auras of peak Open Palace realm cultivators moving around the estate. The uniformed soldiers were already strong, but the Royal Guard were on another level, the pressure around them easily doubled. Then there was that guy, Faust.

She was pretty sure he wasn't even at the peak of the Open Palace realm, but the pressure around him was easily worth 8 or 10 of the royal guards. Miu covered her face for a moment, sucking in a breath. She stayed like that for a few moments, before standing up and moving to the bed, where she sat down cross legged. Jung slithered down from around her neck and onto the bed, lying down. Miu took a few deep breaths. Then, she began grabbing Qi from the surroundings with some of the Qi from her dan-tian.

She twisted the Qi's together, rotating them rapidly until different types of Qi started flying off. She kept on spinning them until her Qi blended with the remaining Qi, which if done properly, should be relatively pure spirit Qi— according to the old man in the village who taught her that is. Drawing the Spirit Qi into her body, Miu let it spread out, joining with the Spirit Qi she had managed to store in her body already. She meditated while she let the Spirit Qi in her body balance out.

Once the Spirit Qi stored in her body had balanced out, Miu didn't rush to do anything. She waited until she felt ready before pulling some Spirit Qi from her body, to inside her dan-tian. She had to be careful. The old man at home had warned that any mistakes here could damage the dan-tian. When you were born with a strong enough dan-tian, it was your body's only reference for your Innate Qi. If it was damaged, the old man said it became impossible to know what your own Innate Qi was like.

So, Miu carefully let the Spirit Qi pass through her dan-tian's boundary. Once it was inside, she began rotating it slowly in a circle, then expanding the circle bit by bit. As the circling Spirit Qi was close to touching the edge of her dan-tian, Miu slowed down even more, only just brushing its boundaries. Then, Miu stayed like that. This was how she had been taught to progress from the late stage of Qi Refining to the peak.

Supposedly the closer to the boundary you moved the Spirit Qi, the faster it would transform into Innate Qi. But at the same time, the closer it was, the higher the chance of damaging your dan-tian, slightly altering the Innate Qi that made it up and permanently damaging your path if not crippling it. Since there wasn't much else to do, miu decided she would just cultivate until someone came for her.

Back in the Clear Mirror sect, Rozaline approached Clear Roze Mountain, ascending the steep stone steps between a steep grassland covered in red and gold flowers. Eventually, Rozaline reached the top, where a walled off manor, not much larger than the Inner Sect ones, stood proudly, golden vines with red flowers spilling over the walls. Rozaline took a deep breath, putting her fan away before pushing open the front gate.

Inside the front courtyard were simple some more gardens, a path leading up to the manor itself. Rozaline walked up to the covered walkway in front of the manor, then slowly got on her knees, sitting in front of the front door, but not entering.

"You called for me grand-uncle?" Rozaline asked.

"Indeed." A voice echoed.

"May I ask what for?"

"Your elder brother is going into seclusion to try reaching the Nascent Soul realm. However his position in the Rising Dragons and Phoenixes competition cannot go unfulfilled."

"I understand." Rozaline bowed her head towards the door.

"Should I leave for the Imperial Capital immediately?"

"Yes. The clan estate there will prepare everything you need."

"I won't disappoint the clan." Rozaline stood up, keeping her head bowed and cupping a fist in her hand.

"Mhm." With that, Rozaline turned around, walking out of the estate and back down the mountain. Half way down Rozaline withdrew her fan and opened it, waving some air towards her face.

"My, my. Making me walk all the way up there for something that could have been delivered with a talisman." She complained. Even if her grand-uncle heard her, she didn't care. She felt there had to be a limit to formalities like this. She looked up to the sky for a moment, tapping her chin with her fan.

"I recall, that senior brother… Faust was going to the Imperial Capital as well… Hmm…" She mumbled to herself, before continuing down the stairs. Faust looked around the room the old butler showed him to.

"Is this acceptable, sir Faust?"

"Of course. Thank you for the hospitality." Faust cupped his fist in respect but didn't bow. It could be hard to tell when to bow or not, but his cultivation was higher than the old butlers peak Meridian Opening and guests were usually treated with higher status than servants. Hmm… Maybe Tao has a point about socialising being hard? Faust wondered. He didn't have any difficulties, but even Sirius made mistakes sometimes. A merchant's daughter not knowing how to socialise? Ridiculous.

"It's my duty." The old butler bowed, saluting Faust back.

"If you require anything, just ask one of the maids, one should be within earshot so long as the room's formations aren't activated." He added before turning and leaving. Faust entered the room and closed the door behind himself.

"Haaa…." Faust sighed, stalking forward and rubbing his temples. The Nascent Soul senior he met was one of the empire's greatest technique and formation masters, Faram Platier. Someone he respected deeply for their work in technique analysis. Then he was invited to their estate. Ok. That alone wasn't a problem. But the princess being here was a problem. Faram being her tutor was another problem. He had a lot of theories about social engineering in his head, but few had been put to the test.

So it would be best to minimize contact with Faram and especially the princess. At least for a few years until the princess wouldn't be randomly approaching her tutor's estate. Faust continued to think even in the mostly dark room, with only a single candle lit, spreading a gentle orange glow while some incense burned atop a wooden dresser. Some blue moonlight spilled in through the room's only window, a large circular one that covered most of one wall.

Faust remembered seeing the building raised quite high on its stone foundation, so without flying it would be impossible to see in from outside. A great design he thought. Then Miu's face crossed Faust's mind and he groaned. That was a problem too. He hoped that interaction wouldn't summon her highness to his doorstep somehow. Some people would die for a connection to royalty, but that was mostly nobility, who had at least some ability to defend themselves and a clan which could make use of any kind of connection.

Below the Nascent Soul realm and without any clan however, Faust would be at their every whim. A situation he'd rather avoid. But really. What was he supposed to do there, Miu just approached him out of nowhere. Why? Are you miserable about being the princess's new toy and wanna drag me down too? He complained internally, pulling down his face, before flicking his wrist and causing the dial in the corner of the room to turn, activating the formations.

Instantly, the pressure and auras of the surrounding cultivators almost disappeared and the room went dead silent— except for the low, melodious hum of formations and arrays. Faust idly looked down, sensing the arrays. Someone of Faram's level could easily make completely silent formations and arrays, but the low hum was incredibly relaxing, filling the void that would be left by the sound suppression formation.

Still, there was no aura suppression formation, so Faust could still feel the auras pressing against him slightly. It was probably to prevent people from being unable to detect assassins, but really, the auras of two Nascent Soul experts in the estate right now made it hard to relax. Faust pulled out some formation flags from his spatial bag and set them up around the bed. Then, he changed clothes and used a spell to clean himself thoroughly. It wasn't as refreshing as a bath, but he couldn't be bothered right now.

After 4 or so days without sleep, even if mostly meditating, Faust was starting to feel a slight strain, one he had no reason to bear. Lying down in bed and closing his eyes, Faust smiled slightly at his aura suppression formation. He couldn't tell what was happening outside the simple formation array at all. Even if the princess was murdered or something tonight. He wouldn't be involved at all! He didn't see, sense or hear a damn thing! Sweet dreams followed. …

"... Active Heavenly Qi… Blublu…" Faust mumbled in his sleep. The wind howled through the city streets.

"... Formations… Heaven… Corridor…" The hum of the arrays and formations under the floor briefly fluctuate, like a momentary pause.

"Stable Unstable Formations… Qi Coupling…" The moonlight was suddenly obscured by thick clouds passing over the capital.

"EUREKA!!!" Faust suddenly shouted, waking up. He looked around. He wasn't in the sect right now. Faust snapped his fingers causing the nob in the corner to twist so hard it almost snapped, activating the room's lighting formation as Faust drew several large, empty scrolls and empty notebooks out of his spatial pouch, as well as several quills, brushes and pencils. He began madly scribbling the technique that had just appeared in his dream down onto paper.

He had split apart a spell into a spell portion and a technique portion to cast it faster— the Heaven's Smite spell technique— before. So, it should be possible. He knew it was possible to turn arrays into techniques and that arrays could be used as formations. The same way Faram had gotten around needing a Golden Core expert eternally present to utilise Heaven and Earth Qi, Faust could do the same with a technique. He had even touched on the topic with Faram, but he claimed he didn't think it was possible.

Faust didn't mean to doubt someone on Faram's level, but the dream he just had was so vivid. It was like the heavens themselves had guided him through a vision in the form of a dream. In the dream, the sensations had been so real, he even felt his Qi sense being used. Then, he dreamed about one sidedly dominating a Golden Core expert in combat. Such a thing was near impossible of course.

The difference between Qi Refining and Meridian Opening could be crossed, but from Meridian Opening to Open Palace it was a steep cliff, only happening maybe once a decade on this continent. As for beating a Golden Core realm expert— even the weakest 3rd rate Golden Core— whilst still at the Open Palace realm? It was a tall order. Occasional stories from the central continent, but there hadn't been such an incident on the Golden Sun Continent since at least 4 dynasties ago.

Faust didn't think the technique would work as well as in his dream. But if it worked even vaguely like he imagined it could, then he would be virtually invincible among the Open Palace realm. His hands moved so fast that the pages even tore or got burned in some places, but Faust couldn't stop. Every second that passed Faust felt he was forgetting more and more of the technique idea. He focused on getting as much of his memory onto paper as he could.

He wished he had invested in carrying some Spirit Jade tokens to simply store the whole memory in before it degraded. The pages and scroll filled one after the other. 320 pages were filled with large, messy writing and diagrams in less than 3 hours. As was the 40 foot scroll filled with diagrams and brief mentions of the equations and theories needed to make the technique viable. Faust ran out of paper. He practically threw open the door, stepping outside his room, "Paper! I need paper! As quickly as possible!"

He shouted. Silence. Faust cursed under his breath. The room was the usual style of open on one side by a covered walkway that was open to a graden on one side, whilst the other side was on a downward slope so that the room windows would be too high to see through from the ground. He powerwalked through the open corridor and past other rooms, passing through the west boundary wall and into the main courtyard with the front gate. He looked around. There were no lights around. Strange. He thought.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" Faust called out. There was no response. Even the main building was unusually dark. Faust walked towards the main building cautiously. He looked towards the east of the estate. The royal family's flags were still waving in the wind, peaking above the walls. There was a snap. Faust turned around. A figure in all black clothes met his eyes, their foot between the snapped remnants of a small stick that had been left by someone on the otherwise pristine path through the gardens.

Faust eyes widened. This was dangerous. He hadn't even sensed them until they accidentally made a sound. His heart rate increased. His eyes narrowed. The black robed figure pulled out a knife. Faust raised his hands, pulling one foot back. He had his flying sword with him in his spatial pouch but had left his actual sword, Orion, inside the room. Sh#t. He thought.