A mature master of a fish pond did not constantly monitor every single fish in the water.
Consequently, they could not know the precise movements of every fish at all times.
However, Lianshan Xin did not know this yet.
He assumed he held a rather prominent rank in Qi Shiyun's pond, so he was seriously pondering how he would talk his way out of trouble once Qi Shiyun came to hold him accountable.
"Tanhua Qi, you wouldn't want anyone else to find out that your handpicked Chosen Son of Heaven killed the imperial princess, would you?"
Lianshan Xin immediately discarded this line that reeked far too much of Japanese melodrama.
If Qi Shiyun flew into a rage and smacked him to death on the spot, he would lose out far too dearly.
"Tanhua Qi, if I said I didn't know she was a princess before I struck, would you believe me?"
Lianshan Xin thought it over and decided that whether Qi Shiyun believed it or not, he would believe it first.
Up to this point, was there any ironclad proof that Dai Yueying was a princess left among the common folk by His Majesty?
Not at all.
Heaven knew, earth knew, Lianshan Xin knew, and Qi Shiyun knew. But beyond that, there was genuinely no evidence to prove it.
Based on all the intelligence Lianshan Xin had pieced together, even Blood Guanyin probably had no idea. Otherwise, she would have raised Dai Yueying properly to hoard her as a rare commodity for the future.
So as long as Qi Shiyun did not speak of it, all would be well.
As for whether Qi Shiyun would tell?
If she was smart, she wouldn't.
After all, he was the Chosen Son of Heaven personally handpicked by Qi Shiyun. Since he had killed someone of imperial royal blood, the moment the matter came to light, Qi Shiyun would share joint liability.
What Lianshan Xin truly worried about was whether he might frighten Qi Shiyun.
"Earlier, I offended the Crown Prince right in front of Qi Shiyun, and now I've killed a princess... Although she feels like a crazy beauty at heart, all she dared to do in front of the Crown Prince was kill one of his guests. Facing an outlaw lunatic like me, can Qi Shiyun handle it?"
Lianshan Xin felt it necessary to manage upward.
He had to help expand Qi Shiyun's courage and tolerance threshold.
The Dragon Supporting lineage definitely never meant propping up a dragon; it meant turning dragon qi to one's own use.
Who was to say that killing a princess was not simply another way of making dragon qi serve him?
Of course, that was all for later.
Feeling the Dragon Slaying True Intent growing ever stronger inside him, accompanied by an increasingly palpable pain, Lianshan Xin dared not dally.
After confirming that both Dai Yueying and Dai Yongzhen had "dissolved in water," Lianshan Xin immediately returned home.
Bailudong Academy was too far.
Huichun Hall was closer.
With no time to greet Lianshan Jingcheng or He Miaojun, Lianshan Xin dashed straight to his room. After bolting the door from the inside, he quickly sat cross-legged on the bed and began meditating to channel and comb through the Dragon Slaying True Intent within his body, attempting to master this power.
Even as he alleviated his pain, he rapidly enhanced his own strength.
Outside the room.
Lianshan Jingcheng and He Miaojun were both somewhat bewildered.
He Miaojun looked at Lianshan Jingcheng in confusion and asked, "What's wrong with Little Xin? Why did he look like he was in pain?"
Lianshan Jingcheng hesitated slightly. "Based on my years of experience treating martial artists, why does Little Xin look a bit like... he's having a breakthrough?"
"A breakthrough? Didn't Little Xin just take a Qi Condensation Pill and break through to the Qi Condensation realm?" He Miaojun grew even more perplexed.
After his breakthrough, Lianshan Xin had stopped by home specifically to flaunt his realm to them.
He had never bothered hiding his competence from his parents. Would parents ever worry about their child being too successful? Why wouldn't you let your parents share in your success?
Lianshan Jingcheng's tone turned hesitant. "I might be mistaken, but he looked like... like he's about to break through the Qi Condensation realm and advance to the True Intent realm?"
"What?"
He Miaojun was so shocked her voice rose several pitches. "Little Xin only just advanced to the Qi Condensation realm today by popping pills, and now he's breaking through again? How could anyone be this fast?"
Lianshan Jingcheng rubbed his nose uncertainly, equally incredulous. "Maybe my eyes deceived me, or... is this what an immortal cultivator is like? It seems quite normal that mortal commoners like us wouldn't understand."
He Miaojun: "..."
Could an immortal cultivator truly be so unreasonable?
...
Inside the room.
Lianshan Xin slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air.
Then he opened his eyes.
At that exact moment, light flashed through the quiet room like lightning.
And the turbid air he exhaled gradually coalesced before him into a divine dragon brandishing its fangs and claws.
The external release of true qi and the morphing of true qi's shape were abilities unique to the peak of the Qi Condensation realm.
Lianshan Xin reached out his right hand.
The divine dragon that should have soared across the Nine Heavens was trapped within the square inches of his palm, unable to break free.
Watching the thrashing dragon clawing before him, yet forever unable to escape the palm of his hand, Lianshan Xin's gaze turned complex, and he let out a soft sigh.
"So that's how it is.
"Dai Yueying... really was a treasure trove of a girl. With her death, she opened a brand-new path of cultivation for me.
"Qi Shiyun was right. An emperor's bloodline is indeed the premier choice to aid the cultivation of the Dragon Supporting lineage, but she was only half right.
"Her path of cultivation took a wrong turn. Or rather, what she cultivates is a castrated version."
Reflecting on the insights beyond just the intent that he had comprehended from the Dragon Slaying True Intent, Lianshan Xin felt all the more conflicted.
The inheritances of immortal arts possessed their own profound wonders. It was just that the world had undergone drastic upheavals, changing sea to land. A thousand years later, the immortal arts had gathered dust.
By pure happenstance, Lianshan Xin had used the "direct bloodline of a true dragon emperor" as consumable material to achieve the Dragon Slaying True Intent.
And from the Dragon Slaying True Intent, he had fathomed this lineage's true, core secret.
Qi Shiyun had told him that immortal cultivators of antiquity, relying on their immense lifespans, could cultivate the Dragon-Supporting Immortal Art entirely on their own. It was only after heaven and earth drastically transformed and martial arts flourished that practitioners—whose lifespans as martial artists could not compare to those of cultivators—had to borrow the imperial qi of an earthly true dragon emperor to cultivate.
Yet the truth was not entirely so.
"In antiquity, the way of immortals indeed flourished, and immortal cultivators possessed long lifespans far exceeding martial artists of the same realm. But their lifespans were never so exaggerated as Qi Shiyun claimed. Those who achieved success by cultivating alone on their own lifespan were still exceedingly rare. Furthermore, solitary bitter cultivation was by no means the optimal method.
"'Dragon Supporting' takes supporting as its primary method, and the true dragon emperor as its primary object of support. No matter how you look at it, it leans toward support. Yet in antiquity, practitioners looked down on the world from high above—would they ever major in a supportive method?
"Among immortal cultivators, who does not yearn to become an immortal and patriarch, and who would willingly submit to another? In the golden age of antiquity with countless cultivation methods, who would choose a technique that could only make them second-in-command? If that were truly the case, such a method would have gone extinct back in antiquity.
"Changing from 'Dragon Supporting' to 'Heaven's Chosen' happened because it violated the taboos of the imperial family, forcing a change of name. Little did anyone realize that 'Dragon Supporting' was already a name forced by a prior change, already a castrated version.
"And even after being castrated twice, this so-called 'Dragon Supporting' immortal art still leaks an untamed, rebellious aura at every turn, still showing malice and offense toward emperors, kings, generals, and ministers everywhere.
"Some things cannot be concealed. In antiquity, there was never any 'Dragon Supporting' immortal art.
"There was only 'Dragon Subduing'!
"The Dragon Subduing lineage stands above dynasties, hunting emperors, generals, and ministers, and subduing the true dragons of the mortal realm. This—this is the true path of cultivation for the Dragon Subduing lineage!"
Chapter 36