Chapter 22: Traces of an Old Friend Appear

"Since you serve Emperor Jianwu, you should visit me less often. It would be better to avoid attracting followers and disturbing my peace..."

Su Chen drove Xu Xiaohan out.

Outside the Library of Books.

Xu Xiaohan said nothing. He performed nine kowtows and nine bows before departing.

From then on.

Su Chen remained that useless man in the Library of Books.

His three meals a day were exchanged for a rotating cycle of eunuchs; whether they were in black or green robes, they all believed this job was thankless and exhausting. What future could one find following a useless man?

The Library of Books was cold and remote. As for this "brother" of Zhang Gui's—tsk tsk, Zhang Gui was dead, so what was left to be precious? Even the once-flourishing Deputy Chief Manager Xu never visited again, clearly no longer acknowledging the sentimental ties of this useless man in the library.

What future was there in serving this Sixth Red-Robed eunuch who possessed no cultivation? One by one, after only a few days, they all used their connections to leave.

To this.

Su Chen did not care.

Eating the meals delivered daily, reading books in his leisure, and tending to flowers and seeds—it was a rather tranquil life.

October, the third year of Jianwu.

The autumn wind rose.

After two years, the rebellion in Nanyang Commandery was finally quelled. The Xuanyang Sect had been exterminated; of its two First-Rank experts, one was wiped out and the other fled heavily wounded. Since then, the Imperial Court had truly asserted its might.

No one dared to look down upon the last emperor of the era who had seen three emperors in a single year: Emperor Jianwu.

The great army returned to the capital!

With the destruction of a major sect, Emperor Jianwu's prestige reached its zenith; no one dared to underestimate him even slightly.

Deputy Chief Manager Xu was ruthless. To solidify Emperor Jianwu's trust, he used any means necessary, killing many of Zhang Gui's godchildren and seizing control of profitable merchant houses. The military expenses for this war were funded entirely by these businesses.

Even half of the Eastern Depot was now in his hands.

From then on, Deputy Chief Manager Xu became Emperor Jianwu's close attendant and confidant—a true core loyalist.

"The wind is rising."

Su Chen stretched, looking at the darkening sky. His mind drifted, and he thought of Zhang Gui once more.

There had been no news of that Director of the Eastern Depot for two years.

Could he truly be dead?

*Buzz!*

The sixty-ninth strand of True Qi within Su Chen's body slowly converged.

Clearly.

That single grain of a grass spike had been used.

Perhaps it was Zhang Gui, perhaps not...

"Your Majesty the Empress, why must you come to such a remote place to look for books? If you simply gave the order, eunuchs would naturally find the books and deliver them to the Princess."

The fawning voice of a eunuch could be heard from a distance.

The Imperial Procession!

A vast guard of the imperial clan, accompanied by eunuchs, escorted the procession. A graceful and noble young woman descended from the carriage, wearing a phoenix crown, exuding the extraordinary aura of a mother of the realm.

The Empress of Great Liang, Dugu Yue.

The wife of Emperor Jianwu.

The woman who had given birth to the princes and princesses.

The Second-Rank General Feng, who led the suppression of the Xuanyang Sect and quelled the Nanyang rebellion, was Empress Dugu's elder brother. He had achieved monumental merit and was a staunch supporter of Emperor Jianwu, serving as a pillar of the Great Liang court.

A First-Rank status was equivalent to the Emperor.

A Second-Rank status meant being among the most powerful figures in the realm and even within the Imperial City.

"You scoundrel!"

"Where did this black-robed eunuch come from? Her Majesty the Empress and Princess Yunyang have arrived! Why haven't you hurried to kneel and worship? Who is your old eunuch master? I'll have his skin flayed..."

The blue-robed eunuch serving beside Empress Dugu barked at Su Chen with ferocity.

Coming to the Library to read?

Absurd.

For a moment, Su Chen failed to react.

In all his years in the library, this was the first time he had encountered someone coming specifically to find books to read. These were merely common classics; true cultivation texts were all stored in the Martial Pavilion. This was the first wave of noble visitors.

"Who are you? I don't recognize you."

Su Chen glanced at the unfamiliar blue-robed official.

Wearing blue robes naturally meant he was a manager.

However.

With a year of chaos, three emperors in succession, two First-Rank experts entering the palace, and Xu Xiaohan seizing power to purge dissent and promote cronies, the blue-robed eunuchs in this palace had changed countless times.

Clearly, this was a newly promoted blue-robed manager.

"You insolent brat."

"I am a manager, and you, a mere black-robed..."

The blue-robed manager was about to continue his scolding.

However.

Empress Dugu pressed him down. Her beautiful eyes swept over Su Chen as she spoke slowly.

"This is the Sixth Red-Robed of the Library of Books!"

"By law, he need not bow even when seeing the Emperor."

"He may certainly not bow."

Red-Robed?

That was a Chief Manager.

The blue-robed manager was instantly struck with terror. His legs went weak, and he nearly collapsed to the ground to kowtow to Su Chen.

But he quickly realized.

The Sixth Red-Robed?

Could it be that useless man from the library, the one who relied on Zhang Gui's patronage and gave up the chance at the World Martial Ranking to become the Sixth Red-Robed, only to become a coward who dared not step out of the library after Zhang Gui's death?

Heh.

The blue-robed manager immediately regained his arrogance.

What kind of Red-Robed Chief Manager was this Sixth Red-Robed anyway!

"The Empress knows me?"

Su Chen clasped his hands and bowed.

"The World Martial Ranking stabilized the martial world; you played a part, so naturally, I know of you."

"Without the constraints of the martial world, Great Liang has more energy to deal with demons, hone its military, and cultivate practitioners."

Empress Dugu did not speak much more to Su Chen.

After all.

This was a world of cultivators. Even with the status of a Sixth Red-Robed Chief Manager, it only earned him a slight glance from Empress Dugu; he was still not someone of great consequence.

Empress Dugu departed quickly.

She left only Princess Yunyang in the library to browse through classics, mostly medical texts. Two imperial guards with Fourth-Rank cultivation accompanied her, showing how much Empress Dugu doted on this princess.

In years past, the protection for a prince would have been only at the Fourth-Rank.

"Hey."

"Eunuch!"

Su Chen, who was lazily sunbathing on a lounge chair, was startled awake by a high-pitched shout.

Who?

Who is calling me?

Su Chen looked around, but saw no one.

Looking down, he realized Princess Yunyang was staring at him with wide eyes.

Too short.

A tiny fifteen-year-old girl; no wonder he hadn't seen her.

"The Princess is calling me?"

Su Chen maintained a lazy demeanor, reaching out to ruffle the head of the little princess with her twin tails.

"Presumptuous!"

"How dare you disrespect the Princess?"

Two Fourth-Rank guards, long blades at their waists, approached in fury.

Just a lazy useless man.

He truly didn't know his own place. Did he really think he was that prestigious and magnificent Great Inner Manager of the current era? Utterly delusional.

"Hmm?"

Su Chen lifted his eyes and glanced at the two of them.

Instantly.

The two felt a chill in their hearts. For some reason, their limbs went cold, and they dared not take another step forward.

"Can I have this flower?"

A flash of cunning crossed Princess Yunyang's eyes as she pointed to a purple flower blooming in the medicinal field.

This eunuch truly didn't know value.

This was a Fifth-Rank Star-Sea Flower; it was very expensive and could be used in medicine, yet he was growing here as if he were just an ornamental flower.

"Of course you can."

Su Chen only wanted to send this princess away to restore the peace of the library.

It was just a Fifth-Rank flower.

In the medicinal field, the lowest-value items were fine to give away.

After sending her away.

Su Chen stretched. Seeing no one around, he prepared to perform a set of the *Thundering Body Tempering* technique to see if he could break through the barrier and trigger the seventy-first thunderous boom, reaching the late stage of the Bone-Strengthening Realm.

As the founding ancestor of Great Liang, he was the foremost prodigy of Bone-Strengthening martial arts, holding the record for seventy-one layers of thunderous sound.

After three years.

Su Chen was finally going to see if he could catch up.

This was also due to the consumption of two thousand-year-old precious medicines.

"This *Sixteen-Foot Golden Body Art* really demands a lot of medicine. These were two thousand-year-old precious medicines! If this were any other body-tempering cultivation method, I could have likely pushed it to the peak of the Third Rank, or even the Second Rank."

"No wonder, aside from the creator, the Solitary Old Demon, no one has ever cultivated to the deepest level of every stage of the *Sixteen-Foot Golden Body Art*..."

After finishing a set of the *Thundering Body Tempering* fist technique.

The sky gradually darkened.

*Boom!*

A thunderous sound erupted.

The seventy-first layer of thunder finally appeared.

At this moment, eighty-eight percent of Su Chen's bones and muscles were stained with a gilded color. His bones were robust, and a terrifying thundering force brewed within his surging blood-flames.

Three years!

He was finally at the late Fourth-Rank!

As for the Path of Qi, he remained at the level of Qi perfection within the Fifth Rank. He did not know when the Seed of Longevity within his body would undergo its next transformation.

"Since you've come, why don't you come in?"

The gilded color on Su Chen's physique slowly receded. In an instant, he transformed from a terrifying expert back into a harmless, ordinary man.

The scent of blood approached.

Dressed in a bright red robe, his temperament having undergone a complete metamorphosis, Xu Xiaohan appeared at the entrance of the library. Wearing a white jade token at his waist and looking respectful, he was carrying a severed head.

"Master Su, I heard this person insulted you. I specifically brought his head to nourish the medicinal field..."

The head belonged to the blue-robed manager who had scolded Su Chen earlier that day.

The head still bore an expression of confusion and terror.

Clearly.

Until the moment of death, he did not understand why the flourishing Deputy Chief Manager Xu would come to kill him.

"You didn't come here just for this, did you?"

Su Chen looked at the Deputy Chief Manager before him. It was hard to connect him to the submissive, cautious Xu Xiaohan of three years ago.

Power brings immense change.

"Zhang Gui..."

"He... has appeared."