Once I retreated from the stone doors, I found myself facing the same problem.

I was bored.

Using the tunnel to visit the capital was tempting, as I wanted to see the public reaction to the sudden increase of the savage beasts blocking the trade, maybe even pay a visit to Pearyin, but I didn't want to get too far away from Aisnam just in case.

I didn't want anyone to distract her. Cultivation was a dangerous business.

Luckily, there was a happy medium. The garden.

After my most recent breakthroughs, I was confident to keep myself hidden from the palace guards, at least the ones that were assigned to guard the garden, especially since the number and the quality of the guards declared since I had first threatened them.

At first, I assumed that they were complacent, but as I passed through their defensive cordon and started walking around the palace grounds, once again disguised as a servant, that impression changed.

There were a lot of new guards. It was noticeable, because they were less skilled, enough to be noticed by the way they walked. There was a mixture of Muscle Reinforcement and Skin Refinement artists in the new guards, but that meant very little. Their essence flow was problematic, their balance was poor, and their attitude was lackluster.

Not only they were elevated by apothecary assistance, but the apothecary that helped them wasn't particularly impressive. I wondered why the royal family was dealing with amateurs. Though, admittedly, my perception about what counted as a skilled apothecary might be warped.

Slightly.

I ignored that thought as I found a nice concealed roof, and jumped it to get a better vantage point. I needed to understand why the guard quality had suddenly dropped. And, hopefully, if there was a problem, help them stave it.

Not because I suddenly wanted to defend the royal family, but because I wanted things to stay calm for the next few weeks while Aisnam got used to her increased cultivation. With that in mind, I started jumping between roofs.

One benefit of living in the palace as a servant, I knew the best paths to move around without being noticed, particularly with my ability to move far faster than any Connote Realm martial artist with ease. Moving faster meant that I could use the gaps between patrols far more efficiently.

Of course, any cultivator with a movement technique — something I still lacked — could replicate that feat, but the mortal kingdoms looked like they had long accepted that limitation. The cultivators were superior to them, to the point that a threat from an unknown one was treated as a royal decree when I was confronted by them.

I couldn't help but contrast that with the poor and wild state of the cultivators I faced at the market. Some of them were strong enough to kill their way through the capital single-handedly, yet they lived like barbarian hunters, risking their lives every day. Why didn't they come here and take over one of the kingdoms?

"Probably the cultivation families and sects," I muttered as I continued moving deeper into the palace. After all, I had already watched as the strongest sects in the region fought over a mortal city. They probably had no chance to

That crazy swordsman might have a chance if he determined to stay, but he didn't give me the impression of a particularly well-balanced individual in the first place.

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I soon abandoned the thoughts about the political balance of itinerant cultivators and mortal kingdoms, and focussed on my exploration, going deeper while still staying in the middle layer.

The wider palace grounds had three layers. The outer layer was mostly for servants, guests, and lower-ranking nobles living in the capital to work for the royal family. Then, there was the middle layer, where the direct members of the royal family lived. The Spring Palace was technically a part of it, but with the lack of servants, it looked out of place. Moreover, she was the only Queen who lived in the middle layer.

The other two Queens lived in the inner layer, together with the other concubines, the area defended by the best and the brightest of the royal guard. Unlike the other parts, even the perimeter was defended by Bone Forging Realm artist, led by the occasional Connate Realm one.

And, another contrast, unlike the rest of the palace, the number of guards around the inner circle had increased.

Signaling that, whatever the problem was, it was enough to alert the king and make him prioritize his security over his reputation — as any problem in the other two parts of the city would no doubt lead to problems.

While trying to sneak into the inner layer to poke around the royal secrets was tempting, I ignored that. Instead, I went in the opposite direction, and started checking the outer layer of the palace.

The first thing I noticed, was a huge banquet being held in one of the gardens. The guests were a horde of martial artists. Almost five hundred of them, the weakest one at the Skin Refinement, with quite a number of Bone Forging ones mixed in. I didn't see any Connate realm artists, but I had no doubt that they were around, because none of the Bone Forging realm artists looked like they were the leaders.

They were probably in the building.

Interesting crowd, particularly since they talked with the lower-ranking nobles with a surprising arrogance, making me wonder why they were.

Not the ultimate direction, as that was easy to guess. Markas. Maybe they were there for revenge, or maybe they just wanted to use the excuse to follow the orders of the Kartpa Valley. I didn't know that part, and I wasn't at a point of exploring that either.

I wanted to have a better idea of their timeline. Would they just leave the palace and start marching toward Markas, or maybe they would stay around and deal with the King directly. Or maybe, I was completely off-base, and they had a different plan in mind.

Ultimately, the issue of Markas was the effect of the political battle between two sects, not unlike the Soviet Union and America during the Cold War. It meant that they operated in certain rules and restrictions, instead relying on their proxies to fight and die for them.

Their involvement meant that I couldn't interfere with their presence easily.

But, that didn't mean that I wouldn't just stop gathering information. Luckily, I was already dressed as a low-level servant, which allowed me to mix the servants who had been constantly carrying drinks and food to keep them entertained.

Adding some drugs to loosen their lips was easy. They were too comfortable to pay attention to such things. By listening to their chatter, I was able to get a better understanding of the status.

The first thing was their numbers. Apparently, they had ten Connate Realm martial artists leading them, and a hundred of them were Bone Forging realm artists. An impressive number, particularly since they looked used to battling. Moreover, they were talking about the presence of more than four thousand Muscle Reinforcement artists as well, increasing their number to five thousand.

Altogether, a serious force, more of an army than a mercenary force.

I had no doubt that, any of these Bone Forging realm artists could deal with the Connate Realm bodyguards of the old lady from the Verdant family.

As I listened, I got a better sense of what was going on. The force has been gathered from several countries. Officially, they were here at the request of the king, and they were hired to deal with the monsters surrounding Markas.

However, even with the royal invitation, the presence of a foreign army was certainly tense. No wonder the king was holed up in his private grounds, defending it recklessly.

Naturally, their official mission was nonsense. There were too many mentions of regaining the honor of Tiger Fist and making the heathens of Markas payback for me to believe that they wanted to help Markas.

What a mess.

Technically, if I did my best, I could somehow ruin their plans, but I ignored that option. Yes, I wanted to help Marana, but not at the cost of getting involved in another war. Instead, I would go back to Markas and inform her about the incoming threat. I would help her to escape the beasts … and if she still wanted to stay and fight, it was her problem.

With my mind made up, I returned to Spring Palace, waiting for Aisnam to recover.