Behind the large oaken door was the ‘Trove of the Resplendent Pagoda’s’ second-tier medicinal room. Like the rest of the second floor, what was sold here are the best amongst the things ‘Qi Immersion’ cultivators could possibly use…

However, pills, compared to the more useless treasures sold on the rest of the floor, were incomparably precious! In order to begin ‘Pillar Formation’, building a strong foundation was of utmost importance. ‘Qi Immersion’ accumulates qi within the ‘Inner World’, cultivating it horizontally, while ‘Pillar Formation’ forms a mass of solid qi, called ‘Qi Pillars’, to push the ‘Inner World’ vertically.

‘Qi Immersion’ begins with ‘Qi Strand’, divided into early, middle, peak, where the cultivator draws in the first few strands of qi into their ‘Inner World’. Then comes ‘Qi Stream’, where the strands of qi form a stream, later comes ‘Qi River’, where cultivators can first begin to form a ‘Qi Pillar’. However, in order to begin forging their first ‘Qi Pillar’, the ‘Qi Immersion’ cultivator must possess a stable and still ‘Inner World’, to serve a foundation for their pillars. In addition, as they form their first ‘Qi Pillar’, cultivators are able to begin cultivating their bodies, using qi of different natures to nourish their bodies.

Throughout all of these processes that lay towards the peak of ‘Qi Immersion’, precious pills and herbs are remarkably important. In order for cultivators to amass qi during the higher levels of ‘Qi Immersion’, medicine coalesced from pure qi are required, to stabilize their ‘Inner World’ in preparation for ‘Pillar Formation’, medicine with mild effects are used to quell the more violent qi inside the ‘Inner World’, and to begin ‘Physique Opening’, herbs and pills rich in qi are of inordinate essence.

The trove’s second-tier medicinal room was not much different than the exhibits on the outside, it was full of shelves, with boxes within that were all identically made with jade, in all shades of green. At the center of this large room was a large wooden table, behind it was Xiao Juan, who was issuing orders to a group of servants who were laying out a large number of jade boxes.

Suddenly, the oaken door swung open, and youth, dressed in bright blue robes, swaggered in, followed along by a retinue of guards, dressed in dark blue armor.

Spotting the blue-robed youth out of the corner of her eye, an irritated light flickered past Xiao Juan’s gaze and she let out a soft sigh. Which ancestor’s graves did she accidentally step over yesterday, afflicting her with so much bad luck today?! First, there was the shameless nobody outside abusing his sibling’s influence, then comes this bastard prince of the Lan Imperial clan, abusing his sibling’s influence…oh so that’s why that Lin Xianyi made her feel so frustrated, it was because he reminded her of this bastard!

The bastard in question was called Lan Wanyun, a noble prince of the Lan Imperial clan, one of the nine imperial clans that ruled the ‘Nine Sun Empire,’ and between him and the seventeen elder siblings he has, sired by the Lan patriarch with his hundred women harem, amazingly, this Lan Wanyun was the only prince. Hence his name, myriad fortunes, it definitely wasn’t easy for the Lan patriarch to finally conceive a male heir! Needless to say, the day when he was born, the entire Lan Imperial clan celebrated for eight days and eight nights, and to this day, he is one of, if not the biggest, most pampered debauchee of the ‘Nine Sun Empire’!

“Fairy Fang Juan! Hehe, it must be fate that this prince and you have met here today! This prince is actually here to buy a few things for the second round of tests! Not to brag, but this prince had just received a medallion for the second round of examinations, and they only needed to measure this prince’s cultivation with the ‘Immersion Resonance Steele’ before giving this prince a pass!” Lan Wanyun, well, bragged. “Fairy Fang Juan, would you like to know why?”

“No…” Xiao Juan replied curtly.

“Well, that’s because this prince is at the ‘Middle Qi River’ of the ‘Qi Immersion’ stage!” Lan Wanyun continued, unbothered by Xiao Juan’s blunt rejection. “Hehe, to celebrate, this prince’s sister, the eldest princess, you know of this prince’s big sister, right? She’s the Lan Wenqing, one of Headmaster Shangguan’s personal disciples!”

This sister of Lan Wanyun’s was first among the Lan patriarch’s seventeen daughters, and shared the same mother with Lan Wanyun, the imperial queen of the Lan Imperial clan. Lan Wenqing was quite famous in the ‘Great Qin’, for her status, talent, and well, her beauty, of course! All princesses are automatically jade beauties, don't ask why it’s a pedigree thing…

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“Well, eh…what was this prince talking about before? Oh yes! To celebrate, the princess invited this prince to dinner at the ‘Red Lotus Lodge’! Fairy Fang Juan, have you heard of the ‘Red Lotus Lodge’? It’s the most famous restaurant in the entire empire! It’s almost impossible to get a reservation without proper connections! Hehe, but with the princess’s name, this prince managed to get the best table, on the top floor!” Lan Wanyun continued, oblivious to the fact that Xiao Juan had long sealed off her own hearing… “So, fairy Fang Juan, this prince would like to invite you to join this prince and Princess Wenqing for dinner, and, um. it would be even better if fairy Fang Chan could join as well!”

When Lan Wanyun stopped to hear Xiao Chan’s answer, from her completely uncaring demeanor, he suddenly realized that she hadn’t been listening to a single word he had spoken…

Noticing that she was lining out a number of pills on the large table before her, it immediately crossed Lan Wanyun’s mind that she was preparing things for a guest, but well, in this big blue world, was there a guest much more important than him?!

“Fairy Fang Chan, are you preparing things for a guest? Can’t you just let the other attendants do that? Look, this prince will be buying lots of things to celebrate his success today! So, fairy Fang Chan, how about you introduce this prince to some pills? This prince won’t even make things difficult for you! Your guest isn't here yet, right? This prince will go out right now to drive off that guest for you!” Lan Wanyun spoke, reaching out towards the large oaken door as he continued, "hehe, this prince only have to mention his name and whoever's outside will be groveling before this prince be-”

*BAM*

Lan Wanyun was suddenly interrupted when the door swung open at his face, and he was sent flying backward, coughing out loose teeth as he vomited mouthfuls of blood, while his retainers struggled to catch him.

“Big sis Xiao Chan, can’t you tell me what these magical treasures are?” a youth’s voice rang out from behind the half-opened door.

“Hehe, Xiao Chan wouldn’t want to spoil such an exquisite surprise for young noble Xianyi!” A melodious voice, belonging to a young woman, replied.

Climbing up to his feet with great difficulty, while cupping his hand against his broken nose, Lan Wanyun threateningly stepped towards the two who had just entered the room.

“Who the fuck just opened the door in this prince's face?! Do you know who the fuck this prince is?” Lan Wanyun swore angrily as he asked.

In reply, Xianyi stared at the blue-robed youth’s face intently, before breaking into a bashful smile as he responded in a genuine and sincere tone.

“Eh, I shouldn't have met you before…I should remember if I have though, your uh…face…should’ve been pretty memorable!”

Hearing Xianyi’s words, the blue-robed youth felt his lungs swell from anger, threatening to implode and discharge mouthfuls of sanguine fluids.

Originally, the youth was quite the dashing fellow, but well, getting smashed in the face by a large oaken door can do things to a face. The door to his face had completely crumpled the youth’s nasal bone and dislodged half a dozen of his pearly white teeth, needless to say, it heart really badly but the pain was the least of the youth’s worries…right now, he was in front of fairy Fang Juan!

Lan Wanyun had been in love with this attendant of Old Fang’s for as long as he could remember, even though she had never responded to his affections, or maybe because she ignored him.

Realizing that he was embarrassing himself in front of fairy Fang Juan, a deep red blush surfaced on Lan Wanyun’s face, but, when he turned to see that fairy Fang Juan was not even glancing at him, and instead, she was staring at Xianyi with a concerned expression, the shame he felt began to subside, replaced by a smoldering rage…

There is only one way to salvage this!

Pointing at Xianyi in a threatening manner, Lan Wanyun declared loudly.

“You bastard! For attempting to harm this prince’s life with the oaken door, do you plead guilty?!”

“Eh…me?” Xianyi asked, slightly puzzled, as he pointed at himself, his finger wavering slightly. Pointing his other finger at Xiao Chan, Xianyi claimed, “but she was the one who opened the door?”

“Yes! You!” Lan Wanyun demanded, noticing Xianyi’s slightly hesitant demeanor, he immediately became emboldened, and puffed up his chest a bit more, “but since your man enough to admit to it, how about you and this prince settle this like men? There’s an arena outside this place, how about we fight it ou…eh?! Wait, what?!”

It wasn’t until he was almost done with his monologue that Lan Wanyun finally digested the words Xianyi had spoken and he turned towards Xiao Chan in horror…

“Prince Wanyun, it was this servant who had accidentally injured your highness,” Xiao Chan admitted in an earnest and forthright tone, but of course, she was lying. How could Xiao Chan not have known that there was someone else on the other side of the room? She was definitely close enough to feel the tremors Lan Wanyun made as he stepped towards the door…but well, with such a genuine smile on such a pretty face, who was going to doubt her? Revealing a few brilliant white teeth as her smile widened, Xiao Chan continued, “but your highness…if you insist, although your servant would be doing it with a heavy heart, this servant wouldn’t mind settling this like men on the arena outside…”