The Emperor, of course, didn’t approve of Xi Shen using his Void Beasts like this and thus did not fault the people he disguise as and had even given his permission that it was okay to avoid him. The Outer Palace guards wore armor with a helmet while the Inner Clan guards wore traditional cultivations robes with face covering was one of the precautions that were implemented to prevent Xi Shen from sneaking into the Secret Archives that hold sensitive information.

However, Xi Shen had only done so to get a better grasp of what this Era was like. He had read pretty much everything in the public and restricted archive so he did not need to sneak in there anymore.

Though no one knew that, and even to this day people still kept up the act of hiding their faces from him.

As the last rays of the sun remain in the evening sky, Xi Shen walked unhindered to his mother’s courtyard.

Li Ying.

She was the first concubine of the Emperor and Xi Shen’s mother. Though she had another title, and it was the Divine Star Academy Saintess.

This was a title that was given to a disciple in the Divine Star Academy who kept it for several generations. And the requirement for that was the successful cultivation of the Divine Star Academy’s number one cultivation technique, the Celestial Star Diagram.

This was the cultivation method the first Emperor of the Li Royal Family had created.

As for why the Divine Star Academy has it? That was simple, the Divine Star Academy was created by the first Emperor of the Li Family as well.

This simple fact made everyone know that the Divine Star Academy and the Li Royal Family were practically one and the same, and even the Academy Leader of the Divine Star Academy was the younger brother of the current Emperor, meaning he was also Xi Shen’s uncle.

However, due to his mother marrying his father, she had to relinquish that title to the current Saint of the Divine Star Academy, who was also hailed as one of the Three Peaks, Li Sun.

And from his surname, one should be able to guess he was of the Li Family bloodline, being that he was the son of the Academy Leader, and technically Xi Shen’s cousin.

With two massive powers making up the Li Clan you can understand why they were so powerful, and commanded a lot of respect.

Being the Concubine of the Emperor even if she was the first, didn’t mean she was able to accompany the Emperor in his chambers. That position was only reserved for the Empress, Fu Wei’s mother.

His father had six concubines in total, and the relationship between his mother and them as well as the Empress could be considered harmonious.

Well, that could be because no son had been born amongst them as yet. Though his father had only recently decided to take in concubines, his mother had been the only one up until a few years ago.

When Xi Shen had been born, the fact that he was a boy had set off a major upheaval among branch members and the aristocratic families. And for people who were in the know, Xi Shen had been born blessed by the heavens.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

News of two legendary Void Beasts appearing before him during his infancy had also spread, shocking everyone in the process.

With such things as evidence, it was no wonder the power backing the Empress did as much as they could to suppress his mother. But being that she was from the Divine Star Academy, and her master was the previous Academy Leader of the Academy, they could do nothing to her and could only place her in this rather remote area of the palace where the Emperor’s concubines stayed.

This was also the area where Xi Shen had grown up as well because the Empress wanted him out of the Emperor’s sight so he wouldn’t develop a relationship with him.

Though from the adventures Xi Shen had gone on, coupled with his trespasses into the Secret Archive without punishment, everyone could see that the Emperor had already doted on him to the Empress’s annoyance.

But Xi Shen guessed with his results from the Celestial Academy's Disciple Selection Ceremony reaching her ears, she would no longer feel threatened by him for being able to take away the throne from his elder brother.

Xi Shen preferred it that way very much, and to be honest it was a pain having to grow up under the scrutiny of those people when he didn’t even want the throne to begin with.

If he hadn’t gained the Heavenly Physique that made him indirectly have no foundation, he couldn’t help but wonder what would happen to him since he had shown to have two Supreme-grade attributes, would he possibly have a third one?

His peaceful life would have ended before he could live it. And he wasn’t talking about being killed by the Empress, but rather his father would have forced him to turn Emperor.

He would rather face the possibility of getting reincarnated a second time than be confined to a throne. He had suffered from being in a position where he had no freedom to do what he wanted in his past life, and the thought of going through something like that again left him with a trauma that terrified him to no end.

As Xi Shen stepped into the courtyard, the sound of a zither could be heard echoing out.

Xi Shen smiled at this before he suddenly thought, ‘Ah, I bet that little troll is there listening to mother again.’

After saying that, the air around Xi Shen seemed to warp a bit. The sound of his footsteps became non-existent and the feeling of his presence vanished, even though he was visible to the naked eye.

This was a non-cultivation or basic-level technique that allows a person to hide their presence, but Xi Shen’s usage of it would have shocked anyone because even cultivators in the Meridian Opening Realm couldn’t sense him.

Using basic-level techniques to accomplish something like this should have been impossible, but if someone of the senior generation was here to see Xi Shen implementing this technique then one term would appear in their minds, he became one with the technique."

This was a realm that one could reach only after having completely mastered a technique. But even after that, it didn’t guarantee that the person could reach that state.

The state where the technique transforms into something completely different from its original form.

This simple concealment technique in Xi Shen's hands had reached such a state and transformed into something shocking.

That basic-level technique should only affect the physical aspects of this world, like the human body. It was originally meant to slow down your heart rate, reduce your heat signature, and have other effects that minimalize your presence. But what Xi Shen is doing isn’t affecting the body but rather the space around it.

The technique transformed into something like a spell that bordered on manipulating Spatial Laws!

Mastering basic-level techniques to this realm was what Xi Shen did in his leisure time, he had many of them in his arsenal. Of course, he didn’t reveal this much of his talents openly since Fu Wei and his mother were watching him like a hawk.

Using Spectral Steps, another transformed basic-level technique, Xi Shen’s figure dissipated into smoke that traveled undetected under the night sky towards the sound of the zither.

Within an open area a young and beautiful woman that could topple mountains with her... Soul Transformation Realm cultivation base was seated cross-legged on a mat while playing an excellently crafted zither in her lap.

Seated in front of her was a girl no less than eight-years-old, that still had a bit of baby fat on her cheeks which gave her a rather cute appearance.

Behind her, a puff of smoke slowly floated towards her.

The woman who was playing the zither suddenly sported a smile on her face but she didn’t say anything.

As the smoke reach the little girl’s back, it coalesced into Xi Shen’s figure.

While her attention was completely on the song, the little girl felt a hand tapping her on her left shoulder.

Surprised, the little girl turn behind her to see who it was, but to her confusion, she saw no one.

The little girl then turn around to ask the woman if someone was just here, but from the corner of her eyes, she glimpsed the figure of Xi Shen casually sitting beside her with his chin resting on his palm.

The little girl’s eyes suddenly went wide and her cute face showed complete surprise. However, despite her shock at seeing Xi Shen, she didn’t forget to squeal in joy before jumping into Xi Shen’s arms.

“Ah! Elder brother, when did you return!?”