In the royal palace of Serenvale,

King Hi Ling was having a meeting with his councilors and generals.

Councilor Zhao said, "Our kingdom is in a precarious situation now. We have received reports that Al'Razil is currently facing a beast tide in their region. This gives Valoria the opportunity to pull up their troops guarding against Al'Razil's invasion. Now they are gathering on the other side of the mountain pass in the north, preparing to invade our Serenvale kingdom. Even with the protection of the natural defenses of the mountain pass, it will be very difficult to defend it with core formation cultivators in the enemy army. We need to send reinforcements to General Yan."

Enuch Thai followed up, "True. Once the mountain pass falls into enemy hands, it will be almost impossible to resist the invasion of Valoria."

The Western General Guan said, "General Li cannot go back because he needs to guard the south against the wild beasts. General Tang is still looking for his daughter. Although everyone knows that General Yan and I do not see eye to eye, we are still fellow soldiers. I will march north to reinforce him."

General Tang interjected, "I disagree. You are correct that my daughter is missing, but we have already looked everywhere within the territory of the kingdom. The most likely possibility now is that she is in the hands of the enemy. They might use her to threaten me into rebellion, but I will not give in to the threat of the enemy, even if it means sacrificing my own daughter. On the other hand, you and General Yan have never agreed on anything. Your relationship will only worsen the coordination of the soldiers in the mountain pass."

General Guan became agitated and was about to say something when the king said, "Enough. I will send General Tang this time. He and General Yan have worked together many times. I want General Tang to march to the north and reinforce General Yan as soon as possible. I have already sent a message to General Li to go back to Faybrook and regroup with the royal soldiers. He will then lead the soldiers to reinforce General Yan as well. As for you, just take General Li's post in the south for now. We do not have a choice. Your rivalry with General Yan is not small and might affect the flow of the battle. Besides, we cannot leave the south unguarded. This is the best solution that I can think of. Now this is my decree, King's decree."

The king was aware that there was a spy among his ranks because of the report from General Yan delivered by Qin Baoyu a few months ago. He was also aware of what General Guan did in the Faybrook Spirit Academy assessment. If there was a spy, the most suspicious one was General Guan, so he could not send him to a crucial battlefield.

In Yan Manor:

Yan Sen was talking to his two friends. "Master wants us to enter the Chrono Orb for a week while our store is being renovated and our products are being produced. Brother Li, go to your family now and ask for permission for another week of closed cultivation. With your progress, they won't say no." Li Wei agreed and left, while Mei Lin started to prepare essence elixirs to be used during their souls' stay in the Chrono Orb. Yan Sen informed his mother and servants about his closed-door cultivation, and he wanted the shop to be ready one week after his cultivation.

After three hours, Li Wei was back and the three kids prepared to enter the bathtub inside the array that had been prepared for them. After entering the tub, their souls were once again pulled inside the Chrono Orb. They saw the changes inside. The space inside the Chrono Orb was only about 1.5 cubic meters before, and they could only fit inside because they were smaller in their soul form. Now, it was about 4 cubic meters and there was a 3-meter-tall Qi wood blossom growing in the middle, and there was a more than 1-meter-long silver pine tree at the side. The three friends were amazed.

Yan Sen spoke in his mind. "Master, we can already fit our bodies inside now. We can cultivate here now to make our Qi cultivation faster."

Time Sovereign replied, "Yes, you can already fit inside here, but the amount of Qi produced by the Qiwood is not enough to stop your bodies from aging. Your parents and relatives will be scared if you suddenly age. Wait for some time until the Qiwood tree can produce more Qi to support the ability of the orb to stop your aging while inside. In a month outside, it can already stop the aging of one person if they are inside the orb, but if it's the three of you, you might need three more months outside. And it cannot be used all the time or the Qi inside the orb will be drained, unless we can find a treasure that can aid in producing and gathering Qi."

Yan Sen was enlightened. "I understand, Master."

Time Sovereign said, "Tell your two friends that I will now slowly transfer the knowledge needed for their tasks and training directly to their souls. Stay still and comprehend and learn everything."

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

With that, the one-week closed-door lesson began. It was only one week outside, but inside the Chrono Orb, it was almost one year and six months. Enough for the three kids to absorb all the knowledge fed to them. Yan Sen was fed with knowledge of smithing and artifact refinement, Li Wei was given knowledge of arrays and formations, while Mei Lin was given knowledge about garment design and tailoring. Although tailoring had never been Time Sovereign's occupation, even before he became immortal, with his long life and vast amount of knowledge, he could still guide the child.

Guan Manor in the Dungeon Underground:

General Guan gets out of bed naked once more. A young blonde lady with blue eyes is lying in front of him. The lady seemed to have lost weight since the last time. She had long stopped eating if it hadn't been for her strong will, hope, and faith that she would be saved. Even after everything that's happened to her, she still wants to be as healthy as possible on the day of her vengeance. Even though General Guan continued to use her; she did not let her hungry because she wanted to maintain her good form; he also forcibly cleaned her on occasion.

"It appears that your fighting spirit is very strong," Guan Xuantong replied. After all this time, you never give up hope. This only made me like you more."

"I told you, I'll never be truly yours," stated the young lady. “Someone has already claimed my heart!"

"Oh, you reminded me of something," Xuantong said. "I have a surprise for you!" exclaimed Guan Xuantong. "Bring the dog here!""

After a few moments, the cell door opened, with a guard yanking a chain. The chain was attached to a metal collar around the neck of a man crawling on the floor like a dog. The individual appeared to have been badly beeten. Bruises and wounds all around. Even some of his teeth are missing. "Please master, don't hurt me, I will do everything you want," the man said.

Despite the crusted blood and missing tooth, the lady recognizes the man as "YUFENG!!!" YOU'RE AN ANIMAL! What did you do to Yufeng?"

The lady went insane and wanted to attack Guan Xuantong with everything she had, but one of her legs was chained and she couldn't reach him. He wanted to hug the tortured Song Yufeng, but she is also unable to reach him.

Song Yufeng approached him and asked, "Sofia? Sofia, you're here. You're here! Help me!" He wanted to go hug her, but the guard grabbed the chain and kicked him in the stomach. He crunched his body in pain.

"Insolent, you want to hug your master's woman?" said Guan Xuantong. Do you really want me to cut your small worm?" He took the knife from the guard's side and pretended to sever Song Yufeng's manhood. Sofia continues to yell "No"

Song Yufeng mumbled, "Forgive me, Master. I will never do it again. Sophia is your woman, and I now know that. I will do anything you ask me to, just don't hurt me anymore."

Guan Xuantong said, "I am now intrigued. Is love really true? Let me test it. I wanted to just kill you both for trying to cheat on me in front of me. But I will give you a choice. Here is a knife. Only one of you is allowed to live. Whoever lives will be free once Serenvale is occupied by Valoria." He then put the knife between Sophia and Song Yufeng, where they could both reach it. The chain was also adjusted so they could reach each other.

Guan Xuantong said, "I will count to three. If neither of you pick up the knife, you will both die miserably."

"One."

Sophia saw Song Yufeng trying to pick up the knife. She thought, "He is going to kill himself to save me." She tried to get the knife faster than him so she could kill herself. But Song Yufeng was faster and got the knife.

Against her expectation, Song Yufeng jumped towards her with the knife pointed at her, trying to stab her. At this time, the chain was suddenly pulled hard and Song Yufeng stabbed nothing but the air. Guan Xuantong then stepped behind him and pulled the knife from his hand.

"Is this what you call love, Sophia? Do you still believe in what you call love? I am telling you, it is nothing but a fairytale. As I said, I never needed your love because it is not true. I only need your body."

With that, he suddenly stabbed Song Yuffengs neck. “You deserve it for trying to hurt my toy”

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