Chapter 966: The Palace Lord Successor
Jinmen Prefecture was a rather huge and prosperous prefecture in the Qu State area. Compared to other prefectures, Jinmen Prefecture was almost ten times the size of Donghe Prefecture and Xiabian Prefecture combined. The factions within it were complex, and the culture of cultivating was in its heyday. It was not comparable to those weak and small prefectures.
Rumor had it that in Jinmen Prefecture, there were Tide Changing Realm strong practitioners holding the fort. In the entire Qu State, they could be ranked among the top ten.
One of the Huatian Palace’s Branch Palace Halls was in Jinmen Prefecture. As for Mo Wen, he had already been staying in the Jinmen Prefecture’s Branch Palace Hall for two days.
After he came out of the mountain forest, he received the news from the Huatian Palace. After all, the announcements from the Huatian Palace were everywhere. All he needed to do was to head towards a city, and he would see one. It was impossible for him not to know, even if he was blind.
The Jinmen Prefecture’s Huatian Palace Branch Palace Hall was the smallest unit established by the Huatian Palace. Only a large prefecture, such as Jinmen Prefecture, was qualified for the Huatian Palace to establish a Branch Palace Hall in it. Prefectures like Donghe Prefecture and Xiabian Prefecture were in the middle of nowhere. They did not even have slightly more powerful sect factions, let alone a Huatian Palace Branch Palace Hall.
The highest authority in the Huatian Palace Branch Palace Hall was known as the Branch Palace Hall Leader. It meant that the person managed all the members in the entire Branch Palace Hall.
The Jinmen Branch Palace Hall Leader was rather polite to Mo Wen. His hospitality surprised even Mo Wen. Why was a dignified cultivator with great attainment in the Primordial Soul realm, who held the authority of Branch Palace Hall Leader, acting so polite to a junior like him?
Actually, Mo Wen did not know that the Huatian Palace had been searching for him at a large scale in the entire Qu State. To this end, even the Huatian Palace Headquarters had sent out announcements. This order was not something that a veteran like Ku Ji was qualified to make. Only the upper echelons of the Huatian Palace had such authority.
Few people in all of Huatian Palace could be considered to be among the upper echelons. Branch Palace Hall Leaders were worlds apart from these figures. Although he did not understand where Mo Wen had come from, for such an incident to occur, Mo Wen was certainly related to the Huatian Palace upper echelons. How could a Branch Palace Hall Leader like himself not be hospitable?
“Brother Mo Wen, we finally found you.”
A silhouette walked in from the outside with large steps. It was none other than Ku Ji, who had just rushed over to the Jinmen Branch Palace Hall. He had been waiting for news in the Qu State, so he had arrived, especially quickly.
Ku Ji had not imagined that developments would go so smoothly. In just a few days, Mo Wen had appeared before him. Originally, he believed that finding Mo Wen would take some considerable effort. After all, the Qu State was so large; finding a person was very difficult. As for his ability and area of influence, they were also limited. The surrounding Branch Palace Halls might send out search announcements out of respect for him, but the effectiveness would definitely not be so high.
He also had not imagined that the Huatian Palace Headquarters would directly send out the order for the various Qu State Branch Palace Halls, factions, and intel groups to go all out to find Mo Wen.
An order and an announcement were two completely different things. Otherwise, the news would not have spread throughout the entire Qu State in just a few days. Even the most rural village had a missing person’s notice on a large tree at the entrance of the village.
“Senior Ku Ji,” Mo Wen said as he walked up and bowed slightly. He had heard some things regarding Ku Ji heading over to Li’an City half a month ago.
“You are being too polite. Brother Mo Wen can just call me elder brother. You are now also at the Primordial Soul realm. You don’t have to call me senior anymore.”
Ku Ji kept waving his hands. He wanted to be friends with Mo Wen, so he naturally did not use his seniority to get in the way of their closeness. That being said, the last time he encountered Mo Wen, he looked highly upon this youth. It was just that he had not imagined that he still had underestimated this youth somewhat.
“Then, I will obey rather than respect and bravely call senior elder brother,” Mo Wen said with a smile. He did not object to calling him as such.
“That should be the way. Brother Mo Wen, I never thought that the Blood Evil Temple would be so reckless and actually dare to attack you. If I had known, I would have rushed over to Li’an City two days earlier,” Ku Ji said.
“I can’t do anything if the Blood Evil Temple wants to make enemies of me. I can only face them as a huge adversary. I have never been kind to my enemies. It is not an issue. At most, they will be another stepping stone on my path of cultivation,” Mo Wen said with a plain smile.
“You are so spirited. I have not done anything for you about the Blood Evil Temple. It is precisely because I know that you will eventually go and settle the score with them and that it will not be long for sure. So why do I have to overstep my bounds and cause displeasure?”
Ku Ji clearly knew that since Mo Wen could escape from Xue Chu and his people, that meant that it would not be long before Mo Wen had the ability to eradicate the Blood Evil Temple.
“I came here this time to take you back with me to the Huatian Palace Headquarters. I believe you also know that the Huatian Palace Headquarters is in this Peng Lai Immortal Realm. Let’s go. We’ll talk along the way.”
Ku Ji led the way as he said this. It was not his intention to take Mo Wen back to the Huatian Palace Headquarters, but the intentions of that person.
In any of the Huatian Palace’s Branch Palace Halls, there would be a space teleporting stratagem. One could teleport between Branch Palace Halls. As for every state, there was another Central Palace Hall. The Central Palace Hall managed all of the Branch Palace Halls in the state.
Each Branch Palace Hall had a space teleporting stratagem that connected them to the Central Palace Hall. Between Central Palace Halls, there were also space teleporting stratagems connecting them. Each Central Palace Hall also had a space teleporting stratagem connecting them to the Huatian Palace Headquarters. Hence, from any Branch Palace Hall, it was rather convenient to head towards any other Branch Palace Hall, Central Palace Hall, or even the Huatian Palace Headquarters. They could arrive at their desired destination by teleporting a few times.
However, it was not easy to have access to the space teleporting stratagem. One would need to verify their identity first.
“Brother Mo, most likely you have not broken through to the Primordial Soul realm, right? To have such ability even before breaking through to the Primordial Soul realm, most likely only a few freaks in the Huatian Palace are on par with you,” Ku Ji said somewhat emotionally.
“There are other cultivators like me in the Huatian Palace?”
Mo Wen asked curiously. Rather than being presumptuous and thinking that no one in the world was better than him, Mo Wen was sincerely curious. He had encountered countless bizarre experiences before he could have his current ability. Otherwise, the gap between Primordial Soul realm practitioners and ordinary ancient martial art practitioners was like the gap between the heavens and the earth. It was already formidable for someone to have cultivation akin to that of a beginning stage Primordial Soul realm cultivator, let alone encountering cultivators like Mo Wen, who could easily kill off a beginning stage Primordial Soul realm cultivator.
“Brother Mo, the Huatian Palace is a bizarre place with all sorts of people. Even though you are a total freak, it does not mean that other freaks do not exist,”
Ku Ji continued with a smile, “In the Huatian Palace, the famous Madman Xiao has yet to break through to the Primordial Soul realm too. However, in terms of ability, perhaps you are still slightly stronger. However, there’s nothing strange about it. He is older than you, and he has had better opportunities than you. Do you know who he is?
“His surname is Xiao. The surname of our Huatian Palace Grand Palace Lord is also Xiao. So, it is not bizarre for him to have such achievements.” Ku Ji did not spell everything out; however, his meaning was rather clear.
“Oh, I see.” Mo Wen nodded. He had heard of this Madman Xiao a few times before this. Madman Xiao was renowned in the Huatian Palace. Now, from the looks of it, not only was he famous, but he also had a very impressive background.
“Other than this Madman Xiao, there are three other youths in the Huatian Palace who are either on par with or slightly beneath you. However, all three of them are much older than you and Madman Xiao. The oldest among them has even exceeded a hundred years old. Their backgrounds are not simple too. They are related to either the Palace Lords or the few people who have actual power in the Huatian Palace. Speaking of which, you are more or less like them. The few of you can be considered as the Princelings of the Huatian Palace.”
Ku Ji gave Mo Wen a glance. It was impossible to have cultivated such freaks if those in power did not utilize all their connections and rich resources to cultivate their candidates. This Mo Wen had most likely received help from that person too. Otherwise, it was practically impossible for him to reach his current status by his own effort.
“I am one of the Princelings too?” Mo Wen was stunned, feeling lost at Ku Ji’s words.
“Of course you are. Could it be that you didn’t know that Deputy Director Mo is getting more and more powerful in the Huatian Palace? Her influence is akin to that of the few Deputy Palace Lords. She is very likely to be the successor of the Grand Palace Lord.”
Ku Ji rolled his eyes at Mo Wen. If it wasn’t because Mo Qingge had a great influence in the Huatian Palace, did Mo Wen think that he could enter the Martial Arts Grandmaster Palace Hall without going through the assessment? Right now, Mo Wen might even be accepted into the Senate without having to go through the assessment.
There were two branches in the Huatian Palace: the Parliament and the Senate.
The Senate was the backbone of the Huatian Palace. It consisted of a large number of veterans who were at the Primordial Soul realm or above. The Senate was in charge of managing all the Executors, the Branch Palace Halls, and pretty much everything in the world. The Senate was led by Grand Palace Lord Xiao Hongyu, while Mo Qingge was the Deputy Head of Senate.
The Parliament was the highest governing body of the Huatian Palace. All the decisions issued to the Huatian Palace came from the Parliament. Every member of the Parliament was part of the upper echelons of the Huatian Palace. The Grand Palace Lord Xiao Hongyu was the Head of Parliament, while Mo Qingge was the Deputy Head of Parliament.
Mo Qingge held high positions in both bodies. Moreover, she was still so young; she was more or less the successor of the Grand Palace Lord.
Being supported by such a figure, if Mo Wen was not a Princelings, what was he?
However, this time, all the Huatian Palace Princelings were freaks who worked hard for their achievements. There was no one who was a good-for-nothing person.
“Mo Qingge and I are just normal friends.” Mo Wen laughed wryly. Even he couldn’t explain what kind of relationship he had with Mo Qingge. Initially, he one-sidedly wanted to help her to get through her huddle. However, from the looks of it now, he wasn’t qualified to help her at all. No wonder she rejected his help all this while. Perhaps he was but a joke in her eyes.
With Mo Qingge’s cultivation, naturally, she would have much better methods of suppressing the Massacre’s Host. Of course, since her cultivation was higher, if the Massacre’s Host went out of control, the consequences would also be unfathomable. The Huatian Palace would most likely have a method to prevent such a disaster from happening. Otherwise, they would not have let Mo Qingge hold a high position.
Ku Ji smiled. Normal friends? Could it be that the dignified Huatian Palace Deputy Head of Parliament paid close attention to a youth just because they were normal friends? Let alone Ku Ji, most likely no one would believe it. Besides, Mo Qingge’s younger brother seemed to not be simple too. He was even more mysterious than his sister. Since Mo Wen had a deep relationship with both of them, his future in the Huatian Palace would surely be like a duck to water.
The two of them kept talking as they teleported a few times. After fifteen minutes, they appeared in the Huatian Palace Headquarters.
Prior to this, Mo Wen had come to the Huatian Palace Headquarters from the outside route. This time, it could be said that he had come through the inside route.