Chapter 214: Aura's Thoughts
The Seven Star Sword Light Platform was the perfect place to hone one's sword intent.
If a swordsman started practicing the skill at the age of six, he would grasp all the basics by the age of twelve, and become proficient by the age of sixteen. Afterward, if he yearned for further breaking through, he would have to go through life-threatening tests unless he was especially talented.
Nevertheless, a man can only live once. It might be easy to say, but when putting the words into practice, it would mean risking his neck to enhance his skill with the sword. One could only imagine how dangerous it was.
Regardless of whether one was a swordsman, a blade practitioner, or a boxer, all martial arts practitioners had to face such a problem.
Inside the Cloud Sect, however, there were plenty of magic arrays and secret realms to hone one's skills. Any outsider would be dying to own even one of those items, making the Cloud Sect regarded as the shrine of martial arts in the Eastern Region, attracting numerous talented, young practitioners from various counties of the Eastern Region who would squeeze themselves in at all costs.
Still, even for very talented young practitioners, there was no way to improve at the Seven Star Sword Light Platform as fast as Zen did. When he first entered the place, he had two epiphanies and was able to grasp things that many others wouldn't be able to comprehend in a lifetime, and he owed it all to his extraordinary insight and luck.
Even as he nailed the eighth level, he still felt like he hadn't reached his limit. Steward Song also urged him to enter the Seven Star Sword Light Platform and have a try at Level Nine.
Zen's performance was way too stunning. Steward Song was also eager to profit during the process of searching for gifted practitioners. But he was not aware that Steward Cao had done the same thing in the Lake of the Magical Fish. At that time, Steward Cao reported Zen's achievement to his seniors in an attempt of taking credit for it. However, he not only obtained zero bonus but got cold shoulders. After reporting several times, the seniors even sent an officer to Steward Cao to tell him off, leaving Steward Cao utterly muddled. At last, he gave up trying
Even if Steward Song did not encourage Zen in some way, Zen would still take a shot at it, for he was also curious about what his limits were.
'Can I break through Level Nine at the Seven Star Sword Light Platform? Or even attempt to challenge Level Ten?
Well, I can't do all that today. I've comprehended sword intent and learned a whole new set of fundamental swordplay. I still need to spend some time strengthening the new skills when I get back, ' such thoughts played in his mind as he trained.
The moment Zen returned to Drizzle Peak, he received a message saying that Aura needed him to go to her place.
By dusk, he was halfway up Drizzle Peak.
The gold setting sun projected the final wisp of energy for the day from the distant west. Under the freezing depth of winter, however, that wisp of energy dispersed before people could even feel its warmth.
Whirling wind swept across the peaks from the north. As it blew strong outside, people who were light and slim didn't dare step out of their houses.
At a pavilion halfway up Drizzle Peak, however, stood a woman in a yellow robe, leaning against a pillar in the corner. Her long yellow robe that trailed on the ground seemed to be her only outer layer. Although the robe's texture seemed warm and snug, it was barely enough to keep the cold out, as it was only tied around her neck and didn't even fully wrap around her.
Underneath the robe was a thin, silky gown in a lighter yellow. If she was an ordinary woman wearing such clothes standing in the pavilion facing the north, she would freeze to death within a couple of hours. This woman, however, who had achieved nature level consummation and was only one step away from the Illuminating Soul Realm, would not feel the chilling weather at all, even if she was standing in a world of ice and snow without any clothes.
The woman was Zen's tutor, Aura Su.
When there were others around, she tended to be strong and domineering. Even though she was a princess who had lost power, she was as confident as she used to be.
Still, when she was on her own, she always felt a little dismal. There were some secrets she held that had to be kept to herself, not allowing her to confide in other people.
In the eyes of those around her, Aura joining the Cloud Sect and becoming a tutor was merely a mischievous act. It was easy to interpret the decision as the powerful princess' way to goof off. Of course, Aura herself thought nothing of the sort.
Before she left the royal palace, she had already been unable to visit the man in the Burning Sky Palace for six months. That man was her father, Kane Su.
Though she had requested to see her father a number of times, her requests were denied every time. It wasn't normal at all. Once, she even barged into the imperial palace, only to find that her father's chambers were empty, with the sheets and quilt on the bed left tidy, as if her father had not lived there for a while.
Since then, Aura had been in doubt, thinking, 'Perhaps my father has already left the Eastern Region.'
Evidently, she was not the only one holding the same doubtful thought. At the palace, there were seven princes, and three princesses having discussed the issue in private. But the truth was tightly protected, out of anyone's reach.
As rumor had it, her father had long since gone out to experience the world without any intentions to return. It was even probable that he already died in some faraway place.
Such a rumor seemed farfetched, but Aura didn't dare think light of it, as her father was an absolute king of mankind in the Eastern Region, the most gifted and knowledgeable emperor in the field of martial arts the Burning Sky Empire ever had.
In the past, the strength of the head of Cloud Sect always overtook that of the Burning Sky Palace. The Cloud Sect had a say in many matters, giving it the power to even change the fate of the Burning Sky Empire.
It was entirely possible because the Cloud Sect did not only have a head whose strength was overwhelmingly strong but also had a solid backup, the Cloud Hall.
Countless powerful practitioners lived in the Cloud Hall. For them, both the Cloud Sect and Burning Sky Empire were merely parts of the land under their governance. Given this, the Burning Sky Empire could only endure the suppression of the Cloud Sect for fear that they might offend the Cloud Hall.
Fortunately, Cloud Sect was based within the Burning Sky Empire, so their conflicts of interest were few. More often than not, they would have to unite with each other. That was the reason the thriving Cloud Sect was still willing to cultivate many Illuminating Soul Realm experts and offer them to Burning Sky Empire as a gift in return.
However, since Kane Su took the throne, the entire situation was altered, for Kane's strength was as strong, or even more formidable than that of the head of Cloud Sect. Moreover, Kane Su had even joined Cloud Hall, making his status somewhat higher than the Cloud Sect head.
Such news was good for the Burning Sky Empire, as they could finally take the initiative on loads of issues, leaving Cloud Sect as more of a vassal. With that, word among the folks was that the Cloud Sect's influence was waning over the recent several decades while the Burning Sky Empire's power was only spiking up.
As a member of Cloud Hall, Aura's father had to facilitate it and assist in its involvement in various affairs.
There was no doubt that Kane was extremely powerful. From Aura's perspective, he was on a mountain so tall that no one else could survive the climb to the top. For all those years of Burning Sky Empire's existence, there was only one Kane Su.
Aura herself was not very strong. Because of her distinguished status as a princess, though, she had learned a great deal about the secrets of history and was well aware that there would always be someone better than herself. Even though Kane might have dominated the Eastern Region for a time, once he stepped out of its borders, he was nobody in the vast world.
Inside the Cloud Hall, there were already loads of members who were showing to be stronger than Aura's father, not to mention the head and vice-head of the hall, as well as its many elders.
With many showing such promise, it was possible that Kane had already met his downfall.
In the past two years, Kane did not hold court even once. According to the palace, Aura's father was in closed-door training, so the crown prince, Farrell Su, Aura's brother, was temporarily in power.
According to the laws of the Burning Sky Palace, if Aura's father did not show up within three years, the crown prince would take the throne and become the new emperor, meaning that Kane would be abdicated in favor of his son.
If he was truly doing closed-door training, such an arrangement was fine. But the thing was, the seven princes did not believe that their father was still around and they were quite certain that Kane was meeting his downfall outside the Eastern Region.
Such rumors gave the princes an opportunity to usurp the throne.
Over the past year, the seventh prince, Conn Su, had already been preparing to take the throne, blatantly cozying up to two of the top seven noble clans, the Yun Clan and the Yu Clan. Meanwhile, the third prince, Ray Su, was also getting restless as he tried to get on good terms with the Huang Clan and the Pei Clan. At that point, their intentions were evident.
In contrast, Aura's brother, the crown prince, Farrell Su, had far fewer connections than the other princes.
Since Farrell was the first son of the emperor, he was conferred the title of crown prince upon birth. As an heir, he began living in the Eastern Palace, spending day after day learning the art of ruling from many great scholars. Therefore, he had fewer opportunities to build up his connections as the other princes did.
Back then, who could have foreseen the disappearance of the emperor?
When Conn and Ray began working their means to usurp the throne, Farrell's status was put in jeopardy.
Anyhow, Farrell was still the official crown prince. Without the emperor's death being confirmed yet, the third and seventh princes had to stay put, bidding their time.
Throughout history, once it came to the fight for the throne, horrifyingly brutal results were inevitable.
There was no doubt that one side would do away with the opposing side, leaving no possibility for the fight to end up in a draw.
On the one hand, Aura worried for her elder brother Farrell Su. On the other, she was not keen on seeing the descendants of the Su Family turn against each other and fight to the death. Thus, she decided to join the Cloud Sect.
Although Aura did not want Cloud Sect to take control of the Burning Sky Palace, she could not find any other kind of means to intervene in the issue. The assorted noble clans in the Burning Sky Empire would probably only further aggravate the already tense situation. If the prince they supported were to be enthroned, they believed they would be able to prevail over the rest of the noble clans, so as to break the existing power structure and gain more benefits.
Even though Aura was a royal princess, she had no way to control the Cloud Sect and neither did Farrell as the crown prince.
With a lack of other means, Aura tried to find a qualified individual who could help Farrell by protecting and escorting him. Such a person, though, should not be a disciple of any of the noble clans, so she could only select from grassroots, which led her on her path to being a tutor in Drizzle Peak. Considering that Drizzle Peak was ranked last, most disciples were at grassroots level.
Aura was well aware that to place all her hopes on a disciple of Cloud Sect was fool's talk. Throughout history, many grassroots disciples had accomplished astonishing achievements. Still, compared to the disciples of noble clans, they were very few.
Left without other options, Aura just had to try it as a last resort to save the hopeless situation. If one of her disciples could luckily advance by leaps and bounds, or even pass the Cloud Road test and get selected by the Cloud Hall to be admitted as a disciple, there was a chance for the trouble at the royal palace to be sorted out.
Still, the probability of finding someone worthy was way too low, barely better than zero. It was no wonder others thought that going to Drizzle Peak was only a waste of time.