Ti passed by the second, and he felt increasingly tranquil within.
Suddenly, he felt as if his soul had left his body.
It was as though the incense smoke had torn open another world...
He opened his eyes warily.
The departing soul instantly returned, yet the feeling of ease persisted.
Before his eyes, the space shrouded in incense smoke seed to be slowly transforming.
Li Xuan continued to press his hands together, silently reciting in his heart: ’I want to beco strong.’
The incense grew more intense, seemingly perating the whole small room.
Within the small room, the scenery suddenly changed, forming a transparent sense of "dual space."
One space was already the bedroom of Li Xuan and Rose; the other was in so unknown location, vaguely seen where golden light flourished, and from afar ca the tallic sound of "ding-ding-ding."
Li Xuan kept watching, and feeling sothing, suddenly turned his head, only to see nothing.
Being cautious, since he sensed sothing unusual, he imdiately stopped and extinguished the incense.
As the incense disappeared, so did his prayer, and that otherworldly space vanished as well.
Li Xuan explained the situation to Rose.
Rose said, "Master, it’s very normal. I also saw another scenery, but that scenery was just empty, brightly lit, and there was nothing."
Li Xuan thought for a bit, then decided to try again.
So, he resud dancing, burning incense, joining his hands, and entered ditation...
A mont later, that golden world reappeared.
The tallic sound of ding-ding-ding grew clearer, nearly echoing in Li Xuan’s heart.
Suddenly, he felt a sense of being watched, and jerked his head to the side.
This ti, he saw it.
It was a towering giant silhouette in the midst of brightness, seeming to lie sideways, stretching across mountains, its full aspect completely unfathomable.
However... Li Xuan’s pupils contracted, because he saw the space occupied by the towering giant silhouette was directly overlapping with the space where Rose was.
Clearly it was the sa place, but appeared as one person and one deity, overlapping. On one side was the person beside him with wide-open eyes, on the other was a frightening giant silhouette, whose appearance couldn’t be clearly seen.
Li Xuan suddenly understood, his pupils contracted, and he withdrew his clasped hands, snuffing out the incense.
Rose jumped in fright and quickly asked, "Master, what’s wrong?"
Li Xuan replied somberly, "Actually, you might try not dancing, just burning incense directly."
Rose asked, "Why? Didn’t the Purple-tailed Flood Dragon Monarch say that if you don’t dance, it doesn’t count as superior visualization?"
Li Xuan explained, "Do you know why there’s nothing in the scenery you saw?"
Rose shook her head.
Li Xuan continued, "It’s because... in that world’s scenery, you... are the Feather Robe. It is overlapped with you."
Rose widened her eyes, touched her head, and said, "No wonder the peacock feathers have been growing more these days, I won’t practice anymore!"
She angrily wanted to throw away all the incense, but seed reluctant to part with it.
Thus... she threw away half, but kept the other half.
...
...
The next day.
The whole street was talking about the raiders attacking the city.
Li Xuan went to the Governor’s manor to seek information.
The Governor had naturally taken people to the north city and was not at the manor.
However, everyone in the Zhou family knew the Governor always consulted with Commandery Princess Chunyang, hence the Princess would know quite a bit about the matter.
Zhou Jihai led Li Xuan to Zhao Yunshang’s courtyard, knocked, and called out, "Mother."
There was no response from behind the door.
Zhou Jihai called again, "Mother, my brother and I want to ask you sothing."
Only then did a slightly lazy voice co from behind the door.
"I’m coming."
Though she said "coming," Li Xuan and Zhou Jihai waited for a full incense stick’s worth of ti.
After an incense stick’s duration, the beautiful lady walked gracefully out of the courtyard.
Li Xuan, with his keen perception, noticed a faint aroma of wine, though Zhou Jihai did not sense anything unusual.
Clearly, Zhao Yunshang had closed the door because she had been drinking during the day.
Yet, as a mother, Zhao Yunshang didn’t want her image of drinking to be seen by her son, as she always portrayed herself as a lady of etiquette and decorum.
"Jihai, Xuan’Er, what’s the matter?"
At this mont, though her cheeks were no longer flushed, the lady still retained a slight laziness.
Zhou Jihai remained oblivious, rely asking, "Mother, do you know about the raiders?"
Zhao Yunshang thought briefly and replied, "The raiders are nothing but a rabble. Your uncle leads the city defense, and General Liang has also moved thirty thousand troops directly out.
A rabble that is not even worth defeating, no need to worry."
Seeing Zhou Jihai and Li Xuan remain silent, Zhao Yunshang smiled, saying, "Within two to three days at the latest, there will be news, you two just focus on preparing for the exam."
The two nodded.
...
...
Sure enough, things happened just as Zhao Yunshang had said.
Two days later, the city was filled with good news.
The citizens cheered.
"The raiders retreated!"
"The raiders retreated completely!"
"A great victory!"
"Victory, we’ve won!"
Such simple words were filled with the people’s joy.
The shadow cast by the hundred thousand troops pressing down had slowly dispersed.
The autumn exams, originally planned to be postponed, were now set to proceed as scheduled.
...
...
Ti passed quickly, reaching the end of September.
Many scholars arrived at the exam site, entering the provincial exams systematically.
anwhile, the raider Rebel Army seed to have locked horns with Cyan Wood Province’s State City, engaging in repeated tug-of-war.
Liang Shigu’s troops ca in and out of the city repeatedly.
Eventually, they decided to set camp outside the city.
And today, during the imperial exams, the Rebel Army launched another attack.
This ti, Liang Shigu seed to have exhausted his patience.
He sent cavalry to crush the raider Rebel Army, then continued advancing north, pursuing the routed troops, with an intent seemingly to destroy them completely.
Early autumn leaves fell from the sky...
The scholars continued to write in the exam hall, extrely focused.
Li Xuan was also concentrated on answering the questions.
For the past two months or so, he hadn’t encountered any incident, as if life had returned to being ordinary without demons or anything abnormal.
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