Shi Qingzhuang was sitting on the balcony with a middle-aged woman, her black hair tied up in a bun, a small yet luxurious tiara adorning her head, and two side bangs falling down to her cheeks. The woman’s face was not inferior to the Empress of the Xian Kingdom, but her body was slightly inferior to hers, especially her chest. "Why do you keep looking at the commerce district, Sister Qingzhuang? Is there anything interesting in that district?" Shi Qingzhuang turned to the woman and nodded. "There’s something interesting there, Sister Guo Xuehua. However, I won’t tell you about it now, and you can see for yourself in a few days." Explore stories at freewebnovel Guo Xuehua, the Empress of the Yun Clan, raised her eyebrows at Shi Qingzhuang’s secrecy. She then spread her senses to the commerce district, but she couldn’t find anything interesting there, leaving her wondering. ’What exactly is she hiding from me? It’s unusual for her to act like this, so it must be something interesting.’ "Anyway, where are Xianwu and Xianqin? Why don’t I see them in this palace?" "Their master summoned them to meet him, so they returned to our Xian Imperial Sect since yesterday, but they should be back in a few days." Shi Qingzhuang turned to ask. "What about Yun Feng and Yun Xi? Have they broken through to the seven divine realms?" "Haish! You shouldn’t ask that." Guo Xuehua replied with a heavy sigh. "Just like your children, my children still haven’t managed to break through to the seven divine realms. They told me over and over again that they had already touched the final barrier, but they felt that something was preventing them from passing through it. Not only them, but the other younger generations at their level also said the same thing, which made me think there was a change in the world law, preventing them from breaking through." Sister Qinzhuang raised her eyebrows at that, especially since her two children also said the same thing. "A change in the world law? How is that possible?" "There." Guo Xuehua pointed northeast, precisely toward the Cyanwood Mountain. "Unlike you with your light element, I have the lightning element, and my understanding of the lightning law is quite good. In the past, lightning at the mountaintop was weaker, but the lightning law is getting stronger every year. I went there a few months ago, but I can’t get close to that place anymore even with my current understanding of the lightning law, which means it has gone beyond my understanding. I have discussed the matter with Xian Lianghua, but he himself has no answer about it because members of the natural races with the lightning element are also unable to approach that place, so he suspects that the lightning law there is the cause of the world law to undergo some changes." "Does that mean the lightning law in our realm has overpowered the other elemental laws?" Guo Xuehua shook her head at Shi Qingzhuang in denial. "Actually, it’s still just Xian Lianghua’s guess, and he hasn’t found any evidence for it. Moreover, the elemental laws of all realms are created in balance, so none of them can overpower the others. Overpowering one element will destroy its balance, causing the other elemental laws to gradually fade away. Why don’t you try using your light element? Your light element will become weaker if the light law disappears from our realm." "My understanding of the law of light is not as high as your understanding of the law of lightning." Shi Qingzhuang then extended both of her palms forward, and two balls of light appeared above them, but one of them was much brighter than the other. "My light element is still as strong as ever, so there should be no change in the light law in our realm. Then, why do they have difficulty breaking through to the seven divine realms?" "No one knows the answer." Guo Xuehua then looked up at the sky. "The world law is different from the elemental laws, and no living creature has ever been able to understand it. The only conclusion I can draw is that it declines over time, particularly due to the overwhelming number of cultivators in our realm. Moreover, the condition of our realm continues to change for the worse because of our actions, and it will probably become a dead realm if the world law completely disappears." "Aren’t your thoughts about it a bit too extreme?" Guo Xuehua turned to Shi Qingzhuang and inquired. "Did you forget that there are some dead realms in these middle realms? In the past, those realms had their own civilizations, but their conditions continued to deteriorate, and they slowly moved towards death before dying out completely, forcing their inhabitants to migrate to other realms." "You are right." Shi Qingzhuang nodded repeatedly as she recalled the existence of those realms. "In fact, my ancestors came from one of those dead realms, and they decided to move to this Nine Stars Realm because the condition of their realm kept getting worse. Anyway, are you thinking about accepting a disciple, Sister Xuehua?" "Hahaha." Guo Xuehua laughed quite loudly, causing her breast to bounce around. "I’m not someone who is good at teaching others; even our master said so, remember? I didn’t even teach my two children about cultivation; instead, I left them under my brother’s guidance, so I would never take a disciple. Who is the person you are referring to? Why do you want that person to be my disciple?" "You will meet that person in a few days, and I believe you will change your mind after meeting him." The mysterious smile on Shi Qingzhuang’s face caused Guo Xuehua to frown. "I can tell you that he recently passed his lightning tribulation, and he experienced it twice at once." "Huh? Two lightning tribulations at once?" Shi Qingzhuang nodded at Guo Xuehua. "What did he do to deserve such a harsh test from the heavens?" Shi Qingzhuang shook her head in response. "You might think that he is an evil person because of his lightning tribulations, but my husband and I can see that he is not evil. He has many loyal people by his side, and all of them are good people because our children have already visited his residence two days ago." "How did he survive his two lightning tribulations? Does he have the lightning element?" Guo Xuehua asked in a curious manner as she propped her chin. "A single lightning tribulation was already so terrifying, yet he experienced it twice at once." "He doesn’t have the lightning element, but based on my children’s stories, he learned a lightning body technique." Guo Xuehua was surprised to hear Shi Qingshuang’s answer, especially since she knew that to learn such a technique requires the lightning element. "My husband and I witnessed his lightning tribulation with our own eyes, and I can tell you that it was truly powerful, but he did not fall unconscious after he was struck by the first lightning. Instead, he absorbed the lightning to strengthen his body, core, and soul. Likewise after he was struck by the second lightning, and he only fell unconscious after absorbing all the lightning." Guo Xuehua’s expression looked genuinely curious after hearing that. "Are you sure I can meet him in a few days?" "He will open a restaurant in this capital in a few days, so I will take you there to meet him, and you can check him out yourself." Guo Xuehua then stood up. "All right, we will meet him in a few days, but we should join our husbands now." Shi Qingzhuang immediately followed Guo Xuehua, and they soon arrived at another area, where Xian Feng was speaking with the Emperor of the Yun Kingdom, Yun Shang. Unlike Xian Feng, who looked like a fighter, Yun Shang looked more like a scholar, but he also looked like a drunkard. Even so, the aura that radiated from his body was like a calm cloud above the sky, but his drunken eyes looked fierce. Guo Xuehua immediately massaged her forehead when she saw her husband. "Husband, I have forbidden you to drink too much arrack, but you never listen to me." "Haha." Yun Shang laughed upon hearing that. "Wife, you know that I can never get drunk, no matter how much arrack I drink, so you don’t need to mind it, right? Anyway, Brother Feng told me about a young man, but he still hides his identity from me, so I think we should stay in this kingdom for a few days to meet him." Both women immediately sat down beside their respective husbands, and Guo Xuehua spoke to her husband directly. "Sister Qingzhuang also told me the young man, and I was curious about him, so I wanted to stay here for a few days." "In that case, we will stay here for a few days and let my brother take care of our kingdom for a while." . . . Meanwhile, Zhang Fei and Zhu Yan were discussing the restaurant, from the dishes to the waitresses and other things. "Do you think the five of them are enough to help you? Or do you still need help from other people?" Zhu Yan took some time to think before responding to Zhang Fei. "The five of them are actually enough to help me, but we are foreigners in this realm. Moreover, you want to use them for your new organization, and they will probably go out often to do certain things, so I think we should find some female workers in this realm. Additionally, you could create a large number of flyers and distribute them throughout the capital prior to the restaurant’s opening." "All right, I will do that, and I will pay some people to spread them." Zhang Fei suddenly had another idea and took out some beast meat. "How about you cook some dishes? The kitchen utensils and seasonings are already in the kitchen, and I will use my wind element to spread the aroma to various areas. I am confident that the aroma of your dishes will pique people’s curiosity, and their curiosity will grow once I distribute the flyers, so they will fill our restaurant during the opening day." Zhu Yan immediately agreed with that and took those beast meats to the kitchen, and he began to prepare to cook some dishes. Mei suddenly informed Zhang Fei about something. [Master, I previously detected two powerful senses scanning this area, and I traced the source to the Xian Palace.] Zhang Fei immediately opened the map and checked the Xian Palace; he found the two Emperors and Empresses of the two kingdoms gathered in one place. ’Yun Shang and Guo Xuehua should be the Emperor and Empress of the Yun Kingdom in the west. I’m sure the two senses from before belonged to them, which means Xian Feng and Shi Qingzhuang told them about me.’ [They seem to be very close to each other, master. Moreover, Xian Feng and Shi Qingzhuang clearly have no ill intentions towards you, or else the dots on their names would not be green but red.] Zhang Fei did not refute Mei, especially since the dots on the names of people who were hostile towards him were always red. [Maybe they have a special reason for telling Yun Shang and Guo Xuehua about you, and you will probably find out about their intentions on the opening day of your restaurant.] ’Yeah, you’re right. I’ll wait for their arrival on the opening day, and we’ll find out whether Yun Shang and Guo Xuehua will be hostile to me or not by then.’ Zhang Fei suddenly remembered something. ’Mei, open the two easy gift packs from the previous two easy quests, and also the daily gift pack from yesterday.’ [All right.] [You gained 50.000 beast essence.] [You obtained 1 Huanying Mask. Grade: Heaven.] [You obtained 1 Hongxi Dagger. Grade: Heaven] ’Oh?’ Zhang Fei was slightly surprised to get two items, which were from the two easy gift packs. ’Show their description, Mei.’ [Huanying Mask: The user can conceal his or her aura completely when wearing this mask, and the mask will not be visible to others.] [Hongxi Dagger: This dagger can steal Qi from opponents with every attack to restore the user’s Qi.] Zhang Fei immediately took the two pieces of equipment and put on the Huanying mask. ’This mask’s material is incredibly light, and it doesn’t feel like I’m wearing one. As for this dagger, I’ll try its effects later, and I hope the amount of Qi it steals is large enough, so I won’t run out of Qi when fighting my enemies.’ Zhang Fei suddenly smelled the aroma of cooking from the kitchen because Zhu Yan had started cooking, so he immediately stored the two pieces of equipment and followed her there. As originally planned, he used his wind element to spread the aroma of his cooking as far as possible, hoping to tempt the residents of the Xian Kingdom. As Zhang Fei expected, people started to gather in front of the building, but none of them dared to approach or check inside with their senses, especially since they knew that it was a private building belonging to the royal family, leaving them wondering about the source of the cooking aroma. "It seems your plan worked, Zhang Fei." Zhu Yan spoke after she heard the commotion from outside. As he watched those people from the map, Zhang Fei nodded to Zhu Yan. "After this, you can cook some other dishes and let them wonder more about your cooking." "All right." As time passed, the number of people gathered in front of the building continued to increase, particularly after Zhu Yan began cooking additional dishes. Just like in the Sky Jade Realm, the people in the Nine Stars Realm never used spices like on earth to cook their food, so the aroma of her dishes was different from what they usually ate. Seeing so many people gathered there, the guards were forced to move to disperse the crowds because their actions were making the area too crowded, and one of them immediately reported the problem to the Xian Palace. Xian Feng, through one of his ministers, ordered the guard to let the people gather there. He did that on purpose because he was aware of Zhang Fei’s intentions, and he wanted to show him that they were on his side. After Zhu Yan had completed her cooking and tidying up, Zhang Fei promptly used his warp portal to send her back to their residence, particularly considering the lingering crowd in front of the building. Zhang Fei himself did not return there, but instead, he used his invisibility to leave the place. He then went to look around the shops in the commerce and market districts to buy some items, especially the herbs that Zhang Lingxue needed to concoct pills. "Hmm?" As soon as Zhang Fei entered his alchemy shop, the old man immediately looked at him. "What can I do for you, young master?" "Senior, my wife is an alchemist, and she wants to concoct some pills, so I want to buy some herbs." Zhang Fei then mentioned some herbs that Zhang Lingxue wanted, and the owner wrote them down one by one. "Do you have them, Senior?" The old man nodded to Zhang Fei. "I have some of these herbs in stock, but I’m running low on some others, and you’ll have to wait at least three days for my new stock to arrive. Sorry if I’m being presumptuous, but can you tell me your wife’s alchemist rank? All these herbs are clearly not ingredients for concocting basic or intermediate rank pills, but rather high rank pills, which can only be concocted by alchemists from the Alchemy Union." ’Alchemy union?’ Zhang Fei inwardly wondered. "Forgive me, Senior. I have no knowledge about alchemy, and I have never asked my wife about her rank in alchemy. Anyway, can you tell me about the alchemy union?" - To Be Continued -