Wang Shun came to deliver more food to Li Yuanqing. The quality of the food was even better now. At the same time, Wang Shun also brought people to repair some houses in the valley. The craftsmen who came were far away from their home.

They had barely met Li Yuanqing, so the craftsmen did not know that there was a former Crown Prince here.

Li Yuanqing did not say anything.

During the meal, Wang Shun told him about the recent events, especially about Princess Zhaoyang.

“Princess Zhaoyang entered the Royal Martial Arts Academy and became the youngest teacher there. She proposed that martial artists should participate in actual combat. Every month, the Martial Arts Academy would compete against martial artists of the same level, challenge advanced martial artists, and even compete with the local Martial Arts Academy. If one fails three times in a row, they will be expelled…

“The students that Princess Zhaoyang brought out are very powerful and are very strong in actual combat. Furthermore, Princess Zhaoyang even fought with the teachers of the Martial Arts Academy. She challenged almost all the teachers of the Martial Arts Academy and almost no one was her match. Everyone says that the Princess is a heaven-gifted genius. She is the number one person in the Royal Martial Arts Academy. She is already at the peak of the seventh grade and is about to enter the eighth grade at any time…

“Right now, the world is very peaceful. That sword strike of the Wind Thunder Sect is enough to make people tremble in fear. Everyone is guessing that the Martial Saint of the Northern Kingdom must be very powerful, and is stronger than many Martial Saints. However, no one knows how powerful he is!”

When Wang Shun talked about this Martial Saint, his face was full of admiration. He even cupped his hands in the direction of Kaiyuan County to show his respect.

This was a popular habit in the Northern Kingdom nowadays.

They could directly address the Emperor as ‘Your Majesty’, but when it came to the Martial Saint, they would cup their hands in respect in that direction, expressing their respect from the bottom of their hearts, because this was a treatment that an expert should enjoy.

Wang Shun was used to doing this. Therefore, he never expected that the person whom he respected the moment he heard the name was actually Li Yuanqing, who was eating quietly before him.

Li Yuanqing did not say anything after hearing Wang Shun’s words.

This was quite good. When he was not strong, he would hide his achievements and fame. When he really felt invincible, it would not be a problem to be high-profile. At this moment, it was better to sign in silently and hide!

After Wang Shun left, Li Yuanqing was drinking tea under the tree when he saw Hu Jiujiu appear from a distance on the qilin beast. She seemed to have returned here for some time when Princess Zhaoyang went to the Martial Arts Academy.

However, Li Yuanqing had been cultivating all this while and did not bother about her at all. She must have gone to the hinterlands of the Wilderness.

“In two days, go to Zhaoyang’s side and bring her some things…”

Princess Zhaoyang must have listened to his words when he saw that she was looking for people in the Martial Arts Academy to engage in a crazy battle. Her level had increased too quickly and her realm was not stable enough.

He still had many Wallbreaker Pills and medicinal pills that could help her break through to the eighth grade. He had no use for them anyways. Thinking about it, he could only give some to Zhaoyang since there was no one else other than her.

After arranging these things, he signed in with great effort and continued cultivating.

Hu Jiujiu calmed down after going to the hinterlands of the Wilderness. Even though she was being suppressed by Li Yuanqing, the Nine-Tailed Fox Tribe had a lifespan of thousands of years. Besides, she was only injured. As long as she could find a way to recover from her injuries, she might be able to break free one day. She would quietly wait for that day.

Hu Jiujiu had her own plans, but never in her wildest dreams would she have thought that Li Yuanqing’s Manipulation Arts was already at level five. Hu Jiujiu was destined to be disappointed.

Li Yuanqing did not say anything about that. He merely went to the ancient ruins in the valley after Hu Jiujiu left. After all, there were many rewards there.

There, he had obtained hundreds of elixirs that could improve his Sand Escape Technique. He had even obtained a cultivation technique related to the Saint Extermination Stone. This made him overjoyed. He had never used the Saint Extermination Stone ever since he had obtained it.

It wasn’t that he didn’t have a chance to use it, but he felt that there was something lacking about the Saint Extermination Stone. He had always been cautious. As long as he felt that something was amiss, he would definitely not use it. Thus, he had never used the Saint Extermination Stone before.

After he got a cultivation technique book regarding the Saint Extermination Stone, he realized that there were many different levels of Martial Saints. The difference between each level of Martial Saints is huge.

In the early-stage of Martial Saint, there were Grotto-Heaven realm, Spirit Transformation realm, and Formation Arrangement realm. Each realm was divided into nine grades. Therefore, ordinary martial artists who yearned for the Martial Saint realm were only at the early stage of the Grotto-Heaven realm, which was within Grotto-Heaven realm’s first to second grade. From the third to sixth grade of Grotto-Heaven realm is the intermediate stage, while those at the seventh to ninth stage were at the advanced stage of Grotto-Heaven realm!

The five Martial Saints that the Wind Thunder Sect’s evil technique had raised were at most at the Grotto-Heaven realm’s first grade. They were not even at the mid-level of the first stage. The Wind Thunder Sect’s Sect Master was only at the peak of the Grotto-Heaven realm.

Because Li Yuanqing had suppressed his cultivation level in the early stages, his foundation was especially strong after countless cleansing attempts. Therefore, the moment he entered the Grotto-heaven realm of the Martial Saint, he was already at the mid-level of Grade Two, which was equivalent to being two levels higher than the Wind Thunder Sect Master.

In terms of the Martial Saint level, a single level was enough to crush someone to death. This was also the reason why Li Yuanqing was able to suppress the Sect Master of the Wind Thunder Sect to the point that he could not move.

Li Yuanqing could tell from the cultivation techniques he had signed that the Almighties from the ancient times were all above the Spirit Transformation realm. Knowing this, he dared not relax even a little. He decided that he must cultivate in this Wilderness valley and not go out easily.

Five years passed in a flash.

In the past five years, the Wind Thunder Sect’s sword strike had intimidated the entire Northern Kingdom’s hidden forces, allowing the Northern Kingdom to enjoy five years of peace. Princess Zhaoyang had also stayed in the Royal Martial Arts Academy for five years.

She became a peak eighth-grade martial artist, Li Huanjun had also advanced to the ninth-grade. He had also issued a decree to make Princess Zhaoyang the Crown Princess. It could be said that he had completely fallen out with the aristocratic families because of this.

Each of the eight great clans in the Northern Kingdom had a stronger foundation than the Li Clan of the Northern Kingdom. These clans were noble and had been officials for generations. They controlled the government and arranged marriages with each other. They also nurtured their descendants to become strong martial artists.

The Zhao clan, the Han clan, the Wei clan, the Zhi clan, the Fan clan, the Zhongxing clan, the Wang clan and the Li clan were called the Eight Great Clans by the Northern Kingdom citizens.

Among them, even though the Li Clan was a royal family, they were ranked last because they did not have a longer history than the other clans, and they did not have the foundation.

Each of the Eight Great Clans actually had an Old Ancestor. It was rumored that there were also Saints in recent years. However, the Eight Great Clans didn’t reveal it. Therefore, on the surface, the Northern Kingdom was still the most powerful royal clan.

However, if the seven great clans really joined forces to oppose a single matter, the consequences would be dire.

For example, this time, when His Majesty Li Huanjun conferred the title of Crown Princess to Princess Zhaoyang, the seven great clans actually jointly submitted a petition, indicating that they would not comply with His Majesty’s decree, because the entire world would be chaos when a woman meddle in politics.