King Qi's rebellion had ultimately been quelled. News of this outcome shook the entire Great Zhou Empire, making the various factions dumbstruck. No one had expected the seemingly unstoppable king Qi to met such a fate…

One must know that the royal clan had previously been unable to anything to king Qi. If not, the former would not have tolerated the latter growing so powerful.

However, the power displayed by the royal clan during the battle stunned everyone.

In their shock, the various factions began to realise that the seemingly waning royal clan was in actuality not as weak as they had expected.

As the saying went, a malnourished camel was still bigger than a horse. The once titan-like entity that was the Great Zhou royal clan was not to be underestimated even after experiencing so many failures and setbacks.

Thus, the factions that were originally planning on taking advantage of the situation had no choice but to retract their ready claws, afraid that someone might catch a glimpse.

Everyone knew that after purging the cancerous king Qi, the royal clan would soon regain its authority in the Great Zhou Empire. Any factions that dared to challenge them would likely end up with the same fate as king Qi.

Hence, the atmosphere in the Great Zhou Empire seemed to become substantially better for a while. No one dared to go against the king's orders, afraid they might become the next target of the royal clan.

...

"Unconscious for an entire month…" Hundreds of flowers bloomed in a certain courtyard within the royal palace where Zhou Yuan sat on a stone chair, his face filled with lamentation.

It had been a whole month since king Qi's rebellion was quelled. He had spent all that time in an unconscious state, not awakening till today.

This was evidently the price of forcibly strengthening his Spirit to control Silver Shadow.

"This is already pretty lucky. If you had not practiced the Primal Chaos Divine Grindstone Visualisation Method that made your Spirit much tougher than normal, I'm afraid it won't be the case of being unconscious for a month, but forever." A monotone voice was transmitted from behind Zhou Yuan.

Zhou Yuan smiled awkwardly as he turned his head to see Yaoyao walking over. The young lady's slender figure looked even more exquisite than usual when wrapped by her green clothes.

Yaoyao stared straight at Zhou Yuan and solemnly said, "I advise you to not use this method in future. Your Spirit is still too weak to control Silver Shadow. If you keep forcing yourself, your Spirit might even be irrevocably damaged, a situation that would be very unworthwhile indeed."

Zhou Yuan could sense Yaoyao's seriousness and knew that she was showing concern for him. He smiled and nodded. "Don't worry, it will only be a last resort."

After all, the previous battle had been far too important. If he had not borrowed Silver Shadow's power, king Qi's side would have absolutely dominated them. If that happened, the ones who ended up crumbling first would be them.

Such an outcome was unimaginable. It was likely that the royal clan would be annihilated.

Zhou Yuan would never allow that to happen. Hence, even while aware of the extreme risk, he was still duty-bound to use Silver Shadow.

After all, there were responsibilities he needed to shoulder as the prince of the Great Zhou Empire.

"It isn't all bad news though, it seems... that I have ascended to the mid Qi Nourishing stage." Zhou Yuan grinned. As he extended his hand, one would see dark gold Genesis Qi rising from the center of his palm. At closer inspection, strange blood-red threads were visible within the Genesis Qi.

Yaoyao offhandedly said, "Mid Qi Nourishing stage… do you feel restricted after falling to this level from being able to kill an Alpha-Origin?"

Zhou Yuan pondered for a while before shaking his head. "It was true that borrowing Silver Shadow's power made me very powerful, but such power is ultimately not my own. So don't worry, I will not be drunk with such external power and allow myself to stray."

He waved about the rising dark gold Genesis Qi on his palm as he grinned. "This is the power that truly belongs to me. It may be very weak now, but I believe that the day will come when it becomes very strong."

Yaoyao's snow-white chin nodded as appreciation appeared on her perfectly beautiful face. She was satisfied with Zhou Yuan's mentality. If he allowed his heart to sway, huge problems would plague his cultivation journey.

The two continued to converse for a while until Yaoyao suddenly recalled something. "Since you've awoken, you should go visit Su Youwei. She seems to have encountered a little trouble."

"Youwei? What happened? Is it the repercussions of the attack she performed that day?" Zhou Yuan hastily asked in alarm. He knew that Su Youwei had borrowed an unknown power and slayed Lin Nian with a single strike from her sword. It was clear that such power did not belong to Su Youwei.

Yaoyao began to explain, "The blow she performed back then should be from the Yangming Sword in her body. She was subsequently unconscious for a few days but managed to awaken quite some time ago and there weren't much after effects."

Zhou Yuan breathed a sigh of relief before he proceeded to ask, confused, "Then what trouble is there?"

Yaoyao gently stroked the languid Tuntun as she said, "Go take a look."

Zhou Yuan was somewhat bewildered but still nodded in acknowledgement. He was after all planning on paying Su Youwei a visit to thank her since she had done such a huge service to the Great Zhou Empire.

With these thoughts in mind, Zhou Yuan decided to delay no further. After bidding his goodbyes to Yaoyao, he left the royal palace, heading straight for Su Youwei's residence.

South of the city, outside a clean courtyard.

Zhou Yuan knocked on the courtyard door and waited for a brief moment, before hearing the soft sound of quickly approaching footsteps. The door was opened and a pair of bright, pretty eyes on a face that was beautiful regardless of anger or happiness was revealed.

It was Su Youwei.

She was first stunned when she saw Zhou Yuan outside the door, before joy and surprise quickly flooded her eyes.

"Your highness, you've awoken?!"

Zhou Yuan smiled and nodded. He breathed a small sigh of relief upon seeing Su Youwei's lively and energetic appearance before he said, "Big sis Yaoyao says you've encountered a little trouble?"

"Just tell me if there's anything bothering you. There is no problem I cannot solve in the Great Zhou Empire." Zhou Yuan thumped his chest and grinned.

Who could have expected that Su Youwei would frown upon hearing this as she sighed. "I'm afraid that your highness won't be able to help..."

Zhou Yuan scratched his head, utterly bewildered. There should no longer be anyone foolish enough to offend the royal clan in the current Great Zhou Empire, right?

"Please come in first your highness." A soft laugh escaped Su Youwei's slightly pursed red lips as she opened the door and let Zhou Yuan in. She led the way along a little cobbled path as they entered the rear courtyard.

There were two recliners in the rear courtyard where two elderly men were leisurely lying.

One of them was Su Youwei's grandfather, a very familiar individual to Zhou Yuan. Upon seeing him, the former gave a kindly greeting which was met by smile from Zhou Yuan. Subsequently, he cast his gaze towards the other elderly man in gray robes.

There were no Genesis Qi undulations around this old man, but a piercing pain was transmitted from Zhou Yuan's Spirit when he saw the former. His Spirit trembled, giving Zhou Yuan a fierce warning.

It was obvious that this seemingly ordinary old man was not ordinary at all.

Shock and fear filled Zhou Yuan's heart. When had such a terrifying powerful individual appeared in the Great Zhou Empire? According to his estimates, even Zhou Qing was nothing compared to this mysterious old man in gray.

While Zhou Yuan's expression turned grave, the gray robed old man lazily raised his head, his murky eyes casting a glance at Zhou Yuan before turning to Su Youwei as he lethargically stretched and sighed.

"Little lass, is it because of this kid that you're unwilling to leave with this old man?"