His bow was too standard, too respectful—Feng Miao Jun secretly felt uneasy. Yun Ya’s request for her to “reconsider” was a threat, wasn’t it?

After the guards walked away, the liquid metal creature White Board, who had been feigning sleep by her ear, muttered softly, “You’ve angered the State Preceptor away.”

She snorted, “It would be good if he truly left in anger.” What she feared was that this man was secretly plotting some new scheme.

White Board asked curiously, “You truly don’t want to marry Lord Yun?”

“What’s so good about marrying him?”

“Well…” White Board thought for half a day, “The lord is handsome.”

“Can handsomeness be eaten as food?” Well, it could—one could embrace him and nibble, and never grow tired of nibbling.

Imagining that scene, she couldn’t help but press her face, which felt a bit hot.

White Board awkwardly twisted its body, feeling that its mistress’s ears had gotten somewhat warm. But it didn’t think perversely, only trying hard to add points for its male master: “The lord can rival a nation in wealth and holds power in his hands!” Although it hadn’t personally seen mountains of gold and silver in Yun Ya’s possession, selling just one-dimensional bottle could exchange for countless precious metals, ensuring it wouldn’t worry about food and drink for a hundred years. So the male master must be an invisible tycoon, right?

Feng Miao Jun sniffed dismissively, “Don’t I have those things too?”

White Board was speechless. She was the Queen; the entire An Xia should be hers—wealth and power were within her grasp, weren’t they? “Then…” It was finished; it couldn’t think of anything else.

Feng Miao Jun pouted, “Thinking about it this way, he doesn’t have many merits.”

On such a beautiful afternoon, she suddenly felt restless and had no interest in appreciating the scenery. She simply stood up and walked around, thinking that the security and guard forces of this summer palace should be strengthened.

If Yun Ya could sneak to her side, could other powerful beings with ill intentions also do the same?

Like the Yan King?

The thought sent chills down her spine.

After all, Wusei City was only a summer palace, not the true capital of An Xia, lacking many of those exquisite protective measures. Later, if she designated Wusei City as the national capital, the forces guarding the sovereign would need to be strengthened further and further.

There were urgent government affairs to handle in the afternoon. By the time she returned to her sleeping palace, it was deep into the night. Outside the window, the moon was like a hook, and the night breeze frequently carried the fragrance of flowers.

Feng Miao Jun couldn’t help but yawn. So tired!

White Board used its tail to gently scratch her neck. “Mistress, why don’t you rest? You haven’t slept for many days.”

“Meditation will suffice.” These past few days, she didn’t dare to sleep, substituting sleep every night with meditative cultivation. That fellow Yun Ya must be going mad—she absolutely wouldn’t allow him to find her in her dreams and cause trouble.

How she missed the gentle touch of her large bed. She sighed a couple of times, as usual taking up the Heavenly Demon Secret Technique to study for a while, then honestly sat cross-legged for meditation, soon entering a state where self and objects were both forgotten.

Strangely enough, Fu Ling Chuan had said that many supernatural abilities and mental cultivation methods in the Heavenly Demon Secret Technique could no longer be practiced, existing in the book merely for display. But Feng Miao Jun approached it with an attitude of “it doesn’t matter whether it works or not” and tried to practice it. From the initial step-by-step obscurity to the gradual integration and smoothness later on, cultivation was indeed not easy—like squeezing through a narrow intestinal path—but at least there was a way up the mountain, not at all like an insurmountable cliff.

This feeling particularly fascinated her. Moreover, in Smoke Sea Tower, she had also read many supernatural abilities left by the Heavenly Demon. Although they were fragmentary, when integrated and practiced together now, she often felt a sense of learning one thing and understanding related matters.

The cultivation methods of the Heavenly Demon sounded strange and evil. However, setting aside countless inconceivable supernatural abilities, the most crucial aspects were two points: first, the divine soul, and second, the nature of the heart—precisely what cultivators need to focus on forging. It was said that before the epoch, cultivators who wanted to ascend to the next heavenly realm had to undergo the tribulation of lightning, an important part of which was the heart-striking lighting, specifically designed to stimulate inner demons and test one’s character. Therefore, the powerful beings of that time particularly emphasized cultivating the mind and nurturing one’s nature. But times change, and today’s cultivators fall far short of their predecessors’ heights. The so-called “cultivation deviation” is far less terrible than it used to be.

Everything has its advantages and disadvantages.

Tonight, for the first time, Feng Miao Jun cultivated by comparing the two volumes of the Heavenly Demon Secret Technique. Many previously incomprehensible parts suddenly became clear, and she gradually entered a good state. When the moon reached the zenith, there was a light “boom” in her mind. She felt her spiritual platform suddenly burst with brightness. Although her eyes were closed, she seemed able to “see” the scenery outside—see the gauze curtains blown by the wind, see the night-blooming cereus quietly blooming in the garden, see the fish in the distant lake rising to the surface to blow bubbles, and even glimpse the palace attendants patrolling back and forth in the winding corridor…

She focused her attention on these palace attendants, and they suddenly stopped, looking around. One of them said to his companions, “Did you feel that? It’s as if someone is spying!”

Everyone nodded, hands on the hilts of their swords, proceeding cautiously.

At this moment, her consciousness had already passed beyond these people, continuing toward the distance.

Advancing another hundred zhang or so, she gradually felt her strength failing, and thus she knew this was temporarily her limit.

But just at this moment, powerful divine consciousnesses rose simultaneously from east and west, peering over here. Her arrival had alarmed two powerful beings.

With a “whoosh,” Feng Miao Jun withdrew her divine consciousness, giving others no chance to probe.

She knew those two people—one was Fu Ling Chuan, and the other was Yun Ya. Both State Preceptors were extremely sensitive to her appearance.

After this test, her evaluation of Fu Ling Chuan rose several notches in her heart.

Previously, she had never fathomed his depths; only now did she discover that this man also kept his abilities well hidden.

She slowly opened her eyes, feeling boundless joy in her heart.

According to the records in the Heavenly Demon Secret Technique, a cultivator’s divine consciousness essentially has two major functions. First is internal vision—seeing any detail of one’s own body, even bones, blood, dantian, and sea of consciousness. This is a basic task for cultivators; no one doesn’t know it. Second is penetrating observation—projecting one’s divine consciousness outward, observing the four wilds with one mind. In this regard, everyone’s situation differs.

Now, most cultivators’ divine consciousness can only extend seven or eight zhang beyond their bodies, serving as an extension of their senses—an essential ability for attacking and defending against enemies. Yet Feng Miao Jun’s recent attempt had extended to a radius of two li, which was quite an astonishing level. The secret scroll recorded that in ancient times, some earth-shattering great monsters could sweep their divine consciousness to see the details of an entire city, not missing even the movement of a single ant. That truly meant nothing, big or small, escaped the movement of one’s mind.

Feng Miao Jun wasn’t sure if the Heavenly Demon also boasted or exaggerated, but she was very satisfied with the results of her first experiment. The Heavenly Demon’s secret scroll clearly stated that for one’s first divine spirit projection or penetrating observation, being able to see within a radius of ten zhang already indicated extraordinary talent. For someone like her to extend over two li at once, she might be a genius among geniuses.

Now, she had a whole new dimension for observing Yun Ya and Fu Ling Chuan. From this blurry contact, she knew that these two people’s cultivation of the divine soul and the nature of the heart was not to be taken lightly!