"The Way of the Emperor has great benefits but it also comes with numerous obstacles that need to be cleared. The biggest obstacle is the so-called Emperor's Intention which in fact is the greatest complication of the Way of the Emperor. The moment a person who is practicing the Way of the Emperor tries to figure out the Emperor's Intention, he will fall under a spell. In this lifetime, he will never reach the Advanced Level of Way of the Emperor!"

"Really? Does it mean that Yan Yuntian would never be able to reach the advanced level of Way of the Emperor in this lifetime?" Zhou Bao asked, with an odd expression on his face.

"So Divine Wind Palace is convinced that he is the right candidate for Human Emperor because he will never become a Human Emperor in his life!"

"Yan Yuntian may not have known about it!" Zhou Bao bowed his head in thought.

"What do you think? Should he have known about it?" Green Spirit asked with a sneer. "Since you now know about it, are you interested in the Way of the Emperor? With Nine Dragons convergency, super good fate and Immortal Palace as the background, this Way of the Emperor seems to be made specially for you!"

"No, what I dislike most is the person who thinks he is the sole player in the world. The person who practices the Way of the Emperor is that kind of person and I don't want to be like that. Therefore, I will not practice the Way of the Emperor!" Zhou Bao said firmly.

"Well, very good. Just follow your heart and never waver in the face of great temptations. This is the state of mind pract.i.tioners should have. It's wonderful that you have already attained it at such a young age. Your future is indeed promising!"

"Come off it! Following my heart? That's rubbish. Just say I am stubborn!" Zhou Bao uttered a curse with a smile, when he heard the praise. "However, the Immortal Palace have really gone all out to try to win over me. They even gave me the Nine Heaven Yuan Yang Technique!"

"The wind sweeping through the tower heralds a rising storm in the mountain. Boy, you are part of the game now, yet you are trying to run away from it. How is that possible?"

"I know I am part of the game, and I used to be a p.a.w.n for them. But now that the chess players can't make control my moves, they want me to be a chess player instead. I don't give a d.a.m.n about it. I'm going to be in this game and take my rightful place. And no matter how well they play, they still need to get around me. I will drive them crazy!"

"Hahahahaha, yes, yes, that makes sense! It does make sense. Just drive them crazy! Drive them crazy!" Green Spirit burst into laughter and said, "You are funny, extremely funny!"

"Well, that's it. I will not be part of the game. It's someone else's business instead of ours. I will just mind my own business from now on!"

"Well, it's time to prepare to enter the Azure Secret Area. It's a good thing you have the Nine Heaven Yuan Yang Technique which is also one of the 3,000 Great Ways. If not, it will be nearly impossible for you to make it unless you practice for hundreds of years. But I have a way which will help you reach the Basic level in a short time and also refine it into the Nine Heavens Primordial Yang Instrument!"

"What is it?"

"There should be enough Primordial Yang Qi that will enable you to reach the Basic level of Nine Heaven Yuan Yang Technique in the Azure Secret Area. Just be on the alert for it!"

"This is excellent. In Taiyuan Heaven, we can only stay for a month, but now that I have the Air-frozen Bead, that will allow us to stay for a long time in the Azure Secret Area. If we are lucky, you can attain the Basic level of Nine Heaven Yuan Yang Technique!"

"Well, the Azure Secret Area is our top priority now. Let's not bother with any other matters until we come back. Maybe after we come out, things will have changed!"

This time he entered the Azure Secret Area to figure out the mystery of Fiery Eyes. And he had predicted that it would take at least half a year. Furthermore, he now possessed the Nine Heaven Yuan Yang Technique. It was uncertain how long he would be staying inside. As time pa.s.sed, things would have changed. He was not bothered about what the outcome would be.

Now that he had decided not to contest for the Way of the Emperor, at this crucial moment, it would a wise decision to hide in the Azure Secret Area so as to avoid being disturbed.

"Dong dong dong!"

There was a knocking on the door and Zhou Bao's fingertips twitched. The door opened suddenly, to reveal a maidservant, who was dressed in the palace costume. She walked towards him, bearing a wooden tray.

"Your Highness, you didn't have lunch. Her Highness is afraid that you will be hungry. She asked me to bring you this meal!" The maid looked timidly into Zhou Bao's eyes.

She was one of the maids who was part of Yan Yunfei's dowry. Since Yan Yunfei was one of the most distinguished princesses of the Great Jin, naturally, her wedding regulation level was extremely high. There were hundreds of maids included in the dowry. On the wedding day, even Zhou Bao was stunned at the sight of so many people. How was he going to feed them all?

Fortunately, Zhou Bao had ama.s.sed a huge fortune already. He had settled the Cool Breeze Gang and the prairie tribe. Anyuan Store was also on the right track, and he had plenty of money and goods. Besides, for this arranged marriage, Yan Yuntian had granted a lot of properties in order to win over this new expert, so Zhou Bao was very well-off. Although money talked, many hardware conditions could not keep up.

Wuyang Region used to be a wasteland. Although there had been a slight improvement, it was almost impossible to bring over so many people from Great Jin to Wuyang Region as there was not enough accommodation for all of them. Hence, Zhou Bao let Yan Yunfei select twenty capable servants to come along with them. The little maid in front of him was one of them.

The people brought by Yan Yunfei had all born in the palace and were generally arrogant. However, when they were in front of Zhou Bao, who had almost taken down Mingyi School, everyone only felt fear in their hearts. Zhou Bao treated them very cordially and was not as vicious as what he was reputed to be. However, he was already notorious for being fierce, so all the little maids and eunuchs were very timid around him. Zhou Bao could not do anything about this.

"Just put it down!" Looking at the timid little maid, Zhou Bao gestured to her to put the food down. "Well, is there anything else?"

"Heyang Princess is here," little maid said nervously "and she is chatting with Her Highness!"

Yan Yunyan, Princess Heyang!

Zhou Bao frowned gently and a flicker of disdain briefly crossed his face. With his current strength and spiritual mind, there was nothing that could be concealed from him. He had met Yan Yunyan before. Naturally, he could easily identify the person who appeared in his mansion was Yan Yunyan, Princess Heyang. He had a bad feeling about Yan Yunyan, but Yan Yunfei, who was a charming princess, had married him and had been brought to such a desolate place. Frankly speaking, he was not good at getting along with a woman. As she was alone here and was only surrounded by maids and servants, she had very few opportunities to have a heart-to-heart talk with anyone. Even if Yan Yunyan, Princess Heyang harbored some bad intentions, her arrival could divert Yan Yunfei from boredom. Therefore, Zhou Bao did not bother too much. In fact, he did not want to meet Yan Yunyan at all.

Therefore, he just nodded his head and said, "Princess Heyang is here! That's fine!" After that, there was silence. The little maid stood there as if in a daze, not knowing what else to say.

"Well, is there anything else?" As the little maid remained standing there, Zhou Bao frowned and wondered whether Yan Yunyan was looking for him as well

"Her Highness sent me to tell Your Highness that she would go to Jingtan Temple to pray with Princess Heyang tomorrow morning!"

"To pray at Jingtan Temple?" Zhou Bao raised his eyebrows. He had heard of Jingtan Temple which was built by Wuyang Region's refugees at the foot of Jilei Mountain.

Zhou Bao's Wuyang Region was a desolate and cold place in the northwest. Originally there were no inhabitants at all. It was because Kelsang was acquainted with many persons and he called for some exiled shepherds to inhabit that desolate prairie. The population was initially extremely small. However, with Zhou Bao's growing strength and reputation, more roads leading to Wuyang Region had been constructed. And the scale of Anyuan Store was increasingly becoming larger. Wuyang Region's population had increased by leaps and bounds. By now, there were up to 10,000 people.

If it had not Anyuan Store, which was engaged in human trafficking into Wuyang Region be it openly or covertly, the government would have arrested them already. However, when they heard that it was Anyuan Store, the officials around the country all turned a blind eye to it. They even made it easier for Anyuan Store to go about their transactions. Therefore, there were lots of people in Wuyang Region.

In addition to the first town, there were a growing number of villages around the area. Most of these people had brought in by the traffickers. The population was made up of all kinds of people such as bandits, criminals, abductees, and kidnappers. Anyway, these people were part of the unfortunate bunch in the Central Plains and could not survive there. With the help of Anyuan Store, they all rushed to the Wuyang Region.

When they arrived at Wuyang Region, Zhou Bao treated them equally and without discrimination. But there was no advantage to be there. Wuyang Region was desolate and cold. In the beginning, the conditions were hard. But thanks to the huge financial support from Anyuan Store and Jiang Xiao, a competent person, no one died of hunger or cold in the first winter. They manage to survive through the winter. Once Zhou Bao opened the pa.s.sageway to Blacktail Plain, Wuyang Region had become one of the most prosperous places in the northwest and the most important transportation route to all parts of the northwest. The trading business was gradually flouris.h.i.+ng. The surrounding prairie had been cultivated, and the whole territory had become very vibrant.

If this had happened in other places, it might have made Wuyang the target of attacks by people who coveted the place. However, because it was Zhou Bao's territory, no one dared to make any trouble.

Although there was no external threats, there were many matters to attend to with the ever increasing number of people in the territory. In terms of security, due to Zhu Ba's style of keeping law and order, much like a vicious G.o.d, no one dared to run wild. However, with the increasing stability of life, they tended to look for more things to fill their lives. Somehow, religion became popular. And among the thousands of people, there were different types of religions and a great number of persons believed in the Sect of Flame. For this matter, Jiang Xiao had brought it to Zhou Bao's attention. But Zhou Bao did not bother about it and said to let it go because he believed in freedom of wors.h.i.+p.

Jiang Xiao also knew that once Wuyang Region was run by Zhou Bao, himself a great G.o.d, no one would create big problems. Therefore, as long as these devotees of Buddha did not run wild, they did not bother about them. It was this att.i.tude of indulgence that led to the ma.s.sive growth of some of the religious forces. One of these was Jingtan Temple.

How the monks and devotees managed to buy land to build a temple, Zhou Bao did not really care. But to his surprise, even his wife was planning to visit Jingtan Temple to pray.