Chapter 663 - 659: Reward
He had seen the memories of the original, and naturally understood the Emperor’s attitude towards the original.
The original became like this, half of the reason should be attributed to the Emperor.
It’s not because of his strange temper and personality that he was disdained by the Emperor, but rather he became so peculiar in temper and personality after being disdained by the Emperor.
He now naturally sees clearly that the crux lies in the original’s mother.
The original was the victim of the Emperor’s misplaced anger.
As a Prince shunned by the Emperor, one can imagine how difficult life must be.
The original simply let himself go, becoming increasingly irritable and strange, appearing ungrateful to outsiders.
The original appeared to have a poor attitude towards Consort Hui, seemed utterly heartless, but in his deepest heart, he treasured Consort Hui most.
He greatly longed for familial attachment to Consort Hui and was extremely fond of Chu Zhen and Chu Qiao.
But all this was wrapped in a thorny shell, unknown to outsiders.
The original’s feelings for the Emperor were the most complex, containing admiration, resentment, inferiority, and a desire for recognition.
Chu Zhiyuan enacted the Heavenly Transmigration Technique, inheriting the original’s emotions.
In addition to inheriting them, he wasn’t entirely controlled by these emotions, but instead had an independent perspective and detached emotions.
He held resentment towards the Emperor, but what he wanted most was to respect him from afar.
Chu Hongming said: "Elder Brother is still fair in his actions."
Chu Zhiyuan chuckled, shook his head, did not argue, and said with a smile, "Aren’t Uncle and Fifteen Uncle curious about my harvest?"
Chu Honglin waved his hand, "That’s your own affair, you needn’t tell us."
Chu Zhiyuan laughed, "My luck can’t be said to be bad, but neither can it be called good. ... The good luck was encountering this fellow and discovering the Demon Clan’s conspiracy; the bad luck was not obtaining the Void Secret Treasure, but I did harvest quite a lot of Strange Flowers and Fruits, pushing up my cultivation."
Chu Honglin extended his hand to pat him on the shoulder, laughed: "You’ve actually reached Nine Transitions! ... Seems like you’ve gained a lot!"
Yujing Cave Heaven indeed has Strange Flowers and Fruits, but not that many, requiring good fortune to encounter them, advancing from First Transition to Two Transitions means extremely good luck.
Being able to directly push to Nine Transitions does indeed mean good fortune.
Chu Zhiyuan smiled triumphantly and took out two Heavenly Fruits from the Black Wood Bracelet.
One he handed to Chu Honglin, the other to Chu Hongming: "Uncle and Fifteen Uncle, enjoy the good fortune."
Chu Honglin laughed, "What would I need it for?"
Chu Hongming also declined to take it.
Chu Zhiyuan said, "If Uncle and Fifteen Uncle don’t use them, give them to your sons and daughters."
"... Where do I have children!" Chu Honglin said, annoyed.
"Then you can give them to Fifteen Uncle’s nephews and nieces."
"Such precious things, best you keep them yourself and give them away."
Chu Zhiyuan merely waved his hand and ran off quickly.
"This brat!" Chu Honglin cursed with a laugh.
Chu Hongming put the Heavenly Fruit away, shook his head and said, "Really seems like he’s become a different person."
Chu Honglin scoffed, "Having died once, he’s come to a realization."
He looked up to the distance, turned his head, and said: "Fifth Brother, want to come with me to meet Elder Brother?"
"To seek a reward for Ninth Prince?"
"Such a great merit, surely deserves reward? ... Don’t say Elder Brother is wise, when it comes to Zhao’er, he’s just not wise at all!"
"... Fifteen Brother, don’t cross Elder Brother, once he’s decided on something, Elder Brother absolutely won’t change it."
"Elder Brother is truly heartless! Even a tigress doesn’t eat her cubs!"
"Fifteenth Brother!" Chu Hongming urged softly.
Chu Honglin snorted, shook his head and didn’t speak further: "Anyway, I’m determined to get this reward."
Chu Hongming said, "Forget it, don’t go speak, I’ll go instead."
He weighed the Heavenly Fruit in his hand, "Can’t just take the Ninth Prince’s gift for nothing."
Chu Honglin exhaled a murky breath, suppressed excitement and anger, nodded and said: "Fifth Brother going is indeed more useful."
——
When Chu Zhiyuan returned to his small courtyard, he found You Lan was in the pavilion of the courtyard reviewing files.
The noon sunlight brightened the courtyard, everything was warm and cozy.
You Lan in the small pavilion, dressed in an ink-green palace attire, with apricot eyes and peach cheeks, exquisitely beautiful.
She was lightly frowning, staring at the files in her jade hands, lost in thought.
She suddenly sensed something, looked up swiftly, and found Chu Zhiyuan standing there smiling not far away.
She was overjoyed, hurried out of the pavilion gracefully to greet him: "Your Highness!"
"Aunt."
Chu Zhiyuan stepped into the pavilion, sat down, picked up a file, and seeing it was about the fief, immediately lost interest and put it back in place.
Although the Prince Mansion wasn’t granted a title, since it was established, it certainly had fiefdoms.
The fief was a blend of real and illusory, partly real and partly virtual.
Regardless of whether it was the original or Chu Zhiyuan, neither had any interest in the fief, too lazy to bother with it.
Even if the fief was real, it was still managed by the Court, he could only collect its taxes.
The virtual fief was merely drawing salary from the Ministry of Ancestral Rites.
You Lan brewed tea and handed it over, watching him with concern: "Did Your Highness encounter any trouble in Cave Heaven?"
"Quite good, gained quite a few Strange Flowers and Fruits, these are for you, Aunt."
Chu Zhiyuan took out two Second Grade Green Yuan Fruits from the Black Wood Bracelet for her.
You Lan accepted them, smiling brightly: "I’ll bring them into the Inner Mansion for rewards, ... these are perfect for rewards, whether it’s guards or mansion guards, they will all love them."
She knew that the Strange Flowers and Fruits from Yujing Cave Heaven mostly could boost the cultivation level of Qi Transformation Realm.
These were rare spirit fruits that enhance cultivation without side effects.
Even though the Prince Mansion guards’ cultivation exceeded Qi Transformation Realm, friends and family always needed them.
"Aunt, these are for you personally, as for rewarding the mansion people, there are others."
"Your Highness..."
Chu Zhiyuan waved a hand, the stone table was instantly filled with exotic fruits of various shapes and colors, extremely magnificent.
Among these Strange Fruits, Fourth Grade ones were the majority, Third Grade ones followed, there were very few below Fourth Grade or above Third Grade.
Chu Zhiyuan smiled and said: "These should be enough, right? This is the Tourmaline Fruit, this is the Heavenly Fruit, this is..."
He introduced the Strange Fruits one by one, explaining their grades.
As for the Strange Flowers, he did not quite bring them out.
Strange Flowers are various healing spiritual medicines, usually unnecessary, yet crucial in lifesaving situations.
Strange Flowers are even rarer than Exotic Fruits; without that Evil Relief Flower earlier, he wouldn’t know what might happen now.
"Your Highness has gained so much!" You Lan sighed with emotion.
Chu Zhiyuan said: "Put these away, you manage and keep them as rewards for the servants."
"Yes." You Lan nodded excitedly.
With these, the mansion’s cohesion will be further strengthened, and using them will feel more convenient.
Chu Zhiyuan continued: "Send someone to inform Mother of this."
"Yes." You Lan nodded with a smile.
An hour later, Consort Hui arrived at the Prince Mansion with Chu Zhen and Chu Qiao.
Chu Zhiyuan hence gifted several Second Grade Strange Fruits and one First Grade Wanxiang Fruit.
Chu Zhen and Chu Qiao were ecstatic, happy for him; with such a collection of Exotic Fruits and cultivated to Qi Transformation Realm’s Nine Transitions was truly a significant gain.
This trip to Yujing Cave Heaven was not in vain.
Regarding his failure to acquire the Void Secret Treasure, they lightly touched upon it, acting indifferent.
The Void Secret Treasure is extremely precious and bizarre, nearly impossible to obtain.
Then, they discussed their own cultivation.
With these Strange Fruits, the two ladies could soon enter Nine Transitions.
After Nine Transitions, they would need to comprehend to enter Transformation Realm, the necessary time being unpredictable.
It could be as short as a month, or as long as over a decade.
Consort Hui continued to lie lazily on the concubine chair, watching the three of them discuss these matters.
The warm sunlight also warmed her heart, her lotus-petal jade face adorned with a smile.
Suddenly, a guard reported from outside that the Court’s eunuch had arrived with a decree.
Chu Zhiyuan went to greet the eunuch and received a reward from the Emperor: permission to enter the Heavenly Intent Pavilion and contemplate the Transforming Intent for three days.