Chapter 524: Chapter 524: Reunion With Old Friends, No Regrets For The Past While holding an umbrella, Ning Fan held Zhi He’s hands and walked past the snowy areas of Seven Apricot City and returned to Si Fan Palace.
The pill chamber, the apricot farm, Du Gu’s sword grave... All of these sceneries were still the same as before. Nothing seemed to have changed.
Ning Fan closed his eyes, recalling his past memories of this place. His heart that had remained cold for a long time gradually turned warm.
Zhi He was on the verge of breaking through to the Gold Core Realm. She was about to sever her emotions... However, she was reluctant to sever her heart’s devil because her heart’s devil was Ning Fan.
With Ning Fan’s current cultivation base, he completely had the capabilities of helping Zhi He form her gold core without severing her heart’s devil. It was as easy as blowing off dust and was not difficult.
He did not deliberately conceal the news of his return. The four greatest families protecting the Seven Apricot City had already received the news.
Three patriarchs of those families had personally arrived outside Si Fan Palace to meet Ning Fan. Only the head of one family came late. Aside from that, Ning Fan found that person’s qi rather unfamiliar...
The four families of the Seven Apricot were the Wu, Ye, Mo and Fang Families. The head of the Fang Family did not come in person... Instead, the person who headed there was the new head of the family.
Ning Fan stroked Zhi He’s hair with an emotional sigh and asked, "Did the former lord of the Ye Family... pass away...?"
"Yes... During the past forty years, the heads of the four greatest families had reached the bottleneck of the Gold Core Realm successively. The patriarchs of the Mo, Wu and Fang Families had successfully formed their gold cores. Only the head of the Ye Family failed to form his gold core and died ten years ago..." Zhi He lowered her head as if she could not bear to speak about that tragedy. She was still as soft-hearted as before.
"Failed to form the gold core... The world is unpredictable and everyone has their own fate that they can never defy or force... Let’s go and meet the heads of the other three families."
Ning Fan let out a gentle sigh. The world’s affairs are ever-changing and life and death is unpredictable. Who could foresee that they would die or live tomorrow?
After leaving Yue Country for forty years, an old friend of his had already passed. It affected him deeply but there was nothing he could do about it.
Together with Zhi He, they walked out of Si Fan Palace. Four cultivators were already patiently waiting for them outside.
Three of them were Early Gold Core Realm cultivators. They were Wu Lan, the head of the Wu Family, Mo Rushui, the head of the Mo Family and Fang Nuo, the head of the Fang Family...
The fourth person was the new head of the Ye Family. He was just a young man at the Early Harmonious Spirit Realm. His innate potential could be considered quite good.
"Greetings to the Young Lord!" The four cultivators uttered in unison and were going to salute Ning Fan with a bow.
"You may dispense with the formalities. It has been many years since we last met. I believe everyone has been doing well during this period of time." Ning Fan smiled gently and casually flicked his sleeve. Then, a gust of cool breeze brushed against their faces. The four of them felt that their bodies seemed to have been paralyzed. None of them could actually kneel or bend their bodies.
The Harmonious Spirit Realm cultivator of the Ye Family looked stunned. He was surprised at Ning Fan’s great ability. With just a casual flick of his sleeve, he could actually stop him from kneeling down.
In the meantime, an immense feeling of shock washed over the three Gold Core Realm cultivators like raging waves.
In any case, they were still Gold Core Realm cultivators. However, they actually could not withstand the magic power which Ning Fan had summoned with a casual flick of his sleeve... All of them could not help but wonder what exactly his current cultivation base was as he could immobilize them with just a simple move!
The three of them had also heard of the Marquis White Robe. However, none of them thought that the young lord of the Seven Apricot City and Marquis White Robe were one and the same.
They spread out their spirit sense, trying to inspect Ning Fan’s current cultivation base.
When they scanned Ning Fan with their spirit sense, their expressions turned pale. They could feel that the person standing in front of them was not the young lord of the Seven Apricot City but an insurmountable mountain. His heavy aura force pressed against them to the point of suffocation!
"Young Lord’s cultivation base is actually so powerful. Could it be that... you have already broken through to the Nascent Soul Realm?!" The head of the Mo Family, Mo Rushui, spoke with eyes shining in wonder.
"Old Ancestor Jing Zhuo of the Fire Cloud Sect is an Early Nascent Soul Realm expert. However, he doesn’t have a heavy aura force like Young Lord’s... From my perspective, Young Lord should have already reached at least the Mid Nascent Soul Realm!" The head of the Wu Family, Wu Lan, covered her mouth with her hand and said in surprise.
"No! Young Lord’s cultivation base is definitely not just at the Mid Nascent Soul Realm! I met a Mid Nascent Soul Realm senior ten years ago. Even that senior did not have such a frightening aura force! I think Young Lord’s cultivation base is at the Late Nascent Soul Realm at the very least!" The head of the Fang Family, Fang Nuo, said firmly.
"O-Oh my god! The young lord of our Seven Apricot City is actually a Late Nascent Soul Realm expert?!" The Harmonious Spirit Realm young man from the Ye Family was dumbfounded. He was still young. He had not been born yet forty years ago. Thus, he had never met Ning Fan before.
*Chuckle*
Zhi He could no longer hold back and smiled mischievously.
Late Nascent Soul Realm? How could her Big Brother Fan only be at the Late Nascent Soul Realm?
Today, Marquis White Robe’s name was widely known around the world. Why was there no one who would think that Marquis White Robe was her Big Brother Fan?
Why was there no one who would guess that her Big Brother Fan’s cultivation base had already broken through to the Void Refinement Realm?
"Actually, Big Brother Fan’s cultivation base is much higher than the Late Nascent Soul Realm. He has already reached..." Zhi He who had been containing herself wished that she could directly tell the heads of the four families what Ning Fan’s true cultivation base was.
However, Ning Fan stroked her hair and gently placed his hand on her lips, stopping her from telling them the truth.
It was not because he did not want her to tell them his true cultivation base nor was it because he wanted to deliberately keep it a secret.
He was just afraid that they would be scared half to death after telling them his cultivation base at the Void Refinement Realm which would then ruin the ambience of their reunion.
"City Lord Zhi He said the young lord’s cultivation base is actually higher than the Late Nascent Soul Realm?! Is it possible that Young Lord is now at the legendary Peak Nascent Soul Realm?!" Fang Nuo said in disbelief.
"If Young Lord is a Peak Nascent Soul Realm expert, your identity can probably scare King Jin and solve the crisis of our Yue Country!" Wu Lan said optimistically.
"Right. The reason why we came here today is to discuss with Young Lord about the ’Great Jin’s Merger’." Mo Rushui remembered what they came here for and immediately reported to Ning Fan while holding her forehead.
"Great Jin’s Merger?" Ning Fan’s eyes turned slightly cold. Even though he had heard about Great Jin harboring malice against Yue Country, he did not know about the whole incident.
Mo Rushui and the others quickly told him the details.
When Ning Fan passed by the Great Jin in the past, King Jin was only a Late Nascent Soul Realm cultivator.
A short while after Ning Fan left the country, King Jin broke through to the Peak Nascent Soul Realm.
Then, King Jin sought refuge in the Serene Heaven Palace which was a division of the Rain Palace and gained the support of the Serene Heaven Palace Lord who provided him with a secret method to break through to the Early Divine Transformation Realm within forty years.
When King Jin had attained the Divine Transformation Realm, the level of Great Jin also improved. From being a mid-grade cultivation country, it was promoted to a high-grade cultivation country.
Under the instruction of the Serene Heaven Palace, King Jin ordered the neighboring eleven countries to submit and integrate into his country. Besides that, he even sent out Nascent Soul Realm experts to threaten all of the sects in those eleven countries to yield to them.
King Jin wanted to merge the eleven low-grade and mid-grade cultivation countries into Great Jin’s domain. This was the Great Jin’s Merger that gave rise to a lot of discussions.
Ten days later, King Jin would hold an assembly regarding the merger of countries in Song Country located at the north of Yue Country. King Jin was giving a final chance to all eleven countries. If any of those countries still refused to join Great Jin during that time, King Jin would annihilate the country and every sect involved...
"Serene Heaven Palace... It seems like it’s the division ruled by the Sixth Prince of the Rain Palace, Yun Youmu..." Ning Fan muttered to himself. He, of course, did not place King Jin in his eyes.