These people claimed to be descendants of the Yin Dynasty’s imperial family. All sorts of distant relatives, and even complete strangers trying to claim a connection, came out of the woodwork.
Every few days, they would come to the outskirts of Purple Qi City, kneel before the walls, and mutter things like "Empress Dowager" and "Regent Prince," spouting nonsense about how "your humble servants’ hearts are filled with admiration."
At first, the authorities tried to intervene. But they soon discovered that these people were impossible to drive away. Besides, they were all elderly men and women; you couldn’t hit them, and you couldn’t curse them out. Eventually, the authorities just gave up and stopped caring.
They just treated it like a circus.
Besides, many of these old-timers were doing quite well for themselves in the new Daxia New Country.
Some had family members working as officials in Yanjing; others were minor local functionaries themselves.
The guards couldn’t afford to offend them, nor did they want to, so they simply turned a blind eye, and everyone coexisted in peace.
So, the older soldier averted his gaze and went back to chatting with his companion. The other three just glanced at Lu Yun and paid him no further mind.
It wasn’t until Lu Yun had slowly walked past them with his cane that the four men finally felt something was wrong.
Something was off. The old man hadn’t bowed, and he was walking right up against the wall.
All the other old-timers who came to "pay homage to the Yin Court remnants" would drop to their knees the moment they reached the base of the wall, muttering prayers with a reverence greater than they’d show their own fathers.
But this old man... he hadn’t done any of those things.
The lead soldier spun around first. Watching the old man’s back as he neared the base of the wall, he barked, "Hey! What do you think you’re doing?"
He strode forward, adding warily, "If you want to kneel, do it from a distance! You’re not allowed near the wall! You hear me?"
The other three soldiers turned and followed him toward the old man.
’Weird... What’s this old guy staring at the wall for?’
’He can’t possibly be thinking of getting in from here, can he?’
At this thought, they looked up at the towering wall. It was over ten meters high, smooth and flat, without a single foothold.
Short of flying, the four men couldn’t imagine any other way to get up there.
At last, the four soldiers reached Lu Yun. One of them, a hot-headed youth, clapped a hand on Lu Yun’s shoulder.
"Hey, old man, I’m talking to you."
Lu Yun slowly turned around. He looked at the four men before him, a gentle smile on his face.
"I’d like to go inside. Could you four young men do me a favor and let me pass?"
"..." The four men were momentarily stunned by his incredibly provocative words.
They exchanged glances, not quite processing what he had said.
’Go inside? Inside where? Purple Qi City?’
When the reality of his words sank in, the expressions on their faces changed instantly.
’The absolute nerve of this old man!’
’To say he wanted to enter Purple Qi City, right to our faces!’
The young soldier’s face flushed with anger. He pointed a finger at Lu Yun’s nose and spat, "You... you old codger! Are you just here to mess with us? Get lost! Stop causing trouble!"
The older soldier’s face darkened, his tone menacing. "You’re lucky you ran into us. If it were anyone else, you’d be full of bullet holes by now!"
He was seething with anger. Patrolling this late at night was already miserable enough.
’And now some loon of an old man thought it was a good time to joke around?’
’He must have a death wish!’
Lu Yun’s smile remained gentle, and his tone even held a hint of sincere gratitude. "Is that so? It seems my luck is quite good, then. Thank you all for your kindness."
"You—!" Seeing how the old man was completely ignoring them, the four soldiers became utterly enraged.
’Is this old bastard itching for a beating? If we don’t teach him a lesson, he’ll just keep making trouble!’
Just as the older soldier and his men were about to act, he saw it. A wisp of earthy-yellow energy, visible to the naked eye, flowed from the old man’s pupils.
’Wha... what is that?’
Soon, their question was answered. In a trance, the world before their eyes transformed completely.
The city wall vanished. The night sky disappeared. All that remained before them was a mountain, a majestic peak so vast they couldn’t see its summit.
That mountain peak then began to tilt, falling toward the four of them. They were frozen, unable to move, and could only watch as the mountain grew closer, larger, and heavier.
And then, it was over. The four soldiers collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
Lu Yun glanced down at the four soldiers sprawled on the ground. ’That should do it,’ he thought. ’With the will of this "mountain," they’ll sleep until dawn at least.’
The next moment, he turned to face the high city wall. He suddenly pushed off with both feet, and the stone pavers beneath him instantly shattered, spiderweb cracks shooting out in all directions!
In that same instant, Lu Yun shot into the sky, the ten-meter-plus wall like level ground beneath his feet.
’Ever since breaking through to become a Grandmaster of Divine Intent, that stream of earthy-yellow energy has completely replaced my original Huajin.’
’It is countless times stronger than Huajin. After infusing any part of the body with this earthy-yellow energy, that part gains unbelievable power.’
’Even...’ Lu Yun suddenly recalled a "little experiment" of his.
’The effect of enhancing a man’s most precious part with the earthy-yellow energy... Tsk, tsk, the results were truly outstanding!’
’If the men of the world knew about this effect... it would probably spawn a new wave of men with immense perseverance.’
Lu Yun stood on the deserted parapet, looking down upon the sprawling classical palaces before him.
This place had once been the center of supreme imperial power in all of Daxia. Now, all that remained were some "Yin Court remnants" with nowhere else to go, and a group of eunuchs and Palace Maids guarding an empty city.
Just as Lu Yun was about to leap down from the wall, his ear twitched. About three hundred meters to his right, he heard an extremely faint sound, like metal scraping against stone.
Without hesitation, Lu Yun turned and walked in that direction. As he drew closer, he saw a grappling hook firmly latched onto the edge of the wall.
A rope was tied to its end, hanging down the outer wall. It was pulled taut, clearly bearing weight.
A moment later, two hands gripping the rope for dear life appeared over the edge, followed by a head.
The face that slowly peeked over the edge of the wall was fraught with tension.
It was a young eunuch, about twenty years old, dressed in a gray palace uniform.
Just as he strained to pull himself higher, he happened to look up and see Lu Yun.
The young eunuch’s face instantly turned deathly pale, and his mouth opened to scream.
But Lu Yun was faster. He shot out a hand, clamped it around the eunuch’s neck, and with a gentle tug, lifted the young man onto the wall as if he were a baby chick.
"Young man, it’s best not to be shouting this late at night. Disturbing me is no big deal, but if you alert the people down below, things in this Purple Qi City are going to get very lively."
Tears welled in the young eunuch’s eyes, and he could only nod his head frantically.
He of course understood Lu Yun’s meaning. If the city guards below discovered him, not only would he be unable to escape, but he would likely lose his life right here.
Seeing this, Lu Yun released his grip. The young eunuch began to gasp for air, clutching his throat with both hands. It took him a long moment to recover.
’That was close...’ He thought he had run into something supernatural.
Once the young eunuch had calmed down, he finally had a chance to get a good look at the person before him.
He was an older man with salt-and-pepper hair, leaning on a dark purple wooden cane, standing silently before him.
’How could someone be up here this late at night?’ the young eunuch wondered to himself.
If the old man hadn’t spoken up when he did, he would have sworn he’d seen a ghost.
"S-Sir... who are you?"
Lu Yun smiled faintly at him. "I couldn’t sleep, so I came out for a stroll. By the way, do you know where the Celestial Secret Pavilion is in the Imperial Palace?"
"I’d like to read a few books to pass the time."
The young eunuch opened his mouth, but for a moment, his mind went completely blank.
’Couldn’t sleep? So he decided to take a stroll on top of the Imperial Palace wall? And he wants to go to the Celestial Secret Pavilion to read a book to pass the time?’
’Can those words... even be combined into a single coherent sentence? It didn’t sound like something a human being would say!’
’And how did this old man even get up on the wall?’ He subconsciously glanced back over the outer edge.
He had just climbed it himself. The wall was over ten meters of smooth, flat surface, without a single foothold.
’He couldn’t have just flown up, could he?’
At this thought, the young eunuch turned to look back at Lu Yun. Two words suddenly popped into his head.
’A peerless master?’

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