Although Chen Jing had become the monarch, there was still no large-scale constructions going on in Xiliang City. She did not like to be in the spacious main hall when she dealt with work matters and instead, she preferred staying alone in her study room.

　　With the growing prosperity of Xiliang, she could now collect more books and literature. As long as she was free, she would let the maidservant light up a joss stick and then she would read alone quietly. The more knowledge she gained, the sharper her thinking became. She was not aware that, through this, her cultivation of Qi had also improved tremendously and it even surpassed Hanying who only concentrated on cultivating.

　　Naturally, she became more hardworking in studying. However, she was unsure of the relevance of the prosperity of Xiliang and the fate that was draped on her.

　　Fortunately, the fact that she had no scheme was exactly compatible with the inadvertence of Daoism cultivation of Qi. Lately, she could feel that the orifices points on her entire body were filled with the so-called mana. Sometimes when it was slightly revealed, the maidservants would freak out.

　　Regarding this matter, she had enquired the Daoist Liu Mengde from Xuandu Temple in Mount Jieyang. Upon hearing this, Liu Mengde was astonished as he spent sixty years to be able to feel how Chen Jing felt at that moment.

　　Liu Mengde had to tell her to not care about it too much. After a period of time when her mana reached the critical point, she could attempt the out of body experience. That time, she could get the four master celestials of sword filled with a murderous aura that Shen Lian had sent home to act as protectors.

　　Somehow, Chen Jing still had the suspicion about the four master celestials of sword. The reason behind it was because if they were actually Shen Lian’s Apprentice-Nephews, why did they not be his protectors when Shen Lian was born? After all, during that period of time, there was a significant change that happened in Xiliang City. Comparatively, Shen Lian was also in danger. Although they had presented a keepsake and also delivered Shen Lian’s message, Chen Jing’s doubt about them did not dissipate. Fortunately, the four of them did not do anything which crossed the line. All they did after informing her was staying in the city and they also notified her that Shen Lian would be back after a short period of time.

　　Chen Jing was still doubtful about this, and thus she remembered it at heart.

　　She had not met his son for a few years and thus, she missed him even though Shen Lian was the reincarnation of a spiritual being and thus he was different from the ordinary kids.

　　However, Chen Jing did not want to spend too much effort overthinking about it. She was reading a dossier in her study room and on top of it was the updates from her subordinate, Anzi regarding the Kong Sang Kingdom.

　　The power of Netherworld was extraordinary. Aside from Xia Clan and Qi cultivators from Yinshang, the power of the majority of the tribes and countries was most probably related to Sacrificial Ritual and Ghostly Spirits.

　　After being investigated by Chen Jing’s subordinate Anzi, those people in the Kong Sang Kingdom who had special power could attach some of the animal spirits on their instruments that could then unleash extraordinary power.

　　In order to be stronger, these Ghostly Spirits would need Sacrificial Ritual of fresh blood. Therefore, this had, in turn, made Kong Sang more aggressive. There had been a lot of communities being massacred by them.

　　Three days ago, a conflict had officially happened between Kong Sang and Xiliang. For this, five female soldiers who had been with them for the cultivation of Qi were sacrificed. In the end, the bodies of these five female soldiers perished and nothing was left behind because all were being taken away as sacrifices for the spirits.

　　Despite Chen Jing’s supremity over many years, she somehow felt miserable because she might have met these five female soldiers before.

　　Moreover, everything in Xiliang City had been going on smoothly in these few years. Incidents such as these loyal subordinates being killed rarely happened.

　　Thus, Chen Jing was very concerned about this matter. Aside from the sorrow, she was also furious. Fortunately, she had been cultivating for a very long time and thus, she could control her emotions. She was still very rational and that was why she had a dossier right in front of her.

　　Unfortunately, these messages alone were insufficient to make a conclusion about Kong Sang’s actual strength.

　　Nonetheless, Chen Jing was at least sure about one thing, which was the fact that Kong Sang definitely did not annex Xiliang’s strength. As these two days, they started to be on their guards. This clearly showed that they were taking precautions against Xiliang’s revenge.

　　Chen Jing was slowly sorting out everything about Kong Sang and the current strength of Xiliang. The various types of messages were aggregated in her mind, like a river flowing through her heart. In the beginning, it was turbid but towards the end, it gradually became clearer. However, before she was done sorting out her thoughts, the door of her study room suddenly opened up.

　　Everyone in the palace was aware that when she was in the study room, no matter who the person was, nobody could abruptly burst into her study room or else the person would be severely punished. Besides, there were also maidservants guarding outside the room, somebody decided to burst into the room.

　　However, two people could be the exceptions. One was Hanying because the two of them had been through thick and thin together. However, Hanying rarely used this special right. Another person was definitely her daughter, Chen Ke.

　　The one that came into the room was not her daughter but Hanying. Chen Jing knew that Hanying would not enter the room hastily without any reason. Something serious must have happened.

　　Without beating around the bush, Hanying said, “Young master was taken away by people from Kong Sang.”

　　Upon hearing this news, Chen Jing felt as though her heart was pierced with a knife. Nevertheless, she still asked calmly, “What happened?”

　　“Young master went out of the town for entertainment and she was taken away by those people by the riverside. Also, they took the water channel, it was too fast that I couldn’t catch up with them. Now Li Yuanliang is tracking them. He’s also the one who told me that those people are from Kong Sang. He also wanted me to tell you to not make any rash decision. If he’s not back, you must wait for the young monarch to be back to solve this matter,” Hanying said.

　　Hanying still remembered Li Yuanliang’s stressful expression. This master celestial of sword’s profound cultivation experience was also revealed at that time. With the effort of a blink of an eye, the light ray which he transformed into vanished completely in her sight.

　　After Li Yuanliang went to track them down, three of his Junior-Apprentice Brothers also appeared but they did not follow behind him because they were afraid that this was a tactic to maneuver them out of the way. Hence, the three of them stayed back to defend Xiliang City and they were on standby outside of the palace.

　　Upon finished listening to what Hanying said, Chen Jing said, “Hanying, please invite Dao Master Liu from Xuandu Temple to here.”

　　Hanying said, “I’ve already sent people to invite him.”

　　Chen Jing nodded her head and said, “Very good. I want to leave the town immediately. You stay here and don’t tell anyone else.”

　　Hanying said firmly, “Monarch, you can’t leave the town.”

　　Chen Jing said, “Even if that’s a trap, I must go. Because the one that’s being captured is my daughter, do you understand?”

　　Hanying said, “That’s also a no. You’re still the monarch of Xiliang City, you’re not just solely young master’s mother. If monarch is a parent, all the people in this place are also under your protection. If something happens to you, what are these people going to do?”

　　Chen Jing said, “Sooner or later, Little Lian will be back.”

　　Hanying wanted to advise her again but when her sight met Chen Jing’s, she could not say anything anymore.

　　She took off her garments and sighed, “You should just pretend to be me.”

　　Chen Jing did not reject. Soon, she changed into Hanying’s garments and at the same time, she made some slight changes to her facial muscles.

　　When Chen Jing was clear of the direction where her daughter was taken away, she immediately moved to find her. Let alone the fact that there was blood relation telepathy between her and her daughter. This telepathy became more profound especially after Chen Jing’s cultivation became stronger.

　　Chen Jing very quickly got out of the town. Now, she could only hope that there was no problem with the identities of Li Yuanliang and the rest. Or else Xiliang would be doomed forever and they could not wait for Shen Lian’s return.

　　At this moment, Li Yuanliang was exhausted. From the time that he had successfully attained his swordcraft, he was never as tired as today. He had encountered an extremely strong opponent or to be precise, a group of strong opponents.