Swiftly, in the South City of Diqiu, just beside the Xia canal, opposite Dynasty School, a simple Daoist temple was built. Small though it was, the temple could not be easily overlooked. It was given the name ‘Zhiwei’, and the sentences written vertically down the sides of its doorway read ‘The black sky and the yellow earth are in your hands, the dark and vast universe will be in your heart.’

　　The doorman was a fierce Daoist with dark skin and a small stature. Both the doors of the main entrance had drawings of Door Gods, and altogether they were fierce fiends.

　　He was the person from Ba Kingdom who provoked Shen Lian. He got a fright after having found out that Shen Lian became the Imperial Preceptor, he quickly went to him and begged to be punished.

　　At the time a new temple had just risen under Shen Lian, and he still needed one doorman. That position was thus filled by that fierce Daoist.

　　His name was Xiezhao, so named because at the time he was born, it was sunset and the sun was shining at an angle. As for the Door Gods that were drawn on the doors, they were true supernatural beings, and were constantly worshipped by Xiezhao. Shen Lian subsequently imprisoned them to become the Door Gods.

　　Xiezhao had a face full of fierceness, but he was picking the fleas and cleaning the fur of Black Tiger. Black Tiger moaned softly and thoroughly enjoyed it. It has been many years, and he finally stepped up and became the master of the tiger.

　　The students of the school opposite of Zhiwei Temple, notably Fei Zhong and the other students, were incessantly upset. All they could do now was curse the fact that they did not learn under Shen Lian at the time. After all, amongst all of the political women of Emperor Xia, only one of them became the national advisor.

　　Moreover, everyone more or less knew that Shen Lian was the celestial who entered Diqiu and transcended the existence of living and dying.

　　As long as one worships at the door of Shen Lian, there may even be hope to achieve immortality.

　　All the more during that time where no one showed any interest in Shen Lian. If one were to become the first to worship at his stand, one may even be viewed in a different light.

　　But it was all too late. There is no use in regretting. All they can do now was to console themselves over the seemingly harmonious relationship between Shen Lian and Emperor Xia. Maybe one of these days Emperor Xia might even kill a celestial such as Shen Lian, seeing as the latter was not the type of feudal official that will always do what he is told.

　　Long ago, a celestial had his life fallen, but people no longer remembered when that was. In truth, deep in their hearts they believed that even if Shen Lian could be defeated, he could not possibly fall in the hands of Emperor Xia.

　　At that time when the Grandmaster of Xuan Zhen Temple was yet to be in this world, Xuan Zhen Temple did not suffer such suppression. As long as one bore the cultivation experience of a celestial series, there will be nothing to be afraid of even if one offended Emperor Xia.

　　On that day, everyone experienced a shapeless cut of the knife, which represented Tianyi’s entrance into the celestial stage. It is no wonder then, that Emperor Xia did not kill him. Many intelligent people had already guessed that perhaps Emperor Xia could not kill Tianyi.

　　Shen Lian and Tianyi were like the sharpest and most piercing of awls, inserted into the most vulnerable point of this ancient yet powerful empire. This showed the society of all the countries that neither Emperor Xia nor the Xia Kingdom was incapable to be contended against.

　　When Baidi’s son Yun Yang was born, the mountain of the north side that belonged to the Barbarians of the North shone with light both day and night. Shen Lian came from the West side of Xi Liang Nation, and towards his north was a sea. The Asura Blood Sea.

　　Da Xia had no idea of the peril.

　　It was for Da Xia that the peril loomed, not Zhiwei Temple. Shen Lian had a new home, but he did not think that it was better than Dynasty School. It would not be proper to live away from home under someone else once his status was known.

　　The fact that he is a go-with-the-flow kind of person is an advantage of his. Be it a tall building, a golden jade temple, or even the wilderness, it was all the same to him. He could still be able to live in any of those places.

　　The undercurrent of Diqiu served as a foil to his calmness. Emperor Xia truly did make him the national advisor, thus the fate that derived from Da Xia followed suit with him. However, Shen Lian placed it outside of the Daoist temple, so if anyone uses their spirit to look at Zhiwei Temple in the night, they would feel that there was a small galaxy shining brightly on top of the temple.

　　What Shen Lian saw from this fate was that the destiny of Da Xia has not yet ended. Even more frightening was the fact that from yesterday onwards, a completed Qi of Dragon and Da Xia’s destiny became intertwined and indistinct with each other. In the heart of the empire there was a noble power and influence, and it was enormous, profoundly enveloping Diqiu.

　　That was the fusing of Emperor Xia’s undercurrent and the destiny of Da Xia. Henceforth the king died with moral integrity for the dynasty.

　　Originally, with Emperor Xia’s cultivation, Shen Lian could withdraw at any time, even if the nation perished. But with this new development, the fate of Da Xia is parallel to the fate of Emperor Xia.

　　Emperor Xia became strong, but he also let his weaknesses slip.

　　If Shen Lian was in the position of the emperor, perhaps early on Shen Lian would already pay no mind to his position, and would freely go to heaven and earth by himself. “Then again, the reasons for pursuing differs from person to person,” Shen Lian thought to himself.

　　Regardless of what others do, Shen Lian went about his own business in his own pace, just as before. His body and flesh properly placed inside the temple suddenly stiffened with both eyes tightly shut. With this, a faint and untraceable green ray thus departed from Zhiwei temple.

　　From that day onwards, Lei Jing was locked inside the Manor of the Prefect Grand Usher, unable to go outside.

　　This was her mother’s orders. Lei Jing cried and made a fuss out of things. Yet, she still was not allowed to leave.

　　She tried a myriad of escape plans, but none succeeded.

　　It was late in the night. Lei Jing did not want to sleep. Tomorrow and today were no different anyway. Her heart was full of resentment. She did not blame her parents, but instead blamed her sir.

　　Why would he not come find her, since she could not leave the place?

　　It did not matter that he was the national advisor, or that he was the young king of Xi Liang Nation, or even if he was the enemy of Da Xia. For Lei Jing, he will always be her sir, the person she admired the most.

　　“The ways of the world are the catalysts for the ways of the people, a person lives not only for himself and so cannot pursue only his own comfort…” Lei Jing leaned in front of the window and softly sang the song, as if she was a nightingale paying tribute to one of the small countries of Xirong, sweet and melodious, poignant and touching.

　　She did not like the song. She only like the verse, ‘A person lives not only for himself and so cannot pursue only his own comfort’.

　　Whenever this verse popped in her head, her first thought was her sir.

　　Her sir lived quite comfortably himself, so what kind of woman could be a match for him?

　　“Such a beautiful song. If I did not come, Qing Er, I would not know how beautiful it is when you sing,” those unhurried words unexpectedly sounded just beside her ears.

　　At first, Lei Jing was shocked, but that quickly turned to joy. From her window, she saw lots of starlight leaking in from the outside, and with a gust, they morphed into the shape of Shen Lian.

　　“Sir! You finally came to see me!” Her voice held resentment, but she was happy nonetheless.

　　Shen Lian told her, “I never said I would not come to see you. Moreover, I have yet to finish teaching you. Leaving this uncultivated, your mood would keep fluctuating.”

　　Lei Jing’s face reddened, “It is alright. I can quickly pick them up.”

　　Shen Lian laughed, “I would not force you to cultivate. But I have said before that you are comparable to Wu Ding. When the time comes and you lose, it is me that you will disgrace.”

　　Lei Jing turned her pretty face, “Sir, can’t you see that I am locked in this house? Why not bring me out of here? And by the time I could give Wu Ding a beating so good that he ends up picking his teeth from the ground.” She raised her soft look for Shen Lian to see, and her craftiness flashed across her expression.

　　Shen Lian replied, “If you follow my advice, you will be out of here in no time.”

　　He quietly looked at Lei Jing. Her quality as a disciple might even be slightly better than that of Chen Jinchan. As for her feelings towards him, Shen Lian did not think much of it. Love and hate are part of human nature. Such issues should not be blindly prohibited, but rather should be guided with good tendencies in mind. No matter how indifferent he was, he still bore the appropriate feelings. The only difference was that those feelings were weaker than normal people, and thus lacked the intensity.