Back then, this idle lord was young, high-spirited, and confident.

He had always coveted that throne.

Hence, he regarded Lin Jiufeng as his enemy.

He had never called Lin Jiufeng, 'Third Brother' before.

He was the eldest out of all the princes, and he was also the direct son of the Emperor.

Logically speaking, he should have inherited the throne.

But the young Lin Jiufeng was a genius.

The former suppressed him and took the title of the Crown Prince from him.

Later on, Lin Jiufeng made a mistake and released the opposing dynasty's Holy Maiden.

As a result, he took advantage of the opportunity to add insult to injury. He rallied the ministers to remove Lin Jiufeng from the position of Crown Prince.

He thought that the now empty position of Crown Prince was already in his bag, but when Emperor Yuan returned, the latter also suppressed him.

It was as if history was repeating itself…

Emperor Yuan took the position away from him.

The two blows had thoroughly demoralized him.

In the end, he became an idle lord and abandoned his ambitions.

All these years, he didn't mention Lin Jiufeng even once, nor did he think of him that much.

30 years had passed, and he was already in his fifties.

He was already more than 50 years old, and the past had long been buried in the deep recesses of his mind.

But right now, he was baffled.

Why were these two Daoist priests looking for Lin Jiufeng?

Liu Yun and Hai Yu looked at the idle lord who was lost in his memories.

They reached out and shook him awake.

"I'm sorry."

"It's just that I haven't heard of his name in a long time. Back then, Lin Jiufeng was banished to the Cold Palace. Until now, he has never been released," The idle Lord said.

Liu Yun asked, "Then, is he still alive?"

"He should still be alive. If he's dead, the clan residence should inform us of his death, which means that he's still alive in the Cold Palace."

"It's just that the conditions in the Cold Palace are tough. His cultivation base was destroyed back then. I wonder what kind of torture he had experienced over the past few decades inside that place."

The idle lord sighed.

The grudges he felt in the early years had already disappeared.

There wasn't much brotherhood between them, but he pitied Lin Jiufeng's predicament.

"After he made that mistake, I knew it would be difficult for him to turn the tides in his life. He's only bitterly waiting for his death in that Cold Palace, I bet. Why are the two esteemed Daoist priests looking for him?" The idle lord asked curiously.

"Is his situation in that Cold Palace really that tragic?" Junior Brother Haiyu asked in surprise.

"Those admitted into the Cold Palace so far had never lived a long life…"

"They all lost their minds."

"Think about it, he has been staying there for about 30 years now and that is equivalent to being continuously tortured for 30 years. Isn't that tragic?" The idle lord shook his head and explained.

"That's pretty tragic." Junior Brother Haiyu couldn't help but imagine.

Lin Jiufeng's situation was horrible.

"Where is that Cold Palace located?" Liu Yun asked.

The idle lord replied, "In a remote area in the West District of the Imperial Capital, there are a number of palaces with no one living in them. That's precisely the Cold Palace. No one is allowed to enter its premises without an imperial decree."

Liu Yun and Junior Brother Haiyu immediately got up to leave.

"Just pretend that we were never here." Liu Yun left behind a pill that he had refined through alchemy on Mount Longhu as his expression of gratitude to the idle lord.

Then, they disappeared into the night.

…

The towering man from the Northern Desert region found an old eunuch who served in the palace back then. Because of his advanced age, he was allowed to retire and return to his hometown.

From this old eunuch, he learned where the dethroned Crown Prince was imprisoned.

Before he left, the old eunuch told him. "Even if the dethroned Crown Prince from back then isn't dead yet, he should have already gone mad. It's okay if you want to find him, but don't make any trouble. The mistake he has made back then has yet to be forgiven."

The towering man frowned. He couldn't help but whisper to himself, 'Why did Miss Hong want to find this old and crazy dethroned Crown Prince?'

He couldn't figure it out.

But since Miss Hong had given her orders, he had to complete the task.

Taking advantage of the night, he went to the Cold Palace.

…

Clan Residence, Dossier Room.

The young monk flipped through the records of the past and saw the records regarding Lin Jiufeng.

There was a brief summary of his existence.

Every comment written about him on the records was negative

The dossier directly gave Lin Jiufeng the title of a lecherous prince.

The young monk closed the dossier and looked in the direction of the Cold Palace.

He said, "Amitabha. I hope you are okay. This way, I will be able to repay Miss Hong's favor."

He also went to the Cold Palace.

…

Tonight, the Cold Palace was as quiet as ever.

Almost every building within the Cold Palace had no lights.

Even the occasional light was also because of the moon.

But tonight, the moon was covered by dark clouds.

Hence, the Cold Palace was very dark.

There was only one place with light. It was Lin Jiufeng's courtyard.

The courtyard was filled with bone swords. The set of bone swords that he received from signing in back then were still here. They remained inserted here for 30 years.

Lin Jiufeng had never used all of them before.

But Lin Jiufeng was in no hurry. It would come in handy sooner or later.

Inside a pavilion, Lin Jiufeng laid on the frost jade bed. His hands were placed on his chest as he closed his eyes and circulated the surging spiritual energy that entered his body.

His True Qi was currently producing ancient runes in his body.

They entered his dantian and his dantian itself was starting to experience a few changes.

Lin Jiufeng combined the ancient True Qi runes with his own cultivation technique to create something new.

Dantian talismans!

Each talisman contained a cultivation technique's essence.

Together with the ancient True Qi runes, the power it could harness was terrifying.

Lin Jiufeng was quietly accumulating his strength, preparing to amaze everyone outside.

A white cat was curled up on one side of the frost jade bed. It cultivated comfortably on its own.

The flickering candlelight illuminated their shadows and plastered them on the wall.

The white cat's shadow was lying on Lin Jiufeng's chest. It looked adorable.

Tonight should have been the same as usual.

An ordinary night.

But Lin Jiufeng suddenly opened his eyes and frowned.

He sat up.

Meow!

The white cat was awakened by Lin Jiufeng's movement.

It opened its eyes and looked at him in confusion.

Lin Jiufeng said softly, "Someone's here."

Meow ~

The white cat also stood up and looked outside curiously.

No one should be here in this Cold Palace.

Even if someone did come, was there a need for them to be afraid?

"It's four Human Gods!"

Lin Jiufeng scanned with his Divine Soul and he instantly saw through their cultivation realms.

Meow!!!

The white cat looked at Lin Jiufeng in shock.

A breeze appeared beneath its feet and it was about to slip into the underground palace.

"Why are you running? There are only four of them." Lin Jiufeng snapped.

The white cat wrote decisively. "You are just one Human God, there are four of them."

"They must have found out who you are. Now, they are here to get rid of you so that they could destroy the Yuhua God Dynasty." A scheme suddenly popped up in the white cat's mind.

Lin Jiufeng watched as the white cat's claws moved like a shadow.

In a few seconds, it wrote a lot of words.

Looking at the content of these words, Lin Jiufeng didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"If it's a competition of numbers, then there should be no one who can defeat the Emperor with his forces." Lin Jiufeng chuckled. He raised a hand and flicked his finger.

The white cat watched without blinking.

It wanted to see if Lin Jiufeng—who boasted all day long about how powerful he was—would be able to win against the four Human Gods.

With a flick of his finger, a stream of True Qi burst forth.

It directly poured over the space outside.

Boom!

The True Qi he had released was very thin, but after leaving Lin Jiufeng's courtyard.

It was like pouring a basin of cold water into a pot of hot oil.

It instantly surged with power.

Carrying the essence of the True Qi Immortal Treasury that Lin Jiufeng had unlocked, it directly ignited the spiritual energy in the air within the Cold Palace.

In Lin Jiufeng's eyes, the spiritual energy in the air became akin to resplendent lights as it directly covered everything around him.

The cherry trees in the Cold Palace directly bloomed after being infused with this volatile spiritual energy. The fragrance of its flowers was refreshing.

But for the monk, the Daoist priests, and the towering man…

It was as if the sky itself had collapsed onto them.

Just as they entered the Cold Palace, they saw a lone courtyard with lights.

Like moths attracted to a flame, they walked over in its direction.

With a common goal in mind, it was inevitable that they would discover each other's presence.

But since they had no idea that there were other groups venturing into the Cold Palace, all three of them were momentarily stunned.

At this moment, a streak of ancient True Qi flew out from the lone courtyard with lights.

Boom!

It disturbed the spiritual energy in the air upon its arrival.

Then, it directly ignited the night sky as the cherry trees around them bloomed.

The pressure was akin to that of a boundless ocean.

It caused the cherry blossoms to bloom all over the cherry trees, while at the same time, it forced the four Human Gods to kneel, preventing them from moving.