The Imperial Martial Pill Venerable

「The Imperial Capital, inside the Imperial Palace.」

"Father." Nangong Luoyu walked into the study.

Nangong Wen, who was reviewing official documents, looked up and smiled faintly. "Ah, it’s you, Luoyu. What brings you to see your father?"

"Father, I’m sorry. I failed." 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Nangong Luoyu bit her lip as she spoke, stunning Nangong Wen for a moment. "Failed?" he asked. "What exactly are you referring to, Luoyu?"

"Today, I proposed a union with Qin Ya, but I never expected him to refuse me." Nangong Luoyu’s expression was unsightly. This was definitely a stain on her life’s record. ’To think that I, the Imperial Princess, would confess my feelings only to be rejected!’

"Hm?!" Nangong Wen was somewhat surprised. "He refused you."

"Yes," Nangong Luoyu said with a nod.

"It seems this Qin Ya’s self-control is even greater than I imagined. No matter, I wasn’t holding out much hope to begin with." Nangong Wen gazed at Nangong Luoyu, his tone apologetic. "I’m just sorry you had to be wronged like this, Luoyu."

"I originally thought that Qin Ya, in terms of character, talent, age, and strength, was a match made in heaven for you. Who would have thought... the falling flower yearns for the flowing stream, but the stream has no desire for the flower. I miscalculated."

"No, this is not your fault, Father," Nangong Luoyu said, shaking her head.

Just then, a young man in golden robes walked in slowly. "Hah," he said, "that Qin Ya really doesn’t know his place. How dare he humiliate my seventh sister!"

"Fifth Brother, you’re back!" Nangong Luoyu’s face lit up with pleasant surprise as she looked at the golden-robed young man. She walked over to him. "This is wonderful."

The golden-robed young man patted Nangong Luoyu’s head and smiled faintly. "If I hadn’t returned, I wouldn’t have even known you were being bullied."

With that, the golden-robed young man bowed to Nangong Wen and said, "Father, I’ve heard much about this Qin Ya character since my return. However, Luoyu has been wronged, and I can’t just ignore it."

Nangong Luoyu was touched. "Thank you, Fifth Brother."

"Son, do not be reckless." Nangong Wen’s expression hardened. "This was his own decision; we cannot force the matter. Moreover, he’s a Seventh-Grade Alchemist. It is best not to offend him. He is still of great use to the Empire."

"Rest assured, Father. I know what I’m doing."

.........

「A few days later, by the lake at Ningxiang Pavilion.」

Qin Ya held a black longspear, thrusting it out again and again. A chilling hum vibrated through the air. He wasn’t using any specific techniques; he was simply thrusting!

Yet these simple thrusts were frighteningly, terrifyingly fast. In the blink of an eye, twelve booms ripped through the air—he was moving so fast he created sonic booms. And each thrust faintly contained a certain kind of Trend!

’Faster, even faster!’

Qin Ya thrusted his spear relentlessly, trying to comprehend that esoteric Great Trend.

But the Trend was like a fleeting glimmer of light in the darkness, completely elusive. Qin Ya had been trying to comprehend it for a long time, yet he was always just shy of grasping it.

Without dwelling on it, Qin Ya refused to give up and continued to thrust his longspear.

After half a day, Qin Ya had performed no fewer than ten thousand thrusts.

"The fourth form, Star-Shattering... It seems the time is not yet right," Qin Ya said coolly.

He had been thrusting his spear relentlessly to practice Star-Shattering, the fourth form of the Solitary Yang Spear Technique. To master it, he needed to comprehend the Speed Trend.

Fast was a very vague concept. It was intangible, not concrete like wind, fire, lightning, or water, which made it extremely difficult to comprehend. Even with his astonishing perception, Qin Ya could only hope to slowly grasp it by constantly increasing the speed of his thrusts.

After several days, although he still hadn’t comprehended the Speed Trend, the speed of his thrusts had improved considerably. He was confident that, within ten paces, he could kill anyone below the Celestial Essence Realm in a single strike—unless they were a prodigy on the level of Lu Yin.

"Brother Qin!"

Just then, Leng Ningshuang came jogging over and handed Qin Ya a purple invitation. "Brother Qin! Brother Qin! Someone came looking for you just now and asked me to give you this."

Qin Ya took the invitation and glanced at it, a faint smile playing on his lips. "Ku Mountain!"

’This Su Chang... he’s chosen an interesting place. Two days, is it?’

「Two days later...」

Ku Mountain was a mountain range north of the Imperial Capital. The terrain was treacherous, and it was home to countless hidden Fierce Beasts, some of which were even comparable to the Celestial Essence Realm.

As the mountain range was filled with countless Heavenly and Earthly Treasures, it was a popular spot for adventuring parties. Legend had it that someone once found a Seventh-Grade Marvel Medicine in the mountains and sold it for an astronomical price. Another tale spoke of someone who fell from a cliff but survived, receiving the inheritance of a mighty Martial Arts expert and soaring to become a prodigy, advancing by leaps and bounds ever since.

In short, Ku Mountain was steeped in legends.

Today, a young man in white robes arrived at the foot of Ku Mountain.

The young man had a face like jade and eyes as bright as stars.

"Ku Mountain, Xing Peak, the prodigies of the Imperial Capital," Qin Ya murmured to himself, a hint of anticipation in his eyes as he slowly entered Ku Mountain.

.........

A young man walked calmly through the dangerous mountain forest. Suddenly, the grass rustled, and a massive Golden Python lunged out. Its blood-red maw gaped open, revealing ferocious fangs and emitting a putrid stench as it lunged to bite him. The enormous mouth was large enough to swallow half his body.

If it caught him, he would surely be bitten in half.

"Hmph!"

The young man snorted, and an immense wave of cold energy erupted from him, enveloping the Golden Python in an instant. The massive snake shrieked in terror as if it had encountered something horrifying. In the blink of an eye, the icy aura froze it solid.

Under the sun, all that remained was a massive, glittering ice sculpture of the python.

Without a second glance, Qin Ya continued straight on his path.

A short while later, an adventuring party of three men and two women walked by.

"Captain, you... you have to see this!"

One of them, a fair-faced young woman in leather armor, cried out in alarm, pointing at the ice sculpture in the distance. The others followed her gaze, and their pupils shrank!

Inside the ice, a Golden Python as thick as a water bucket was frozen mid-struggle. The terror in its eyes was still faintly visible.

"That’s a Golden Python. A Golden Python of this size must be at least fifty years old. Its strength should be at least equivalent to the Spiritual Element Ninth Grade."

The squad’s captain was a rugged-looking, middle-aged man with a large saber slung across his back. His name was Zhang Chuda, and his power had reached the Earth Element Realm.

"This Golden Python was just... frozen solid right here. Who on earth could have done this?" A young man walked forward. The moment his hand touched the ice sculpture, he snatched it back as if he had been electrocuted. Staring at his fingers, which had already turned purple from the cold, the young man gasped, "What terrifyingly cold energy!"

He was a Martial Artist of the Spiritual Element Realm, yet he had been injured just by touching the ice. ’How terrifying must the person who froze this Golden Python be? It’s horrifying!’

Seeing this, the young man drew a longsword. With two quick slashes, he sent several beams of Sword Light hacking into the ice sculpture, only to leave a few faint white marks on its surface.

"This ice is incredibly hard."

The young man exclaimed in shock. Although he hadn’t used his full strength, those slashes were powerful enough to shatter stone and crack monuments. He never imagined they wouldn’t even be able to damage the ice sculpture!