The spiritual sky boat pierced through the clouds. Chen Xuan sat quietly in his private cabin.
He had focused entirely on the ancient painting for the past two weeks. He tried to probe the artifact using many different methods, but he gained no new results.
The artifact required him to marry women blessed with great fortune.
But what exactly is fortune? his brows knitted together in thought.
Fortune and destiny were incredibly vague concepts. Even powerful experts rarely understood them, and many cultivators did not even believe destiny existed at all.
How am I supposed to find someone with it? He knew he needed to marry someone just to unlock the next step.
Should I marry an ordinary disciple from the sect first to test it? he wondered.
It was a plausible idea. He possessed exceptional looks, and his talent was not terrible either. Many girls would easily agree to marry him.
Some women from respectable families might hesitate if they knew about his broken engagement or his severed clan ties. Still, many would say yes.
The mere thought of marriage brought Liu Ruyan to his mind. He had grown up believing Liu Ruyan would become his wife. Now he was actively planning a wedding, but the bride would not be her.
He shook his head to stop those useless memories. The boat would reach the Flowing Cloud Sect in three days. He would find a suitable marriage candidate after arriving.
His thoughts then shifted to the enemies waiting at the sect.
"Chen Bo," Chen Xuan whispered coldly.
Chen Bo belonged to the main branch of the Chen Family. He always loved to cause trouble for him.
When Liu Ruyan visited the sect with a powerful elder a few weeks ago, she tried to give Chen Xuan some treasures. It was compensation for breaking the engagement peacefully.
Chen Xuan agreed to the breakup, but he refused the compensation entirely. He decided to keep the matter quiet.
However, the sect elders got wind of it. The wide gap in their cultivation talents made the rumors inevitable. Chen Xuan did not even try to deny them.
This must have given Chen Bo the courage to act, he deduced quietly.
Chen Xuan no longer had any connection to the Liu Family without his engagement to Liu Ruyan. They ended up poisoning Aunt Wu just to hurt him.
It was simply too much of a coincidence that they killed her right after his engagement was called off.
"Chen Bo and Chen Ming, I will kill them. Kill all of them who are behind this," Chen Xuan swore in the empty room.
Chen Xuan already had an old grievance with a noble named Wang Wei. Chen Bo purposely befriended this noble.
Together, they manipulated the situation to pit Chen Xuan against a genius of the Zhao family named Zhao Feng.
In the past, these conflicts were just petty sect politics. No one crossed the bottom line. No one tried to kill him or cause fatal harm.
But now, someone had crossed that line by killing Aunt Wu.
If Wang Wei and Zhao Feng are involved in this, I will not show them any mercy either, he decided grimly.
He needed to plan his next steps carefully. He could not kill them on the sect grounds.
Moreover, he could not even kill someone like Zhao Feng outside the sect right now. He lacked the enough strength to do it.
If I want to gain power, I will have to rely on this treasure, he concluded.
He needed to figure it out quickly. If he wanted to start a proper family, he needed to buy spiritual land. He needed to marry and expand his own power base.
But a real problem stood in his way. Would he go unnoticed inside the sect?
The elders knew about his average talent from the very beginning. If sudden and miraculous changes occurred in him, wouldn't they become highly suspicious?
He could not run away to a remote region either. To leave the empire safely, he needed to become a Core Formation cultivator.
Otherwise, he could lose his life very easily in the wilderness without any major backing.
I just need to stay away from the sect grounds, he thought. Keeping my identity as an inner disciple of the Flowing Cloud Sect still gives me a protective shield.
"I need to leave the sect. But how?"
Finding a legal way to stay away from the Flowing Cloud Sect was very difficult. He was already at the peak of the Foundation Building realm.
The sect held high expectations for such disciples. They would not allow them to wander outside for long. He needed a valid reason to stay away from the sect grounds.
Suddenly, a strange heat bloomed inside his Sea of Consciousness. The ink painting vibrated gently.
Chen Xuan was initially perplexed by this reaction, but new information soon appeared in his mind.
"A woman of fortune is nearby."
Chen Xuan frowned after processing the sudden message.
"Does this treasure even have the ability to sense such people?" he thought to himself.
However, he did not have much time to think about it. He was inside a fast spiritual boat.
If he did not act quickly, he would fly far away from this person. The warmth from the painting was fading slowly.
He stood up and walked directly out of his quiet cabin.
He quickly found the elders managing the spiritual boat. They stopped the flying vessel after a brief conversation.
A small gap appeared in the glowing defensive array. Chen Xuan left through it.
He flew toward the east, following the treasure's guidance.
Several hours passed.
The sun began to lower. It painted the scattered clouds in shades of amber and gold.
His spiritual sense picked up multiple presences ahead in the mountain range. The violent sound of clashing Spiritual Qi echoed through the valley.
A battle was underway.
Chen Xuan suppressed his aura to the limit. He lowered himself into the woods below.
When he arrived at the battlefield, he saw four figures locked in a fight.
A mature woman stood in the very center. She wore a flowing blue robe that clung tightly to her elegant figure.
A thin white veil hid the lower half of her face. Her crescent moon shaped eyes were dark and filled with coldness.
A simple jade hairpin secured her dark hair in a neat bun. Long strands still flowed freely down her back. A few loose pieces framed her pale face.
This slightly softened her cold expression. She possessed an alluring beauty despite her obvious injuries.
Her graceful curves were prominent. Her rippling aura clearly revealed her late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation base.
The ancient painting inside his Sea of Consciousness vibrated violently. It glowed with a gold and purple light.
With such a strong reaction, he already understood.
"So it is her," Chen Xuan thought quietly.