You don't want your secret to be revealed by others, right?

Chapter 243 243: Brother-in-law (38)

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The eighteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, suitable for marriage and travel.

Just a year later, the Duke Heng's mansion became festive once again, adorned with lanterns and decorations, overwhelmingly lively.

The bride had changed, but the groom remained the same.

Of course, everyone knew it was the recently popular Seventeenth Prince getting married. A dignified prince marrying multiple times in a year, even ten brides at once, would be no big deal.

If the prince wished, many families would be eager to send their most beautiful women.

After all, the children born would carry the Xiahong bloodline of three generations. With proper cultivation, they would be great cultivators at the very least.

Moreover, such a formidable bloodline would not produce many offspring. Many princes had taken multiple wives, using secret techniques to try for more children. Yet even over hundreds of years, they had only a few.

It was as if there were an invisible shackle in the unseen realms.

If one didn't marry the prince early, the more children there were, the more difficult it would be to bear descendants.

Therefore, many envied Duke Heng.

Today, guests swarmed the island in the lake. Compared to the last grand wedding, both the quantity and quality were significantly higher.

After all, the ones marrying were a prince and the next Duke Heng, so naturally many people wanted to attend the wedding. However, only a select few were qualified, and after thorough selection, most were left with high status and power.

They were either key officials in the court or senior figures from the Three Religions Holy Land.

Although no prince attended, several commandery princes did arrive.

Before the banquet began, a martial saint from the Ancestor Hall also made an appearance.

—Unexpectedly, a young woman with white hair.

"Saint Cang?"

Duke Heng and several key officials immediately recognized her.

"Senior Sister?" Lin Yue was also a bit surprised, not expecting Xiao Surong to be present.

Xiao Surong ignored the others, merely looking at Lin Yue, and said, "Junior Brother, I heard about your wedding. Master asked me to bring a gift for you."

As she spoke, she handed Lin Yue a broken piece of green jade.

"Please thank Master for me, Senior Sister. But, what is this?" Lin Yue asked with some confusion as he received the jade piece.

From the golden markings on the jade, it seemed to be a Daoist jade talisman, but appeared to be the most ordinary type, and it was incomplete, with no hint of remaining spiritual power.

"I do not know either," Xiao Surong said blandly. "I have merely followed the master's command to deliver it. The gift has been given, and it is time for me to leave."

Lin Yue immediately asked, "Senior Sister, aren't you staying for a glass of celebratory wine?"

"No need, I never drink." Xiao Surong said nothing more, turning to leave immediately.

After Xiao Surong departed, Lin Yue couldn't help but look at the jade talisman in his hand with curiosity.

What was this?

"Your Highness." Duke Heng approached and said, "Since the Main Hall Master specifically had Saint Cang deliver the gift, I imagine it's not an ordinary item."

Lin Yue nodded and said, "I understand too, but I can't see anything special about it."

"Your Highness."

Suddenly, a somewhat aged voice sounded, "This old Daoist thinks I might have heard about this item."

Lin Yue turned his head and found an elderly man in a Daoist robe with white hair and beard. This attire suggested he was from... the Daoist Sacred Land, the Shangqing Sect?

"Master Yuan Yi." Duke Heng recognized this elder, "Do you know anything about it?"

So it was Master Yuan Yi? Lin Yue suddenly understood.

He had read Master Yuan Yi's dossier. He was a great cultivator of Daoism, having lived for three or four hundred years, well-versed in the Heaven and Earth Law, but due to insufficient Dao heart, he dared not pursue Harmonization.

Not speaking of cultivation, but in terms of seniority, Master Yuan Yi ranked among the top ten in the Shangqing Sect.

Living long enough, one gets to witness much.

"Your Highness."

Master Yuan Yi did not speak publicly, but used Divine Thought Transmission to say, "Though this old Daoist cannot be certain, I suspect this jade talisman is a credential of Bixu Yuanjun, an Immortal from our Shangqing Sect, identical to one I've been fortunate enough to see."

An Immortal?

Lin Yue raised an eyebrow slightly.

An earthly Saint of Daoism was an Immortal. Beyond that was the legendary Daoist Ancestor.

It was said that there were multiple levels of earthly Immortals, though he did not know much about them.

His Master actually gave him a credential of an earthly Immortal?

What did this mean?

"Your Highness, Bixu Yuanjun is a great power in our Shangqing Sect, most proficient in arrays."

Master Yuan Yi continued through Divine Thought Transmission, "If this jade talisman truly is Bixu Yuanjun's credential, then the Main Hall Master likely intends to offer Your Highness a chance to seek Bixu Yuanjun's help."

Seeking Bixu Yuanjun's help?

Lin Yue suddenly had some understanding of his Master's intentions.

—After the court opened on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, he was to begin choosing locations for constructing the Prince Mansion.

Both the Duke Heng's estate and the residences of various princes and commandery princes were protected by multiple layers of arrays, ensuring safety, preventing eavesdroppers, gathering essence of heaven and earth, among other functions.

The discipline of arrays was vast and complex. Being able to arrange arrays at the Four Symbols Level would deem one a grandmaster of arrays, a significant achievement.

Should one arrange arrays at the Three Talents Level, imbued with the Heaven and Earth Law, the title of Array Master is bestowed.

Array Masters were so rare that perhaps less than a handful existed in the entire world!

Such rare talents were enough to secure a seat of honor in the Prince Mansion. The princes would have to treat them with courtesy, as in addition to protecting their residences, there were many important places needing array protection as well.

Should an Array Master carefully lay down multiple interconnected arrays, not even a group of great cultivators could breach it, and even a Saint-level being would find it difficult to break through.

Some treasures of Heaven and Earth requiring special environments to nurture might also rely on the assistance of an Array Master to succeed.

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