Chapter 54: Zhu Houzhao's Fear, Five-Year Check-in Bonus Reward Package

"How... on earth did the Prince of Su pull this off?" Zhu Houzhao felt a chill run through his heart. Though he knew the Tiance Mansion was powerful, seeing it with his own eyes completely surpassed his imagination.

Martial artists of the top three realms.
The Vajra Realm, the Mysterious Insight Realm.

Along the way, escorted by the Tiance soldiers, he had observed thousands of them. Without exception, every single one was a formidable martial arts expert. The weakest among them were in the top three realms, and as for the strongest... Zhu Houzhao had even faintly caught the aura of Grand Celestial Masters!

How had Zhu Jinzhen managed to cultivate such a terrifying force in the barren and impoverished borderlands? Zhu Houzhao racked his brain, yet he could not fathom the answer.

Even though he was the sovereign of the nation, commanding boundless rivers and mountains, it would be utterly unrealistic and utterly impossible for Zhu Houzhao to raise an entire army of martial artists like the Tiance Mansion, where even the lowest-ranked soldier belonged to the top three realms!

"Your Majesty, this way, please."

Yang Ning's voice snapped Zhu Houzhao out of his reverie.

He led Zhu Houzhao into a side hall.

Frowning, Zhu Houzhao demanded, "Where is the Prince of Su? Since he went to such great lengths to send you all, isn't he in a hurry to see me?"

Yang Ning paused. It was only upon returning to Jiayuguan that he had received a telepathic transmission from Zhu Jinzhen, instructing him to settle the emperor first and stating that they would meet the next day.

As for why Zhu Jinzhen had suddenly changed his mind, Yang Ning believed his Highness surely had some profound motive.

"His Highness stated that he is occupied with a matter of the utmost urgency that cannot be delayed. Furthermore, as the night is already deep, he will meet you tomorrow. He said you may take it however you please. He also ordered this humble general to prepare quarters for you. Please, follow me."

"However I please? Does he, Zhu Jinzhen, still regard me as the emperor in his eyes?" Zhu Houzhao clenched his fists so tightly that his nails dug deep into his palms.

As the exalted sovereign of a nation, the Son of Heaven, he had been forcibly coerced by Zhu Jinzhen, practically brought here under duress, and now he was being treated with such blatant disregard!

Yet, looking at the hostile Tiance soldiers glaring all around him, no matter how towering his rage, Zhu Houzhao had no choice but to forcibly suppress it.

With several Terrestrial Immortals and dozens of Grand Celestial Masters present, even if Zhu Houzhao were not currently at their mercy, he could only indulge in impotent fury.

Although Yang Ning felt his Highness's instructions for the night were somewhat impolite, he acted strictly in accordance with orders and cared little for the reactions of an emperor like Zhu Houzhao.

He had the burning-with-rage Zhu Houzhao escorted away.

The lodging was a side hall within the Tiance Mansion—luxurious and far from crude. While it could not compare to the inner chambers of the imperial palace, it was still much better than the facilities of any inn.

Yet, the desolate and cold side hall still caused Zhu Houzhao to frown involuntarily.

"Bang!"

As the heavy doors of the side hall closed, it felt as though two distinct worlds were sealed off from one another.

Zhu Houzhao's rage, which had been restrained to its absolute limit, erupted like a volcanic eruption. With a violent sweep of his arm, he knocked the pastries prepared on the table crashing to the floor and roared, "Scoundrel! Utterly devoid of respect for his superior! This is outrageous!"

"He brings me here only to neglect and ignore me? What is this? House arrest?"

"I am the Son of Heaven, the August Sovereign. How dare he threaten and slight me so?"

Outside the door, the Grand Celestial Masters on guard duty listened to the roaring within the side hall as if they heard nothing at all.

Inside the hall, after venting for a long time, Zhu Houzhao slumped onto the bed, overcome by an unprecedented sense of powerlessness.

Recalling Zhu Jinzhen's humility when he first entered the imperial court, and contrasting it with his domineering attitude today, Zhu Houzhao could not help but offer a bitter smile. In just a few short years, the dynamic between monarch and subject had inverted to this extent.

From outside the window came the sound of patrolling soldiers' footsteps, neat and uniform, every single step seemingly treading upon Zhu Houzhao's heart.

"Vajra realms are everywhere, Mysterious Insight realms form arrays."
"Even Celestial Phenomena and Terrestrial Immortals are forced to bow their heads as subjects."
"Prince of Su, oh Prince of Su, how utterly estranged I have become from you!"

Zhu Houzhao walked to the window of the side hall, gazing at the brilliantly illuminated Tiance Mansion in the distance, and at the orderly patrolling soldiers under the night sky. Profound confusion filled his heart, and today's experiences naturally bred a creeping fear within him.

Several Terrestrial Immortals, dozens of Grand Celestial Masters, coupled with the countless soldiers stationed within this Tiance Mansion—Zhu Houzhao, who had thoroughly read military treatises, naturally understood what this meant.

It meant that if Zhu Jinzhen ever desired to rebel, he could do so at any moment, and no one could possibly stop him!

Zhu Houzhao muttered to himself, "What on earth am I supposed to do..."

...

Meanwhile, inside the Tiance Mansion.

Zhu Jinzhen's delay was indeed a last-minute decision, but he had not lied to Zhu Houzhao; he genuinely had a matter of extreme urgency to attend to.

His system was returning!

Compared to this matter, a mere meeting with the emperor was cast aside by Zhu Jinzhen without a moment's hesitation. After washing up, bathing, changing clothes, and burning incense, he quietly awaited the activation of his system.

As time ticked away second by second,
When the hour shifted from the Hour of Hai to the Hour of Zi, signifying the renewal of all things and the arrival of a new day,
The system notification bell rang precisely on schedule within Zhu Jinzhen's mind.

Ding—
[The Super-God Check-in System has completed its upgrade.]
[The five-year check-in compensation gift package has arrived.]

"It's finally here!"

Zhu Jinzhen's body trembled slightly. A vast flood of information regarding the system abruptly surged into his mind, mostly concerning the updates brought by this upgrade.

The changes were not drastic; the daily check-in had been upgraded to a monthly check-in, but the rewards would become far more generous—lowering the floor while raising the ceiling.

In addition to the monthly check-in, an annual check-in would take place every year on the first day of the first lunar month, with a higher probability of yielding superior rewards.

"System, open my check-in compensation gift package first."

Ding—

Zhu Jinzhen's heart pounded wildly with anticipation. When his system had initially bound the novice gift package, it had bestowed upon him 300,000 Tiance soldiers, 200,000 Cangyun Mysterious Armored troops, Yan Piaomiao's swordsmanship talent and ethereal sword techniques, as well as the Gourmet Tablecloth that had helped him build such a massive foundation.

This was a five-year check-in compensation gift package.
He could not even begin to imagine how lavish it would be.

Ding—
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining the Martial Dao Cultivation Furnace.]
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining the prop: Any-Door.]
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining the rule-based sword technique 'A Sword Makes Immortals Kneel'.]
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining an Infinite Dungeon Card.]
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining the Dragon Balls.]

All sorts of information regarding the rewards from the five-year check-in compensation package flooded wildly into Zhu Jinzhen's mind, causing even him, who had already stepped into the Terrestrial Heavenly Mortal Realm, to momentarily lose his composure.

"This is the system's compensation gift package?"

Zhu Jinzhen's heart hammered frantically, his mind overwhelmed by the surge of pleasant surprises.

First was the very first item.

[Martial Dao Cultivation Furnace: Originally a product of the Under One Person world, an anomalous artifact created with Divine Machinery Hundred Refinements and esoteric arts as its core, capable of transforming ordinary people into anomaly-users. Through modifications by certain scientists of the Myriad Realms Tower, it has been transformed into a Martial Dao Cultivation Furnace capable of turning ordinary people into martial artists.]
[By simply using a martial artist as a template, it can catalyze and share everything belonging to that martial artist's template, including internal cultivation arts, martial realms, martial insights, and so on.]

"Did I read that right?"
"No upper limit? No restrictions?"

Zhu Jinzhen could not help but draw in a sharp breath. For all his self-proclaimed broad experience and solid psychological preparation, he was still utterly stunned by the system's sheer generosity.

His thoughts began to race uncontrollably: "Does this mean that if I place a Grand Celestial Master—no, a Terrestrial Immortal—into one side of the Cultivation Furnace, using the Terrestrial Immortal as a template, I can batch-produce Terrestrial Immortals?"
"And what if I use a Terrestrial Heavenly Mortal...?"