Morning sunlight passed through the window gauze and spilled into the palace. On an extravagant, luxurious bed slept an extremely young man.
"Your Highness, are you awake? Your Highness?"
At the servant's soft call from outside the door, the young man opened a pair of hazy eyes and woke.
A closer look showed brows and eyes like painted art, skin as pale as old jade, and a face of exceptional beauty. Even with that lingering sleepiness, his phoenix-like eyes still held an inner brilliance.
After waking, the young man lay in bed for another half minute. Only after a difficult struggle against gravity did he sit up on the edge of the bed.
As if gravity were making one last attempt, a corner of his nightclothes slipped when he sat up, revealing a smooth shoulder like carved ice and polished jade, delicate enough to make women feel envy.
"Come in."
The young man's voice was gentle and magnetic. It made people want to sink into it as the sound drew closer.
Once the reply came, a head maid led twelve servants into the room.
Among the twelve servants, three carried a pillow, sheets, and quilt. Another three held a basin, towels, and clothes.
With three servants attending him, the young man washed and changed. The three holding the bedding replaced everything on the large bed from top to bottom.
Clothes make the man, just as a saddle suits a horse. Once he finished changing, his image came fully into view: hair white as snow, bearing warm as jade, gentle eyes, a warm smile, and an aura of tranquil ease around him.
A gentleman on the road, beautiful as jade, peerless beneath heaven. That line might have been created precisely to describe this young man.
The head maid left the servants to continue cleaning and followed behind him toward the dining hall. As they walked through the resplendent corridor, she began reporting today's schedule item by item.
"Your Highness, according to the plan, you will finish breakfast in half an hour. This morning, you have one hour of etiquette study and one hour of calligraphy and painting. After that comes half an hour for lunch and half an hour of rest. In the afternoon, you have one hour of theoretical study and one hour of cultivation.
"Tonight, after half an hour for dinner, you must attend the weekly court banquet.
"After the banquet there will be a late snack, but you will also need to complete today's assignments. Finally, it will be time for rest."
Faced with a schedule so packed that not a moment of free time remained, the young man did not even blink. He had lived this way for thirteen years, at least in everyone else's eyes.
"Has anything important happened recently?"
He used the spare time on the road to ask about recent affairs.
"Your Highness, Her Holiness the Pope of Spirit Hall has issued an order to begin this year's Martial Soul awakening one day early, saying that more people should have an equal chance to change their fate. However, during that extra day, only orphans will receive awakenings."
When the head maid mentioned the Pope of Spirit Hall, a nearly imperceptible change passed through the young man's eyes. It soon settled again.
"An extra day of awakenings across the whole continent. Spirit Hall is making a grand gesture. I remember this year's Martial Soul awakening begins in three days. When the time comes, we can make some arrangements and guide part of the credit toward the empire."
The head maid immediately took out a pen and used her hand and forearm as a backing board while she wrote.
After seeing from the corner of his eye that she had finished, the young man continued, "Anything else?"
After that, the head maid reported several matters involving the Upper Three Sects and the Star Stripe Empire. Only at the end did she take out a sheet of paper.
"The last item is fresh intelligence from this morning. Close to midnight last night, Spirit Hall's Ghost Sage arrived at our nation's main Spirit Hall with a boy."
"Ghost Sage and a boy. Is the report reliable?"
"The information came from our informant. The main reason is that Ghost Sage made no attempt to hide his tracks. Last night, Salas personally received them."
"Do we know the boy's identity?"
"Your Highness, that boy is most likely the rumored disciple of Her Holiness the Pope."
In truth, the upper levels of many major powers on the continent had heard something of Wu Ling's identity. Bibi Dong had spread that information personally years ago.
But during these four years, they had only heard of his status. They knew nothing about who this disciple was, what he looked like, what Martial Soul he had, or what level he had reached. Even spies in Spirit City could not uncover a single shred of information about him. It was as if the person never left his home.
"The Pope's disciple. That woman actually took a disciple? And a male disciple at that..."
Seeing that the young man had fallen into thought, the head maid did not disturb him. She simply followed quietly half a step behind him.
A while later, he spoke. "Change the schedule. Shorten the afternoon theory lesson and cultivation period to half an hour each. Leave one hour open. I want to meet that rumored person. Also, remember to send an invitation in advance."
The head maid said nothing after hearing this. She understood her position. No matter which identity she served, she only needed to do what fit that identity. She took out her pen again and quietly wrote the matter down.
By the time she finished, they had reached their destination. On the bright golden sign were the words Dining Hall.
When the young man arrived before the dining hall, the head maid left his side and stood in the corridor outside, waiting for him to finish breakfast.
The attendants on both sides opened the doors for him, revealing a luxurious dining room.
At the center of the room stood a long table surrounded by several chairs. Seated at the head of the table was the current emperor of the Polaris Empire, Emperor Xue Ye.
Facing the Emperor of the empire, the young man said without a ripple, "This son greets Father Emperor."
"Mm. Qinghe, you are here. Come sit."
From the exchange between the two, one could tell that this young man was Emperor Xue Ye's eldest son, the first prince of the Polaris Empire, Xue Qinghe.
As usual, Xue Qinghe walked to his seat. After sitting down, he began eating today's breakfast, and with it, began the day's schedule.
Meanwhile, on Wu Ling's side, he was sitting beside a small roadside noodle stall.
"Boss, give me a bowl of zhajiang noodles. Add extra scallions and extra sauce. Hm, cilantro too.
"Right, give me two steamed buns while you are at it. Add a small plate of pickles. If you have porridge, give me a bowl of that too. Thin porridge."