I Only Stomp on Weaklings

"Add points!"

Chen Ming didn’t hesitate, he directly added one hundred thousand points.

"Godslaying Needle" (Second Stage 1/1000000).

The second stage now required one million points.

"It seems that cultivating this secret technique is indeed difficult. Every advancement in the realm requires ten times the experience points as before."

"Add more."

So, "Godslaying Needle" became (Third Stage 1/10000000).

This time, it required ten million points.

Temporarily, he couldn’t afford it.

He wasn’t sure about its power either.

Chen Ming restrained his emotions, and still went out as usual. He couldn’t miss the First Grade prisoners at the Tian Prison either; having one more way to farm experience was always good.

"Little He, did the phenomenon of the Nine Heavens reappear last night?"

He asked the little maid as she arrived.

"No."

"Ah, it seems I don’t have the fortune to witness it."

Chen Ming thought, the old Taoist was still reliable.

So, he took a carriage and went out.

...

"Brother, you’re out of luck."

Tang Shouzheng teased with a smile as he saw Chen Ming, "The phenomenon didn’t reappear last night."

"Indeed, I kept vigil all night for nothing."

"I heard Miss Xia has come to the capital."

"Hmm."

"Brother, as someone who has been through it, let me give you a piece of advice. Don’t let love ruin your future and life. I trust you’re a smart person. You know what to do."

Are you advising me like this? Does your Eldest Princess know?

Chen Ming mocked internally, it seemed Tang Shouzheng wasn’t aware of what the Eldest Princess planned; he definitely couldn’t be considered the Eldest Princess’s confidant.

Of course, as part of the Emperor’s faction, the Eldest Princess couldn’t let others know she was preparing to undermine the Emperor.

Tang Shouzheng, seeing his silence, said, "I heard you used to be infatuated with the Celestial Dao Alliance’s Su Fairy. Now, an opportunity has come; it’s said Su Fairy has fallen into a love tribulation and is about to descend into the mortal world. If you can catch her eye, maybe you could win a beauty."

"Is there such a thing?"

Chen Ming was surprised that even Tang Shouzheng knew about this; how did the news spread?

Could it be, Su Zhining had also returned to the capital?

...

Su Zhining had indeed returned to the capital.

After Chen Ming finished his experience farming trip, he collected over fifty thousand experience points. Upon returning to the Duke Jingguo’s residence, he asked Little He and learned of this.

With Little He’s return, he finally had a channel for information. He didn’t have to seek out Gu Yuyin for everything, every time he went to her, Gu Zhengshan guarded him like a thief.

Rumor had it among the populace that Celestial Dao Alliance disciples faced three choices once they fell into a love tribulation.

One was to shut themselves in seclusion.

Two was to join with that man in dual cultivation, but unfortunately, the man’s whereabouts were unknown, most likely already dead. (According to rumor)

Three was to find another man and engage in dual cultivation, fighting poison with poison.

Upon hearing this third option, Chen Ming was shocked, suspecting it was the fantasy of some mischief-makers. But according to Little He, in history, Celestial Dao Alliance disciples indeed did this.

With Su Zhining’s return to the capital, naturally, she sought ways to resolve her love tribulation.

Either she would shut herself in seclusion.

Or she would find another man.

Chen Ming felt a headache upon hearing this; why did everything converge at once?

First it was Xia Mudan, then the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, and now the matter of Su Zhining.

Each more troublesome than the last.

Strength!

The solution to these matters ultimately relied on strength.

"Alright, you can leave, I need to train now."

After sending Little He away, Chen Ming closed the door and entered "Qingwei Heaven"; today he wanted to test the power of the newly cultivated "Godslaying Needle."

After two days of effort, the ghost creatures near the arrival point had been partially cleared; he needed to venture further to find lesser creatures.

This meant that the ghost creatures in this Secret Realm weren’t like the lesser creatures in games; they wouldn’t refresh automatically—killing one meant one less.

Before long, a nearly complete ghost creature appeared, still dressed as a guard, its body more solid than ordinary ghost creatures, presumably an elite monster.

"Die!"

As soon as they met, he unleashed a "Godslaying Needle" attack. The ghost’s head was pierced, and its figure dissipated on its own.

[You killed an LV99 ghost creature and received one hundred twenty thousand experience points.]

Indeed, the "Godslaying Needle" inflicted impressive damage on ghost creatures.

The consumption was quite significant though.

Chen Ming estimated that given his Divine Sense strength, he could only use this level of "Godslaying Needle" five times before exhausting his spirit.

This meant he could kill five more ghost pairs each day, gaining fifty thousand experience points.

Calculating it, he could harvest two hundred thousand points a day, accumulating forty million experience points in less than twenty days wouldn’t be a problem.

You must know that experience points can directly transform into strength; such a vast amount of experience, even if it couldn’t elevate him to First Grade, could still significantly enhance his power.

...

When Chen Ming ended today’s monster-farming trip, he felt his head pounding, somewhat nauseous. These were symptoms of overexerting his Divine Sense.

He dared not be negligent and first took an elixir, then lit a stick of calming incense, slowly recovering.

It must be said, the recovery ability of a Second Grade Martial Artist is indeed astonishing. As soon as day broke, Chen Ming felt fully revived.

The Gang Yuan had recovered to about eighty percent, but his Divine Sense was already fully restored.

He thought, "Perhaps during the day I can also take time to enter Qingwei Heaven and slay a few more ghosts."

The speed at which his Divine Sense recovered was quite fast, so naturally, it could be utilized.

After simply freshening up, Chen Ming ate a little something and headed out.

...

...

Meanwhile, the Emperor was in the Imperial Study Room.

The current Emperor Jingqian was sitting on a chair, listening to the ministers’ report with a serious expression.

He was thirty-five this year, in his prime, handsome in appearance, refined and courteous, giving off a rather benevolent aura.

A middle-aged scholar stood in front, "Your Majesty, the granddaughter of King Yan has already arrived in the capital. She is currently residing at Prince Yan’s Mansion. Your Majesty can formally issue a decree to make her a concubine."

The Emperor frowned slightly, subconsciously gripping the imperial brush in his hand tightly.

The Eldest Princess, observing his demeanor, secretly shook her head and said, "Royal brother, establishing a concubine at this time is quite inappropriate. Why not wait until after the Zhongyuan Festival?"

The middle-aged scholar, dressed in the robe of a Third Grade official, a scholar from the Longtu Pavilion, said, "Your Majesty, aligning with King Yan is urgent. If circumstances change, a great opportunity might be lost."

The Eldest Princess retorted, "Why would circumstances change? The request to enter the palace was proposed by Princess Yongming herself. She’s already in the capital, just waiting for the concubine edict. Why rush now?"

"Her Highness the Eldest Princess is supportive of aligning with King Yan, so why obstruct it now?"

"I simply feel the timing isn’t right."

"Your Highness—"

"Enough!"

Finally, the Emperor could not listen any longer and interrupted their argument.

These two people, one being his most trusted minister and the other his closest sister, did not see eye to eye, almost every meeting turned into a verbal battle.

Several times he wanted the two to shake hands and make peace, to eliminate hostilities. Yet, they remained unchanged.

"Let me think about it further. Let’s end here today."

"Yes, royal brother."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

It was only then that the Emperor noticed another person in the Imperial Study Room and said warmly, "Mingyu, after going to Jiangzhou, was everything well?"

Princess Mingyu respectfully replied, "Thanks to Your Majesty’s blessings, everything went smoothly for me in Jiangzhou."

The Emperor said, "That’s good. Since you are back in the capital, spend some time with the Empress Dowager and Zhaoyu."

"Yes." Princess Mingyu said with concern, "Your Majesty has a worried look on your face, is it because of that Nine Skies phenomenon?"

The Emperor shook his head and said, "The reappearance of the Nine Skies in the world is nothing for me to worry about. What I am concerned about is the northern borders. The autumn harvest is approaching, alas..."

Seeing that it touched upon the Emperor’s worries, Princess Mingyu did not dare to question further and changed the subject.

After a while, she took her leave.

On a carriage.

Princess Mingyu and the Eldest Princess sat together, and she finally asked the question in her heart, "Sister, why do you always have a grievance against Lord Chen?"

The Eldest Princess snorted coldly, "He is merely a sycophant, pandering to our royal brother’s preferences, always offering some short-sighted, opportunistic schemes. Though effective in the short term, the harm is severe. If he enters the cabinet in the future, he will surely be a treacherous minister."

"He is, after all, the Emperor’s minister. If you keep acting this way, it will be difficult for the Emperor."

"Our royal brother is too sentimental, thus indecisive. I will make our royal brother see this man’s true colors."

Hearing this, Princess Mingyu did not continue with this dangerous topic and instead asked about something else, "Sister, you are well-informed in the capital, can you help me inquire about someone?"

"Who?"

"Nie Hongyi, from Jiangzhou’s Xinyuezong."

"Nie Hongyi?"

The Eldest Princess was surprised, "How did you come to hear about this name?"

Upon hearing it, Princess Mingyu exclaimed excitedly, "Sister, do you recognize this person?"

"This woman is currently in my Princess Mansion. If you come back with me, you’ll be able to see her."

That would be great.

...

Soon, they arrived at the Eldest Princess’s Mansion.

The Eldest Princess had someone call for Nie Hongyi and asked, "Is this the person you were looking for?"

Nie Hongyi looked puzzled at the equally lavishly dressed Princess Mingyu and asked, "Who might this be?"

Princess Mingyu asked excitedly, "Are you the disciple Nie Hongyi of Xinyuezong?"

"I am."

"That’s wonderful! Do you know the whereabouts of your junior sister?"

"Junior sister?"

Nie Hongyi was taken aback, thinking where she had a junior sister, "You must be joking, dear guest. I have no junior sister."

Upon hearing this, Princess Mingyu was somewhat saddened and said, "I am looking for your junior sister Yuan Ziyi. I know she doesn’t want to see me, there’s no need for you to conceal it."

"Yuan Ziyi?"

Nie Hongyi was startled, suddenly as if realizing something, a peculiar expression flickered in her eyes, and she said, "You mean Ziyi? I almost forgot about her. Hmm, I do have such a junior sister."

A hopeful glimmer appeared on Princess Mingyu’s face, "Do you know her whereabouts? Can you contact her?"

Nie Hongyi said, "I truly do not know her whereabouts, nor how to contact her. However, there is someone who might know."

"Who?"

"Gu Xianyu from the Duke Jingguo’s Mansion."

PS: Sorry to keep everyone waiting, today there are two Chapters updated together.