Li Ban arrived at Zichen Hall. He had no idea how the priests had managed it, but the massive hole in the rear hall's roof was already repaired, looking as flawless as before.
The doors of Zichen Hall stood open. Inside, apart from the Realm Emperor, the hall was empty.
This Realm Emperor matched the one in Li Ban's memory; his clothing and stature were identical to before.
But when the man turned around, Li Ban noticed the difference.
The Realm Emperor had previously worn a beard, but it was not very long and somewhat sparse.
Now, this Realm Emperor's beard was stroked to a glossy, immaculate sheen and gathered neatly together.
Li Ban stepped forward. "How should I address you?" he asked softly.
"Just call me the Realm Emperor for now." Priest Chu Zhan stroked his beard again. "Playing the role of another is an excellent journey in cultivating the mind. If you ever have the chance, you should try it."
Li Ban thought to himself, 'I already tried it long ago.'
"I owe you a favor. I don't know when I'll be able to find a premium element, so I will give you another good thing first."
Chu Zhan clapped a hand on Li Ban's shoulder. "Call me older brother, and I'll give you the identity of an imperial prince."
Li Ban froze. What kind of messy relationship was this?
Could the identity of an imperial prince really be handed out so casually?
Priest Chu Zhan smiled and explained, "The imperial prince identity is nothing much, but it comes with dragon qi protection. Priest Ban, aren't you heading to the Unreturning Place? You will often have to fight insects there. With dragon qi protecting you, you'll have a powerful extra layer of defense."
Li Ban finally remembered. One of the reasons Du An and Wan Chengming hadn't killed Li Yuan was because his dragon qi protected him, making it impossible for them to act.
"Alright, then I thank you, Brother Chu!"
Chu Zhan pinched his beard and gave a satisfied hum, then said warmly, "You are a priest, so it wouldn't be appropriate for you to be Li Zhai's younger brother. How about this: three, four, or five—pick a ranking."
Li Ban did not hesitate. "Then I will be the fifth."
Priest Chu Zhan immediately wrote Li Ban's name in the booklet.
"You have an affinity with the imperial princes after all. You don't even need to change your surname."
The moment his name was written, Li Ban heard the system's voice.
[Obtained 4th Tier Identity "Imperial Prince". This identity is compatible.]
Li Ban nodded. "It worked."
He now possessed three identities.
Because the Priest and Imperial Prince identities were both special, they could coexist simultaneously with the prison guard identity.
However, Li Ban actually did not need to keep the prison guard identity anymore.
He planned to have someone deliver a letter to the new prison official, Zhang Baishan, asking him to take back the prison guard identity and give it to someone suitable.
After obtaining the imperial prince identity, Li Ban felt a faint current of air surging around his body. He was just about to pull out the Iron-Eating Sword to test it when Priest Chu Zhan stopped him.
"The dragon qi only shields you from external harm. If you take a blade and stab yourself, you will still be injured."
"Then what if I throw a blade into the air, and it falls back down and stabs me?"
"That is fine. The dragon qi will only consider you and the weapon as one entity while you are holding it."
While Li Ban and Priest Chu Zhan were talking, Priest Zhu Yao had already brought Shi Ming and the others back.
As for Li Fu, who had "mimicked" Li Ban, she tossed him directly back to Shunyi Palace.
When he hit the ground, an Obscuring Sun Lock was fastened around his neck.
Because of this, Li Fu's appearance had already reverted to its original form.
Hearing the commotion, Cat Girl walked out of the study. She stopped beside Li Fu and looked down at him. "If it isn't our Ninth Imperial Princess's brother?"
Having been dropped from a height of over a dozen meters by Zhu Yao, Li Fu was covered in injuries.
However, even though he could not use his abilities, his physical resilience remained extremely strong, so these were merely flesh wounds.
Hearing Cat Girl's voice, he slowly sat up. He raised his eyes to look at this unfamiliar woman, realizing her identity when he saw her furry ears.
"I am deeply ashamed. Miss Cat, I presume? I have heard Little Nine mention you."
"Is that right? Then do you want to see your Ninth Sister now?"
Without waiting for Li Fu to answer, Cat Girl grabbed him by the collar and dragged him straight into the study.
Pushing the door open and turning right, there was a low couch where Li Yan's corpse had been temporarily placed.
Li Fu paused for a moment at the sight of the bulging quilt on the low couch, before he realized it was Li Yan's corpse.
"Dead?" Li Fu murmured in a daze. "Dead... that's for the best."
"Yes. The betrayal of her biological brother was the knife that stabbed her to death."
Sitting slumped on the floor, Li Fu actually laughed. "I am not her biological brother."
Cat Girl furrowed her brow and looked down at Li Fu. "What do you mean?"
"I mean exactly what I said. Li Yuan, me, Li Zhai, and Li Yan—none of us are the Realm Emperor's biological children."
Cat Girl's eyes widened. "If you aren't his biological children, why did he make you imperial princes and princesses?"
Cat Girl still remembered the past. Back when she and Li Yan were still enslaved beast-blood girls, Li Yan had suddenly been taken away, told that her family had come to collect her.
Li Yan had been overjoyed at the time. She had always believed that she and Cat Girl were both orphans.
Later, Cat Girl managed to escape through her own sheer effort. A few years after that, she ran into an almost completely transformed Yan Jiu.
Through Yan Jiu's introduction, Cat Girl joined the Assassin Hall, and only then did she grow strong amidst the slaughter.
Accepting this favor, she had secretly helped Yan Jiu eliminate several enemies, which led to her being abandoned by the old hall master and captured and imprisoned in the Death Prison.
Now, learning that Yan Jiu and the Realm Emperor shared no bloodline, Cat Girl gave a light laugh. "Just chess pieces."
After a moment, Cat Girl asked, "Yan Jiu still doesn't know about this."
Li Fu stared blankly. "Yes."
"Go explain it to her yourself," Cat Girl said, tossing down a dagger.
The ordinary dagger clattered sharply against the floor.
Li Fu looked down at the dagger, offering no response for the moment.
Cat Girl didn't urge him. She left Shunyi Palace directly.
Stepping out of the palace, she stared blankly at the vermilion walls opposite her.
"Yan Jiu's family was fake. Then what about mine?"
"Why did I clearly have beautiful childhood memories of being with my family, only to open my eyes and find myself a slave in the Wizard World?"
"What are you looking at?" Li Ban's voice rang out beside Cat Girl.
Cat Girl turned her head to look at Li Ban's smiling face. A trace of warmth rose in her heart, even though it had not transmitted to her face, leaving her facial muscles as stiff as usual.
"Li Fu said they are not the Realm Emperor's children."
Li Ban looked surprised. "Not a single one? So that is how it is."
"Yes. So it was not brothers turning on each other, nor a father and children tearing one another apart. It was just strangers fighting for survival and their own desires."
It was impossible to tell whether Cat Girl's mood was good or bad, but she was clearly a little lost.
Li Ban pulled out the identity token of the Fifth Prince and shook it in front of Cat Girl. "I'm not either, but I'm the Fifth Prince now."
This time, Cat Girl was truly caught off guard. "You... you accepted the Realm Emperor as your father?"
"Not the Realm Emperor. That one."
"Then what does that make Zhai Liu?"
"My younger brother."
"Pfft—" Cat Girl finally laughed. Her eyes curved, and her previously drooping ears perked straight back up.
Li Ban put away the Fifth Prince token and casually reached out to rub Cat Girl's ears.
"Whether you are blood relatives or not, kinship isn't always entirely a good thing. We just need to cherish what we have."
Fluffy~ fluffy~ squeeze~
Her face flushing slightly, Cat Girl allowed Li Ban to rub her ears to his heart's content.
Eventually, the smile on her face slowly faded. "This time, I really am leaving."
If she didn't leave now, she wouldn't be able to bear parting.
Li Ban lowered his hand, a sudden sense of emptiness washing over him. "Alright. You must come find me, or else I'll go looking for you."
"Alright. Three—within one year, I will definitely come find you."
Because he had already asked Priest Hunyou to take Cat Girl to Yingzhou, and Priest Hunyou still needed a few days before hitting the road, it was actually Li Ban who departed the Capital City first.
As they left the north city gate, the figures standing atop the city wall gradually blurred into the distance. Only when they could no longer be seen did Li Ban return to the carriage cabin.
Inside the cabin, Shi Ming was huddled in the corner with his arms crossed over his chest. Seeing Li Ban, he let out an "Hmph!" and turned his face to the wall.
"Are you still angry?"
Driving the carriage outside, Deng Jun looked back and complained bitterly, "Lord Li, Shi Ming has already bitten me several times."
Shi Ming whipped back around. "You all knew, and I was the only one kept in the dark!"
"Ah, actually, I only told Little Cat. Deng Jun figured it out on his own. The reason I didn't tell you was because of your genuine nature—you can't hide your emotions, and I was afraid someone would notice something early on. As for Deng Jun tying you up, wasn't it because he was afraid others would hurt you if they made a move?"
Seeing Shi Ming still puffing his cheeks in anger, Li Ban suddenly remembered how red both his and Deng Jun's eyes had been when they were brought back.
Deng Jun's had been red from pain.
Shi Ming's had been red from crying.
He had genuinely believed that Li Ban had been captured and killed.
It was to the point that Li Fu had been so busy dealing with Shi Ming the whole way back that he failed to notice the clues Deng Jun left along the way.
Li Ban cupped his hands together and offered a bow. "I am sorry."
Seeing Li Ban apologize so solemnly, Shi Ming suddenly felt embarrassed.
He lowered his head. "Actually, I am just mad at myself."
"Aside from your Undying Halo, you are an ordinary person. There's no need to be so harsh on yourself. Besides, you saved my life before."
The first time Xiao Suo had spared Li Ban, hadn't it been precisely because Shi Ming was willing to fight to the death for revenge?
Shi Ming shook his head, his spirits still low.
Leaning against the wall of the carriage, he looked out the window and muttered, "I just want to get to the Unreturning Place quickly. Maybe once I get there, I will be able to find out who I am."
Li Ban wanted to reach the Unreturning Place quickly as well.
It was just that the road ahead was still very long.
And he was very busy.
Li Ban lowered his head as a stone suddenly appeared in his palm.
This stone was just like the seal that had imprisoned Xiao Suo. It was a regular tetrahedron with a pure white, frosted texture.
Right before Li Ban left, he had asked Chu Zhan where he might be able to obtain a Realm-Breaking Stone, and Chu Zhan had simply given him one of his own.
Since he was going to replace the Realm Emperor in the Capital City for the next dozen years, he wouldn't be heading to the Shattered Realm in the short term. Having no immediate use for it, he had given it to Li Ban.
Realm-Breaking Stones were certainly rare, but any priest delving into the Shattered Realm always had one or two on hand as backups.
Li Ban had also asked him if a fractured Realm-Breaking Stone could still provide a sheltering effect.
Chu Zhan had said that as long as the damage wasn't too severe and the energy inside was still sufficient, it should still be usable for a year.
However, since the spell formations inside were destroyed, it only retained the sheltering effect.
This was exactly what Priest Huangzhi had said.
Li Ban had thanked Priest Chu Zhan again and finally accepted the Realm-Breaking Stone.
And now that he had this Realm-Breaking Stone, his plans to explore the spatial rift alongside Priest Huangzhi could finally be put into motion.