My Cultivation Starting from Archery

"An opportunity to defeat the enemy? If Chen Sansi truly had a solution, he would have already used it. Why wait until now?"

Ming Qingfeng retorted, "The best plan for now is for the army to split into two divisions and support each other remotely. That is the best strategy!"

"Who dares to leave?!"

Wang Zhi brandished his sword to block them.

Zhao Kang, Zhu Tong, and others immediately lined up behind him.

"Wang Zhi, are you rebelling?!"

Ming Qingfeng glared angrily.

Tension mounted between both sides.

The emperor's dragon carriage was getting closer to the city gates.

As things seemed to be escalating, a pair of elderly yet strong hands pressed down on Wang Zhi's shoulder: "General Wang, since it is the Emperor's command, let them go."

"Brother Wei?"

Wang Zhi looked at him, "Really let them go?"

"The Emperor's command must not be defied!"

Xu Wencai hurriedly came over: "Don't worry, General Wang."

"..."

Only then did Wang Zhi, Zhu Tong, and others reluctantly step aside, watching the emperor's dragon carriage slowly move out of the city gates until it disappeared into the night, followed by more court soldiers retreating.

Judging from the scale of deployment, at least half of the people had to leave!

"It's no use, let them go."

Xu Wencai shook his feather fan and sighed lightly, "Forcing a block now would only lead to inner turmoil, playing into Dan Liangcheng's hands instead."

"Are we just going to watch?"

Wang Zhi said anxiously, "If this keeps up, there might not even be ten thousand people left in the city."

"Try to remain calm."

Xu Wencai soothed, "Wait until the master returns."

...

Capital City.

Longevity Palace was empty.

Emperor Longqing's true self was hidden in the tomb chamber of the Imperial Mausoleum.

Beside him, the Fuling Taiqing Heavenly Treasure Tree, with its roots sprawled across the stone floor, emitted radiant spirit light, while its emerald green leaves continued to wither and decay.

Cao Kai, clad in a dark cyan Taoist robe, sat cross-legged on a meditation mat, eyes closed, his hands forming seals, as the Heavenly Grade Golden Spirit Root greedily absorbed spiritual energy, which he then refined into mana through the "Purity Sword Art" using complex circulation in the meridians, finally converging into the dantian.

Understanding one's own being with divine sense.

In Cao Kai's dantian, it was filled with mana condensed to its limit, forming a magic fog that swirled endlessly, akin to dense fog in the autumn mountains, or rolling clouds high above.

Suddenly.

Amidst the dense clouds, a golden light appeared.

Consequently.

The entire Heavenly Dome began to transform dramatically!

Cloud seas surged, dust billowed.

Everything started converging towards the golden light, forming an unprecedented storm.

Foundation Establishment.

Reaching the final moment!

In Cao Kai's mind, his life's memories began to surface.

That was his life, also...

A hundred years of spring and autumn!

In the twelfth year of Yuanxi, in the Great Ming Palace in the Capital City, a palace maid from the Clothing Workshop gave birth to a dragon child, and was conferred the title of Ning Cairen, with her son named "Kai" by the Ancestral Affairs Office, a prince of humble birth, Cao Kai.

With numerous offspring under Emperor Sheng Rui, there were no less than sixteen princes, and given his status as illegitimate-born, young Cao Kai was not favored in the palace, being isolated and despised by his royal brothers.

In the eighteenth year of Yuanxi, Ning Cairen passed away due to illness when Cao Kai was only six years old. After his mother's death, palace maids and eunuchs often secretly withheld his monthly allowance, and despite being a prince, he often went without meat for an entire month.

He didn't even have the qualification to attend the Cultural Hall for schooling, and by the age of sixteen, the Ancestral Affairs Office only sent an eunuch at the Meridian Passage Realm to teach him martial arts, but unfortunately, his qualifications were mediocre...

During this time, Cao Kai could only sneak out of the palace to attend a private school set up by an old minister in the Capital City to learn to read and write. It was during this process that he met Sun Xiangzong, who was still a youth at the time and had been sold to the Capital City by martial arts traffickers for his excellent root bone. Back then, he was known as Sun Qing.

In the twenty-eighth year of Yuanxi, Cao Kai, who had never seen his father since birth, received an imperial edict sending him to a remote and desolate Prefecture City to assume a minor role.

Before leaving, he was filled with reluctance, unwilling to accept that due to his illegitimate birth, he might never have the chance to even glimpse his biological father, nor was he content with being raised like livestock, leading a mediocre life.

Thus.

With a simple disguise and a forged identity, Cao Kai joined that year's imperial examinations, overcoming hurdles from county towns to the Capital City, and finally being appointed by the emperor as the top scholar during the imperial court exam.

It wasn't until over ten days later at court during the conferring ceremony that an old man recognized the seventeenth prince.

Finally.

Emperor Sheng Rui remembered Cao Kai.

This prince of humble birth became renowned across the land.

In the twenty-ninth year of Yuanxi, Sun Qing witnessed corrupt officials colluding with sect disciples to take lives, and in a rage, he killed sect disciples and imperial officials, fleeing everywhere in the process, dubbed the "sword catcher" in Jianghu.

Cao Kai braved life-threatening risks, bringing along all his possessions, saving Sun Qing from the sword catchers who were about to hand him over to the court.

Henceforth, Sun Qing was renamed Sun Xiangzong, becoming a personal guard beside the seventeenth prince.

In the thirty-fourth year of Yuanxi, Cao Kai was appointed to the Imperial Supervision Office, where he cracked multiple major cases, gaining further favor from Emperor Sheng Rui.

In the thirty-fifth year of Yuanxi, Cao Kai officially entered the court.

In the thirty-sixth year of Yuanxi, Cao Kai headed south to provide disaster relief, sweeping away treacherous authorities wherever he went, with the people of Jiangnan bowing in gratitude during his departure.

In the thirty-seventh year of Yuanxi, the former Crown Prince drowned, and over ten royal princes began vying for succession. Cao Kai did not participate, solely focused on reform and implementing new policies, known as the Seventeenth Sage King throughout the realm.

In the thirty-ninth year of Yuanxi, as Emperor Sheng Rui increasingly favored Cao Kai and repeatedly indicated his intention to consider him as heir, it sparked the displeasure of the Fourth Prince and Prince, leading to their plot of framing him.