Chapter 527: Chapter 255: The Third Year of Shenwu_2

Yes.

Examining closely, from the twenty-fourth year of Longqing’s reign, when the master and the apprentice escaped Dayu County together, it had been exactly seventeen years until the present third year of Shenwu.

During these seventeen years, Zhou Qing and he have been master and student in name, but they are like father and son in essence.

The most critical period of Zhou Qing’s youth was largely shaped under the tutelage of Lu Yuan.

It can be said that he truly watched his apprentice grow up, like a caring father.

The deep bond between the two is incomparable to anyone else’s, except for Sun Siwen’s.

Even Lan Caier, who has borne him two children, or the eldest son Lu He, or even the newly named second son Lu Hao, they can’t compare to him.

The nature of human emotions is indeed unreasonable.

Even if you are my flesh and blood, my wife, if you can’t measure up, you simply can’t.

Sun Siwen and Zhou Qing were with Lu Yuan from obscurity to prominence, from the valley to the summit.

They met in poverty and strived till they gained wealth.

Without the assistance of these two, Lu Yuan, let alone dominating three counties and being the king of a region, might still be hiding in some small city or mountainous area, worrying about breaking through the first-class.

The things of the world have interwoven with the bond between the three of them.

It was for this reason that, after receiving Zhou Qing’s letter, Lu Yuan immediately put aside national affairs and left Lan Caier, who had just given birth.

The very next day, he packed his bags and set out on the journey, hurrying to Xiangyang Prefecture alone under the cover of night.

The matter of breaking through Innate, as long as all the requirements are met, everything will be a natural course, without too much risk.

But even without much risk, there’s still a chance of risk.

Moreover, the chances of failure in breaking through Innate are high, and without an experienced person watching closely, Lu Yuan really wouldn’t rest easy.

It concerns his disciple’s journey on the Dao and the future of the Chu State. It would be best if he personally oversaw it.

…

After a hurried journey of nearly ten days on the road, he finally arrived in Xiangyang City in the middle of August.

Once he arrived in the city, Lu Yuan did not rush to see Zhou Qing, but instead observed the city in depth and finally nodded in satisfaction.

Xiangyang is indeed a famous city in the world, the capital of a prefecture.

As a major city neighboring the Han River, and nourished by the alluvial plain between the Yangtze River and the Han River, the entire Xiangyang Prefecture can be said to be extremely rich.

Even though Xiangyang Prefecture is now divided into three, with the most valuable part- the majority of the Jianghan Plain controlled by the Ningguo Dynasty.

But relying on the remaining western three prefectures and the provision of Xiangyang Prefceture, coupled with Xiangyang Prefecture’s convenient location on the north-south waterway, this place still maintains tremendous wealth.

Just at this moment.

The city was crowded with people, shoulder to shoulder, people from all over the world gathered among the city shops, creating an atmosphere of vibrant prosperity.

“According to the latest statistics from the court, the capital of Xiangyang Prefecture, which is Xiangyang City, has eight ten thousand households and four hundred thousand people. But looking at the flow of people in the city, this number seems to be underestimated.”

Lu Yuan was seated in the tavern, looking out at the endless stream of people in the street, feeling very astonished.

He wasn’t sure whether these additional people were merchants and travelers from all over the world, or the local officials had hidden the actual count.

Considering that both his disciples, Zhou Qing and Zhang You, were in Xiangyang and watching over this, local officials shouldn’t dare to deceive him.

It was most likely the former then.

There were too many merchants from all over the world doing business in Xiangyang, leading to seemingly larger than normal population counts.

And this indicated a positive thing.

“It seems that this year’s tariffs and commercial taxes are going to bring in a lot more revenue.”

With more income for the court, there will be more armies to maintain, and more things to accomplish.

Most importantly, with the prosperity of the Chu State, his gathering of Qi Luck will increase even more.

The benefits are enormous.

Here it is worth mentioning.

Starting from the seventh year of Hongdao, when he began cultivating the Taiping Dao Book, over roughly a span of five years, with the Chu State’s continuous expansion and various military and political reforms implemented, the Qi Luck he gathered increased explosively each year.

This explosive growth consequently deepened his cultivation.

As of now, he had already surpassed the former True Person of Anqiu, progressing rapidly towards the realm of Coalescing Qi into One.

Acoording to Lu Yuan’s estimation.

His cultivation was still halfway from Coalescing Qi into one, and it would probably take another two or three years.

After two or three years, he could reach the realm of the Dao masters of the six major Dao veins, becoming one of the strongest beings in this world.

Of course, although he had broken through to the Coalescing Qi into One realm, Lu Yuan was a newcomer, and he probably would not be able to match the Dao masters of the Dao veins for the first couple of years.

But that’s fine, with the rapid progress of cultivation using the Taiping Dao Book, pushing himself hard.

This gap could be caught up in two or three years, it’s not a big issue.

But let’s not talk about these future matters, let’s talk about Lu Yuan’s current cultivation.

He estimated that he was comparable to the second level of Innate breakthrough, even among the grandmasters of the second realm of Innate, he could be regarded as a formidable one.

At least, if he were to confront the the former Wuan Marquis now, Lu Yuan had no fear, and felt confident that he had a good chance of eliminating his opponent with his own Taoist Techniques.

The transformation was stark, compared to the initial trepidation when he first confronted the Wuan Marquis during the Northern Expedition.

All these changes were brought about after cultivating the Taiping Dao Book.

It is precisely because of this power that Lu Yuan, upon seeing the internal strife in the Great Changhe Country, harbored the ambition of annexing them.