After the couple finished their intimate activities, Zheng-Fu told Fu-Er to be very cautious about her safety, especially to beware of the second concubine who wanted to kill her. Even though she was a highly skilled martial master at the Divine Emperor stage, she might not be able to fend off many assassins.

Moreover, those assassins might have aids or tools that could make Fu-Er unable to defend herself. Therefore, Zheng-Fu gave her a serious warning and handed her all the magic items he had that could protect her.

"You don't have to worry about me so much. I know what to do!" Fu-Er tried to reassure Zheng-Fu to ease his mind. Although she understood that death could come at any time, she would do her best to stay safe and not cause him unnecessary worry.

"Umm, I know you can take care of yourself, but try not to stray too far from your father or stay alone in secluded places. One more thing I haven't told you yet—this upcoming event is actually the partner selection maneuver for you. And I'm going to win it and marry you!"

After a long conversation, Zheng-Fu finally revealed the truth about the maneuver.

"Huh! Why didn't anyone tell me about this?" Fu-Er's expression immediately changed when she learned from Zheng-Fu that the maneuver was actually a competition to select her partner. Had she not known Zheng-Fu earlier, she would not have let this event proceed.

However, it no longer mattered why the event was happening—Zheng-Fu was now with her, and she believed he would surely win. Soon, everyone in the Monster Kingdom would know him as the Monster King's son-in-law.

"There's only one day left before the event, so I want you to be even more careful. I need to return to Commander Dan-Ge's residence now, or people will start wondering why I've been away for so long."

After spending time together until he was satisfied, Zheng-Fu returned to Dan-Ge's residence. He still had several matters to handle before the partner selection maneuver the next day.

"All right, take care of yourself," Fu-Er said softly, resting her head on Zheng-Fu's chest, though she was still worried about him.

After saying goodbye to Fu-Er, Zheng-Fu left her mansion and quickly returned to Dan-Ge's residence. Upon arriving, he immediately headed toward Diao, Den, and Jin-Tian, who were waiting for him in a large room.

Flop!!!

"Big Brother, you're back!" Diao exclaimed with delight as soon as he saw Zheng-Fu.

"Mhm, I'm back. What about the three girls?" Zheng-Fu nodded at Diao before asking about the three girls they had brought with them.

"They're taking a bath inside!" Diao said, pointing to the bathing room behind him where the three girls were.

"Mhm! The slave contracts are still with you, right?" Zheng-Fu released his psychic power to scan the bathing room and confirmed the three girls were there. Ignoring them for the moment, he asked about the slave contracts he had given Den to keep.

"Yes, they're with me, Big Brother! I've kept them safe, just as you told me," Den replied slowly, pulling the contracts from his dimensional ring and handing them to Zheng-Fu.

Blop!!!

"These slave contracts are cast with high-level spell tracery. If you don't know how to unlock them properly, all three girls will die instantly. That's the nature of these slave contracts," Zheng-Fu explained as he examined the contracts, clarifying why he hadn't rushed to release the girls. Hastily releasing them without care could kill them rather than help them.

"I understand, Big Brother!" Den nodded, realizing now that this was a test to see if he would follow Zheng-Fu's orders. If he hadn't, he would have ended up killing the girls himself.

"Well, let me study the spell tracery on these slave contracts first. Once I know how to break the spell, I'll release them. For now, you two must take good care of them, and Jin-Tian, you stay here as well to help watch over them."

Zheng-Fu had no intention of keeping the girls as slaves, intending to free them from the start. However, he needed to study the spell tracery on the contracts before setting them free. The three girls, overhearing this, knew his plans.

After talking with the young men for a while, Zheng-Fu returned to his room. He took out the slave contracts and examined the spell tracery on them. At first glance, Zheng-Fu was more than half certain that the spell on the original contracts was of Divine Emperor stage level. However, these were copies, meaning the spell's energy was reduced to the Immortal Soul stage.

"Master, this spell tracery can be easily loosened. Just move the third letter and switch the eleventh letter with the twenty-third," suddenly, Wu-Sun's voice echoed, offering advice on how to unlock the spell.

Huh…?

Zheng-Fu was slightly startled to hear Wu-Sun, but he quickly did as instructed, moving the third letter and switching the eleventh and twenty-third.

Wooooooosh!!!

Wink!!!

"Ah! It's true, just as you said. Changing these three letters loosens the spell pattern! You really are the legendary sorcerer of the Monster Tribe!" Zheng-Fu smiled with admiration, complimenting Wu-Sun's spellcraft abilities.

"Thank you, Master. Spells like these share common origins. The more a spell is copied, the easier it becomes to break. However, if someone isn't at the Immortal Soul stage, they wouldn't be able to deal with this tracery easily. Even if they could, understanding it in such a short time would be difficult. But because you're at the Divine Emperor stage, you can handle it with ease."

"Mhm! Thanks for your advice. Now we can release them, but I'll wait until after the maneuver is over. For now, I'll spend my time cultivating as much energy as possible."

Zheng-Fu didn't plan to release the three girls immediately; he wanted them to stay with the two brothers a little longer to build good relationships. So, he kept the slave contracts for a while and focused on cultivating his energy instead.

"No magic item can help me level up as much as understanding the Heaven Energy that remains within me. Even though I'm at the ninth level of the Divine Emperor stage, I can fight people at the initial or intermediate Divine King stage. But if it's someone at the advanced Divine King stage like the Demon Emperor, I wouldn't stand a chance. Unless I can advance to the Divine King stage myself!"

Zheng-Fu felt the pressure mounting, knowing that the current Demon Emperor had surpassed many. His energy had already reached the highest level of the Divine King stage, even beyond Zheng-Fu's father-in-law.

This caused the balance between the great, skilled martial masters on both sides to shift because, even though the Monster Kingdom had more than five highly skilled martial masters at the Divine King stage, they could not compare to one advanced Divine King stage master. And now, with the Demon Emperor being promoted to the advanced Divine King stage, the Demon Tribe had two advanced Divine King stage cultivators. In contrast, the Monster Tribe had only one person: the former king.

The only way to address this imbalance was for Zheng-Fu to grow even stronger. With time being short, Zheng-Fu needed to practice in the secret dimensional space that would give him more time. Moreover, his secret dimensional space was filled with pure energy.

A day passed...

Finally, the partner selection maneuver for the Thirteenth Princess began. A large number of people flooded into the city. Most of them were great, skilled martial masters or affluent young men who wanted to catch a glimpse of the Thirteenth Princess's beauty.

Out of the six sub-cities and one main city, only 140 people had the right to compete. Each city could send twenty competitors, except for Huang-Di City, which only had one contestant—Zheng-Fu. In the other cities, all twenty slots were filled.

Soon, people began to crowd into the huge maneuver arena built specifically for this event. Naturally, the contestants arrived before the visitors, as they needed to sign in for the match, allowing the audience to see clearly who the participants were.

"Why is there only one man from Huang-Di City?"

"You know Huang-Di City has a shortage of skilled martial masters. It must have been hard to find a young, great martial master. That's why there's only one person!"

"Sigh... If that's the case, they shouldn't have sent anyone at all!"

"What do you know? Maybe this one man is more capable than all the others!"

"I can't believe it! Come on, if our opinions don't match, let's place bets!"

"Hey! I'm in! I love betting!!!"

The crowd eyed Huang-Di City's area suspiciously. Unlike the other cities, which had twenty contestants, only Zheng-Fu stood there. Many assumed that Huang-Di City's lack of competence left them with only one youth. However, some disagreed, sparking debates and, naturally, betting.

One shichen passed...

Ahem!!!

Suddenly, a faint yet resounding cough echoed through the vast maneuver courtyard, silencing the voices of hundreds of thousands of people. The owner of the voice was none other than the most powerful figure in the Monster Kingdom, King Dan-Jian.

"This maneuver is designed to find the strongest young man to marry my daughter, Fu-Er, the Thirteenth Princess, as you all know. And in this competition, if anyone is caught cheating or behaving dishonorably, they will be immediately disqualified and executed in front of the people. So, if anyone here entered through improper means, step out of the maneuver courtyard now!"

The king's stern words caused everyone to swallow nervously. Even some contestants couldn't help but tremble, especially those who had paid their way into the competition. Panic spread among them, with some collapsing to their knees in fear. The number of participants quickly dropped by more than half.

Huh!!!

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