Chapter 171: Ten thousand people cultivate Qi, one person ascends (Added update, thanks to Warm Sun boss)

How could Yao Xue write him a letter?

Li Rui took the envelope with slight doubt and unfolded it slowly.

What entered his eyes was elegant handwriting.

"Senior, Junior Brother Qu is not dead; the past events were all the calculations of the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao; he has now returned to the sect and is safe and sound; hoping to meet again by fate, Yao Xue."

Qu Chengfeng is not dead?

Li Rui looked at the pale yellow letter paper in his hand and frowned slightly.

"Truly bizarre."

He didn't know how Qu Chengfeng escaped from the clutches of the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao.

"I underestimated him."

Li Rui chuckled.

Since Qu Chengfeng was not dead, there was no need to seek revenge for him.

He immediately took the letter and went to find Ning Zhongtian.

Yao Xue only sent the letter to him, but the news had to be told to Ning Zhongtian.

Otherwise, it would be the crime of deliberately concealing military intelligence.

The matter of Qu Chengfeng concerned two major organizations, the Questioning Immortal Pavilion and the Anning Guard, not just Li Rui and Yao Xue.

A moment later.

He knocked on Ning Zhongtian's door.

After a good while, someone muttered and complained while pushing open the door.

"Brother Li?"

Ning Zhongtian greeted Li Rui listlessly: "Come in."

During this period, subordinates had been involved in incidents one after another, and he had borne a lot of pressure, feeling extremely depressed.

Li Rui didn't enter the room, but took out Yao Xue's letter from his sleeve: "Miss Yao from the Questioning Immortal Pavilion sent a letter; Qu Chengfeng was indeed captured by the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao, and the corpse was faked by the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao; he has now escaped and returned to the Questioning Immortal Pavilion, safe and sound."

"Really?!"

Ning Zhongtian was overjoyed.

This was rare good news in recent times.

Li Rui couldn't help but smile and handed the letter paper to Ning Zhongtian: "There is the letter from Miss Yao of the Questioning Immortal Pavilion as proof."

Ning Zhongtian took the letter, scanned it, and his furrowed brows relaxed:

"Good, good!"

"Tell Lord Jiang about this; he will surely be happy."

Ning Zhongtian was now in urgent need of happy events to reverse his status in Jiang Linxian's heart.

In the Anning Guard, although he was Jiang Linxian's right-hand man, don't forget, his true noble person was Assistant Regional Commander Lei Yong, not Jiang Linxian.

To stabilize his status, he had to produce actual results.

The relationship between Jiang Linxian and Lei Yong was not something he could squander at will.

Having said that.

Li Rui very sensibly said he had other important matters to attend to and left in a hurry.

Watching Li Rui's departing back, Ning Zhongtian felt more and more that Li Rui was his lucky star.

Subsequently, he simply tidied up and ran excitedly to find Jiang Linxian.

Qu Chengfeng was not dead.

There was no need to continue searching hard, and there would be more energy to handle matters within the guard station.

For him, it was a good thing.

Naturally, he had to do it quickly.

The dark currents surging beneath Qinghe gradually subsided.

Chunyan Pavilion was full again.

With Jiang Linxian's intervention, Ning Zhongtian managed to keep 60% of his subordinates.

As for the others...

What they did was too egregious, to the point that even Jiang Linxian couldn't stand it, and directly told Platoon Leader Zhao of the Law Enforcement Battalion to punish them strictly according to military discipline.

Only then could Ning Zhongtian breathe a sigh of relief.

Don't look at how it was all his subordinates suffering; if this trend continued, Cao Wei would sooner or later take action against him.

Why didn't Jiang Linxian help before?

On one hand, he wanted Ning Zhongtian to catch the murderer of Qu Chengfeng as soon as possible; on the other hand, perhaps he also harbored the intention of using Cao Wei's hand to beat Ning Zhongtian.

Ning Zhongtian was capable and had good Wu Gong.

But he had been mixing in the underworld since he was young, and his methods were too wild, easily overstepping the rules.

All of the above were Li Rui's speculations.

"Hall Master, the thoughts of these big shots are truly terrifying."

Liang He listened to Li Rui's analysis of recent events and couldn't help but be horrified.

He suddenly felt that he wasn't suitable for mixing in officialdom.

He wouldn't even know how he was played to death.

On the surface, it was that these subordinates of Ning Zhongtian weren't clean and were investigated by Cao Wei in conjunction with the county government to clear up military discipline.

In reality, it was just a game for big shots.

Sometimes one's own superior is more terrifying than the enemy; if it weren't for Qu Chengfeng's bizarre survival this time, Ning Zhongtian probably wouldn't have been able to escape so easily.

Li Rui chuckled: "Little He, don't be so depressed; Lord Jiang will eventually take action."

Beating and killing some Seventh-Rank officials was a trivial matter of no importance in Jiang Linxian's eyes.

As a Li Canjun, if they committed a crime, they must be punished strictly.

Otherwise, the Li Canjun's prestige would be swept away.

But if Cao Wei wanted to move against Ning Zhongtian, that would be touching Jiang Linxian's bottom line.

His subordinates could only be beaten and punished by him; if Cao Wei wanted to usurp his role, that would be breaking the rules.

As for Ning Zhongtian being distracted by this matter and not handling the assigned tasks well...

Sorry.

This wasn't a problem Jiang Linxian needed to think about.

One could only blame Ning Zhongtian for his lack of ability and failure to restrain his subordinates; he should be punished.

Being merciful doesn't make a general; that's how it is.

Liang He shivered.

It's not for nothing that they say officialdom is like a battlefield; the Anning Guard is not a border guard station and doesn't need to face the enemy directly often, but the risks behind the scenes are not a bit less.

Ning Zhongtian was already a Sixth-Rank Garrison Commander and still had to walk carefully.

Let alone him, a soldier who hadn't even entered the rank.

Looking at Hall Master Li again, his image became even more bright and majestic.

"In the entire Anning Guard, the one who is most stable has to be our Hall Master!"

This disturbance almost swept through all of Ning Zhongtian's subordinates, everyone was in danger, only Li Rui sat firmly on the fishing platform, practicing blade technique when he should, and practicing Qi when he should.

Little did they know.

Some people looked like they went to bed early and got up early, extremely disciplined, but in reality, they were running around everywhere at night for a sense of security.

Li Rui naturally wouldn't tell Liang He that he was squatting at the gate of the county government office every day. "Little He, how long have you been in the Anning Guard?"

Liang He said respectfully: "Two years, three months, and eleven days."

Li Rui raised his eyebrows.

He just asked casually, a simple opening remark; he didn't expect Liang He to remember so clearly.

He coughed softly: "I remember you have been in the rank for about a year."

"Yes, Hall Master."

Li Rui nodded with gratification: "You were brought out by me from the Hun Tian Yi Hall, so you can be considered half my disciple; to have today's achievements, I am very pleased."

Liang He felt a warmth in his heart: "It's all because of your teaching, Hall Master."

This was the truth.

If it weren't for Li Rui, he might still be a little disciple in the Hun Tian Yi Hall who wasn't valued.

=9+Book_Bar

Li Rui: "Little He, I have gained some insights recently and created a cultivation method; would you like to learn it?"

Creating a cultivation method.

If this were heard by others, they would definitely laugh their heads off; let alone learn, they wouldn't even want to look at it more.

For no other reason.

Creating a cultivation method is something even prodigies like Jiang Linxian wouldn't do, let alone Li Rui, who was just a tiny Seventh-Rank martial artist.

Generally speaking, the higher the martial artist's realm, the more complete the cultivation method they create.

For those forces with long inheritances, most have martial arts created by predecessors, and one only needs to follow the path of predecessors to walk extremely steadily.

Not walking the broad road but wanting to walk the thorny path is unwise.

But... Liang He was an exception.

Not only did he not feel Li Rui's words were fantastic, but he also nodded very solemnly and said:

"Hall Master, I want to learn!"

He didn't even have the slightest hesitation, and there was even a burning desire in his eyes.

He trusted and admired Li Rui from the bottom of his heart.

"..."

Li Rui was stunned; he had even thought about how Liang He would hesitate and then how to persuade him; he didn't expect all his backups to have no use.

He couldn't help but say: "Little He, this matter concerns the foundation; you can consider it more."

"No, I want to follow the Hall Master to learn martial arts; being able to learn the Hall Master's martial arts is my honor!"

Liang He's gaze was firm.

Even more confident in Long Chun Gong than Li Rui himself.

That's right, Li Rui wanted to pass Long Chun Gong to Liang He.

"Very good."

Li Rui nodded with gratification.

The idea of passing on the cultivation method had to start from three days ago.

He kept perfecting the Blade Cultivation Style and inadvertently discovered the miraculous use of Profound Clear Qi.

That is, letting others cultivate Qi for him.

Just leave a wisp of Profound Clear Qi in someone else's body, and then pass them the Blade Cultivation Style; that person could help him accumulate blade intent and nourish true qi in the process of daily blade cultivation.

He could recover true qi and strengthen himself, and that person could also increase their affinity for true qi by nourishing Profound Clear Qi, cultivating true qi faster.

A win-win.

It's just that there are too few people in the world willing to learn his self-created cultivation method, and whose talent is not bad.

And they have to be trustworthy.

Thinking about it, it seems that Liang He is the best candidate around him.

That's how today's scene came to be.

Li Rui narrowed his eyes, smiling and looking at Liang He.

Liang He blinked, not knowing what Li Rui meant.

Li Rui sighed softly, having no choice but to remind: "Since the martial arts have been passed on, you can't call me Hall Master in the future; change it to Master."

"Master?!"

Liang He widened his eyes, soon occupied by extreme joy.

He knelt on the ground with a 'thud'.

Bang, bang, bang, he kowtowed three times.

Seeing no sign of stopping, Li Rui grabbed Liang He's shoulder: "Three kowtows are enough; any more, and I can't afford it."

The ancients say:

"Kowtow three times, not four; kowtow four times, and trouble will happen."

So when apprenticing, you just kowtow three times; any more, and only ghosts and gods can enjoy it.

Too much good fortune can sometimes be a disaster.

These are all old rules that old people talk about.

Liang He said 'oh' ignorantly, and then stood up obediently.

Li Rui looked at Liang He, more and more satisfied.

It's not that he didn't have disciples.

Wang Zhao and the deceased Ma Yang were both, but the two could only call him Master (Master).

Master and Master (Master/Father-figure) are only a word apart, but they are worlds apart.

Master is an elder who teaches skills; Li Rui taught Wang Zhao the skill of horse raising, allowing him to make a living; the focus is on passing on skills, not necessarily requiring repayment; this is called Master.

But Master (Master) is different.

Liang He truly had to treat Li Rui as a father; Li Rui passed all his martial arts to Liang He, and Liang He must serve tea daily and provide for Li Rui's old age—if that day comes.

That day.

Li Rui passed the self-created Long Chun Gong mental method to Liang He.

"Practice diligently every day, do not be lazy."

He added a final instruction.

Liang He was radiant and nodded heavily.

He was just about to turn and leave when he was stopped by Li Rui: "Pack your luggage; move here to live today."

Liang He widened his eyes, not yet adapted to the change in identity, soon his eyes narrowed into a line:

"Yes, Master!"

Li Rui looked at Liang He, who was running out, and shook his head with a smile.

One person cultivating Qi, after all, has a limit.

But if his conjecture holds... ten thousand people cultivate Qi, one person ascends!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 172 =====