Chapter 175: Dragon Coils Around Body, Shatters Rock and Splits Mountain

The azure dragon slowly twisted, its eyes formed of xuanqing qi flickering with the divine might of thunder, too fierce to meet directly.

Boom

Faintly, one could hear the sound of thunder.

Dragon's roar!

"It is said the dragon controls clouds and rain, commands the thunder of the nine heavens—a divine beast whose roar echoes like thunder, deep and resonant."

Li Rui gazed at the dragon's head, nearly pressed against his cheek.

He shifted his thought.

The azure dragon dissolved into wisps of smoke, sinking back into his body.

"Truly miraculous!"

Experts of the Willow Sinew Formation stage can condense qi into form, projecting true qi outward to confront enemies.

Just like his dragon shape.

He could project the azure dragon to cling to his fists or weapons, greatly increasing their power.

Fighting with a flying dragon around him—that was sheer majesty.

Of course.

Li Rui would never indulge in such ostentatious displays; a fight was a fight, no need for special effects.

The next day.

He left Anning Guard early, taking the official road directly from the West Gate, walking steadily into the mountains.

Not long after.

He found a massive stone, over one zhang tall, wide enough for four or five people to encircle.

Li Rui stood facing the stone, just a foot away, and uttered a low command:

"Rise!"

In the next instant, the azure dragon reappeared, coiling around his arm.

His gaze sharpened.

A punch, wreathed in the flying dragon, slammed into the stone.

Boom!

Dust flew everywhere!

The enormous stone, the moment the fist struck, was instantly covered in a dense web of cracks.

Shatter stone, split mountain!

Li Rui gazed at the scattered rubble and nodded in satisfaction:

"Which is stronger—my Dragon Subduing Eighteen Palms or the original?"

With just this palm strike, that hero from his past life wouldn't have helped even with a speaker.

The dragon form's completion greatly amplifies power.

It is said the Yinglong, primordial god of creation, possessed boundless strength; the dragon itself is the symbol of power.

That day.

Li Rui was flipping through a book in his room.

A muffled thunderous knock echoed at the door.

He set down his book and walked calmly toward the door.

He didn't even need to see the person—he knew it had to be Tan Hu; no one else knocked like that.

He opened the door.

"As expected."

"Brother Tan, what's up?"

Tan Hu rubbed his palms, eyes gleaming with excitement: "Big brother Li, we've got a big job."

"Big job?"

Li Rui raised an eyebrow.

"Mingguang Sect is about to be seized and exterminated!"

"."

Li Rui glanced sideways at Tan Hu—why was he so excited about someone else's family being destroyed?

But remembering Tan Hu's nature—always stirring up trouble—he understood; besides, his old grudge with Mingguang Sect had only been suppressed, not resolved.

"What exactly happened?"

Tan Hu scratched his head: "Commander Ning didn't say specifics—just told us to pack up and prepare to move out. Mingguang's branch in Qinghe has already been surrounded by the Wu Company and Jia Company!"

Watching Tan Hu's bulging eyes sparkle with stars,

Li Rui knew it wasn't just a simple siege.

Most likely, the men were being exiled to the frontier, the women sent to the courtesan houses, and perhaps not a single soul remained alive in the compound.

"Could Mingguang Sect have rebelled?"

Li Rui muttered to himself.

He called out Liang He and headed straight for the main gate of Anning Guard camp.

Moments later.

When Li Rui arrived, over five hundred men were already gathered, shouting and bustling.

That meant half of Anning Guard had been mobilized.

Worse still, Cao Wei was leading them in person.

Such a display had never been seen since Anning Guard was established.

Soon after.

Li Rui found Ge Hong and Wei Ming.

He remembered Tan Hu had said the Wu Company—Ge Hong's unit—had surrounded Mingguang's Qinghe branch.

Tan Hu only cared about fighting; he knew nothing else, and asking him was pointless.

"Brother Ge, Brother Wei, what awful crime did Mingguang Sect commit?"

Wei Ming grinned: "It's not just awful—it's treason!"

"!!"

Li Rui was startled.

Just as he thought it, it happened—Mingguang Sect truly had rebelled.

Ge Hong chimed in: "Exactly. The imperial edict has already reached General Xue. Last night, I followed Commander Ning to Mingguang's Qinghe branch—we fought all night, blades rolled from overuse, not a single survivor left alive. It was horrific."

Killing so many people was rare in Qinghe, even across the entire Yunzhou.

Yu Kingdom's laws were harsh, but enforcement was lax.

This goes back to the founding emperor's time.

The founding emperor was fierce and hated evil—he personally decreed over seven thousand ironclad laws.

Just one example:

If a child eats before their parents, they receive ten lashes.

Too strict.

If enforced literally, parents wouldn't need to worry about who ate first—they'd have no children left.

It was practically unenforceable; even during the founding emperor's reign, enforcement began to slacken.

By later generations, even the Three Judicial Offices ignored the specific clauses of Yu law.

It had become entirely a tool for political factionalism.

Only when someone angered the wrong person did they realize Yu law still had such provisions.

Later emperors recognized this problem and repeatedly reduced the laws.

But Yu revered ancestral systems, insisting ancestral laws must not be abandoned—the founding emperor alone had set seven thousand; no matter how much was cut, the effect was minimal.

So generally, offenses were punished leniently.

Confiscation of property and extermination of entire families was exceedingly rare.

Unless it was treason—an exceptionally heinous crime.

Mingguang Sect was lucky—it chose the hardest path.

About a stick of incense later, the final Ding Company arrived.

Cao Wei raised his voice: "March out!"

The army bypassed the city entirely, exiting the camp from the opposite side and immediately joining the official road.

Jiang Lin never showed his face.

Normally, one of the Assistant Regional Commander or the Regional Commander must remain behind.

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The Assistant Regional Commander also leads troops, but his main duty is overseeing internal guard battalion affairs; external campaigns against rebels are, in principle, the Regional Commander's responsibility.

This time, three of the five Garrison Commanders came.

Two were Cao Wei's men; Jiang Lin's faction had only Ning Zhongtian, while Lu Jun remained at camp.

Ning Zhongtian would follow Cao Wei's orders, but he also had to uphold Jiang Lin's supervisory duties.

Following Cao Wei's command, Ning Zhongtian and Feng Yu each led their Night Scouts on fast horses, riding ahead.

Investigate the situation of Mingguang Sect in advance.

Every rider of the Benhu Cavalry had a horse and marched at full speed for one day.

That night, they arrived at Mingguang Sect.

The horses had been tied up in a ravine two li away, guarded by four soldiers.

Ning Zhongtian personally led Li Rui, Tan Hu, and other Benhu Cavalry soldiers in hiding among the woods outside the Mingguang Sect, gathering intelligence.

Mingguang Sect, as the largest sect in Anning Prefecture.

Had carved out an entire city in a valley a hundred li outside Anning City.

The scale was not small.

The city covered a hundred mu, housing over a thousand core elder disciples of Mingguang Sect.

The bushes rustled.

Tan Hu's large head slithered out from behind the bushes, gazing at Mingguang Sect standing tall amid the forest.

"Chief Ning, what kind of person did Mingguang Sect piss off?"

Ning Zhongtian raised an eyebrow.

He hadn't expected such a burly brute as Tan Hu to sense the undercurrents.

"Truly, proximity to vermilion stains red, proximity to ink stains black—you've improved!"

"Sending Li Lao to the Benhu Cavalry really paid off."

He chuckled, praising Tan Hu.

Then his smile turned cold as he stared at Mingguang Sect in the distance: "Rebellion?"

"Even if Mingguang Sect had a hundred lives, they wouldn't dare rebel."

"The nephew of the Minister of Rites is Mingguang Sect's vice sect master; the new Director of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau has arrived; Minister Liu of the Ministry of Rites has been sent to the Three Judicial Departments."

Tan Hu scratched his head.

All of this was vague and disconnected.

The nephew of the Minister of Rites, the new Director of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, the Three Judicial Departments—what even were these things? It was all foggy.

Li Rui's eyes narrowed slightly.

"No wonder."

Those punished with such severe charges were almost always caught in factional struggles.

In recent years, as the State Tutor's power grew, the Xuan Faction gradually gained the upper hand over the Lin Faction.

Whatever Grand Secretary Zhang, known as the "child prodigy," proposed, the Xuan Faction opposed.

The Emperor must have noticed the imbalance and didn't want one side to dominate.

That's why the new Director was appointed.

The new Director, unsurprisingly, became one of the Lin Faction's leaders; retaliation was inevitable.

The Ministry of Rites was one of the Xuan Faction's strongholds.

With Minister Liu of the Ministry of Rites under the watch of the Three Judicial Departments, it was obvious the Lin Faction was behind the scenes stoking the fire.

What was the Three Judicial Departments?

Any official who entered there—even a third-rank minister—had undoubtedly been caught with ironclad evidence.

Once Minister Liu of the Ministry of Rites fell, all his allies would be purged.

Ning Zhongtian continued: "I heard this was the Emperor's order. These are matters above us—we just do our duty."

Li Rui nodded.

Overthinking served no purpose but to trouble oneself.

He looked toward Mingguang Sect's walls.

Suppressing rebellion was top secret; Qinghe County had been sealed off, and all of Mingguang Sect's Qinghe branch members were dead—no one could spread word.

From Mingguang Sect's peaceful appearance, it was clear they remained unaware of the disaster looming.

Ning Zhongtian chuckled softly.

He waved to Li Rui and the others beside him.

"Let's go. Our job here is done."

Tan Hu grunted: "Chief Ning, aren't we going to smash them?"

He had long despised Mingguang Sect and came here with the goal of tearing it apart.

Ning Zhongtian rolled his eyes:

"We're just here to fill numbers. Do you really want to hand your head to Cao Wei?"

Tan Hu grunted.

He obediently followed Ning Zhongtian into the depths of the forest.

Inside Mingguang Sect's city.

A massive estate covering ten mu.

"Master, word has come from the capital—my uncle has been sent to the Three Judicial Departments. He's in grave danger."

Liu Qian, Mingguang Sect's vice sect master, spoke grimly.

His uncle was none other than Minister Liu of the Ministry of Rites.

Sect Master Lü Qiu's face turned as dark as storm clouds.

"I know."

Mingguang Sect's patron was this very Minister Liu.

Sent to the Three Judicial Departments.

What was the Three Judicial Departments?

It was the Ministry of Justice, the Censorate, and the Court of Judicial Review—two of the three were dominated by the Lin Faction. For a major Xuan Faction figure like Minister Liu to escape alive from there? Impossible.

Liu Qian tried to reassure Lü Qiu: "Don't worry. The State Tutor and Duke Dingyuan won't stand idle. Master, rest assured—we'll come through unscathed!"

Lü Qiu's eyes flickered, then he took a deep breath:

"Fine."

(End of Chapter)