Chapter 179: A Big Tree Provides Good Shade

Early the next morning.

Several unknown sparrows chirped on the tree branches in front of the door.

Liang He was practicing his saber in the courtyard.

Liu Tiezhu was practicing with his hammers in the backyard.

Li Rui pushed open the door and, seeing his two disciples so diligent, revealed a gratified smile.

"Come over and have some porridge."

He called the two disciples over.

The five people in the courtyard were all from poor backgrounds and weren't particular; they gathered around a small wooden table, drinking with great relish.

After finishing the porridge.

Li Rui then pushed open the door and walked out of the residence.

To get to the Galloping Tiger Cavalry, one had to pass by Garrison Commander Gao Zhen's residence; only after walking far away did he glance unobtrusively at the Immortal-Seeking Stone in his sleeve.

No change at all.

"It seems there is a method to hide the Immortal trace."

His heart stirred slightly.

"Who could it be?"

Li Rui pondered.

Logically speaking, the most likely candidate was Gao Zhen himself; after all, Gao Zhen came from a great clan with a deep foundation.

But one could not rule out the possibility that some inconspicuous little person in the Gao residence had obtained a heaven-defying opportunity.

Although such things were rare, they were not impossible; he could have miraculous encounters, and others could too.

If the person who obtained the Immortal trace was Gao Zhen.

He would give up without hesitation.

No matter how good an Immortal trace is, one must have the life to take it.

Besides being a Sixth-Rank Garrison Commander, Gao Zhen was also a Sixth-Rank Dragon Gate Realm expert himself.

Li Rui didn't think the plot of Gao Zhen suddenly having an accident and being left at death's door, then automatically running in front of him to be killed, could happen to him.

Coveting someone stronger than oneself is the way to death.

But if it were someone else, then that would be a different story.

"Confirm who it is first."

His only advantage now was having the Immortal-Seeking Stone; once that person revealed the Immortal trace again, the stone would sense it.

As long as he had enough patience, he could always identify the target.

Li Rui stopped looking at the Gao residence.

He walked straight toward the Galloping Tiger Cavalry.

Just as he entered the camp.

He heard Tan Hu's boisterous laughter: "Refreshing, truly damn refreshing."

The other members of the Galloping Tiger Cavalry were also full of joy.

Seeing Li Rui walk over, everyone happily surrounded him.

Li Rui gave a shout:

"What happy event did you run into?"

Tan Hu's mouth was almost split to his ears: "It's Gao Zhen. His subordinate in the Shen-character Battalion, a man surnamed Ma, was discovered privately selling weapons to the Northern Barbarians and was ordered by Lord Jiang to be executed on the spot."

Li Rui raised an eyebrow.

Ning Zhongtian's ability was truly formidable to be able to get Jiang Linxian to stand up for him.

Privately selling weapons was rare, but it certainly existed in the military.

Compared to selling salt, privately selling weapons—and selling them to the Northern Barbarians at that—was almost no different from treason in the eyes of the Imperial Court and the Emperor.

Therefore, those who did such things were generally extremely secretive.

Clearly, Platoon Leader Ma of the Shen-character Battalion had bad luck.

Ning Zhongtian wanted to deal with Gao Zhen and happened to find his criminal evidence.

Originally, if operated properly, a big matter could have been turned into a small one, but now he had directly lost his life.

Tan Hu continued: "That man surnamed Ma had just drunk with Gao Zhen a few days ago, likely to show his loyalty, and didn't even last two days before dying at Lord Jiang's hands; it's truly refreshing."

Li Rui smiled slightly and reminded him:

"Tiger, in the future in the military camp, you must address him as Lord Gao."

One must not lose one's head in triumph.

In the military camp, one must follow the rules of the military camp.

People with strong characters fight to the death behind each other's backs, but on the surface, they should call a lord a lord, and even be louder when drinking and toasting.

Of course, Li Rui didn't expect Tan Hu to truly become a person of deep city.

That wouldn't necessarily be a good thing for Tan Hu; maintaining a pure heart was the only way to maximize the advantage of being a natural Vajra.

People are different, and the paths they walk are different.

Tan Hu looked at the calm Li Rui and admired him even more: "Head Ning told me that the reason he was able to persuade Lord Jiang to act was thanks to one sentence from Brother Li."

"Oh?"

"What sentence?"

"Abandon illusions, prepare to fight."

"..."

Li Rui was dumbfounded.

Tan Hu: "With this lesson, that man surnamed Gao should restrain himself a bit."

The others in the Galloping Tiger Cavalry nodded repeatedly.

"Haven't you seen that the one surnamed Guan doesn't even dare to come out today?"

Li Rui's mouth curled up slightly.

This was the effect he wanted.

If you strike a blow, you avoid a hundred blows coming your way.

If you want to obtain peace, you must let your opponent know that if they make a move, they will pay a painful price.

The reason he urged Ning Zhongtian to take the initiative, besides the fact that this move was the only solution, was that someone could share the pressure.

If Ning Zhongtian didn't act, then all of Gao Zhen's methods would fall on Li Rui and the others.

Even if his old waist could withstand it, it would definitely not be pleasant.

The best way, of course, was to find someone taller to hold it up.

Ning Zhongtian was the best candidate.

It was likely that Ning Zhongtian had the same idea, which was why he repeated Li Rui's words to Jiang Linxian.

That was even better.

Li Rui had always felt.

The best way to face the wind and rain was not to have a firm will, but to hold an umbrella—preferably a big umbrella.

Jiang Linxian was an umbrella big enough.

Gao Residence.

"You're saying Ma Feng was killed by Jiang Linxian himself?"

Gao Zhen narrowed his eyes, looking at Platoon Leader Guan Peng.

Guan Peng nodded repeatedly, his face bitter.

Ma Feng was killed, and he couldn't help but feel a sense of shared grief; Ma Feng deserved to die for privately selling weapons to the barbarians, but had he himself not done things that deserved death according to the law?

Of course, there wouldn't be fewer. Once discovered, he might also end up being beheaded on the spot.

"Head Gao, why don't we stop for now."

Guan Peng asked tentatively.

If it were just Ning Zhongtian, he would dare to provoke him, but with Jiang Linxian acting personally, the nature of the matter was different; he wouldn't dare to make another move even if he were given a hundred guts.

What surprised him was.

This time, Gao Zhen was unexpectedly understanding, nodding:

"Fine, let's stop for now."

Guan Peng was overjoyed:

"Yes, yes, Head Gao."

Having lost a subordinate, Gao Zhen's mood didn't change in the slightest; he waved his hand casually: "Go down."

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Guan Peng exited the room.

Only then did Gao Zhen's mouth curl up slightly:

"Ning Zhongtian, I underestimated you."

He hadn't expected Ning Zhongtian to be able to persuade Jiang Linxian to act.

"It seems I can only think of other methods."

With a great god like Jiang Linxian present, all tricks would only appear useless.

Jiang Linxian was a Military Advisor, in charge of the Anning Guard's military discipline and criminal law; according to the rules, even if Cao Wei wanted to dispose of Anning Guard soldiers, he needed Jiang Linxian's consent.

If Gao Zhen acted rashly, he would definitely be punished by Jiang Linxian.

He asked himself if he could withstand that.

Even with Cao Wei's backing, it was the same.

This was the subtlety of the Imperial Court's art of checks and balances: one person controls the troops, one person controls the punishments.

If Jiang Linxian didn't have Cao Wei's transfer order, he couldn't command a single soldier of the Anning Guard, yet he held the power of rewards and punishments.

It was the same for Cao Wei; without Jiang Linxian's documents, privately punishing Anning Guard soldiers was a serious crime, yet he held the power to command troops.

With both sides checking each other, neither could fully control the Anning Guard.

If Jiang Linxian insisted on killing Gao Zhen.

Cao Wei truly couldn't stop him; at most, after Gao Zhen died, he would use the power of commanding troops to send Jiang Linxian's soldiers to the most dangerous places.

Just mutual harm.

Gao Zhen wanted to borrow power to kill the people the Blood Shadow Old Ancestor had entrusted to him, not to get caught in a power vortex and play himself to death.

So he was very clear that it was time to stop while he was ahead.

Originally, he wanted to use this to test Jiang Linxian's bottom line, never expecting that the first test would directly face Jiang Linxian's thunderous counterattack.

Killing Ma Feng.

One was to clear up military discipline, but more was actually to intimidate Gao Zhen, and even Cao Wei.

Gao Zhen smiled slightly, not taking it to heart at all.

If this path didn't work, then change paths.

In any case, they were all Anning Guard soldiers who died, and he didn't feel the slightest bit of heartache.

Moreover, besides Ning Zhongtian, the other people on the list were actually not hard to kill.

He was quite confident about this.

At this moment.

A gray pigeon flew into the room from the window and landed obediently on the edge of the table.

It had a note tied to its right leg; it was a carrier pigeon.

This world hadn't invented mobile phones, so the way to transmit information was either through post stations or carrier pigeons.

Gao Zhen's mouth curled even wider.

He took the note off the pigeon's leg.

On it were several crooked characters; an ordinary person couldn't tell what they meant at all.

It was the secret code of the Ghost Ming Sect.

Only those who had mastered the art of decryption could understand the text on it.

Looking at the words on the note, Gao Zhen narrowed his eyes slightly:

"Senior Brother has come to Qinghe?"

"Senior Brother, what do you think of this saber?"

In the courtyard.

Liu Tiezhu and Liang He had their heads together, studying the long saber in Liu Tiezhu's hand that was flashing with a faint, chilling light.

"Very good!"

Liang He's eyes lit up.

He knew his junior brother was skilled at casting weapons, so he had asked Liu Tiezhu to forge a handy weapon for him.

He hadn't expected Liu Tiezhu's craftsmanship to be even more formidable than he had imagined.

Hearing Liang He's affirmation, Liu Tiezhu was overjoyed.

Before, forging iron in the blacksmith shop was just completing a task; although he was serious, it lacked soul.

The saber in his hand had been forged with a great deal of heart and blood; the previous weapons couldn't compare at all.

"Master's saber is good because of the materials, but compared to the craftsmanship, Senior Brother's saber is even better."

This also had to do with his strength increasing greatly after entering the rank.

With enough strength, forging iron could be done with more ease, turning theory into reality.

Just as he finished speaking.

Li Rui's teasing scolding sounded from behind: "Good lad, using second-rate goods for your master, are you?"

Liu Tiezhu turned his head.

He knew Li Rui was teasing, but he still said seriously: "I was afraid my hands were rusty, so I practiced on Senior Brother's saber first, and then I will recast a saber for Master."

"You have heart."

The disciple's intention—he, the master, naturally accepted it calmly.

Taking in Liu Tiezhu not only meant an extra disciple with heaven-defying talent, but even the labor costs for casting weapons were saved.

Two birds with one stone.

The number of highly skilled weapon casters was far rarer than martial artists; not only did they need high casting skills, but their martial arts attainments couldn't be poor either.

With both combined, the number was naturally even smaller.

"I heard Zhao is also performing quite well in the Horse Supervision Hall."

Perhaps in a few years, there could be one more horse trainer in the residence.

Truly full of talent.

Li Rui was very satisfied with these disciples of his; the key was that their character wasn't bad.

He was just about to open his mouth to tease them a bit more.

His expression suddenly froze.

The red in the Wisdom Eye smoke deepened by a few shades.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 180 =====