Chapter 186

That strand of Immortal Qi was like a seed, transforming the Xuan Qing Qi into Immortal Xuan Qi.

Those who obtain Immortal Xuan Qi can reverse their foundation.

Even a martial arts good-for-nothing can become capable of practicing martial arts under the improvement of Immortal Xuan Qi.

Although Wang Zhao's foundation was still poor, at least he now had the possibility of entering the ranks, which had far more prospects than raising horses.

Li Rui was a groom by origin, and he didn't look down on people who raised horses.

In fact, it didn't matter if Wang Zhao liked raising horses; he could just continue to do so.

One could also achieve great things by raising horses.

"Therefore, those who are good at raising horses have all the world's divine horses come from their hands, and they are revered by later generations."

It was just that to become a Great Imperial Ma Shi, there wasn't a high requirement for martial strength at the beginning, but to reach the pinnacle, one still needed martial arts as an aid; otherwise, how could one tame those unruly demon horses?

It was said that the Great Imperial Ma Shi in Annan Town was also a martial arts expert at the Minor Grandmaster realm.

Wang Zhao had no hope before, but now he did.

Who wouldn't want to become stronger?

"Master."

Wang Zhao called out softly.

Today, Li Rui suddenly approached him and said that from now on, he should call him Master, and that he had two more senior brothers.

He also said that he would give him a strand of qi, and from then on, he would be able to practice martial arts.

Practice martial arts.

This was something Wang Zhao had dreamed of.

Watching the latecomers Liang He and Liu Tiezhu become rank-entered martial artists, was he not envious?

He was envious to the point of death.

But so what?

Things in this world never had results just because one worked hard.

And in fact, he had worked hard long ago.

Facts proved that without talent, hard work was just wasted effort.

From unwillingness to despair, and then to focusing on raising horses.

This had greatly tempered Wang Zhao's character.

Li Rui smiled and patted Wang Zhao: "Xiao Zhao, if you want to raise horses, continue to do so. In the future, become a Great Imperial Ma Shi, and your master, this old groom, can also bask in some glory."

"Great Imperial Ma Shi..."

Wang Zhao's eyes lit up.

Seeing Wang Zhao's fighting spirit rising to an unprecedented height, Li Rui was also happy from the bottom of his heart.

He didn't blame Wang Zhao for being lazy about practicing martial arts in the past; in all fairness, he had been just as lazy back then—when one couldn't see hope, it was all in vain.

For a person to make progress, they must first see a glimmer of hope.

So he broke through last night, and this morning he took Wang Zhao as a disciple.

Wang Zhao had followed him the longest, but Li Rui had been slow to take him as a disciple.

Why?

Of course, Li Rui had his own reasons.

Although Liang He and Liu Tiezhu each had their own strengths, fundamentally, they both learned the Long Chun Gong.

Wang Zhao's aptitude was too poor; he couldn't even enter the door.

Even if he imparted the technique, it would be useless.

Those who practice martial arts and those who don't are, in the end, two different types of people.

If he took Wang Zhao as a disciple, the disparity in cultivation between the brothers in the future would be too great—one a Grandmaster, one a mortal—and the change in status would make it difficult for them to continue getting along.

Even with him suppressing it, they might maintain a facade of brotherly respect, but as time went on, something would definitely go wrong.

Being well-matched in social status isn't just for marriage; it's like that everywhere.

If statuses aren't equal, they can't even be brothers.

Wang Zhao's nature was already fragile; perhaps his self-esteem would be damaged, and he wouldn't even want to raise horses anymore. Taking him as a disciple would only harm him.

Since he wanted to help someone, he had to consider every aspect.

Helping someone without putting in the effort is worse than not helping at all.

Good intentions leading to bad results are still bad results.

As the elders say: "Think carefully about everything."

That is the reason.

Li Rui felt the Immortal Xuan Qi in his body; with this, the future prospects of his three disciples wouldn't be too bad.

And if he took on more disciples in the future, he wouldn't need to be too obsessed with their foundation, and could focus more on their character.

It wasn't that foundation wasn't important, just not that necessary.

"When one person attains the Dao, even their chickens and dogs ascend to heaven!"

"My lord, are you going out of the camp?"

A guard watching the Anning Guard saw Gao Zhen riding a horse, intending to leave the military camp, and trotted up with a fawning expression.

Gao Zhen nodded:

"Patrolling outside the city."

"Yes, yes."

The guard nodded repeatedly.

As a Garrison Commander, Gao Zhen had the duty to patrol; the guard only came forward to try and get on familiar terms. Would he really dare to manage how a Sixth-Rank Garrison Commander conducted his business?

He took small steps backward, clearing the gate.

Gao Zhen gave a light shout, and the demon horse beneath him snorted, hitting the official road like lightning and galloping away.

That night.

He arrived on horseback in the middle of a deep mountain.

Ordinary horses naturally couldn't climb mountains, but demon horses were an exception.

Gao Zhen dismounted, looked around, and said softly: "It should be in this vicinity."

For the past few days.

He had been secretly inquiring about the specific location where Jiang Linxian beheaded the Wan Wan Du Gui.

Finally.

He really did hear some rumors.

Jiang Linxian not only killed the Wan Wan Du Gui that day but also killed quite a few elders and disciples of the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao.

After returning to the military camp.

He ordered the soldiers of the Anning Guard to go and dispose of the corpses to avoid unnecessary chaos.

This information was what he learned from those Anning Guard soldiers.

"I hope it's still there."

Gao Zhen muttered in his heart.

The reason he went to such great lengths was that once the Wan Wan Du Gui died, the Immortal Qi in his body would dissipate on its own.

For those who didn't know, it would be impossible to detect.

Unless one was an Immortal Seeker who could use special means to find it.

Precisely because of this, Gao Zhen tried every possible way to come and confirm whether the Immortal Qi was truly still left outside.

Gao Zhen left the demon horse where it was.

Demon horses tamed by the Horse-Tending Hall didn't need to be tethered; there was no need to worry about them running away.

In the middle of the night, in the old forest.

Gao Zhen was alone, bent over, holding a torch and searching carefully. He had Immortal Qi in his body; as long as there was Immortal Qi within a radius of three zhang, he could sense it, so it wasn't exactly like looking for a needle in a haystack.

He searched until the second half of the night.

The sky was slightly bright.

Gao Zhen had already changed his third torch, his eyes blood-red, muttering like a man possessed:

"Nothing, nothing, why is there still nothing!"

One night.

He had searched almost the entire mountain, without a trace of the Immortal Qi.

Very clearly.

The Immortal Qi had already been taken away by someone; it could have been Jiang Linxian, or it might not have been.

But it was certain that the Immortal Qi was gone.

Gao Zhen's last glimmer of hope was shattered, and he appeared somewhat desperate and frustrated.

=9+Shu_ba

That strand of Immortal Qi was given to him by the Blood Shadow Xueying Laozu, considering the scarcity, because he had defected to the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao as a disciple of the Gao clan.

It would be incomparably difficult to want more in the future.

Now the only path was to kill the three—Ning Zhongtian, Li Rui, and Tan Hu.

And the faster, the better.

The Blood Shadow Xueying Laozu indeed didn't set a time limit for him, but when he made the promise at the time, he only said that if he performed well, the Immortal Venerable could bestow another strand of Immortal Qi.

What is performing well?

Isn't it the sooner he kills them, the better?

He had already obtained a strand of Immortal Qi before, so he had grain in his house and no panic in his heart.

But now he only had thirty percent of the Immortal Qi in his hands; relying on this little bit to reverse his foundation, he didn't know how many years he would have to endure.

If his foundation only grew after he had turned white-haired and become a nearly decaying old man, what would be the point?

Gao Zhen would rather die.

What he wanted was to be dressed in fine clothes and riding a fine horse, to use the posture of a heaven-gifted genius to make those who once looked down on him unable to lift their heads, not to endure until they died.

Spiritual victory?

Meaningless.

"I can only find a way to take action as soon as possible."

Gao Zhen made up his mind.

When he went back, he would go find those senior brothers and sisters of his.

There were still ten of the Twelve Blood Disciples left, meaning he still had nine reinforcements he could call; he didn't believe he couldn't kill Ning Zhongtian and those two minor officials.

As long as he killed these three.

The people on the list would be complete, and he could go find that cheap master, the Blood Shadow Xueying Laozu, to collect his reward.

Perhaps that Immortal Venerable would be happy and bestow more Immortal Qi.

As for whether those senior brothers and sisters would also be stabbed into a sieve by Jiang Linxian's flying sword like the Wan Wan Du Gui, that wasn't a problem he needed to consider.

"It would be better if they all died."

Gao Zhen felt loathing for those senior brothers and sisters from the bottom of his heart.

"Lowly things!"

Although he was only a collateral branch of the Lu Yang Gao clan, his background was still that of a proper noble family.

Joining the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao was to obtain resources to become a true noble, not to really mingle with demons and monsters.

Being an official was the true path.

Mixing with the evil path was to be a better official; one couldn't reverse the order.

Gao Zhen prepared to wait until he got the Immortal Qi, endure for a few years, return to the capital, and then make a clean break with the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao.

While pondering.

Drip.

A raindrop fell from the nine heavens, leaving a water stain on his shoulder.

Gao Zhen tilted his head and looked.

"It's going to rain."

Even though he was a Dragon Gate martial artist and no longer feared the cold of the rain, he didn't like the feeling of being soaked, and he hadn't brought an umbrella this time.

Thinking this.

He turned and walked toward the demon horse, his pace quickening a bit.

He prepared to find a place to shelter from the rain before the heavy downpour arrived.

Just as he was about to see the demon horse—

Gao Zhen's pupils shrank violently.

The demon horse's four hooves were turned toward the sky, a huge gash was cut in its neck, and it lay motionless in a pool of blood.

And in front of the demon horse, a man in black was holding a blood-stained blade.

He slowly turned his head.

A Shura mask covered his face, making it impossible to see his features.

"Who are you?"

Gao Zhen's right hand was already resting on the sword at his waist, ready to strike at any moment.

Killing his horse—this was clearly premeditated.

It was aimed at him.

"Ning Zhongtian, or Jiang Linxian?"

Thinking it over, the only people in Qinghe who wanted to kill him and dared to kill him were these two.

Beneath the Shura mask, a hoarse voice, like metal rubbing against metal, sounded extremely unpleasant: "Have you never heard a saying?"

"Don't go up the mountain when it's dark; ghosts knock on the door at midnight."

Almost the moment the words fell.

Clang!

A purple-gold lightning bolt in the sky exploded with a thunderous roar.

In an instant.

A torrential downpour, like a bucket of water, instantly soaked both of them.

Gao Zhen stared fixedly at the man in black before him, raindrops hanging from his eyelashes, ignoring them, and slowly spat out three words:

"Mountain Yama?"

It was rumored that there was an expert in Yunzhou who specialized in robbing wealth in the mountains and forests, calling himself Mountain Yama.

Every time he killed someone, he would say the exact same words as just now.

"Don't go up the mountain when it's dark; ghosts knock on the door at midnight."

Gao Zhen's eyelids twitched, and he cursed his bad luck in his heart.

He didn't expect that the first time he entered the mountain, he would actually run into Mountain Yama; his luck was truly rotten.

But he didn't have time to ponder.

The long blade in Mountain Yama's hand had already broken through the rain-filled sky and headed straight for his brow.

Accompanying it was Mountain Yama's unpleasant voice:

"Learn a lesson; walk less at night in the future."

"You might still be able to use it in your next life!"

(End of chapter)