Chapter 187: Strike First, Kill in the Rainy Night

"I am the Garrison Commander of Annan Army—how dare you kill me?"

Gao Zhen, though uncertain if this man was truly the Mountain Yama, still hoped that naming his rank would intimidate the opponent.

In Yunzhou.

The reputation of the Annan Army still carried weight; everyone had to think twice.

"Garrison Commander?"

"I killed a Garrison Commander!"

Too late to draw his sword, too late to dodge.

In the flash of an eye, Gao Zhen's right hand turned crimson-gold; a ball of red flame erupted from his palm, turning the falling rain a deep red.

He raised his arm to his brow, intending to block the blade with true qi.

Simultaneously.

Scorching true qi swirled around him, forming layers of vast mountains; his entire body glowed like the Fire God of legend, cloaked in crimson radiance.

"The Crimson Thread Divine Fire Diagram?"

Li Rui raised an eyebrow.

He had never known that Gao Zhen cultivated the Fire-form Crimson Thread Divine Fire Diagram.

Those who cultivate this diagram can condense qi into fire, enveloping their body in searing flame during combat, achieving extraordinary effects.

It is an upper-tier qi form.

BOOM!

Like thunder exploding, Gao Zhen's pupils flooded with blood, his heart pounding wildly.

At the moment of contact, it felt as if his whole body had been struck by lightning—strange true qi surged through the blade, racing up his arm and through his entire body.

"Dragon-form!"

Gao Zhen's shock reached its peak.

His fire-form was utterly suppressed by the dragon-form.

As a member of the Gao clan, his knowledge far surpassed that of ordinary martial artists.

The dragon is the supreme ruler of all beasts; the emperor calls himself the True Dragon Son of Heaven to demonstrate its status—dragon-form is naturally the highest-ranked qi form.

Higher rank means harder to cultivate.

Countless brilliant prodigies in the early stages, originally compatible with dragon-form, abandoned it due to its extreme difficulty and settled for the lesser Jiao -form instead.

But once mastered, it guarantees absolute dominance over peers.

"You're not the Mountain Yama!"

"Then who are you?!"

Gao Zhen's eyes blazed with fury.

The Mountain Yama cultivates Tiger-form; Ning Zhongtian and Jiang Lin also do not cultivate dragon-form—so who was the one who attacked him tonight?

Another slash!

Gao Zhen had only just entered the Dragon Gate after condensing his qi—he lacked superior true qi and was brutally suppressed; he grunted and staggered back several steps.

Leaving deep mud pits beneath his feet.

He finally drew his longsword; flames surged along its blade like a furious fire dragon.

"Die!"

With a roar.

Gao Zhen swung his sword to counter, his thick sword intent entwined with fire-form power, weaving a net of blades that descended upon the "Mountain Yama's" head.

Li Rui's long knife lay ahead, coiled with a green dragon.

Almost the instant the blade met the sword, the green dragon tore a gap through the fiery blade net.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

The clash of blade and knife rang continuously.

"Damn!"

Gao Zhen's roar echoed through the rainy night forest; then the long knife swept across his waist and abdomen, tearing away a large chunk of flesh.

The outcome was decided!

No wonder dragon-form—fire-form was already rare among all qi forms, yet before dragon-form, it was crushed at every turn.

He shifted his foot, ready to flee into the mountains.

"Want to run?"

Li Rui sneered.

He tapped his toe, leapt two zhang into the air, flipped mid-flight, and landed steadily before Gao Zhen.

Seeing this,

Gao Zhen sucked in a sharp breath.

"This man mastered dragon-form—and still found time to cultivate such advanced lightness skills?!"

He couldn't win in battle, and he couldn't escape.

Gao Zhen's eyes flashed with ruthlessness; he advanced instead of retreating, his sword transforming into a fire dragon as he thrust it fiercely at the "Mountain Yama."

"Mutual destruction?"

Li Rui did not dodge or retreat—he charged forward with his knife, and at the moment of blade contact, he deliberately left his chest wide open, Yingzhe Gao Zhen's sword straight into it.

Gao Zhen frowned at this bizarre move.

But the situation was already set—he could only grit his teeth and see who was more ruthless.

"Die!"

The fire dragon roared, swallowing Li Rui's right chest.

Gao Zhen's pupils shrank to pinpricks in an instant.

"Blocked?!?!?"

His full-power strike had been absorbed by the "Mountain Yama's" bare flesh.

"No…"

Gao Zhen quickly saw the truth: a faint purple-gold qi stream formed a circular shield pressed tightly against Li Rui's chest.

His shock was beyond words.

"Dual-form."

And the other form's rank was even higher than dragon-form.

"What kind of monster is this man?!"

"Enough."

What did that mean?

Before Gao Zhen could process it, a flash of cold light pierced through the "Mountain Yama's" sleeve—a short knife!

"He hid a knife…"

Gao Zhen's face turned ashen.

A brilliant slash of knife-light flashed—his body was cleanly split vertically in half, silently.

BOOM!

A low thunder rolled through the rainy night.

Blood mixed with rainwater pooled on the ground; Gao Zhen stood rigid as a wooden post, a thin red line appearing across his body before he toppled sideways.

Gao Zhen, dead!

"Huh."

"Finally dead."

A slow breath of stale air exhaled from Li Rui's chest.

"Dragon Gate realm is indeed hard to kill."

This was the first time Li Rui had used all his cards to kill someone. Though he had only just crossed the Dragon Gate, with dual-form and martial bones, if he fought like an ordinary martial artist, he might as well drown himself in his own piss.

Embarrassing.

Precisely because he had this advantage, he dared to decide to kill Gao Zhen.

Gao Zhen had only just entered the Dragon Gate three or four years ago—he was no match for him.

Correct.

Ever since he confirmed that Gao Zhen was a spy planted by the Ghost Ming Sect within the Anning Guard, and that all Gao Zhen's past actions were meant to kill him,

Li Rui decided to strike first.

He was a sixth-rank junior; Gao Zhen was a sixth-rank senior.

One rank lower—he couldn't easily report Gao Zhen; he might be dead before Gao Zhen even faced consequences.

Moreover, Gao Zhen had the Gao family behind him.

The Gao family might clean house over Gao Zhen's collusion with the Ghost Ming Sect, but they would never allow such a scandal to surface.

=9+ Shu _ Ba

They would even eliminate anyone who knew, to prevent the truth from leaking.

Otherwise, if the imperial court found out, the Lin faction would exploit it ruthlessly—perhaps even leading to the Gao family's confiscation and extermination.

Any sane patriarch would never let such a thing happen.

Then Li Rui wouldn't even know how he died.

Filing a complaint isn't about the accuser's crimes—it's about who's backing them.

You must read the situation correctly.

Qinghe once had a constable who tried to report the county magistrate for embezzlement.

The next day, he was found drowned in a small ditch beside his home.

The ditch was only half a foot deep.

Then it was quietly dropped.

Embezzlement was wrong, but the county magistrate was backed by the prefect, and most of the money he hoarded went straight to that prefect.

Accusing the county magistrate meant damaging the prefect's wealth.

Cutting off someone's livelihood is like killing their parents.

You won't die.

Who will?

Gao Zhen was in the same situation.

When faced with this, there are usually only two options: swallow your anger and flee to another land, or sneak into the county magistrate's home and eliminate him outright.

Li Rui chose the latter.

Because he was strong enough.

Constantly yielding is stupidity—it only lets Gao Zhen keep deploying his cruel tactics, leaving you defenseless.

Who could bear the feeling of fearing assassination every time they stepped outside?

For today, Li Rui had long planned ahead.

He had lain in wait for countless days outside Gao Zhen's residence.

Until he broke through—and Qiahao Gao Zhen traveled far away.

It created the perfect opportunity to kill him.

In summary:

Heaven's timing, earth's advantage, and human harmony—all aligned. Gao Zhen's death was no injustice.

He turned his gaze again to the mist within his Divine Eye.

It had shifted from deep red to pale red.

"It seems that although both Gao Zhen and Zhuang Renhe are from the Ghost Ming Sect, only Gao Zhen wanted me dead."

Li Rui pondered.

If Zhuang Renhe also wanted his life, he'd truly have to find an excuse to transfer to another guard battalion.

He'd lose his sixth-rank position, but that was better than losing his life.

Li Rui stared at Gao Chong's body, washed pale by the rain.

"Immortal Qi!"

He instantly rejoiced.

A thin strand of blue-green qi, finer than a hair, slowly drifted from Gao Chong's body.

Li Rui had no intention of being polite.

He snatched the Immortal Qi, shoved it into his mouth, and swallowed it.

The moment the Immortal Qi entered his dantian, it merged spontaneously with his Immortal Form—the Immortal Xuan Qi grew even more golden-purple, and its essence became purer.

"Immortal Qi truly is a fine thing."

Li Rui could clearly feel that his Immortal Xuan Qi had grown stronger.

This strength manifested in every way: if he now infused his Immortal Xuan Qi into Liang He and the others, the effect of reversing their innate constitution would be doubled compared to before!

He couldn't help recalling the "Immortal Qi Map" he had seen earlier.

The nearest one still remaining was Jiang Lin's residence.

But Li Rui had no intention of provoking that mighty deity.

Stealing treasures from Jiang Lin? You'd better check if your life is strong enough.

Li Rui felt like an old man—he was already content with two strands of Immortal Qi.

Greed is for the young; he was content, and thus always joyful.

Moreover, since transforming into Immortal Xuan Qi, even without Immortal Qi, he could gradually strengthen it through self-cultivation—though Immortal Qi simply accelerated the process.

Li Rui squatted on the ground and rummaged through all of Gao Chong's belongings.

"Excellent!"

He couldn't suppress the smile on his lips.

No wonder he came from the prominent Gao family—he had six sixth-rank elixirs alone, and the sword lying nearby was forged from divine metal, worth a fortune.

He stuffed everything into his robes at once.

Though he couldn't use the weapon himself, didn't he have a disciple who could forge iron?

Perfectly useful.

That was the benefit of taking a disciple—before, he'd have had to find some deep ravine and just dump the thing there.

Gao Zhen's weapons were too conspicuous; if anyone found out, trouble would follow.

Having finished all this,

Li Rui took out the Corpse-Dissolving Water from his robes.

The rain had no effect on the Corpse-Dissolving Water's potency—in the blink of an eye, the corpse dissolved entirely into sludge.

Washed away by the heavy rain, it quickly flowed into the surrounding hills and forests.

Not a trace of murder remained.

Finally, he dissolved the dead demon horse as well—only then was the task complete.

Li Rui stared at the empty bottle of Corpse-Dissolving Water.

"Have I been using it too frequently lately?"

At that moment—

A line of small characters appeared before his eyes.

【Congratulations, Host! Achievement Completed: "From General to Chancellor" — Harmonious Superior-Subordinate Relationship.】

(End of Chapter)