Chapter 188: Harmonious Superior-Subordinate Relationship

Getting along harmoniously with your superior is a vital quality for any official, but if you encounter a corrupt superior, you must have a way to respond—such as killing them.

Completing the task: Harmonious Superior-Subordinate Relationship, reward calculation in progress.

Task rating: A.

Obtained 40 achievement points!

Name: Li Rui

Age: 10

Talent: Wu Bone, Extraordinary Comprehension, Insightful Eyes

Technique: Changchun Gong, Dragon Soaring Through Nine Skies Diagram

Achievement: 80/100

Li Rui stared at the text on the panel, his lips twitching.

He had anticipated that killing Gao Zhen might complete the achievement, but he still underestimated the system's lack of principles.

Yet killing Gao Zhen granted him the Achievement: Out of the Military, Into the Cabinet.

And what the hell is "Harmonious Superior-Subordinate Relationship"?

Li Rui rubbed his temples.

"Forget it."

After all, this time he had unexpectedly earned an A-rank evaluation and gained 40 achievement points in one go.

Most importantly, the danger was finally gone.

Li Rui glanced at the ground, then vanished into the mountains.

Li Residence.

Dawn was just breaking.

Li Rui stepped out of his door as usual, as if nothing had happened an hour earlier.

He had returned to his room via a secret passage.

Thus, even Liang He and the others living in the house knew nothing of it.

It wasn't that he didn't trust them.

Rather, some things are better known by as few people as possible.

Li Rui opened his door, appearing as if he were practicing as usual in the courtyard.

"Master."

As he practiced, Liang He pushed open his door first.

Seeing his master already training in the courtyard, Liang He felt ashamed.

'My master is over seventy and still works so hard—what right do we young people have to be lazy!'

He immediately exercised his authority as the senior disciple.

He woke up Liu Tiezhu and Wang Zhao.

The only one spared was Yang Yong.

Li Rui's Immortal Xuan Qi can enhance bone structure, but the process is extremely slow, often requiring years.

Wang Zhao is still young and can wait.

Yang Yong might not be so lucky.

Moreover, it is almost certain that even if Yang Yong were infused with Immortal Xuan Qi, he would never reach the Liujin Extended Life stage.

Not every old man is like Li Rui, with a cheat code.

So Li Rui did infuse Yang Yong with Immortal Xuan Qi, but he no longer insisted on his martial training.

Yang Yong accepted this readily.

As he put it, he was old; better to enjoy himself than suffer needlessly—he'd spent most of his life in hardship and deserved some joy.

When Yang Yong stepped out of his room.

The four master and disciples in the courtyard had already finished training, and even the congee and pickles were ready.

The five of them ate heartily.

After finishing his congee, Li Rui stepped out through the door.

As usual.

He arrived at Benhu Cavalry.

As soon as he entered the camp, he heard Tan Hu scolding: "You're the worst batch I've ever trained—ask your brother Tang, isn't that right?!"

Tang Hai promptly turned his head away.

If he remembered correctly, when he first arrived, Tan Hu had said the exact same thing.

Only new recruits believe such nonsense; seasoned soldiers just sneer and train as they always have.

"Chief Li."

The Benhu Cavalry soldiers all saluted as soon as they saw Li Rui.

Li Rui smiled warmly at the vibrant new recruits of Benhu Cavalry:

"Youth is wonderful."

After the last battle, most of Benhu Cavalry had died at the hands of the Four-Armed Demon Ghost, so they had to recruit elite soldiers from other battalions to refill the ranks.

These men were personally selected by Li Rui and Tan Hu; regardless of their bone structure, they were all hardworking and resilient.

Tan Hu's first order was to retrain these new recruits.

He had complained to Li Rui about it endlessly.

Seeing Li Rui appear, Tan Hu immediately abandoned training and exclaimed excitedly: "Big Brother Li, let's fight?!"

Li Rui chuckled:

"I can't beat you—why fight?"

But Tan Hu had no intention of letting this excellent opponent slip away.

When Li Rui first entered Liujin, he could only rely on his footwork to evade Tan Hu.

But now, with his foundation solidified, the advantage of having cultivated true qi early became clear—he had bypassed Yangqi entirely and become a Jüqi Realm expert.

Li Rui had already demonstrated the ability to trade blows with Tan Hu for dozens of strikes.

Well, at least on the surface.

Ge Hong and Wei Ming had both been terrified by Tan Hu; fighting others wasn't suitable—so he fixated on Li Rui.

"Fine, let's fight."

Seeing Tan Hu wouldn't let him off the hook,

Li Rui reluctantly agreed.

As before,

he displayed only three or four tenths of his true strength, just enough to match Tan Hu evenly.

Honestly,

Tan Hu's innate Golden Body was formidable—rarely was there an equal in Liujin.

But now… Li Rui still appeared to be in Liujin, yet he had long crossed the Dragon Gate—he had killed Gao Zhen, so defeating Tan Hu was easy.

After over a hundred exchanges, Tan Hu grew more and more excited.

Few Liujin warriors could withstand so many strikes from him.

"It's the Dragon Form!"

He quickly identified the key.

Li Rui's Dragon Form true qi enhanced his strength and speed beyond ordinary martial artists, allowing him to gain the upper hand against Tan Hu's innate Golden Body.

Yet Tan Hu's exquisite footwork let him keep pace with Li Rui.

At that moment—

Tan Hu let out a low roar, his entire body, beard, and eyebrows turning golden, like a statue of a Buddhist guardian.

Golden Guardian Glare Diagram!

Tan Hu's Qi Circulation Diagram was inherited from the Fomen: the Golden Guardian Glare Diagram.

This diagram was not standard military doctrine—it had been acquired by Ning Zhongtian at great cost from an old monk.

Ning Zhongtian truly spared no effort for Tan Hu.

=9+shu_ba

Previously, Tan Hu had been stuck in Yangqi; though he possessed the Golden Guardian Glare Diagram, he could never activate it—now, at last, it was beginning to show results.

Li Rui had never seen Tan Hu use the Golden Guardian Glare Diagram before, and he felt instantly intrigued.

He leapt forward and slashed at Tan Hu's golden arm.

CLANG!

A metallic clang rang out, vibrating bones and numbing tendons.

Missing the strike, he immediately retreated several steps.

"I yield."

As the surrounding soldiers stared in shock, Li Rui promptly sheathed his weapon and declared surrender.

It was lightning-fast.

"That's it? No more?"

Tang Hai and the others had been waiting for a titanic clash, only to see it end so abruptly.

There was a sense of powerless void, as if something had stopped halfway.

Just now, Tan Hu had transformed into the Fierce Vajra, and I thought it was about to reach a climax—turns out it already had.

Tan Hu also froze, his face twisting in frustration:

"Brother Li, don't be like that—let me land one punch, just one."

He'd only just cultivated the Vajra true qi today.

He'd been looking to show off to Li Rui, but Li Rui hadn't given him the chance at all.

Trying to show off and failing—that feeling drove you crazy.

Li Rui chuckled: "No way."

That one slash had already let him test the power of the Vajra true qi.

Put it this way.

No one in the Willow Sinew realm could break Tan Hu's defense.

Of course, I'm the exception—once Long Xian activates his Dual Form, no Vajra means a thing.

Even so, Tan Hu's Vajra true qi was utterly formidable.

"You've already cultivated qi, and now you want to bully an old man like me?"

Tan Hu grinned broadly.

He'd finally taken the first step of the Fierce Vajra Diagram; the path ahead would now be much easier, and perhaps in ten or twenty years, he might even cross the Dragon Gate and glimpse the scenery of the Sixth Rank.

Li Rui was genuinely happy for Tan Hu.

The one downside of being born with Vajra potential was how hard it was to cultivate qi—now that he'd passed this hurdle, his future prospects were truly exceptional.

"If I grow rich, I won't forget you."

"Dog? Brother Li, why are you cursing me?"

"Never mind."

Li Rui suddenly realized he'd spoken too little in his daily life.

Gao Zhen had not returned for three days.

The Anning Guard showed almost no change; it was normal for a Garrison Commander to go out on patrol—even Gao Zhen's men like Guan Peng felt nothing amiss.

Gao Zhen had not returned for ten days.

The loyal followers Gao Zhen had brought from the Gao family finally sensed something was wrong and began sending people to search for him.

Gao Zhen had not returned for fifteen days.

Cao Wei finally noticed something was off—he realized the situation was suspicious and began personally ordering searches for Gao Zhen's whereabouts.

"General, Master Gao rode out of camp that day, then took the official road—he was alone. Wang Shu saw him."

Feng Yu spoke in a low tone, glancing at the guard beside him.

The guard looked panicked, nodding frantically as Feng Yu signaled: "What Master Feng says is completely true—I saw Master Gao ride out on horseback half a month ago. I even asked him, and he just said he was going on patrol, then left. I didn't dare ask anything else."

Cao Wei frowned slightly.

Patrol?

"He was alone?"

"Yes, yes—only Master Gao."

"Strange."

Cao Wei rubbed his chin, murmuring thoughtfully.

Given Gao Zhen's nature, he'd never go out on patrol alone—and he'd already sent men to search; there was no trace, as if he'd vanished into thin air.

Moreover, Gao Zhen seemed to have deliberately hidden his trail—people had seen him right after leaving the city, but then all leads vanished; no one knew where he'd gone.

"Please don't be dead."

Cao Wei had a sinking feeling.

Gao Zhen didn't leave the city for a patrol.

But what he was doing—Cao Wei wasn't a worm in Gao Zhen's belly; he couldn't guess.

Feng Yu ventured: "General, should we report this to the Town?"

A Sixth Rank official vanishing without cause involved an imperial officer; the cause must be investigated, especially since Gao Zhen was a member of the Gao clan—this had too great an impact.

Cao Wei's head throbbed; he cursed inwardly:

"Useless!"

"These aristocratic brats only bring trouble."

Back in the capital, he'd despised the noble families' sons who bullied the innocent; Gao Zhen was unquestionably one of them—no more than a useful brat at best.

But now this mess helped him nothing and handed him a burning hot potato.

If Gao Zhen really was dead.

How would he explain to Annan Town? How would he explain to the Gao clan?

All his years of merit would be washed away—his mood could only be worse.

Cao Wei gritted his teeth:

"Find him. Find Gao Zhen—alive, bring him to me; dead, bring me his corpse!"

(End of Chapter)