Chapter 208: Southern Frontier Witch Kingdom

Li Rui, sitting to the side, listened quietly, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Opening mutual trade...

He instantly understood why so many big sects wanted to station in a tiny place like Qinghe.

It turned out the imperial court had other deep intentions.

Suppressing the Guiming Sect was fake; laying the foundation in advance and conducting trade with the Southern Frontier Witch Kingdom was the real purpose.

The Southern Frontier Witch Kingdom, a place where humans and demons lived together.

This was the evaluation given by previous smugglers.

'Legend has it that demonic beasts can be seen everywhere in the Witch Kingdom cities; the Witch Kingdom people use demonic beasts as slaves and soldiers, something unimaginable to the Yu Kingdom people.'

It was the hegemon entrenched in the south of the Yu Kingdom.

Yunzhou bordered the northeast side of the Southern Frontier.

Anning Prefecture was three hundred li away from the Southern Frontier, not close, but not far either, and had always had the habit of trading before.

It just hadn't been brought to the table.

For example, the tea Li Rui gave to Fu Huan of the Imperial Observatory was smuggled from the Southern Frontier.

Even some officials bordering the Southern Frontier would specifically collect treasures from the Southern Frontier to send to the Imperial City as tribute.

Those big shots in the imperial court were probably planning this in secret long ago, using the Guiming Sect's trouble as an excuse to first expand the new city in Qinghe, establish the Anning Guard to guard it, lay the foundation, and then wait until the Yu Kingdom and the Witch Kingdom traded to layout and profit from it.

If one asked why they didn't choose Anning Prefecture, or even Yunzhou City.

Of course, it was because the local forces in those places were too stubborn and already had backers behind them.

They had already been controlled almost completely.

The backers behind these people were all terrifyingly fierce, and quite a few were even big shots in the court; the difficulty of breaking the situation on the existing foundation was truly too great.

Since they couldn't grab it, they simply restarted the game.

Directly choosing Qinghe, which had no foundation, so that everyone could conveniently plant their own people and obtain benefits.

To the Emperor, they could also have an explanation.

Liu Tong grinned: "I heard the Witch Kingdom's national foundation was shaken, and His Majesty ordered the Viceroy Yuan to lead troops to rescue them; to thank His Majesty, the new Witch Emperor married a princess to our Yu Kingdom's Sixth Prince and promised mutual trade, pledging eternal friendship."

Li Rui had also heard of this matter.

The Witch Kingdom's founding time was even earlier than the Yu Kingdom's, with a deep foundation.

I heard it could be traced back to over ten thousand years ago.

When the Xuan Dynasty collapsed, the Witch Kingdom Emperor and the Yu Kingdom Grand Ancestor even joined forces.

Later.

A major event suddenly occurred in the Witch Kingdom, and they announced the closing of the country to the outside world.

Although the two countries didn't fight to the death like the northern barbarians, there was very little communication.

The so-called national foundation.

Naturally referred to the issue of successors; legend has it that the old Witch Emperor died suddenly, and when he left, he didn't even leave a will, leading to several sons fighting for the throne.

As for the Yu Kingdom's rescue...

Just listen to it; Viceroy Yuan went to the Witch Kingdom for several months, and by the time he returned, he had almost become a god of slaughter.

The Yu Kingdom helped the new Witch Emperor seize power, and naturally, that new Emperor had to repay them; opening mutual trade was an important part.

A behemoth like the Witch Kingdom couldn't be compared to a cult like the Guiming Sect.

Especially in the eyes of those big figures.

The layout they worked so hard on was actually for the trade between the two countries, which was a huge piece of fat meat.

Therefore.

The imperial court controlled the big sects entering Qinghe extremely strictly, and only now did they loosen their mouths.

It was all the result of games between various parties.

Liu Tong: "My father-in-law thinks I'm good at management, so he asked me to come to Qinghe, promising that if I do well, he'll let me marry his daughter."

"..."

Liang He and Zhou Shulin's expressions were strange.

It turned out that the eight characters hadn't even been written yet, and Liu Tong was calling him "father-in-law" so smoothly.

Sure enough, being shameless was the first essence of eating soft rice.

Liu Tong was tipsy, his mouth curling slightly, as if he had already imagined the beautiful life in the future.

Eating soft rice, especially eating the soft rice of a sect elder.

Wasn't just about knowing how to please women; the key was to be able to handle matters.

Pleasing women was just a means; the focus was still to get the recognition of that father-in-law and become one of their own.

This step required meritorious service to show.

This mutual trade between the two countries was a great place for him to fish for merit and show his ability.

Calling it an opportunity was actually a test of Liu Tong by that Huaqing Sect elder.

"Hall Master, in the future in Qinghe, please trouble yourself to take care of me."

Liu Tong said solemnly to Li Rui.

Li Rui smiled slightly: "We're all our own people, why say such things?"

Hearing Li Rui's answer.

Liu Tong sighed in his heart instead.

He came to Qinghe with a mission.

Although Qinghe was his hometown, to say that he, a local, could have any backer to support him upon returning to Qinghe, there wasn't a single one.

Brother-in-law Zhang Yang was a small head of the Tiandi Alliance Qinghe branch.

But for him now, it was almost of no help.

Among the people he knew, the only one who could possibly help him was Li Rui alone.

But Li Rui's words just now were on the surface to pull the relationship between the two closer.

Actually, he didn't give him an answer at all.

'I was too impatient.'

Liu Tong quickly tidied up his mood, his smile undiminished: "Hall Master, I toast you this cup, thank you for your care when I was at Hun Tian Yi Hall."

Afterward.

He never mentioned the matter of help again.

The four drank until the second half of the night.

Li Rui then took Liang He, who was drunk, back to the Anning Guard.

Liang He then opened his mouth: "Master, why not agree to help Liu Tong? He might be a good help for us."

He was no longer the young man who didn't know the world back then.

Zhou Shulin couldn't see it, but he saw it clearly.

Liu Tong set up a banquet, there was the element of reminiscing, but more was actually wanting to win over Li Rui.

Li Rui looked at Liang He with gratification:

"Not bad." "Liu Tong is indeed capable, but the mutual trade between the two countries is watched by countless big figures; one cannot be impatient, otherwise one will fall into eternal damnation."

"Liu Tong is very smart, but has no patience; cooperating with him might invite fire onto oneself."

Liang He thought seriously about Li Rui's words.

"Master, then why not remind Liu Tong a bit? After all, he's an acquaintance."

Although he secretly competed with Liu Tong, he didn't hope for the other party to have an accident.

Li Rui looked at Liang He with even more gratification.

He valued Liang He because Liang He was worldly but not vulgar, and had always maintained a kind heart.

This point was very important.

Especially for him as a master.

No master wanted to end up with the miserable ending of being stabbed in the back by a disciple one day.

=9+Shu_Ba

"The relationship has faded; speaking deeply when the acquaintance is shallow will only make Liu Tong feel that we look down on him; rather than relying on words, it's better to rely on actions."

Li Rui said lightly.

"Master, I understand."

Liang He was still as humble as ever.

Li Rui habitually put his hands behind his back:

"Let's go, go home."

As a sect of Anning Prefecture, the Huaqing Sect didn't need any procedures to set up a branch in Qinghe.

And because of Jiang Linxian.

Almost didn't encounter any obstacles.

During this period.

Liu Tong also came to the Anning Guard a few times, but later, as there were more and more affairs, he almost didn't come much.

The Li residence was as peaceful as ever.

It wasn't disturbed by external matters.

Li Rui still practiced, flipped through books, and that was all.

"Obeying is human, reversing is immortal; practicing requires reversing the reversal."

A green lamp, holding a yellowed ancient scroll in hand.

Li Rui was focused.

Before, Fu Huan of the Imperial Observatory had promised that after returning to the Imperial City, he would send the notes of the predecessors of the Imperial Observatory to Qinghe.

This morning.

He just received these notes from the fast horse of the post station.

"When a person is born, nature and life are one; after leaving the mother's body, nature and life are divided into two, then experience from young to strong, strong to old, old to sick, sick to die, nature and life go further and further away, so one should nourish Qi and practice the body, reverse Yin and Yang, and return to the original body."

"This is the Primordial Realm."

According to the book, a martial artist must practice their nature and life back to the same degree as in the mother's body, which is reaching the Primordial Realm.

Li Rui was already exploring the path of dual cultivation of nature and life.

These notes could be described as obtaining a treasure.

Being able to innovate on the experience of predecessors was undoubtedly much easier than fumbling around by himself.

"Wonderful!"

Li Rui was more and more fascinated as he read.

At this time, the benefit of high comprehension was reflected; ordinary martial artists all followed the guidance of the cultivation techniques step by step, not daring to have any mistakes.

But Li Rui was different.

He could not only integrate the viewpoints in these notes but also turn some seemingly crazy ideas into reality.

That is to say.

Other martial artists could at most be considered followers, while he was a fellow traveler with these predecessors of the Imperial Observatory.

Not only that.

Although they were notes, they still recorded a large number of discussions about martial arts.

For others, they were useless messy text, but in Li Rui's eyes, they were almost no different from cultivation techniques.

He was just at the time of creating cultivation techniques.

The Dragon Wandering Six Slashes had a total of six moves; relying on his own imagination alone definitely wouldn't work.

But wanting to obtain other cultivation techniques, and they must be high-rank cultivation techniques, the price would be huge.

An ordinary martial artist would be enough to go bankrupt with just one cultivation technique.

Not to mention the situation of Li Rui, who needed to compare thousands of cultivation techniques to create his own martial arts.

For those masters who had achieved great success in martial arts, perhaps it wasn't a problem, but for Li Rui, it was a huge difficulty.

So far, he had only created one move.

It would only get harder in the future.

Now with these notes, the difficulty was solved.

Li Rui watched until late at night.

Then completed the daily required Qi circulation at the Hai hour, then drilled into the quilt and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

When consciousness returned.

He had already appeared on the cloud platform of the dream.

With a thought.

The Imperial Observatory notes he just finished reading appeared in Li Rui's hand.

"Sure enough, as long as it's recorded, it can be simulated by the Great Dream Wandering Immortal."

Li Rui sat on the cloud.

Continued to flip through the notes and scrolls seriously.

In the dream, his thinking speed was even faster than in the outside world, and his ideas for creating martial arts were gushing.

Li Rui flipped through the scrolls faster and faster.

Only hearing the sound of flipping pages, if seen by those dogmatic old scholars in the academy, they would definitely be heartbroken.

At such a fast speed, even the words on the scrolls couldn't be seen clearly; flipping faster was useless.

But Li Rui was an exception.

At this time, he entered a mysterious state; every time a page was flipped, the text on it would automatically enter his brain, miraculous and extraordinary.

Enlightenment in a dream!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 209 =====