Chapter 222: Old Li, I Keep My Word

"Lord Li."

Dao Mo and Xu Wen in the courtyard saw Li Rui leading teams of Anning Guard soldiers walking into the Trade Office.

Their eyes brightened.

"So how many people did he bring?"

Just when Dao Mo was hopeful, he found that the number of people was less than he expected, and the expression on his face gradually stiffened.

A moment later.

All the Anning Guard soldiers gathered in the courtyard of the Trade Office.

Twelve people in a row.

A total of ten rows.

That is to say, this time the Anning Guard dispatched a total of one hundred and twenty people.

Dao Mo's eyes dimmed.

Although it was twenty more than the one hundred people at the beginning, compared to the two hundred he imagined, the difference was too great.

"Forget it."

Dao Mo boosted his mood again.

Things have come to this, asking for help is not as good as relying on oneself, and he could only be more careful during the escort process.

He was just about to speak.

He heard Li Rui say: "Sorry, it took more time to command those little brats to leave the city just now."

"Little brats?"

Dao Mo and Xu Wen were stunned.

Li Rui explained with a smile: "Two hundred people are too big a target, so I let eighty soldiers leave the city first, lurking in the woods beside the official road, to check the situation in advance."

"It really is two hundred people!"

Dao Mo was overjoyed.

He didn't expect Li Rui to really move two hundred soldiers from the Anning Guard.

You know, this is a full four battalions.

A Garrison Commander only has this many people under his hand.

He took a deep breath and bowed to Li Rui: "Lord Li, thank you."

Li Rui moved to the side, dodging this bow from Dao Mo, and said: "This is my duty."

Dao Mo didn't think so.

The Anning Guard sending troops is a duty, but sending twenty or two hundred, this is quite learned.

This time the Anning Guard could agree to use two hundred soldiers, just because this time the Trade Captain is Li Rui.

He saw it very clearly.

So his favor for Li Rui increased greatly in an instant.

The eyes of the other Witch Kingdom people looking at Li Rui also became much softer.

Xu Wen looked at Li Rui in surprise: "Lord Li, did you really mobilize two hundred people?"

Li Rui nodded: "Although it was a bit troublesome, it was still done."

Xu Wen gasped immediately.

Compared to the Witch Kingdom people, he knew the operating rules of the Anning Guard better; wanting to mobilize two hundred people to leave the city is not just needing Jiang Linxian and Cao Wei's approval, but also needing to report to Annan Town.

A set of processes is extremely cumbersome.

And the two main officials of the Anning Guard have to bear the responsibility for this.

Just thinking about it, you know how difficult it is.

So when Dao Mo made the request for two hundred people, he didn't expect Li Rui to agree at all.

Unexpectedly, it was really done by Li Rui.

"Admire."

Xu Wen said sincerely; he asked himself that if he went to handle it, he definitely couldn't do it.

Li Rui smiled slightly.

For this matter.

He naturally didn't worry less, but worrying alone is useless; the key is the favor Jiang Linxian owed him before.

Otherwise, where would he have such a big face to mobilize two hundred people in one breath.

Why go to such great lengths.

Not just because of Dao Mo's words, but more importantly, the smoke in the Wisdom Eye.

Almost two days after Dao Mo finished speaking, the smoke turned deep red.

Li Rui understood that escorting the merchant caravan was not as simple as imagined; it would likely go wrong and encounter disaster.

And he, as the Trade Captain, had to go, which was his duty.

Change the time of trade or temporarily cancel trade?

That's even more impossible.

The time was set by the Emperor; the Emperor's word is law, and even the Emperor could not easily change it.

Once changed, he would definitely be punished; light would be demotion, heavy would be dismissal.

As for sending stronger experts to sit in town?

Thinking is good, but it's very difficult to operate.

Stronger than Li Rui, that is already the level of Jiang Linxian and Cao Wei, the main officials of the Anning Guard; wanting to invite these two people requires enough reasons.

Li Rui couldn't say he had the Wisdom Eye and could see the crisis, could he?

Being an official always emphasizes making big things small and small things nothing.

Trade between the two countries is the court's business; Li Rui has done his best now, and even if something happens, it won't be him carrying it, but if the Wisdom Eye is exposed and targeted by someone with a heart, then he will have to carry it all himself.

Of course, everything is based on the premise that the color of the smoke has not completely turned black-red, that is, it is still within the scope he can handle.

He is not one of those recluses who don't touch karma, and it's impossible to choose to escape every time he encounters something.

Li Rui opened his mouth and said:

"Lord Dao, Lord Xu, time is running out, then shall we set off?"

It is exactly the month of June.

The willows on both sides of the official road are swaying, a scene full of vitality.

Apart from the merchant caravan for this trade between the two countries and the escorting Anning Guard, no other merchant caravans could be seen on the road.

This is naturally because the county government office had already blocked the official road in advance.

Carriages loaded with heavy goods were driving, and the wooden wheels were creaking under the pressure.

From this, you can see how many goods there are.

The caravan moved very slowly.

Even without riding a horse, walking was enough to keep up with the speed of the caravan.

From time to time, you could hear footsteps coming from the woods beside, which were the Anning Guard soldiers lurking in the dark.

Dao Mo looked at the heads appearing and disappearing in the distance.

Showing a satisfied smile. "Lord Li, I, Dao Mo, owe you a favor."

He looked at Li Rui, who was riding side by side with him, and said.

"Then I won't be polite."

Li Rui laughed.

He used a favor from Jiang Linxian, but got a favor from a Fifth-Rank; although he lost, it seemed not so lost.

Dao Mo is a Fifth-Rank Sea-Observing expert, and with demonic beasts to help, his strength is very strong.

Thoughts rose.

Li Rui looked at the Nine-Horned Silver Lizard under Dao Mo's crotch.

He had once killed a Nine-Horned Silver Lizard, but it was completely incomparable to this one of Dao Mo.

It is rumored that Witch Kingdom martial artists often practice combined attack techniques with demonic beasts; fighting together is tacit, and often can achieve a superimposed doubling effect.

"Lord Li seems very interested in demonic beasts."

=9+Book_Bar

Dao Mo said with a smile.

He noticed Li Rui's gaze falling on the Nine-Horned Silver Lizard under his crotch many times.

Also right.

Taming demonic beasts is very rare in the Yu Kingdom.

Li Rui nodded: "Demonic beasts are fierce, and it's rare to see them so well-behaved."

"This is the art of taming demons of my clan."

"Art of taming demons?"

Dao Mo nodded:

"Actually, it's not as mysterious as outsiders hear; it's nothing more than specific techniques plus drugs, but some drugs are unique to Nanjiang, so the Witch Kingdom has many demon-taming people, while it is rare in other places."

Li Rui found it novel.

Not only him, but even the Anning Guard soldiers walking beside and the Trade Office officials were all pricking up their ears.

Because information about the Witch Kingdom is too little and too mysterious to them.

Dao Mo didn't care.

What he said was common sense for learning to tame demons, no different from the basic explanation of martial arts in the Yu Kingdom; there was no need to hide it at all, it was just that Yu Kingdom people knew too little information about the Witch Kingdom, which is why they felt it was peculiar.

And saying some common sense can pull in the relationship with Li Rui, why not do it.

In Qinghe, it is not easy to find an official like Li Rui who is willing to do good.

"Witch Kingdom martial arts are somewhat different from the Yu Kingdom; they often contemplate demonic beasts to enter martial arts, and there is no specific move; generally speaking, they are mainly based on companion demons."

Companion demons?

Li Rui's interest was even greater.

"When we are born, we are generally taken a drop of fingertip blood, and feed a demonic beast cub with secret methods; the two sides are connected by blood, called companion beasts."

"Generally speaking, martial artists will imitate companion beasts to strengthen their bodies and gain strength."

Li Rui called it an eye-opener.

He didn't expect that the Witch Kingdom had walked a path he had never imagined in the martial arts system.

Dao Mo continued:

"Some Great Witches can even merge with companion beasts to become Great Demon Humans, with strong strength, and one punch can have a force of ten million jin, breaking the limit of the human body."

"Great Demon Human..."

The Evil God Method suddenly rang in Li Rui's mind.

The two seem to have the same effect.

Both are practicing themselves into beings that are both human and demon.

"It seems that the Evil God Method and the Demon-Feeding Method of the Xuan Kingdom should both be derived from Witch clan martial arts."

"It's just that one advocates nature and pays attention to cultivation."

"And one pursues using the power of nature for oneself; a good truth-seeking method was practiced into an evil method."

Li Rui evaluated in his heart.

However, the Evil God Method of the Xuan Kingdom and the Demon-Taming Method of the Witch Kingdom have no difference in high or low; it's just that the paths taken are different.

Both paths have people who have gone very far.

"It's possible to find a way to get a copy of the Demon-Taming Method to see; maybe it can provide some inspiration."

The border between the Witch Kingdom and the Yu Kingdom is a vast forest sea that cannot be seen to the end.

The mountain people nearby call this place the Ten Thousand Great Mountains.

It means that the mountains here are deep enough, dense enough, and there are enough demonic beasts.

It is a human forbidden zone.

Even the most experienced mountain people dare not go deep into the Ten Thousand Great Mountains.

Among the mountains, there is a winding road.

It is the road from the Witch Kingdom to the Yu Kingdom.

There are a total of five such roads, all naturally formed, and later expanded and paved to become roads, which will soon become the merchant roads from the Witch Kingdom to the five major ports of the Yu Kingdom.

Two towering castles stand opposite each other, separating the road.

This is the checkpoint of the two countries.

At this time.

In the deep forest more than ten miles away from the checkpoint, Qi Yu is still dressed in a black robe with a bamboo hat, and there are seven others dressed like him.

They are all Xuan Kingdom people who moved south to the Witch Kingdom in those years.

Even though they have lived in the Witch Kingdom for a thousand years, they still retain the dress of the Xuan Kingdom.

Not used to wearing beast robes.

In fact, not everyone in the Witch Kingdom wears animal skins and drinks blood.

Qi Yu handed a piece of paper densely written with small words to the person beside him:

"This is the defense map of the Anning Guard this time; three days later, the Yu Kingdom merchant caravan will come; prepare an ambush in advance."

Qi Ze finally gave him the defense map.

"Yes!"

That person took the defense map.

Joy appeared in his eyes.

With this defense map, they could avoid the most heavily guarded areas and attack the weak.

Anyway, their goal this time is not the soldiers of the Anning Guard.

As long as all those Witch Kingdom merchants are killed, it counts as completing the task; if all the people in the first trade die, who will dare to do this business in the future.

Just when several people were planning.

Subtle footsteps sounded in the woods on the side.

The next instant.

A lazy woman's voice sounded:

"This slave really doesn't like killing."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 223 =====