Chapter 239: The Fallen Immortal

Zhuang Renhe narrowed his eyes slightly.

'The Blood Shadow Xueying Laozu wants me to find someone who can make this stone light up, and even emphasized that I could make a breakthrough starting from an official named Li Rui?'

'What exactly is it for?'

'I can't figure it out; I really can't figure it out.'

A few days ago, Zhuang Renhe received a handwritten letter from the Blood Shadow Xueying Laozu of the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao; the content was only one thing: find the person who could make the jade light up, and specifically pointed out that he could start with Li Rui.

Then invite that person to the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao.

This word "invite" was very profound.

Zhuang Renhe's understanding of this was that the person could not be dead when they arrived at the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao; translated, it meant capture alive.

Otherwise, there shouldn't be many people in the world who would willingly go to the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao.

'So... could it be him?'

And why?

He had no clue at all. He decided to just ignore everything and capture the person first.

In the courtyard.

Li Rui's form was like a dragon; with a flick of his finger, a giant rock shattered.

Through bitter practice, his martial arts were steadily improving.

Long Chun Gong, the Hammer Qi Technique, plus the immortal Xuan Qi—it was almost the top-tier configuration for nourishing Qi, so his progress was naturally rapid.

It was estimated that in a few years, he would be able to open up his Qi Sea.

He had hopes of stepping into the Sea-Observing Realm.

This speed was even faster than Jiang Linxian, who was hailed as the number one genius of Yunzhou.

What is a prodigy?

This is a prodigy.

Proud?

Not necessarily.

It wouldn't be too late to be proud once it was truly achieved; even with Li Rui's top-tier configuration, he still needed to live until the day he could realize it.

After finishing his saber practice,

Li Rui pushed the door open and walked out of the residence, heading toward the outside of the guard battalion as usual.

Just as he was walking on the road out of the camp,

he happened to see Feng Yu leading people into the barracks.

Li Rui had originally intended to just nod symbolically, but he saw Feng Yu actually take the initiative to walk up to him.

Just as Li Rui was wondering what Feng Yu wanted with him,

Feng Yu spoke:

"Captain Li, have you offended anyone recently?"

Li Rui was stunned, his brows furrowing slightly:

"Why does Magistrate Feng say that?"

Feng Yu was straightforward:

"In the past few days, Zhuang Renhe's subordinates have tried to pay me to investigate your whereabouts and information."

Li Rui was shocked.

"Zhuang Renhe?!"

Zhuang Renhe was investigating him?

Li Rui's heart tightened.

Who was Zhuang Renhe?

He was a secret hand of the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao; for a person from the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao to investigate him, it certainly wasn't a good thing.

Li Rui didn't find it strange that Zhuang Renhe was investigating him.

As far as he knew, it wasn't just Cao Wei who was close to the Divine Weapon Shanzhuang, but also County Magistrate Zhuang Renhe.

His business would inevitably conflict with the trade of the Divine Weapon Shanzhuang.

It was within expectations that Zhuang Renhe would investigate him.

Li Rui's thoughts raced, but his face didn't change much; he smiled at Feng Yu:

"General Feng, why are you telling me this?"

Logically speaking, he and Feng Yu belonged to two different camps.

Although the two sides didn't resort to fighting in the open, small conflicts had never stopped, and their subordinates were constantly competing in secret.

Feng Yu had every reason to easily earn a reward from Zhuang Renhe.

Feng Yu snorted coldly:

"Magistrate Li, you look down on me, Feng, too much."

"What kind of thing is Zhuang Renhe, to dare to deal with a person of my Anning Guard."

"Despicable!"

Li Rui was awestruck.

Loyal!

If one were to say why Feng Yu's reputation in Jiang Linxian's faction wasn't completely ruined, it was precisely because he knew how to act with propriety and wouldn't engage in bottomless internal strife.

Zhuang Renhe was from the government; he was from the Anning Guard.

It was fine for the Anning Guard to mess with itself, but Zhuang Renhe, a government official, wanted to reach his hand into the Anning Guard?

No way!

He, Feng Yu, would be the first to disagree.

He believed Cao Wei would certainly not agree either.

"Little Brother Feng, I'll invite you to drink at Haikou House another day."

When Feng Yu heard this, he rolled his eyes.

"No, we must go to the Drunken Immortal Tower!"

The towering Great Ming City, three thousand palace maids, vermilion walls stretching on, towering palaces, glazed tiles reflecting the sun.

In a corner of the magnificent Jingcheng.

In a small courtyard.

A pretty figure sat alone on a stone stool, her right hand propping up her chin, her brows lightly furrowed.

"Sigh."

"The world says the Jingcheng is good, but they don't know it's just a giant prison."

Yao Xue looked at the magnificent palace not far away and couldn't be happy no matter what; others thought Great Ming City was good, but only those who lived inside knew the oppression here.

Ever since she followed Old Daoist Zhang into the capital,

because of her junior uncle, she had seen too many imperial schemes.

She was already exhausted.

"It would be better to return to nature."

Just then, a young man's voice sounded outside the door: "Senior Sister, look on the bright side; actually, this Great Ming City isn't all that bad."

"Tao Shidi."

Yao Xue turned her head and saw her junior brother, Qu Chengfeng, walking in.

Compared to her, Qu Chengfeng was like a fish in water after entering the capital; this year he even participated in the Autumn Examination and even became the second-place scholar.

It looked like he was going to be a high-ranking official.

It was said that Qu Chengfeng frequently visited the residence of the Minister of Rites to discuss Dao and metaphysics, and it had already been confirmed that he would soon enter the Ministry of Rites as a Vice Minister, directly becoming a Proper Fifth-Rank official.

Yao Xue didn't know if this was good or bad, and she had no ability to stop it.

Ever since Qu Chengfeng suffered a disaster in Qinghe, he had been reborn and completely changed.

"You have changed."

Yao Xue said.

Qu Chengfeng smiled lightly: "People change; Senior Sister, haven't you also changed quite a bit because of that person named Li Rui?"

Speaking of Li Rui, Yao Xue felt a bit dazed.

It had been a long time since she thought of that name.

At first, the two often exchanged letters, but as there were more and more things in the Jingcheng, and they became more and more complicated, she was exhausted just dealing with the things in front of her, so she didn't have the heart to write letters.

"Tao Shidi, what you said is not wrong; we have all changed a lot in Qinghe."

Old Daoist Zhang had said later.

Actually, Qinghe was a place of tribulation he had specially chosen for his three disciples; he and his junior brother Qu Chengfeng had survived the tribulation, while their senior brother had remained there completely.

"Senior Sister, are you still in contact with Li Rui?"

Qu Chengfeng asked.

Yao Xue shook her head: "We haven't been in contact for a long time."

For some reason, she always felt that Qu Chengfeng had mentioned Li Rui quite a few times recently.

'Is it an illusion?'

"Oh."

Qu Chengfeng nodded: "Then I won't disturb Senior Sister."

Walking out of the courtyard.

Qu Chengfeng stood under the vermilion palace wall mixed with cinnabar, lost in thought.

He looked at his fingertips.

A wisp of cyan-colored Qi appeared in his hand; it was precisely that wisp of immortal Qi obtained from Qinghe by the Ghost Gui Ming Jiao.

He raised his other hand.

With a soft hiss,

another wisp of cyan Qi appeared on his other fingertip.

"Prototype of immortal Qi..."

Qu Chengfeng muttered to himself, excitement flashing in his eyes.

"Fallen Immortal!" In the eyes of others, these two wisps of immortal Qi looked no different in essence, but in his eyes, they were vastly different.

"There are other Fallen Immortals in Qinghe."

Qu Chengfeng's gaze became almost scorching.

"So... who exactly is the Fallen Immortal?"

"I really want to meet him."

"Qu Chengfeng became the second-place scholar?"

Li Rui looked at the official gazette sent from the capital, his eyes falling on the three characters 'Qu Chengfeng'.

'Could it be that he really had an epiphany?'

He was quite familiar with Qu Chengfeng and really hadn't seen any talent for being a scholar.

He heard he was going to the Ministry of Rites to be a Vice Minister.

=9+Shu_Ba

Starting at the fifth rank.

When it came to being an official, the difference between people was too great.

He came from a humble background, his background all earned by himself; although his promotion speed was fast, he was only a sixth-rank captain.

But Qu Chengfeng was vastly different.

Not to mention he passed the exam as the second-place scholar, his own talent was good, and his master, the Tower Master of the Immortal-Asking Tower, had become the Supervisor of the Imperial Observatory, a top-five figure in the empire.

With these conditions added together, his starting point was the finish line that many officials could never reach.

Of course.

Li Rui didn't envy him.

There were many officials with high starting points; there was even a child prodigy who became a third-rank official at the age of eighteen, but until he died of old age, he remained a third-rank official.

Conversely,

there were officials whose official careers only improved in their forties or fifties, yet they could enter the cabinet and become important ministers of the court.

Such cases were numerous.

Stability was the key; only then could one walk far.

Li Rui didn't linger on Qu Chengfeng's matter for too long, but continued to read the gazette with relish.

This gazette was an excellent way to understand the major events of the world.

Especially for those storytellers, it was excellent material for weaving stories.

"The City Lord of East Sea City and the Sword Immortal of the Dao Profound Sect have agreed to a duel on the shores of the East Sea..."

"The Northwest Saber King slashed three thousand barbarian cavalry with his saber, shaking the world..."

"Heaven sent auspicious signs to Jiangnan, the Dragon Count was greatly pleased..."

The time for eating melons was always short and happy.

The gazette was only one page, and the content on it was mostly glossed over, at most a hundred words, which was really not satisfying.

Putting down the gazette,

Li Rui took a small wooden box from his bosom.

If viewed from the perspective of the Spirit Eye, it was simply shining with golden light.

Once opened,

a strange fragrance assaulted his nostrils.

The box was full of sixth-rank elixirs, and there were even two fifth-rank ones.

Although the Heaven and Earth Alliance was doing business and had made a lot of money, it couldn't support eating like this every day.

Li Rui could be so wealthy, of course, because he had done the deed of eating the grain of the next month in advance.

In the early stages, of course, he had to prioritize distributing money to those big shots, but now that the business had been running for a long time, Jiang Linxian, Elder Tiekuang, and that Lord of the Dragon Court all found monthly settlements too troublesome, so they had all changed to annual settlements.

Who told the Yu Kingdom to have no technology? Monthly settlements were really a waste of manpower.

Li Rui could just take a portion for himself to use first.

And then make up for it when the time came.

Simply put, it was enjoy first, pay later.

North China!

In the professional terminology of his previous life, it was adding leverage.

Friends who are often in debt know that appropriate debt can actually stimulate motivation.

Just like Li Rui now, he didn't lack elixirs, and his cultivation progress was frighteningly fast.

He took two sixth-rank spirit pills from the wooden box and put them into his mouth.

He earnestly refined and absorbed the medicinal efficacy.

He didn't eat all the elixirs at once, precisely adhering to this principle of frugality.

Even if he was wealthy, he couldn't be wasteful, right?

Li Rui had been accustomed to frugality for most of his life and had no intention of being extravagant after suddenly becoming rich.

Living a life still required careful calculation.

Li Rui meticulously completed his day's cultivation.

Then he crawled into his quilt.

And continued to cultivate.

"Master, do you think Old Man Tie can succeed?"

Liu Tiezhu looked at Elder Tiekuang, who was earnestly forging iron nearby.

Now he had figured it out: this Old Man Tie was truly a hidden expert; although he knew Old Man Tie's temperament, he didn't dare to be careless anymore.

He even knew

that the weapon Elder Tiekuang was pondering day and night was a legendary Immortal Weapon.

That was an Immortal Weapon!

Liu Tiezhu had mastered a Qi-infusion technique and was already excited to the point of not being able to stop.

Old Man Tie was simply inhuman, directly wanting to forge an Immortal Weapon.

As his knowledge grew, Liu Tiezhu knew very well that the last time an Immortal Weapon appeared in the Yu Kingdom was thirty years ago; he had only just been born then.

"Perhaps it is possible."

Li Rui, a layman, of course couldn't give an answer.

Ever since he knew Elder Tiekuang was forging an Immortal Weapon, Elder Tiekuang had simply allowed Li Rui to enter the backyard.

But apart from the two of them, no one else could even think of stepping into the backyard.

Even the people from the Divine Weapon Shanzhuang couldn't.

Ever since Li Rui beat the people from the Divine Weapon Shanzhuang last time, Elder Tiekuang had personally made a trip back to the Divine Weapon Shanzhuang.

And then,

the people from the Divine Weapon Shanzhuang became much more honest and never caused trouble again.

This old man Elder Tiekuang had always been reliable in his actions; otherwise, Li Rui wouldn't have dared to use such a major sect as the Divine Weapon Shanzhuang to establish his authority.

Ever since that incident,

there were many fewer people spying in the city.

After all, the Divine Weapon Shanzhuang had suffered such a big loss and hadn't retaliated; apart from the Eight Great Sects, who else in the city dared to have crooked thoughts about the Heaven and Earth Alliance?

Even the people from the Eight Great Sects had to weigh it carefully.

To put it bluntly, those who came to Qinghe were all migrant workers for the sects; everyone was afraid of people with hard backgrounds.

It wasn't worth it to sacrifice oneself for the sect.

Just as he was thinking,

Elder Tiekuang's hammer suddenly stopped, his brows furrowed tightly, and he muttered to himself:

"Not right."

"Not right..."

Liu Tiezhu was watching with great interest, and Elder Tiekuang suddenly stopping made him feel as uncomfortable as if bugs were crawling all over him.

"Old Man Tie, you should continue; don't stop."

Hearing Liu Tiezhu's words,

Elder Tiekuang snorted coldly: "You lad, you don't know a fart; the artifact spirit has been smashed, and even if it's forged, it won't be an Immortal Weapon, so what's the point of continuing?"

Liu Tiezhu suddenly became interested: "Artifact spirit?"

For Liu Tiezhu, Elder Tiekuang was extremely patient; he explained: "The reason an Immortal Weapon is an Immortal Weapon lies in the artifact spirit; only when the artifact spirit takes shape can the embryo be considered formed."

Li Rui listened from the side.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

Although he didn't understand iron forging, he had read quite a few books on weapon casting in recent days.

'Humans have souls, and weapons also have spirits; the artifact spirit is the soul of the weapon. Only when a weapon has a spirit can it split mountains and fill seas; at its best, it can defend against enemies on its own.'

Elder Tiekuang continued:

"Once the artifact spirit takes shape, the heart blood of a demonic beast is infused, forged, and the beast soul is refined into the weapon to become the artifact spirit."

This was also the reason why he had come to Qinghe.

If one were to speak of the place in the world with the most high-rank beast blood, it would undoubtedly be the Wu Kingdom.

In fact,

most of the money for the Immortal Weapon materials Elder Tiekuang asked Li Rui to purchase had been spent on demonic beast blood; after all, forging an Immortal Weapon required at least the blood of a third-rank demonic beast, so the price was naturally outrageously expensive.

It was only because Li Rui had the connections of Dao Mo that he could get them; otherwise, he wouldn't even be able to get them.

Elder Tiekuang: "Actually, in ancient times, there was another way to forge an Immortal Weapon, and that was to use immortal Qi as a guide."

"Today, the world has changed greatly, and immortal Qi naturally doesn't exist, but some special true Qi can also be used as immortal Qi to forge divine weapons, but such true Qi in the world is too scarce; it is something one can only hope for but not seek."

Just as Elder Tiekuang was speaking,

Li Rui was lost in thought.

"Senior Tie, perhaps I can help you."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 240 =====