Chapter 246: The First Display of Tianmen

"Yes."

Li Rui nodded.

Since they were to assist Dao Mo in suppressing the bandits, entering Wu Country's territory was unavoidable.

Wang Fu looked concerned, not hiding it: "Li Da Ren, Wu Country has been unsettled lately."

He had also heard of the bandits attacking merchant caravans.

In his view,

it was not as simple as mere bandits.

Li Rui glanced at Dao Mo's awkward expression beside him and smiled slightly: "Thank you, General Wang, for the warning. It is my duty to repel enemies beyond our borders; personal matters are small, the state's matters are great."

Upon hearing this, Wang Fu's expression turned solemn.

If officials in the capital heard these words, they would take it as a joke.

But for a general like Wang Fu, guarding the border, the meaning was vastly different.

Li Rui was truly risking his life to honor his promise.

Did they really think, like those big officials in the capital, that beyond Yu Country everything remained gentle and calm?

Wrong.

It is a battlefield!

Wherever there is a battlefield, people die—it is bound to be cruel.

"Li Xiao Wei, you have great righteousness."

Li Rui chuckled.

There was no such thing as "great righteousness of the state."

As he said, it was merely his duty—he had taken the post of Si Mao Xiao Wei, reaped the benefits, and thus bore the risks.

Among all the top officials in the court, not one bore the surname Li.

That meant this man of humble origins had to rely on himself in everything.

Did he get this far by being smooth-tongued and opportunistic?

No—he got here by doing his job seriously.

This was the only truly lasting method; mere flattery was ultimately a castle in the air.

A degree of worldly pragmatism was necessary, but for a man of humble origins to climb upward, he must first possess genuine ability.

The Si Mao Xiao Wei's duty was to maintain trade stability.

Though the trouble now arose within Wu Country's borders, there was no guarantee the bandits wouldn't cross the Ten Thousand Mountains and intrude into Yu Country.

Rather than wait until trouble erupted to respond, it was better to act preemptively.

To seek convenience

would only escalate matters until they became uncontrollable.

To serve as an official well, one must not be lazy.

Sometimes, one must not fear death.

Fear of death makes death more likely.

The logic was simple, but due to instinctive resistance, many chose to be ostriches.

Dao Mo, hearing Li Rui's words, was overjoyed inside.

"I was right not to misjudge Brother Li."

He cleared his throat: "General Wang, rest assured—within Wu Country's territory, as long as I, Dao Mo, am alive, I will not let Li Da Ren come to harm."

As soon as he finished speaking,

Wang Fu's expression turned peculiar.

The words sounded increasingly odd.

Li Rui decided to end the conversation: "Time waits for no one, General Wang. Let us speak again another day."

Wang Fu nodded: "Li Da Ren, take care."

Moments later,

the group crossed Yu Country's checkpoint, passed through Wu Country's checkpoint, and fully entered Wu Country's territory.

Tan Hu and the others had never been to Wu Country before.

Naturally, they were curious.

Along the way, they peered left and right, like wide-eyed children.

After walking about ten li,

Dao Mo led Li Rui and the others to a depression in the Ten Thousand Mountains, where they saw dozens of tents in the distance.

This was the Wu Country encampment for the current bandit suppression operation.

Dao Mo pulled back the flap of the largest tent in the center; inside, the furnishings were extremely simple—just one table and two beds.

As a temporary military tent, it was not luxurious, but practical.

Dao Mo got straight to the point: "Brother Li, those bandits are cunning—they kill and flee, sometimes even abandoning the goods."

Speaking of the bandits,

Dao Mo was filled with rage.

Those bandits were like eels, targeting them specifically, striking and vanishing.

The enemy was hidden; we were exposed.

By the time they arrived, the bandits had vanished into the Ten Thousand Mountains—there was no way to find them.

Li Rui fell silent.

In truth, both he and Dao Mo knew well—it was not bandits at all, but soldiers from Wu Country's rebel forces.

Their discipline far surpassed that of ordinary bandits, making them hard to deal with.

Li Rui gave a mysterious smile.

Elsewhere, he would have been helpless—but here, in the Ten Thousand Mountains, he had his own plan.

"I have a way."

In a hollow of the Ten Thousand Mountains,

deep night.

Unidentified birds chirped intermittently; a wolf's long, piercing howl shattered the stillness.

A group of burly men clad in animal hides sat silently around a fire.

The fire held only scattered embers, no smoke, barely visible flame, yet it maintained warmth.

An experienced mountain dweller could tell at a glance:

this fire had been lit during the day, then carefully replenished with small amounts of pine wood over time to achieve this effect.

In short,

everything was clearly premeditated.

These men remained utterly silent, unnervingly so—nothing like the behavior of bandits.

At that moment,

a faint crunch of dry leaves underfoot echoed through the woods.

An old man slowly rose and turned toward the sound.

"Yuan Gao."

A figure stepped from the darkness, revealing his face—Yuan Gao's lips curled slightly: "Qi Rui."

This "bandit" group was, of course, an army disguised by the Qi clan of the Southern Frontier.

To disrupt the two nations' trade, they even sent Qi Rui, a fifth-rank expert, to lead them personally.

Such a force was far beyond what any merchant caravan could handle.

No wonder Dao Mo had never succeeded.

Qi Rui's face was expressionless: "So what is it you want from me?"

Yuan Gao: "To capture someone."

"Who?"

"Jiang Lin."

"."

Qi Rui's veins bulged—he thought Yuan Gao was mocking him.

Jiang Lin, and alive? That would require at least a fourth-rank expert to even attempt.

Even with Yuan Gao's help, the odds were slim.

One must know one's limits.

Both were fifth-rank, but the gap in combat power was enormous.

Yuan Gao chuckled: "Don't worry—our ancestor has already discussed this with your clan uncle. High-level reinforcements will arrive soon; I'm just informing you in advance."

Qi Rui nodded: "Good."

At that moment, Yuan Gao suddenly remembered something: "By the way, I heard a Yu Country official named Li Rui has entered Wu Country. If you encounter him, capture him alive too—our ancestor needs him."

"Li Rui?"

Qi Rui frowned slightly.

He didn't understand why Yuan Gao wanted to capture that official, Li Rui.

Qi Rui: "What rank?"

"Sixth rank."

"Good."

Hearing it was only sixth rank, Qi Rui paid it little mind—a sixth-rank martial artist could hardly turn the heavens upside down.

A simple matter.

"Brother Rui, then I'll take my leave."

With that, Yuan Gao vanished into the darkness, as if he had never appeared at all.

Two days later.

"Master Qi, Dao Mo still hasn't given up—he seems to have brought a government official from Yu State named Li Rui."

Said a member of the Qi clan.

"Li Rui."

Qi Rui's eyes narrowed slightly. A familiar name.

Right—he was the man Yuan Gao had wanted to capture alive just days ago.

He really came to Wu State.

A flash of cold light passed through his eyes.

He and Dao Mo were old rivals—one sought to protect the trade routes, the other to destroy them; naturally opposed. But Qi Rui, thanks to his advantage of operating in the shadows, had repeatedly gained the upper hand.

Moreover, the Qi clan had planted moles within Dao Mo's army.

Otherwise, how could they always withdraw precisely before Dao Mo arrived?

Qi Rui knew the situation inside the Wu State army inside and out.

"I understand."

Qi Rui waved his hand, lost in thought.

Two figures walked through the forests of the Ten Thousand Mountains.

The Ten Thousand Mountains—truly, it was mountain after mountain.

!.

Endless forest.

No one knew how many refugees from Wu and Yu States lived here, or how countless the demonic beasts.

"Old Brother Li, are you sure we'll find anything?"

Dao Mo, gazing at the increasingly dense thorns, hacked through them with his blade, skeptical.

These past few days,

Li Rui had taken him wandering through the Ten Thousand Mountains every day.

Claiming he was searching for clues.

Is this how you search for clues?

The Ten Thousand Mountains earned their name because the mountains were truly countless, truly vast—anyone entering them was no different from an ant.

To wander aimlessly like this, as we are now, there's no chance of finding anything.

If it were possible, he'd have found it long ago when he led troops here.

A hundred men couldn't find it—now it's just Li Rui and me. Even less likely.

Unless we get lucky.

Li Rui smiled faintly: "Maybe we will."

"I believe you."

Dao Mo kept chopping thorns.

Li Rui said nothing more, merely walked quietly—in truth, he was listening.

"Look, look, two humans!"

"That one looks so fierce."

"Yes, yes."

A chattering voice came from beside his ear.

Li Rui's lips curled slightly.

His peripheral vision caught several sparrows perched on a nearby tree branch, chattering merrily.

They didn't notice Li Rui, the eavesdropper.

Li Rui continuously received "voices" from all directions across the forest.

If anyone were the true master of the Ten Thousand Mountains,

it wasn't the people of Wu or Yu—it was the endless beasts and birds.

After opening the Western Heavenly Gate,

Li Rui gained the ability to understand beast speech.

In Qinghe, it was merely a trivial way to overhear amusing gossip—useless for anything major.

But here, in the Ten Thousand Mountains, this ability became extraordinary.

That band of bandits might fool Dao Mo, but they could never deceive the beasts and birds scattered across these mountains.

Now,

every beast and bird in the Ten Thousand Mountains was Li Rui's eyes and ears.

This was his reason for daring to leave the pass.

Otherwise, with his cautious nature, how could he risk himself so freely? In truth, even when Dao Mo first approached him in Qinghe to explain the situation, he had already devised his plan.

"Young Brother Dao, it seems things have been unsettled lately."

Li Rui glanced sideways into the forest.

Dao Mo followed his gaze.

He saw an old woman digging for vegetable roots with a child of seven or eight.

Far away.

As martial cultivators with heightened senses, they could see clearly—the old woman and child had not noticed them.

Dao Mo sighed softly.

Just by their attire, he knew they were refugees who had fled into the Ten Thousand Mountains from Wu State.

Wu State had just been stabilized, the new emperor ascended the throne.

But internal warfare had not ended.

The Qi clan's demon concubine claimed the late emperor left a verbal decree naming the seventh prince—her own son—as emperor, making the new emperor's legitimacy questionable.

Both sides were locked in fierce conflict.

When immortals fight, mortals suffer.

Some, to escape the war, had no choice but to hide in the mountains, barely surviving as refugees.

Who would willingly enter the Ten Thousand Mountains, surrounded by demonic beasts, unless they had no other option?

Wasn't it that the people outside were even more dangerous than the beasts?

Dao Mo forced a smile: "Forgive me for troubling you, Old Brother Li."

He was powerless to help.

Most Wu State officials, upon seeing these refugees, either killed them on the spot or dragged them off for forced labor—Dao Mo pretending not to see them was already better than most.

As the two spoke,

a cry suddenly rang out from the forest.

Li Rui and Dao Mo turned together.

They saw a beast, half a man's height, gaping with a bloodied maw, forcing the old woman and child to retreat step by step—any moment now, they would die.

Dao Mo frowned slightly.

He was weighing whether to save the grandmother and child.

Then came a swift *whoosh*.

A small pebble shot from his side like an arrow, piercing the beast's swollen belly with a *thwip*, blood gushing out.

"Impressive skill."

Dao Mo's eyes lit up—he saw Li Rui's hand still extended, and knew the pebble had been Li Rui's doing.

Flicking fingers like arrows.

A novel sight.

The beast, in pain, roared and turned, vanishing into the forest.

Li Rui's expression shifted slightly: "Commander Dao, I'll pursue the beast. Wait here for me a moment."

With that,

he leapt like a hawk, vanishing into the forest, gone from Dao Mo's sight.

Moments later,

Li Rui blocked the beast's path.

The wounded beast, seeing Li Rui, instinctively felt fear.

The human before it spoke slowly: "Who injured you before? Where?"

Instantly.

The giant insect's face twisted into a human-like expression of terror.

It's a demon!

I've lived over a decade, and this is the first time I've understood human speech.

"Y-you, don't come any closer!"

The giant insect retreated frantically, ignoring the searing pain in its belly, until it slammed into a massive tree and finally stopped.

Li Rui's expression turned cold:

He had chased down this giant insect precisely because it had just said, "Again, beaten by someone."

In these hundred thousand mountains,

few people can defeat a giant insect—most likely, they're from that bandit gang.

"Speak!"

"If you don't, I'll kill you now and chop you into mince to feed the tigress."

Faced with Li Rui's threat, the giant insect grew even more terrified.

"Ask, I'll tell you everything."

Dao Mo, with nothing else to do and learning the old woman's home wasn't far, simply escorted the elder and the child back.

Unlike certain officials of Wu State,

he had endured hardship in his youth and could better understand these impoverished people.

When they returned to the original spot,

Li Rui had just walked back.

Dao Mo asked: "Is the giant insect dead?"

He hadn't expected Li Rui to be so kind-hearted—saving the girl and eliminating the menace in one go.

Li Rui did not answer, but spoke slowly:

"Brother Dao, there's a traitor among us."

(End of Chapter)