Chapter 288: Hall Master Steps Forward

In the night.

Li Rui walked out of the backyard of the Thousand Crane Martial Hall and bowed:

"Hall Master He, I won't disturb you any further."

It was seen.

Hall Master He Qiannian of the Thousand Crane Martial Hall stood smiling under the courtyard gate with his hands behind his back and waved his hand: "By the way, if you see Jiang Linxian, remember to tell him that this old man didn't lose that day, and that half-move will be reclaimed sooner or later."

"Yes, yes."

"Senior is highly skilled in martial arts; it's not necessarily that you are worse than Brother Jiang."

Hearing Li Rui's flattery.

Although he knew it was intentional pandering, He Qiannian was still extremely happy, especially hearing the words "Brother Jiang," and laughed heartily:

"You kid..."

Then he said: "Rest assured, I came to Qinghe with no intention of interfering in business matters; it was just to fulfill a favor for the Marquis."

"Then this junior will take his leave."

After speaking.

Li Rui stepped onto the carriage that had already stopped at the door and slowly disappeared into the dark night.

A moment later.

He returned to the Li Canjun's Prefecture of the Anning Guard.

Just as he stepped inside, he saw Shi Zhou, Zhou Ting, and Bai Jing waiting expectantly, and Li Rui smiled slightly: "Rest assured, Hall Master He has already agreed."

Hearing Li Rui's words, the three of them finally let out a long sigh of relief.

People had been beaten.

But if He Qiannian wanted to settle the score with their three sects, they certainly couldn't bear it, so they had all been guarding the Li Canjun's Prefecture late at night, waiting for the result.

Li Rui said he went to see He Qiannian, and it took a full hour before he returned.

They had almost thought Li Rui had been slapped to death by Grandmaster He.

Never expected that Grandmaster He wouldn't stand on his disciple's side, but instead stood on Li Rui's side.

Shi Zhou couldn't help but be curious: "Li Laoge Li, do you also know Grandmaster He?"

Regarding Li Rui, he knew his background.

Having spent almost his entire life in Qinghe, he truly couldn't understand how he could have gotten to know He Qiannian from the Central Plains.

Li Rui chuckled: "Just a friend of a friend."

A friend of a friend...

The three of them had even stranger expressions.

But since He Qiannian had stepped forward, there were no more worries.

What they feared was the Thousand Crane Martial Hall, not the Return Cloud Sect; He Wanchun was powerful, but their three sects would soon send Primordial martial artists to Qinghe to sit in town, so they truly weren't afraid.

The three of them thought Li Rui had Marquis Yuan's relationship.

Actually, it wasn't so.

Li Rui was able to meet He Qiannian because of Jiang Linxian.

To be precise, it was a piece of news in the gazette.

While others were paying attention to the world martial arts ranking, Li Rui saw that Jiang Linxian had just arrived in the capital and had a fight with someone, and that person was He Qiannian.

He Qiannian finally lost by half a move.

And as soon as he heard the wind, Li Rui had already entrusted Wang Li to copy a file of He Qiannian in Annan Town.

This person was a martial arts fanatic.

Since he was a martial arts fanatic, combined with He Qiannian's various actions after coming to Qinghe, he couldn't help but make a guess; he basically concluded that He Qiannian should be unaware of the monster business.

Everything was the idea of that eldest disciple, Xiao Yu.

But if it were only based on this, wanting to see He Qiannian or even convince the other party would still be impossible.

Beat his disciple and still want him to be happy?

If he were only a Li Canjun of the Anning Guard, or a retainer of the Marquis's Prefecture, He Qiannian would certainly have supported his disciple without thinking.

Therefore, Li Rui's identity when going to see He Qiannian was Jiang Linxian's "old brother," and the reason was that the "younger brother" was reckless, so he came to apologize.

The fact that he was called "old brother" by Jiang Linxian was no secret in Qinghe.

He Qiannian probably knew.

Jiang Linxian's old brother coming to apologize in person had too much attraction for He Qiannian.

Sure enough, he really saw He Qiannian.

And then it was "apologizing" on behalf of Jiang Linxian.

This instantly made Old Man He Qiannian feel so flattered that he was overjoyed, and for a full hour, the corners of his mouth didn't come down.

*Cough, cough. *

After all, he was using Jiang Linxian's face.

The matter was settled just like that.

In the end, it was Jiang Linxian's face that was big, not his, Li Rui's.

He was just borrowing momentum.

The reason Li Rui dared to borrow it, besides the fact that his friendship with Jiang Linxian was indeed deep enough, was also because the bulk of the profits from the monster business were handed over to Jiang Linxian.

Using it a bit was not excessive.

As for why he didn't go to He Qiannian from the beginning.

It was because he had the intention of killing the chicken to warn the monkey.

He just wanted to let the forces in the city see that even the Thousand Crane Shanzhuang had suffered a setback, so other forces would be the same if they came, otherwise the trouble he would face in the future would only be more.

Sure enough.

Ever since the Thousand Crane Martial Hall incident spread, the forces in the city wanting to visit Li Rui had become much fewer.

There was no way.

There was only so much meat.

Li Rui was not an immortal; he had already tried his best to open up the existing trade route. The Great Shaman gave face, but if you kept milking the Great Shaman's face to death, see if the Great Shaman would still give face.

Therefore, he had always controlled the monster business to a suitable degree.

He couldn't control others doing it.

But his path only ate so much, and he wouldn't want any more.

This is called knowing contentment brings happiness.

Li Rui was practicing his blade in the courtyard, and then he saw a figure walking outside the courtyard gate.

"Master, I'm back!"

Liu Tiezhu's voice arrived before he did.

Just as he took the first step into the courtyard, he turned his head to look behind him and said: "Look who I've brought for you."

Then.

He saw a familiar, sturdy old man follow Liu Tiezhu inside.

Elder Tiekuang.

Seeing Elder Tiekuang, Li Rui was delighted: "Senior Tie."

Elder Tiekuang had followed Jiang Linxian to the capital; he had thought that it would certainly be impossible to see Elder Tiekuang for seven or eight years, never expecting to see him again so soon.

Looking at the magnificent mansion.

Elder Tiekuang grinned: "Little Li, you've made something of yourself, becoming a Li Canjun; incredible."

He naturally knew that Li Rui had become a Li Canjun of the Anning Guard.

After arriving in Qinghe.

He first went to the previous blacksmith shop; he had originally thought that after he left, the blacksmith shop would return to its original state, never expecting to run into Liu Tiezhu.

Liu Tiezhu insisted on dragging him to see Li Rui.

Seeing him was fine.

Li Rui hurriedly took two quick steps and bowed before Elder Tiekuang:

"It's all because of Senior's good teaching."

Elder Tiekuang chuckled: "You have good comprehension yourself; it has nothing to do with me."

Although he said so, one could tell by his appearance.

He was happy from the bottom of his heart.

Counting it up, both Li Rui and Liu Tiezhu were half his disciples; the disciples were successful, and the person who taught them was also happy, at least proving that he hadn't taught in vain.

Li Rui then asked curiously: "Senior Tie, has the revenge been taken?"

Hearing about revenge, Elder Tiekuang rolled his eyes:

"Take revenge my foot; that Blood Shadow Xueying Laozu somehow got some fortune, actually broke through, and became a Second-Rank Grandmaster. Fight my foot; even if I gave the Immortal Blade to Little Jiang, it wouldn't be a match."

Li Rui was secretly alarmed upon hearing this. Blood Shadow Xueying Laozu had actually broken through.

Then Elder Tiekuang was afraid that he would have no hope of revenge in this life; looking at Elder Tiekuang's appearance, one could tell he had already accepted his fate.

Placing all his hopes on Jiang Linxian.

After all, the Divine Weapon Shanzhuang had been built for a thousand years without producing a single Second-Rank, which was unprecedented, so he shouldn't put his hopes on his descendants.

Elder Tiekuang hummed: "My nephew said there was no one in the villa and insisted that I, an old man, come to Qinghe to help out, so I had no choice but to come."

Li Rui suddenly realized.

Previously, he had heard Shi Zhou say that the Divine Weapon Shanzhuang was going to send a Fourth-Rank Primordial martial artist to sit in Qinghe; now the monster business had been valued by the sect behind them.

Never expected it to be Elder Tiekuang.

It was truly a coincidence.

Li Rui: "Senior Tie, since you're here, why not stay at my place? I'll send someone to watch over the Divine Weapon Shanzhuang."

Elder Tiekuang looked at Li Rui with a smile that wasn't a smile:

No errors, no omissions, read the content at a glance!

"What's the matter, do you have a blacksmith shop here too?"

A moment later.

Elder Tiekuang looked at the large furnace, iron tongs, and anvil in Li Rui's backyard, all complete, which was clearly the specification of a blacksmith shop.

He was speechless for a time.

"You kid, you really set up a blacksmith shop at home?"

"If Little Jiang knew you turned his mansion into this, he would definitely chop you."

Elder Tiekuang was suddenly amused.

Li Rui grinned: "Iron-clad barracks, flowing soldiers; since I'm this Li Canjun, the mansion is naturally for me to dispose of. Ever since I saw Senior, I've become increasingly fascinated by this forging technique, so I thought about setting up a set at home."

"It's truly 'what is thought of will have an echo'; just after it was built, you came."

Elder Tiekuang glanced at Li Rui:

"You kid, stop talking nonsense to me."

"You've learned the Hammer Qi Method for so long, yet you can't even do a forging, and you have the nerve to say you're fascinated?"

Although he said so, the joy on his face was not concealed at all.

Li Rui struck while the iron was hot: "Tiezhu, why don't you come quickly and light the fire for Senior Tie."

"Alright."

Liu Tiezhu responded, excitedly rolling up his sleeves to light the fire.

Before long.

The sky-high firelight lit up in the backyard of the Li Canjun's Prefecture.

Watching Elder Tiekuang and Liu Tiezhu busy and fiery, Li Rui knew that Elder Tiekuang wouldn't be leaving.

The blacksmith shop in the backyard was naturally not specifically for Elder Tiekuang.

When Elder Tiekuang left, he had determined that he would never return, so why would he spend a lot of effort to invite builders from Yunzhou to build this blacksmith shop?

In fact, this blacksmith shop was built for him to change his own weapon.

As the saying goes, a good horse needs a good saddle.

Hidden Edge was indeed a good blade, but its rank was only Sixth-Rank, which was more or less insufficient for the current Li Rui.

So he thought about building a blacksmith shop and letting Liu Tiezhu forge a blade again.

After Elder Tiekuang's cultivation, Liu Tiezhu now had the foundation to forge a Fifth-Rank blade.

He only lacked the opportunity to practice.

But the blacksmith shop had just been built not long ago, and before he could call Liu Tiezhu, Elder Tiekuang had returned to Qinghe, so Li Rui simply went with the flow.

Now it seemed that Elder Tiekuang was very satisfied with this blacksmith shop.

At least he had no intention of leaving in the short term.

Of course, Li Rui was not so arrogant as to think that the blacksmith room he invited people to build was better than the Divine Weapon Shanzhuang's, and could keep Elder Tiekuang, the number one weapon caster in Yunzhou.

In the end, it was Elder Tiekuang himself who didn't want to see those people from the Divine Weapon Shanzhuang.

He preferred staying at Li Rui's house.

The blacksmith room was just a step for Elder Tiekuang.

Li Rui walked out of the backyard with a smiling face.

Elder Tiekuang living in his house was not only an extra god of war for the Anning Guard, but after staying for a long time, Li Rui could also thicken his face and ask Elder Tiekuang to forge a handy weapon, right?

The abacus had long been clattering.

Daring to "calculate" like this was, of course, because his relationship with Elder Tiekuang was close enough.

Otherwise, Elder Tiekuang wouldn't have given up the sect's territory and run to his Li Canjun's Prefecture.

Spring went and autumn came.

The war in the Wu Kingdom fluctuated, and now there were signs of calming down.

The war gradually ceased, and trade between the two countries became hot again.

The figures of merchants from other places on the streets of Qinghe became more and more numerous, a scene of vitality.

Li Residence, under the pavilion.

Ning Zhongtian and Li Rui leaned on the lounge chairs, leisurely and contented.

"Comfortable."

Ning Zhongtian comfortably rested his head on his arm, and the cool autumn breeze blew, sweeping away the last trace of heat.

The only fly in the ointment might be the sound of blacksmithing that rang out from time to time.

"Li Laoge, you are truly amazing; the Great Elder of the Divine Weapon Shanzhuang doesn't go to his own home but moves into the Li Canjun's Prefecture."

The Li Canjun's Prefecture rang with clanging sounds every day; this matter naturally couldn't be hidden.

Li Rui didn't intend to hide it either.

Even on the day Elder Tiekuang moved into the prefecture, he sent someone to find Shi Zhou.

Shi Zhou came, was scolded by Elder Tiekuang, and left again.

After that, he never dared to ask again.

Elder Tiekuang moving into his mansion had long spread in Qinghe, leading to much discussion.

As time passed.

It gradually became commonplace.

The people of Qinghe took this matter as another important proof of Instructor Li's personality charm.

The autumn sky was crisp and clear.

The autumn sky looked higher than at other times.

Ning Zhongtian looked at the azure sky and remembered one thing: "By the way, Li Laoge, is the Autumn Hunt coming soon?"

Li Rui nodded: "Hmm."

Hearing this.

Ning Zhongtian immediately sat up straight, his eyes shining as he looked at Li Rui: "Li Laoge, I heard that our Yunzhou is also going to hold an Autumn Hunt?"

Li Rui smiled slightly: "The Marquis has this intention."

The Yu Kingdom was founded on martial arts.

The Taizu Emperor imitated the Great Hunt of the previous dynasty and set the beginning of autumn as the day of the Great Hunt, so the folk had the saying of the Autumn Hunt.

All the imperial relatives and some important officials followed the Holy Lord to the Tiannan Hunting Ground, eight hundred miles outside the capital, to inspect martial arts and go hunting.

That was a great opportunity for young talents to show their martial arts.

Marquis Yuan was enfeoffed, according to the rites.

Although he didn't need to rush ten thousand miles to the Tiannan Hunting Ground, he still needed to hold an Autumn Hunt in his fief to show his loyalty to the Dragon Court.

In a similar situation to the Annan Marquis was the Duke of Wei.

Besides them, other princes and nobles lived in the capital and naturally followed the Holy Lord to the Tiannan Hunting Ground.

If the Martial Examination was an opportunity for martial artists from humble backgrounds, then the Autumn Hunt was a great opportunity for nobles and military officials.

Otherwise, why would Ning Zhongtian be so concerned?

Ning Zhongtian asked again: "Then has the place for the Autumn Hunt been decided?"

Li Rui shook his head:

"This matter still needs to wait for the Marquis's decision."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 289 =====