Chapter 295

Qingzhou, Prefectural Government Office.

"That old jiao was killed by Yuan Dingting?"

Qu Chengfeng's expression was not good; it could even be said to be extremely gloomy.

"It didn't die; I heard it fled to the South Sea."

The beautiful woman said softly, her voice like that of a lark; in Li Rui's past life's terms, she was a 'clinger'.

"I know, you may go."

Qu Chengfeng nodded.

Seeing this, the woman curled her lips and slowly retreated. As the door creaked, silence returned.

Qu Chengfeng was thoughtful.

'Coincidence?'

'Or intentional?'

That jiao on the verge of transforming into a dragon was originally a hidden hand he had planted, but he didn't expect it to be crippled by Yuan Dingting just like that.

Rumors outside.

Said it was a birthday gift for Yuan Dingting's youngest son, to build a foundation with dragon energy.

But Qu Chengfeng always felt it wasn't that simple.

"Damn it!"

He cursed lowly and looked at his own physical body with disgust.

Weak.

It was simply too weak.

If he exerted his cultivation even slightly, this body might crumble; if his aura leaked out then, it would be troublesome.

"Forget it, restoring my cultivation is the priority."

A thought arose.

Qu Chengfeng took a crystalline jade stone from a box on the side.

"Almost there."

The corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

The world only knew that a Spirit Testing Stone could test for spirit roots, but almost no one knew that if one nurtured it with immortal energy, it could actually be used to improve spirit roots.

Of course.

In the past, immortals wouldn't use immortal energy to nurture someone's spirit roots, and the boost to spirit roots wasn't significant either.

It was a thankless task that wasted time and effort.

But now, spiritual energy in this world was scarce, so even Qu Chengfeng had to exhaust every means to improve his spirit roots.

Nurturing the Spirit Testing Stone was one of them.

As long as he could find a way to upgrade this body from a middle-grade spirit root to a high-grade one, many methods could be employed.

'Spiritual energy is almost non-existent; this is truly difficult to handle.'

Qu Chengfeng was chosen as a vessel not only because it was compatible with him, but also because he was one of the few people in this world who possessed middle-grade spirit roots.

Middle-grade spirit roots weren't actually rare, but in this world, they were already hard to find.

'Must improve spirit roots as soon as possible.'

Qu Chengfeng's heart sank at the thought of those few lunatics.

Once he became a high-grade spirit root.

He would no longer need to hide like this.

Early morning.

Li Rui woke up from the Dreamland Cloud Terrace and stretched comfortably.

He pushed the door open.

And saw the willow tree in the courtyard had sprouted tender buds, the greenery extremely pleasing to the eye.

'Another spring.'

Li Rui's mouth turned up slightly.

Since entering the Rising Phase of the Sea-Observing Realm, his cultivation speed had clearly slowed down, but compared to his previous speed of one rank per year, it was still terrifyingly fast.

The higher the realm, the longer it takes to break through.

This is common knowledge in the Jianghu.

If someone were truly getting faster and faster, they would likely be an Immortal King reincarnated.

Walking down the stone steps.

He happened to see Yang Yong strolling over.

"Old Yang, can't sleep again?"

Li Rui greeted him with a smile.

Yang Yong put his hands on his hips and groaned: "Don't mention it, can't sleep, simply can't sleep."

"Seventy years old, it's like that."

Li Rui was very familiar with this.

Yang Yong couldn't help but sigh: "Old Li, tell me, when we were at the Zhu family back then, we thought about sleeping in every day; I still remember one time I slept in and was whipped several times by that dog of a steward, Zhu."

"Now I can sleep, no one is bothering me..."

Yang Yong chuckled: "Damn it, and now I can't sleep; tell me if that's not infuriating."

Li Rui patted Yang Yong: "Nothing to be done about it; time spares no one."

Upon hearing this.

Yang Yong was so angry he pushed away Li Rui's arm, looking at Li Rui's head of hair, which was becoming less white and more black, and his anger flared:

"Get lost!"

"You must not die before me, otherwise I will definitely find a few women to dance at your grave."

Li Rui laughed: "Old Yang, you fellow, why are you getting angry?"

While speaking.

The courtyard became lively.

Wang Zhao cooked meat porridge and brought it over; Liu Tiezhu ran over smelling the meat.

First, he filled a bowl and brought it to Old Man Tie.

Then the four of them sat in a circle, eating sweetly.

After finishing the meat porridge.

Li Rui, as a Li Canjun, had almost nothing to do; who told him he wasn't an Assistant Regional Commander? He almost didn't need to care about the daily affairs of the Anning Guard, just exercise his supervisory duties well.

He first patrolled the Anning Guard.

Then he went to the Tiandi Alliance.

Compared to his predecessor, Lord Jiang, whom one could almost never see, Lord Li was actually very dedicated.

Nothing to be done.

Being a Li Canjun is just like that.

If a Li Canjun handled everything personally every day, wouldn't that be like a referee entering the game to play? The Imperial Court wouldn't be happy then.

Of course.

To say Li Rui had absolutely nothing to do would be to wrong him.

A Li Canjun's affairs are small, but the responsibility is huge.

Whatever happened in the Anning Guard, he, the Li Canjun, would certainly be held accountable.

He looked leisurely.

But his subordinates were not; Ning Zhongtian and Lu Jun had plenty to do.

Any movement in the Anning Guard would be delivered to his hands that same day.

Li Rui only discovered after taking over that Jiang Linxian was a master of intelligence; there were dozens of spies on the surface, and over a hundred in the shadows.

The predecessor plants the trees, the successor enjoys the shade.

Naturally, he didn't need to be too tired.

Half an hour later.

Li Rui arrived at the gate of the Tiandi Alliance; it was the same as ever.

The 'One Alliance, Two Gangs, Three Families' had long become old news; even the younger generation in Qinghe didn't know what this 'Two Gangs, Three Families' was.

'I heard the leader of the Blood Tiger Gang was slapped to death by a spoiled brat from a major sect a few years ago, and the Blood Tiger Gang scattered.'

'The Broken Blade Sect seems to have moved to Anning Prefecture.'

'The Three Families... there have long been no Three Families.'

Only the Tiandi Alliance remained prosperous. Qinghe was no longer the Qinghe of the past; the strongest of the Two Gangs and Three Families were only Seventh-Rank.

Seventh-Rank, in today's Qinghe, if you threw a brick, you could hit several.

Strength is the foundation.

If the Two Gangs and Three Families lacked strength, they were destined to become yesterday's flowers; being able to retreat unscathed was already a great blessing.

In fact, if the Tiandi Alliance didn't have Li Rui, even if it could survive, it would only be a third-rate force.

"Alliance Leader." *n

The guards at the gate bowed respectfully to Li Rui.

Their young faces were filled with admiration.

The previous guards had heard they were transferred to the inner hall, and they had been replaced batch after batch; they were no longer the old faces from when Li Rui first entered this gate, but his name was already known to everyone in the Tiandi Alliance.

Soon.

He arrived at the Justice Hall.

He saw Liang He and Liu Tong discussing something.

【No errors, all content checked!】

"Master."

"Alliance Leader."

Seeing Li Rui, the two turned and bowed.

"No need for so many formalities with me."

Li Rui waved his hand; he said this every time, but the two still bowed as usual.

"Master, we are discussing whether to go to Yunzhou to open up trade routes."

Liu Tong spoke: "Alliance Leader, our demon beast business is already being watched by too many people; a slight carelessness and everything will be lost. We need to plan early; we can't hang ourselves on one tree."

Liang He said:

"What kind of place is Yunzhou? Experts gather there; it's far from comparable to Qinghe. A slight mishap there would be a massive disaster."

Li Rui listened.

The two were arguing over whether to go to Yunzhou.

These two had now both broken through to the Seventh Rank.

They had become the pillars of the Tiandi Alliance.

He, the Great Alliance Leader, didn't care about small matters, and Ning Zhongtian was busy with Anning Guard affairs most of the time, so the big and small matters in the alliance were decided by the two of them.

As for the other Alliance Leaders.

Huang Chui knew he wasn't as good as the two juniors, Liu Tong and Liang He, so he took the initiative to step back and focus on trade.

Old Man Fei was far away in Anning Prefecture and rarely returned.

Ge Hong, like Li Rui and Ning Zhongtian, held a position in the Anning Guard and had no time for other things.

The situation was subtle.

But Liang He and Liu Tong handled things extremely well.

Now there was already talk of 'Little Alliance Leaders' in the Tiandi Alliance, referring to the two of them.

Li Rui laughed.

"Let's not talk about business first; I'm thirsty, bring some tea."

As he spoke.

He sat down on his own.

Seeing this, Liang He and Liu Tong had to busy themselves making tea.

Li Rui looked at the two with a smile.

The reason he chose Liang He and Liu Tong as his right and left arms in the Tiandi Alliance was because their personalities complemented each other.

Liang He was steady, Liu Tong was enterprising.

This made it less likely for things to go wrong, while also strengthening the Tiandi Alliance.

After drinking tea, Li Rui spoke slowly: "I have already thought about this matter. In a few days, people will come from Yunzhou. When that time comes, Little Liu, you take some people with you; consider it an advance contact. Remember, don't mention the word 'business'; just make more friends."

Liu Tong was overjoyed: "The Alliance Leader agrees?"

Li Rui smiled: "Whether this succeeds or not depends on you."

"Alliance Leader, rest assured."

Liu Tong patted his chest loudly.

Seeing that Li Rui had already spoken, Liang He didn't say anything more.

When the master acts, the apprentice just listens.

He could certainly expand the Tiandi Alliance's business to Yunzhou, but he couldn't do everything himself, so he had to choose a reliable person.

Liang He was steady but not good at socializing.

Liu Tong was the opposite.

So during this time, he had deliberately let the two argue about this matter.

To let Liu Tong clarify his thinking, and at the same time suppress his arrogance, so Liu Tong wouldn't get too carried away.

He, the Great Alliance Leader, seemed to have it easy.

But the effort he put in was actually not small.

Besides the people inside the Tiandi Alliance, there were more people outside; if he didn't manage the relationships, Liu Tong's trip to Yunzhou would definitely hit walls everywhere.

And all of this.

Had to be built on the foundation of strength.

Military officers generally have more confidence than civil officials precisely because they have martial arts.

This is the foundation and must not be neglected.

Liu Tong, having obtained Li Rui's agreement, ran off excitedly to prepare.

Only Li Rui and his apprentice Liang He were left in the Justice Hall.

Li Rui took a sip of tea and looked at Liang He: "Why, do you feel aggrieved that Master helped Little Liu and not his own apprentice?"

Liang He shook his head with a smile:

"Master's actions naturally have Master's reasons."

"And Brother Liu is more suitable to go; I was just deliberately suppressing him."

Hearing Liang He's words, Li Rui laughed: "Not bad, you've grown."

Ever since Liang He became the acting Alliance Leader, he looked more and more like an Alliance Leader.

This was very good.

Liang He, as his eldest apprentice, didn't need to do the work of expanding territory, but he must be steady, or rather, his mind must be broad; otherwise, how could he tolerate people, know people, and use people?

The previous Liang He still had shortcomings.

Now he could be considered to have the look of an eldest apprentice.

Li Rui drank the tea in his cup:

"Alright, I have things to do, I'll be going."

After today.

There would be no need to come to the Tiandi Alliance every day.

In the courtyard.

Li Rui's demeanor was relaxed, his legs standing firmly on the ground like a pair of pillars, resembling a mountain, unshakable.

A long blade swung slowly.

Between every move and style, there was an infinite charm, making it a pleasure to watch.

Wang Zhao and Yang Yong were the regular audience.

Besides the two.

Elder Tiekuang also brought Liu Tiezhu, appearing in the front yard, which was rare.

"Is this brat's blade technique about to break through?"

Elder Tiekuang saw Li Rui's situation at a glance.

"What a brilliant blade technique!"

His eyebrows jumped slightly, somewhat surprised.

If he knew that Li Rui had once been praised by Yuan Dingting as the best blade technique in Yunzhou, perhaps he wouldn't have been so surprised.

"Qi rises like a dragon dancing, force sinks like an elephant stepping, yin and yang intertwine, the roar shakes the spirit, dragon and elephant combine, all things return to one."

Li Rui whispered.

This was the cultivation mantra of the final realm of the Dragon-Elephant True Origin Force, the "Dragon-Elephant Force."

Qi and blood surged, the whole body like a treasure furnace refining the physical body.

A full half-hour passed.

The qi and blood in his body finally reached a certain critical value.

"Dragon-Elephant Force, complete."

(End of chapter)