Chapter 296

"Done."

Elder Tiekuang's mouth turned up slightly, looking at Li Rui's already released qi and blood; even he was secretly shocked.

'What a domineering cultivation technique.'

'The rank of this technique is not low.'

Although he couldn't see the path, one thing was certain: the technique Li Rui practiced was extremely extraordinary.

In Elder Tiekuang's opinion.

It should be a technique Li Rui obtained in Annan Town in exchange for military merit; military martial arts have always been domineering, emphasizing the external over the internal, which perfectly matched the terrifying external force Li Rui was showing now.

He saw Li Rui lift the long blade, the blade momentum slow, seemingly without any lethality, yet there was faintly a low sound of wind and thunder.

It was enough to show the infinite giant force contained within.

Seeing such a miraculous scene, Liu Tiezhu, Wang Zhao, and Yang Yong looked at each other.

Simply heaven-defying!

'Dragon-Elephant Force...'

Li Rui carefully felt the surging qi and strength in his body; at the moment of breakthrough, qi and blood surged, and his strength increased by more than three times.

The Dragon-Elephant True Origin Force was originally good at increasing qi and strength.

Li Rui's physical strength now could even rival those born with a diamond body of the same rank.

Martial path, sinews and bones are the foundation.

In the Jianghu, there are countless grandmasters of external arts; the most famous is the God of War of the Barbarian Clan, who could crush an army with just his physical body, and others like the Holy Monk Lingshu of the Wanfa Temple, who practiced to the realm of diamond-like indestructibility; it is said that he was hacked and chiseled by ten thousand people and his body remained unharmed, blocking a city by himself.

Sinews and bones are not everything, but undoubtedly extremely important.

Li Rui's bone structure had now entered the top tier of the same rank.

Even a grandmaster like Elder Tiekuang, who focused on physical training, was secretly shocked.

"Hmm?"

Li Rui gave a light sound of surprise.

He suddenly realized that this Dragon-Elephant Force seemed slightly different from what was described in the technique.

To be precise, it had a bit more sharpness.

The Dragon-Elephant True Origin Force followed the path of great simplicity, focusing on increasing qi and strength, but Li Rui's Dragon-Elephant Force had gained a sharp intent of slaughter.

'It's the Military Saint's true intent!'

He understood instantly.

The Military Saint's true intent he had comprehended in the Qinghe hunting grounds was finally showing its effect.

This trace of sharpness.

Gave Li Rui an extra ten percent of combat power out of thin air.

Don't underestimate this ten percent.

The boost of the Military Saint's true intent is all-encompassing; as long as the technique realm breaks through, it can increase, and cumulatively, it is an incredible number.

Just as Li Rui was rejoicing—

A wild wind struck.

He saw Elder Tiekuang's large hand imprint onto Li Rui's chest; everything happened too suddenly, and Liu Tiezhu and the others couldn't even react in time.

Bang!

A muffled sound.

Li Rui's legs seemed rooted in the earth, and he stood motionless after taking Elder Tiekuang's palm strike.

"Physical Little Jin Gang?"

"Very good!"

"To be able to take thirty percent of my palm force, you brat's physical body is truly practiced to perfection."

Seeing Li Rui was completely fine, Elder Tiekuang burst into loud laughter.

Just now, he was deliberately testing Li Rui's physical body.

Li Rui: "Thank you, Senior, for testing my moves."

'Thirty percent.'

This was thirty percent of a Primordial martial artist, and Elder Tiekuang was not an ordinary Primordial, but a Primordial Great Perfection; its weight could not be mentioned in the same breath as a breakthrough to Primordial.

For Li Rui to be in the middle of Sea-Observing and easily take a palm strike from Elder Tiekuang was already incredible.

In Sea-Observing.

There were probably very few whose physical bodies were stronger than his, and even fewer who could take a palm strike from a Primordial.

"Truly, the younger generation is to be feared."

Elder Tiekuang looked at Li Rui with appreciation.

If it weren't for the fact that Li Rui was already an official and had become an instructor for the Marquis's Prefecture, he would have liked to let Li Rui be an elder at the Divine Weapon Shanzhuang; he would definitely become a pillar of the Divine Weapon Shanzhuang in the future.

Not to mention anything else.

He, and that Sect Master nephew of his, didn't have Li Rui's current aura when they were in Sea-Observing.

The Divine Weapon Shanzhuang was already a major sect in Yunzhou.

Even the Sect Master and Great Elder of the Divine Weapon Shanzhuang were surpassed by Li Rui, showing the terror of his potential.

"You brat, must not die halfway; I'm already impatient to see you turn Yunzhou upside down."

Elder Tiekuang laughed loudly.

Moreover, he felt the probability of that scene appearing in the future was very high.

People like Li Rui are really hard to kill.

Otherwise, why say 'a scourge lasts for a thousand years'?

Li Rui was speechless.

He didn't expect that even though he was over eighty, he could still hear someone praise him as a 'younger generation to be feared.'

As for turning Yunzhou upside down... that was even more nonsense.

He was just an honest man.

He just wanted to cultivate immortality quietly and had no thoughts of stirring up the winds and clouds.

'Yunzhou...'

Looking back.

After burying his head for more than ten years, he had finally stepped into a different level, from a county to a prefecture, and now even the Great Elder of the Divine Weapon Shanzhuang, the leader of a state, praised him highly.

'I've really made something of myself.'

Once his realm reached above the Fifth Rank, there would be more and more people of his age.

Elder Tiekuang was already over two hundred years old; calling him a 'younger generation' didn't seem to be a problem at all.

'I must get used to being called a genius from now on.'

Thinking of this, Li Rui couldn't help but smile lightly.

A true late-blooming genius.

After testing the moves.

Elder Tiekuang called Liu Tiezhu to continue back to the forging shop in the backyard and continue to get busy.

In the blink of an eye, another half month passed.

"Lord Li, this is a letter from Mr. Wang for you."

A young student from the Marquis's Prefecture respectfully handed the letter to Li Rui.

"Thank you."

While taking the letter.

Li Rui said to the young man: "How is Brother Wang doing lately?"

"The teacher is doing very well and specifically instructed me to ask how you are on his behalf."

"Brother Wang is thoughtful."

While speaking.

Liu Tong walked over.

Seeing Liu Tong appear, Li Rui smiled slightly: "I'm getting old, my body isn't what it used to be. Little Liu, you young people have things to talk about; take this little brother to walk around Qinghe properly."

"Yes, my lord."

Liu Tong bowed respectfully.

Then he led the young student brought by the Marquis out of the Li Canjun's Mansion with a grin.

As for why Liu Tong wasn't at the Tiandi Alliance but at the Li Canjun's Mansion.

Of course, it was Li Rui's arrangement.

That's right, this young student was the person Li Rui was waiting for; he had agreed with Wang Li back in the Qinghe hunting grounds that both sides would send people to communicate every month.

Counting the days, it was about this time, which was why he had called Liu Tong from the Tiandi Alliance to the Li Canjun's Mansion.

Afterwards.

Liu Tong would follow the young man north to Yunzhou.

This was the opening Li Rui had designed.

With Wang Li, a guest of the Marquis's Prefecture, as an endorsement, it wouldn't be difficult for Liu Tong to break into Yunzhou.

Wang Li's status wasn't bad, but it definitely couldn't be considered noble.

So Liu Tong's actions in Yunzhou would depend entirely on his own ability; relying on Wang Li's endorsement would be useless. Hmm, it was about medium difficulty.

With Li Rui's connections in Yunzhou, it wasn't that he couldn't find a bigger backer for Liu Tong.

But that would only harm Liu Tong and the Tiandi Alliance.

If Liu Tong could make a name for himself in Yunzhou under these circumstances, it would prove himself, and only then would Li Rui dare to let Liu Tong do business in Yunzhou with peace of mind.

Otherwise, everything is off the table.

Doing it would just be a losing business, and might even provoke big shots who shouldn't be provoked.

Watching the backs of the two young men disappear completely.

'The Music Bureau?'

'Or the Drunken Immortal Tower?'

'Forget it, those are places for us old fogies to play; young people should play more extravagantly.'

【No errors, all content checked!】

Li Rui shook his head with a smile.

Only then did he look at the letter Wang Li sent from Yunzhou.

Ever since the Qinghe hunting grounds, the two of them had become firm allies, not only because their personalities were compatible, but also because they recognized each other's abilities; with the two working from inside and outside, things would be much more convenient.

The letter was long.

It was thousands of words long.

Most of it was about things inside the Marquis's Prefecture.

In Yunzhou, the Marquis's Prefecture was the undisputed hub; if one didn't understand the movements inside the Marquis's Prefecture, one would be blind.

This was roughly the same as being an official in Zhili but not knowing the situation inside the Imperial Palace.

Soon.

Li Rui noticed one thing mentioned in the letter.

'The border of the Wu Kingdom is unstable; the Marquis intends to send his adopted sons to various parts of Yunzhou to guard the border.'

Guard the border?

Li Rui was startled.

This measure was undoubtedly a top-tier major event for the Yunzhou border.

'Turmoil has been rising in the Wu Kingdom lately; it might indeed affect Yunzhou.'

Didn't you see that Dao Mo and Xia Xiaotang hadn't been to Qinghe for a long time?

It was because of the war in the Wu Kingdom.

The Qi clan united with the Eight Great Demon Lords to stand against the Wu Kingdom's Imperial Court along the Ten Thousand Mountains line, occupying one-fifth of the Wu Kingdom's cities.

The Wu Kingdom's Imperial Court had launched multiple punitive expeditions without success.

And unlike the Wu Kingdom's Imperial Court's ambition to unify the country, the Seventh Prince supported by the Qi clan was content to stay in a corner, like a turtle shell—unable to be picked up, unable to be smashed—and was called 'Eastern Wu' by the people of the Yu Kingdom to distinguish it from the orthodox Wu Kingdom.

According to reports from spies.

Eastern Wu had been frequently moving troops on the Yu-Wu border recently and had even appeared to plunder merchant caravans.

Marquis Yuan was doing this to prevent the kind of shameful city-attacking incidents from happening again.

The eight adopted sons were all ruthless characters.

Only by guarding the border could peace be ensured.

'An eventful autumn.'

Clang, clang, clang!

The crisp sound of forging iron rang out in the backyard.

"Senior Tie, is it nurtured already?"

Li Rui looked at the highly motivated Elder Tiekuang.

Elder Tiekuang answered decisively: "No."

"..."

Li Rui was speechless for a moment.

Today, Elder Tiekuang suddenly told Liu Tiezhu to call him over, saying he wanted to forge an Immortal Weapon, but when he arrived, things seemed different from what he had imagined.

Elder Tiekuang: "Sitting still all the time won't nurture a hammer's worth of spirit; just get to work."

"Don't talk nonsense, channel your true qi in."

Seeing this, Li Rui nodded immediately.

Having the experience of forging an Immortal Weapon last time, this time he was much more familiar with the process, and his Immortal Xuan Qi's rank was far superior to before.

Instantly.

Purple-gold light shrouded the entire forging shop.

'Good fellow.'

Elder Tiekuang felt Li Rui's powerful true qi, his eyebrows arching slightly.

Truly a great dual cultivation of internal and external.

He knew Li Rui's true qi was special, but he didn't expect that in such a short time, Li Rui's true qi would have a qualitative difference, its rank so high it was terrifying.

The key is.

Li Rui's physical body was also terrifying.

'Truly ghostly; how did Yunzhou raise these two monsters, him and Jiang Linxian?'

Jiang Linxian went to the capital.

The world thought that from then on, he would settle down for a period.

Wrong.

Very wrong.

Jiang Linxian went to the capital and still lived up to his reputation as the Sword Immortal of Jiangdong, beating the geniuses of the capital until they cried out one by one.

Now it seemed Li Rui would be about the same in the future.

A grandmaster of internal and external cultivation... tsk, tsk, just thinking about it is scary.

Who was the last one?

Hmm, that City Lord Gao of East Sea City.

As Li Rui's Immortal Xuan Qi was injected into the furnace, the red-hot divine iron gradually began to change.

Elder Tiekuang's forging hammer also fell just right.

Precisely hammering Li Rui's Immortal Xuan Qi into the divine iron.

It wasn't just Li Rui; he had also improved a lot during the last forging of the Immortal Weapon.

But forging is not something that can be guaranteed just by having enough experience.

All things have spirits.

Weapons are the same.

Before, he held his breath, his spirit at its peak; now that breath had leaked, and even if his skills had improved, it was hard to cover up the lack of spirit.

This is the same principle as the martial path: if you don't advance, you retreat.

If you climb upwards all the way, everything will go smoothly, but once there is a slowdown, or even a downward trend, there is no turning back.

There are too few who can go against the trend on the martial path.

Looking at the heroes of the world.

They all advanced triumphantly to achieve the realm of a grandmaster.

What is needed is that breath.

Only half a quarter of an hour passed.

Elder Tiekuang sighed lightly and put down the hammer in his hand:

"This iron is wasted; I need to rest for a few days, you go back first."

He waved his hand.

Staring seriously at the blade embryo in the iron furnace that was almost taking shape.

Li Rui retreated silently.

He didn't understand forging and just needed to focus on being his true qi blower.

The key to forging an Immortal Weapon now was Elder Tiekuang himself.

Li Rui couldn't help.

If the breath in the heart is leaked, no one can help; one must save oneself.

Outside Qinghe, on the official road.

Clip-clop, clip-clop.

The sound of hurried horse hooves rang out, and several men covered in armor, filled with murderous intent, galloped on the official road.

"Are those people from Annan Town?"

A young man from a merchant caravan said.

Slap!

Just after speaking, he was slapped hard on the back of the head by a burly man behind him.

"Brat, keep your eyes open when walking the Jianghu; these are people from the Annan Marquis's Mansion. If you provoke these masters, we'll all be finished for several lifetimes."

The young man widened his eyes.

In disbelief:

"Annan Marquis's Mansion!"

(End of chapter)