Chapter 300: Demonstrating Might on the Training Ground

A wave of uproar erupted!

The soldiers of Anning Guard never expected Hong Meng to directly challenge Li Rui.

What is Li Rui's status?

He is the Assistant Regional Commander of Anning Guard.

The War God of Qinghe!

Generally, sparring in military camps is limited to soldiers and junior officers; Li Rui, as the commanding officer of Anning Guard, is certainly not ordinary.

Commanding officers rarely engage in open combat, for winning brings no glory, and losing means utter disgrace.

It undermines authority.

This is nearly a consensus among all senior commanders.

Fists and feet have no eyes—once you step onto the field, there must be a winner and a loser.

Losing would be too costly.

Li Rui slightly narrowed his eyes.

'So this is aimed at me.'

He saw at a glance that today's setup was entirely Hong Meng's doing, meant solely to target him.

Ning Zhongtian and that giant were merely bait.

He was the real target.

Hong Meng chuckled: 'True enough—Senior Li is elderly, so it's fine if you don't fight. I wouldn't want to be known as bullying the weak and old.'

As soon as he finished speaking,

the soldiers of Anning Guard grew even more furious.

What does that mean?

Is he mocking their Assistant Regional Commander as weak and old?

Li Rui may be old, but among martial cultivators, there is no such thing as 'women, children, or the elderly.'

This is clearly a slap in the face.

A slap at Anning Guard's face!

Li Rui did not answer immediately but silently gazed at Hong Meng, then smiled lightly: 'Since Brother Hong wishes to test his skills, this old man will stretch his limbs.'

Upon hearing this, the Anning Guard soldiers were stunned.

Li Rui accepted the challenge!

'Senior Li will win!'

'Take him down!'

The young soldiers surged with excitement, shouting again.

Hong Meng grinned: 'Senior Li, then I'll be rude.'

He would not use a weapon.

He twisted his wrists and stepped toward Li Rui.

'Please.'

Seeing this, Li Rui also did not draw his blade: 'Young Brother Hong, I'll hold back as much as I can—don't worry.'

'??'

Before Hong Meng could react, a powerful gust of wind slammed into his face.

'Damn!'

He muttered under his breath.

He hadn't expected this old man to be so dishonorable—he'd attacked before even finishing his words.

'Then don't blame me.'

Hong Meng's face turned icy; he bent his waist and barely dodged Li Rui's strike.

Then his true qi surged upward.

In an instant, a giant hammer, taller than a man, materialized in his hands.

The Image of the Hammer Beating the Sky!

Hong Meng's qi form was hammer-shaped.

It was well known that qi forms shaped like weapons carried immense killing power, not to be underestimated.

Those who had fought on battlefields knew: sharp weapons weren't always the deadliest—it was blunt weapons that truly killed, and hammer forms were especially brutal.

A fierce wind suddenly arose.

Sand and dust swirled across the training ground, blinding everyone.

Hong Meng wore a confident expression.

He had heard: even Yuan Xiong had lost when using weapons—using weapons was certainly no match for Li Rui, so he'd deliberately claimed he wouldn't use any.

Yuan Marquis had declared him the top blade user in Yunzhou; challenging Li Rui with weapons would be suicide.

So he chose to challenge Li Rui in internal cultivation.

To overwhelm him with qi.

'I've already reached Bright Moon—how could this old man just entering Ocean View possibly withstand me?'

He knew well that Li Rui's qi form was extraordinary.

It was dragon-shaped.

But no matter how high the rank of a dragon form, it was useless against sheer overwhelming quantity.

He intended to crush Li Rui with sheer volume of true qi.

Li Rui watched the giant hammer image hurtling toward him, utterly calm.

BOOM!

A dragon's roar exploded as his right hand reached skyward, surrounded by a dragon's shadow, grasping the hammer.

An invisible shockwave surged between hand and hammer.

Hong Meng's pupils shrank sharply.

A ruthless, overwhelming true qi surged violently into his meridians.

He let out a muffled groan.

He staggered backward repeatedly.

At this sight, the training ground erupted in thunderous cheers.

Blood trickled from Hong Meng's lips as he glared fiercely at Li Rui: 'Senior Li, impressive skills!'

Li Rui stood with hands behind his back, smiling faintly:

'General Hong, you're too kind.'

Hong Meng's face darkened; he was about to continue when a familiar voice cut in: 'Enough. Stop. You're not embarrassed, but I am.'

The crowd parted.

Nie Siming walked forward, coldly staring at Hong Meng.

'Yes, General.'

Seeing Nie Siming appear, Hong Meng dared say nothing more.

He obediently followed Nie Siming away from the training ground.

Nie Siming walked far away.

Only then did the Anning Guard soldiers surround Li Rui.

'Senior Li is mighty!'

'I told you, that loser couldn't possibly match our Senior Li.'

'Exactly, exactly.'

Each face glowed with excitement and flushed red.

Li Rui smiled and waved his hand: 'Back to training. Dismissed.'

Hearing Li Rui's order,

the group reluctantly dispersed, leaving only Li Rui, Ning Zhongtian, and Ge Hong in the center of the training ground.

Ning Zhongtian looked at Li Rui with shame: 'Brother, I've brought you shame.'

Li Rui laughed bitterly:

'I have no face to lose, let alone any shame to lose.'

'He was targeting me.'

'I should be the one apologizing to Fourth Brother.'

He had acted not because he couldn't bear Hong Meng's mockery.

At his age, he'd heard far worse insults—he no longer cared.

But if today's matter ended without resolution, endless troubles would follow.

As the saying goes: strike one punch to prevent a hundred.

So Li Rui decided to make a bold display and teach Hong Meng a lesson.

Ning Zhongtian froze: 'Targeting Brother?'

'Mm.'

Li Rui nodded: 'Hong Meng is from a sect—he was once an Elder of the Yunzhou Cold Ice Sect, then left for the northwest, where he stayed for decades. Most people in Yunzhou have long forgotten this old matter.'

"Our Tian Di Alliance has had some conflicts with the Cold Ice Sect; this is clearly a deliberate move to stir up trouble for me."

Upon hearing this.

Ning Zhongtian instantly understood.

So this was why he had been beaten senseless for no reason today.

No wonder among the five Garrison Commanders in Anning Guard, they specifically picked him.

Ge Hong frowned: "Brother Li, how did you find out?" Before opening his martial arts school in Qinghe County, he had always roamed near Yunzhou; even he had no memory of such an old, dusty matter—how could Li Rui know it so clearly?

Li Rui smiled faintly: "Wang Li told me."

Ning Zhongtian and Ge Hong froze.

Then they both chuckled.

"Your connections really are wide-ranging."

This is the importance of information—if you don't have it, you won't even know why you're getting cheated.

It's unavoidable.

Doing business means inevitably offending people—but you can't stop doing business just because you've offended someone.

If you don't do business, where will you get elixirs? Where will you get immortal weapons?

It's just a minor matter.

Not a single word, not a single syllable, not a single detail is wrong!

Li Rui patted Ning Zhongtian on the shoulder: "Fourth brother, Brother Ge, train your skin and muscles harder. In the martial world, whether you kill someone matters less than whether you can take a beating."

"."

Ning Zhongtian and Ge Hong were left speechless.

Ge Hong: "Hmm, we really should find a couple of hardening manuals to study. If we could get the Buddhist Diamond Art, that'd be even better."

After witnessing today's scene,

he understood.

Those who intend to strike at Li Rui rarely target him directly—they go after his associates instead.

He and Ning Zhongtian are perfect targets.

They really ought to train hard in taking punishment.

"Hurry up, hurry up, move faster—clean out the beast pens!"

"Inspector Yan is coming to inspect soon."

"If you anger Inspector Yan, I'll make you regret it—every last one of you will be fired!"

A burly man with a tiger's back and bear's waist strode around, whip in hand, arrogant and brutal.

"A thug who abuses power."

A tall young man muttered under his breath.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

Another short boy of the same age whispered urgently. The two teenagers were from the same village, come to the city seeking livelihood; because they were strong-bodied, the beast pen overseer had taken notice of them.

The tall boy still looked dissatisfied: "I know."

The short boy had arrived half a month earlier and was already half a veteran—he pulled the tall boy's sleeve and pointed to a corner of the beast pen:

"There's something strange there. Ah Gou disappeared right there. Don't go near it."

"Few people know about this. I'm telling you because you're my brother."

Hearing the name Ah Gou, the tall boy shuddered.

Ah Gou.

Also from the same village.

He'd heard that a few days ago, Ah Gou suddenly vanished—and then nothing more.

People disappeared from the beast pen every few days; everyone was used to it.

As long as they didn't run away,

their families received a decent compensation payment, were pleased, and didn't press the matter.

"Alright, I understand."

The tall boy glanced several times at the spot the short boy had pointed to.

The beast cage there held a small fox that looked harmless—how could it possibly match the man-eating monster the short boy described?

He had asked before.

Why not report it to the overseer?

The short boy had only smiled.

"Do you think they'd care if you told them? One beast is worth more than ten human lives—this math is simple. Speaking up only gets you whipped for nothing."

That was what the short boy had said then.

In the beast pen, a death was perfectly normal.

They were all ordinary villagers from outside the city walls. A little compensation money was enough—dead was dead. Families wouldn't report it to the authorities, and even if they did, it wouldn't matter, because the beast pen was state-run by the Weiheshimao Office.

The pay here was several times higher than at the docks. Greater profit meant greater risk. If you died, you couldn't blame anyone else.

Ah Gou, the boy from his village, had probably died just like this.

As the tall boy sank into memory,

he suddenly heard a roar—and the crack of a whip.

He shuddered.

He saw a boy not far away kicked to the ground by the overseer; the whip, raised high, was about to fall—and when it did, flesh would split open.

All the young boys in the beast pen closed their eyes in pity.

At that moment—

A shout rang out from outside the beast pen:

"Inspector Yan arrives!"

The overseer's whip froze mid-air. His face changed like a mask—his cruelty vanished instantly. He hurled the whip onto a nearby beast cage and scurried off toward the entrance.

Not long after,

several men in brocade robes entered.

"Lord Li, I told you—trust me about the beast pen."

Yan Zhongxing said to Li Rui.

Today,

Yan Zhongxing had specifically invited Li Rui to inspect the beast pen—his goal, of course, was still to extract more silver.

Li Rui smiled warmly at the spotlessly clean beast pen.

He knew perfectly well.

He had once been a stable hand for the Zhu family—stables and beast pens were the same thing. It could never be this clean unless they'd been warned and scrubbed all night.

He saw through it but said nothing.

Li Rui walked with Yan Zhongxing around the beast pen.

Seeing the emaciated boys inside, he joked: "Inspector Yan, these children are starving—how can they work? The beast pen's rations need improvement."

Yan Zhongxing chuckled: "Brother Li speaks wisely."

"You—remember to handle this properly."

Yan Zhongxing casually instructed a nearby official.

Adding a few dishes wouldn't cost much.

But to the boys in the beast pen, this was a tremendous blessing.

Suddenly, they all looked upon the kind-faced old man with admiration and affection.

When Li Rui was about to walk toward a corner of the beast pen—

The tall boy suddenly spoke: "Sir, that place is filthy—don't go there."

Li Rui halted.

He turned to the boy and smiled gently: "Thank you."

But to the beast pen overseer, those words were thunder—his fingers trembled with rage, and he longed to tear the boy apart.

Li Rui saw it all.

"Inspector Yan, this boy has a certain charm to me—may I take him with me?"

Yan Zhongxing shrugged: "If Lord Li wants him, take him."

Instantly, every boy in the beast pen turned envious as rabbits.

Clearly, the old official was of high rank.

This was a chance to rise to the heavens.

The tall boy's eyes widened—he couldn't believe what he'd heard.

Li Rui chatted a little longer with Yan Zhongxing.

Mostly the same matters.

The issue of paying more or not—finally, Li Rui agreed to pay more, but the number of Tian Di Alliance beast cages must also increase.

Only then did the two men leave the beast pen, satisfied.

And in the corner of the beast pen.

A small crimson fox fixed its gaze on Li Rui, its expression filled with human-like excitement.

(End of Chapter)