Chapter 305: Unspoken Understanding

In an instant.

Ke Qi and the other two were surrounded by nearly a thousand men, torches nearly lighting up the entire mountain.

Nie Siming's face was dark, like a demon lord from hell, slowly emerging from the crowd.

"General Nie!"

Seeing Nie Siming appear,

Ke Qi could no longer remain calm—especially Ma Lie and He Yang, who nearly dropped to their knees.

They were from the Northwest Army, and Nie Siming was their general—their very own general.

What kind of man was Nie Siming?

He was a monstrous figure who had sacked cities and buried ten thousand alive.

To the soldiers of the Northwest Army, he was a killing god, more terrifying than even the Lord of Hell; their fear of him was etched into their bones.

Yes, fear.

So when Ma Lie and He Yang saw Nie Siming, their faces turned deathly pale, their legs trembling.

Warriors are brave by nature; they shouldn't be this way.

But Nie Siming's reputation for brutality was too great, and they had witnessed his methods firsthand—so they feared him even more.

Nie Siming looked at the three, his eyes icy:

"Back then, I shouldn't have listened to my adoptive father—I should've tied you three to the backs of horses and dragged you to death, then dumped you into the quicksand."

Ke Qi's pupils contracted slightly.

His hand gripping the knife trembled uncontrollably; he involuntarily stepped back two paces, putting distance between himself and Nie Siming—as if only then could his fear lessen.

He forced himself to speak: "General Nie, back then it was Wei Huang, that bastard, who hated us three brothers and ordered us to die—we had no choice."

Before he could finish, Nie Siming cut him off impatiently:

"A deserter is a deserter—no excuses. I trained you three cowards; what a damned nuisance."

"Since my adoptive father spared your dog lives, you should've just crawled along in Wu Country. I wouldn't have cared."

"But now, no one's forcing you—you still intend to kill imperial officials."

"I can't let you live!"

Seeing Nie Siming take the spear from a nearby guard,

Ke Qi's fear reached its peak.

Then it twisted into fury.

"Now we're both Primordial, I don't believe you can kill me for sure."

He prepared to fight to the death.

Nie Siming took the spear and sneered:

"Primordial?"

"Even among Primordials, there are differences. Three spears—that's all it takes to kill you."

Silver light surged under the moonlight; the spear tip writhed like a true dragon, instantly swallowing Ke Qi whole.

Three spears.

Just three spears.

A Primordial warrior was dead—Li Rui was close enough to see every thrust clearly.

This sight was utterly shocking.

Nie Siming was truly powerful.

Killing a Primordial warrior was no harder than killing a dog.

Li Rui had once watched Yuan Dingting fight from afar, and he had even comprehended Yuan Dingting's True Meaning of the Soldier Saint—so he could truly feel Nie Siming's strength.

Nie Siming was truly Yuan Dingting's son—he bore even a fraction of Yuan Dingting's aura.

Yuan Dingting was the Ninth Strongest Under Heaven.

Just that fraction was enough to make Nie Siming nearly invincible in the Primordial realm.

"Hang the bodies of these three on the city wall."

Nie Siming glanced coldly at the corpses of the Three Sand Wolves, then tossed the spear to a nearby guard and turned to leave.

Graceful. Majestic!

Ning Zhongtian watched with envy.

He wished he were the one who'd received the spear.

A true man should live like this.

"Stop staring—the man's gone. If you keep gawking, your second brother'll bleed out and ascend to heaven."

Li Rui's voice rang out.

Ning Zhongtian snapped back to reality.

Then he saw Li Rui walk to Huang Chui, pull a pill from his sleeve, and shove it into Huang Chui's mouth, channeling Xuan Qi to heal him.

Huang Chui's wound on his waist and abdomen healed at a visible rate.

Originally, Huang Chui had been wounded by Ma Lie's hidden weapons, and prolonged sprinting had caused severe blood loss, worsening his condition.

He'd normally needed at least a month's rest.

But with Li Rui's Qi infusion, he'd likely recover fully in just three or five days.

Seeing his second brother unharmed,

Ning Zhongtian finally asked: "Big brother, you and that Nie guy don't get along—why did he come to help us?"

Li Rui smiled faintly.

When he'd heard of the demon tide, he'd sensed something off.

Even before the situation was clear, he'd decisively split the group—himself to find Ning Zhongtian, Tan Hu to seek Nie Siming's aid.

He never worried Nie Siming would ignore them out of personal grudge.

Because if he died, it would be a slap in the face of Marquis Yuan.

To think of Nie Siming as merely a brutal brute was to vastly underestimate this tiger of the Northwest Army—and even more so, to misjudge Marquis Yuan's eye for men.

Nie Siming's feud with Li Rui was personal; but Ke Qi's intent to kill an imperial official was a matter of state.

Personal and public—clearly divided.

So Nie Siming would come.

Perhaps this was the unspoken understanding between men of principle.

Of course, even if Nie Siming hadn't come, Li Rui still had the confidence to escape unharmed from a Primordial warrior.

To stand by and let Ning Zhongtian and Huang Chui die?

He couldn't bring himself to do it.

Especially when he knew he had a chance—he'd never sit idle.

Only in a certain death trap

would Li Rui choose to retreat first, then return to recover the bodies and seek revenge.

This wasn't that kind of situation yet.

"Fourth brother, you've had a good night's talk—but calling me cold and heartless? That's too narrow-minded."

Ning Zhongtian froze.

Then he understood.

So Li Rui had arrived long ago—only revealing himself once Nie Siming showed up.

"So all my panic this whole time was for nothing?"

The forest gradually fell silent; the long line of torches moved from the mountaintop onto the official road.

And on a distant hilltop,

a man in black robes stood motionless.

Strangely,

his eyes were completely dead gray—no pupils visible.

The next instant,

Qi Feng blinked, and his eyes returned to normal.

"Li Rui… Nie Siming—what a brilliant scheme."

Outsiders thought the two were at odds.

Yet tonight, they'd conspired together.

Everything that happened in the forest had been witnessed by him through the eyes of his demonic beasts.

Fortunately, as a Demon Tamer, he had no need to enter the fray himself—only controlling the beasts from the periphery spared him from death; otherwise, there'd be one more corpse on the ground.

Excitement flickered in Qi Feng's eyes.

Ke Qi and the others were dead—didn't matter to him. But he'd unexpectedly discovered something extraordinary:

"It's a True Dragon Body!"

He now understood why the Crimson Flame Fox had never returned.

At dawn, Li Rui's group returned to Qinghe County.

"Second brother, rest well for now. I'll have Guildmaster Ge take over the trade affairs temporarily."

Huang Chui nodded apologetically.

Then came a deep sense of helplessness.

Li Rui was too strong; the Heaven's Alliance had been lifted far too high, and his own strength as former Grand Alliance Leader was increasingly inadequate.

Once he had the will to compete; now he lacked even the energy to try.

Especially today's incident made him truly feel the gap.

What kind of being is Nie Siming?

He could barely meet him once, yet Li Rui could summon him to act.

The disparity was obvious.

Not a single error in word, phrase, or content!

Huang Chui forced a smile: "Big Brother, I'll head back now."

Ning Zhongtian sighed lightly.

They had been brothers for over a decade; he naturally understood Huang Chui's feelings.

Not just Huang Chui—even he himself felt powerless. Big Brother's progress was simply too fast; the brothers simply couldn't keep up!

He considered himself a modestly talented genius, yet compared to Li Rui, he was far behind.

Li Rui smiled slightly at Ning Zhongtian:

"Fourth Brother, I specially asked someone to find you an Xuan Yuan Pill. Come get it later."

Xuan Yuan Pill?

Ning Zhongtian was greatly surprised.

That was a supreme elixir for Dragon Gate cultivators.

He had never expected Li Rui had secretly been seeking it for him all this time; suddenly his heart warmed.

Li Rui: "By the way, come to my house tonight—I'll treat you to hot pot."

"Alright."

Hearing "hot pot," Ning Zhongtian instantly brightened.

Little did he know,

Li Rui had decided to bestow upon him Immortal Xuan Qi.

As his status rose higher, he needed many capable assistants. Finding them externally carried too much risk; it was better to cultivate his own.

Ning Zhongtian was one of his key proteges.

He hadn't given it before because Ning Zhongtian's strength was nearly equal to his own; giving it then would have had little effect.

Now Ning Zhongtian had reached the middle stage of Dragon Gate, and had a chance to break through to Sea Viewing.

This was the perfect moment for Li Rui to lend him a hand.

It was much like helping those in urgent need, not those merely poor.

Cultivation ultimately rests on oneself; it depends on one's own destiny. External aids are always external—they can help for a time, but never for a lifetime.

Helping too much would only hinder one's martial path.

Yuan Dingting's saying that a warrior's foremost virtue is willpower was precisely this principle.

Take his three disciples: aside from bestowing Immortal Xuan Qi, he gave them almost no other aid, forcing them to learn self-reliance. Otherwise, forcing growth would only make them tall on the outside but hollow inside—mere embroidered pillows with no real potential, inviting disaster.

If Ning Zhongtian could also break through to Sea Viewing, it would be a great boon to him.

Giant Rock City, secret chamber.

The great dragon lay coiled within, its aura weaker than before.

"Lord Dragon, here is the dragon blood we found."

Qi He, the Mayor of Giant Rock City, bowed deeply.

According to scouts, the little white dragon had not stepped outside the Annan Marquis's mansion in months; they had nearly given up hope.

Robbing anything from the Annan Marquis's mansion—there were few in the world with such ability.

Without the Yinglong blood from the little white dragon, Qi He had searched all of Wu Country for dragon blood of a Earth Immortal's level as a temporary substitute.

The great dragon thought once.

The small jade vial containing the dragon blood floated up from Qi He's hand.

It did not drink it, but sprinkled it upon its wounds.

As the dragon blood entered its body, the wounds healed visibly.

But this was only surface healing.

It was like drinking poison to quench thirst.

As long as Yuan Dingting's Martial Saint True Meaning remained, its wounds could never be fully healed; the dragon blood's grade was too low—it was utterly insufficient.

It needed dragon blood. Dragon blood!

The thought of the little white dragon being sent to the Annan Marquis's mansion filled it with rage:

"By the way, did you bring the human's skull—Li Rui's?"

Qi Feng spoke slowly:

"Lord Dragon, Li Rui teamed up with Yuan Dingting's adopted son, Nie Siming, and the three men we sent were killed in return."

Upon hearing this, the Mayor of Giant Rock City frowned slightly.

The Lord Dragon flew into a rage.

Repeated defeats at Yuan Dingting's hands made him furious at the mere mention of his name.

"Yuan Dingting. Nie Siming."

The Lord Dragon's killing intent could no longer be concealed; it longed to swallow Nie Siming whole.

"Li Rui can be left alone for now. Focus on finding dragon blood."

Once dragon blood was obtained and its wounds healed,

whether it was Nie Siming or Li Rui, it would simply storm into the city and crush them with one palm.

Healing was urgent.

It summoned Qi Feng precisely because a demon master could more easily locate items to heal it.

"Yes."

Qi He bowed and turned to leave the secret chamber.

Then he heard Qi Feng beside him say: "Lord Dragon, while I was in Qinghe, I noticed traces of dragon's saliva incense in the city."

Upon hearing the words "dragon's saliva incense,"

the great dragon was overjoyed.

Dragon's saliva incense was a divine relic left behind by ancient true dragons. Though its healing power was far inferior to true dragon qi, it would still aid the great dragon's current wounds.

"Excellent."

"Have Jin Hu assist you. You must obtain the dragon's saliva incense."

The Jin Hu mentioned by the great dragon was Chi Jin Shen Hu, one of the Eight Demon Lords residing in Giant Rock City.

Qi Feng's lips curled slightly.

"Yes, Lord Dragon."

Having received the great dragon's command, he finally left the secret chamber, satisfied.

Dragon's saliva incense?

Of course it existed—but not in Qinghe. It was hidden in his own home.

Why did he say that?

Simply to use its lure to kill Li Rui.

True dragon qi was immensely beneficial to demonic beasts—and equally so to him, a demon master.

If one does not serve oneself, heaven and earth will destroy one.

If it were merely the little white dragon, he would have captured it for the great dragon. But true dragon qi? Better to use it for his own breakthrough than to heal the great dragon.

In the end, one's own strength is the foundation.

Other people's affairs are secondary.

Chi Yan Hu was dead; the three brothers were dead—almost certainly all due to Li Rui.

To avoid being undone in a trivial misstep,

he used the dragon's saliva incense as bait, persuading the great dragon to send Chi Jin Shen Hu to assist him.

After killing Li Rui and obtaining true dragon qi, he would then give the dragon's saliva incense to the great dragon.

Use the great dragon's people to accomplish his own goals.

Kill two birds with one stone!

(End of Chapter)