Chapter 305: Tacit Understanding

In an instant.

Ke Qi and his two companions were surrounded by nearly a thousand people, the torches almost illuminating the entire mountain.

Nie Siming's expression was gloomy, and he walked slowly out from the crowd like a Yama from hell.

"Nie... General Nie!"

Seeing Nie Siming appear.

Ke Qi could no longer remain calm, especially Ma Lie and He Yang, who almost knelt down on the spot.

They were from the Northwest Army, and Nie Siming was a general of the Northwest Army—the very general of the three of them.

What kind of person was Nie Siming?

He was a super ruthless man who had slaughtered cities and buried one hundred thousand people alive.

In the eyes of the Northwest Army soldiers, he was a God of Slaughter, even more terrifying than Yama; their fear of Nie Siming was carved into their bones.

Yes, it was fear.

That was why Ma Lie and He Yang's faces turned deathly pale when they saw Nie Siming, their legs trembling.

Martial artists value courage, and they shouldn't have been like this.

But Nie Siming's fierce reputation was simply too great, and they had witnessed his methods with their own eyes, so they were even more afraid.

Nie Siming looked at the three of them, his eyes cold:

"Back then, I shouldn't have listened to my foster father; I should have tied the three of you to the back of a horse, dragged you to death, and then thrown you into the quicksand."

Ke Qi's pupils contracted slightly.

His hand gripping his saber trembled uncontrollably, and he unconsciously took two steps back, putting distance between himself and Nie Siming, as if only then would the fear in his heart be lessened.

He braced himself and spoke: "General Nie, back then it was that bastard Wei Huang who couldn't stand us three brothers and wanted us dead. We had no choice..."

As he was speaking, he was impatiently interrupted by Nie Siming:

"A deserter is a deserter; there aren't so many excuses. I brought up three cowards like you; it's truly damn bad luck."

"Since my foster father spared your dog lives, and you were just lingering on in the Wu Kingdom, I couldn't be bothered to say anything."

"But now, no one is forcing you, yet you still want to harbor murderous intent against people of the Imperial Court."

"I cannot let you live!"

Seeing Nie Siming take the spear from the hands of his personal guard beside him.

Ke Qi's fear reached its peak.

Then, it turned ferocious.

"Now we are both in the Primordial Realm; I don't believe you can definitely kill me."

He intended to fight to the death.

Nie Siming took the long spear and smiled mockingly:

"Primordial Realm?"

"Within the Primordial Realm, there are also gaps. Three strikes... you will die."

Silver radiance surged under the moonlight, the spear tip dancing like a wild true dragon, instantly engulfing Ke Qi.

Three strikes.

Just three strikes.

A Primordial Realm martial artist was dead. Li Rui was very close, so he could clearly see every strike.

This scene was too shocking.

Nie Siming was truly strong.

Killing a Primordial Realm martial artist was no more difficult than killing a dog.

Li Rui had once watched Yuan Dingting take action from afar, and he had also comprehended Yuan Dingting's Military Saint true intent, so he could truly feel Nie Siming's strength.

Nie Siming was worthy of being Yuan Dingting's son; he actually possessed a fraction of similarity to Yuan Dingting.

Yuan Dingting was the ninth in the world.

Just that fraction was enough to make Nie Siming nearly invincible within the Primordial Realm.

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

Nie Siming only glanced indifferently at the corpses of the three Wind Sand Wolves on the ground, then threw the long spear to a personal guard at his side and turned to leave.

Dashing and domineering!

Ning Zhongtian watched with envy.

He wished he were the one who had caught the spear.

A good man should be like this.

"Stop watching, the person is already gone. If you keep watching, your second brother will lose too much blood and ascend to heaven."

Li Rui's voice rang out.

Only then did Ning Zhongtian come back to his senses.

Then he saw Li Rui walk to Huang Chui's side, take an elixir from his bosom and stuff it into Huang Chui's mouth, and use Immortal Xuan Qi to heal Huang Chui's wounds.

The wound on Huang Chui's waist and abdomen healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Originally, Huang Chui had been injured by Ma Lie's hidden weapon, and combined with the long-term all-out running, he had lost too much blood, making the injury even more severe.

Originally, it would have taken at least a month of recuperation.

But because of Li Rui's Qi infusion, it looked like he would be fully recovered in at most three to five days.

Seeing his second brother was safe.

Only then did Ning Zhongtian have the interest to ask: "Big Brother, aren't you and that man surnamed Nie on bad terms? Why would he take action to help us?"

Li Rui smiled slightly.

Today, when he heard about the beast tide, he felt something was wrong.

With the situation still uncertain, he decisively decided to split into two groups, coming to find Ning Zhongtian himself and sending Tan Hu to seek reinforcements from Nie Siming.

He wasn't worried at all that Nie Siming would stand by and watch because of a personal grudge.

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

If one simply considered Nie Siming a cruel brute, that would be underestimating this fierce tiger of the Northwest Army and underestimating Marquis Yuan's eye for talent.

Nie Siming and Li Rui being on bad terms was a personal grudge, but Ke Qi wanting to kill Li Rui, an official of the Imperial Court, was a public matter.

Public and private matters are distinct.

Therefore, Nie Siming would definitely come.

Perhaps this was the tacit understanding between people who value principles.

Of course, even if Nie Siming didn't come, Li Rui had the confidence to retreat unscathed from the hands of a Primordial Realm martial artist.

As for letting him watch Ning Zhongtian and Huang Chui die without helping.

He asked himself that he couldn't do it.

At least when he knew he had the certainty, it was even more impossible to sit idly by.

Unless it was a certain-death situation.

Only then would Li Rui choose to retreat first and then collect the bodies to take revenge.

It hadn't reached that point yet.

"Fourth Brother, the chat was good, but saying Big Brother is cold-blooded and heartless is a bit one-sided."

Ning Zhongtian was stunned.

Only then did he understand.

It turned out Li Rui had already arrived at that time, but only showed himself after Nie Siming arrived.

"Wasn't I terrified for nothing for half the day?"

The mountain forest gradually returned to calm, and the torches, like a long dragon, moved from the mountain top to the official road.

And on a small hill in the distance.

A man wearing a black robe was standing motionless.

What was eerie was.

His eyes were completely dead gray, with no pupils to be seen.

The next instant.

Qi Feng blinked, and his eyes returned to normal.

"Li Rui... Nie Siming, truly a good scheme."

Outsiders all thought the two were at odds.

But he didn't expect them to join forces to set a trap tonight.

The scene in the mountain forest just now had been seen entirely by him through the perspective of the spirit beasts.

Fortunately, as a Spirit Guide, he didn't need to take the field himself, only needing to control the spirit beasts from the periphery, which saved him from disaster; otherwise, there would be one more corpse on the ground.

Excitement flashed in Qi Feng's eyes.

He didn't care that the three Jing Qi were dead, but he had unexpectedly discovered an incredible thing:

"It's the True Dragon Body!"

He seemed to have guessed why the Scarlet Flame Fire Fox had gone and never returned.

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

"Second Brother, recuperate well during this time. I will have Alliance Leader Ge temporarily take charge of the merchant business."

Huang Chui nodded with some guilt.

Then came a deep sense of powerlessness.

Li Rui was too strong, and along with him, the Tiandi Alliance had been raised by a large margin; his own strength as the former Grand Alliance Leader was becoming increasingly insufficient.

He used to have the heart to compete, but now he didn't even have the energy to compete.

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

What kind of existence was Nie Siming.

It was hard for him to even see him once, yet Li Rui could call him to take action.

The gap between them was self-evident.

(Checking for errors...)

Huang Chui squeezed out a smile: "Big Brother, I'll head back first."

Ning Zhongtian sighed lightly.

Having been brothers for over a decade, he naturally understood Huang Chui's mood.

It wasn't just Huang Chui; even he felt a bit powerless. Big Brother's progress was simply too fast, and the brothers really couldn't keep up!

He considered himself a genius of some standing, but compared to Li Rui, he was too far behind.

Li Rui looked at Ning Zhongtian and smiled slightly:

"Fourth Brother, I specially entrusted someone to find a Profound Xiao Yuan Dan for you. Come and get it later."

Profound Xiao Yuan Dan?

Ning Zhongtian was greatly surprised.

This item was a supreme treasure pill for Longmen Realm cultivators.

He didn't expect Li Rui to have been secretly using connections to find it for him, and he felt a warmth in his heart.

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

"Alright."

Hearing about hot pot, Ning Zhongtian was immediately happy.

Little did he know.

Li Rui had decided to infuse him with Immortal Xuan Qi.

As his status grew higher, he needed many capable helpers; finding them from the outside carried too much risk, so it was better to cultivate them himself.

Ning Zhongtian was someone he was focusing on cultivating.

He hadn't given it before because Ning Zhongtian's strength wasn't much different from his, so giving it wouldn't have had much effect.

Now Ning Zhongtian was already in the mid-stage of the Longmen Realm and already had the possibility of charging toward the Sea-Observing Realm.

Li Rui helping him at this time would have the most effect.

It was roughly the same principle as helping those in urgent need rather than those in poverty.

Practicing martial arts was ultimately one's own business, and it depended on personal fortune; external objects were always external objects, which could help for a while but not for a lifetime.

Helping too much would instead delay the future of the martial path.

What Yuan Dingting said about a martial artist valuing their ambition first was exactly this principle.

Just like his three disciples, in fact, apart from infusing Immortal Xuan Qi, he rarely gave other help, wanting them to learn to be self-reliant; otherwise, forcing the shoots to grow would make them tall, but they would just be embroidered pillows with no real talent, and it would even invite disaster.

If Ning Zhongtian could also break through to the Sea-Observing Realm, it would be a great help to him.

Giant Stone City, secret chamber.

The Luotian Da Jiao was coiled within, its aura several times weaker than before.

"Dragon Lord, this is the Jiao blood found."

Giant Stone City Lord Qi He said, bowing.

The Little Bai Jiao was in the Annan Marquis Prefecture; according to reports from spies, it hadn't stepped half a step out of the Marquis Prefecture in months, and they had almost given up hope.

Grabbing things from inside the Annan Marquis Prefecture—there were very few people in the world with that ability.

Without the Ying Dragon blood inside the Little Bai Jiao, Qi He had to search the entire Wu Kingdom and found Jiao blood of the Earth Immortal Realm to substitute.

With a thought from the Luotian Da Jiao.

The small jade bottle containing Jiao blood in Qi He's hand flew up on its own.

It didn't drink it, but sprinkled it on its wounds.

As the Jiao blood entered its body, the wounds recovered quite a bit at a speed visible to the naked eye.

But this was all superficial.

It was just drinking poison to quench thirst.

As long as Yuan Dingting's Military Saint true intent wasn't removed, its injuries could never be resolved; the grade of the Jiao blood was too low and simply not enough.

What it wanted was Dragon blood, Dragon blood!

Thinking of the Little Bai Jiao being sent to the Annan Marquis Prefecture, it was furious:

"By the way, was the head of that human surnamed Li brought?"

Qi Feng spoke slowly:

"Dragon Lord, that Li Rui joined forces with Yuan Dingting's foster son Nie Siming, and the three people sent were killed by them instead."

Hearing this news, the Giant Stone City Lord frowned slightly.

The Dragon Lord was even more furious.

Suffering setbacks under Yuan Dingting one after another made it furious just hearing the three words "Yuan Dingting".

"Yuan Dingting... Nie Siming..."

The murderous intent in the Dragon Lord's eyes could no longer be concealed; it wished it could swallow Nie Siming alive in one bite.

"There is no need to worry about Li Rui for now; go find Dragon blood first."

Once it had Dragon blood and its injuries recovered.

Whether it was Nie Siming or Li Rui, it would be a matter of rushing into the city and slapping them to death.

Healing was the priority.

It had called Qi Feng over precisely because a Spirit Guide was more likely to find things to heal its injuries.

"Yes."

Qi He bowed and nodded, just about to turn and leave the secret chamber.

When he heard Qi Feng at his side speak: "Dragon Lord, I went to Qinghe and accidentally discovered traces of Long Xian Incense in the city."

Hearing the three words "Long Xian Incense", the Luotian Da Jiao was overjoyed.

Long Xian Incense was a divine object left behind after the death of an ancient True Dragon; although its healing effect was much worse than Dragon Qi, it would definitely be of help to the Luotian Da Jiao's current injuries.

"Very good."

"Have Golden Tiger assist you; the Long Xian Incense must be obtained."

The Golden Tiger in the Luotian Da Jiao's mouth was precisely the Scarlet Gold Divine Tiger, one of the eight great Demon Lords living in Giant Stone City.

Qi Feng's mouth curled up slightly.

"Yes, Dragon Lord."

Having received the Luotian Da Jiao's order, only then did he walk out of the secret chamber with satisfaction.

Long Xian Incense?

Of course there was some, but it wasn't in Qinghe; it was hidden in his home.

As for why he said that.

Of course, it was to borrow strength to kill Li Rui.

Of course, it was to borrow strength to kill Li Rui.

True Dragon Qi is a great tonic for demonic beasts, and it is the same for him, a demonic beast master.

If a man does not look out for himself, heaven and earth will destroy him.

If it were just a small white dragon, he would naturally capture it for the great dragon, but if it is True Dragon Qi, using it for the great dragon to heal its wounds is not as good as using it for himself to break through.

In the end, being strong oneself is the foundation.

Other people's affairs are secondary.

The Red Flame Fire Fox is dead, and those three brothers are also dead; it can almost be determined that this must be blamed on Li Rui.

In order to avoid capsizing in the gutter.

He used ambergris as bait, letting the great dragon send the Red Gold Divine Tiger to assist.

After killing Li Rui and obtaining the True Dragon Qi, he would finally give the ambergris to the great dragon.

Using the great dragon's people to handle his own affairs.

Killing two birds with one stone!

(End of this chapter)