Chapter 306: Immortal Weapon Evil Spirit

"Are these three the Wind Sand Wolves?"

"They look so fierce."

"Afraid of a fart; no matter how fierce, weren't they easily beheaded by our General Nie?"

The city gate was crowded with people.

Today, several soldiers of the Anning Guard hung three corpses on the city wall, saying that these were the notorious Wind Sand Wolves who had been on the wanted posters for nearly a decade.

People who heard the news all ran over to watch the excitement.

For a time, it was bustling with noise.

If it were in the past, the city would definitely have been emptied, but although it was lively now, it hadn't reached the point of madness.

The reason for this was that the current Qinghe was no longer the Qinghe of the past.

The strongest in Qinghe used to be at most Seventh-Rank, but now... one might even see legendary existences like Earth Immortals.

Having seen the world, they were naturally much more composed.

In a small teahouse on the second floor near the city gate.

Li Rui and Ning Zhongtian sat by the window, taking in the scene before the city gate.

People with status were all here.

They could watch the gossip on the front line while avoiding the smell of sweat and feet.

The tea in this teahouse wasn't good, the wine wasn't good, and even the food wasn't good.

But relying on this excellent location, every time a major event happened in the city, the teahouse's business would boom, and the shopkeeper would be happy.

Li Rui knew.

Although the teahouse's sign hadn't changed, the proprietor behind it had changed several rounds.

But coincidentally.

The identity of these proprietors was the same: the County Magistrate's brother-in-law.

Yeah.

That's how it was.

Even Li Rui only got a half-price discount when he came, and no credit was allowed.

However, he didn't come to this teahouse just to spend ten taels of silver to watch the excitement up close.

The Wind Sand Wolves died right in front of him; there was no need to watch.

He wanted to see if he could find clues about the person who hired the killers.

Not finding the person behind the scenes truly made one unable to sleep or eat in peace.

Ning Zhongtian, sitting opposite, took a sip of tea, squinting comfortably, feeling the slight coolness in his body: "Big Brother, this thing of yours is really useful."

Last night.

Li Rui called him to the room to eat hot pot.

After eating hot pot, he said they should talk by candlelight.

He was wondering when Big Brother had become so caring, and then he was pulled into the secret chamber and told he was going to be given a stroke of fortune.

A unique true qi.

Big Brother said it had great benefits for practicing martial arts.

After feeling it for a day, Ning Zhongtian found it truly mysterious; not only were his five senses greatly improved, but even his mind was much clearer, and listening to Li Rui, it even improved his root bone.

This was simply a heaven-defying divine object.

Unlike Li Rui's three disciples, Ning Zhongtian's knowledge was much higher, so he knew even better how shocking the existence of something that could improve root bone was.

So he was very smart and didn't ask what it was at all.

Because he knew there were too many ways in the world to make people spill the truth, the best way to deal with it was not to know from the beginning.

This way, he could live longer and wouldn't implicate Li Rui.

This was true intelligence.

Knowing too much really would harm oneself.

Li Rui: "You still need to adapt more; this Qi will continue to improve your physique. Come find me once every three months."

"Alright, Big Brother."

Ning Zhongtian nodded, then looked out the window and curled his lips: "If it weren't for your clever planning, Big Brother, no matter how powerful Nie Siming was, he wouldn't have been able to kill these three."

Li Rui chuckled:

"Fourth Brother, don't say this again."

Apart from a few people in the Anning Guard, no one else knew the full extent of the matter.

In the eyes of outsiders.

It was Nie Siming who planned and beheaded the Wind Sand Wolves, removing a great scourge for the world. In this process, Li Rui's name didn't appear at all.

This was, of course, intentional on Li Rui's part.

Showing off was enough; Li Rui didn't lack this bit of reputation now.

"Wind Sand Wolves... beast tide..."

Li Rui squinted at the three corpses on the city wall, recalling the things that had happened during this period.

Without a doubt.

Someone was deliberately dealing with him, or to be precise, wanted his life. Didn't he hear what Ke Qi said that night? If they could kill Li Rui, they could go to the Wu Kingdom to be officials.

Li Rui frowned slightly.

This was not a good sign.

A sigh.

"Truly, the trees want to be still, but the wind won't stop; I originally only wanted longevity."

"Only by being strong oneself."

In the blink of an eye, a month passed.

Qinghe returned to calm, and even the merchant caravans outside the city were rarely attacked, plus the deep red mist of the Insight Eye.

This made Li Rui even more certain.

All the previous beast tides and attacks were aimed at him.

"The more the enemy wants something, the less one should do it."

So Li Rui simply didn't go out.

Not only did he not go out, but even those close to him didn't go out.

The main strategy was to wear them out.

As a military advisor of the Anning Guard, he didn't need to leave the city, and he lacked neither cultivation techniques nor elixirs; he could afford to wait.

Li Canjun's Mansion, in the room.

Li Rui sat cross-legged on a cushion, the Immortal Weapon "Jiao-Slaying" placed across his knees.

At this time.

Jiao-Slaying was no longer as pitted as before; it already had the shape of a saber, and there was divine luster flowing on the blade, which was mysterious and extraordinary.

Li Rui's Immortal Xuan Qi completely wrapped Jiao-Slaying, like a mass of misty white fog.

Suddenly!

A flash of purple-gold luster moved in the center of the Jiao-Slaying blade.

Although it was only for an instant, it was keenly captured by Li Rui, and a flash of joy crossed his eyes.

"It's the weapon spirit!"

Just in that instant, he clearly felt the existence of the weapon spirit.

Tie Kuang's Qi and spirit weren't enough to forge an immortal weapon, so he settled for the next best thing and only forged the prototype of the weapon spirit, which Li Rui then nurtured with Immortal Xuan Qi.

After months of day and night nourishment.

Finally, results were seen.

Once the weapon spirit took shape, the killing power of the immortal weapon would surge by a large margin.

Regarding this.

Li Rui had long since experienced it; when he borrowed the saber to kill Zhuang Renhe that day, he felt what it was like to have divine help.

It was said.

If one controlled an immortal weapon with Earth Immortal true intent, the weapon spirit could even defend against enemies on its own, one against two.

The weapon spirit was the most essential difference between an immortal weapon and an ordinary spirit weapon.

Just as Li Rui wanted to feel the weapon spirit more deeply—a chill surged up.

Almost instantly, the air Li Rui exhaled turned into white smoke, and his body was covered in a layer of white frost at a speed visible to the naked eye.

His eyes, however, turned crimson.

Evil Spirit!

Huff, huff...

Li Rui's breathing became rapid.

Kill, kill, kill!

Screams exploded in his mind, as if he saw evil Jiaos filling the sky, the terrifying pressure almost stopping his heartbeat, wanting to tear this heaven and earth apart, the murderous intent like a wild tide drowning his last trace of reason.

In a trance.

He saw a back, a bright red robe that looked like it had been soaked in fresh blood dancing.

Li Rui felt inexplicably familiar.

The next instant.

(Checking for errors...)

The person in the bright red robe slowly turned his head.

It was actually his face!

Perverse, cruel, sinister... almost all negative emotions were gathered on this face.

That person spoke slowly:

"Actually, you've wanted to kill for a long time, right?"

"I am you."

"Come, merge with me, and you will gain endless power; let us crush this filthy world."

Just as the entire world was almost turning blood-colored.

The blood tide spreading toward Li Rui suddenly receded.

Everything returned to clarity.

Li Rui in the room slowly opened his eyes, as if the scene from before had never appeared.

Muttering in a low voice:

"Is this an evil spirit?"

The weapon spirit had only just sprouted, yet it was invaded by an evil spirit.

Jiao-Slaying was refined using the blood sacrifice method, and it used his own essence blood; as long as one was human, one would have seven emotions and six desires, and Li Rui was of course no exception, so the weapon spirit would fall into evil when contaminated by worldly dust.

The first thing the weapon spirit did after becoming an evil spirit was to make the master fall into evil as well.

Li Rui had just been eroded by the evil spirit.

Looking at Jiao-Slaying again.

He saw a faint golden light floating on the blade, which was the sign of the weapon spirit appearing.

The corners of his mouth lifted slightly.

The suffering just now hadn't been in vain.

Looking closely, one could see the golden light mass was wrapped by a circle of black Qi as thin as hair; that was evil Qi.

Just like the seven emotions and six desires of a person, it could not be erased.

"Rumor has it there is a ruthless method in the world, specifically to cut off the seven emotions and six desires; perhaps only those people can avoid generating external evil."

Li Rui of course couldn't do it.

But this evil Qi wasn't entirely bad.

Although it would erode the master's mind and make them fall into evil, at the same time, the power of the immortal weapon would greatly increase, especially its killing power.

Fortune and misfortune depend on each other.

Li Rui wasn't a perfect person; he was just good at following the trend.

If he could turn this evil Qi to his own use, it would definitely be a great help.

As for being dragged into the abyss by the evil spirit?

His heart was as firm as iron, and he had long since ceased to fear external evil.

This day.

Li Rui was practicing martial arts in the front yard as usual.

Suddenly.

A rush of hoofbeats came from outside the gate, and he just frowned slightly.

When he heard Tan Hu's voice outside:

"General Nie, why are you back? I'll go report for you."

The voice was very loud.

Li Rui heard it clearly in the front yard.

The Tiger-Galloping Battalion were all Li Rui's personal guards, responsible for guarding the Li Canjun's Mansion.

Nie Siming was returning to the Anning Guard, and he had already arrived at the gate of the Li Canjun's Mansion.

Tan Hu was clearly seeing that he couldn't stop Nie Siming, so he shouted so loudly on purpose to let Li Rui in the yard prepare in advance.

Almost at the same time the voice fell.

He saw Nie Siming, wearing light armor, walk in with large strides.

A smile appeared on Li Rui's face at the right time:

"General Nie."

He wouldn't be naive enough to think that because Nie Siming helped him last time, the relationship between the two had eased.

Nie Siming looked at Li Rui indifferently:

"I have something to say to you."

And then there was no follow-up.

Li Rui understood immediately.

Nie Siming came in alone, not even bringing his personal guards, so it was clear he wanted to speak to him privately, and what he had to say couldn't be heard by others.

This was asking him to find a safe place to talk.

Li Rui: "General Nie, please follow me."

He brought Nie Siming into his main room.

Then he poured a cup of tea that was still warm, and only then did he sit down.

Nie Siming picked up the teacup and drank it in one gulp, with a very military style, not as particular as those official lords.

He said something shocking:

"Those three wanted to kill you, but the one who really wanted to kill you wasn't the Wind Sand Wolves, but people from the Wu Kingdom, or perhaps that Luotian Da Jiao of the Ten Thousand Mountains."

"!!"

Li Rui's pupils contracted slightly.

He didn't expect Nie Siming to play his trump card as soon as he opened his mouth, directly answering the doubts in his heart.

Thoughts raced.

Just as he was about to speak.

Nie Siming continued on his own: "Don't guess, I don't have the ability to know these things; my foster father told me."

Li Rui raised an eyebrow.

He didn't expect this matter to have Yuan Dingting's hand in it.

Nie Siming: "Let me tell you the truth, my foster father sent me to Qinghe; suppressing the Wu Kingdom rebels is only one thing, the second is to find that Luotian Da Jiao."

"My foster father has already seen the Little Bai Jiao you sent; it contains a trace of Ying Dragon blood."

"That Luotian Da Jiao is injured, and this Ying Dragon blood is of great benefit to its healing; I imagine this is the reason you were targeted."

Li Rui suddenly understood.

No wonder he was targeted for no reason.

The reason Nie Siming took action so readily should also be because he received Yuan Dingting's instructions.

"The Marquis's methods are truly incredible."

Li Rui praised sincerely.

Even he had unknowingly become someone else's pawn; there was no way around it—in the face of absolute strength suppression, being a pawn was already lucky.

Don't believe the nonsense about definitely turning from a pawn into a chess player.

That only works for people strong enough.

The strength gap between him and Yuan Dingting was too vast; the most correct approach was to be an obedient pawn, so as not to be discarded at will.

Nie Siming grinned:

"Before coming, my foster father specifically instructed me, saying Instructor Li does things properly, and told me to work with Instructor Li to behead that evil Jiao."

The tea Li Rui had just drunk almost sprayed out.

Me?

Behead the evil Jiao?

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 307 =====