Chapter 366: The Third Princess

"Did the Third Princess really succeed?"

Li Rui gazed at the letter sent from the capital in his hand.

The letter was from Lin Hai.

It only wrote of one matter: the Emperor had already planned to mobilize troops against East Wu.

'I underestimated this Third Princess of the Wu Kingdom.'

Li Rui chuckled as he placed the letter onto the brazier to the side to ignite it; in a short while, it burned into ashes.

Although he had returned to Qinghe,

his connection with the capital had never been severed.

Lin Hai would occasionally tuck a letter for Li Rui into his family letters, then hand them to the Yunzhou Lin family to be forwarded to Li Rui.

This was especially true regarding matters concerning that Third Princess.

'Ever since the Third Princess went to the capital and married the Fourth Prince, she has almost never stepped out. Who would have thought that she would accomplish such a major event without a sound.'

Li Rui marveled at Xia Yun's methods.

When escorting Xia Yun to the capital, she had quietly joined forces with the Sichuan hero Chen Ming to break the killing trap laid by the Blood Shadow Ancestor.

Her schemes were quite deep.

That she could accomplish such a major event was within reason.

But to say the Emperor was played in the palm of her hand would be to underestimate that restorer of the dynasty.

It was likely that the Emperor had already wanted to strike at East Wu.

Xia Yun just happened to fit the plan.

Otherwise, even if Xia Yun had a silver tongue, there would be absolutely no possibility of it.

As for the various details, that was not something a minor local official like him could know.

The Emperor intended to conduct military affairs.

Annan Town bore the brunt of it.

The mobilization of the three armies, and furthermore, the dispatching of a Provincial Military Commander, clearly was not just for a Purple Chai Jingong; it was obviously to actively eliminate the cause of the unrest.

Li Rui finished reading the letter and then sat on the meditation cushion.

He began to cultivate.

As soon as his fingers pinched a seal, a verdant green glow suddenly appeared. In the blink of an eye, several dark green vines grew from the ground, slowly wrapping around Li Rui like armor.

These vines seemed to have a life of their own, pulsing rhythmically like a heartbeat.

Li Rui had only a single thought.

The vines vanished in an instant.

"Done."

The corners of his mouth lifted slightly.

With the Profound Water Body as a foundation, the progress of the Green Wood Body could be described as advancing a thousand miles a day; it was completed in just three months.

This speed was so fast that even he was somewhat astonished.

He raised a hand.

Between his palms and fingers, dots of blue-green light flickered; the Profound Water Qi and Green Wood Qi intertwined and entangled in his palm, merging together with incomparable harmony.

A flash of surprise crossed Li Rui's eyes.

With the two types of Qi superimposed, the contained power was actually more than double.

"Water and wood intertwine, the universe rotates, the highest good is like water, nourishing the spiritual wood."

He had long known that the five elements generate and overcome each other.

That was why Li Rui chose to cultivate the Green Wood Body after the Profound Water Body.

"Not bad."

Li Rui revealed a satisfied smile.

If he formed a combined strike with Profound Water Qi and Green Wood Qi, the power would certainly be extraordinary.

He had gained another killing move.

The next day.

Li Rui left Qinghe City early; he did not bring his personal guards and came alone into the deep mountains outside the city.

He had stayed in Qinghe for several decades.

He was not only familiar with matters inside the city, but the same went for outside the city.

He had almost run through all the surrounding mountain peaks; in terms of familiarity, he was not a bit worse than those old mountain dwellers.

Before long.

He climbed over a mountain peak and arrived at a rare flat area, where a clear green lake appeared before his eyes.

This lake was named Wild Duck Lake.

It was a good place for the people of Qinghe to escape the summer heat, but since it was autumn, the lake water was ice-cold, and added to the fact that it was still early.

Let alone tourists, even the nearby fishermen had not yet come out.

In the vast lake, apart from Li Rui.

Not a single shadow of a person could be seen.

Li Rui's thoughts stirred, and his right hand formed a sword finger; in an instant, a green light flickered and shot toward the lake.

Boom!

The lake suddenly exploded with waves over ten zhang high.

It was like a flood dragon emerging from the sea.

But Li Rui's move did not stop there, and the spell gesture in his hand changed.

The lake water was actually stirred along with his fingers, and the lake water for several dozen zhang around was lifted into the void by one hand.

His thoughts stirred.

It slammed down violently.

The huge commotion startled the surrounding birds and beasts, causing flocks of birds to fly up.

Water and wood combined strike!

Li Rui's casual strike just now actually had such great power.

Even Li Rui was secretly shocked.

If this move hit a person, wouldn't it result in broken bones and tendons, turning them directly into a pile of minced meat?

At this moment.

A roar of curses rang out from the lake: "Damn it, which blind fool dares to come and cause trouble on this young master's head?"

The little white dragon, who was sleeping in the lake, was startled awake and was about to tear the person causing trouble to shreds.

The roar came to an abrupt end.

Then it saw Li Rui standing on the shore with a beaming smile.

"Big Brother?"

The little white dragon's large eyes blinked continuously.

Only now did it grasp the situation.

That strike just now was so strong!

It was feared that even a Primordial demon beast might not necessarily be able to withstand Li Rui's move just now.

'As expected of my big brother, he has become stronger again.'

The little white dragon's anger came quickly and went even faster.

It came to Li Rui's side with a grin: "Big Brother, why are you here?" Li Rui: "Little White, how is it over at the Ten Thousand Mountains?"

He came here precisely to find the little white dragon; as for performing the water and wood combined strike, it was just a sudden whim.

The water and wood combined strike had immense power, and he had no opportunity to perform it in Qinghe.

The commotion was too big and would certainly attract the prying eyes of experts.

Only in this remote place did he dare to do so.

The little white dragon said: "That Purple Chai Jingong is truly formidable; many troublesome fellows have come, and even my father has already moved out of the Ten Thousand Mountains."

Li Rui highly approved of the old dragon's approach.

Even though the old dragon was already a Third-Rank Great Demon, the methods of the Transcendent Immortals were unpredictable; if it were captured and used as a mount, that would be fine, but having its dragon tendons pulled out would be a terrible ordeal.

"The Ten Thousand Mountains have changed their appearance now; they actually have a bit of the look of the legendary immortal caves."

The little white dragon clicked its tongue and said.

!

It had lived in the Ten Thousand Mountains since it was small and was extremely familiar with the terrain there; even so, it only dared to watch from afar.

Li Rui nodded:

"This Purple Chai Jingong is indeed unusual."

Now the Purple Chai Jingong had become the state religion of East Wu, and it was said that there were countless believers, with the momentum growing stronger and stronger.

The entire Ten Thousand Mountains had become the dojo of the Purple Chai Jingong.

According to what he knew, that old ape who once dominated the Ten Thousand Mountains had now become the mountain-guarding beast of the Purple Chai Jingong.

However, once he thought about the high probability of a Transcendent Immortal sitting in the Purple Chai Jingong.

Everything became reasonable again.

The little white dragon changed the subject and said triumphantly: "Big Brother, I can break through in at most a year; by then, we can go and loot the Purple Chai Jingong, and we will certainly make a huge profit."

Ever since it heard from Li Rui that there really was Withered Wood Meets Spring Qi in the Purple Chai Jingong.

It was even more itching with impatience.

Li Rui rolled his eyes: "Primordial?"

"Let alone Primordial, even if you become a Third-Rank Great Demon like your father, it would be useless."

"Only Second-Rank would barely suffice."

The little white dragon was shocked: "Is that Purple Chai Jingong that formidable?"

Li Rui looked at the little white dragon solemnly: "A dragon's pool and a tiger's den."

Previously, he and He Qiannian were able to enter the main hall of the Purple Chai Jingong, but that was actually through the precise deployment of the Yu Kingdom, which was why they could succeed; that required immense national power and the joint planning of millions of people to achieve.

Don't look at it as just a sneak attack on the surface; in reality, the Marquis's Prefecture and those secret agents of the imperial court certainly put in no small amount of effort.

Only then could they succeed.

If any two people dared to covet the Purple Chai Jingong, it would certainly be a fate of total destruction.

He did not intend to take the risk, nor would he let the little white dragon go.

Withered Wood Meets Spring Qi was good, but without a doubt, one's life was more important.

After hearing Li Rui's words, the little white dragon could only say "oh."

"Cultivate well; there will be plenty of opportunities in the future."

The little white dragon was naturally gifted; even without his dragon qi nourishment, it could still enter the Primordial realm, and there was even a great possibility of reaching Third-Rank Tongxuan.

After experiencing a transformation, its strength would become even stronger, and its potential would be even greater.

The little white dragon's breakthrough would also be a great help to Li Rui.

Primordial-level helpers were not easy to find.

Li Rui subsequently learned more about the situation in the Ten Thousand Mountains before returning to Qinghe.

Just as he arrived at Annan Town.

He saw Nie Siming and Yuan Xiong.

The two also saw Li Rui:

"Lord Li, you've come at the right time. Provincial Military Commander Zhou is calling us to the Provincial Military Commander's Mansion to discuss matters. We originally wanted to go to your residence to call you, but were told you had gone out."

Li Rui did not think it would be such a coincidence and asked curiously:

"Did the Provincial Military Commander say what matter to discuss?"

Nie Siming shook his head: "He didn't say; we'll know once we go over."

"Hmm."

Li Rui nodded.

He immediately headed toward the Provincial Military Commander's Mansion with the two brothers.

The Provincial Military Commander's Mansion was adjacent to Annan Town, yet separated by a wall, to manifest the commanding status of the Provincial Military Commander's Mansion over Annan Town.

The three of them had just arrived.

Regional Commander Xue Gui also arrived at the main hall of the Provincial Military Commander's Mansion one after the other.

Before long.

The main hall was filled with people.

They were all figures of Fourth-Rank and above in Annan Town, as well as experts from the Provincial Military Commander's Mansion; this was almost the highest-level gathering of military officers in Qinghe today.

Provincial Military Commander Zhou Dinghai saw that the last person had arrived and only then spoke slowly:

"Now that all matters are temporarily settled, His Majesty has ordered us to guard the southern frontier; we should naturally perform our duties to the best of our ability and manifest the national prestige. I have already discussed with Regional Commander Xue: ten days from now, we will conduct military training."

Hearing the two words "military training."

The expressions of everyone were stirred.

The Yu Kingdom had always had the custom of military training after the autumn harvest.

Why choose after the autumn? It was because they valued agriculture, so they chose to conduct it after the busy farming season of harvesting grain.

But do not think that military training is just staying in the military camp and having fun in the military town.

Quite the contrary.

The commotion is extremely large.

Just like the Northwest Border Army, it is a large-scale military operation that directly leads a large force of troops to hack at horse bandits, and even fight to the death with the barbarian tribes.

This military training in Annan Town certainly would not be simple either.

Otherwise, why choose it after the autumn?

Isn't it precisely to conscript laborers to transport grain?

The scale could not be small.

Although Zhou Dinghai was a Confucian general and usually made people feel like they were bathed in a spring breeze, at this moment, his aura of killing was fully displayed.

"The various departments in the southern frontier of the Yu Kingdom have long been troubled by demon beasts. Since we eat the grain of the southern frontier, we should maintain the peace of the region, slay demons and eliminate devils, and not let demon beasts harm the common people."

"For this military training, let's go and suppress the demon disaster."

Just when some people were still puzzled, as they had never heard of any demon disaster in the south recently.

Zhou Dinghai continued to speak:

"The demon disaster in the Ten Thousand Mountains is serious; let's choose that place."

When they heard that the location for the military training was chosen in the Ten Thousand Mountains.

The expressions of everyone present became playful.

Who didn't know that the Purple Chai Jingong was in the Ten Thousand Mountains?

This military training was not going to suppress a demon disaster at all; it was clearly to put eye drops on the Purple Chai Jingong!

(End of chapter)