Chapter 419: Fifth Prince

Ten days later.

Li Rui stood quietly with Ning Zhongtian and the others before the small path leading to the spirit mine, seemingly waiting for something.

The mountain wind blew.

Their clothes rustled, but Li Rui just looked ahead with a calm gaze.

Ning Zhongtian looked up at the sky.

He muttered with some dissatisfaction.

"What time is it already, and they still haven't come."

But upon thinking of the status of the person coming, he did not continue to say anything.

He could only wait.

After another hour passed.

A procession slowly drove up to them.

The most eye-catching one.

Was the carriage in the very middle of the procession, which was as large as a room. The massive carriage was carried by nine giant elephant-like spirit beasts, and the carriage was covered in intricate carved patterns; looking closely, it actually had four-clawed python patterns carved on it.

The status goes without saying; naturally, it was someone from the imperial family.

Such a massive display.

Is rarely seen in the Yu Kingdom.

Li Rui took two quick steps and bowed: "This subordinate greets His Highness, the Prince of Wei."

He saw several pairs of delicate hands lift the carriage curtain.

First, four or five beautiful maids walked out gracefully, the escorting guard team set up the carriage stool, and then he saw a man with a noble and heroic air walk out of the carriage.

A yellow python robe displayed his extraordinary status.

This man was none other than the fifth son of the current Emperor, Zhu Gan.

The Saint Emperor had seven sons in total, each of whom had been granted a princely title; this Fifth Prince Zhu Gan was the Prince of Wei.

The spirit mine matter was of great importance.

Of course, it could not be left to Li Rui alone to guard; they would definitely send someone trustworthy.

And what official under one's command is more reliable than one's own son?

In fact, Li Rui was merely one of the guardians of the spirit mine.

Zhu Gan, in his capacity as an Imperial Prince, was personally appointed by the Saint Emperor as a Provincial Governor, specifically to supervise all matters of the spirit mine.

Besides this.

He also brought three other guardians.

To be responsible for the specific affairs of the spirit mine together with Li Rui.

In the crowd, Li Rui saw Yuan Xiong's figure at a glance.

The two just nodded slightly to signal.

Li Rui saw Zhu Gan walk up to him.

"Lord Li, first take this Prince to see the spirit mine."

Having said that.

Zhu Gan took the lead and walked onto the path, surrounded by a group of fairy-like palace maids.

Seeing such an absurd display.

Ning Zhongtian curled his lip secretly.

Li Rui just followed quietly behind.

Before long, the group arrived at the spirit mine.

Now the spirit mine was a world apart from before; the Qingwei Sect's illusion formation had been removed, the majestic giant peak stood tall, and rows of towering city walls had risen from the mountains.

After consultation.

In the end, the Yu Kingdom obtained the mining rights to the northern part of the spirit mine.

Just the day after it was settled.

Li Rui ordered the Annan Garrison soldiers to build city walls, separating it from the Wu Kingdom and the Qingwei Sect.

Looking at the city walls.

The Fifth Prince Zhu Gan was full of dissatisfaction and snorted coldly at another guardian beside him: "Too poor, you take men and reinforce it again."

"Yes!"

That person received the order and then left with his men.

Zhu Gan scolded while walking.

Although he did not name names.

But the spirit mine matters before were all handled by Li Rui, so naturally, he was scolding Li Rui.

Li Rui's expression was calm, following all the way.

It was not until Zhu Gan walked into the large courtyard built specifically for him that he stopped.

Zhu Gan walked into the courtyard surrounded by a group of palace maids.

Only then did Li Rui leave side-by-side with Yuan Xiong.

"Brother Li, don't take it to heart. I heard this Fifth Prince has always been arrogant and reckless, and he doesn't get along very well with Mr. Gu either."

Yuan Xiong comforted him.

Li Rui waved his hand with a smile: "Brother Yuan, rest assured, I have a broad mind."

He heard that the Fifth Prince once tried to interfere in the matter of canonizing the Demon God, but was refuted by Gu Changsheng at the court meeting and scolded by the Saint Emperor.

It would be strange if he could look upon him favorably.

Li Rui had long been prepared.

Among the four guardians, only he did not need to be stationed at the spirit mine long-term.

In other words.

He did not have much time to work under Zhu Gan.

So he didn't have to suffer anger every day.

The spirit mine matter came to an end.

Li Rui returned to Changqing Peak.

Days passed one by one.

Mining the spirit mine was not easy, and the amount that could be mined in a day was limited.

Spirit stones are divided into four types: low, medium, high, and top-grade.

The higher the quality, the rarer they are.

Low-grade spirit stones occupy almost eighty percent, medium-grade occupy almost twenty percent, and high-grade and top-grade spirit stones are rarely seen.

Once they appear.

They are immediately presented as tribute to the capital.

Ordinary people have no fortune to enjoy them at all.

People die for wealth, birds die for food; Li Rui often heard of miners privately hiding spirit stones to cultivate, only to be beaten to death by the Fifth Prince Zhu Gan with heavy punishments.

Although the methods were cruel, they were indeed quite effective in the short term.

Of course.

All of this had nothing to do with Li Rui.

He had long passed the stage where he needed to mine to cultivate; otherwise, all his climbing over these years would have been in vain.

At this moment.

More than a dozen medium-grade spirit stones were placed before his knees, and there was even a high-grade spirit stone.

This is the benefit of being close to the water and getting the moon first.

Although the Fifth Prince looked down on him, it was impossible for him to oppose him in everything; with his status as a guardian, those spirit stones were not a problem.

Li Rui's thoughts moved slightly.

The Changqing Qi in his body wrapped around the spirit stones before him.

He only heard a crisp cracking sound.

The spirit stones exploded with a pop.

The abundant spiritual energy instantly wrapped around his entire body.

The Wan Gu Chang Qing Art operated, absorbing the spiritual energy into his body, and his entire body, along with the Dao Fetus in his dantian, became crystalline in an instant.

About a quarter of an hour passed.

The spiritual energy was absorbed completely, leaving only a pile of spirit stone residue.

Li Rui slowly opened his eyes, feeling that he still had more to go.

Cultivating with spirit stones is indeed much more efficient than absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth himself.

It's just a pity.

With his current cultivation, low-grade spirit stones are already useless.

But medium-grade spirit stones are too expensive, and high-grade spirit stones make even him feel the pinch; it's impossible to have them every day.

Li Rui was not greedy.

Being able to obtain these spirit stones was already far beyond most Tongxuan Realm cultivators in the Yu Kingdom.

This could also be considered a benefit of his guarding the spirit mine.

'At most five years, I should be able to break through.'

Li Rui thought to himself.

Although his Wan Gu Chang Qing Art focuses on steady progress, if there are enough spirit stones, it can also be very fast.

Hmm.

Both steady and fast.

Li Rui slowly exhaled, then stood up, pushed the door open, and walked out.

Today was the day for inspection.

As one of the four guardians of the spirit mine, he couldn't stay in the Qingwei Sect forever.

"Fourth Brother, come with me to the spirit mine."

"Alright."

Ning Zhongtian, who was practicing, responded.

The two immediately descended Changqing Peak, and Li Rui directly drove the Immortal Blade Zhan Jiao to fly over hundreds of miles with Ning Zhongtian; in just a moment, they arrived at the location of the spirit mine.

Ning Zhongtian looked with envy at the blade at Li Rui's waist that sheathed itself.

That Li Rui had an immortal blade was no longer a secret.

Along with this immortal blade, the weapon smith Tie Kuang of the Divine Weapon Villa also became famous.

Ning Zhongtian envied not just the immortal blade, but Li Rui's ability to control the blade.

It was almost no different from a cultivator's magic treasure.

Li Rui and Ning Zhongtian walked toward a large courtyard.

There were five such courtyards in total.

The largest was naturally left for the most noble Fifth Prince Zhu Gan, and the other four guardians each had one.

Compared to the other four, Li Rui's courtyard was clearly much more deserted.

In the large three-entry residence, there were only three Annan Garrison soldiers on duty daily.

The two soldiers guarding the door were originally sitting on the threshold chatting.

Seeing Li Rui appear.

They stood up in a hurry, their helmets almost falling to the ground, and stammered as they saluted Li Rui: "Li... Lord Li, you've come."

Li Rui had not been to the spirit mine for three months.

They secretly called themselves unlucky in their hearts.

Caught slacking off.

If Li Rui got angry, they would have to go to logistics to dump the swill.

But they heard Li Rui say: "Continue."

He walked into the residence without even looking.

He hadn't been here for three months, but the residence was overall still quite clean.

Ning Zhongtian: "Big Brother, how long are we staying here?"

"A month, perhaps."

Li Rui said: "Fourth Brother, find yourself a room. Work hard these two days and patrol the spirit mine a few more times."

"Alright."

Ning Zhongtian agreed happily.

For Li Rui, a guardian and a Third-Rank official, to go patrol personally would be beneath his status.

This was the reason he brought Ning Zhongtian along.

Ning Zhongtian showing his face was equivalent to him fulfilling his duty.

This was enough to stop other people's tongues.

Li Rui walked around the courtyard with his hands behind his back, but when he walked under a large willow tree, his eyes changed.

Ning Zhongtian noticed the change in Li Rui's eyes.

"What's wrong, Big Brother?"

Li Rui did not speak, drew the immortal blade Zhan Jiao from his waist, and stabbed at the ground under the willow tree.

Under Ning Zhongtian's surprised gaze.

A huge, fat maggot as thick as an arm was picked up from the soil by Li Rui.

Because it wasn't dead yet, it kept twisting on the tip of the blade.

Ning Zhongtian widened his eyes: "This..."

Li Rui's eyes turned cold.

"It's an evil formation."

Immortal arts have evil arts, and formations naturally have evil formations.

Someone had actually set up an extremely powerful evil formation in Li Rui's residence.

If Li Rui himself weren't a Fifth-Rank formation master, he would never have been able to discover it.

Li Rui closed his eyes and felt it carefully.

He soon determined that this evil formation was the legendary Evil Puppet Formation.

Its function is to silently influence a person's mind; over time, the person in the formation will become a puppet, controlled by the person who set the formation.

The Evil Puppet Formation is a Third-Rank great formation!

Who would go to such lengths to deal with him?

Li Rui narrowed his eyes slightly, and a cold light flashed.

"What a vicious method."

That person didn't want to kill him directly, but wanted to turn him into a puppet; this matter was very intriguing.

Ning Zhongtian was also full of killing intent.

"Big Brother, what should we do next?"

What he didn't expect was that Li Rui actually put the big maggot back, looking relaxed: "Act as if you didn't see it, and continue doing what you're doing."

Ning Zhongtian was stunned.

But he would never question Li Rui's decision.

Li Rui casually scattered a small pebble on the ground and then returned to his room.

Just now, he had already set up a Small Five Elements Formation.

Although it couldn't resist the Evil Puppet Formation, it had the effect of delaying it.

Living there for ten days or half a month wouldn't be a problem.

The person who set up the Evil Puppet Formation was also extremely patient; wanting to refine a Tongxuan Grandmaster into a puppet would require at least ten years of staying in the formation.

Plus, he didn't come often.

Fifty years wasn't impossible.

But even so, that person still chose to go to such lengths to set up the great formation.

Li Rui sat cross-legged on the bed.

His heart was filled with even more killing intent.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 420 =====