Chapter 420: Accelerated Progress

"Brother Li."

Early the next morning.

Hearing that Li Rui had come to the spirit mine, Brother Yuan was the first to visit.

"Brother Yuan."

Li Rui laughed.

However, he did not welcome Yuan Xiong into the door, but directly pulled Yuan Xiong and walked out: "I haven't been to the spirit mine for a long time, Brother Yuan, take your old brother for a walk."

Although Yuan Xiong was a bit puzzled, since Li Rui said so, he agreed happily: "A walk is fine."

Having said that.

Yuan Xiong took Li Rui and wandered around.

The spirit mine was huge, and they walked quite far.

While walking, Li Rui asked: "Brother Yuan, has anyone been coming to my residence often lately?"

Yuan Xiong thought for a moment: "Brother Li, that residence of yours only has three people guarding it daily; there shouldn't be anyone else."

"Brother Li, what's wrong?"

Li Rui shook his head: "Just asking."

Yuan Xiong was meticulous.

He soon smelled something unusual, but since Li Rui didn't say, he didn't pursue it.

The two soon walked to the mining area.

Here, they could see Yu Kingdom soldiers transporting spirit stones out.

Actually, mining spirit stones is not tiring.

Those miners who used to be academy students only need to find the spirit stones, and the rest of the transportation work is completed by Yu Kingdom soldiers.

It's just monotonous.

But it has the advantage of generous rewards, and all are paid in spirit stones.

For cultivators from ordinary backgrounds, this is undoubtedly a good way to obtain spirit stones.

According to what Li Rui knows, there are still quite a few poor cultivators in the academy.

Many are willing to come here to mine.

At this time.

They saw several commanders managing the mine pit nodding and bowing to someone, their manner extremely fawning.

"Mr. Ke."

Yuan Xiong called out.

That person turned his head; it was an elegant middle-aged man.

Li Rui recognized that this person was none other than Ke Chuan, one of the four guardians who came to the spirit mine with the Fifth Prince Zhu Gan.

Ke Chuan cupped his hands to Li Rui and the other: "So it's Lord Li and General Yuan."

This Ke Chuan is different from Li Rui and Yuan Xiong.

He was not an official before, but an Elder of a large sect.

It is said that he was valued by the State Preceptor, which is why he came south to the spirit mine with the Fifth Prince Zhu Gan.

The four guardians, although all under the supervision of that Prince of Wei.

But when it comes to confidants, Ke Chuan and another guardian are the ones; Li Rui and Yuan Xiong were intentionally or unintentionally excluded.

Yuan Xiong: "What is Mr. Ke doing?"

Ke Chuan answered with a smile: "His Highness the Prince of Wei ordered me to strengthen the formation."

"Mr. Ke has worked hard."

Yuan Xiong nodded with a smile.

Among the four, this Ke Chuan is the most special; even if valued by the State Preceptor, he must have outstanding skills to convince the Saint Emperor.

After all, many people are eyeing the position of spirit mine guardian.

Even those high-ranking officials didn't get it, but in the end, it fell to a sect Elder.

That is because this Ke Chuan is a master of formations.

Building a spirit mine requires a mountain-protecting formation.

Otherwise, borrowing the Qingwei Sect's formation would both damage the dignity of the Yu imperial court and be manipulated by the Qingwei Sect.

Li Rui looked at Ke Chuan.

Thinking secretly in his heart.

Ke Chuan is a formation master...

'Could it be him, or the Fifth Prince?'

He had been thinking about who could have set up the evil formation in his residence.

Although the Saint Emperor is currently in his prime and has not established a Crown Prince, those big shots are actually betting in secret.

The Yu Kingdom has no rule about establishing the eldest son of the legal wife.

But the Fifth Prince's maternal clan is the famous Boyang Gao family.

Perhaps saying it like this doesn't give a feeling.

If one says that the Duke of Dingyuan's wife also has the surname Gao, it should be much more intuitive.

The Fifth Prince has to call the Duke of Dingyuan "Uncle-in-law."

Li Rui is Gu Changsheng's confidant, so naturally, the Fifth Prince doesn't look upon him favorably. With the rough and reckless personality the Fifth Prince showed in the capital, he might very well have Ke Chuan set up a great formation to refine Li Rui into a puppet.

That way, he could spy on the secrets of Gu Changsheng's faction.

But soon.

Li Rui shook his head again.

Those princes are all shrewd, not to mention the Fifth Prince, who is a hot favorite for the throne.

If this matter were exposed, he would be directly deposed by the Saint Emperor.

The risk is too great; it's not worth it.

Although he thought so, he still guarded against Ke Chuan a bit more.

At this time.

Ke Chuan looked at Li Rui with a smile: "Lord Li, we didn't have time to talk last time we met. Come to my residence when you have time; I have some good wine there, you will definitely like it."

Li Rui: "Then I won't be polite."

The three talked happily.

They stood for a full half hour.

Li Rui and Yuan Xiong then left, while Ke Chuan continued to study the formation.

After walking around the spirit mine, it was already evening.

Yuan Xiong invited Li Rui to his residence to drink, until late at night.

Li Rui then returned to the mansion.

"Lord Li."

When he returned, the two soldiers who were slacking off during the day were standing straight, waiting for Li Rui's return.

Li Rui chuckled: "Not bad."

He patted the two on the shoulders and walked into the room with the smell of alcohol on him.

The two soldiers were flattered.

Little did they know.

Li Rui had just injected a talisman intent into their bodies.

Every move they make will be controlled by Li Rui.

His residence had been tampered with.

Even if the three people guarding the residence weren't spies, it was very likely they had already been hit.

Li Rui returned to the room.

The effect of the Evil Puppet Great Formation had been delayed by his Small Five Elements Formation, not only could that evil formation master not discover it, but it could also delay the time the formation took effect.

It wasn't that his formation attainments were higher than those evil formation masters, but that he was in the formation, while the evil formation master was not.

Li Rui cultivated the Wan Gu Chang Qing Art as usual.

And then crawled into the quilt to sleep.

When his consciousness awoke.

He had already arrived at the Taixu Dao Field.

As soon as he opened his eyes.

He happened to see the fat figure above the white jade steps.

'Fellow Daoist Wu, finally met.'

Since the last meeting, he and Wu De hadn't seen each other for a year.

Li Rui's thoughts moved.

The immortal blade Zhan Jiao at his waist left its sheath and shot toward Wu De.

Wu De's reaction was quite fast.

A palm-sized turtle-patterned golden shield appeared out of thin air, colliding with Zhan Jiao.

He heard Wu De let out an "ouch."

The whole person fell from the hundreds of white jade steps.

"Damn!"

"Who the hell dares to plot against Daoist me?"

As soon as Wu De got up, he saw Li Rui looking at him with a smile.

He blinked his mung bean-sized eyes: "Fellow Daoist Zhu?"

Li Rui laughed: "Fellow Daoist Wu has good skills."

Wu De stood up.

Secretly depressed.

He had once blocked Li Rui twice with a flying sword; now that Li Rui was ambushing, he had no temper at all.

And he had already hit a bottleneck just now.

Even if Li Rui didn't make a move, he would have had to turn back anyway.

Wu De: "Fellow Daoist Zhu, long time no see."

Li Rui made a Daoist salute: "Fellow Daoist Wu, how have you been?"

Upon hearing "how have you been."

Wu De sat down with a thud: "Don't mention it, originally I got a chance to go to the lower realm, but I didn't expect it to be snatched by a connected person; it makes me furious."

"Lower realm?"

Li Rui inquired.

Wu De blinked: "Fellow Daoist Zhu doesn't know?"

"The Myriad Worlds Hun Tian Instrument discovered a small realm; I didn't expect the natives in the cave to be so fierce, but since it's a cave heaven, there must be a great opportunity."

Li Rui's expression didn't change in the slightest:

"I've been in seclusion all along, I really didn't notice."

Wu De could not help but feel a twinge of envy: "It is still better for Daoist friend Zhu; you have no need to worry about these trivial matters and can focus solely on the Great Dao."

Li Rui smiled without a word.

But he was secretly shocked in his heart.

Cave heaven...

If what Wu De said was true, the cave heaven he spoke of was very likely the realm he was in.

Although he had a hundred questions in his heart, he chose to hold back.

He didn't continue to ask.

He secretly thought it was a pity.

If Wu De went to the lower realm, it would be extremely good.

He would definitely find him, then seal him, and dig out all the information he knew.

"Fellow Daoist Zhu..."

Wu De was about to speak.

Suddenly, he felt a cold wind behind his back, making him shiver.

'Where did that evil wind come from?'

Wu De muttered in his heart: "Fellow Daoist Zhu, if your family has a quota for the lower realm, why not sell me one? The price is negotiable."

Li Rui: "Fellow Daoist Wu, these matters are all decided by the elders in the family; what I say is useless."

Wu De gave two dry laughs.

Of course he understood; he was just asking casually, what if it worked.

Li Rui suddenly spoke: "Fellow Daoist Wu, I've recently taken a liking to talismans and formations..."

He stopped halfway and didn't continue.

Wu De's eyes lit up: "Fellow Daoist Zhu, that's easy to say. I don't understand talismans and formations, but I have a good friend who is most proficient in them. Let me think of a way."

But his heart was blooming with joy.

There's a way!

He didn't expect that his casual remark would actually have an effect.

He was immediately overjoyed.

He also secretly rejoiced in his heart that Li Rui wanted talismans and formations, not immortal arts, otherwise, that would be a headache.

Although the six arts of immortality are exquisite, they are still far inferior to immortal arts.

Wu De was about to continue speaking.

He suddenly cried out "bad."

Before he could finish his sentence, he turned into clouds and smoke and disappeared.

After Wu De completely dissipated.

The corners of Li Rui's mouth lifted.

"Fellow Daoist Wu, you really are my treasure cave."

The previous Divine Dao Scripture had already made him extremely satisfied.

He was already looking forward to what kind of surprise Wu De would send him.

Li Rui stayed at the spirit mine for six or seven days.

During this period.

He wandered around and patrolled with Yuan Xiong during the day, and cultivated at night.

However, it was the same as before.

He never saw Wu De again; he guessed it would take a long time to see him again.

This day.

Li Rui pushed the door open, intending to go patrol the spirit mine.

The two guards at the door were still standing straight, saluting Li Rui respectfully.

Li Rui patted the two again.

He is a Third-Rank official, yet so approachable, making the two overjoyed.

Li Rui walked away with his hands behind his back.

The reason he patted them was actually to secretly instill the talisman intent of the Forbidden-Breaking Talisman.

After several days of observation.

As he expected, the three people guarding the residence had no problems themselves, but had been planted with a formation restriction by others.

Once it took effect, they would be controlled instantly.

Li Rui, to prevent alerting the enemy, did not use the Forbidden-Breaking Talisman directly, but chose not to use it for a long time, suppressing the restriction in the three people's bodies with talisman intent every day.

In this way, when that evil formation master wants to trigger the formation restriction, he can block it in advance.

All of this was done extremely covertly.

Except for him, no one else knew.

He wandered around.

Just as he walked out of the spirit mine formation and came to the periphery to patrol—

He suddenly felt a breath.

Li Rui frowned slightly.

It was a person.

And he actually recognized him.

Chen Ming!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 421 =====