Chapter 421: Accelerated Progress

"Old Brother Li."

The next morning.

Yuan Xiong was the first to come calling upon hearing Li Rui had arrived at the spirit mine.

"Young Brother Yuan."

Li Rui laughed heartily.

Yet he did not invite Yuan Xiong inside, but instead pulled him outward: "I haven't been to the mine in ages—take me for a walk, Young Brother."

Though slightly puzzled, Yuan Xiong readily agreed since Li Rui had asked: "A walk would be fine."

With that said,

Yuan Xiong led Li Rui on a tour of the grounds.

The spirit mine was vast, stretching far beyond.

As they walked, Li Rui asked: "Young Brother Yuan, has anyone been visiting my residence lately?"

Yuan Xiong paused to think: "Your residence is normally guarded by only three men—no one else should be coming."

"What's wrong, Old Brother Li?"

Li Rui shook his head: "Just curious."

Yuan Xiong was perceptive.

He quickly sensed something amiss, but since Li Rui did not elaborate, he did not press further.

The two soon reached the mining zone.

There, they saw Yu soldiers hauling spirit stones out.

Actually, mining spirit stones was not physically taxing.

The former Dao Academy students, now miners, merely had to locate the spirit stones; the rest—the hauling—was done by Yu soldiers.

It was merely dull.

But the pay was generous, and always paid in spirit stones.

For cultivators of modest means, this was undoubtedly a fine way to acquire spirit stones.

According to Li Rui, the Dao Academy still had many poor cultivators.

Many were willing to come here and mine.

At this moment,

They saw several mine overseers bowing and scraping before a man, their manner deeply obsequious.

"Master Ke."

Yuan Xiong called out.

The man turned—a refined middle-aged man.

Li Rui recognized him: Ke Chuan, one of the four guardians who had come with Prince Zhu Gan.

Ke Chuan bowed to Li Rui and Yuan Xiong: "If it isn't Lord Li and General Yuan."

Ke Chuan differed from Li Rui and Yuan Xiong.

He had never held official office before—he was an Elder of a major sect.

It was said he had caught the Imperial Tutor's eye, which is why he came south with Prince Zhu Gan to the spirit mine.

Of the four guardians, all were under the supervision of Prince Wei.

But as for trusted confidants, Ke Chuan and another guardian were favored; Li Rui and Yuan Xiong were deliberately excluded.

Yuan Xiong: "What is Master Ke doing here?"

Ke Chuan smiled: "Prince Wei ordered me to reinforce the great array."

"Master Ke, you've worked hard."

Yuan Xiong nodded with a smile.

Among the four, Ke Chuan was the most unusual—even with the Imperial Tutor's favor, he must have possessed exceptional skill to convince the Emperor.

After all, the position of guardian at the spirit mine was coveted by many.

Even high officials had failed to secure it, yet it fell to a sect Elder.

Precisely because Ke Chuan was a master of arrays.

Establishing the spirit mine required a protective mountain array.

Otherwise, borrowing the Qingwei Sect's array would damage the Yu court's dignity and leave it vulnerable to Qingwei's control.

Li Rui watched Ke Chuan.

He pondered silently.

Ke Chuan was an array master.

"Could it be him—or Prince Five?"

He had been pondering who had set the dark array at his residence.

Though the Emperor was still vigorous and had not named a Crown Prince, the powerful were already placing their bets.

The Yu court had no rule of primogeniture.

But Prince Five's maternal clan was the renowned Bo Yang Gao family.

That might not mean much.

But if you knew that the wife of Duke Dingyuan also bore the Gao surname, it would be clear.

Prince Five must call Duke Dingyuan "Uncle-in-law."

As a confidant of Gu Changsheng, Li Rui was naturally despised by Prince Five; given the prince's reputation in the capital for brutality and recklessness, he might have ordered Ke Chuan to set an array and turn Li Rui into a puppet.

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

But soon,

Li Rui shook his head.

Each prince was a shrewd fox, let alone Prince Five, a top contender for the throne.

If this were exposed, he would be immediately stripped by the Emperor.

The risk was too great—not worth it.

Still, Li Rui increased his vigilance toward Ke Chuan.

At this moment,

Ke Chuan smiled at Li Rui: "Lord Li, we never had a proper chat last time—come visit my residence sometime. I have some fine wine you'll surely like."

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

The three chatted merrily.

They stood for half an hour.

Only then did Li Rui and Yuan Xiong depart; Ke Chuan continued his array studies.

After touring the entire mine, evening had fallen.

Yuan Xiong invited Li Rui to his residence for wine, and they stayed until deep night.

Li Rui finally returned to his mansion.

"Lord Li."

Upon his return, the two soldiers who had slacked off during the day stood rigidly awaiting him.

Li Rui smiled lightly: "Good."

He patted their shoulders and entered his room, reeking of wine.

The two soldiers were stunned with delight.

Unaware,

Li Rui had just infused a talismanic imprint into their bodies.

Every move they made would now be under his control.

Someone had tampered with his residence.

Even if the three guards weren't spies, they had likely already been compromised.

Li Rui returned to his room.

The effect of the dark puppet array had been delayed by his Small Five Elements Array—not only could the dark array master not detect it, but its activation was also postponed.

It wasn't that his array mastery surpassed the dark array master's; he simply stood within the array, while the dark master did not.

Li Rui practiced the Ten Thousand Ages Evergreen Art as usual.

Then he crawled into bed and fell asleep.

When his consciousness awoke,

He was already in the Grand Void Dao Field.

Opening his eyes,

He saw at once the rotund figure upon the White Jade Steps.

"Friend Wu, we finally meet again."

Since their last meeting, he and Wu De had not seen each other for over a year.

Li Rui's mind stirred.

His immortal sword, Zhanjiao, leapt from its sheath and shot toward Wu De.

Wu De reacted swiftly.

A palm-sized golden shield, etched with tortoise patterns, materialized in midair and clashed with Zhanjiao.

Wu De let out a cry of "Ow!"

He tumbled down from hundreds of steps of white jade stairs.

"Damn!"

"Who the hell dared ambush Daoist Uncle?"

As Wu De got to his feet, he saw Li Rui smiling warmly at him.

He blinked his pea-sized eyes: "Brother Zhu?"

Li Rui chuckled: "Brother Wu, impressive skills."

Wu De stood up.

He silently fumed.

He had once blocked Li Rui twice with his flying sword; now, after being ambushed, he had not a single ounce of anger left.

Besides, he had already hit a bottleneck just moments ago.

Even if Li Rui hadn't struck, he would've had to turn back anyway.

Wu De: "Brother Zhu, long time no see."

Li Rui bowed in a Daoist greeting: "Brother Wu, how have you been?"

At the words "how have you been,"

Wu De plopped down: "Don't even mention it. I was supposed to get a chance to descend to the mortal realm, but some connection-favoring bastard stole it—damn it all!"

"Descend to the mortal realm?"

Li Rui asked.

Wu De blinked: "You don't know?"

"The Ten Thousand Worlds Heavenly Instrument discovered a small realm, but turns out the natives inside are terrifyingly strong. Still, since it's a cave heaven, there must be great fortune to be had."

Li Rui's expression didn't change at all:

"I've been in seclusion. Didn't notice."

Wu De couldn't help feeling a pang of envy: "Brother Zhu really has it easy—no need to worry about such trivial matters, just focus on the Dao."

Li Rui smiled but said nothing.

But inside, he was genuinely startled.

Cave heaven

If Wu De wasn't lying, the cave heaven he mentioned was almost certainly the very realm Li Rui inhabited.

Though his mind was flooded with questions, he chose to hold his tongue.

He didn't press further.

He silently regretted it.

If Wu De were to descend, that would be perfect.

He would find out where, seal it off, and squeeze every last bit of information out of him.

"Brother Zhu,"

Wu De was about to speak.

Suddenly, a cold wind brushed his back, making him shiver.

'Where did this evil wind come from?'

Wu De muttered: "Brother Zhu, if your family has a slot to descend, could you sell me one? Price is negotiable."

Li Rui: "Brother Wu, this is decided by my elders. I have no say."

Wu De let out a dry laugh.

He knew it was just a casual ask—what if luck smiled?

Li Rui suddenly spoke: "Brother Wu, I've recently taken an interest in talismans and arrays."

He stopped mid-sentence.

Wu De's eyes lit up: "Brother Zhu, that's easy! I don't know talismans or arrays, but I have a friend who's an expert—I'll see what I can do."

Inside, he was overjoyed.

There's a chance!

He never expected his offhand remark would actually work.

His face broke into a wide grin.

He also silently thanked his luck—Li Rui wanted talismans and arrays, not immortal arts; otherwise, it would've been a nightmare.

Though the Six Arts of Immortal Cultivation are exquisite, they're still far inferior to immortal arts.

Wu De was about to continue speaking

When he suddenly cried out, "Damn!"

Before he could finish, he dissolved into mist and vanished.

Only after Wu De had completely disappeared

did Li Rui's lips curl slightly.

"Brother Wu, you truly are my treasure trove."

The Divine Spirit Scripture had already pleased him immensely.

He was already eager to see what surprise Wu De would bring him next.

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

During that time,

he wandered and patrolled with Yuan Xiong by day and cultivated at night.

But as before,

he never saw Wu De again—he guessed it would be a long time before they met once more.

One day,

Li Rui opened the door, intending to patrol the spirit mine.

The two guards at the entrance stood rigidly, bowing respectfully to Li Rui.

Li Rui patted both of them.

As a third-rank official, his casual friendliness made the two men ecstatic.

Li Rui walked away with his hands behind his back.

His patting was actually a covert infusion of the Breaking Seal talisman's intent.

After several days of observation,

as expected, the three guards themselves were clean—but someone had implanted a magical array seal on them.

Once activated, they would be instantly controlled.

Li Rui didn't want to alert the enemy, so he didn't directly use the Breaking Seal talisman. Instead, he chose to suppress the seal within them daily with the talisman's intent, rarely using it.

That way, when the dark array master tried to activate the seal, he could cut it off in advance.

All of this was done with extreme secrecy.

No one else knew—not a soul.

He strolled along.

Just as he stepped out of the spirit mine's array and reached the outer patrol zone—

he suddenly sensed a presence.

Li Rui's brow twitched slightly.

It was a person.

And he recognized him.

Chen Ming!

(End of Chapter)