Chapter 484: Breakthrough

The 133rd year of Yuanfeng, spring.

Great Yu ushered in a rare peace and prosperity.

The cultivators within the borders became much more obedient, and the war with the North Pole Immortal Sect in the north had also ceased for five years.

Daoist academies gradually rose.

For a time, cultivating immortality became a trend, faintly showing signs of standing shoulder to shoulder with martial artists.

Under the vigorous promotion of Grand Secretary Zhang.

Seeds of immortality sprouted like bamboo shoots after rain; perhaps in a hundred years, the Yu Kingdom would be a different scene.

In later generations, it was called the "Rule of Yuanfeng."

Seeing this scene.

The Emperor's laughter during the morning court was much more frequent than before.

"Little Li, tell me, what's going on in this world? One after another, the little brats are clamoring to go cultivate immortality, and the number of people coming to the martial arts halls is getting smaller year by year."

He Qiannian drank a large bowl of wine in frustration.

That's right.

He Qiannian had come to the capital.

It wasn't because of official business, but simply because he felt suffocated staying in the Thousand Crane Martial Arts Hall in Qinghe and wanted to change to a different place to stay.

Could he not feel suffocated?

Now, many good seedlings in the Thousand Crane Martial Arts Hall were clamoring to go to the Daoist academy to cultivate immortality, and there were far fewer people practicing martial arts than before.

It even reached He Qiannian's ears.

He knew it had already become a trend.

The decline of the martial path was inevitable.

He Qiannian didn't stop them, nor was he angry, just feeling it was a pity.

Li Rui: "This is the trend of the times; those who want to learn martial arts will still learn them."

"The logic is that logic."

He Qiannian sighed.

But the frustration on his face didn't decrease in the slightest.

He was a nostalgic person and was truly afraid that once this batch of old guys all died, the martial path would be completely severed.

Li Rui didn't try to persuade him much.

The martial path is a way out for poor mud-legged people, but for children of noble families, cultivating immortality is a more comfortable path.

Just look at the body-refining cultivators in the Immortal Cultivation Realm.

They are different paths; the martial path will not go extinct, but decline is inevitable.

And looking at the stance of the Emperor and Grand Secretary Zhang, they are clearly trying to build Great Yu into an eternal immortal dynasty.

Not to mention the Daoist academies.

Even those great Daoist sects are all turning to cultivate immortality.

This is the trend of the times.

He Qiannian said, then looked at Li Rui again: "Even you, kid..."

He didn't continue.

Because he also understood that from a long-term perspective, Li Rui's dual cultivation of immortality and martial arts was the right path.

That was why he was even more frustrated.

At this moment.

Li Rui slowly raised his palm, then curled his five fingers slightly, grabbing toward the void in front.

He Qiannian's eyes lit up fiercely.

He cheered:

"Wonderful!"

He saw that in Li Rui's hand, there were actually wisps of Great Dao rhyme, firmly grasped in his hand.

What made He Qiannian happy was not Li Rui's comprehension of the Dao rhyme.

But that this move of Li Rui's was clearly his Great Great Henglian!

Only it was far more exquisite than the Great Great Henglian he had taught Li Rui.

He Qiannian was so excited that his whole body trembled.

He knew very well what this represented—it was the future of the martial path!

Li Rui smiled slightly.

"If Senior He wants to learn, I can teach you."

He Qiannian was stunned, then laughed and scolded: "You little brat."

Weren't these the words he had said to Li Rui thirty years ago?

'Is this the thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river?'

He was amused by his own thoughts.

This move of Li Rui's was his improved Great Great Henglian, combining the True Martial Weapon-Nurturing Art and the Wan Gu Chang Qing Gong, so it was naturally extraordinary.

He Qiannian took a fierce breath:

"Learn!"

Then he couldn't help but be curious: "Are you about to break through, kid?"

Ever since Li Rui helped him condense his Qi form, he had finally accumulated and broken through to the mid-stage of the Below Tongxuan Realm; he wasn't a fool and could fully see that Li Rui performing this move was clearly a sign of being close to the Heaven-Observing Realm.

Li Rui laughed and nodded:

"Indeed, it's soon."

Hearing Li Rui's words, He Qiannian widened his eyes in shock.

Good heavens.

It seemed like only twenty years since Li Rui broke through to Below Tongxuan, and he was about to break through again.

In other words.

This speed was completely no less than that of the Weapon Saint Yuan Yuan Dingting.

He Qiannian was almost suffocating.

He seemed to have already seen a future land immortal who would dominate one side about to appear.

First-Rank!

These two words were too heavy.

Five hundred years ago, that was the existence of the top three in the world.

It was only after that immortal calamity that the number of First-Ranks increased, but even so, among the billions of people in the world, they were extremely, extremely rare.

Li Rui didn't tell He Qiannian.

He wasn't just about to break through.

He was even about to reach the initial stage of the Heaven-Observing Realm with the fetus formed.

In the Imperial Palace.

In an elegant courtyard.

The Fifth Prince Zhu Gan was seriously flipping through an ancient book in the courtyard.

These years.

He hadn't participated in the most important matters of the royal family and had always been in the palace peacefully compiling history.

On the contrary, it was his Fourth Brother.

Who appeared more and more frequently in the imperial court.

Regarding this.

Zhu Gan was not panicked in the slightest.

Panic for what?

A prince born to a lowly maid from the countryside, just having a Witch tribe woman to support him, could he compare to him?

Dream on.

"Is this Father's deep meaning?"

Zhu Gan's mouth lifted slightly.

Now he understood; his imperial father calling him to compile history was to have him cultivate his character and not be as impatient as before.

After flipping through ancient books for these years.

Zhu Gan was indeed more steady.

Gradually, he even grew to like this feeling.

In fact, he was not as irritable as the world knew; on the contrary, he was a silent and taciturn person in his childhood.

It was only later that his mother specifically taught him, and he intentionally revealed another side.

Now that he was called to compile history, it was very much in line with his wishes.

Regarding the events of that year, he felt not the slightest guilt.

If he hadn't eaten Chang Su Xuan, how could he have had the comeback today?

If he were still that Prince of Wei who failed to break through to Heaven-Observing and remained in Below Tongxuan for a lifetime, his final outcome might have been to become a pitiful prince imprisoned in the capital by the next emperor.

Zhu Gan was thinking.

An old man brought a burly man in.

They were his confidants, Zhou Tong and Ben Shi.

"Your Highness."

Although Zhu Gan had already been stripped of his title as Prince of Wei because of that matter, Zhou Tong still called Zhu Gan "Your Highness" and had never changed.

"Old Zhou."

Zhu Gan saw Zhou Tong appear, put down the book in his hand, and stood up.

Clearly.

Cultivating character was only on the surface; his bones hadn't changed.

Zhu Gan just found a reason to hide better.

"How did the matter go?"

Zhou Tong smiled slightly, then took out a small booklet from his sleeve.

Zhu Gan took the booklet.

Opened it and looked.

Three names were written on it, among which was Li Rui.

Besides Li Rui, the other two were the most genius-level figures of the Immortal Sect, all in the Below Tongxuan Realm.

To step into a land immortal, he still needed the most extreme bones.

Besides the names.

The booklet also contained tens of thousands of small characters, all about the intelligence of the three people.

The smile on Zhu Gan's face grew wider.

He listened to his uncle, the Imperial Preceptor, and became more patient.

These years, he hadn't made any extra moves, just secretly collecting intelligence.

The people on the booklet were the targets he had chosen for soul-shifting and bone-changing.

Zhu Gan finally lingered on Li Rui's name for a long time.

For him.

Li Rui was an excellent target.

Only because he was a prince, and Li Rui was a subject.

Although it was extremely troublesome to kill, compared to those other two Immortal Sect elders, the difficulty was already the lowest.

Zhou Tong seemed to see Zhu Gan's thoughts and spoke at the right time: "Your Highness, that Li Rui's talent is monstrous; we must act as soon as possible. Why don't I first sneak into his residence and plant a curse, to facilitate future action."

Upon hearing this.

Zhu Gan agreed without even thinking.

If he were to kill Li Rui now, he would still need to hesitate, but just planting a curse, there was no concern.

Zhou Tong was valued by the Imperial Preceptor because he was one of the few curse masters in the world.

Curses can kill people silently.

Extremely mysterious.

The number of curse masters was also countable.

Zhou Tong was one of them, and he had already gone extremely far.

Watching Zhou Tong leave.

Zhu Gan's joy in his heart grew more.

But he soon took a deep breath and silently recited to himself: "Endure, endure, endure."

Late at night.

"The third watch has arrived, all is peaceful!"

The sound of the night watchman rang out on the street.

It was already the third watch.

Almost no pedestrians could be seen.

Outside a large residence by the Jishui Pool, a black shadow moved, sweeping past at a speed almost invisible to the naked eye, arriving under the courtyard wall.

It was Zhou Tong.

He had come to plant a curse on the orders of the Fifth Prince Zhu Gan.

If it were an ordinary martial artist, he could curse him to death from a thousand miles away, but Li Rui was in the Below Tongxuan Realm, so even he needed to make close contact first, and only after leaving the curse object could he initiate the curse.

Zhou Tong's expression was indifferent.

He was in the Heaven-Observing Realm, while Li Rui was only in Below Tongxuan.

What separated them was a chasm!

It was completely a sure thing.

But just as Zhou Tong was preparing to enter the residence silently—

A wave of heaven and earth fluctuations spread out with the residence as the center.

The next instant.

A pitch-black tribulation cloud slowly gathered in the sky, with thunder and lightning flashing within it.

Zhou Tong's expression changed drastically.

He was all too familiar with this scene.

Li Rui was going to cross the tribulation?!!!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 485 =====