Chapter 124: Then you came here this time, wanting me to spare your lives

Xiao Ming had recently received a mission from the Minister of Justice, Pang Jin, to investigate the Wang Wang Shizi of Zhennan's son, Li Yang.

But after investigating for a long time, he couldn't find any results; this guy was indeed pretending to be a playboy very well, with no flaws.

But Xiao Ming's intuition told him that there must be something fishy about this, so he went out of the city to investigate the case of the Wang Wang Shizi of Zhennan's mansion forcibly requisitioning fertile land.

His master, the Sage remnant soul, felt that this had nothing to do with it, but the child of destiny was truly awesome, and he really found some clues for Xiao Ming.

Those fertile lands were indeed returned to the local farmers according to the Emperor's instructions, and the Wang Wang Shizi of Zhennan had also paid a lot of money in compensation.

But by chance, Xiao Ming found those who had forcibly requisitioned the fertile land, and learned from one of the small leaders that he had actually followed the Crown Wang Wang Shizi before, and after the Crown Wang Wang Shizi died, he followed the son, Li Yang.

Recently, the son Li Yang had taken a fancy to a mine and was about to take action again.

The more he investigated, the more Xiao Ming felt strange; what did Li Yang need so much money for?

Xiao Ming had been following this small leader to the places he frequented.

As a result, he really found some clues.

This small leader's procurement list was very complex, but with Xiao Ming's ability, he could still judge that the most important things here were warhorses, grain and grass, weapons and equipment, tonics, etc.

Xiao Ming and the Sage remnant soul immediately thought that Li Yang must be raising a private army in the nearby area.

What kind of army was this that could make Li Yang spend so much money?

And did the Crown Wang Wang Shizi know about this before he died?

Xiao Ming wanted to continue investigating, but this small leader was only responsible for making money and procurement, and he didn't know anything else.

Where the private army was hidden, and whether there was support from forces in the Imperial Capital, Xiao Ming had no way of knowing, so he prepared to return and report first to see if the Minister of Justice, Pang, had any other clues.

Since he was returning to the Imperial Capital, Xiao Ming wanted to see Lin Yue'e first.

They hadn't seen each other for a few days, and this sycophant of his had no motivation at all without seeing his goddess.

In the past, he had just spent his days following Chu Ruoyan.

Anyway, the Ministry of Justice was also very close to the government office, so he came to the government office familiarly.

But as soon as he arrived here, he found Lin Yue'e being pestered by a handsome man.

This man was constantly giving gifts to Lin Yue'e, his fawning face fully displayed.

Lin Yue'e rejected the gifts as expected, and Xiao Ming was very gratified by this; he knew Lin Yue'e wasn't that kind of person.

Even so, Xiao Ming felt that there were still many dissatisfactions.

When he was a sycophant for Chu Ruoyan last time, there were too many competitors, and they were also very excellent, so he had never been able to win, leading to his goddess being chosen as a concubine by the Emperor.

It was hard to find a woman with few sycophants, upright character, and cultivation similar to his own.

He had thought he could be the only one by Lin Yue'e's side, but a "competitor" had come, making Xiao Ming feel more and more angry.

He hated this kind of handsome guy the most; although this one didn't look as handsome as the last man who took his goddess, he had already touched Xiao Ming's bottom line.

He couldn't continue like the last encounter; he had to think of a way to make changes, even if it meant using his official authority to take down his opponent.

In the past, Xiao Ming had no one to rely on, but now he was a Ministry of Justice runner, and also Pang Jin's person; he felt this was the time he should use his status.

Didn't his master let him enter the Ministry of Justice to let him grasp power?

If the Sage remnant soul knew he thought this way, he would definitely give a thumbs up; this kid had finally opened his mind.

After Zou Yi left the government office, Xiao Ming followed him, following him to an inn.

This tracking technique of his had been practiced; Zou Yi didn't notice anything.

In this inn, Xiao Ming found a white jade coffin stored by Zou Yi.

When Xiao Ming felt strange, the knowledgeable Sage remnant soul said: "Eh, isn't this a 'Living Coffin'?"

Xiao Ming asked in confusion: "Master, what is a 'Living Coffin'?"

The Sage remnant soul explained that some secret arts could make people appear in a state of death, and no one could find any clues, just like they were truly dead.

Only by putting them into this kind of coffin and using secret methods to treat them for forty-nine days could they be resurrected.

Ordinary Sage Realm experts might not necessarily know, but the Sage remnant soul hadn't been an ordinary person in the past.

Xiao Ming understood now; that was to say, this "competitor" of his had some unknown secrets.

As long as he thought of a way to grasp this handle, he could make his competitor never be able to turn over forever!

But here Xiao Ming was also afraid he was mistaken; if this person was Lin Yue'e's relative or subordinate, he would offend Lin Yue'e if he dealt with him.

So he returned to the government office and found Lin Yue'e, who was working.

Lin Yue'e asked him where he had been these past few days and if there were any clues.

If it weren't for the Sage remnant soul stopping him, Xiao Ming would have almost said it directly.

He indicated that he had received a mission from Pang Jin and was investigating a case, and it wasn't convenient to say the specifics.

Lin Yue'e also worked at the government office and indicated she could understand.

Then Xiao Ming said: "Just now I saw someone go out, the one who was chatting with you; who is he? Is he someone assisting you in the investigation?"

Xiao Ming had mastered certain chatting skills; as long as he talked about official business with Lin Yue'e, she would mostly tell him.

If he just asked who that man was to her, wouldn't it seem he was meddling?

This was the benefit of being an official; he had learned many things.

As expected, Lin Yue'e said casually: "Oh, you mean him; I'm not very familiar with him; that's the Empress Dowager's nephew, who came to ask me about the Wang Wang Shizi of Zhennan's son."

Hearing this, Xiao Ming felt relieved; since he wasn't her person, don't blame him for taking action.

And this guy's flirting means were like his own, both using official business to contact Lin Yue'e; it was truly shameless!

Continuing to chat about things that had happened in the Imperial Capital recently, Xiao Ming also learned from Lin Yue'e that the Second Imperial Wang Wang Shizi had failed and his cronies had been captured.

Xiao Ming sighed for a while; he hadn't expected that the Second Imperial Wang Wang Shizi, who had been in his prime before, could end up like this.

He didn't know that he had also contributed to the Second Imperial Wang Wang Shizi losing so thoroughly.

After Lin Yue'e said she would continue working, Xiao Ming said goodbye and left.

He prepared to return to the Ministry of Justice to report first, and then focus on dealing with the Empress Dowager's nephew.

In the past, Xiao Ming wouldn't have known how to start against such nobles; now, he wouldn't allow nobles to snatch his woman again!

After Xiao Ming left, Lin Yue'e also changed her clothes and left the government office, arriving early at the nearby meeting place, waiting for Li Chen to appear.

Even if it was still a while before the agreed time, Lin Yue'e didn't dare to be negligent.

After waiting for about half an hour, Li Chen appeared at the agreed time, and a look of excitement flashed across Lin Yue'e's face.

"Did you come very early?" Li Chen said.

"Your Majesty, it wasn't very early." Lin Yue'e replied respectfully.

Actually, she wanted to say she had just arrived, but felt that saying so would be "deceiving the monarch," so she could only answer like this.

The reason Li Chen discovered she had come early was because there were many traces she had left on the ground; if she had just arrived, it would be impossible to have so many.

According to Li Chen's instructions, Lin Yue'e recovered the array Li Chen had left in the Manghuang Mountain Range.

There were three arrays, and Li Chen only used one; the one he used was in Li Chen's hands, and Lin Yue'e knew where the remaining two were, and it was very convenient for her to recover them using the method Li Chen had taught her.

Li Chen took away the "Void Shackles Domain Array" and left the "Sword Dao Demon-Slaying Array" to Lin Yue'e, and taught her how to use it.

Upon hearing that Li Chen was giving her such a precious thing, she felt she was dreaming; Li Chen had already given her too much, so much that she couldn't imagine this was reality.

Whether it was the Emperor's waist token, the inner core of the ancient demon beast Mo Lin You She, or the array stones of this "Sword Dao Demon-Slaying Array."

Every one of them was a priceless treasure, a divine object that cultivators dreamed of.

She was just helping His Majesty investigate cases, and she could get it.

If this were said out loud, it would probably make countless people jealous.

She was the one in the Tian Ce Dynasty whose mission was the simplest and whose reward was the most generous.

If Xiao Ming and Xu Zifeng were children of destiny, the proud sons chosen by heaven.

Then Lin Yue'e was the chosen one of god, and Li Chen was her god!

The place where the two met was a forest, and few people came.

Before the rise of the Imperial Capital's martial arts schools, there were many people practicing here, and there were many setups nearby.

But the scale of the Yunyinjie martial arts schools had risen, not only with professional big shots guiding, but also with venues for strengthening cultivation.

There were even many open cultivation areas built to provide cultivators with competition and sparring, so most people practicing were concentrated near Yunyinjie.

The reason they agreed to meet here at this time was that Li Chen wanted to keep his promise and personally guide Lin Yue'e.

Being personally guided by a Sage Realm expert was a great opportunity for Lin Yue'e.

The intensity of this opportunity was no less than obtaining the inheritance of an expert in a mysterious cave.

And the inheritance of an expert was dead, but Li Chen, this expert, was alive.

Li Chen let Lin Yue'e display her cultivation techniques and the skills she had practiced, and he slowly adjusted and guided Lin Yue'e.

"Treat me as an opponent and launch an attack; don't hold back at all, so I can see your specific strength."

"Then Your Majesty, your subject will offend you!"

Here Lin Yue'e wasn't pretentious or polite; with Li Chen's strength, she couldn't hurt Li Chen at all; if she deliberately acted respectful, it was actually a lack of trust in the strong, so she just did as Li Chen said.

Soon, this area was filled with the sword energy displayed by Lin Yue'e. While Li Chen blocked it casually, he could also see that Lin Yue'e's basic skills were very solid; being able to graduate from the Xinhuo Combat Academy with good grades, she naturally wouldn't be bad.

For Lin Yue'e, Li Chen's requirements were high, not like the casualness with Li Sining.

Because Li Chen had certain expectations for her, and if she cultivated hard herself, it would also be good for her.

This cultivation and guidance lasted for two hours and only ended when the sun set behind the mountains.

Lin Yue'e gained a lot, and her understanding of sword techniques and cultivation gradually began to approach Li Chen's.

Because normal cultivators were very rigid in imitating the experience of their predecessors, thinking that since others cultivated like this and reached that realm, they would definitely be fine if they cultivated like this too.

Especially someone like Lin Yue'e who came out of a combat academy, normal cultivation methods had already become her instinct.

Li Chen taught her some abnormal ones, such as sword techniques not being restricted to forms; after mastering them, one should forget the moves and do whatever felt comfortable.

In this way, the core of the sword moves remained unchanged, but the moves were more treacherous, and the opponent didn't know which move you were going to release, so how could they dismantle it?

The premise for doing this was that Lin Yue'e had to master it; if she only understood half, it wasn't recommended to do so.

!

As long as she could do this, she would have a very big advantage in battles of the same level, and could even challenge across levels.

Next was the key, and also the core of Li Chen's lecture, which was the powerful level advantage, that is, combat strength.

Instead of taking the risk to challenge experts across levels, it was better to become an expert and give the risk to others.

Li Chen himself did exactly this.

And what this world cultivated was meridian arts, which was to use one's own meridians as a guide.

Many cultivators were afraid that their meridian strength wouldn't be enough when breaking through, leading to breakthrough failure and even serious injury.

So they stayed at each realm for a long time, and even suppressed their level to cultivate, doing consolidation.

Li Chen didn't say this method was wrong, but human lifespan was limited; staying at a level for a long time was indeed very consolidated, but it was meaningless if one died.

Talent determined the upper limit of a cultivator, and comprehension and resources determined the speed at which a cultivator reached the upper limit.

This body could cultivate to the Sage Realm, but the comprehension wasn't enough, and the resources weren't enough, so it was very difficult to reach the upper limit before the lifespan was exhausted.

Li Chen's comprehension was heaven-defying, his resources were abundant, and he didn't have too many disturbances, so this speed was terrifying.

Li Chen observed for a while; Lin Yue'e was also one in ten thousand geniuses, and her talent should be enough, but her comprehension wasn't good, and her resources weren't abundant enough; under normal circumstances, it was impossible to reach the Sage Realm, and even the Heavenly Abyss Realm was difficult.

These were small matters; what she couldn't comprehend, Li Chen helped her comprehend, just like if there was a sentence Lin Yue'e couldn't understand, Li Chen would chew it up and feed it to her.

As for resources, that was even more of a small matter; Li Chen was the Emperor, managing the resources of a country, and he would provide resources to help according to Lin Yue'e's needs.

As long as Lin Yue'e was obedient as always, then he would treat this as playing a cultivation game.

Many children of destiny had cheats, and these cheats could improve their cultivation speed.

Now Lin Yue'e also had one, and her cheat was Li Chen.

After urging Lin Yue'e to cultivate diligently, Li Chen returned to the Imperial Palace.

On the way back to the Imperial Palace, Li Chen was thinking that he seemed to have quite a few small accounts he was practicing.

Besides Lin Yue'e and Li Sining, Li Chen felt that Chu Ruoyan's body was also very special, and her recent cultivation speed was also very fast.

These were all his close people; as long as they were trained, they would definitely be very loyal.

Next were some "big accounts" he had snatched.

For example, Lady Youlan Lady Youlan Xianzi Lady Youlan, this Sage Realm expert snatched by Li Chen.

Without the Soul-Controlling Needle, she couldn't be made to work for him for the time being.

If there were five volumes of the "Imperial Dragon Holy Scripture," then more big accounts could be snatched; didn't the founding Emperor of the previous dynasty obtain the world by doing this?

Li Chen didn't urge Li Ran either; he wasn't very anxious about this matter, after all, he was young.

Next was someone like Wu Nanzhi who was relatively special; that holy tiger, don't look at it being bullied to death by Li Chen here, if it were released, it would be a disaster, and could be considered first-class combat strength.

Li Chen felt he could find more women of this type to enrich his harem.

Then this matter could be handed over to Lady Youlan Lady Youlan Xianzi Lady Youlan, letting her list the powerful sect women who didn't have partners.

Of course, those who had partners could also be listed.

This wasn't a big problem; since he had already started with her, it didn't matter if there were others.

Li Chen had just returned to the palace and hadn't walked to his sleeping palace when Eunuch Cui walked over and said softly: "Your Majesty, there is a secret request to see you from a northern tribe envoy."

This made Li Chen somewhat surprised; the war hadn't started yet, and they were already here?

It seemed the Northern Wang Ting wasn't so united, no wonder the Wang Ting Khan never returned.

"Let him come to the Imperial Study to see me." Li Chen treated it as working overtime.

Arriving at the Imperial Study, Li Chen waited for a while, and Eunuch Cui brought a mysterious envoy wearing a hooded coat, who stepped quietly into the Imperial Study.

His steps were light, and he wore a half-mask on his face, revealing only a pair of eyes full of vigilance.

After seeing Li Chen, the envoy immediately knelt down, putting on a respectful appearance.

"Your Majesty, your subject is the envoy of the Ice Bear Tribe, Wa Ganbu, and I have an important matter to report."

The envoy's voice was low and hoarse, revealing an oppressive emotion.

Ice Bear Tribe? Li Chen had indeed heard of this.

That was six hundred years ago, when the northern Wang Ting was named the Ice Bear Wang Ting, which was defeated by the Tian Ce Dynasty's great army and finally hid in the Snow Mountain Profound Domain.

Since that time, the Ice Bear Wang Ting had disintegrated.

Li Chen also remembered that the ancestor of Liu Hao's family was a great hero of that time.

That was why the status of the Liu family nobles in the Imperial Capital was achieved.

Li Chen raised his eyes slightly, looking at the envoy in front of him, and said casually: "Oh? Ice Bear Tribe? You came to visit late at night, what for?"

This belonged to asking while knowing the answer, but he still had to let the other party say it out loud.

Wa Ganbu felt the terrifying majesty of this Emperor, his body trembled slightly, but then calmed down and said: "Your Majesty, although my Ice Bear Tribe is a member of the Snow Eagle Royal Court, we are truly unwilling to be involved in this meaningless war. Our tribe's station is close to the border between the two countries; once the war breaks out, we will definitely bear the brunt and suffer a disaster."

The Ice Bear Tribe had a population of ten million and was a relatively large tribe in the north, while the Wang Ting of the Snow Eagle Wang Ting was the Snow Eagle Tribe, with a population of tens of millions, and both its quantity and combat strength were more abundant than the Ice Bear Tribe.

But the Tian Ce Dynasty had billions of people, and the army was countless; if they fought over, the Snow Eagle Wang Ting would also be in trouble.

The Snow Eagle Wang Ting definitely didn't want its tribe to suffer heavy losses, so it intended to let the Ice Bear Tribe and other tribes fight first, and preserve its own strength.

The Ice Bear Tribe didn't want to be the first bird either, but their station was close to the border between the two countries; if they fought, they would definitely be implicated, so the leader of the Ice Bear Tribe sent the envoy Wa Ganbu to come secretly.

They didn't come a while ago because they were waiting for the Third Imperial Wang Wang Shizi to take action, so the Tian Ce Dynasty would be in chaos, and they could counter-attack the Tian Ce Dynasty.

A very wonderful quantum entanglement appeared here.

The condition for the Third Imperial Wang Wang Shizi Li Yu to take action was the Second Imperial Wang Wang Shizi Li Xian's successful usurpation.

Once Li Xian succeeded, he would definitely withdraw the order for the Northern Expedition and would definitely deal with Li Yu next.

Li Yu had to take action, and even needed to take action first.

Then the Wang Ting Khan and the Wang Wang Shizi of Zhennan could continue to take action, so they wouldn't eat the main firepower.

The Wang Ting Khan never returned, and even sent experts to Li Yu, just to let him go first and not be cowardly!

But the problem was, Li Xian failed, and Li Yu's strategic layout changed directly.

In his view, Li Chen was a buddy anyway; Li Chen didn't care even when the great army was dispatched last time, so Li Chen definitely wouldn't deal with him first.

And Li Chen had already announced that he was going to fight the Northern Wang Ting, and even the manpower was ready, and the army mobilization was almost complete, so Li Yu could wait for the north to start the war before taking action.

In this way, the main firepower of the Tian Ce Dynasty wouldn't be on him.

Why would he take action to find excitement?

The Wang Wang Shizi of Zhennan had the same idea; he wasn't in a hurry to rebel either.

Moreover, his son was actually sent to the northern front line, which made the Wang Wang Shizi of Zhennan confused.

According to Li Chen's habits, if there was a great victory in the north, the next one to be dealt with would be the Wang Wang Shizi of Zhennan, so the Third Imperial Wang Wang Shizi Li Yu wasn't in a hurry either; anyway, among the three of us, the one Li Chen dealt with last was me, so I wouldn't fire the first shot.

So if the north started the war, the Wang Wang Shizi of Zhennan would have to take action, and Li Yu would pick up the bargain last.

He went directly from someone eating firepower to someone hiding at the end.

The leader of the Ice Bear Tribe was just watching the Tian Ce Dynasty's great army preparing to fight over, which was why he came to kneel and beg Li Chen for cooperation.

Li Chen saw it; their cooperation was forced; if he dealt with the Wang Wang Shizi of Zhennan and the Third Imperial Wang Wang Shizi first, then the Ice Bear Tribe would immediately become the vanguard of the Snow Eagle Wang Ting and fight over.

The Ice Bear Tribe had developed for six hundred years, just wanting to preserve itself and gain more benefits; there was no need to sell their lives.

Li Chen heard this, and a playful smile appeared at the corner of his mouth: "Then you came here this time, wanting me to spare your lives?"

Wa Ganbu took a deep breath and, according to the leader's instructions, said: "Your Majesty, your subject came here this time, willing to cooperate with the Tian Ce Dynasty; as long as Your Majesty's army arrives, my Ice Bear Tribe is willing to give up a path, only asking Your Majesty not to take action against my tribe, and the leader is willing to lead the whole tribe to submit to Your Majesty."

Saying this, Wa Ganbu knelt on the ground, his hands on the ground, his posture humble and respectful.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 125 =====