Chapter 89: The Great Bright King

Popular recommendation: "Let him be strong, the clear breeze brushes the mountain ridge; let him be reckless, the bright moon shines upon the great river."

In the midst of the journey, Lu Li sat cross-legged in meditation; he was practicing the Nine Yang Divine Skill.

From his body, waves of mellow and scorching Qi fluctuations emanated.

At this moment, Lu Li's cultivation was already extremely high; to him, even a supreme art like the Nine Yang Divine Skill was not difficult to practice.

After the time it takes to eat a meal, Lu Li had already circulated the Nine Yang Divine Skill through several major cycles, firmly memorizing this divine art in his heart.

After finishing his practice, Lu Li did not stand up immediately; instead, he took a deep breath and turned to practice another technique.

"The Way of Heaven, to diminish the excessive and replenish the insufficient..." On Huashan, Guo Jing and the others had already taught the Nine Yang Manual, this supreme internal art, to Lu Li.

As the two most widely circulated supreme arts in the Jin-authored world, both could actually achieve the wonder of yin and yang mutually assisting one another.

But relatively speaking, the Nine Yang Manual was, after all, a Daoist martial art, still primarily based on yin-softness and emptiness; only upon reaching Perfection could one generate yang from yin.

Whereas the Nine Yang Divine Skill was primarily based on yang-hardness and ferocity; only later could one generate yin from yang.

At this moment, Lu Li was practicing both the Nine Yin and Nine Yang supreme internal arts simultaneously, feeling his body suddenly cold and suddenly hot, as if he were in a world of ice and fire.

How should one put it? It was not uncomfortable; on the contrary, it was quite pleasant.

He neither cultivated Buddhism nor revered the Dao, yet these two martial arts were originally classics of the Buddhist and Daoist schools, and each separated yin and yang in their initial stages.

Although their essence was mellow and harmless, if an ordinary person were to practice both manuals at the same time, they would most likely suffer from Qi deviation.

However, Lu Li himself already possessed an extremely high level of Purple Cloud Skill, and while practicing these two techniques, he was surprisingly able to forcibly harmonize the yin and yang.

Originally, the Purple Cloud Skill could not compare to the Nine Yin and Nine Yang and could not hold the dominant position, but Lu Li's Purple Cloud Skill had already become a new martial art that fused many techniques.

Now, it was actually the Purple Cloud Skill that took the lead, with the Nine Yin and Nine Yang as supplements.

Given time, perhaps he could master them thoroughly and synthesize a new technique.

"Hoo."

Lu Li rose to his full height; after this bout of practice, his cultivation had already ascended to a higher level.

Walking out the door, downstairs, Jueyuan and Zhang Junbao were eating a vegetarian meal.

Lu Li returned the four volumes of scriptures to Zhang Junbao and said with a smile, "What is recorded in these few volumes of scriptures is not some ordinary method for strengthening the body, but a supreme secret manual; do not show it to others casually, lest it cause trouble."

"Mm, I understand."

The few of them chatted for a while longer, and the scholar Li Tong and his family, whom Lu Li had saved, also walked down from upstairs.

They had changed into clean clothes at this moment, and they were indeed a handsome couple.

The woman had just given birth not long ago and her body was still weak, so Lu Li had Li Tong go rent a carriage, and the group set off.

The party traveled for another two days and stopped at a fork in the road; from here on, their paths would not be the same.

Jueyuan and his disciple were returning to Songshan in Henan, while Lu Li intended to follow the scholar to Haozhou.

This Haozhou was within the borders of present-day Anhui.

Lu Li was not well-versed in history, but he vaguely remembered that Zhu Yuanzhang was a native of Haozhou.

Thus, he wanted to head to Haozhou, as perhaps he could find news of the Ming Cult.

If that failed, it would be better to head to other places, such as Guangming Ding, to search for traces of the Ming Cult early.

If he had no affinity with the Ming Cult, then he would just have to build his own faction!

Lu Li waved his hand and said to Jueyuan and the other, "The rivers and lakes are vast; we shall meet again."

"Amitabha."

Master Jueyuan pressed his palms together in a salute, but Zhang Junbao seemed somewhat reluctant to part.

Lu Li patted Zhang Junbao on the shoulder and said, "If there is an opportunity in the future, I will certainly visit Songshan."

"Good."

... On the road, Lu Li encountered several more squads of Tatar soldiers acting with cruelty, all of whom were slain by Lu Li's sword.

As for the silver on the Tatar soldiers, Lu Li let Li Tong collect it all.

Having traveled this far, Li Tong had unexpectedly become a man of wealth.

Every day he could see white bones by the roadside, and every day there were beasts that had lost their humanity pouncing toward the carriage; Lu Li felt depressed in his heart.

It was not until they passed Xiangyang, a place where the Tatar soldiers could not intrude, that things improved slightly.

After traveling for a few more days, the group arrived within the borders of Haozhou.

At that time, the Song and Yuan were at war, and it was not just the city of Xiangyang.

It was along Sichuan and Guangxi, Ezhou and Jianghuai, pushing south with all their might.

Within the borders of Haozhou, many people had already migrated south to avoid the ravages of war.

But at the same time, many people from further north had also come to Haozhou.

Precisely because of this, the government was very short of people, especially those capable of getting things done.

"Benefactor, I have an old friend in Haozhou named Liu Tinghuai."

According to Li Tong, his good friend here was surnamed Liu and was considered a wealthy family.

When the group arrived in Haozhou, under the introduction of Liu Tinghuai, Li Tong successfully obtained a civil position in the government.

And Lu Li, possessing high martial arts, was also recommended to serve as a Colonel.

In truth, Lu Li did not value this Colonel's official position, but he remembered that he would certainly need to rise to power in the future, so it would not hurt to familiarize himself with the officialdom now.

Moreover, having a minor post would make doing things more convenient.

Taking the silver seized from the Tatar soldiers, Lu Li had Li Tong purchase a hundred mu of fertile land.

And the work of farming these fields only needed to be left to the tenant farmers to cultivate, without needing him to labor himself; Lu Li could be considered to have experienced the life of a petty landlord.

It was just that farming under Lu Li was different from others.

The land deeds and the land remained in Lu Li's possession, but a Responsibility System was adopted, with the farming households responsible for the management.

However, as for the tax rate, Lu Li did not understand it, so he let Li Tong set it according to the situation at the time.

It was also through this matter that Lu Li discovered that Li Tong was quite talented; this talent did not refer to poetry or songs, but to handling administrative affairs.

Over the course of a year, Lu Li had stored up a large amount of grain, and his reputation for benevolence had spread among the farmers, leading many to want to work for Lu Li.

He exchanged a large amount of grain for money and bought even more land... and although Li Tong's family became wealthy, they never showed the slightest disrespect toward Lu Li.

This was only because Li Tong clearly remembered that sword strike from Lu Li; he had long ago instructed his wife that they must respect Lu Li as if respecting a god.

Lu Li spent most of his time in his daily life practicing martial arts, only occasionally socializing with some officials and landlords.

He himself had no bad habits, held the official rank of Colonel, and was a famously benevolent and wealthy landlord.

He could be described as young, handsome, and wealthy.

From some day on, matchmakers began to wear out the threshold of the Lu Mansion.

Even the Prefect was on good terms with Lu Li, attempting to marry his own daughter to Lu Li, but he was refused by Lu Li many times.

Although Lu Li politely declined each time, after the number of times increased, this Prefect Cai no longer gave Lu Li a pleasant look... Time flew by in the blink of an eye, and another two years passed.

This morning, the morning sun was just rising, and the Purple clouds at the edge of the sky were magnificent.

A long whistle suddenly came from within the Lu Mansion, sounding like a celestial cry that shook the soul.

Lu Li rose to his full height, the divine light in his eyes clear and bright.

His internal energy, Purple Cloud Skill, Nine Yin, and Nine Yang had all been mastered and integrated.

Lu Li let out a long breath; his martial arts were already invincible in the current world, and what he needed to do next was to rapidly develop his own power.

"Store grain widely, build walls high, and claim the title of king slowly."

Before Lu Li transmigrated, he was just an ordinary person, and he had no experience in matters of hegemony.

At most, he only remembered these nine characters, and he was currently attempting to follow this path.

He already had more than ten qing of land under his command.

One qing is equal to one hundred mu; the land currently under Lu Li's name was already quite fertile.

But if he relied solely on this land, it would still be impossible to support an uprising.

But if he truly wanted to achieve hegemony, he must have a powerful army under his command, and this army must obey him.

In the current world, refugees were everywhere, and soldiers could be gathered easily.

But if he wanted to train an army, relying only on his few hundred mu of land was not enough; at most, he could only train a group of house guards.

Therefore, there were two things Lu Li needed to do now.

First, money!

He needed to accumulate more wealth; it could be cash, grain, military supplies... he needed wealth in any form.

Second, military!

He needed to truly possess his own warriors, warriors capable of bravely killing the enemy!

But what if Lu Li already had a sect that did not require him to provide military pay and possessed a firm will? The Ming Cult!

Lu Li returned to his room and changed into another set of clothes from a hidden compartment; one could see a flame embroidered on the corner of the garment.

Following that, Lu Li picked up a mask from the side and put it on his face.

This mask was like a Shura demon, with a terrifying appearance.

But when Lu Li walked within the Ming Cult wearing this mask, everyone called him—the Great Bright King.