Chapter 949: Yang Zhuo

From the bottom of his heart, Li Jiangliang was actually a bit embarrassed, and his caution was not small. This eldest brother of his could be said to have enjoyed the best treatment. As the eldest son of Mingyang, not only was he sent to the continent at birth, but he was also cultivated as a successor in everything, and his treatment and cultivation from childhood to adulthood were ahead of his peers...

'This cultivation doesn't matter, but this treatment is what makes the brothers helpless.'

Li Jiangliang clearly understood that his second and third brothers clearly had strong spirits and talents, and if they were in other families, they would be figures leading the way.

Even according to Li Jiangliang's own contact over the years, eldest brother Li Jiangqian was too ruthless and sinister, second brother Li Jianglong was more honest, and third brother Li Jiangxia was more sincere. Li Jiangqian had governed the lake for so many years, and it was indeed thriving and orderly. But if any of the three had replaced him, it would not have been worse. Yet, the two brothers were a level lower than him the moment they met him, and it wasn't just because of the status of the eldest son!

Zhaojing Zhenren Li Ximing was the family's first Zhenren. Every time he came out of seclusion, he would either see him or Ding Weijian. Li Jiangliang and the others were glorious on the surface, but the number of times they saw the Zhenren or even their father could be counted on one hand. The brothers combined probably didn't see him as much as Li Jiangqian alone! This was the foundation of Li Jiangqian's unique status.

Li Jiangliang inevitably had complex emotions. At this moment, he bowed and sighed:

"Congratulations, brother, on your great progress in cultivation!"

His spiritual sense was clear; the Li Jiangqian before him was already at the late stage of Foundation Establishment! 'I fear he... is already a strong candidate for the next Zifu...'

His heart was infinitely complex, but the man in crimson robes before him was full of smiles, making people feel like a spring breeze. He came to his side, nodded to Yang Tianyou, and laughed: "I just came out of seclusion and heard that the fourth brother was in Fungus Forest Plain, so I came to see you on the way... This is the sister-in-law... truly a lovely person, the reputation is well-deserved!"

Yang Tianyou smiled without speaking. Li Jiangliang looked helpless: "I didn't intend to disturb you, brother, but all of us brothers were born with a pair of golden pupils. This identity is obvious wherever we go... It spread so fast that it reached the lake in an instant."

Li Jiangqian walked back with him and shook his head:

"This is inevitable. Although the friendship between the Yuan clan and our family has faded, they are the clan where the Lord's master is located. Even if Yuan Chengzhao is incompetent and harms others repeatedly, the family should still look after them, so we have paid some attention."

He paced with his hands behind his back and said inadvertently: "Sister-in-law is..."

Yang Tianyou bowed with a smile:

"I am from the Simin Yang clan... just a small family that is not well-known..."

She said it clearly, the Simin Yang clan, not the Qingchi Diyun Peak Yang clan. The gap between them was not small at all!

Li Jiangqian nodded thoughtfully and replied: "That's not right. The Simin Yang clan is also an orthodox imperial descendant, a descendant of the King of Yue."

Yang Tianyou smiled without speaking. Li Jiangliang took a step forward and said: "Brother, you came this time... is it to see your brother-in-law? He is cultivating at 【Tianlei Peak】 and is not in the county town. You need to go south."

【Tianlei Peak】 was also a wonder of the Fungus Forest Plain. Because many thunder ores were buried in the mountain, thunder rolled and never ceased all year round. The mountain was scorched black. Li Qinghong had borrowed this place to break through back then, so the Li family naturally knew.

But mentioning Yang Zhuo, Li Jiangqian narrowed his eyes slightly and laughed:

"Since I'm here, I have to see him. I only heard you boast about him back then, and I don't know what kind of person he is."

Although Li Jiangliang knew that Li Jiangqian had no malice in this trip, he was secretly relieved to see his attitude. He said to the people below:

"Keep watch in the county. I will return soon."

The two brothers rose on fire and headed south. The smile on Li Jiangqian's face faded a lot, gradually calming down, and his voice was gloomy:

"You haven't been home for many years. Do you have any longing?"

Li Jiangliang returned the salute and replied:

"Naturally, I miss it very much."

Li Jiangqian did not answer him and said to himself: "Lord Cui's cultivation is getting higher and higher. Now he has returned to Chongzhou. You should have gone to see him off, but unfortunately, the timing was not right."

Mentioning Cui Jueyin, Li Jiangliang was quite moved and replied: "I have already heard. Zifu is a matter of life and death after all. It's a pity that I was in Simin at that time and wished I could rush over personally, but in the end, I couldn't see the Master off to the state..."

Suddenly arriving at Tianlei Peak, they saw thunder rolling and scorched fire everywhere. Li Jiangqian saw an old man with one arm in green clothes come up. The beard on his chin was sparse, and he was shrinking his head. On his dry, thin face, one could still see the yellow dryness left by years of injury and lack of resources. He said in a low voice: "The lowly one greets the two Lords..."

Li Jiangqian glanced at him, showing surprise on his face, and asked: "So it is Lord Yuan Huyuan... you are too polite... too polite!"

Yuan Huyuan lowered his head and looked at Li Jiangliang in a low voice, his expression revealing a bit of pleading. Li Jiangliang watched his brother help him up and pointed to the old man, saying:

"It is Patriarch Yuan!"

Yuan Huyuan was sweating like rain and kept saying he didn't dare. Li Jiangqian said sternly:

"All these years... Yuan Chengzhao has been the master of the Yuan family. It is not easy for us to interfere too much. Now that you have escaped the sea of bitterness, you will have a good life."

So he took out a golden pill box from his sleeve and handed it to the old man, saying:

"Use it..."

Yuan Huyuan did not know which generation of descendant of the Li family was before him. In his confusion, he didn't even know how he had fallen from a senior in Li Chi's mouth to his current state. He only felt his hands and feet alternating between cold and hot, and looked at Li Jiangliang again with pleading and bewildered eyes.

Li Jiangliang laughed: "Patriarch Yuan, accept it!"

Only then did he put the thing into his sleeve and shouted: "Thank you, two Lords!"

The two had already stepped up the stairs and stopped in the courtyard on Tianlei Peak. Li Jiangqian lowered his head slightly and saw purple energy flowing on the stairs, which had already been covered with a layer of fine white crystals, like frozen frost, white as snow.

Going up two more steps, they saw a fairy crane with white wings standing on one leg in the courtyard, its long beak tucked into its feathers, as if in deep sleep.

Li Jiangliang's expression had changed. He shook his robes, stepped back, and said respectfully: "Reporting to the Lord, the head of the Li clan has come to visit."

Then the palace gate creaked open, and a man stepped out. He was in his youth, dressed in white, with short eyes and black pupils, and the corners of his eyes were retracted. He was upright and sharp, but his eyebrows were naturally handsome, which made him look romantic and handsome.

He stood in the courtyard, and as his eyebrows lifted, the white crane in the courtyard woke up, kicked lightly, spread its wings, and rose to the clouds.

"Wangyue Li clan, Li Jiangqian, greets Fellow Daoist Yang!"

Li Jiangqian asked with a smile, and the person before him also laughed, leading him into the hall, raising his eyebrows to look at Li Jiangliang, but answering him with a smile: "So it is a visitor from Wangyue Lake. I didn't welcome you, it's rude."

Li Jiangqian secretly felt that the person before him was elegant and romantic, different from the vulgar. He sat down beside him, and his peripheral vision swept across the outside of the hall. The scenery of purple energy flowing and frost on the stairs was gone, leaving only black stone steps.

Yang Zhuo had already opened his mouth and said happily:

"I have long heard of the name of Wangyue, and I should be the one to visit."

Li Jiangqian took this look and felt a biting power rushing toward him. For some reason, it always gave him an extremely embarrassing sense of threat. Although he didn't feel malice, the other party seemed to have set up a knife against his neck, wanting to kill his prestige.

He knew that Li Jiangliang's words were not false, and he was secretly shocked: 'This is true, he should be a figure like my father.'

He laughed: "I came today... just to see you. One is for the Yuan family's matter, and the other is for my brother's marriage... Now that I see the Yuan clan is highly valued, it can be considered as resolving a karmic debt."

"The head of the disaster has been removed, and the Yuan family should naturally be stable."

"As for the marriage... my father mentioned it."

Yang Zhuo turned his eyes, and the sharpness converged, saying:

"The old man is old, and his vision has always been picky. Jiangliang can be liked by him, which shows that he is a first-class dragon among men. I heard that Zhenren Minghuang also nodded to this matter, and the matter is excellent."

Yang Zhuo turned his head and did not face him directly. He didn't seem to have much affection, but Li Jiangqian also felt strange, like needles on his back. His golden pupils swept across the ground from a very low line of sight, and he found that the threshold was already covered with long snakes, each only the size of a finger, with water and fire rolling on their bodies, and their tails connected to each other, like layers of colorful light covering the threshold, dancing gorgeously.

Li Jiangqian restrained his emotions and laughed: "It's just that the fourth brother is wandering outside alone, which is really not easy. In the future, everything will be troublesome for the Yang clan..."

Yang Zhuo replied:

"He is not only the lover of my little sister, but also my good friend. I treat him as my own brother. Clan head, you don't have to be polite."

So they asked about some good and bad things and chatted about some miscellaneous matters. Li Jiangqian raised his golden pupils and said: "I won't disturb you anymore!"

He left the hall, rose on fire, and galloped all the way. Li Jiangliang still followed him to see him off. The two brothers were silent for a long time. It was unknown how much time passed before Li Jiangqian laughed:

"No wonder you have to follow him... He is really a powerful figure."

Li Jiangliang couldn't see Yang Zhuo's resentment toward Li Jiangqian. He only said helplessly:

"I follow the Lord, but it's not a bet... The Lord said that he can pacify the Yue land and isolate immortals from mortals. He seeks the Dao... just to stop fighting with martial arts and save the common people..."

This sentence made the smile on Li Jiangqian's face even brighter. He made a very subtle teeth-gritting movement, staring at his brother with burning eyes, and replied: "That's true! The imperial descendants are noble, how can they be placed in a county?"

Li Jiangliang stood still in the fire, bowed to this brother he hadn't seen many times, and said in a low voice: "Brother... it's troublesome for the family..."

The smile on Li Jiangqian's face froze. His two eyebrows leaned together, listening to his brother say: "Jiangliang... will definitely not take anything from the family. If I take it, let Jiangliang apologize to the ancestors with his body!"

Zhu Lu Hai, Su Zhu Reefs.

The reefs were scattered like stars on the vast sea surface. The stone color was crimson, and under the sun, it looked extraordinarily dazzling. A group of cultivators in white clothes rose and fell, which was extremely lively.

This was the highest point in the sky above the island. The Zhenren in white carried a spirit sword, his expression solemn, his gaze carrying some sadness, quietly sweeping across the island.

Under Fuxuan's feet was the 【Su Zhu Reefs】, which was quite famous and one of the cores of Zhu Lu Hai. It was also the overseas station managed by the Hengzhu Dao for generations. For hundreds of years, it had been built like an iron bucket, and the Zifu array was shining brightly.

'But now it is no longer surnamed Bi!'

Many years ago, Heng Xing came to the Chunyi Dao once in person and exchanged a 【Su Xing Divine Essence】 from Fuxuan. In exchange, the Su Zhu Reefs had to be mortgaged to the Chunyi Dao for fifty years.

The Chunyi Dao was prestigious at that time, and the Zifu was newly promoted, wanting to stretch its hands and feet. This transaction could be described as extremely cost-effective. Fuxuan thought carefully and nodded in agreement.

Now that Hengzhu had closed its doors, Fuxuan suddenly realized: 'Heng Xing... had planned it long ago... the so-called mortgage in the hands of my Chunyi... was just to let my family guard the island for him while he closed the doors!'

But calculating left and right, both sides benefited, and they were their own people of the Solar Orthodoxy, so Fuxuan felt secretly relieved and much more comfortable.

He waited on the sea for a while and finally saw a ray of light coming from the east, quickly manifesting before his eyes, turning into a man in green clothes.

This person had a young appearance, green clothes fluttering, light green pupils, and a full face of smiles. He bowed before him and said casually: "Fellow Daoist Fuxuan!"

"Fellow Daoist Chi!"

Fuxuan replied plainly.

The young man stood with his hands behind his back, looking leisurely and free, and laughed:

"Congratulations, Fellow Daoist!"

This person was Chi Buzi, who had been missing for a long time!

His eyes were still light green, revealing a cold indifference, and a string of pitch-black, shining prayer beads hung around his waist, emitting bursts of Lu Water light.

He seemed to be no different from a few years ago, except that the supernatural powers on his body were fluctuating, seemingly different.

The two entered together and arrived in the array. Fuxuan saw that he didn't speak for a long time, so he had to say: "The harvest... is not bad, right?"

Chi Buzi took a sip of tea, showed a half-smiling expression, put down the cup, and said gloomily: "There is some harvest. After all, I don't invest in Liberation. It's nothing more than those few methods. Puyi only said a word or two for the sake of you and me, and it is impossible to enter the arena personally..."

"There is still a turning point."

Fuxuan shook his head and said: "Otherwise, you wouldn't have made this trip, and you wouldn't be willing to get involved in these messy things."

Chi Buzi's gaze gradually became cold and sharp, staring at a certain place, and said quietly: "What I fear is the turning point. What if it was left by some Lord? Many people have reached the end of their cultivation, just replacing the last piece on the chessboard for others... But it would be fine if you could really be a chess piece. What I fear is that as long as you fill it, you won't be allowed to live."

He seemed to have extremely hesitant things in his heart, and the meaning in his words was even more obvious. Fuxuan felt heavy in his heart:

'Penglai has never tossed about the fruit position. Since Puyi has spoken, it must be a method that will not offend Lu Water. What else can be done? Nothing more than reincarnation...'

Looking down at him, he was actually equally depressed in his heart. The words of Zhenren Yuanshang were still in his ears back then. The situations of the two were actually similar, so he showed an extremely complex expression and said in a low voice:

"Some opportunities are obtained, and you cannot ask where they come from, and you must use them!"

Chi Buzi obviously didn't expect him to say such words, which hit his concerns. He lifted those cyan pupils and gave Fuxuan an appreciative smile, but other thoughts flashed through his mind extremely sharply: 'Oh? Fuxuan, Fuxuan, your Chunyi Dao... could it be that you also have some opportunities that you have to cultivate? Taiyin... Dao... opportunities?'

Characters appearing in this chapter

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Fu○Xuan 【Zifu Mid Stage】

Bu○Zi 【Zifu Late Stage】

Li Jiangliang 【Qi Refining Peak】