Chapter 208

"Oh? What am I doing here?"

Gong Wumeng said this, her face veiled, but the eyes visible were bright—just those eyes alone made one feel she was smiling; the phrase "bright eyes, full of charm" seemed to leap forth. She leapt lightly, her figure slender, and smiled: "Sister isn't skilled in Wu Gong."

"I came because I knew your place here is safe."

Li Guanyi turned to Pang Shuiyun beside him: "Old Pang, withdraw three taels of silver for this Miss, then take her into the city."

"Hey hey hey, wait! Wait!"

Gong Wumeng hurried to stop him, helplessly saying: "Are you really this heartless?"

Li Guanyi said: "Miss must first explain why she came."

Gong Wumeng propped her cheek with one hand, fingers twirling a dagger that swung back and forth, and said: "I'm a disciple of the Yin-Yang Wheel Turn Sect." Then she saw a flash of killing intent rise in the eyes of the gentle youth before her. "Don't look at me like that—I'm not with them."

"We are the Pure Cultivation School, devoted to the orthodox path of Yin-Yang circulation."

"Not the same as those fools who think 'Yin-Yang' means male-female matters."

"It's just the Pure Cultivation Dao—hard and bitter to enter. Gradually, the other faction took dominance. I found an opening, barely escaped, and created this title just to protect myself…" She told Li Guanyi the general situation.

Then she smiled: "The Yin-Yang Wheel Turn Sect is powerful—I'm no match for them."

"You're the one who crushed their Beicheng branch, aren't you? I had to come find you—let's destroy this Xie Sect together!"

The most beautiful woman in the world was eager to act.

Li Guanyi said: "My current situation—I can barely save myself."

"Oh? Really?"

Gong Wumeng placed both hands behind her back, stepped close to the young man before her. She was tall; her eyes were now nearly level with Li Guanyi's, smiling faintly: "Yet I feel someone like you won't die—you'll become famous throughout the land."

"The world's utmost Yang and nobility—I believe following you will let me see many fascinating things, and my cultivation will rise. So, Young Master Li, let us grow closer…"

She approached playfully.

Bright eyes, charm radiating; her breath fragrant as orchids.

Ding!!!

A sharp clang.

Gong Wumeng cried out in pain, looked up, and saw the silver-haired girl standing tall behind the youth—taller than him by a head, both hands gripping an iron wok, which had just crashed down with a loud clang.

Gong Wumeng stared at the silver-haired girl, clutching her forehead.

Li Guanyi said: "Fair enough. Tell me, Miss, what's your level in Wu Gong? What are you skilled in?"

He thought a moment, then pulled out paper and ink and handed them to Gong Wumeng.

Gong Wumeng glanced at the silver-haired girl, who had just been standing atop a rock behind Li Guanyi—she clearly had quietly moved the rock and climbed up to strike with the wok, yet her face remained utterly expressionless.

She leapt down from the rock with a soft thud.

She brushed dust off her knees.

Gong Wumeng burst out laughing, making the silver-haired girl turn her head. Though her face showed no expression, Gong Wumeng felt as if the girl was glaring fiercely—so she laughed harder.

She decided life here wouldn't be dull, then wrote down everything she was skilled in.

Li Guanyi looked.

Gong Wumeng, eighteen, internal energy realm: Third Heaven.

Skilled in dagger, short sword, swordplay, lightness arts, alchemy, and battlefield formations.

Song, dance, music, chess, calligraphy, painting.

For alchemy, she marked emphatically: herbal alchemy.

These were exceptional talents among the young generation of the Jianghu. Li Guanyi thought, then pointed to Yao Guang beside him: "In battle, I'll charge the front lines—I won't be able to protect Yao Guang constantly. You'll protect her for me."

"Also, help with alchemy."

Gong Wumeng nodded with a smile, clearly intrigued.

She sat forward, one hand propping her chin, lifted her veil—undeniably breathtaking. Li Guanyi had to admit, even his aunt's pure facial features were outshone by this girl.

One couldn't help but stare, lost in awe—not due to any seduction technique.

Her eyes shimmered with life.

Clang clang clang!

The silver-haired girl's face showed no expression; a steamed bun skewered on a stick clanged repeatedly against the youth's head.

Li Guanyi grabbed Yao Guang's wrist and said:

"Also, disguise your face."

Gong Wumeng finally laughed aloud, stepped half a pace forward, her exquisite face now close to Li Guanyi's, pausing at a delicate distance, smiling in assent, then ran off toward the silver-haired girl.

The silver-haired girl seemed deeply unsettled by this world's most beautiful woman. Li Guanyi exhaled, then began preparing the herbs he'd brought—he'd once been a pharmacist, but didn't know martial cultivator pill formulas. He gritted his teeth: among these eighteen hundred men, there were truly seven Physicians.

They'd been persecuted by big pharmacies, falsely accused of killing patients, then forced to sell their ancestral formulas for a single copper coin. With no choice, they fled to the mountains. Every bandit nest had such Physicians—barely surviving.

Li Guanyi gathered them all, tossed the herbs before them. The men—bandits by day, Physicians by necessity—stared at the herbs, hands trembling, throats dry: "T-this… is for the General?"

"No. For you."

"Reduce the potency slightly, make it milder—mainly for boosting Qi. So you can survive against the Yuwen family."

Their hands shook even more: "T-this is too precious."

"We've never tried this before."

Li Guanyi waved his hand: "No problem. Try anything. If you run out, there's more!"

"Since ancient times, great Physicians were forged through trial. Others have discovered formulas—how can you not? Time is short. No luxury for hesitation. Get results fast."

The Physicians exchanged glances, gritted their teeth, and reluctantly stepped forward. Since ancient times, few great Physicians had ever handled herbs of this caliber.

Their hearts pounded. They pulled out their ancestral formulas to test.

Even their ancestors had never used herbs this aged.

Suddenly, a Physician in his forties sighed:

"In the past, even a single mountain ginseng had to be sliced thin—now do we just use such fine medicine casually?"

"Even if I died, it'd be worth it."

"My ancestors would be envious of me."

………………

Meanwhile—

The five men from the Divine Beast Manor where Lei Laomeng stayed stared at the black bear weighing several thousand jin, exchanging stunned glances for a long while.

First, they felt heartache—this creature was beyond their right to tame.

It just died here.

A black bear of this caliber, with a martial power rating of the Third Heaven, could, with the cooperation and taming of Divine Beast Manor warriors, match the combat strength of a sect leader.

If they had such a bear, returning to the Divine Beast Manor, they'd surely secure a position as an administrator or outer sect elder.

Just like that—it's dead?!

Then excitement surged—the Divine Beast Manor was a sect centered entirely on divine and strange beasts.

The sect master himself was only at the Fifth Heaven, but when paired with strange beasts, even ordinary Sixth Heaven martial experts dared not challenge his might—placing them squarely in the mid-tier of second-rate forces in the martial world.

Their Wu Gong and miscellaneous studies all revolved around strange beasts.

These brothers had only learned the basics—they lacked the ability to handle a beast of this level. Or rather, even the sect master wouldn't dare process such a beast. Now Li Guanyi had given it to them, leaving them both thrilled and pained.

In thirty years at the Divine Beast Manor, they had never done anything so lavish.

Lei Laomeng gritted his teeth, drew a knife from his lower back, and said: "Bite the bullet! Damn it—didn't the old masters of the Divine Beast Manor also figure things out through trial and error?"

"All this several-thousand-jin meat, blood, heart, and marrow—we process it by the basics."

"The meat, make it into a 【Power-Enhancing】 diet; the blood, turn it into a 【Blood-Enriching Pill】."

"Take small steps—just make sure it's edible and boosts strength."

Lei Laomeng's forehead beaded with cold sweat from tension and excitement.

He licked his lips, drew his knife, and began experimenting with his brothers. Under the Divine Beast Manor's culinary recipes, they first rigidly copied—directly replacing ordinary beef infused with strange beast blood with this strange beast meat.

To these five men of the Divine Beast Manor, this strange beast was nothing but treasure.

Bear meat: sweet, warm, replenishes depletion, strengthens sinews and bones.

Bear brain: salty, warm, replenishes deficiency and dispels wind.

Bear tendons: dispels wind, strengthens sinews and bones.

Today's feast—while those Physicians, at great personal risk, combined and modified their ancestral formulas, boldly testing drugs, and with the overwhelming potency of the herbs, ordinary pills were forcibly elevated to a level capable of affecting martial artists.

The medicine was extravagantly used—but it worked!

Based on 【Dragon's Blood Ginseng】 to replenish the five viscera and enhance primordial Qi; 【Tianmen Dong】 nourishes yin and kidneys—these two herbs together nourish the heart-spirit and yin-Qi, forming the main ingredients.

What martial artists sought was a strong spirit and thickened Qi—perfectly aligned.

Further, purchased 【Fu Ling】 was added to nourish heart-Qi, calm the spirit, drain turbid Qi from the kidneys, and supplement without stagnation; five other herbs served as assistants, forming a potent effect: strengthening the spirit, stimulating the kidneys, prompting the kidneys to generate water and transform into Qi, nourishing the spirit above and draining turbidity below.

Because the medicinal potency was too strong, the Physicians gritted their teeth and risked the dosage.

【Supplementing While Draining】.

The Physician who had tested the drug himself said: "We barely managed to make it."

"It's just our ancestral formulas, tweaked and altered—costs are enormous. If we had time, we might reduce some expenses, but now we can't—we can only keep increasing potency, and we guarantee it's safe!"

Li Guanyi personally took the pill and found it affected his internal Qi.

Yet it was made from folk formulas, refined by medicinal potency—gentle in its tonifying effect.

The Physician's face showed fear; he bowed and clasped his hands:

"T-this pill is newly made."

Li Guanyi said: "Good. Then please prepare this pill… don't roll it into pills—mix it into a decoction and distribute it! Three doses per person!"

The Physician's scalp prickled: "This is too expensive!"

Li Guanyi only said: "Thank you."

That day, everyone waited for the feast. After eating the Divine Beast Manor's secret medicinal cuisine, they merely felt their blood and Qi surge powerfully, sinews and bones taut as if strung tight, strength greater than ever—Fan Qing felt it most acutely.

He had once been a disciple of the Motian Sect's martial school, but after returning to practice, he found his father's legs broken. Relying on his martial skill, he dared to kill an official. The Motian Sect's martial school head pitied his talent, bribed officials, and barely changed his death sentence into exile.

When eating the bear meat, Fan Qing sensed it was no ordinary food.

When the senior Physician handed him the medicinal decoction, Fan Qing mixed it with water and drank it down in one gulp—immediately he felt something wrong: lacking internal Qi, and with blood-enhancing meat having long since dulled his Second Heaven internal skill, it erupted instantly.

Fan Qing's eyes widened; he stared fixedly at the concoction.

"…What is this?!"

He suddenly grabbed the Physician and shouted: "What's in this?!"

The senior Physician remembered this madman who'd killed an official at Second Heaven—he shuddered: "There's… there's Dragon's Blood Ginseng, and many other herbs—decades-old…"

Fan Qing murmured: "Dragon's Blood Ginseng…"

He recalled his life in the Motian Sect.

He suddenly rose, rushed forward, and saw Li Guanyi polishing his sword. He shouted: "This is a waste!" The youth looked up, puzzled: "What's a waste?!"

Fan Qing's chest heaved; he gripped the medicinal decoction, teeth clenched in fury:

"Dragon's Blood Ginseng!"

"Decades-old Dragon's Blood Ginseng—do you know how precious it is? Even in the Motian Sect, only inner-disciples got a tiny amount after each monthly contest—and even then, only ten-year-old roots. This could hire better martial artists! It shouldn't be given to us!"

Li Guanyi looked at him: "Why is it a waste?"

Fan Qing choked—he didn't know how to answer:

"It's extremely precious!"

The youth set down his sword and asked patiently: "So what? Why is it a waste… why do you think your lives are less valuable than such pills?" Fan Qing had no answer. He opened his mouth, then sat down heavily.

Fan Qing saw something lurking in the boy's eyes, and Li Guanyi said:

"Why waste it? Why is a human life worth less than such a pill?"

"Why do even you yourselves think so?"

Fan Qing felt as if a knife had pierced his heart; he opened his mouth but didn't know how to answer. Li Guanyi didn't press further, only smiled and said: "Eat. We're all on the same rope, after all."

"You must eat these things to grow stronger, to survive."

Fan Qing stared at the boy—the young man named Li Guanyi—twirling a blade of grass. He muttered: "Your Wu Gong and methods—wouldn't it be easy for you to survive and leave? Wouldn't it be better to abandon us?"

"What are you doing?"

There were many others nearby; they had heard this exchange and held their breath, listening in silence. Li Guanyi thought for a moment, then replied:

"You've seen what this world is like—I've seen much, and so have you; the common folk starve, yet the imperial heirs still indulge in such extravagance."

"The Turkic cavalry could descend south at any moment."

"Warriors who fight for home and country can't even protect their own families—people are sold like livestock—but even you yourselves believe you don't deserve good things…"

Fan Qing clutched the bowl, silent.

His arms bulged with veins as he recalled past events.

Long silence.

Li Guanyi stood there, placing the blade of grass in his mouth, gently biting it, sensing its faint bitterness, and said: "Though I'm overreaching, though I may die on the road, I want to do something."

"The world is in chaos, the people suffer, foreign tribes sharpen their weapons, bandits rise like swarms—I've seen it, and I can't sit idle. Some say someone like me won't live long. I think she's right."

"With my nature, even if I became an official, I'd cause trouble, drive my superior half-mad, and end up locked in solitary confinement."

Fan Qing thought of his parents, of the smashed fields, of the familiar faces—he felt only heavy sorrow, and remembered the look on his parents' faces before they died, how his father had kept back the best seeds for next spring's planting.

Those were truly good seeds—plump, large.

With diligence, they'd yield abundant grain, feed countless people—that's all we ever hoped for.

Fan Qing suddenly felt a pang in his heart; he clenched his teeth. Whenever he thought of his parents, his chest turned sour.

Then a breeze brushed past; he instinctively lifted his head, and the memories scattered.

The boy before him, clad in a simple Daoist robe, extended his hand and asked: "So—I want everyone to have enough to eat, to survive. It may be overreaching, Fan Qing—will you join me?"

Fan Qing instinctively replied: "You're asking me?"

He assumed the boy was performing, joking.

But the young face held no trace of mockery.

Li Guanyi said: "Even if I die on the road, someone must carry on. I don't want to die—but in this world, generals, masters—how can anyone avoid death?"

"Hmm, by the way—is this how you say it in this era?"

The boy seemed to recall something, smiled, then faced the crowd, bowed deeply, and said solemnly: "Today, the realm is worn thin, the people suffer—will you follow Li Guanyi to cleanse this world, and restore peace and prosperity to the common folk?"

Fan Qing's body stiffened as he stared at the boy reaching out to him.

His heart suddenly pounded wildly; his blood seemed ignited—something roared within his chest. He clenched his teeth, yet the tears of a man who dared not weep spilled uncontrollably—the notorious bandit who'd slain corrupt officials wept openly.

In that moment, he understood how this man differed from all others he'd met.

This man saw them as human beings.

Fan Qing set down his bowl and chopsticks, pressed his hands to the ground, and bowed his head hard to the earth.

He heard his own voice—and the voices of many others—answer:

"We dare not refuse to die for you."

Father, mother—the seeds you left behind will surely be sown again.

Surely.

In a short time, eighteen hundred people—originally six hundred with inner Qi—later, under relentless pill supplementation, another six hundred, spurred by the pills and the meat of strange beasts, generated a thread of inner Qi through the method of the Tai Ping Book.

But before they could master this inner Qi, General Yuwen arrived—with siege Qiang Qixie. Yet Li Guanyi made a judgment that left Pang Shuiyun stunned.

He did not defend the mountain.

Instead, he lined up his forces in the open!

When General Yuwen's scouts returned, he could not believe it—not because Li Guanyi dared to form ranks on open ground against him (any warrior with basic knowledge of military formations would see such arrogance as stupidity),

but because these ragtag masses possessed such morale!

Forming ranks on flat ground—facing a regular army!

And under conditions of heavy cavalry and heavy infantry, fear should have crushed them utterly.

Had Li Guanyi used some mind-bending technique?!

In ancient times, when the Red Emperor faced the Overlord, his divine general had employed desperate gambits—feigned retreats, traps—but without sufficient morale or trust in the commander, feigned retreats became real routs.

Those who chose death by desperation all truly died.

But here—on open ground, with no armor or light armor—facing heavy infantry and cavalry?

This was suicide.

General Yuwen fell silent. He felt tricked.

Li Guanyi's early deployment and open formation rendered his siege Qiang Qixie useless—but he still brought them, advancing slowly, reaching the battlefield. General Yuwen spurred his horse forward—and froze.

Something was wrong!

Li Guanyi's force of over a thousand had formed ranks before the river, surrounding the outer perimeter with war chariots and ballistae, forming a crescent—with the wide Jianghe behind them, shielding their rear and nullifying cavalry flanking maneuvers.

Those so-called war chariots were simply carts with crossbars, covered by massive shields; beside each ballista stood seven soldiers in light armor, wielding spears, crossbows, and bows, forming a battle array. Behind them surged the Jianghe—its violent current robbed cavalry of mobility.

There were even boats on the Jianghe.

In the southern lands, ships were plentiful—they carried reserve troops, also armed with crossbows and bows. They were tense, yet they all trusted the young commander utterly—this surpassed even the highest level of a general's 【morale】.

General Yuwen even sensed they knew they might die—but they had cultivated a terrible, glorious spirit: death itself was worth it.

"How… is this possible?"

Li Guanyi, wearing heavy gear, stood at the center of the crossbow formation; his eyes opened, his temple hairs slightly lifted, tinged with a faint crimson-gold hue, as he gazed at the halted cavalry and General Yuwen Tianxian. The boy gripped his battle halberd, his heart pounding wildly, yet his expression remained calm.

The battle began.

Even just him, watching thousands clad in armor slowly advancing toward him, felt a fear—but he could not retreat, only gripping his weapon tightly, standing at the heart of them all.

Even the armor of Tie Futu could not conceal the thrashing of their hearts.

Li Guanyi lowered his gaze; faintly behind him loomed a towering man—yet it was merely his imagination.

The boy gripped his weapon, thinking within.

It truly is a gamble. Even with morale, even with unity, the gaps in numbers, individual strength, and even the commander's experience cannot be bridged; if they clash head-on, they will almost certainly be annihilated—the only difference being how many casualties they inflict on the enemy.

So, let me borrow your strength…

Li Guanyi opened his eyes, expelling all fear, all weakness.

Liu Jiniu, once a conqueror swallowing ten thousand li like a tiger, defeated thirty thousand fully armored Northern Wei cavalry with only two thousand seven hundred infantry, shaking the world—the battle formation known as the 【Queyue Formation】, one of the strongest infantry-vs-cavalry victories in the history of the Yanhuang Wars.

For the first time in this era, it appeared—proposed by Li Guanyi, refined by Pang Shuiyun.

Li Guanyi gripped his battle halberd and slowly raised it, pointing forward.

Would the edge of the 【Queyue】 remain as sharp as ever, or would General Yuwen Tianxian's iron cavalry prove stronger? He drew a deep breath; the Tiger Roars to Heaven halberd hummed faintly, like his blood.

Li Guanyi tightened his grip; beside him, the Bai Hu and Chi Long phantoms roared.

"Come!!!"