Chapter 482: The Art of Longevity, the Elixir of Extended Life

Outside, Sunsun Wuchou, who had been sitting listlessly on the steps, hand propping his chin, was now thirty-six years old—not the young merchant just past thirty he had been five years ago.

But hearing those words, he stumbled.

His chin slipped clean off his palm, his hand slapping his cheek with a loud smack—suddenly, a sharp whistling sound pierced the air; Sunsun Wuchou, who had made no progress in five years at the Fifth Heaven Realm, staggered, his topknot unraveling.

A single chopstick had flown over ten zhang, piercing straight into the opposite rock garden—plain as it was, it now struck like a bolt from a powerful crossbow, its force immense.

Sunsun Wuchou grimaced, then obediently covered his head and ran outside.

Li Zhaowen reached out, pushed open the window, and said calmly: "I told Wuchou to keep watch outside, we were chatting merrily, and I forgot this matter—thought it was someone else."

She paused, then, seeing the Qin Wang, added: "Just look at the topographical maps."

"Surely, reuniting with me is more worthy of your attention than topographical maps??"

She answered herself, calmly and naturally: "Of course it is not."

"Then come quickly and drink!"

Li Zhaowen reached out, grabbed Li Guanyi's arm, pulled him back to the main seat, and resumed drinking and idle talk until the moon had passed its zenith and birdcalls could faintly be heard, before letting him go.

Li Zhao Wen, Lord of Xiyicheng, hugged her shoulders, leaning against the mansion's gate, and smiled:

"Brother Li."

Li Guanyi turned back and saw Li Zhao Wen raising his wine cup, smiling faintly: "Don't forget—we still have two more promises between us."

"I haven't yet figured out those two promises."

"When I do, I'll tell you."

The three promises between Li Guanyi and Li Zhao Wen.

First promise: The Qin Wang accepts Xiyicheng.

Of the three promises, even the first carried sufficient boldness, sufficient turbulence—a level that affected the grand tide of the world; the remaining two, given Li Zhao Wen's nature, could hardly be ordinary promises.

Li Guanyi laughed and said:

"Alright."

"Hah! Then I'll wait for your next two promises—I'm sure they'll be just as magnificent!"

Li Zhao Wen watched Li Guanyi depart, then turned back to her courtyard, climbed the high tower alone, listened to the melodious birdsong, saw moonlight like water flowing over mountains, cities, and fields, and felt her heart grow tranquil.

Long after, she withdrew the finger she had "hidden" behind, feeding wine to the Qin Wang—in the cold winter night, beneath the bright moon, Li Zhao Wen felt only that her finger was faintly burning.

This searing, scorching sensation, like a heartfire, lingered long without fading.

Sunsun Wugou, knowing Li Zhao Wen had returned, arranged for her bath and change of clothes, but seeing she did not descend from the high tower, felt both curiosity and worry, so she went to find her—and saw one person alone ascending the western tower: "Lord Duke?"

Li Zhao Wen merely raised her head to the sky, then said suddenly:

"I truly regret it."

Sunsun Wugou frowned in confusion.

Li Zhao Wen said: "I've always acted according to my heart. Changfeng Tower was originally a pawn left by your brother and me in Chen State, to gather intelligence for our Duke's mansion—but during Chen's grand sacrifice, events changed."

"I took all the people cultivated within Changfeng Tower away, thinking it a pity to abandon this, the number-one tower of Chen State, so I gave it to Guanyi—but I never anticipated the developments that followed."

"I truly regret it."

Li Zhao Wen repeated it again, this time lightly:

"Had I known, I wouldn't have given it to him then."

"But even if I hadn't given it, he would still have needed intelligence—Xue Louzhu would have made the same choice anyway; at first, my feelings toward Brother Li were merely those of a friend—I simply couldn't do what she did."

After a long silence, Li Zhao Wen merely smiled casually:

"Enough—let's see what the future holds!"

She turned, calm and free, gazing at her still faintly burning fingers, then laughed lightly, lifted them, pressed the two fingers that had brushed the Qin Wang's lips against her own, her sleeves swirling—beneath the moonlight, she seemed as unrestrained and heroic as a swordsman.

Sunsun Wugou had never seen Li Zhao Wen in this posture; she stared, momentarily spellbound.

Until Li Zhao Wen flicked a light knife-hand strike against Sunsun Wugou's forehead.

Sunsun Wugou snapped back to awareness.

Li Zhao Wen laughed freely: "What are you daydreaming about?"

"We drank all night—I'm tired. Won't you help me wash properly?"

"Yes, I was just thinking—I've never seen the Lady like this before."

Sunsun Wugou smiled and stepped forward.

In the days that followed, Li Guanyi discussed many matters of Xiyicheng with Li Zhao Wen; numerous Juan Sect records required his signature, and the Qin Wang Yin pressed down repeatedly, each imprint stirring his destiny, causing the Nine Tripods to subtly shift.

But for safety's sake, launching an attack at this stage was impossible.

After handling these matters, Li Guanyi rose, traveling light and alone, riding a chestnut mare, dressed as a western merchant-warrior, carrying a large back-cutting saber, a wine gourd at his waist, and a cat perched on his shoulder, heading northward.

Li Guanyi departed Xiyicheng, circled around the western lands, mingled among wild horse herds and tribes still preserving their nomadic traditions, and reached the Turkic steppe—successfully entering it.

With the Jiangnan Misty Repeated Tower Art, Li Guanyi's demeanor and bearing became indistinguishable from that of a rough, horse-tending steppe wanderer; aided by Yao Guang's miraculous arts, he could converse normally.

He arrived at Xiyicheng in early March of Tianqi 15, and by late April, nearing early May, when the grasslands had turned entirely green, Li Guanyi slowly circled outward, gradually drawing nearer to the northern regions.

During these two months, the states saw little change.

Chen State and Ying State both vigorously promoted agriculture and sericulture, reduced taxes, and stimulated economy and commerce; Yuwen Lie had reappeared on the battlefield, now with mechanical arms—but since Guan Shier, the world's greatest maker of mechanical arms, had entered Jiangnan,

no one knew how much martial strength the former Divine Might General still possessed.

Ying State had scattered uprisings.

But they were merely a few words among many heroes—the most prominent being Dou De and others—who all remained hidden among mountains and rivers, never emerging; only the young, believing Emperor Jiang old, raised their voices in protest.

Hoping to emulate the Qin Wang, to dominate heaven and earth.

They were crushed by the authorities within days.

Shan Xiong merely sighed; Jiang Wanxiang was old, not dead.

Rather, this king—the strongest ruler of Ying State in its three-century founding history—was most terrifying just before death; since Li Guanyi became king, Jiang Wanxiang's blade had swung, clearing away countless accumulated old cases.

Killed until blood flowed like rivers and heads rolled.

The foremost man of the present court, also the greatest corrupt official of Ying Country, the Left Chancellor who corresponded to Wei Yiwen, also Jiang Wanxiang's favored minister—he had personally helped build the Star-Plucking Tower, and was likewise beheaded, his house ransacked, yielding nearly one hundred million taels of silver.

Besides this, there were also land deeds, mansions, merchant guilds, and so on.

All these things of real value, taken together, filled up in one breath the national treasury that had already been on the verge of collapse.

Wen Heyan said: "Using this man as a setup, to sweep all the wealth under heaven into one pocket, and then cut it down with a single blade—cruel enough!"

Ying Country's national strength eased out in a single stretch.

He went once more to purge the bureaucracy, killing civil and military officials, the great clans, until heads rolled and blood flowed like rivers; the common people cheered again and again, the court's administration was cleansed at once, the hearts of the people gathered together, and the hundred officials, finding it hard to resist Jiang Wanxiang's terror, could only obediently lie low.

Under such circumstances—

Ying Country's maladies were forcibly hacked away by Jiang Wanxiang, then gripped tightly back together by him into a single rope; cohesion and popular support rose greatly once more—this foremost great nation of the Central Plains still possessed its deep, heavy foundation.

An old, dying monarch, yet still bearing the sweeping grandeur of a hero.

As for Chen Country, Chen Dingye had not carried out reforms as sweeping, sharp, and decisive as Jiang Wanxiang's; the world's folk privately judged that, between Chen Emperor and Ying Emperor, the latter was ultimately a level above.

Only Li Guanyi discovered a message.

Chen Dingye's second batch of funds had already arrived.

Everything about Chen Dingye's conduct appeared perfectly reasonable.

A dynasty's final emperor, a useless ruler whose spine had been broken and whose spirit worn down by Dantai Xianming's decades of scheming—killed the Turkic envoy and made a pipa from his thighbone; favored treacherous ministers, so that every last one in the court, top to bottom, was corrupt.

But precisely because it was too reasonable, it instead stirred a sense of wariness in Li Guanyi.

At this stage, was Chen Dingye truly the good-for-nothing he appeared to be?

In any case, caution makes for no great mistake.

Mm, take the money first.

This time a full five million taels of silver arrived; Master Nan Hanwen had also brought along three hundred craftsmen, along with their disciples and families—several thousand people in all—who entered Jiangnan together to build academies covering a vast area, where talents selected from various regions would cultivate.

The Southwest King and others had successfully, according to plan, entered the Mystical Realm of the Ancient Crimson Dragon.

Afterwards, the Fire Qilin Army's Shi Dalin and other army physicians also entered it, beginning to gradually harvest the mystical realm that Chen Country's Duke Chen Baxian had planted five hundred years ago, and had refined a Qi-Nurturing Powder based on Hou Zhongyu's version.

This Qi-Nurtishing Powder was still a version that had been strengthened and improved.

According to combat duties and combat sequence, it was distributed in batches to the great army of Tiance Prefecture.

And with the support of the elixirs, the wounded Fire Qilin Army soldiers from the previous battlefields had mostly all recovered completely, and even advanced; those whose injuries were too severe to remain on the front lines were transferred to the academies to be trained as low-ranking officers.

The Elder Murong clan's armor and weapons recasting progress was very smooth.

With Elder Guan Shier's help, Xiao Wuliang's mechanical arm had completed its update and iteration, and had basically recovered to ninety percent of its normal combat capability; serving as Chen Wenmian's deputy general, there was not the slightest problem.

And this entire process had been wrapped up in just one month.

Elder Guan Shier had originally assumed this was the matter for which he had been summoned.

Once the matter was resolved, he planned to pat his backside and leave; he told the Mo Juzi that he did not intend to go to Chen Country or Ying Country either—after all, the Western Regions, the Southwest, Jiangnan, and the waterways together also made a domain of ten thousand li, more than enough for him to wander.

He planned to spend three to five years slowly traveling, walking across the entire Qin Wang domain.

Then he was dragged off to meet General Xue Shen.

And then, up to now, he still had not been able to leave the eighteen provinces of Jiangnan.

The spring plowing went extremely smoothly; winds and rains were timely, the common people lived and worked in peace.

Wei Xuancheng, Fangzi Qiao, and others helped handle internal affairs, also in perfect order; as for those five weapons taken from the Hegemon's Mystical Realm, they had still not found their masters—weapons of this level had all become spirit-aware, approaching the tier of divine weapons.

Their spirituality, even if it could not compare to the Tiger Howling Heaven Battle Halberd, could not compare to the Chixiao Sword, the gap would not be especially great.

They could only be placed at the Murong clan.

Apart from Li Guanyi, only Murong Longtu could easily keep these weapons subdued.

Only General Fan Qing, while taking elixirs and cultivating under the guidance of Ximen Hengrong and the Master Jiankuang, seemed to faintly resonate with the sword among those five weapons; regrettably, Fan Qing was after all only at the Fifth Heaven realm.

And the former masters of these five weapons had all been Grandmasters.

They were all among the top ten divine generals of that era; according to Murong Longtu's words in the letter, Fan Qing would have to at least reach the Seventh Heaven before he would be qualified to grip that sword, which was only a single step away from a divine weapon.

All things went smoothly; it could all be counted as going well.

Li Guanyi's mood turned cheerful.

Even the dry rations in his hand had become delicious.

The crunching sound.

That was the sound of teeth biting through dry rations.

Li Guanyi sat cross-legged on a rock, a fire built in front roasting a lamb; on his mount there was also a roll of tanned hide, his hair had grown a bit long, and he did not use a jade hairpin, simply letting the black hair hang down, looking just like an ordinary grassland fellow.

The little Fire Qilin gnawed on the roasted meat Li Guanyi had made.

Smacking its lips, the little Fire Qilin said with a woebegone face: "Guanyi, I want to eat vegetables!"

"I want to eat fruit!"

"I want to eat bamboo shoots!"

Li Guanyi said: "Soon, soon; how about you eat some grass first?"

The little Fire Qilin, holding back two big pouches of tears, truly could not eat any more—how could there be anyone in this world who liked eating meat forever? Li Guanyi laughed, rubbed the Fire Qilin's head; this little fellow, since following him, had at least never suffered much of a loss when it came to eating.

All along this journey, on the grasslands the diet was mainly meat, dried fruits, and dairy products.

The little Fire Qilin ate for two months.

From the initial joy and satisfaction, the boundless love for dried fruits and dairy, to the end—whenever there was other food on the table, it would no longer gnaw on jerky and dried fruits; it now missed terribly that little dumpling's stash of fine bamboo shoots back home.

Crisp and tender, and full of juice.

That little dumpling sure knew how to eat!

Li Guanyi rubbed the Fire Qilin and gazed into the distance.

With his eyesight, circulating his divine light, he could pierce through layer upon layer of clouds, and had already been able to see the towering glaciers; the Life-Continuing Gu, which he had left a mark on before, was in that direction now.

Li Guanyi cut off a piece of meat with his dagger, stuffed it into his mouth and chewed, musing: "Still, since I'm already here, if everything goes smoothly and I get the Gu worm, I might as well stop by the Northern Domain Pass on the way…"

"From the Northern Domain Pass, I'll turn back toward Jiangnan."

Outside the Northern Domain Pass, there was once the Third Divine General of the world, Gao Xiang.

And two fierce generals of the Tai Ping Army, General Yuan Shitong and Xue Tianxing.

In addition, there were two disguised sons of Tai Ping Gong.

Li Guanyi said: "Let's go take a look. Leaving it there isn't going to resolve itself. Besides, I remember Master Siming said that back then he threw the Green Robed Guest Zhang Ziyong's arm into the Five Great Lotus Pond volcano outside the Northern Domain Pass."

The Fire Qilin suddenly understood:

"Oh oh, Guanyi, your weapon also needs to be forged there."

"Yes."

Li Guanyi nodded. The thick-backed heavy blade at his horse's side had been forged from the metal of the Jiuli divine weapons. Li Guanyi raised his palm and beckoned; the thick-backed heavy blade whistled several times, spiraled through the air, and flew into his palm.

Li Guanyi's palm lightly brushed across the blade's edge as he murmured:

"The master of many divine weapons—if it can be successfully forged, it can subdue all divine weapons under heaven. I wonder whether the words the Lord of Jiuli left on the stone stele thousands of years ago were true, or merely exaggeration."

"Once forged, could it break through the God of War Jiang Su's Extinction Divine Spear head-on?"

He flicked the weapon with a bent finger, and the heavy blade let out a low hum.

Li Guanyi sheathed the weapon.

Leaving only a lingering low hum of the blade.

Looking out, he could head in any direction. Li Guanyi stamped out the fire, remounted his horse, and together with the Fire Qilin, followed the marks left behind by the Jiuzhou Cauldron that day, heading straight toward the place where the Life-Extending Gu lay.

They galloped the whole way; the scenery along the route was, needless to say, magnificent. They encountered many Tujue people, and Li Guanyi easily avoided them. They came upon some Khan King or other, leading ten thousand cavalry charging across this vast grassland, thundering past, the hoofbeats like rolling thunder—truly magnificent.

Li Guanyi reined in his horse and rested his hand on his weapon.

He gathered in those sharp, piercing eyes, refusing to stare directly at the charging army. He rode on like this for a full ten-odd days, finally reaching the snow mountain from before. Though it was clearly already the fifth month, this snow mountain still carried a chill.

The snow on the shaded side seemed, after all this time, still unable to melt completely. When the wind blew, it still carried a faint chill. Li Guanyi dismounted, stepped forward, and found the spot where he had left his mark before.

It was still a vast glacier, with something peculiar about it—the frost never seemed to melt.

His eyes could see, at the very bottom of the glacier, faintly, a strange beast white as jade swimming comfortably beneath, emanating wisps of sharp, piercing aura.

It was precisely the miraculous Gu worm capable of containing the Master Jiankuang's sword intent and razor-sharp edge.

Li Guanyi bent down, curled his fingers, and tapped the frozen river's ice, producing a crisp sound. Then he said with a smile: "Little fellow, do you still remember me?"

The Gu worm, which had been swimming happily, stiffened.

It belonged to the category of strange beasts and possessed its own keen intelligence.

It stiffly raised its head and stared at Li Guanyi.

It recognized the visitor's aura.

Li Guanyi grinned.

From the jade-white strange beast's perspective, it was full of threat.

After a silence.

The jade-white strange beast's body went rigid and began to play dead.

Ah, I'm dead!

Li Guanyi chuckled: "Playing dead, are you? Since you're dead, then I won't hold back. If I can't take you alive, I'll just take you back dead and brew you into tea."

"I heard in the southwest they have a way of eating them too—deep-frying edible bugs like this to go with wine, crispy and crunchy, an absolute delicacy."

Because of the strange art, these words were transmitted as information through the primordial spirit.

The Gu worm probably understood.

A deep, murderous dragon's roar reverberated.

Li Guanyi stepped onto the thick glacier, hard enough to shatter the edges of blades and swords. His sleeves billowed, and faintly, crimson-gold flames rose up, transforming into dragon scales.

Without any deliberate action, just standing there, the glacier began to crack in an instant.

Letting out a rumbling, muffled-thunder sound.

Li Guanyi stared at the stiffened strange worm.

The strange worm raised its head, looked at the ferocious, enormous, undeniably real Ancient Crimson Dragon beside Li Guanyi, and instinctively curled itself into a ball—as if it had been 'scared back to life' on the spot.

"Wouldn't it have been better to do this from the start?"

Li Guanyi used the Touring the Six Void Divine Art imparted by old man Chen Chengbi, drawing his palm backward.

He applied a force of extreme gentleness and finesse.

The water's surface split open a layer, and the Gu worm instantly shot up, landing neatly in Li Guanyi's palm, obedient as could be, not daring to move at all.

Li Guanyi gazed at this Gu worm, white as pure jade, carrying an aura of pristine purity.

Sensing that this strange beast perfectly met the requirements of the Sorcery Gu lineage's 【Life-Extending Gu】 divine art, he pressed his lips together.

Before, he had always appeared composed.

But inwardly, he had been tense the entire time.

He knew the old man's lifespan was nearing its end, and the old man also knew that Li Guanyi understood all this. Yet the two of them still carried on as before, neither bringing it up, tacitly as if they had both forgotten the matter.

But Li Guanyi had kept it all in his heart, always remembering.

And this taut spirit, only now, could finally ease and settle a little. Li Guanyi placed the Life-Extending Gu into a specially crafted case, tucked it into his bosom, his brows lifted, his mood at ease.

"Let's go!"

The Fire Qilin, who had been dozing a moment ago, had been eyeing the jade-white Gu worm and wondering whether the thing was edible. Hearing this, it was startled and asked:

"Going to the Five Great Lotus Pond volcano?"

Li Guanyi replied: "No, we're heading straight back!"

The little Qilin was puzzled: "Aren't we going to forge the weapon and meet those 【Sons of Tai Ping Gong】 or whatever?"

Li Guanyi's palm lifted, pressing against the casket close to his heart; his brows rose, his eyes shining, and he grinned, saying only:

"I'm not waiting, and I'm not going to look. What divine weapons, what false son of Tai Ping Gong—those can all be looked at later, forged later; there are plenty of chances for divine weapons."

"But my great-great-grandfather is only one."

"I want my great-great-grandfather to be healthy and well. I've decided—anyway, when it comes to forging weapons, I only know a little bit, you couldn't really call me skilled. Great-great-grandfather should personally come with me to forge the Nine Li divine weapons' gold and iron!"

The Fire Qilin was dumbfounded.

The Fire Qilin stopped thinking.

Yan Xuanji didn't care anymore either, cheering: "Good fruits, good bamboo shoots!"

Li Guanyi said: "You still eat good fruits?"

The little Qilin said indignantly: "Old Man Longtu dotes on me so much, he would never give me that kind of good fruit like that old fellow does!"

Li Guanyi laughed heartily, vaulted onto his horse, intending to gallop all the way and find a safe place.

Then, with the aid of the Nine Provinces Cauldron, he would directly summon the Ancient Crimson Dragon.

Stirring up the four directions is stirring up the four directions—he was already impatient to return to Jiangnan. But he had only taken a few steps when his brows suddenly rose, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes. The Fire Qilin asked in confusion:

"What's wrong, Guanyi?"

Li Guanyi exhaled, rubbed the Qilin's head, and said: "Nothing."

He only said: "It seems a guest has come calling."

At this moment, in the grassland Turks' Golden Royal Tent.

The Great Khan of the Turks slowly opened his eyes.

?? Begging for monthly tickets, friends~