Chapter 90

Beside the marquis's second son, Changsun Wuchou's sister also wore a hunting outfit, accompanying them; unlike the spirited girl, Changsun Wugou now looked slightly worried and whispered, "But if we bypass the marquis's party and come alone, are we truly safe?"

The second son named Li Zhaowen casually swung his horsewhip through the air and replied:

"What difference does it make?"

"One second son already sits in the carriage—that's enough. Besides, Father likely doesn't wish to see me anyway." At the mention, the girl's expression darkened slightly; her phoenix eyes narrowed as she recalled how she had seized countless treasures and maps from the Tuyuhun Khan's tent and presented them to her father.

Now, she merely hoped the marquis's household would grow more secure—for her father and brother's sake—and had fully expected their approval, yet was met with harsh reprimands; her father seemed deeply displeased, even showing a flicker of panic on his face before scolding her severely.

Even her brother had subtly accused her of being reckless and bringing trouble to the marquis's household.

After several fruitless negotiations, she simply left on her own.

Holding her whip, she pointed toward the forest ahead, as if commanding armies:

"Today, warlords divide the realm; even a dominant power like Tuyuhun can vanish in an instant. When Tuyuhun was mighty, thirty-six tribes submitted, and the states of Ying and Chen treated them as equals. Now that their kingdom has fallen, the Tangxi have risen—and the world laughs."

"If Tuyuhun could fall so easily, our family is merely the marquis's household of Ying."

"We guard the frontier amid chaos—inaction means retreat. If we only seek to preserve our estate, we may end up losing even that. Why is Father so cautious?"

Changsun Wugou said, "The marquis holds the fate of our family—he must act with caution."

"Second son, don't speak such words to outsiders."

The girl with dragon-and-phoenix bearing smiled, "Don't worry—I'll only say this to you."

"This time, you and I came alone, avoiding your brother, precisely so I can see for myself the man I've befriended—Li Guanyi. Only then will he know who I am, and I'll know who he is, free from the constraints of social status, to see the true nature of heroes."

"Let's go!"

……………………

Li Guanyi's gaze lowered slightly; Changsun Wuchou had already returned days ago, having met the marquis's party in Jiangzhou. Li Guanyi himself held considerable fondness for that second son.

Anyone who gave Wang Xi such a grand gift

would earn Li Guanyi's fondness.

If they offered an even better gift later,

Li Guanyi felt his fondness would skyrocket.

He just didn't know what the man looked like—was he handsome, or a tall, muscular warrior?

Li Guanyi looked down at the letter from the young lady, who wrote that she had wandered Jiangzhou many times and found several interesting places; when he arrived, she would take him to see them.

She mentioned her aunt had heard of Li Guanyi's poetic talent and hoped to receive a poem; at the end, Li Guanyi saw Xue Shuangtao write, "I heard your birthday is near. I can't leave the palace, so I planned to celebrate you—but I don't know when this letter will reach you."

"I plucked a spring blossom as a gift, to offer you."

Only then did Li Guanyi understand the meaning of the flower in the letter.

He gazed at the petals, preserved with obvious care, and smiled faintly, yet said, "Sending such literary things? Young Lady, you'd be better off giving me silver." Still, he carefully preserved the flower.

He pulled the silver from his rhinoceros-horn satchel and tossed it onto the table.

He replaced it with the flower, keeping it on his person.

After all, it was a gift.

But… birthday…

So much had happened lately that Li Guanyi had nearly forgotten—these days were his birthday. He was fourteen now, having lived in this world fourteen years, fleeing for eleven.

His father dead, his mother dead, burned in Jiangzhou—also eleven years ago.

Seeing the young lady's request, Li Guanyi naturally intended to fulfill it; besides, Xue Lao had treated him well. A single poem—though Li Guanyi was a warrior at heart and not skilled in verse, his mind held many.

Thanks to memorizing homework.

Li Guanyi thought for a moment, picked up his brush, and wrote a poem, clarifying he had merely heard it on the road.

He attributed the original author's name as if telling a story to the young lady.

He ended with blessings, saying he would soon arrive in Jiangzhou and seek her out—though likely she'd have to find him, since he couldn't enter the palace. He folded the letter and gave it to Xue Lao to send back.

Three days remain.

In three days, he must depart for Jiangzhou—a city over three hundred li from Guan Yicheng.

Add the difficult, winding mountain paths, and the journey will take even longer.

Even on horseback, it would take a day or two.

There would be no quick round-trip then; Li Guanyi must defeat Xue Shen before then.

He must seize Xue Shen's Mystical Realm.

Then go to Jiangzhou and Jingcheng, seek Zou Wenyuan to obtain the 【Imperial Canon of World Governance】, and seek 【Master Siming】 for the method to cultivate his aunt's divine form.

……………………

Beneath the stream of Guan Yicheng, within the Xue Family's Mystical Realm.

Xue Shen held his weapon, gazing at Li Guanyi before smiling faintly, "You never give up—already back so soon? You've clearly encountered something urgent, eager to leave Guan Yicheng, so you plan to defeat me?"

Li Guanyi said, "Who wins or loses isn't decided yet!"

Xue Shen shook his head, "No—you've already won."

Li Guanyi froze.

Xue Shen's lips curled slightly, "Such confidence—I'm truly awed. In sheer audacity and blind self-assurance, you've far surpassed me."

Li Guanyi grinned.

He knew this man would never utter a kind word.

His wrist flicked; his battle halberd shot forward with a fierce whistle.

Xue Shen stood still, one hand casually blocking the halberd, then pressed downward, raising an eyebrow, "Good. More refined than before. This time, want to add a wager? If you can make me strike first—"

"You win."

"Don't regret it."

Li Guanyi suddenly stepped forward, his weapon roaring violently.

A force several times greater than before erupted violently.

Martial artists, even ordinary people, do not burst out their full strength—it's simply that the body cannot withstand the theoretical muscular limit, and would injure itself. But Golden Muscles and Jade Bones directly raise the body's tolerance ceiling, allowing a martial artist to reach the theoretical limit of an all-out burst.

Xue Shen Jiang's pupils contracted.

With his realm suppressed, using only his strength at the Entry realm, with just one hand—he could not hold him back!

Li Guanyi grinned.

He couldn't match this god-general who had campaigned across the realm in technique, so he'd just have to switch to a different approach.

This is the beauty of raw stats!

Old fellow!

Xue Shen Jiang took half a step back.

He clamped the shaft under his elbow, barely halting the terrifying eruption of force.

The easy expression vanished from Xue Shen Jiang's face. He saw the youth before him suddenly leap up, his body seeming to take on a golden-jade hue, the muscles of both arms swelling, his grip on the war-halberd tightening. A pause—then he brought it crashing down in a vicious cleaving strike.

This burst of force was simply too overwhelming.

Even the shaft of the war-halberd bowed into an arc.

Xue Shen Jiang leveled his own war-halberd horizontally to block.

It wasn't that he couldn't defuse this strike with technique, but even if he did, he'd still have to take the brunt of it head-on. The reason was simple—this strike abandoned much of its finesse in pure pursuit of the greatest possible burst. At such a level of eruption, Xue Shen Jiang, even in his Entry-realm posture, couldn't help but let out a muffled grunt.

He raised his eyes, looking at the qi-infused force around Li Guanyi's body.

He recalled opponents he had faced in the past and recognized this kind of physical constitution.

"Golden Muscles and Jade Bones, Dragon Sinews and Tiger Marrow?"

"What a… monster."

Xue Shen Jiang shifted his body, deflecting Li Guanyi's war-halberd toward another direction. His moves combined the agility of form with devastating power—this one was as free and easy as a mountain breeze, purely using technique to dissolve the momentum of the strike, converting it into the force of a forward thrust, stabbing out ahead.

Li Guanyi landed, power surging through his whole body, and twisted sharply.

Relying entirely on his current physique, he forcibly reversed the momentum of the technique.

The war-halberd swept out horizontally.

When Xue Shen Jiang's war-halberd thrust out, the sound of it cutting the air was as faint as an evening breeze.

When Li Guanyi swept horizontally, the sound of it cutting the air was fierce beyond compare, like a tiger's roar.

The two war-halberds thrust out and clashed violently, erupting in wave after wave of keening sound. Xue Shen Jiang's techniques grew increasingly elaborate—even in mere defense, one could see him gradually bringing out his true skill. And Li Guanyi, relying on the power of Golden Muscles and Jade Bones, made up for the gap in technical finesse.

Only now did he realize.

If not for this physique, Xue Shen Jiang's techniques could have kept him fighting for a year without ever winning. Every time, Xue Shen Jiang left him some margin; every time, Li Guanyi felt he was just a little short—just a little more, just a tiny bit more effort, and he could catch up.

But the reality was—

Even though Li Guanyi's technique had already undergone earth-shattering changes from the very beginning.

Added to with the augmentation of his physique.

Even now, he could only just barely fight Xue Shen Jiang to a draw.

The gap between the two in technique was as vast as heaven and earth.

The easy smile on Xue Shen Jiang's face had vanished at some unknown point.

The light in his eyes was as piercing as a blade's edge.

It gave Li Guanyi a faint, terrifying sense of pressure.

So this was the world's number one of the Entry realm? Even without the fierce-general physique of Golden Muscles and Jade Bones, purely on the strength of his technique, he could possess such power. Li Guanyi exhaled a breath; the aura of the Qingluan Bird Dharma Idol circulated, smoothing away the fatigue and shock-wounds in his body.

It was time.

Li Guanyi's movement changed.

The Huangji Jingshi Scripture circulated.

The cultivation base within his body naturally flowed into the Bai Hu Dharma Idol.

Inner qi churned over the spear-tip, growing ever more violent, taking on the aspect of a roaring tiger. When the cultivation base was driven to its utmost, Li Guanyi felt that if he could push just one step further, this rolling strike would be enough to send the tiger itself leaping out from the spear-tip to slay.

But this time, it was already enough.

Inner qi dispersed—Bai Hu Rolls the Waves!

The force transformed into a tide-like roar, surging forward with spiraling qi.

Xue Shen Jiang shifted his war-halberd to a two-handed grip and forcibly blocked this strike.

Half a step back.

The Jade Arm Divine Bow Art—divine strength surged once more.

Layered force erupted; Li Guanyi stepped forward, closing the distance.

The war-halberd, like a spear, carried no spiraling thrust of qi—merely a flat, straightforward push.

The Huangji Jingshi Scripture switched—Bai Hu transformed into the Crimson Dragon.

The tiger's roar had not yet faded when it became a dragon's cry. The cold, wave-rolling qi abruptly ignited, as if a tide had turned to fire. A single flat-pushing strike—Crimson Dragon Crumbles the Mountain!

A faint smile appeared on Xue Shen Jiang's face.

"Show inability where you have it, show weakness where you are strong."

"That was something you said the first time we ever had a casual chat."

Li Guanyi's pupils contracted. Xue Shen Jiang said calmly: "A commander cannot advance rashly—you've made a mistake." At the same time, he merely leaned slightly to one side, transferred the war-halberd from his right hand to his left, and lifted it slightly, the blade-tip thrusting toward Li Guanyi's armpit.

This was a spot the Mountain-Crushing qi found hard to cover.

He hadn't even channeled force—if Li Guanyi crashed into it on his own, he'd wound himself.

Xue Shen Jiang followed up unhurriedly, smiling slightly:

"Attack where the enemy must rescue—that was also something you said."

The terror of the world's number one divine general lies in the fact that he does not stagnate, but continues to grow.

Li Guanyi stepped forward half a pace, gritted his teeth, and abruptly recalled the burst of inner Qi he had just unleashed.

The inner Qi went out and returned!

An operation that would have inflicted internal injuries on any martial artist who had entered the Realm, sending them into Qi deviation.

His Golden Muscle and Jade Bone constitution withstood it by brute force, while the Azure Luan Bird Dharma Idol's power mended the injuries in his meridians, forcibly allowing Li Guanyi to recover his strength. Only, the Four Symbols rotation had now naturally switched from the Crimson Dragon. Li Guanyi's two hands gripped the middle section of his battle-halberd, and he spun around violently, bringing it down in the manner of the Eight Breaking Army Blades.

Linking into the third strike.

The Jade Arm Divine Bow Art had already circulated to its absolute limit; his ultimate was three consecutive explosive bursts.

【Slash the Heavenly Wolf!】

The Azure Luan's clear, soaring cry reflected in General Xue's eyes.

General Xue's expression also shifted.

The power of the Eight Breaking Army Blades could not compare to Surging Waves or Crushing Mountain.

The Azure Luan Bird had no matching cultivation art, had never formed a Dharma Body, and possessed no inner Qi.

But the pure power of the Azure Luan Bird alone was already enough. The Crimson Dragon's Crushing Mountain Qi from earlier had not yet fully dispersed, and the Azure Luan Bird flew into it. In an instant, a sudden anomaly occurred, exceeding Li Guanyi's expectations. The Qi that had been about to die out violently erupted, and blazing firelight several times more intense than before surged upward as the Azure Luan Bird spread its wings and flew out.

Flames coiled around both wings, with the Crimson Dragon spiraling alongside—dragon and phoenix appearing together, circling as one.

Dragon's roar, phoenix's cry, raising fire to burn the heavens.

General Xue sighed and said: "A third Dharma Idol already, and a technique like combined Dharma Idol assault, accomplished by a single person... This world truly grows stranger by the day." As dragon and phoenix pounced toward him, General Xue gripped the battle-halberd in his hand, let out a breath, and with a sudden shake—

【Surging Waves】!

The flames on the dragon's scales and phoenix's tail vanished.

Though both were at the same Realm's Realm, the inner Qi had annihilated dragon and phoenix, leaving only a stretch of azure waves.

The golden firelight was extinguished. General Xue set the battle-halberd in his hand down on the ground. Before him, the youth barely steadied himself, raised the battle-halberd in his hand, its edge pointed from afar at General Xue before him, breathing heavily, his gaze bright. He straightened his body and said:

"... You have lost."

……………………

Within the imperial palace of Chen Kingdom.

On the second day, Xue Shuangtao received Li Guanyi's letter. She breathed a sigh of relief, saw Li Guanyi's thanks and his saying he would come find her later, and then saw that poem. With a smile on her lips, she ran quickly toward her aunt's residence.

Li Guanyi's reputation in court lately was not very good; she listened and felt indignant, yet also worried for him.

The Young Lady thought, could she perhaps win some favor for that youth in front of her aunt?

And then have her aunt protect him.

She herself did not have such power, but she believed that, given that youth's talent, her aunt would certainly like him upon seeing his verses.

When Xue Shuangtao hurried into the palace, she heard bursts of laughter, slowed her steps, and recognized it as the Emperor's voice. A eunuch chuckled and said, "So it is Miss Xue who has arrived. His Majesty and the Noble Consort are inside; Her Ladyship invites you to enter."

Xue Shuangtao had originally wanted to leave, but thinking of that youth, she bit her lip and went inside.

The Emperor was very fond of the Xue family's second Young Lady—Xue Shuangtao's aunt—and even during the preparatory stage of the Grand Ritual, he still snuck out to meet her. Now he laughed and beckoned her over. Xue Shuangtao inwardly gave herself courage, saying: "I am here to present a poem to my aunt."

The Emperor laughed and said: "Oh? Hahaha, Shuangtao has such a skill as well? This uncle-in-law must hear it too."

Xue Shuangtao said: "It wasn't written by me, it was my family's..."

"Guest retainer, Li Guanyi, who wrote it."

Hearing this name that had been buzzing in his ears lately, the Emperor's expression remained smiling. He patted Noble Consort Xue's hand and said casually: "I have heard of this person—a young hero, but his killing intent is far too heavy. To think he can write poetry? Well, let's hear it."

That casual remark about his heavy killing intent was already extremely chilling.

Xue Shuangtao took a deep breath, gathered her courage, and softly began to recite.

But just the first two lines made the Emperor's casual expression vanish from his face.

"The clouds desire her garments, the flowers desire her face."

"The spring breeze brushes the railing, the dew's splendor deep."