Chapter 207: Governing the Nation with Martial Arts, the Pillar of the State

"Survive? I suspect you're already thinking about how to kill me to silence me, aren't you?"

Upon hearing Li Fei's words, Zhao Yi immediately sneered.

Though young, she was extremely sharp; ever since being poisoned by Li Fei, she had been contemplating ways to save herself.

Claiming at first to be a descendant of the Nightmare Sect was meant to make Li Fei wary, preventing him from daring to kill her outright.

Later, when her lie was exposed, she revealed the secret of the Dream-Like Order and gave Li Fei a detailed introduction to its value, also for the sake of self-preservation.

The more valuable the Dream-Like Order was, the more valuable her life became!

"This Dream-Like Order requires specific techniques for regular maintenance; without me, this piece will turn into a scrap of iron in your hands within a month."

Zhao Yi said to Li Fei.

"What if you're still lying?"

Li Fei looked calmly into Zhao Yi's eyes.

Next, Zhao Yi did something that surprised him:

She suddenly picked up the small medicine bottle on the table, poured out a Nether Spring Poison Pill, and swallowed it in one gulp!

"What is the meaning of this?"

Li Fei looked at Zhao Yi.

Zhao Yi's eyes revealed extreme ferocity, like a wounded mother wolf protecting her cubs:

"You want the cultivation methods of the Nightmare Sect and the maintenance techniques for the Dream-Like Order? Do you dare believe me if I just say them? Why not use that method from before to interrogate me again; then you'll know if I'm lying!"

Li Fei took a deep look at the young woman before him, somewhat surprised by her decisiveness.

However, he did not soften his heart because of it.

Just as he had told Zhao Yi before, the opportunity had been given, but she did not cherish it and insisted on repeatedly provoking him; then she could not blame him for being ruthless.

If he hadn't been the more skilled one today, it might have been his Ghost-Slaying Blade and other belongings that were taken away by her.

As for whether his life could have been saved in the end, no one could say for sure; after all, the human heart is unpredictable.

"Fine, you may begin."

Li Fei said calmly.

There were too many cultivation methods for the Nightmare Sect to finish in a short time, and Li Fei couldn't remember them all, so he told Zhao Yi to speak directly about the parts related to the Dream-Like Order.

In the following ten minutes, Li Fei repeatedly interrogated Zhao Yi on the content, going over every detail again and again.

Zhao Yi had already been poisoned once, and this time, the pain she felt was even deeper.

Even the strictly trained spies of the Meijia Kingdom couldn't withstand such pain, and Zhao Yi couldn't either.

But she knew that if she couldn't make Li Fei believe her, she would find it hard to survive, so she gritted her teeth and finished the interrogation, displaying extremely strong willpower!

"That's enough."

Just as Zhao Yi was about to faint, Li Fei gave her the antidote.

At this point, he was fairly certain that Zhao Yi was telling the truth, or at least, the maximum degree of truth he could obtain under the current circumstances.

Continuing to press her further wouldn't change her story.

Through interrogating Zhao Yi, Li Fei gained a detailed understanding of the Dream-Like Order:

There were a total of eleven implants inside the Dream-Like Order!

Half of these implants were of the middle three grades, and there were even some of the top three grades!

All the implants used by martial artists to condense their martial foundation were of the bottom three grades, because the human body was too fragile at the start to withstand higher-grade implants; later, as the realm improved, the physique strengthened, but the construction of the martial foundation required balance, so the other four types of implants could only be of the bottom three grades.

Only after the martial foundation was completely constructed and the martial artist stepped into the next realm could they continue to incorporate middle or even top-grade implants.

The same principle applied to magic treasures.

And the Dream-Like Order in Li Fei's hand was once the life-bound magic treasure of a Daoist True Person, an object of the highest grade, so it naturally contained high-grade implants.

High-grade implants did not need artificial feeding of elixirs or similar things to provide energy; such implants would absorb free energy from heaven and earth themselves—in Daoist terms, they would automatically absorb spiritual energy.

Therefore, there was no need to worry about the survival of the high-grade implants within the Dream-Like Order; they had already entered a dormant state, as long as one didn't stimulate them recklessly.

What really needed concern were the middle and bottom-grade implants within the Dream-Like Order.

Every month, different techniques had to be performed to fuse different materials into the Dream-Like Order to maintain the implants inside.

This was why practicing techniques was more expensive than practicing martial arts; practicing techniques cost money, and maintaining magic treasures cost even more!

So much so that a Great Mage of the Possession Realm like Zhao Renjie had left Zhao Yi many things after his death, but he hadn't left her much money.

Because the Dream-Like Order was a gold-swallowing beast!

If Li Fei didn't have the Qingyuan City Management Company and the Qingyuan Fist Stronghold in his hands, he wouldn't be able to afford such a thing either.

"Now we can talk about the future."

Li Fei said after waiting for Zhao Yi to recover.

"What do you want?"

Zhao Yi looked at him fiercely.

"Letting you go just like that is definitely impossible, and this thing cannot be returned to you either."

Li Fei raised the Dream-Like Order in his hand.

Even if he didn't covet this supreme treasure, he couldn't do something like letting a tiger return to the mountains.

Zhao Yi had extremely high talent, a ruthless nature, and a supreme treasure like the Dream-Like Order; this was completely the fate of a novel protagonist. If he let her go, what if she mastered her techniques in the future and came looking for him?

But killing her directly would render the Dream-Like Order in his hand useless, which would be too much of a pity.

Regarding dual cultivation of magic and martial arts, Li Fei had specifically asked Shangguan Xiao.

The biggest difficulty in dual cultivation of magic and martial arts was that in the later stages, the magic-system implants and the martial-system implants would conflict, leading to an inability to continue breaking through realms.

But there were ways to reconcile this conflict, only it required taking a large amount of medicine, and such medicine would cause damage to the human body; no one could stand taking it in large quantities for a long time.

This was the fundamental reason why dual cultivation of magic and martial arts could not be pursued.

But this difficulty was not an issue at all for Li Fei, who possessed the Ten Thousand Blood Bead!

So after learning about dual cultivation of magic and martial arts, he thought about trying to practice techniques once he reached the Martial University.

He hadn't expected that before he even started trying, he would first get his hands on a True One magic treasure!

Perhaps this was heaven's will.

Li Fei thought for a moment and said:

"Even if you hadn't been caught today, you would have run into trouble sooner or later if you kept stealing like this. Why not follow me from now on? I have the ability to support this Dream-Like Order."

Zhao Yi sneered:

"Next, are you going to slowly teach me the techniques of the Nightmare Sect, and then one day in the future, when you can perform the techniques to maintain the Dream-Like Order yourself, you'll kill me?"

Li Fei looked straight at her:

"Do you have any other choice? Even if that were true, at least you would live for several more years and have a chance to slowly change my mind; that's better than dying at my hands right now."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Yi's expression dimmed, and she lowered her head:

"You're right, I have no choice; I can only listen to you."

"Hmm."

Li Fei suddenly asked, "How long does the effect of your technique last, roughly, on ordinary people?"

"About an hour or so."

Zhao Yi answered weakly.

"Then there's still time. Go and return the stolen items to their owners now, without being noticed."

Li Fei said.

Zhao Yi suddenly raised her head, looking at Li Fei in surprise:

"Big brother, since you're a devil like this, stop pretending to be a good person, will you?"

Li Fei picked up the small medicine bottle on the table:

"Like this, I'll set a rule for you first: from now on, just do what I say directly, and don't talk nonsense."

Zhao Yi looked at the small medicine bottle in Li Fei's hand, showing a look of fear.

She considered her willpower strong enough, but she still didn't want to experience that feeling from before again.

"Are... are you treating me as your slave?"

Zhao Yi said angrily, "A scholar can be killed but not humiliated; if you want to humiliate me, I would rather die right now!"

She looked at Li Fei with a determined face.

Li Fei smiled: "Don't worry, I won't make you do anything humiliating. You'll know later that I'm actually a good person."

"You're a good person?!!"

Zhao Yi recalled the cold look in Li Fei's eyes when he was interrogating her just now and felt a chill.

A person who carries poison with him, has mastered professional interrogation techniques, and can complete an interrogation without a ripple of emotion—and he claims to be a good person?

"Only those who can point a gun at others can be good people."

"What kind of twisted logic is that?"

"You forgot that I gave you a chance before."

"I..."

Zhao Yi regretted it so much; her guts were truly turning green with regret now!

If she had known, it would have been better to just leave back then; why did she have to turn around and provoke this star of misfortune?

"Go do your work."

Li Fei raised the medicine bottle in his hand and said to Zhao Yi.

Zhao Yi didn't dare to talk nonsense anymore; she got up, picked up the backpack on the floor, and walked out of the private room.

Li Fei was not worried that the other party would take the opportunity to run away.

From the previous interrogation, he could tell that Zhao Yi was a very ambitious woman.

If she had no ambition, she would not have taken such risks to maintain the Dream-Like Order, using the method she did today to get money.

Such a person would not be willing to give up a supreme treasure like the Dream-Like Order.

Half an hour later, Zhao Yi returned to the private room.

This time, her backpack was completely empty; there was nothing left in it.

"Everything returned to its rightful owners?"

Li Fei asked.

Zhao Yi said impatiently, "I couldn't remember whose things were whose, so I just did my best."

Li Fei did not speak and picked up the small medicine bottle on the table again.

Zhao Yi panicked immediately and jumped up at once:

"Big Brother, I was wrong! I'll go and fix it right now."

"No need."

Li Fei stopped her.

If she went back now, the people might be about to wake up.

In any case, as long as the general items were returned to their owners, there was no need to be overly fastidious about doing good deeds.

"Big Brother, who exactly are you?"

Zhao Yi asked cautiously.

She was truly afraid of Li Fei now.

What kind of decent person would threaten to feed others poison at every turn?

"You guessed correctly before; I am a student of the Martial Arts Stop-Conflict Department at Martial University, and my name is Li Fei."

Li Fei said.

Since the two of them would be spending a long time together, there was no need to hide such things.

"Are all students at Martial University as terrifying as you?"

Zhao Yi asked with lingering fear.

"Probably not."

Li Fei smiled.

"What kind of implant are you using? Why is my sorcery completely ineffective against you?"

"Don't ask about things you shouldn't."

"Are you planning to cultivate both magic and martial arts?"

"I have that thought."

"Didn't your teachers at Martial University teach you that cultivating both magic and martial arts has no future?"

"Then are you implying that I should kill you right now?"

"I mean you should keep me forever, and in the future, I can use the Dream-Like Order for you to help you fight!"

"Heh, you have a beautiful imagination."

"What do you mean? I'm not beautiful at all!"

"Then why are you thinking such beautiful thoughts?"

"Damn it."

"What did you say?"

"Brother Fei, I was wrong!"

"."

The two chatted all the way until the train arrived at Datong Prefecture City.

Li Fei carried two suitcases off the train, and Zhao Yi followed behind him.

Zhao Yi had originally thought Li Fei would ask her to help carry the suitcases, but she didn't expect that Li Fei had no such intention at all, which surprised her a little.

Looking at it this way, he really did not treat her like a servant.

"Go home by yourself first; I'm going to report to Martial University now, and I'll come find you tonight."

Li Fei said to Zhao Yi.

Zhao Renjie had previously rented a house in Datong Prefecture City as a place for the two of them to stay.

As for why they didn't buy a house, it was naturally to save money.

Housing prices in the prefecture city were much more expensive than in local cities, and some areas were even more expensive than the provincial capital!

"Understood."

Zhao Yi replied. Seeing Li Fei walk toward the direction of the tram, she hesitated for a moment and then quickly followed:

"Um, could you take me into Martial University to take a look?"

"Hmm?"

Li Fei turned his head to look at Zhao Yi with some surprise.

Zhao Yi was not coy and admitted directly:

"I used to hear the old man tell me how amazing the twelve universities were, saying they were places of martial arts cultivation even more powerful than the Nightmare Sect, so I'm quite curious about Martial University."

The twelve universities of the Great Lan Dynasty were different from the universities in Li Fei's past life; not just anyone could enter to visit.

To get in, one must have the corresponding status.

Therefore, there were still many, many people in Datong Prefecture City like Zhao Yi who wanted to go into Martial University to take a look.

Li Fei looked at Zhao Yi's expectant eyes and said without hesitation:

"No."

Zhao Yi was stunned for a moment, and then her expression turned dejected:

"Understood."

After saying this, she turned and left.

Li Fei did not care and walked toward the tram not far away.

He was also there to report and had not yet officially become a student of Martial University, so he was not confident that he could bring someone in for a visit.

Moreover, out of caution, he did not want people to know that he knew Zhao Yi for the time being.

Next, Li Fei took the tram to a station near Martial Peace University and then walked toward the university.

After passing through a bustling commercial street, Li Fei saw the city wall in the distance.

That's right, it was a city wall.

Datong Prefecture City had no inner city; this city wall was built for Martial Peace University, so in a sense, Martial Peace University was the inner city of Datong Prefecture City!

Li Fei carried his suitcases toward the city wall and soon saw a five-gate archway made of white jade stone.

Outside the archway, guards dressed in black and carrying rifles on their backs stood guard, looking solemn and respectful.

After Li Fei walked close to this five-gate archway, a guard soon took the initiative to walk up and politely asked:

"Hello, what are you here for?"

"I am here to report."

As Li Fei spoke, he took a document out of his pocket and handed it to the other party.

This five-gate archway was the main entrance of Martial Peace University, and he looked up at the plaque hanging on the middle gate.

The words written on this plaque were not "Martial Peace University," but eight characters.

The first thing Li Fei noticed was the inscription on the plaque—"Imperial Brush of the 28th Year of Hongguang."

Imperial Brush meant it was written by the Emperor himself!

Therefore, this plaque was personally written by the current Son of Heaven and gifted to Martial Peace University.

Li Fei looked at the eight large characters on the plaque—

Using Martial Arts to Pacify the Nation, the Pillar of the State.

(End of chapter)