Chapter 481

Late at night, Li Fei returned to his Marquis mansion.

After the grand court meeting ended today, the Crown Prince invited him to the Eastern Palace alone, and the two talked a lot.

They talked about the past, the war in the Northern Territory, and the future.

During the chat, the Crown Prince's attitude towards him was the same as before; he did not become arrogant because he had overall power, and he still made people feel approachable as before, without any airs.

"As for your teacher's wife's case, feel free to do it, I will support you!"

At the end of the chat, the Crown Prince said this to Li Fei.

Having received such a promise, Li Fei, who returned to the Marquis mansion, felt a bit heavy in his heart.

It wasn't that he felt the Crown Prince was untrustworthy; he was just a bit saddened by the Emperor's physical condition.

After experiencing Qi Zhou's betrayal, Li Fei originally thought that the Emperor's trust in him might be reserved.

After all, Qi Zhou had followed the other party for a longer time and had once been deeply favored by the Emperor, trusted and valued.

As a result, the Emperor not only did not reduce his trust in Li Fei, but also broke the rules to make him a minister entrusted with the Emperor's final wishes!

People are not made of wood or stone; meeting such a monarch, it is difficult for Li Fei not to be moved.

As a transmigrator with modern thinking, he does not like many systems and phenomena of this dynasty, and he also hates many dregs of this dynasty!

He once thought he could live the way he wanted, happily for a lifetime, without caring about anyone or anything.

But after being stained with the dust of the world, there are ultimately some people who have left weight in his heart.

After returning to the mansion, Li Fei sat quietly in the main hall for a while, then walked into his secret room for practicing martial arts.

Only cultivation can calm the heart.

Before going to the Northern Territory, Yunshu gave him the refining methods for three Earth-level flying swords, corresponding to high, middle, and low grades.

He chose to cultivate the Earth-level high-grade flying sword; every twelve implants can form a divine ability.

Before going to the Northern Territory, he had already refined four implants and initially integrated the fifth implant.

By the time he was in the Northern Territory, he had already completed the refining of the fifth implant.

Now that he has returned to Lanling City, he can continue to refine new implants.

For an Earth-level high-grade flying sword, every 'twelve Sha' can refine one divine ability; 'seventy-two Sha' can refine six divine abilities, plus the divine ability of the Xuan-level flying sword at the beginning, a total of seven divine abilities, thus forming the Earth Sha formation!

But Li Fei now knows that he wants to take the path of combining law and martial arts; his life-bound magic treasure can have at most three divine abilities, and when the flying sword body breaks through to the Earth level, it can only be Earth-level low-grade.

On this point, Lin Tianyi was no exception!

However, Li Fei still did not change his cultivation method and chose to continue cultivating the refining method of the Earth-level high-grade flying sword.

For an Earth-level low-grade magic treasure, every thirty-six fourth-grade implants can refine one divine ability; it seems that the number of implants required is larger, and the difficulty will be greater.

But in fact, among the twelve implants refined by an Earth-level high-grade magic treasure, half are fifth-grade implants.

Starting from the middle three-grade implants, for every grade difference between implants, the difference will be very large.

The difficulty of integrating and refining a fifth-grade implant is more than three times higher than that of a fourth-grade implant!

Combining multiple fifth-grade implants together and refining them into a divine ability is even more difficult.

Therefore, not everyone can refine an Earth-level high-grade magic treasure, just as rare and scarce as a Grandmaster who breaks through with seven divine abilities.

However, this difficulty is nothing to Li Fei.

He has the Ten Thousand Blood Bead to transfer damage, which can ensure the process of 'refining weapons', with full fault tolerance, and he doesn't have to worry about ruining his life-bound magic treasure.

Moreover, his life-bound magic treasure is himself, and his connection with his life-bound object is unparalleled in the world; he can easily make his own true spirit and life-bound magic treasure form a deep resonance, thereby quickly pushing the life-bound magic treasure to complete strengthening.

For an ordinary True Person, it is already very fast to complete the integration and refining of one fourth-grade implant in a year.

Even if everything goes well, it would take nearly forty years to refine an Earth-level low-grade magic treasure and break through to become a top-level True Person.

And Li Fei can complete the integration and refining of one fourth-grade implant in less than a month, more than ten times faster than an ordinary True Person!

A fifth-grade implant is a bit slower, but it only takes more than two months.

So compared to cultivating an Earth-level low-grade flying sword body, he can obtain new divine abilities faster by cultivating an Earth-level high-grade flying sword.

Now he has completed the integration and refining of five implants, and next he will be able to refine 'twelve Sha' within a year and obtain the second spell-type divine ability!

But continuing to cultivate the Earth-level high-grade flying sword means that Li Fei will not be able to gather 'seventy-two Sha' in the future and will not be able to form the Earth Sha formation, thus completing the breakthrough.

Regarding this, Li Fei already has a plan in his heart.

In the following days, he entered seclusion mode again.

He declined all invitations and spent most of his time every day in the practice room in the mansion, refining implants at the fastest speed.

As for reinvestigating Shangguan Xiao's case, the Inspection Pavilion has officially issued an official document.

Li Fei called He Jian's inspection team in the name of the Lanling Special Envoy, and let He Jian take his team members to Feng Province first; the Great Tong Prefecture Garrison Commander Governor Bian Jingru would cooperate with He Jian and others to complete the initial investigation work.

Leave professional things to professional people.

Li Fei does not think that he can be more capable than He Jian in investigating cases, so he is relieved to leave this matter to the other party.

Of course, relying only on He Jian, Governor Bian Jingru, and others, it is naturally not so easy to investigate Shangguan Xiao's case clearly.

This case was originally investigated and found by a special investigation team sent by the Feng Province provincial capital to the Great Tong Prefecture; what was involved was not only Shangguan Xiao and Hao Yi, but also the Feng Province provincial government and the Lu family behind it, as well as the Great Tong Prefecture government forces headed by Governor Bian Jingru.

At that time, Governor Bian Jingru directly reported to the central government for this matter and publicly tore his face with the Feng Province provincial capital!

If this case is overturned, a huge number of people will be involved!

In many things, what is complicated is not the case itself, but the forces involved behind the case.

How will Shangguan Xiao's case be judged in the end? How will the people involved in this case be dealt with in the end?

What determines all this is not the truth, but the wrestling of multiple parties behind the case.

Whoever has stronger power can determine the final 'truth'!

On this point, the situation Li Fei is facing is actually exactly the same as Qi Zhou's back then.

It's just that he is not an idealist like Qi Zhou.

What he cares more about is whether he can avenge Hao Yi and Shangguan Xiao, rather than wanting to change this phenomenon.

Just like when he killed officials in Xingcheng back then, it was more to follow his own heart, rather than really wanting to change this world.

Li Fei's self-perception has never been that of a hero for the country and the people.

Although the things that the Green-Faced Ghost once did seem to possess a chivalrous spirit.

But Li Fei feels that he can only be counted as a 'hero' who lives for himself.

If there is an evil deed happening right in front of him, he will not hesitate to take action, just like he did in Xingcheng back then.

But if someone tells him how many people are suffering in this world, and how tragic things have happened thousands of miles away.

It is difficult for him to be moved by it.

This is the essential difference between him and Qi Zhou.

And he also does not approve of the other party's methods of sacrificing innocent people to achieve their goals.

Using wrong methods to achieve so-called correct goals is not Li Fei's Dao.

And what makes him feel moved is that, despite having just experienced a betrayal, and he is about to face something similar to what Qi Zhou faced back then, the Emperor still chose to give him the greatest trust!

Returning the favor, regarding Shangguan Xiao's case, Li Fei does not intend to take the opportunity to turn everything upside down.

As long as the mastermind is brought to justice, this revenge is considered avenged.

But there is one point, Li Fei will absolutely not make any concessions—

Xu Jing and Lu Wenzheng must both die!

One directly led to Hao Yi's death, and the other planned and plotted all this behind the scenes.

Li Fei will not let these two go!

And to achieve this, just overturning the case is obviously not enough.

So Li Fei did not rush back to Feng Province, but continued to stay in Lanling City, trying his best to improve his strength.

Changping University.

The newly promoted Duke Qiu Zian came to a volcano; this is the exotic beast breeding area of Changping University. Some exotic beasts need to grow in volcanoes, so Changping University spent a lot of money to create a man-made volcano!

Qiu Zian came to the crater, looked at the hot lava below, and threw the wine jar in her hand directly down.

A few seconds later, a figure flew out from a cave below, just in time to catch the falling wine jar, and then used his strength to hit the rock wall, borrowing force to jump upward, and finally successfully reached the crater.

This person was wearing a black robe, with a crew cut and a long beard, and the whole person seemed to be wrapped in lava, carrying a fierce aura.

"How is it?"

Qiu Zian asked straightforwardly.

A smile appeared on the man's face: "It is indeed effective. In at most half a year, I will be able to start condensing the third divine ability again!"

Hearing this, a smile also appeared on Qiu Zian's face:

"Then my wine wasn't brought in vain; let's celebrate your return to the peak!"

The man in front of her is named Fang Ziyan, the vice president of Changping University.

Eleven years ago, when Fang Ziyan was refining his third divine ability, because he was too impatient, his implant was severely damaged, thereby hurting his origin.

Since then, his cultivation could not make any progress.

The damaged implant could not be repaired and had already deeply integrated with himself, so it could not be stripped away.

And if a new implant were incorporated, it would also affect the damaged implant.

So Fang Ziyan could only be stuck in the realm of a dual-divine ability Martial Arts Grandmaster for the rest of his life.

Until Qiu Zian brought him the "Five-Phase Reverse Wheel Method".

"Ha ha ha ha!"

Fang Ziyan laughed and opened the wine jar, drinking it all in one gulp.

"Good wine!"

He looked satisfied and threw the wine jar in his hand into the volcano:

"Tell the Marquis of Jingan for me that from now on, whenever there is a need, I, Fang Ziyan, will definitely help with all my strength!"

Although his talent is not as good as Qiu Zian's, he also has the opportunity to break through to become a Grandmaster with three divine abilities.

So Li Fei letting Qiu Zian give him the "Five-Phase Reverse Wheel Method" is a true great favor to him!

Qiu Zian smiled upon hearing this: "I will pass it on for you."

"Old Fang, do you know anyone else in a similar situation to you?"

"Oh? Is the Marquis of Jingan wanting to help more people?"

"Helping is fine, but it won't be for free. So they must be people with trustworthy character."

Qiu Zian said.

Fang Ziyan thought for a while: "I know a wandering cultivator in the Jianghu, stuck at the peak of the Dao Foundation stage, also because his implant was damaged, leading to no opportunity to break through. If the damaged implant can be repaired and started over, the other party has the opportunity to break through to become a Martial Arts Grandmaster."

"How is his character?"

Qiu Zian only cares about this.

She promised to help Li Fei win over more experts, so she would do her best.

Fang Ziyan: "He is a person who keeps his promises. If you are really worried, you can also let the other party make a vow spell."

Qiu Zian pondered for a moment: "A wandering cultivator in the Jianghu, let's ask if he is willing to join the Marquis of Jingan's mansion first."

Fang Ziyan: "Okay, I'll go ask."

When Li Fei was working hard to improve his personal strength, Qiu Zian was also helping him win over experts everywhere!

Feng Province, Great Tong Prefecture.

Under the night, a black car drove out of a large courtyard.

"My lord, are we going back to the guesthouse?"

In the car, the driver asked Li Lei in the back seat softly.

Li Lei, smelling of alcohol, rubbed his face, looking a bit tired.

In a few years, there were already some gray hairs on his temples.

Not long after Li Fei was conferred the title of Marquis before the throne, he was promoted again—Deputy Chief of Xingcheng and Chief Inspector of the Inspection Pavilion.

Then, in less than two years, he was promoted one more level, removing the 'Deputy' from the Chief title, officially becoming the Chief in charge of the government affairs of a city, and was promoted to a 12th-level imperial official!

From a small 7th-level official, a squad leader in the Inspection Pavilion, he was promoted 5 levels in less than four years, becoming the Chief of a city.

This promotion speed can be called rapid anywhere!

But because he has a son who is the number one in history, no one felt surprised.

It was approaching the end of the year, and the Great Tong Prefecture organized a year-end meeting. All the main officials of the towns in the Great Tong Prefecture had to attend. Li Lei, who had just taken office, also came to the prefecture city and held meetings for two days.

During these two days, meetings were actually not the most tiring thing; socializing was.

The officials who came to the meeting were too enthusiastic about Li Lei!

Various invitations were constant.

Li Lei pushed away all that he could, but some invitations were really impossible to push away, such as those from Garrison Commander Governor Bian Jingru, and some from superior officials.

If he pushed all of these away, others would only think he was too arrogant.

Although looking at the entire Great Tong Prefecture now, even Governor Bian Jingru would not dare to speak loudly to Li Lei, Li Lei did not want to affect Li Fei's reputation, nor did he want others to say he was bullying people with power, so he socialized as smoothly as possible.

"Go to Beixin Hall."

Li Lei relaxed a bit and gave an address.

"Yes."

The driver agreed and drove quietly.

Ten minutes later, the car drove into a quiet courtyard.

This is considered a high-end clubhouse in the Great Tong Prefecture city, and many upper-class people will entertain guests here.

The driver opened the car door for Li Lei, and someone greeted them not far away. The driver immediately looked at the other party vigilantly.

He is Li Lei's driver and also a bodyguard, a martial arts master of the peak Qi-changing stage!

With Li Lei's official position, it was of course impossible to afford a bodyguard of this level.

This person is a security guard specially configured for Li Lei by the Marquis of Jingan's mansion.

"Uncle!"

The person shouted.

Li Lei waved his hand at the driver and also greeted with a smile: "Chenfeng."

The person looked to be only in his early twenties, wearing glasses, with bangs, and looked a bit honest and simple.

His name is Feng Chenfeng, the son of Li Lei's younger sister.

Li Lei is the eldest in the family and has a younger sister.

His younger sister Li Shu married far away to another province very early, and after that, there was very little contact with Li Lei.

It wasn't until Li Fei emerged and Li Lei also began to prosper that the contact between Li Shu and Li Lei became frequent, and she asked Li Lei to take care of her son more.

The eldest brother is like a father, and because Li Lei's parents died early, he still takes good care of his only younger sister.

Last year, he used his connections to transfer Feng Chenfeng from another province to Feng Province, working in the Internal Affairs General Court in the Great Tong Prefecture.

This time Li Lei came to the Great Tong Prefecture for a meeting, and Feng Chenfeng said early on that he wanted to invite him to dinner, but he had been busy and had no time.

Tonight, finally finding a little time, Li Lei still came to see his nephew.

"Uncle, please come in."

Feng Chenfeng said somewhat cautiously.

Li Lei smiled and patted him on the shoulder, saying kindly: "We are family, no need to be so polite. Next time you invite me to dinner, don't choose such an expensive place; how much is your monthly salary?"

Feng Chenfeng adjusted his glasses somewhat embarrassedly and led Li Lei into the private room that had been booked in advance.

After the two sat down, Li Lei ordered two simple small dishes and asked for a pot of sobering tea.

Then he took the initiative to chat with Feng Chenfeng, caring about the other party's work and life.

His kind attitude made Feng Chenfeng gradually relax, and he was finally not so nervous.

After the two chatted for a few minutes, Feng Chenfeng suddenly rubbed his hands somewhat embarrassedly:

"Uncle, I... that..."

"What's wrong?"

Li Lei looked at him kindly, "Is there something?"

Feng Chenfeng lowered his head, not daring to look at him: "My Chief He at the Internal Affairs General Court is also here tonight, saying he wants to see you, I... I..."

Li Lei understood what was going on as soon as he heard it.

He did not blame Feng Chenfeng, because one could not expect a newcomer who had just entered the officialdom to be able to refuse his immediate superior.

"Chief He? Is it the Director of the Personnel Division, Chief He Wenxin?"

"Yes!"

Feng Chenfeng said hurriedly.

Director of the Personnel Division of the Internal Affairs General Court, a true person of real power, a 12th-level imperial official, of the same level as Li Lei.

Li Lei's official rank assessment this year was evaluated by He Wenxin.

Now Feng Chenfeng works in the Personnel Division; when he joined the job, it was with He Wenxin's nod. In this matter, Li Lei owed He Wenxin a favor.

It's just that the other party using this method to see him tonight made Li Lei realize that things were not that simple.

"Since Chief He is here, please invite him in."

Li Lei said indifferently.

"Okay!"

Feng Chenfeng felt relieved and hurriedly stood up and walked out of the private room.

Soon, he led a middle-aged man wearing a light red robe and looking wealthy into the room.

"Chief Li, I'm really sorry, I came uninvited, I've disturbed you, disturbed you."

He Wenxin walked into the private room while bowing and cupping his hands to Li Lei.

Li Lei stood up to welcome him, invited the other party to sit down, and then turned to Feng Chenfeng and said:

"Chenfeng, go help me buy a pack of cigarettes."

Although Feng Chenfeng is a newcomer to the officialdom, he has been in the job for a year after all, so how could he not understand what this means? He hurriedly stood up and left, closing the door for the two.

"What does Chief He want with me?"

Li Lei asked directly, his attitude somewhat cold.

He Wenxin stood up and actually bowed to Li Lei:

"Using this method to see you is really a last resort, I hope you can forgive me."

Li Lei frowned and stood up to help He Wenxin up: "What is Chief He doing?"

He Wenxin straightened up and did not sit down:

"Coming to see you tonight is to pass on a message for someone."

"Oh?"

"Two days ago, the special investigation team sent by the Central Cabinet arrived in the Great Tong Prefecture to investigate the case of Shangguan Xiao's treason and collusion with the enemy back then."

Li Lei's eyes changed upon hearing this, and he did not speak.

He Wenxin looked at him: "Regarding the matter back then, the provincial capital is willing to admit their mistake and is also willing to give the Marquis an explanation! I only hope that the Marquis can be lenient where possible."

Li Lei looked at He Wenxin calmly and said word by word:

"Chief He, this matter is not under my jurisdiction, I think you have found the wrong person."

He Wenxin had a bitter smile on his face: "Chief Li, don't misunderstand, I am not here tonight to ask you to plead for others, I don't have such a big face. It's just that the other side hopes you can help pass on a message; they are willing to show full sincerity. As long as the Marquis is willing to speak, any conditions can be discussed!"

Li Lei did not speak.

He Wenxin continued: "Chief Li, your official career in the Great Tong Prefecture is naturally smooth, but to say something presumptuous, if Chief Bian does not retire one day, the highest you can reach in the Great Tong Prefecture is at most a 14th-level seat official.

But with your talent, Chief Li, if you change to another prefecture, you are fully capable of becoming a Garrison Commander of a prefecture! Even in the future, it is not impossible to be in charge of a province!"

Li Lei was stunned upon hearing this, somewhat surprised by the other party's big move.

The other party is promising that he can be transferred to an outside prefecture to serve as a Garrison Commander, and even in the future, they can help him become a Patrol Commander of a province with all their strength!

Li Fei is indeed in full swing now, but his foundation is still shallow.

With Li Lei's foundation, it is indeed as the other party said; reaching a 14th-level seat official is about the end.

After all, the relationship between him and Li Fei is known to everyone, and it is impossible for Li Fei to help him operate blatantly.

In charge of a prefecture, or even in charge of a province?

This kind of thing, Li Lei had never even dared to dream about in his dreams!

Which man would not love power?

Seeing that Li Lei seemed somewhat moved, He Wenxin struck while the iron was hot:

"Chief Li, the other side is indeed very sincere this time. You only need to help pass on a message. With your relationship with the Marquis, what does this count for?"

"."

The private room was quiet for a while, and Li Lei finally shook his head slowly but firmly:

"To discuss conditions, you can go directly to him. I will not help pass on any message!"

"Chief Li..."

"Chief He!"

Li Lei interrupted the other party, his gaze firm:

"Please go back."

He was also an inspector who fought on the front line, and at this moment, he showed his momentum, also having a bit of murderous aura, which made He Wenxin feel a chill in his heart and dare not say anything more.

He could only salute and apologize again, and then withdrew from the private room.

After the other party left, Li Lei sat down again, took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, and lit one.

A moment later, Feng Chenfeng walked into the private room cautiously:

"Uncle..."

Li Lei's gaze fell on his nephew through the smoke, his tone somewhat cold:

"Chenfeng, has anyone given you any gifts or given you any benefits?"

Feng Chenfeng was startled upon hearing this and hurriedly waved his hands:

"No! No! You specifically warned me before, Uncle, I... I absolutely dare not mess around!"

Li Lei stared into his eyes.

At this moment, Feng Chenfeng felt that this uncle who had always been very kind suddenly became strange, making his whole body feel a bit cold!

A few seconds later, Li Lei said slowly:

"It's good that there isn't. Remember what Uncle told you; at any time, ask yourself one more question—why?"

Feng Chenfeng was startled in his heart and hurriedly said: "I understand, don't worry, Uncle!"

In fact, having an uncle like Li Lei already made him feel very proud and inflated.

As for that 'cousin' who was like a god, he didn't even dare to think about it.

It was too dreamy!

At this moment, Li Lei's words made him break out in a cold sweat.

Indeed, why can he have today? And why should others be good to him?

He and Li Lei are truly blood-related, so enjoying some benefits by borrowing Li Lei's prestige is fine.

But between him and Li Fei, there is truly no relationship at all!

The two had never even met.

So if you want to do something by borrowing the Marquis of Jingan's relationship, you have to ask yourself—why?

Feng Province, Lu Mansion.

"His attitude is very firm?"

"Hmm, I see."

In the study, Lu Wenzheng put down the phone with a blank expression.

He suddenly rubbed his temples, came to the window, pushed it open, and looked at the night outside.

The Li Fei of the past, although his potential was amazing, could at most be considered a 'hidden dragon in the abyss' in his eyes, not enough to shake the Lu family, one of the 'ten great clans'.

But now, the dragon has raised its head!

The gaze of that number one Marquis of the Great Lan Dynasty is coldly watching the entire Lu family.

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(End of this chapter)