Chapter 492: Flying Dragon in the Sky, The Fall of the True Dragon (6000)

A patch of fire-red light enveloped the entire mountain peak.

Li Fei felt as if he were in a sea of fire. Although he knew he was on a small mountain, being surrounded by a sea of fire at this moment, he felt as if he were in a boundless world of flames!

This was Shi Caiming's Wu Gong Domain.

Streaks of golden sword light appeared, crisscrossing, forming a golden sphere in this world of flames.

Sword State · Primordial Sword Realm!

The current Primordial Sword Realm was very different from a few months ago; the heaven and earth Qi inside was orderly, divided into ten regions according to Yin-Yang and Five Elements, finally converging at the center to form a Primordial Zhou Xuanwo.

There was a continuous stream of heaven and earth Qi surging out from this vortex, flowing into ten different regions respectively, and finally "flowing back" to the vortex, turning into chaos.

This was the result of the 【Heaven-Mixing Gold Palace】 supernatural ability merging into the Sword Realm!

Li Fei stood above the Primordial Zhou Xuanwo, his eyes bright as stars.

The next second, streaks of cracks appeared in this Sword Realm.

These cracks were spatial layers.

Streaks of sword light surged into one of the layers, then flew out from another layer, shuttling back and forth in countless spatial layers like this.

Thus, the sword light of the entire Sword Realm possessed the 【No Distance】 characteristic, with infinite changes!

This was the result of the 【No Distance】 supernatural ability merging into the Sword Realm.

Li Fei looked up into the sky, and a crescent moon appeared above the Sword Realm.

Cold moonlight sprinkled down, shining on every corner of the Sword Realm.

A kind of realization of peace, nature, and heaven-man unity surged into Li Fei's heart, making his realization of the entire Sword Realm deeper and his control over details more perfect.

The crescent moon in the sky was the "image of intent" of the 【Eternally Settled】 supernatural ability in the Sword Realm.

Besides being used for mind defense, the 【Eternally Settled】 supernatural ability also had wonderful uses in other aspects.

At the moment Li Fei broke through the realm, his state of mind briefly reached the wonderful realm of heaven-man unity; he immediately used the 【Eternally Settled】 supernatural ability to keep this moment for a long time!

As long as his supernatural ability power was not exhausted, he could maintain this state of mind.

Thus, for the next day and night, he maintained his state of mind while taking the opportunity to perfect his Primordial Sword Realm, according to the "Yin-Yang Dichotomy Method," merging all his various supernatural abilities into it.

The realization of heaven-man unity should originally only be possessed by martial arts Grandmasters after they have their own Wu Gong Domain.

Li Fei was equivalent to perfecting his small world in advance with the realm of a Grandmaster!

This made him progress rapidly, using a day and a night to initially merge all the supernatural abilities he currently possessed into the Sword Realm.

The progress of this day and night was worth his months of hard work, and perhaps even more!

After all, temporary enlightenment is hard to seek, and Li Fei was equivalent to using the 【Eternally Settled】 supernatural ability to extend the time of enlightenment many times over.

"I am ready."

Li Fei suddenly said loudly.

As his words fell, the world of flames outside the Sword Realm suddenly turned into terrifying pressure, crushing toward the entire Sword Realm.

Heaven and earth overturned!

In an instant, the golden sphere formed by the Primordial Sword Realm was covered with cracks, and the streaks of sword light inside began to disintegrate.

The originally orderly heaven and earth Qi also became chaotic, and the crescent moon in the sky became increasingly incomplete.

Li Fei was located above the Primordial Zhou Xuanwo, looking calmly at everything before him.

He perceived the changes within the Sword Realm and then attempted to constantly adjust the Sword Realm to slow down its collapse speed.

Ten seconds later, the entire Primordial Sword Realm completely collapsed, and Li Fei's various supernatural abilities were "forbidden," unable to be used again.

Immediately after, the world of flames disappeared, and Shi Caiming appeared ten meters away.

"Not bad, your conception has no problems."

Shi Caiming said to Li Fei appreciatively.

Li Fei was already obviously fatigued at this moment; he finally stopped casting 【Eternally Settled】, retreating from the state of mind of heaven-man unity.

Although the consumption of maintaining the state of mind was not too great, during the process of maintaining it, Li Fei would occasionally cast other supernatural abilities to merge them into the Sword Realm, so he was almost exhausted to the limit at this moment.

After saying a few simple words to Shi Caiming, he returned to his room to meditate and rest.

Adjusting his breath for a whole night, Li Fei only recovered a portion.

His force had fully recovered, but the consumption of his mind and the consumption of the implants in his body needed a longer time to fully recover.

Having refined 【Eternally Settled】 and initially completed the reconstruction of the Primordial Sword Realm, Li Fei didn't plan to continue staying at Martial University.

Because next he needed to refine the 【Dragon Elephant】 supernatural ability, and Martial University didn't have the implants needed for the 【Dragon Elephant】 supernatural ability.

Previously, Fang Ziyan went to talk to the Sect Master of the Long Hu Sect, Wang Yilong, and had already reached an agreement; the other party was willing to give the cultivation method of the 【Dragon Elephant】 supernatural ability and was also willing to trade with Li Fei for the implants needed for the 【Dragon Elephant】 supernatural ability.

Because many mid-three-grade implants are not convenient for long-distance transport, Li Fei planned to go to Shi Song Province next and complete the refining of the 【Dragon Elephant】 supernatural ability there.

Bidding farewell to Shi Caiming, Li Fei first went to the Green Face Villa.

The person in charge of the villa was the strategist Yang Zhe of the former "Beast King." After defecting to Li Fei, Yang Zhe managed the Green Face Villa very well.

After secretly observing the other party for a period of time, Li Fei accepted this subordinate.

Besides Yang Zhe, the Green Face Villa also had a person in charge—Zhao Yi.

This woman, who had high talent in sorcery, was once forcibly coerced by Li Fei, making a "Three-Year Agreement":

Zhao Yi would serve Li Fei for three years, after which he would return her freedom.

Now the three-year period had passed, but Zhao Yi did not propose to leave.

She and Yang Zhe, one in charge of external affairs and one in charge of internal affairs, managed Li Fei's underworld forces very well.

Today Li Fei came to the Green Face Villa to listen to the reports of the two.

"Marquis, this is all the income the Green Face Villa has obtained from the Lu family over this period of time, divided into five account books, which are money, cultivation resources, various property rights, connections, and manpower."

Inside the hall, Yang Zhe respectfully handed the five account books to Li Fei and gave a concise report.

Over the past few months, a pack of wolves swallowed an elephant, and everyone was eating the Lu family head's line.

Li Fei naturally wouldn't just strike without eating meat.

In reality, besides Lu Wenyao, he was the one who gained the most!

Other forces still needed to work hard to grab meat to eat, but the share belonging to Li Fei, no one grabbed it from him at all.

So during this period, the Green Face Villa gained countless profits, and its power expanded easily out of Feng Province, possessing territory in many provinces!

Previously, the Green Face Villa was only the underworld leader of Datong Prefecture.

Now it was already a newborn giant spanning multiple provinces!

And because Li Fei had the identity of the team leader of the Blue Patrol Pavilion inspection group, the Green Face Villa naturally maintained good relationships with underworld leaders in various places, and everyone would give face.

This made the Green Face Villa look no longer "falsely fat," but solid in weight!

Li Fei looked through the five account books one by one.

He discovered that there were actually "Demon-Feeding Beasts" among them.

Actually, major forces all inevitably have some second generations with status and background who are not reconciled to being mediocre for a lifetime and try to gamble.

The Lu family also had such people, it's just that the Lu family rarely took out "Demon-Feeding Beasts" to sell.

This time "sharing the meat," the Green Face Villa shared over a dozen "Demon-Feeding Beasts."

Li Fei looked at the account book and discovered that several "Demon-Feeding Beasts" had implants cultivated inside that were needed for the 【Dragon Elephant】 supernatural ability.

Previously, he might have been interested in this, but after Shi Caiming's teaching, he had already dispelled the idea of taking shortcuts.

So he didn't care much about these "Demon-Feeding Beasts," but temporarily didn't plan to sell them either; after all, it involved trading with demonic martial artists.

After listening to Yang Zhe's report, he nodded at Yang Zhe:

"Done very well; what about the expansion of the Qingyuan City Management Company?"

Yang Zhe immediately said: "The Marquis ordered that the expansion of the Qingyuan City Management Company is the top priority, so everywhere we go, we will first establish a Qingyuan City Management Company, then collect a piece of territory and operate it according to the Xingcheng model."

"Good."

Li Fei nodded.

He looked at Zhao Yi and smiled: "How is the cultivation?"

Zhao Yi was no longer as unruly as before in front of Li Fei; at this moment, she had more restraint.

She didn't dare to look into Li Fei's eyes, lowering her head:

"Thanks to the Marquis's thick love, giving the subordinate sufficient cultivation resources, the subordinate is already attempting to refine magic treasures."

She was at the late stage of God Transformation three years ago; now she is at the peak of God Transformation, attempting to refine magic treasures to break through to the Possession stage.

Her talent is actually very high, but she still hasn't broken through after three years.

This is actually the norm; someone like Li Fei breaking through like drinking water is a "freak."

Sorcery cultivation is inherently more time-consuming and resource-consuming than martial arts cultivation.

Relatively speaking, the bottleneck of breaking through is not as difficult as martial arts.

Zhao Yi now lacks neither resources nor talent, so breaking through is a matter of time.

"Hmm, Yang Zhe, you step back first; Zhao Yi, stay."

Li Fei said.

Yang Zhe looked at Zhao Yi beside him without changing his expression, somewhat envious, then bowed and exited the hall.

Left alone, Zhao Yi became visibly nervous, her body tensed.

"Zhao Yi, sit."

Li Fei greeted.

"... Yes, Marquis."

Zhao Yi walked stiffly to the sofa furthest from Li Fei and sat down.

"If you have any problems with cultivation, you can ask now."

Li Fei looked at Zhao Yi, saying indifferently.

"Ah?"

Zhao Yi looked up, dumbfounded.

"Ah what?"

Li Fei smiled, "Why, did you not encounter any problems in cultivation?"

"No no... I just... Thank you, Marquis!"

Zhao Yi relaxed instantly, but for some reason, felt some regret.

Next, Zhao Yi asked one by one about the various problems she encountered in cultivation, and Li Fei answered patiently.

Finally, he also passed on some advanced sorcery of the Nightmare Sect to the other party.

It wasn't until late at night that Li Fei left the Green Face Villa.

Watching Li Fei's departing back, Zhao Yi bit her lip, then gave a self-deprecating smile.

She turned and went to the practice room to cultivate.

On the other side, knowing that Li Fei had just left the villa, Yang Zhe touched his chin.

In his mind, Zhao Yi's short hair, no chest, no butt, purely a tomboy look appeared.

"Could it be that the Marquis likes this type?"

Yang Zhe clicked his tongue in wonder.

The next day, Li Fei met with Chen Lixin in a clubhouse.

As soon as they met, Chen Lixin took out a thick account book and handed it to Li Fei, then said excitedly:

"People used to say 'Ten Gatekeeper Families,' each one is as rich as a country! I didn't believe it before, but now I somewhat believe it!"

"You don't know, the benefits our Feixin Chamber of Commerce swallowed this time are at most one-twentieth of the Lu Chamber of Commerce, but the value finally estimated is very astonishing!"

Immediately after, he began to talk endlessly to Li Fei about the development and income of the Feixin Chamber of Commerce during this period.

For this "sharing of meat" of the Lu family, Li Fei expanded not only his underworld forces but also his commercial forces.

The Feixin Chamber of Commerce followed along and had a "big meal"!

Currently, the main industries of the Feixin Chamber of Commerce are still two things—takeout and lottery.

Following this "sharing of meat," the Feixin Chamber of Commerce took the opportunity to expand its commercial map, pushing takeout and lottery to more provinces.

Takeout only has a market in relatively prosperous big cities; in economically underdeveloped areas, everyone doesn't have so many requirements for eating; being able to eat one's fill is the most important thing.

In contrast, the more economically underdeveloped the area, the more popular lottery is!

After listening to Chen Lixin's narration, Li Fei said to him:

"The development of the Chamber of Commerce is indeed very smooth, but we still lack our own pillar industry."

Chen Lixin understood as soon as he heard it, nodding:

"Indeed, whether it's takeout or lottery, they can be imitated by others; in fact, many provinces now have chambers of commerce starting to imitate us."

Li Fei: "Let them imitate; what we need to do is to always be one step ahead of them, slowly making the Feixin Chamber of Commerce a symbol."

"I understand what you mean!"

Chen Lixin's eyes lit up, looking at Li Fei with expectation:

"What do you want to do next?"

"Make hamburgers, make fast food."

"What?"

Li Fei roughly told Chen Lixin the concept of a hamburger.

After listening, Chen Lixin frowned: "Isn't this just two white flour steamed buns with some vegetable leaves and seasoning in the middle? What's special about this kind of thing?"

Li Fei: "What's special is not the taste, but the business model. What we need to do is to seize the 'sinking market' before everyone else reacts, making our hamburgers a popular symbol."

Next, he told Chen Lixin some key points:

What's important is not the taste, but the service, the price, the marketing, the brand effect.

In this era, some seemingly simple marketing concepts from his previous life are almost dimensionality-reduction strikes!

Because they contain very deep research into human nature and psychology.

Li Fei doesn't need to understand business; he just needs to directly state the business models he saw in his previous life that were already very mature.

Although they might not all be practical, after all, they are two different worlds, but many of the principles can be borrowed.

Chen Lixin is considered a business genius; after Li Fei pointed it out slightly, he could draw inferences from one instance and understand many things.

After listening to Li Fei, he looked at the other party

The more one understands and studies business, the more one can grasp just how formidable the series of commercial strategies Li Fei just described truly is!

If one were to describe it using cultivation terminology, it is simply the Dao at its most profound and concise!

"You really don't leave anyone a way to survive."

Chen Lixin thought for a long time, truly unable to find a way to describe Li Fei, and could only squeeze out this sentence.

In cultivation, he is the greatest in history.

Could it be that he is also the greatest in history when it comes to business?

Is this even a person?!

Li Fei smiled, offering no further explanation.

After giving his instructions to Chen Lixin, he directly piloted the black boat and took off, flying toward Shi Song Province.

In the mere half-year he had spent back in Datong Prefecture, the forces under his command had surged many times over!

Such a magnificent spectacle, combined with the power in his hands, meant he was truly a dragon soaring in the sky, with the whole world looking up to him!

The 49th year of Hongguang, July 2nd.

Li Fei arrived in Shi Song Province and headed to the Long Hu Sect, preparing to begin a new round of cultivation.

On this same day, Prince Li, Qin Mingli, arrived in Yong Province and returned to his own Prince's Mansion.

As a Prince, his fief was the entirety of Yong Province!

Although it was not a fief with actual administrative control, by virtue of the Prince's Mansion's influence, coupled with Qin Mingli's status as a human Martial Saint, the Prince Li Mansion should have easily become the 'King' of Yong Province.

But in reality, Qin Mingli never spent more than two months a year in his fief, spending most of his time in Lanling City.

Moreover, the entire Prince Li Mansion was incredibly low-key, not laying a finger on any power at all.

Qin Mingli only broke through to become a Martial Saint in the fifth year after the current Son of Heaven ascended the throne.

Although he was senior in generation and age to Wen Ren Zheng, in terms of cultivation, he was considered a junior to Wen Ren Zheng.

He had even taken the initiative to ask Wen Ren Zheng for advice on some martial cultivation issues back then.

This Imperial Uncle of the current Son of Heaven had always presented himself to the world as a martial fanatic obsessed with the Dao of martial arts.

Precisely because of this, he had not been drawn into the succession struggles of the previous generation, nor had he aroused too much suspicion.

But once he broke through to become a Martial Saint, such suspicion became unavoidable.

On the surface, the Son of Heaven granted him all sorts of honors and gave him sufficient respect and courtesy.

But in secret, this Prince Li held almost no real power, and the Prince Li Mansion was watched closely, making it difficult for him to make any moves.

Regarding this, Qin Mingli appeared very calm, showing no dissatisfaction and making no attempt to take action.

He seemed truly indifferent to power, obsessed only with the Dao of martial arts.

Yet, after all these years, the Son of Heaven's suspicion of him had never diminished in the slightest.

Just as the Emperor said to the Crown Prince—a monarch cannot afford not to be suspicious!

As in previous years, Qin Mingli returned to Yong Province and the Prince's Mansion every July.

Because his great-grandson's birthday was on July 5th every year.

This great-grandson of Prince Li had shown extremely high martial talent from a young age and was very much favored by the Prince.

In recent years, Qin Mingli would return to the mansion every year to celebrate his great-grandson's birthday and then stay to guide the boy's cultivation for a period of time.

"Greetings, Your Highness!"

Outside the main gate of the Prince's Mansion, a group of people bowed in succession.

These people were all relatives of Qin Mingli.

Qin Mingli swept his gaze over them with indifference, nodded casually, said "Rise," and walked straight into the mansion.

The group of relatives followed cautiously behind him.

He was one hundred and fifty-four years old this year; the wives and concubines he had taken back then had long since died of old age, and he had not remarried.

The two sons and one daughter he had fathered had also died of old age.

The relatives still alive today were at least one generation removed from him and dared not be close to him at all.

Only one young man, who looked quite heroic, gathered his courage and walked to Qin Mingli's side, looking up at him:

"Grandfather, I have mastered the set of fist techniques you taught me last year; I will perform them for you in a while."

The young man was named Qin Chengxi, one generation lower than the Crown Prince and the First Imperial Prince; he would turn twenty-two in a few days and was a peak Qi-Transformation martial master.

Stepping into the Dao Foundation realm before the age of thirty could be considered a prodigy.

Stepping into the Dao Foundation realm before the age of twenty-three was a peerless prodigy.

Based on the cultivation progress and aptitude Qin Chengxi had shown so far, he was guaranteed to have the potential of a prodigy!

Among Qin Mingli's sons and grandsons, two generations had not produced a single Martial Master.

It was only with Qin Chengxi's generation that he saw hope, which was why he valued this great-grandson so highly.

Hearing Qin Chengxi's words, a smile finally appeared on Qin Mingli's cold, hard face.

He reached out and patted Qin Chengxi on the shoulder:

"Good, show me in a while."

The group of relatives behind them saw this scene and immediately relaxed, smiling at each other.

In a Prince's Mansion with no real power, there was truly no need for any scheming.

Thus, the people in the mansion were actually more harmonious than those in other grand, wealthy households.

Now that a promising descendant had finally appeared in their family, they were genuinely happy from the bottom of their hearts.

If Qin Chengxi could also become a Martial Saint in the future, he could guarantee their descendants hundreds of years of peace and prosperity!

Soon, the group arrived at a very spacious martial arts arena.

Although the Emperor was wary of the Prince Li Mansion, the supplies and treatment he provided were top-tier.

The size of the entire Prince Li Mansion was practically a city within a city!

In front of Qin Mingli, Qin Chengxi demonstrated a set of fist techniques.

He was indeed very talented and had already begun to manifest fist intent.

After watching, Qin Mingli nodded:

"Not bad, but at this stage, your focus should not be on practicing martial arts, but on completing 'Unity' as soon as possible."

After speaking, he took Qin Chengxi into a secret chamber to guide his cultivation.

Seeing this, the others stopped following and went about their own business.

"Grandfather, how much longer do you think it will take for me to complete 'Unity'? Do I have the hope of becoming a peerless prodigy?"

Inside the secret chamber, after Qin Mingli finished guiding Qin Chengxi's cultivation, Qin Chengxi asked with a look of anticipation.

Qin Mingli smiled: "If you can do everything I just said, you have the hope of breaking through within a year."

"Yes, I will certainly not let you down!"

Qin Chengxi nodded heavily.

Breaking through within a year—at that time, he would have the potential of a peerless prodigy!

"Grandfather, tell me, how big is the gap between me and that Marquis of Jing'an?"

Qin Chengxi asked suddenly, out of curiosity.

Qin Mingli looked at him: "Why, do you want to become a person like Li Fei?"

Qin Chengxi shook his head, looking earnest: "I only want to become a person like you!"

Looking at his great-grandson's determined eyes, Qin Mingli was suddenly a bit dazed.

Then his expression became cold and hard again:

"Becoming a person like me is not necessarily a good thing."

"Ah?"

Qin Chengxi was stunned, not understanding what his grandfather meant.

To become a human Martial Saint—is that not good enough?

"It's nothing, you may go; Grandfather needs to cultivate."

Qin Mingli said.

"Yes."

Qin Chengxi stood up and exited the secret chamber.

Inside the chamber, Qin Mingli's eyes grew colder and colder.

Looking through history, no top-tier powerhouse with ambition would be content to stop here.

In order to take that step, Qingxu was willing to stake the fate of the entire Daoist school, aiming to establish a Daoist kingdom on earth!

In order to take that step, Yunshu was willing to bind his own Dao to the Great Lan Dynasty, just to ascend by supporting the dragon.

In order to take that step, Wen Ren Zheng had been supporting the Emperor's military preparations all these years, never abandoning his ambition for the Western Continent!

Even Qiming, who had already been executed, had already envisioned his path beyond the summit before breaking through.

If he could crush the Great Lan Dynasty with his own strength and cause this five-hundred-year-old empire to fall, Qiming would also have the opportunity to take that step!

Qin Mingli had not broken through for very long, and in truth, he had yet to find the path ahead.

It was not until True Person Qingxu rebelled that he was suddenly invited into the palace to assist the Emperor, while Ye Zean and Wen Ren Zheng worked together to channel the national destiny to support Yunshu in the distance.

That day, he learned from the Emperor's own mouth about the possibility of ascending beyond the summit. (See Chapter 59, Volume 3 for details)

It was also from that day that he understood the true desires of Yunshu and Wen Ren Zheng.

But whether it was ascending by supporting the dragon or leading an army to sweep across the Western Continent to establish unprecedented 'martial achievements'—

These had nothing to do with Qin Mingli.

He was not a sorcerer and could not walk Yunshu's path.

If the Great Lan Dynasty were truly to launch an expedition to the Western Continent in the future, the Regional Commander would absolutely not be him.

So even if he switched to cultivating the military path, it would be meaningless.

As for other paths that could lead beyond the summit—

Never mind whether Qin Mingli could find them; even if he did find one, no matter who was Emperor at that time, they would absolutely never allow him the possibility of ascending any further!

This was why Qin Mingli had told Qin Chengxi just now that becoming a person like him was not necessarily a good thing.

He was clearly the Son of Heaven's Imperial Uncle, possessing an extremely noble status.

He was clearly of supreme talent, a human Martial Saint.

Yet he could not possess the thing he desired most.

If Li Fei was a flood dragon just beginning to ascend—

Then Qin Mingli was the true dragon of the world, beyond any doubt!

But even a true dragon has its sorrows.

Seeking monthly votes.

(End of Chapter)