NOVPUB"Not good!" Li Zheng, upon seeing Zhao Yun charging at him with an ice-cold expression, didn’t hesitate at all and immediately pulled out a talisman. This was something his clansman had given him, a life-saving item, it was also a secret technique. Before the silver-blue Sword Qi from Zhao Yun could sweep over, the talisman transformed into more than a dozen shadows that flew off in all directions with an incredible speed.
"Secret Technique?" Zhao Yun was taken aback, then a flash of anger crossed his eyes. Holding the Dragon Gall Spear in his hand, he closed his eyes, and then, trusting his instincts, he thrust the spear toward the direction of a shadow. As the spear was retracted, droplets of fresh blood fell from its tip.
"Pfft!" Li Zheng, who was zooming through the sky with the speed of Inner Qi Manifestation, was inexplicably pierced through the chest by the spear.
"Trash, this level of secret technique is at least one of twenty kinds!" Zhao Yun said with a cold laugh, then he retracted his spear and, picking up his sword, started slashing through the Cao Army surrounding him like mowing down grass. Ever since he had entered Xuzhou, Zhao Yun had not regarded the Cao Army soldiers as human!
In Yanzhou Shanyang County Juye County, Li Jin was leisurely sipping tea and reading scriptures, a complacent smile on his face. As he reached for the white porcelain teapot, with a "crack," the jade bracelet on his wrist split open, creating a crack, then fell onto the floor in two, breaking into several pieces.
Li Jin stared blankly at this scene, then at the shattered pieces of the bracelet. He silently began to calculate.
"Duanfang, sigh~" Li Jin helplessly picked up the fragments of the jade bracelet, sighed, and looked eastward. Then he turned and looked southeastward, "Xuzhou, hm? Such slaughter, Cao Mengde truly has a ruthless heart."
"Summon Mano Cheng," said Li Jin as he stepped out of his room, instructing his maid. A gust of cold wind blew through, flipping through the pages of the book that looked like paper but wasn’t. It finally snapped shut, revealing four ancient seal characters on the book cover —"Taiping Essentials".
Soon, Li Dian followed the maid and arrived in front of Li Jin, greeting him, "I have seen my clan brother. May I know what you wish to teach me? Just a moment ago, I felt a sudden disturbance in my Heart Spirit, please enlighten me."
"Your brother has died in battle in Xuzhou. It must be Liu Xuande dispatching his troops," said Li Jin indifferently.
Instantly, tears filled Li Dian’s eyes, "May I dare ask my clan brother, do you know who killed my elder brother?"
"The troops come from the north, undefeated in their advance. It should be the White Horse Righteous Followers. The one leading them must be Zhao Zilong," Li Jin sighed, saying even though he couldn’t figure out the exact details, the limited information he had was enough to make an inference.
"Thank you, clan brother!" Li Dian gave a deep bow to Li Jin.
"You’re no match for him, and for some reasons, I cannot intervene. Even someone like me would likely not be his opponent on the battlefield. From today onwards, Mano Cheng will be under my tutelage," said Li Jin, understanding his intentions from the stubborn look in Li Dian’s eyes, and he sighed again.
"Thank you, cousin," said Li Dian, gratefully.
Li Jin sighed. He did wish to intervene, but he was even more aware that unless he resorted to some evil method, even unleashing his full strength wouldn’t be enough to kill Zhao Zilong. That freak Tong Yuan had infused each of his three disciples with a stream of Inner Qi before they left the mountain.
Aside from Zhang Ren, who struggled to break through to the Inner Qi Manifestation stage and was reluctantly elevated from the peak of Qi Refining to Gang to Inner Qi Manifestation by Tong Yuan’s Ritual of Anointment, the other two were raised directly from beginners at Inner Qi Manifestation to beginners of Dual-Color Internal Qi. And Zhao Yun was that guy’s closed-door disciple, proficient in various secret arts and life-saving techniques—no fewer than eighty, if not a hundred. Do people really think the title of ’Spear God’ is just for show?
If Zhao Yun were committing evils and he were killed by a malevolent technique, Tong Yuan might not have much to say. But now, the things Zhao Yun was doing could be considered in harmony with Heaven and benefiting the people. If you want to kill him, you must face him openly. Should you dare to use an evil method, Tong Yuan would happily engage you in a discussion on life’s ideals. In an era where a closed-door disciple equals one’s own son, there are quite a few individuals capable of taking down those formerly considered ’immortals,’ and to put it bluntly, Tong Yuan is one of the best among them.
This kind of figure with a strong backing can, as per unwritten rules, only die on the battlefield or from old age or illness. Li Jin too felt helpless about this. If it was someone like Lyu Bu, he wouldn’t hesitate to use a malevolent forceful approach, and at least the outcome wouldn’t cause any trouble afterward.
As for someone like Zhao Yun, just try killing him. Tong Yuan also has junior brothers, as well as friends. There really isn’t a single ’immortal’ in this world who could handle both Tong Yuan and his junior brother Han Qiong, as well as his friend Wang Yue, at the same time.
Li Jin didn’t actually know Tong Yuan’s condition; he only knew the man was a freak, a widely known freak among the ’immortals.’ After all, that guy was the only demon capable of creating Inner Qi Manifestation. He successfully produced one ordinary version of Inner Qi Manifestation and two top-level experts.
From this perspective, the ’immortals’ also greatly feared their counterparts, since Inner Qi Manifestation experts were already more than enough to kill these proud ’immortals.’ What’s more, if someone could mass-produce them. After creating a Dual-Color Zhang Xiu, one ’immortal’ couldn’t contain his curiosity any longer and decided to test the waters, which naturally resulted in him being skewered by Tong Yuan’s spear.
Although it’s not definitive that Dual-Color Internal Qi is stronger than Single-Color Internal Qi, after all, some focus on specialization, the ability to cultivate Dual-Color Internal Qi means that one attribute of Inner Qi has been cultivated to a relative peak, enough to overpower the majority of Single-Color Inner Qi experts.
Two years after killing an ’immortal,’ Tong Yuan took on another disciple, Zhao Yun. A few years ago, when Zhao Yun left the mountain, he was another Dual-Color. Fortunately, Tong Yuan seemed to realize that such things shouldn’t be done too frequently and declared that Zhao Yun was his closed-door disciple before retiring to meditate on his Spear Technique.
The mountain gate might have been sealed, but since he wasn’t in closed-door training, if you used an evil method to kill his closed-door disciple, he would surely come out to destroy you.
With this in mind, Li Jin had to resort to a different method, which was to nurture Li Dian properly, to become a great expert skilled in both civil and military affairs, who could then deal with Zhao Yun. Wouldn’t that be the best of both worlds? Then, if Zhao Yun died on the battlefield, Tong Yuan couldn’t really complain. As for the hundred or so secret techniques, they’re really nothing significant!
Precisely because Li Jin was unaware of Tong Yuan’s actual condition, Zhao Yun was spared much trouble. Tong Yuan spent three months nurturing the ordinary-talented Zhang Ren back to health after the Ritual of Anointment, a year for Zhang Xiu, and he’s still not finished with Zhao Yun’s nurturing to this day. The better the talent, the higher the relative peak, and the harder it is for Tong Yuan.
That’s precisely why Tong Yuan decided to seal the mountain. It was entirely because he miscalculated Zhao Yun’s talent; Tong Yuan nearly gave all his Inner Qi to Zhao Yun. It’s known that Tong Yuan is the only martial artist in the world who cultivated the soft Water System Inner Qi to the state of Endless Vitality. In theory, there is no such thing as exhausting his Inner Breath, which is why he generously bestowed it upon each of his disciples before being utterly drained by Zhao Yun. (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian to give recommendation votes and monthly votes. Your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile users please read on m.qidian.com.)
