He scooped some rice porridge out of the bowl with a white porcelain spoon. The crystal porridge dripped off the edge of the spoon, drawing out a ropy thread of rice water.
However, in the end, Lu Fan did not eat it…
Because a pair of big eyes were looking at him and the rice porridge eagerly. He could not enjoy the rice porridge with that look.
“Girl, what’s up?”
Lu Fan said while glimpsing at Ni Yu, who was crouching in front of his wheelchair.
Ni Yu looked away from the rice porridge, swallowing saliva. Eagerly staring at Lu Fan, she beat her chest with her tiny fists.
“Young Master, I, Ni Yu… I want to cultivate immortality!”
The corner of Lu Fan’s lip twitched. “You already said that once.”
Ni Yu beat her flat breasts with her tiny fists, her eyes drowned in tears.
After last night, looking at the cold steamed bun consumed by those crimson worms, Ni Yu realized she had to be stronger in order to protect her food—oh no, to protect her Young Master.
“Young Master, is there any immortal cultivation method that could make me strong and would not require me to do anything except eat and drink?”
Ni Yu asked hopefully.
“Young Master, you told me you would make me cultivate immortality while enjoying good food… You can’t go back on your word.”
Lu Fan was speechless. Did he ever say that?
Maybe he did. However, was there really some cultivation method that could make people strong through great food in this world?
Should he invent something like Tao Tie Beast Technique?
Its practitioner would transform to Tao Tie, becoming a beast man.
The beast man would never be enslaved unless provided with food and accommodation.
Cupping his hand around his jaw, Lu Fan tapped his cheek with his fingers.
Then something occurred to him, and his eyes lit up.
He focused on the system page.
Soon, he opened Gathering Qi Elixir Refining Manual.
Cultivating immortality while enjoying great food… After thinking for a while, Lu Fan found it was really possible.
If Ni Yu became a Child of Elixir Testing or an Elixir Refiner, wouldn’t she be able to enjoy great food while cultivating immortality?
She could eat Gathering Qi Elixir like candies. And her cultivation would absolutely be progressing extremely fast.
Lu Fan’s eyes were a little bit cold. He looked at Ni Yu. A smile tugged the corners of his lips.
Ni Yu felt frightened. That look of Young Master gave her a bad feeling.
“Young… Young Master… I don’t want to cultivate immortality anymore.”
Ni Yu almost burst out crying. Was the Young Master being petty again?
She would not cultivate immortality then. Was he happy?
“Don’t be afraid. You only need to prepare some stuff. Don’t you want to cultivate immortality while enjoying great food? I will make that happen for you,”
Lu Fan said with a gentle smile.
His gentleness gave Ni Yu a scarier feeling.
Lu Fan lifted his hand. He pointed at the center of Ni Yu’s forehead with his long delicate forefinger.
Some Spirit Qi fluctuated and blossomed. Buzz…
It rippled around.
Ni Yu was taken by surprise. She suddenly felt she had a lot more knowledge in her head, and there was an airflow flowing in her body like a little snake.
“Ah…”
Ni Yu opened her eyes widely. Then an undisguisable joy radiated from her.
“Young Master, I’m feeling Spirit Qi!”
Ni Yu jumped up excitedly.
“I’ll give you two hours to prepare the things I imparted to you. You’ll be punished if you fail to finish this task. No meals in two days,” Lu Fan said with a gentle smile. “Don’t worry about money. Just spend as much as needed.”
After jumping excitedly a second ago, Ni Yu’s body suddenly tensed up.
Then she hurried to run out of the room.
Gathering Qi Elixir Refining Manual was about the refining technique of Gathering Qi Elixir. To refine Gathering Qi Elixir, a lot of ingredients would be needed, and they must go through some special processing before the refinement.
What Lu Fan imparted to Ni Yu was exactly the ingredients and tools needed for refining Gathering Qi Elixir.
Of course, when Ni Yu found those ingredients, they needed to be catalyzed by Spirit Qi before being used to refine elixirs.
Lu Fan was even planning to open up medicine farmland on Lake Island specifically to grow medicinal plant materials.
He thought for a while.
Lu Fan picked up the bowl of rice porridge again. He blew over the hot porridge and then scooped a spoon of it into his mouth unhurriedly.
He could finally enjoy the rice porridge by then.
******
Capital city.
On the second floor of the Book Pavilion…
Yuwen Xiu’s anxiety was eased as soon as he walked into the Book Pavilion.
In the pavilion, the smoke of sandalwood incense was slowly rising.
The white-haired Imperial Advisor was sitting in a rocking chair, while Mo Tianyu was reading. Meanwhile, Spirit Qi was clinging around Kong Nanfei with his eyes shut.
Yuwen Xiu knew Kong Nanfei got an immortal encounter in the Imperial Palace of Hidden Dragon Ridge, so he was not very surprised.
“Master, urgent letters came from the six cities guarding the capital city. Mohist rangers, together with Yinyang School and Jiguan School, attacked those six cities during the night. City Masters of Yuanchi and Tong’an were killed. And the two cities were captured…,”
Yuwen Xiu said.
Mo Tianyu put his book down, while Kong Nanfei opened his eyes slowly.
It was suddenly very quiet in the Book Pavilion.
“Your Imperial Majesty, may I tell the fortune of the two cities?”
Mo Tianyu asked.
Yuwen Xiu was kind of speechless. Was Mo Tianyu also a fortune-teller?
His reputation for jinxing fortune-telling had been known across the capital city. He once told three fortunes for himself and was buried in the ground in the end, for one day and one night. If the Imperial Advisor had not gone in person, he probably would have been sacrificed for the cause of fortune-telling.
Therefore, even though Mo Tianyu wanted to tell a fortune for the two cities, would Yuwen Xiu have the nerve to let him do that?
“Well, that’s quite Mo Beike. Compared to the previous Mohist giant, Mo Beike is more unscrupulous.
“Two of the six cities were captured. The army of North County will probably start from those two cities to approach Great Zhou’s capital city and pose threats to it.”
The Imperial Advisor’s remark put Yuwen Xiu even more anxious.
“Your Imperial Majesty, don’t worry too much. There are two ways to deal with the current situation,”
The Imperial Advisor said slowly.
Yuwen Xiu was sitting cross-legged on a cushion. His pupils slightly contracted. “Master, please enlighten me.”
The Imperial Advisor stood up from the rocking chair. With his back hunching and hands behind him, he walked to the carved wooden window of the Book Pavilion. Looking out of the window at the sunshine spilling on the ground, he seemed a little misty-eyed.
“Your Imperial Majesty can give an imperial order to invite Young Master Lu from Beiluo to visit the capital city. With his protection, the capital city will certainly stay safe,”
The Imperial Advisor said.
Yuwen Xiu was dumbstruck. Then he took a deep breath. In his opinion, the Imperial Advisor really thought of Young Master Lu from Beiluo too highly.
However, rumor had it that Young Master Lu from Beiluo was a cultivator with high accomplishments. It might work if they had a cultivator protecting the capital city.
“But cultivators are difficult to control… This is a dangerous step,”
Yuwen Xiu said.
The Imperial Advisor smiled without responding.
He just went on with his suggestions. “Secondly, Your Imperial Majesty can send reinforcement to Drunken Dragon City and decree that Jiang Li, Drunken Dragon City’s City Master, must block the ways to Tong’an and Yuanchi.”
Yuwen Xiu frowned.
“Jiang Li…”
Jiang Li was a trusted subordinate of the late Great Zhou emperor.
People usually said the dynasty had Jiang Li taking care of foreign affairs and Kong Xiu taking care of internal affairs. It was enough to explain how strong Jiang Li was.
However, Yuwen Xiu had always doubted that the late emperor’s sudden death could have had something to do with Jiang Li.
The Imperial Advisor smiled as if he knew what was on Yuwen Xiu’s mind.
“Your Imperial Majesty, if Great Zhou really collapses, who will fight for the dynasty to the last drop of blood? Only Jiang Li will.
“Besides, Great Zhou doesn’t have to worry about that yet. Mo Beike calculated everything all right. His plans are extremely meticulous, but…”
The Imperial Advisor turned around, looking a little pale. Then he cleared his throat, and his eyes lit up. “But Mo Beike miscalculated one thing.
“He underestimated cultivators.”
“And… He thought he would definitely win, so he disclosed Xiang Shaoyun’s whereabouts and sent Pingyang County’s Mayor Liu He to kill the Overlord with 5,000 soldiers. He thought the Overlord would absolutely die, but…”
“The Overlord isn’t dead. More than that, he killed all of those 5,000 soldiers as well as the mayor of Pingyang County, Liu He. He already returned to West County,”
The Imperial Advisor said.
Yuwen Xiu’s eyes concentrated on the Imperial Advisor. This information seemed to have been mentioned in the previous day’s urgent letters. However, he thought it was only an exaggeration. And his attention was totally drawn to the capture of the two cities.
“One against 5,000 soldiers. The Overlord killed so many people that their blood flowed into a river…”
“In the current world, apart from Young Master Lu from Beiluo, the only person who can defeat the Overlord is the Overlord himself…,”
The Imperial Advisor said.
Not only Yuwen Xiu but also Mo Tianyu and Kong Nanfei sucked the air through gritted teeth.
“The Overlord isn’t dead yet. For now, what I need to worry about is Mo Beike…”
“Your Imperial Majesty, please take it easy. Great Zhou isn’t in a hopeless situation yet,”
The Imperial Advisor said quietly.
When the smoke of the sandalwood incense had vanished in the air…
Yuwen Xiu left.
He left the Book Pavilion. After returning to Zijin Palace, he wrote an imperial decree in person.
After a long while…
The gate of the Imperial Palace was opened.
Two horses galloped out, stirring lots of dust in the air, stepping on the sunshine that spilled on the ground. They separated three miles away from the capital city. One headed for Beiluo, and the other headed for Drunken Dragon.
******
West County…
A wagon was moving slowly.
The eyes of Western Liang’s warriors were ablaze like torches. They made way for the wagon automatically.
On the wagon, the Overlord was sitting straight with a horsewhip. His body was covered with blood.
An invisible oppressive air was spreading in the barracks.
Finally, the wagon arrived at the Overlord’s tent. Xiang Shaoyun helped Luo Mingsang get off the wagon and sent someone to take her into the tent. He turned around and sharply looked at the warriors of Western Liang.
“I, Xiang Shaoyun, came back stepping on corpses.
“Some people wanted to kill me, eliminate me, destroy me… One hundred brothers shielded me from knives and spears. They defended Western Liang’s honor…”–
Xiang Shaoyun’s eyes turned red. Closing a fist covered with blood, he punched himself in the chest while looking at the quiet surroundings.
“The dead are already dead, but their blood is still warm! The killers will be killed!”
“Today, this is not to conquer the world. But this is only to exact revenge! To avenge the one hundred brothers of mine!
“If the whole world fails me, I will just kill everyone in the world!”
“Assemble. Target: Mohist City of Traps in Eastern Lake! For the honor of Western Liang, kill!”
Xiang Shaoyun snarled. His snarl sounded like that of a fierce beast’s roar.
The warriors of Western Liang were also red-eyed and roaring.
Their valiancy dispersed the clouds over them.
The Overlord’s revenge was always very straightforward.