Chapter 654 (3): The Young Zhu Lian

At the thatched cottage in the mountain pass, Li Baoping and Wei Benyuan started to make their way to the Fox Nation, which was allied with Light Breeze City.

Wei Benyuan naturally felt like the mountain pass was too dangerous now, and he could at least improve Little Baoping's safety by traveling to Light Breeze City.

He summoned an extremely refined talismanic boat, with many intangible jade lotuses materializing around the boat as it sailed through the sky. These lotuses were graceful and upright, and they would dissipate slowly after appearing suddenly. Looking back, it was as if the small boat were sailing through a pond of lotuses.

When she boarded the small boat, Li Baoping waited until Grandpa Wei turned around to step on board, then put her feet together and jumped on.

She had acted in a childish manner after such a long time, and it was evident that she was in a fairly good mood.

She had seen her older brother, Grandpa Wei's cultivation abode had been protected, and she could still see her junior uncle again in the future.

Li Baoping had already landed and stood still by the time Wei Benyuan sat down on one end of the small boat, and she remained standing to gaze at the wonderful scenery below. It would be a waste not to. After all, standing on the talismanic boat and peering down, this scenery was different from what she saw when riding through the mountains and rivers.

Wei Benyuan recounted some rumors he had heard to Li Baoping, and perhaps even the descendants of the Xu Clan weren't aware of what was written in the old lunar almanacs of their clan.

There were tens of thousands of fox spirits residing in the Fox Nation, and the seven-tailed fox had already been in seclusion for many years. The Fox Nation had once split into three forces, with one force wanting to join Light Breeze City and the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, one force wanting to obtain a small realm that was isolated from the world, and another more extreme force surprisingly wanting to comprehensively rip up the alliance with Light Breeze City's Xu Clan.

In the end, this had become a standoff between two forces thanks to the interference of Clan Leader Xu Hun. Light Breeze City had hunted down those belonging to the third force, capturing the fox spirits and killing some in the process. This was an important source for Light Breeze City's continuous supply of Fox Skin Beauty Talismans.

Moreover, after the wife of the clan leader started to manage affairs, her ability to drive growth and income allowed the population of the Fox Nation to grow steadily. She eventually signed several secret contracts with the Fox Nation on behalf of Light Breeze City, with one of these contracts having become an open secret many years ago.

The Xu Clan would continue to provide the Fox Nation with cultivation resources, but the fox skins of the fox spirits that failed to break through their cultivation barriers needed to be kept in good condition, and these would be used to repay Light Breeze City.

Moreover, many residences were built in the Fox Nation, allowing visitors to more easily travel around and enjoy the nation. Official immortals from the mountains, pure martial artists from the martial world, and refined scholars were all regarded as esteemed guests who didn't need to spend their own money. The goal of this was to have the fox spirits fall in love with the visitors.

The Xu Clan had meticulously constructed many scenic spots in the Fox Nation, with countless famous engravings on mountain cliffs, literary works on walls, and former abodes of eminent immortals.

Wei Benyuan smiled and said, "The Xu Clan possesses outstanding talent when it comes to making money, but their reputation isn't very good."

Li Baoping had purchased some romance novels about scholars and fox spirits in Light Breeze City, with the books so exquisite and high-quality that they could almost rival those in the imperial collections of mortal empires. However, she might not read any of them, seeing that they were presents for Pei Qian. In reality, Li Baoping no longer had much interest in martial arts or fantasy novels. At the very least, she was far less interested than Pei Qian and Li Huai.

Apart from studying in the Confucian academy over the past few years, Li Baoping hadn't been slacking off in other areas either. She had asked Lin Shouyi and Xie Xie about cultivation matters, and she had asked Yu Lu about matters pertaining to fist principles.

These three people naturally told Li Baoping everything they knew.

When she occasionally saw Li Huai around the academy, the two of them would simply have some casual chats.

The Fox Nation was located in a broken blessed land, and the sparse descriptions in the historical books were general and vague, also appearing exaggerated and illogical. These descriptions couldn't be trusted.

Wei Benyuan stopped the talismanic boat at an entrance, a wooden archway with a plaque reading "Intertwined Branches." The couplets on the two sides were largely faded, with only the latter half of the couplet still legible, reading, "Another lovestruck couple in the world." The last few words of the first half read, "A land of warmth and tenderness."

There was a story pertaining to this archway, and it was rumored that a visiting immortal had struck it with a sword strike. Some claimed it was Wind Lightning Field's Li Tuanjing, while others claimed it was the Wind Snow Temple's Wei Jin. As for whether the dates lined up, did this really matter? These were nothing more than rumors for entertainment, so who would take them so seriously?

There were throngs of people at the archway, with men making up the large majority of the bustling crowd. There was an especially large number of scholars, and this was thanks to the claim that two places in the Fox Nation possessed rich scholarly fortune, a temple and a mountain. It was said that burning incense and paying respects at these locations was extremely effective, allowing scholars to more easily succeed in their imperial exams.

Of course, there were also some impoverished scholars who purposely took a detour to the Fox Nation while making their way to the imperial examinations, hoping to earn some money here. After all, the beautiful fox spirits in the Fox Nation were renowned for being fond of scholars. Because of this, many despondent scholars were also willing to stay in this nation of warmth and tenderness and die of old age, with most enjoying long lifespans.

Moreover, fox spirits being lovestruck and loyal wasn't a false claim, and they would choose to end their lives when their beloved partners passed away.

There was an interesting rule when it came to entering the Fox Nation, and it was necessary to offer literary works as an entrance fee. Poems, prose, essays, and even responses to examination questions were acceptable, and if one were talented enough, even a simple couplet might suffice. If the literary works failed to impress the panel of fox spirits, however, then the visitors who had submitted them could only turn around and go home. Of course, it was also entirely possible to pay others to compose a literary work.

Indeed, those who failed to produce a good literary work could only buy their way into the Fox Nation.

Li Baoping furrowed her brow as she glanced at the splendid pagoda near the archway. Were Light Breeze City and the Fox Nation using this rule to accumulate scholarly fortune? What did they hope to achieve by doing this? What could they realistically achieve?

Light Breeze City had lowered its status, choosing to enter a marriage alliance with the Great Li Empire's Pillar Yuan Clan even if it meant marrying a direct daughter to an illegitimate son. Did the Xu Clan hope to achieve something in the imperial court of the Great Li Empire in the future, hoping that a descendant of the Xu Clan possessed the ability to absorb the scholarly fortune and become an official, gradually climbing the ranks step by step? And that way, they could eventually control a portion of the Great Li Empire's imperial court and become the next pillar clan?

Li Baoping thought back to the mother and son who had visited the small town back then. No, she needed to ask her grandpa about this. Apart from the suit of scaly armor, had the two people from the Xu Clan used some illusion technique and concealed their true plans back then?

There was one thing that her junior uncle had never cared about, but had always been a small knot in Li Baoping's heart.

That was, Sun Scorch Mountain's mountain-moving ape and little girl had both stayed at the residence of Fortune Street's Li Clan when visiting the small town back then.

Things would be okay if this were all, but she was afraid of these immortals from the mountains having extremely complicated schemes with many twists and turns.

There were already the two incidents involving Zhu He and Zhu Lu, as well as her second brother, Li Baozhen. She couldn't allow a third incident to take place.

Wei Benyuan spent two sums of snowflake coins to enter the Fox Nation with Li Baoping.

Over at the pagoda, a woman who was lazily resting her head on a study desk suddenly looked up with delight, immediately using a messenger flying sword to deliver a message to the sword chamber of Light Breeze City's Xu Clan.

It wasn't long before a messenger flying sword returned, providing her with some rough records. The words at the end of the secret letter were also quite frank, telling her not to have any impure thoughts. Not only was this young woman a student of Mountain Cliff Academy, but she was also the granddaughter of the Li Clan's Nascent Tier cultivator. There was no need to provoke her, especially since Light Breeze City was already a sect-in-waiting. They shouldn't invite potential trouble.

This displeased the woman, and she used her extremely long fake nails to slowly tear the secret letter to shreds. Even though she didn't want to accept this, she still didn't dare to oppose Light Breeze City's decision. So she could only lie back down on the study desk lazily.

Tao Ya was cultivating in a thatched cottage beside a waterfall in the Fox Nation, and the so-called fated opportunity that Wei Benyuan had talked about was a seven-colored silk ribbon floating on the surface of the water when Tao Ya had walked past the waterfall. A Golden Core Tier fox spirit rushed over to snatch the fated opportunity from Tao Ya, but the silk ribbon unexpectedly struck her, leaving her bloody and bruised. In fact, the silk ribbon had almost bound the fox spirit's feet and dragged her into the deep pool.

After the dejected fox spirit fled in disarray, the silk ribbon had once again floated to the surface of the water, slowly drifting to the bank and being picked up by Tao Ya. As if recognizing its master, the silk ribbon had then become a colorful waistband for Tao Ya, a maidservant from Peach Leaf Alley's Wei Clan. Not only that, but the silk ribbon had even led Tao Ya to retrieve a seemingly unremarkable branch in the depths of some mountain, something that had become an immortal treasure after being refined.

In just a single night, Tao Ya had become the most fortunate person in Fox Nation over the past several hundred years.

Flying was prohibited in Fox Nation, and immortal ships were also banned. People could only travel around on foot. Thankfully, there were three entrances to Fox Nation, and Wei Benyuan had chosen the entrance closest to Tao Ya's location.

After entering, Wei Benyuan hired a horse-drawn carriage, as well as a horse for Little Baoping. He steered the horse-drawn carriage by himself, while Little Baoping rode a horse with a saber at her waist, enjoying the surrounding scenery as they traveled. They would occasionally stop and start, and their trip didn't feel boring at all.

They saw the extremely beautiful Tao Ya when they arrived at the waterfall located at the waist of a mountain, and the young lady inevitably felt a little inferior when she saw Li Baoping.

After the three of them enjoyed some tea and reminisced about the past, Li Baoping surprisingly stood up and bid farewell, saying that she was going to return north and visit a friend in the capital of the Great Li Empire. As for the horse that she had left beside the stream in the mountain pass before? It could stay there and freely roam around. It had already accompanied her through countless mountains and rivers, so it deserved to get some rest.

Wei Benyuan didn't know whether to laugh or to cry, and Tao Ya was also completely taken aback.

"How about you take the horse at the foot of the mountain?" Wei Benyuan suggested.

Li Baoping smacked her head and said with a smile, "I forgot to tell you something, Grandpa Wei. I'm also a Qi refiner now, and even though my cultivation base is low, I'm already able to fly on the wind."

She then added, "I can also fly on my sword, but I usually don't like to do this. It's too windy in the sky, and speaking makes my cheeks hurt."

Wei Benyuan exchanged a glance with Tao Ya.

Li Baoping thought for a moment, and she was unwilling to keep any secrets as she continued, "I have a few sheets of paper, and the characters on them have good affinity with me. These sheets of paper can just barely be transformed into a talismanic boat, but Mr. Mao told me to avoid using it if I could."

"Is there anything else?" Wei Benyuan asked in helplessness.

Li Baoping shook her head and replied, "No, that's all. I only learned some martial arts techniques from my friends, but I'm not a Far Roaming Tier pure martial artist, so I'm unable to rely on my physique to soar through the sky."

Wei Benyuan stood up and said, "Then Tao Ya can accompany you to the border of the Fox Nation and see you off there. Otherwise, I can't help but feel worried."

Perhaps Tao Ya's cultivation base hadn't reached the same level as the old man yet, but her two bonded items were far too mystical, possessing both offensive and defensive capabilities. Thanks to this, she could already be regarded as a Golden Core Tier cultivator.

"It's okay. There's no need to interrupt Big Sister Tao Ya's cultivation," Li Baoping said with a smile.

She then winked at Big Sister Tao Ya.

Tao Ya blushed slightly upon seeing this, and she couldn't help but feel increasingly puzzled. How had Little Baoping noticed that she was attracted to someone?

However, would a young lady living by herself and cultivating in a thatched cottage talk about perfume and makeup if she weren't attracted to a man?

Wei Benyuan naturally paid close attention to Tao Ya's cultivation, but the same couldn't be said for small details like these.

Li Baoping waved goodbye and took her leave.

She traveled north across mountains and rivers, making her way through the Fox Nation and encountering heavy snowfall halfway. The young woman in red stood next to a boardwalk stretching along the mountain cliff and exhaled a breath of warm air into her hands.

The slender saber and Sword Nurturing Gourd by her waist were a perfect match with the falling snow.

Thus, it was as if there only existed two colors in the world at this moment: the glistening white of the snow, and the breathtaking beauty of the young woman.

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In the capital of the Lotus Root Blessed Land's Southern Garden Nation...

A young woman stood up and walked into the courtyard, entering a fist stance before turning to the young girl who was holding her cheeks and squatting on the railing, saying, "I'm about to throw some punches, Little Mili. You can wander around Champion Scholar Alley and buy some roasted seeds while you're at it."

The young girl in black was slightly reluctant to leave, so she replied, "I'll just watch and keep quiet. In any case, I still have some roasted seeds in my pockets."

In reality, she felt a sense of responsibility, seeing that she was Downtrodden Mountain's right guardian, as well as a deputy division leader. How could she leave and not stand guard for Pei Qian in these kinds of situations?

Pei Qian shot a glare at her and said, "I won't be able to control the strength of my punch, so how will you possibly deal with it?! Martial fortune doesn't have eyes, and it will be like a rain of blades as it pours down from the sky. Just how much sauerkraut fish will I have tonight?"

Zhou Mili hurriedly stood up and jumped down from the railing, grabbed a small shoulder pole and her hiking pole, then ran into the distance. She suddenly stopped and turned around, asking, "How many kilograms of roasted seeds should I buy? Big Sister Nuanshu told me that the more I buy, the cheaper it will be. There won't be discounts if I buy too little."

"It's up to you," Pei Qian replied in exasperation.

Zhou Mili frowned and raised her small shoulder high into the air, asking, "Then I'll buy two sacks, one for each side of the small shoulder pole?"

The young girl felt like she was already showing peak genius.

Pei Qian nodded in response. In reality, she was already unable to speak.

Zhou Mili glanced at Pei Qian and understood the gravity of the situation, so she immediately bent her knees and leaped over the courtyard wall.

Pei Qian took a step forward and forcefully stomped on the ground after Little Mili left.

Almost the entire capital of the Southern Garden Nation shook in response, and it naturally wasn't the strength of a fifth tier martial artist that had caused this phenomenon. Rather, it was Pei Qian's fist intent resonating with the mountain roots and water fortune and even affecting the dragon veins of the Southern Garden Nation.

Pei Qian's fist stance was extremely strange, and she twisted her arms together before pausing for a brief moment and lightly unleashing the Deity Drumming Technique.

A short moment later, it appeared as if Pei Qian were following her fists and being dragged forward by her fist intent, yet it also appeared as if her fists were being unleashed from her heart, yearning to throw the final punch at the zenith. The young woman instantly rose higher, stepping into midair before sprinting toward the heavens. She was as quick as lightning, and she eventually reached the skies of the Lotus Root Blessed Land, where the scorching sun seemingly resided. Pei Qian then unleashed her final punch.

Following this punch, a vast sea of clouds illuminated by the radiant sun burst apart beneath the young woman.

Almost all of the Qi refiners belonging to the small group that had advanced to the Middle Five Tiers subconsciously looked up at the sky.

The heroic spirits, ghosts, and spirit entities nurtured and birthed by this new blessed land also subconsciously looked up at the sky, with confused expressions spreading across their faces.

At the same time, the martial sage temples in the Great Li Empire, the martial sage temples in the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, and some larger martial sage temples in the eight other continents of the Majestic World all detected this phenomenon.

Eight rays of martial fortune furiously surged toward the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent, eventually fusing together with the orb of martial fortune in the Eastern Treasured Vial Continent and crashing into the parasol leaf umbrella held by Mountain God Wei Bo on Downtrodden Mountain.

Golden deities appeared in the various large martial sage temples in the Great Li Empire, especially the martial sage temple located in the immortal tomb near Downtrodden Mountain. These golden deities then turned to Downtrodden Mountain, cupping their fists and bowing in respect.

Wei Bo's snow-white robe fluttered in the wind, and he tried his best to remain steady, planting his feet into the ground and surprisingly going as far as to channel a mystical ability and tie himself to Cloud Drape Mountain. He had initially wanted to conceal the phenomenon for Pei Qian, but it was clear that this was nothing more than a laughable thought.

Right now, Wei Bo was struggling to even stand still and hold onto the parasol leaf umbrella. The great mountain god hadn't understood why Zhu Lian had insisted on having him hold the parasol leaf umbrella just then, and at this moment, he could only chuckle in anger and exclaim, "Fuck you, Zhu Lian!"

Despite hosting several Night Travel Banquets and gaining a questionable reputation, the elegant and refined demeanor of Mountain God Wei was truly a remarkable sight to behold, capturing the hearts of countless female deities and celestial maidens.

As for the old steward of Downtrodden Mountain? He barely rated a mention. His appearance was forgettable, and only his status might be remembered.

Zhu Lian stood on a mountain cliff near the bamboo building, with a wide smile plastered on his face as he clasped his hands behind his back. Martial fortune raged through heaven and earth and furiously funneled toward Downtrodden Mountain, with countless wisps of martial fortune appearing like flying swords as they sliced through Zhu Lian's robe. This was despite him channeling his fist intent to shield his body.

As time went on, the face mask that had covered Zhu Lian's face for many years was also slowly scraped off, eventually revealing his true appearance.

Zhu Lian used two fingers to pinch a lock of hair by his ear, smiling as he did so.

The appearance of the young Zhu Lian could intoxicate the hearts of beauties.

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