Chapter 305: Distant View, Close Look
Chen Ping'an looked at this emaciated child with icy eyes. Even though she was just a child, far from Zhu Lu's age, Chen Ping'an still felt a deep disgust in his heart.
Chen Ping'an stopped looking at her and turned his head toward the back door of the mansion. The seemingly kind and frail old steward was just holding his young master's hand as they crossed the threshold. He turned his head to look at Chen Ping'an. Their eyes met. Chen Ping'an nodded slightly in greeting. The man hesitated for a moment, then nodded in return.
Everything was understood without words.
If Chen Ping'an hadn't appeared today, this emaciated child would have died silently and unnoticed.
And this old man was clearly willing to extend goodwill to a fellow cultivator whose depth he couldn't fathom. He chose not to punish that ungrateful poor little bastard, leaving it to Chen Ping'an to handle.
Chen Ping'an withdrew his gaze and said to the child, "Don't come here again. Otherwise, you'll die."
The little girl bared her teeth in a grimace but didn't speak.
Chen Ping'an turned and left.
The emaciated girl spat fiercely in the direction Chen Ping'an had disappeared, and then also spat at the high wall and gate.
But after these two spiteful little gestures, she, already starving, became even hungrier and slightly dizzy. She retraced her steps, staying as close to the base of the walls as possible. She wouldn't even walk in the middle of the road, lest she catch the eye of any passing carriages or pedestrians. If she angered them, she would truly die.
As for that man in the snow-white robe, she wasn't afraid of him.
Ever since she could remember, she had possessed a keen intuition for malice. She knew exactly who she could provoke and who she couldn't.
Chen Ping'an hadn't actually gone far. He was secretly observing this thorny little girl from the shadows.
She walked haltingly, stopping to rest from time to time, moving with barely any strength. Along the way, after cautiously looking around and waiting a moment, she nimbly climbed over a wall, stole some pickled vegetables from a household, wolfed them down, and quickly ran out of the alley. Then, thirsty, she sneaked over another wall, tiptoed to a water jar, ladled out some water to drink, and before replacing the lid, quickly grabbed a handful of dirt from the ground and sprinkled it into the jar before quietly leaving.
Chen Ping'an could see that the emaciated little girl had a slight limp and often reached to rub her ribs. Most likely, she had suffered for similar misdeeds in the past.
Just as Chen Ping'an was about to leave, the little girl arrived at a squalid alley filled with chickens crowing, dogs barking, and muck and filth. A group of men stood there, crooked and slouching, as if waiting for her. They were all young, some as young as thirteen or fourteen, the oldest just over twenty, all idle and thuggish. One of them, seeing the emaciated girl trotting toward them, kicked her without a word, with no regard for the force. If the kick landed solidly, it would likely send the little girl flying. But the girl seemed to have anticipated it. Instead of dodging, she intentionally slowed her pace during her run, so the kick still connected but wasn't too heavy. Then she fell backward without a flaw, struggled for a moment, and stood up with a pitiful expression. The look in her eyes and the posture she adopted toward those men were filled with an almost innate fawning and ingratiation.
A burly thug who seemed to be the leader didn't want to waste time and told the little girl to lead the way.
The group took a roundabout route, spending quite a bit of time before finding a long-abandoned, dilapidated house. The little girl quietly pointed a finger inside. The thug leader sneered, "If you pointed the wrong way, I'll break your legs later!"
She shook her head vigorously, then timidly extended both hands, cupped together in front of her chest.
The thug first made a gesture from the underworld market, and his men began to surround the house.
He didn't join them. He tossed seven or eight copper coins into the little girl's hands and said menacingly, "You little bitch, I don't have the rest of the copper coins on me. I owe you? Want to come home with me to get them after we're done?"
The little girl shook her head vigorously, trembling, and slid all the coins onto one palm. With her other hand, she picked up three coins and held them out to the thug.
The thug found it amusing. The little girl knew her place. He waved his hand, losing interest in teasing her further.
The little girl backed away, bowing and scraping several times, then turned and ran off.
From the house behind the little girl, earth-shattering screams rang out.
The little girl just kept running, quickly opening her palm to look at the few copper coins. Her young, sallow face suddenly bloomed into a smile.
---
The falling of the cave heaven and the merging of heaven and earth in Dragon Spring Commandery was like a blessed land brimming with spiritual energy, tempting to all.
Over the past two years, tens of thousands of monsters and spirits had gradually migrated and begun to attach themselves to various mountain strongholds, with the situation stabilizing.
Among them, there were as many as three great demons at the Golden Core realm, each without exception a former overlord who had dominated their respective regions. Whether there were any Nascent Soul great demons hiding among them, unwilling to reveal themselves prematurely, was unknown for now.
For various reasons, those who perished midway, died suddenly, or were suppressed and killed by the Great Li court for breaking the rules totaled nearly a thousand. However, most of the deaths were among the lower-level monsters and spirits, those who had only recently begun cultivation and acted on their fierce instincts. The number of deaths among those in the Middle Five Realms was not large.
Among the monsters and spirits, only a handful were qualified to receive the "Peace and No Trouble" medallion issued by the Great Li court.
To this end, those monsters and spirits who attached themselves to various mountain strongholds as honored guests or Dharma protectors either paid out of their own pockets, desperately currying favor with the officials, or begged their mansion masters to show goodwill to Great Li. It was still a matter of "money makes the world go round." This revenue stream made the Ministry of Revenue of Great Li, which had been caught off guard, grin from ear to ear. Incidentally, it also began to ease the previously somewhat strained relationship with the Ministry of War. After all, the two pillar surnames, Yuan and Cao, each had their own factions within these two ministries. And the century-long irreconcilable conflict between the Yuan and Cao families, their constant opposition in every matter, was known throughout the court and the commoners.
As the saint of this minor heaven and earth, Ruan Qiong, who hailed from the Wind and Snow Temple, had established the Dragon Spring Sword Sect. Its territory was vast, encompassing Spirit Elegance Mountain and numerous other peaks. However, the number of its core disciples remained pitifully small: a woman expelled from the Wind and Snow Temple who had cut off her own thumb, responsible for the old sword forge outside the town—she rarely entered the sect's mountain domains, and her name was Xu Xiaoqiao.
A taciturn young man who always wore black clothes was called Dong Gu.
And there was a long-browed youth from Bead Abyss Grotto-Heaven named Xie Ling.
Even with his daughter Ruan Xiu included, the Dragon Spring Sword Sect's incense was still astonishingly sparse.
But Ruan Qiong seemed utterly unconcerned about this. Apart from going to the Dragon's Back Mountain's Dragon-Slaying Platform cliff to interact with his natal sect, the Wind and Snow Temple, and the True Martial Mountain, he ignored worldly affairs. He almost never responded to either Prefect Wu Yuan or the Northern Peak Orthodoxy Deity Wei Bo. He was even less attentive to teaching his few disciples, usually leaving that to his daughter Ruan Xiu to oversee.
On Spirit Elegance Mountain today, the sea of clouds surged mightily, and the great sun hung in the sky, illuminating both heaven and sea with a shared crimson hue.
A green-clad young woman with a single ponytail—or perhaps she could no longer be called a young woman. Compared to when she first entered Bead Abyss Grotto-Heaven, she was now tall and slender, a bit taller, and her features had fully matured. The girl Ruan Xiu had blossomed into a graceful and elegant beauty.
Standing beside her were her father Ruan Qiong's three founding disciples: Xu Xiaoqiao, Dong Gu, and Xie Ling. They rarely gathered together. Among the three, Xu Xiaoqiao called Ruan Xiu "Senior Sister," Dong Gu called her "Miss Ruan" but with heartfelt respect, and the young Xie Ling always liked to call her "Xiu Xiu Jie."
At Ruan Xiu's feet lay a stray dog. The formerly sickly old dog that used to lie by the roadside in town waiting to die was now full of vitality, its eyes brimming with intelligence. This was due to Ruan Xiu often tossing it a few elixirs, all of extraordinary quality, each worth a fortune. A passing Qi refiner once witnessed this scene and felt a pang of desolation, feeling that his own lot was worse than a dog's. He almost wanted to swoop in and compete with the dog for the food.
Within the brilliant sea of clouds, a few sparse great mountains pierced through, towering like islands.
Ruan Xiu pointed to a mountain peak. "My father says that as soon as any of you reaches the Golden Core realm, he will gift you a mountain and announce it to the world, holding an opening ceremony for your peak."
Then she looked at Dong Gu. "Although you were born as a spirit, which makes breaking through harder than for us three, you have a long life and a solid foundation. You've long been at the Dragon Gate realm. It's time for you to give it a try."
Dong Gu hesitated, as if wanting to speak.
He clearly lacked confidence. The Golden Core realm of the Middle Five Realms was the hardest for cultivators to break through, having blocked countless Dragon Gate Qi refiners. Dong Gu had left his homeland, abandoned his disguise as a nation's national teacher and all his worldly wealth, precisely to use the extraordinary abundant spiritual energy of Bead Abyss Grotto-Heaven to increase his chances of reaching the Golden Core realm. As for the quality and grade of the Golden Core he might form, or the number of patterns in the Golden Core chamber, he dared not hope for too much.
"Only those who form a Golden Core can be considered one of us."
This saying had captivated countless Qi refiners in the world, year after year, causing them to ignore worldly affairs and tirelessly cultivate and seek the Dao.
"During your breakthrough process, I will use some methods, borrowing the landscape qi of our several peaks, to help stabilize your formation."
Ruan Xiu pointed at Xie Ling. "Your junior brother previously obtained a nearly immortal treasure, an exquisite pagoda, bestowed by a high-ranking expert. It can reduce the risks during your breakthrough."
The long-browed Xie Ling looked crestfallen, feeling like throwing himself off a cliff.
My dear Xiu Xiu Jie, this is my most closely guarded secret. How could you just blurt it out so carelessly?
Dong Gu, whose face was usually as expressionless as if carved from wood, finally showed a flicker of excitement. He bowed deeply to his junior brother Xie Ling and thanked him: "Junior Brother Xie, this great kindness, Dong Gu will never forget. I will surely repay you in the future!"
With just a few words, Ruan Xiu dismissed Xie Ling, who looked at her with resentful eyes. "Since you have such a good thing, you should make the best use of it. Don't always think about hiding it away and gloating to yourself. At the root of the Great Dao cultivation is cultivating the self. Relying too heavily on external objects, whether in combat or in mindset, will cause big trouble. Many old Nascent Soul cultivators who went into seclusion and died quietly did so because they placed too much emphasis on magical artifacts and instruments during their cultivation."
Ruan Xiu recited these words like a memorized script, and Xie Ling laughed.
Xu Xiaoqiao and Dong Gu also exchanged glances with strange expressions.
Ruan Xiu sighed, a little deflated. "All these principles my father forced me to memorize by rote. It's been a torment for me."
Xie Ling laughed heartily, unable to stop.
Xu Xiaoqiao and Dong Gu smiled knowingly.
Ruan Xiu instructed, "Dong Gu, later you pick a favorable geomantic spot and an auspicious day. Xie Ling and I will show up on time."
Dong Gu nodded vigorously, his heart surging with emotion.
Ruan Xiu took out a bundle wrapped in an embroidered handkerchief from her sleeve but didn't open it. She said to the three, "All of you, go back now."
Xie Ling lived on the mountain, Dong Gu cultivated in a thatched hut at the foot of the mountain, and Xu Xiaoqiao lived in the sword forge by the Dragon Whisker River. Ruan Qiong had set rules forbidding cultivators from casually riding the wind on long journeys. So poor Xu Xiaoqiao and Dong Gu had to walk down the mountain. Ruan Xiu casually said, "Disciples of the Dragon Spring Sword Sect can ride the wind or fly on swords whenever they want. On our own turf, who's going to control that? My father? He doesn't care about that. He only cares about whether you can reach the Golden Core realm and whether you can become Upper Five Realm cultivators in the future."
Ruan Xiu added, "These words are my own. My father didn't teach me to say them."
The three dispersed.
Ruan Xiu crouched down, picked up a piece of peach blossom cake, and tossed it into her mouth. Her eyes narrowed into crescent moons as she smiled. Then she forced her eyes wide, trying to look serious, and looked at the stray dog. With her cheeks bulging, she mumbled indistinctly, "You should cherish these good days. Don't go around the streets barking at people and throwing your weight around. Is that fun? I heard you almost bit a passerby once. I told you to behave and guard the house. Why did you run up to this mountain without permission? Expecting me to protect you?"
Ruan Xiu raised one hand. "Do you believe I can slap you to death with one palm?"
The stray dog immediately prostrated itself on the ground, whimpering in supplication.
Ruan Xiu's gaze remained cold. She glanced at it. "If it weren't for him, I could have been eating braised dog meat for several days."
The dog's spine trembled.
Ruan Xiu stood up and pointed to the path down the mountain. "Even those Qi refiners have to keep their tails tucked between their legs. You're just a dog. Are you trying to rebel? Go down the mountain and guard the gate!"
The dog shot away like an arrow, running for its life.
Before this, with its slightly awakened intelligence, it had thought she was cute and kind. Only at this moment, relying on instinct, did it realize that she had never had any real affection or closeness toward it.
Ruan Xiu chewed on a second piece of peach blossom cake, holding one hand near her cheek to catch any crumbs that might fall.
Such delicious things. She could never get tired of eating them.
She wondered if the taste of the river and mountain deities she would encounter in the future could compare to peach blossom cake.
Her father said their golden bodies were most beneficial for supplementing her own cultivation.
Crunchy.
This Miss Xiu Xiu was starting to drool. She quickly wiped the corner of her mouth.
---
As one of the earliest vassal states of the former Lu Dynasty, the Great Li Dynasty had endured countless humiliations and suppressions during its early rise. Successfully overthrowing the seemingly invincible Lu Dynasty was a major watershed in both national strength and confidence. After this vast and protracted war ended, from high-ranking officials in the court, both civil and military, to border generals, and then to the common people, an unparalleled confidence was established.
This was the greatest source of confidence for the Great Li Iron Cavalry's southern expedition.
But during this period, some unexpected events occurred that left the border generals, accustomed to deadly and bitter battles, as well as the high-ranking officials in the Ministry of War in the capital, both amused and exasperated. The lower-ranking soldiers of the Great Li border army, and even some mid-level commanders, had been extremely cautious due to their experience as veteran soldiers. They were full of caution. Then the northern arch-enemy, the Gao clan of Great Sui, hunkered down and avoided battle. Then several vassal states, including the Yellow Court Kingdom, had their emperors and monarchs personally leave their cities and hand over their imperial jade seals to the Great Li generals sitting high on horseback. There had only been sporadic resistance throughout the regions. This left the battle-hardened Great Li border army somewhat bewildered, feeling that they had no place to use their skills.
Further south, battles became more frequent. There began to be sizeable enemy forces, either gathering elites in open terrain to fight decisive battles with the Great Li border army, or relying on formidable mountain passes and heavily fortified cities to hold out, or forming alliances among several small states to jointly resist the unstoppable Great Li border army.
In response, apart from a few head-on field battles and siege operations, Great Li mostly employed the strategy of "using the wolf to drive the tiger." During this period, countless Great Li death squads and spies lurking in various states played a huge role. Countless families turned against each other, close friends drew swords against one another, and one after another, martial arts factions within the states rose up in rebellion and swarmed like bees. Key civil and military ministers, the pillars of their states, suddenly died.
Thus, Great Li's southern advance accumulated countless military exploits. The once seemingly unattainable feat of destroying an entire state was now within easy reach.
One after another, sharp-edged Great Li elite units advanced from the north of Bottle Gourd Continent southward, fighting to sustain themselves, becoming increasingly unstoppable.
The Great Li Emperor issued a secret edict, which was passed to the generals' camps.
Before reaching the northern border of the Colorful Garment Kingdom in the middle of Bottle Gourd Continent, the various commanding generals of the Great Li troops were to act at their discretion in their conquests of cities and lands, without needing the approval of the Ministry of War.
"Gentlemen, let your horses' hooves only tread southward! When it comes to celebrating victories, first use the enemy's heads as bowls, their blood as wine, and their piled corpses as tables. Drink heartily!"
The Emperor, who rarely showed such genuine emotion, had used such sentimental wording in the imperial decree.
How could those Great Li generals, already bloodthirsty, not be stirred to fervor?
Following the thunderous hooves of Great Li, the vassal king Song Changjing led a core army, unhurriedly advancing slowly.
And further behind, the secretly southbound National Teacher Cui Chan personally took charge of placing one after another of Great Li's civil officials into various cities where the banners on the city walls had been changed.
The northern states of Bottle Gourd Continent were like a pool of mud, trampled to a pulp.
A key fortress city, where the northern elite cavalry of the Western River Kingdom had gathered, was finally breached.
This battle had lasted three months. The Great Li border army had fought hard. Of the troops from other states that had been incorporated along the way, plus the miscellaneous forces that had surrendered in the northern part of the Western River Kingdom, fewer than three out of ten remained.
But after breaching this city, which could rightfully be called the first border fortress of the Western River Kingdom, the fate of the Han clan of Western River Kingdom was sealed. That was the fact.
Having barely won a hard-fought battle, the atmosphere in this Great Li army was somewhat heavy. It wasn't just because of the casualties, but also because another Great Li army, led by a certain Pillar of State, had taken advantage of their assault on the hardest nut of the Western River Kingdom, crossed the border, and with lightning speed, captured over a dozen vulnerable cities in one fell swoop. It was said they were about to head straight for the Western River Kingdom's capital.
No one was happy about doing all the hard work for someone else's benefit.
Many blood-soaked generals ran to complain to their commander-in-chief. The commander just listened to their grievances without taking sides.
Under the protection of an elite escort of several dozen soldiers, a man clad in the standard light armor of an ordinary cavalryman slowly entered the city. Looking at the scene of the city still smoking from the battle, his face was resolute. He wasn't affected by the indignation of his subordinates.
This commanding general was named Song Feng.
He was a member of the Great Li Song clan, a relative of the imperial family. Only thirty years old, this young duke was actually quite distantly related to the current Emperor's legitimate bloodline. But he had an excellent reputation. He had joined the army nearly ten years ago and had rarely returned to the capital since then.
Song Feng was not the type of fierce general who personally charged into battle. After all, his noble status was well known. Even if Song Feng was willing to take risks, his subordinates would try their best to stop him. If Song Feng died, no one could bear the responsibility. Fortunately, Song Feng didn't care about such empty fame and never made things difficult for his commanders in this regard.
In over a decade of military life, spent together day and night, his current high-ranking commanders, who might have started as mere squad leaders, were willing to shed their last drop of blood for Song Feng. That was no exaggeration.
This siege had also seen extremely brutal fighting among the cultivators on both sides.
The Qi refiners under Song Feng's command, including those arranged by the Great Li court as accompanying military cultivators and those he had recruited as honored guests, totaled over thirty. Nearly half of them died.
Such a devastating loss in combat was almost equal to all the previous battles in the southern campaign combined.
At that moment, Song Feng had only two figures who looked like Qi refiners escorting him closely.
One wore a conspicuous Great Li "Peace and No Trouble" medallion at his waist. He was a burly, bare-chested giant, nine feet tall, wielding a pair of City-Crushing Hammers. His mount was much larger than the warhorses of the heavy cavalry. Besides the jade medallion, the giant also carried two blood-dripping heads at his waist, trophies from the siege. Their owners had been famous Qi refiners in the northern territories of the Western River Kingdom.
Compared to this giant's imposing presence, the other person was far less conspicuous. He looked even younger than the commanding general Song Feng, wearing a gray cotton robe and a handsome fox-like face. He smiled at everyone, and at his waist hung two swords, one long and one short, their scabbards one black and one white.
The young man in the cotton robe had his hands tucked into his sleeves, his neck hunched, looking lazy.
In the distance to the left front within the city, a beam of sword light shot into the sky. The giant laughed heartily, spurred his horse forward, and turned to say to Song Feng, "The situation is settled. Rare to have a fish that slipped the net. If I'm late, there might not be anything left, not even scraps! Take care of yourself, General. Don't fall off your horse."
This military cultivator, who put on such airs, was a master who had recently joined the army. Rumors had it that he had once been a trusted subordinate of a high-ranking figure in the palace. Because that figure had fallen from power, he had to leave the capital to earn some military merit. This man was used to seeing nobles in the capital and didn't show much respect to a Song clan relative who had been stationed on the border for many years.
The burly man shifted his gaze to the person riding beside Song Feng, a solo rider. "Hey, white-faced Cao, if you clean your ass and come find me, I'll give you the military merit I'm about to earn for free. How about that?"
The young cultivator, so insulted, just squinted and smiled, even waving his hand at the man, signaling him to hurry to the battlefield and not waste time.
The giant laughed loudly, raised his buttocks high on the horse's back, reached behind to slap himself hard, wobbled a few times, then settled back into the saddle. He galloped toward the place where the sword light had originated.
The elite cavalry around Song Feng were all furious.
But neither Song Feng nor the man in the cotton robe took it to heart.
The cavalry unit slowly advanced toward the General's Mansion in the city.
Inside a crude shop near the city gate, three people had chosen to conceal their aura completely throughout the entire battle, not participating in any of the fighting. They let the city gates be breached, let those bastards of the Great Li Dynasty slaughter their way into the city, killing anyone who dared to hold a weapon.
One of them was the number one cultivator of this northern fortress city. Before the Great Li army had besieged the city, the defending general had publicly announced that he had gone to the capital to seek reinforcements from the emperor. The other two were the leader of a mountain immortal sect in the Western River Kingdom and an imperial honored guest from a neighboring state with Golden Core cultivation!
One Golden Core immortal and two Dragon Gate cultivators were secretly hidden here. This plan was not to save the fortress—that was impossible anyway.
Within the Western River Kingdom and five other nearby small states, this secret plan was aimed solely at assassinating Song Feng!
To kill a prince of the Great Li Song clan on the battlefield!
If successful, even if their countries were destroyed, it would greatly boost morale. It would ensure that even if the Great Li Iron Cavalry trampled over their lands, countless righteous men would still stand up, making those beasts of Great Li run ragged, unable to have a moment's peace, and preventing them from smoothly digesting the wealth of the six states and turning it into resources for further southern campaigns.
As for whether their plan would indeed achieve the desired effect, the three of them present, as well as the six monarchs, probably didn't want to think too deeply about it.
Things had come to this; there was no choice. With the mountains and rivers shattered and the people suffering, they had to do something!
If they succeeded, they would gain fame and glory. They could abandon their northern base and flee directly south, where their value would skyrocket, and they would become honored guests of a great dynasty. What was so hard about that?
With no hope of breaking through to a higher realm and their lifespans nearly exhausted, after cowering on the mountain for three hundred years, they should at least do one great deed before they died.
The three mountain cultivators each had their own thoughts.
In the midst of the procession, Song Feng appeared casual and carefree, but the palm gripping his horsewhip was sweaty.
The handsome man with the fox-like face said to Song Feng with a smile, "With me, Cao Jun, here, you won't die."
The man who called himself "Cao Jun" suddenly asked, "After I help you this time, you, Song Feng, have to help me once too. It's not hard. Just add a Qi refiner's name to the casualty list you report to the court. How about that? Simple. Just say he died at the hands of those hidden enemy cultivators, loyally protecting his master, bravely sacrificing his life."
Song Feng nodded.
Cao Jun withdrew his hands from his sleeves and placed them on the hilts of the short and long swords, slowly pushing the blades out of their scabbards.
With a loud crack, his mount's spine broke, and the horse died instantly.
Cao Jun had already shot forward, his figure vanishing instantly.
In the air, two streaks of flowing color hung like lingering rainbows.
A quarter of an hour later.
When the last Golden Core cultivator, with broken arms and legs, had no choice but to detonate his core in fury, the sword cultivator, whose combat power was monstrously strong, had not a single bloodstain on his cotton robe. As the Golden Core Qi refiner committed suicide, he gracefully rode his sword away. The houses within a hundred-zhang radius were instantly leveled, and the flying dust and dirt blotted out the sun.
Song Feng looked up and breathed a sigh of relief.
Only then did he confidently spur his horse forward.
After a moment's hesitation, he didn't go straight to the General's Mansion but instead headed toward the battlefield where the sword light had flashed earlier.
When he arrived at the scene among the ruins, he found the Great Li immortal who wielded the City-Crushing Hammers lying dead in a pool of blood. A spear had pierced through his body near the buttocks, pinning him to the ground. The handsome sword cultivator in the cotton robe was standing on top of the spear's shaft, yawning. When he saw Song Feng, he smiled and waved.
After that day, the sword cultivator named Cao Jun voluntarily joined an ordinary scout team and no longer stayed by Song Feng's side.
A wandering, gifted Dragon Gate cultivator, whose military exploits were small but accumulating, was on another battlefield of the Great Li southern campaign in a neighboring country. Using such insidious methods, he quietly kept harvesting the lives of Great Li border scouts. Each time he made a move, he stopped just short and never revealed his identity. In just half a year, he killed one hundred and sixty elite Great Li scouts.
It must be noted that every Great Li border scout was the elite of the elite.
Because these small-scale skirmishes were not concentrated on a single battlefield, this young military cultivator did not initially attract the attention or encirclement of the Great Li cultivators. However, Great Li gradually became alert and kept increasing the number of military cultivators in the army, hiding some among them, hoping to set a trap. But after two accompanying military cultivators of the Observation Sea realm were killed, the high-ranking Great Li military finally started to take this guy seriously. However, the military cultivator simply ran away, took a big detour, and transferred to the Western River Kingdom battlefield where Song Feng was leading the army.
Cao Jun meeting him was a coincidence.
That man meeting Cao Jun was an inevitability. "If you often walk by the river, you can't avoid getting your shoes wet."
Cao Jun watched him kill seven scouts beside him, then killed him.
It might seem that cultivators skilled in killing who joined the army would find it easy to achieve meritorious deeds and become marquises or generals. But that wasn't the case.
There's always a higher mountain.
Cao Jun imitated the burly wielder of the City-Crushing Hammers and cut off the head of that promising Dragon Gate cultivator. But instead of hanging it at his waist, he hung it on one side of his saddle. Then he headed south alone, intending to learn from this man's example, single-handedly assassinating the Western River Kingdom's generals in the field.
He didn't think his luck would be any better than the man whose head now hung by his saddle.
But the only difference between them was that Cao Jun had a Dao protector. He could take risks without worrying about his safety; he could just fight to his heart's content and not think about any escape route.
He smiled, lowered his head, and patted the head of the man who had died with his eyes open. The blood had long since dried, and his hair was as withered as straw. Cao Jun said with a grin, "Too bad you didn't have one."
A voice rang out with a hint of displeasure. "Why didn't you save those scouts? On the battlefield, they are your comrades-in-arms."
Cao Jun smiled and replied, "If I wasn't there, they would have died for nothing. With me there, at least someone avenged them. Shouldn't they thank me?"
Immortals are heartless.
Cultivating the Dao on the mountain, far from the human world, for too long, over too great a distance.
Naturally, over time, many cultivators become indifferent to the mortal world. At most, they won't make trouble for the mortal world, but don't expect them to treat it kindly.
---
Somewhere in the capital of the Southern Garden Kingdom, a little girl in rags stood in front of a steamed meat bun shop, drooling as she stared at the steaming bamboo steamers stacked high, exuding an enticing aroma.
The shopkeeper, a rough man, found her an eyesore. He scolded her and told her to get lost. The little girl straightened her back, opened her palm, and showed that she had money.
Five copper coins. Five wen.
The man didn't even look at her properly and still told her to get lost. When she refused to leave, he grabbed a wooden bench and prepared to hit her.
The little girl was scared and quickly ran away.
Once at a safe distance, the little girl looked back at the shop with dark eyes. She bared her teeth in a grimace, then turned and walked toward a pancake vendor, buying two large pancakes, with one coin left over.
She could have gotten by today with just one pancake, and initially, she did only eat one.
But as she walked, she began an internal struggle. Eventually, she found a corner by a wall and ate the pancake that was supposed to be her meal for tomorrow.
After eating, she seemed to regret it and pinched her own arm hard. But after standing up, the little girl, who rarely had a full stomach, began to hop and skip. She dashed along the road, occasionally looking up at the kites dotting the sky above the capital, her eyes full of envy.
That night, she didn't return to her so-called "home" nest. The summer night was cool. She could sleep anywhere. It wouldn't kill her. There were just a lot of mosquitoes, which was a bit annoying.
At a fairly well-off household, there was a pair of crudely carved stone lions at the gate, oddly shaped. Instead of sitting, they stood on all four legs, looking up into the distance. The stone lions were just the right height for the little girl to climb onto their backs. She sat on one for a while, looking at the summer night sky, then took out the single remaining copper coin.
Through that small square hole, she looked at the vast starry sky.
At that moment, her face was full of smiles.
Then she carefully tucked away the copper coin, lay down on the lion's back, and fell into a deep sleep. Soon, soft snores came from her.
On the neighboring stone lion, Chen Ping'an sat cross-legged. He turned his head to look at the little girl, who was sleeping soundly. His brow was deeply furrowed, his heart heavy.
Chen Ping'an stopped thinking about it and closed his eyes, beginning the Sword Furnace Foundation Practice.
The little girl slept soundly on the stone lion's back, her sleeping posture peaceful.