The three people were chatting casually under the tree. Chen An and Li Yin seemed absent-minded and glanced towards the gate of the Marshal's Mansion from time to time.
Seeing Li Yan coming out at this time, they couldn't help but show joy on their faces. They had just asked Liu Chengyong about the situation. Although they heard that he was going to complete the personal information of the army, they couldn't help feeling confused.
Things like this are very big if you say it, after all, the military commander still needs to be responsible for the officials appointed by the court. It is also a small matter if you say it, this is not a key position. To put it bluntly, it is just a matter of a word from the local officials.
When Li Yan saw the three of them coming towards him, he said with a smile.
"Done! Hehehe... Next I still have to go see Li Shan and the others, and then how about we go out for a drink together at noon?"
Liu Chengyong naturally had no objection. Seeing Li Yan come out so quickly, although he still felt that something was fishy, he saw that Li Yan was smiling, so he thought that nothing serious had happened on the Marshal's side. He would have another chance to get closer to Li Yan at noon, so he agreed immediately.
Although Chen An and Li Yin wanted to go back earlier, they didn't dare to say it out loud and could only nod their heads.
The four of them then went to the "Iron Pavilion" to look for Li Shan. Li Shan was very happy to see Li Yan coming.
Li Yan immediately sent Chen An, Li Yin and others to ask for leave from Li Shan's master Lu Kui, while he and Li Shan went into the inner room of the "Iron Pavilion" to talk.
Liu Chengyong had nothing to do, so he wandered around the "Iron Pavilion" by himself. When he saw some good weapons, he picked them up and played with them with great interest.
After Chen An and Li Yin came out, the three of them, all of whom came from military backgrounds, began to study the weapons together with great interest.
After a while, Li Yan and Li Shan also came out together. However, when Li Shan first came out, he looked a little puzzled, but Li Yan put his arm around his shoulders and talked and laughed with him.
He asked him to quickly call his senior brother Liang Shi, and then they all went to "Tianran Wine House" to look for Li Yu. They set up a table there at noon, and the seven of them drank heavily.
In the afternoon, Li Yan and his two companions rode back on horseback while slightly drunk. During the rest of the days, Li Yan's practice had obviously improved and his mood was relatively stable. Seeing him in this state, Master Ji felt relieved and came out to give him some guidance every once in a while.
Time flies, spring is here, the grass is growing and the birds are singing. Li Yan has been in the military office for more than half a year.
He was soaking in the cold pond at this time, his eyes slightly closed, his upper body naked, with only the part above his shoulders exposed. Heat was coming out of his body, rising into the air and slowly dissipating.
Li Yan's aura now seems to be about to reach the peak of the first stage of the Qi Condensation Stage, but he doesn't look very good right now, with faint traces of blood at the corners of his mouth.
Since last winter, he has been practicing diligently, and his realm has improved after every period of time, but his temper has become more and more violent.
In addition to entering the city every once in a while, he also did many strange things. Every time he returned from the city, he would buy more clothes, belts, boots and other items, which made Master Ji’s spiritual sense very annoyed.
But seeing that Li Yan's cultivation was constantly improving, he let him go.
Apart from practicing, Li Yan would either soak in the pool of water or close the door and scribble wildly in the room, making ink fly all over the room!
Later, for some unknown reason, Li Yan got into a bad mood and dug up all the vegetables in the vegetable garden on the south side of the pond. He then dug up many unknown wild flowers from the mountains outside the valley and planted them in the garden.
For a moment, all kinds of wild flowers in the valley swayed in the wind, and the scents of various flowers mixed together, and even the clothes drying in the sun were covered with the scent of various unknown flowers.
As a result, several times when Military Advisor Ji went to the city to participate in military affairs, his body was filled with the scent of flowers, which made Marshal Hong and a group of soldiers look at him sideways. Military Advisor Ji could only smile bitterly helplessly.
The vegetable garden was previously home to some vegetables and a few flowers planted by Master Ji Jun. He would occasionally water and fertilize the garden and stop there to calm his restlessness.
But now, she was made extremely beautiful by Li Yan. From a distance, she looked like a colorful dye vat. After seeing her, he could only shake his head and give up.
As long as Li Yan's practice is still making progress, he will basically let him do whatever he wants.
However, Li Yan seemed to be getting more and more restless recently. After practicing, blood would ooze from the corners of his mouth, as if the fire poison in his body could no longer be suppressed. This made Master Ji very worried.
After checking his internal condition, he found that the wood spiritual energy in his body was somewhat mixed, and there seemed to be some fire spiritual power generated, which made him even more nervous.
Fortunately, Li Yan was still able to suppress the fire poison and his cultivation was still improving. But it was not good to continue like this. Li Yan's wood attribute spiritual power was not pure, which was not good for him.
So, Strategist Ji has been making moves for a few days. Taking advantage of the relatively pure wood spiritual power in Li Yan's body, should he absorb the other party's spiritual power in advance
But after a few days, the wood spiritual power in Li Yan's body began to become purer again, and the number of times he vomited blood also decreased, which made him suppress this idea.
Li Yan was soaking in the pool, with a few traces of blood on the corners of his mouth and his eyes slightly closed, as if he was enjoying the coolness of the pool. But in fact, that was not the case. At this moment, Li Yan was using the spiritual energy slowly overflowing from the bottom of the pool to practice the "Guishui Sutra".
After several months of hard training, his "Guishui Sutra" has now reached the middle stage of the first level of Qi Condensation. This speed is considered good even among the immortals.
But it is surprising that the speed can be improved so much in this place with insufficient spiritual energy. However, in the opinion of Master Ji, this is all due to the residual medicinal power in Li Yan's body.
Li Yan felt that his cultivation was still too slow. Although he would spend most of the day in this pool to cultivate, and would often come here to cultivate in the middle of the night, he still felt that time was running out.
But there was no other way, he had to use the rest of the time to pretend to practice the "Mu Yin Gong" and perform. In the morning he had to pretend to practice the "Mu Yin Gong" in the house, and the rest of the time he had to act like a spoiled child.
After another half an hour, Li Yan's eyelashes trembled, but he did not open his eyes. He finished his daytime practice and was now thinking carefully about what had happened in the past few months.
"My cultivation speed is still too slow. I feel that the improvement has been very small in recent days. I don't know why."
Li Yan didn't know that the reason why he was so fast in the early stage was that after his meridians were forcibly widened by Master Ji using the power of herbs, his speed of absorbing spiritual energy was several times faster than that of a normal entry-level cultivator.
Secondly, his physique and martial arts method were perfectly matched. He had just entered the Qi Condensation stage some time ago, so the spiritual energy he needed was not too much. He was soaking above the spiritual energy spring, so naturally his progress was fast.
But since entering the middle stage of the first level of Qi Condensation, the spiritual energy here could no longer keep up, and cultivation becomes more and more difficult as time goes by, especially when it comes to the Golden Core and Nascent Soul stages, it is normal to be stuck for dozens or even hundreds of years.
“Although I haven’t shown my full strength yet, I have gradually shown that I have reached the peak of the first stage of Qi Condensation. This is also one of the conditions that guarantee my survival.
Otherwise, if I had stayed at the entry level for several months, he would have thought I was not worthy of my position and would not have the patience to wait any longer. " After practicing the "Guishui Sutra" for a while, Li Yan found that he was practicing very fast, which made him worried, fearing that Master Ji would notice something different.
But after he carefully studied the "Guishui Zhenjing" with his spiritual consciousness and tried again and again, he finally solved the problem.
"Qi has a long life, it gathers in the sea, and then it disperses and hides!"
He didn't quite understand it at first, but after some attempts, he realized that the magic power cultivated by the "Guishui Zhenjing" was the magic power in the Dantian that was freely dispersed into the five spiritual power tanks. What was displayed on the surface was the magic power in the highest spiritual power tank.
But this method can only conceal the true level of cultivation from cultivators who are not much higher than oneself;
In addition, these five spiritual power tanks must be full, otherwise there is nothing left to disperse, and the true strength of the magic power will still be reflected.
“I was practicing too hastily some time ago, and accidentally injured my tendons and veins. I vomited some blood, so I had to disperse some of my restlessness.
He thought it was caused by the fire poison, and he couldn't control himself. Fortunately, he had made progress in his cultivation recently and concealed his fire spiritual power, so he put the thought aside.
However, as my magic power increases, I can now feel that the fire poison in his body is getting stronger and stronger. I think time is running out."
Although Li Yan was unable to let his consciousness leave his body, as he was now a cultivator, he could vaguely feel that the fire poison in Strategist Ji's body was becoming more and more vigorous.
When he can no longer suppress it, that will be the moment of his death. By then, no matter how far he has cultivated, Master Ji will not wait any longer.
"During these few trips, I also reached some consensus with Hong Linying through letters through Liu Chengyong. As long as he can help me out of trouble, I will give him the method of 'Mu Yin Gong'. Now all that's left is to find the right opportunity, but we can't wait too long."
Li Yan was thinking in his mind. He was not only considering how to escape. He had a bigger plan, which was how to kill Strategist Ji. Otherwise, his family members might not be able to escape Strategist Ji's wrath.
Yesterday, when Master Ji came over to guide Li Yan in his practice, the look in his eyes when he looked at Li Yan had changed a little. It became gentler and more kind, but it was reflected in his grayer and darker face, which made Li Yan feel a desire like a wolf.
"Then let's set it for two months later. We'll have to give it our all by then!"
Li Yan closed his eyes in the pool, and clenched his hands into fists under the water.
… …
In the deep forest millions of miles away from Qingshan Pass, in a grand palace on the top of the mountain that reaches into the clouds.
"Elder He, what brings you here today?"
The scholar in green robes smiled as he looked at the old man in dark green robes with falcon-like features.
"Peak Master, I have discussed with several other elders about the peak competition that takes place every five years. This time, there will be about 20 elite disciples and several true disciples participating in the competition. These people were carefully selected by the inner hall some time ago."
"Oh? There aren't that many true disciples, but there are fewer elite disciples participating in the competition this year. I remember there were as many as 30 five years ago."
"It is a little less than before. In recent years, there are not too many new disciples in each peak. Many people with spiritual roots have been taken away by the so-called orthodox Taoists, Buddhists, and Confucians. Moreover, the elite disciples are only selected from one in a thousand."
The old falcon said somewhat embarrassedly.
"Hehehe... those 'famous and upright sects'? They are good at taking advantage of the hearts of people in the mortal world, using Taoist temples, Buddhist temples, and lecture halls in the mortal world to constantly deceive people, and they have captured many good immortal seedlings."
"Yes, Peak Master! However, no matter how few elite disciples my peak has, it is still more than Xiaozhu Peak. They have only had a few people participating in the competition every year."
The old falcon chuckled and said.
"As for Junior Brother Wei's place, there are less than 20 people in their peak including the servants, and there are only seven disciples. There is no such thing as ordinary disciples and elite disciples. If we remove the three people who have entered the middle stage of foundation building, of course there are only those few who can participate."
When the Confucian scholar heard this, he looked helpless.
"Okay, let's not talk about Junior Brother Wei anymore. If everything is ok, you can go down first."
The scholar waved his hand and said.
"Master Qi Bing, there is one more thing, the matter of finding the person of 'Xun Xian Yi Clan'. A letter has been sent back today."
The old falcon said hurriedly.
"Oh? Are you talking about the person who took the cultivation method from that outer sect traitor?"
"Yes, Peak Master, we expanded the search area and finally found a clue at a place called 'Qingshan Ai' on the eastern edge of Daqing Mountain.
There is a military advisor in the imperial garrison there who is very likely the person we are looking for. He has bought medicinal herbs from a pharmacy in a nearby town in recent years, and these medicinal herbs are all marked in our secret recipes. "
"Garrison? Military advisor? In that case, you should investigate it carefully. Otherwise, if the mortal officials are involved, especially the border military officials, the head of the sect will also intervene. This matter cannot be allowed to get out of hand.
Immortals and mortals are on different paths. As long as they are not mortals who provoke us, we cannot attack them. Although we are not a famous and upright sect, we must abide by this point. We must find out the truth before deciding whether to take action."
"Yes, Peak Master!
I have made the same arrangement because there is a competition among the five-year disciples in the sect recently, so some of the law enforcement disciples who need to participate have returned one after another.
Now there are only a few disciples in the middle and late stages of Qi Condensation left there, and once the truth is found, we will start arresting them."
"That's enough. He has been looking for medicinal herbs all over the place in the past few years. His realm won't be that high. A disciple in the middle or late stage of Qi Condensation is enough."