God Weird Fairy

Chapter 446 Yan County's Poker Game
Pingrong Post Station is located in the northwest corner of Beiyou City and was an official post station specifically for receiving passing officials.

Two soldiers were guarding the gate. When they saw Zhao Lang leading Nan Yi and the other two, they quickly sent a message to the postmaster to open the gate and welcome them.

Zhao Lang looked at the postmaster and instructed in a deep voice, "This is an envoy from the capital who will soon be going to the Kan court to fulfill the agreement to cease hostilities. You must serve him carefully; if anything goes wrong, you will be held responsible."

After saying this, he bowed to Nan Yi in farewell and then went to attend to other tasks.

The postmaster was filled with trepidation and was about to lead Nan Yi and Du Heng inside.

Du Heng raised his hand to stop him: "Wait a moment."

He stood at the entrance of the post station and looked at Nan Yi: "Junior brother, now that I have met Yan Rong, I will return to the capital. Please excuse me."

This was something the two had agreed upon beforehand. After sending Nan Yi to Beiyou City to visit Yan Rong, Du Heng would return to the capital to prepare for resigning from his official post and establishing his foundation.

Du Heng bid farewell to Nan Yi, used the "Sitting in Oblivion" technique, took a step, and immediately vanished without a trace.

Although this was not the first time Nan Yi had seen this technique, he still found it strange.

As a disciple of Wuxiang, analyzing the mysteries of others' techniques is a manifestation of one's own cultivation.

Most spells in the world can be understood by Nan Yi with just a glance, allowing him to grasp their general structure and have a clear understanding of them. If he can further discern the flow of the spellcaster's magical power, he can use the "Formless Wonderful Method" to deduce and simulate them, or use the "Formless Subjugation" to break and counter the spell.

The techniques of the Immortal Sect of Sitting in Oblivion are somewhat counterintuitive and illogical, making it difficult for Nan Yi, who comes from Tianxia, ​​to grasp their mysteries.

Pulling himself out of his thoughts, Nan Yi strolled into Pingrong Post Station and casually chose a quiet room to rest.

Once Zhao Lang has made contact with Kanchao and completed the necessary preparations, Nan Yi will head north to Kanchao.

However, at present, Nan Yi appears to be resting and sitting comfortably, not leaving the post station, but in reality, his mind has already sunk into the Martial Spirit Realm.

Long before Nan Yi set foot in Beiyou City and visited Prefect Yan Rong, he had already sent Huang Nian'er out to gather information about the city's affairs. Even with just a wisp of divine consciousness, Huang Nian'er could secretly manipulate the thoughts of mortals to ponder, and then read their minds, thus obtaining information without anyone noticing.

Nan Yi's conversation with Huang Nian'er at the teahouse was not only a gesture of concern for the people's well-being, but also a covert way of supporting her.

Huang Nian'er is currently able to walk in the real world only because she is a real projection created by Nan Yi's "Dream Butterfly" technique.

Once Nan Yi undoes the spell, he can guide the spirit back to the Martial Spirit Realm.

So, just as Nan Yi entered the teahouse to ask questions, attracting the attention of many divine senses in the shadows, Huang Nian'er, who was hiding in a nearby tree, took the opportunity to quietly escape back to the Martial Spirit Realm.

In the Martial Spirit Realm, after integrating the information gathered by Huang Nian'er, Nan Yi felt a surge of emotion:
He had finally managed to suppress the dissent of the court officials by using the peace treaty as leverage, and then launched the True Qi Water industry to open up new possibilities for True Qi martial arts. Now, he has to face the covert obstruction of local officials.

Logically speaking, "The Legend of the Twin Dragons of Dali" was originally about events in Yan County. It should not have been popular in Yan County, but it should have been well-known.

Unfortunately, the Ming Pao newspaper was not circulated within Yan County and few people knew about it.

Huang Nian'er said, "I've looked around and it seems that it's not the prefect who is specifically targeting you, but rather that many aristocratic families in Yan County are working together in a very tacit manner to resist and intentionally restrict the spread of information related to true qi."

Nan Yi nodded: "Yan County is adjacent to Kan Dynasty and started the steamization process early. The powerful families in the county naturally do not want any more trouble."

Reform has always been accompanied by the restructuring of interests, and the pain of reform is endless.

A few years ago, Yan County began its steam transformation process, and the powerful families within the county must have gone through a period of intrigue and a reshuffling of interests.

As a result, just as the steam reform was gaining momentum, a new martial arts sect emerged, seeking to revolutionize the situation once again. Naturally, the resistance it faced was much greater than that of the prefectures that had not yet begun the steamization process.

In the capital, Nan Yi could leverage the influence of Emperor Li and Su Guang to gradually gain ground. But in Yan County, he not only had no leverage, but was also merely a fleeting visitor who wouldn't stay long and thus found it difficult to make any significant moves.

Logically speaking, Nan Yi shouldn't have meddled in other people's business. He could have simply waited for the True Qi industry to grow stronger, and then naturally knocked on the gates of Yan County, shouting, "Open the door, it's free trade!"

Just as within the territory of the Southern Dynasty, apart from Song Zhong and others who independently promoted martial arts in the southern prefectures where steam technology had not yet been initiated, the Southern Yi adopted a laissez-faire attitude towards the remaining prefectures.

However, Yan County's geographical location is too special, as it is the only border between Li Dynasty and Kan Dynasty.

If we only consider the development and expansion of the True Qi industry itself, there is naturally no need to make arrangements in Yan County in advance.

However, if it is necessary to counter the steam industry and seize the right to speak on the trends of the times, Yan County is a veritable bridgehead and a strategic location that military strategists must fight for.

If even Yan County cannot see the shadow of the True Qi industry, how can we talk about radiating influence to Kan Dynasty?

But as a passerby, all alone, how can Nan Yi make his move in Yan County to help the True Qi industry open the door to Yan County?

The answer is to start with a specific approach and first establish the True Qi Martial Arts in Yan County.

Yan County has a long-standing tradition of martial spirit.

Due to information blockade, most martial artists in the martial arts world are unaware of the existence of cultivators and the cultivation world. Even if they occasionally hear about them, they usually treat them as legends.

Unlike the Central Plains, the warriors of the border regions, though lacking a clear concept of the cultivation world, knew that there were indeed powerful figures far surpassing ordinary grandmasters who would appear on the border, and even perish there.

Therefore, in Yan County, civilian martial artists often went to the border areas to scavenge for scraps, hoping to find the "divine skills and secret techniques" left behind by the deceased cultivators.

These so-called inheritances are actually just those of unorthodox practitioners, belonging not only to unorthodox sects but also mostly incomplete.

If we're just comparing them to martial arts practitioners, they can indeed defeat them by overwhelming force.

However, compared to the True Qi Martial Arts system, which has been perfected in Nan Yi to the point of being divided into three levels: Inner Strength, True Qi, and True Qi, these scattered cultivation traditions with all sorts of strange taboos seem somewhat inferior.

Once the martial artists of Yan County know that the righteous path of True Qi Martial Arts exists, the aristocratic families of Yan County will no longer be able to conceal the news.

After all, Nan Yi had already secured the imperial edict's endorsement for the True Qi Martial Arts. At most, the various prefectures would outwardly comply but inwardly resist, restricting the spread of information, but they could not openly suppress opposition.

But for this very reason, the powerful families of Yan County keep a close eye on Nan Yi, preventing him from "making wild remarks" within Yan County.

Among those divine senses secretly spying on Nan Yi, there might not even be as many spies from foreign countries as there are local gentry families in Yan County.

Moreover, it's not just Nan Yi who will be watched; other True Martial Artists who cultivate True Qi will likely face various obstacles and be discouraged if they want to come to Yan County.

In a sense, the people of Yan County were extremely wary of Nan Yi and unwilling to give him any opportunity to take advantage of them.

If Nan Yi himself wants to spread the True Qi Martial Arts in Yan County, it won't work. His Yuan Martial Artists can forget about it, and those True Martial Artists can forget about it either.

Anyone who openly associates with True Qi Martial Arts will be tacitly guarded against and strictly protected by the aristocratic families of Yan County.

But after a moment's thought, Nan Yi still decided on a candidate.

Ji Ruochen is the holder of the "True Martial Crown," a magical artifact of the Six Meridians True Martial.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

(End of this chapter)