After all the sacrifices have been made to speed pass, who is still practicing hard skills?

Chapter 467: The Dragon King Returns! The Thunder Bead Traces!
On the border of Yuezhou, somewhere in the mountains.

Li Chengguo, dressed in a brocade robe, sat cross-legged on an altar, adjusting his own state. With each breath, his vital energy gathered and the rhythm of Taoism emerged.

He had deduced the matter of the Duyang Divine Thunder Tribulation countless times and had even tried to break through it. Unfortunately, he had never accumulated enough confidence to take the final step.

Because he had that rare treasure on him, there was a flaw in his heart. He always lacked the determination to move forward bravely or die, which delayed him for decades.

But now, he had no chance to delay any longer.

He had fallen out with the imperial court and his nearly one hundred years of foundation was destroyed. If he could not break through to the level of Martial Saint, he would not have the confidence to take back what belonged to him and would be abandoned by the Qingtian Sect.

After all, although Yuanshen Zuns are powerful, there is no shortage of them in the Qingtian Sect. Only by achieving Martial Saint can one become a truly top figure in this world.

Of course, he also knew that the Qingtian Sect would not be so kind.

There must be some plot.

However, he didn't care about these. With that rare treasure, he had enough confidence to survive the thunder tribulation. What he lacked now was a blood sacrifice to make up for his own foundation.

Otherwise, he would not be able to withstand the nine-fold thunder that would temper his spirit.

And the blood sacrifice is currently being planned.

Although Jiang Che's disturbance in South Vietnam caused the Baiyue coalition to delay its military action, he knew that the Baiyue side would not be able to endure it for long and would inevitably join forces with him from both inside and outside.

When the war breaks out, hundreds of thousands of essences and blood will gather together, which will be enough to provide him with enough blood and energy.

Once accomplished, he would be the well-deserved King of Yuezhou. Not only would he rule a region, but if he planned properly in the future, he might even sit on the throne.

As I was thinking, a pair of light footsteps gradually approached.

The person who came was Li Yuanxiu.

"Meet the adoptive father."

"coming."

Li Chengguo opened his eyes.

"Godfather, what do you want me to do?" Li Yuanxiu knew that Li Chengguo was now in a critical period and would definitely not call him over from his busy schedule for no reason.

"How's Yuezhou doing?"

Although he had some doubts and speculations, Li Yuanxiu still said calmly:
"My godfather, after the fall of the Blood Sea Clan, the Gao family of Tiannan and the Guo family of Yingchuan have become much more polite to us, but they have not yet made up their minds.

In my opinion, it may be necessary to wait until my godfather becomes a saint before these two families can make up their minds completely.

The Qingtian Sect has been cooperating very well recently. In most of the sixteen prefectures in Yuezhou, there are wars and chaos. It's a pity that you, my godfather, have ordered the Zhennan Army not to take any action.

From the current perspective, the most it can do is cause some trouble to the court.

As for the Zhennan Army, out of the 120,000 Zhennan Army, so far, a total of 60,000 elite troops have gone out of the pass and are hiding in various strongholds. There are still nearly 50,000 hidden inside Yuezhou Pass.

Because the imperial court conducted a very strict search, many elite troops were injured."

Li Yuanxiu narrated everything that had happened so far without stopping, and finally paused before continuing:

"As for Jiang Che, we haven't found out everything yet. There is a lot of news about him in Yuezhou City, but South Vietnam has stated that Jiang Che is not in Yuezhou.

It’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s fake, unless we really do it.”

"Pass the order, have the 60,000 elite troops outside the pass begin to gather, hide in Fulong Mountain and wait for an opportunity to act."

"Yes."

"Tell Pei Hongyi that I will meet her tomorrow."

"Yes."

"South Vietnam has suffered a severe blow. The one in charge now is probably the ancestor of Minyue. We must establish a communication channel with him in the shortest possible time."

"Yes."

"The families of my adopted sons and nephews must be well settled. Also, the families of the Zhennan Army must not be allowed to find out about this."

"Uh yes."

Li Yuanxiu nodded somewhat unnaturally.

Li Chengguo looked at Li Yuanxiu expressionlessly and said calmly:
"Why, what's wrong?"

"Father, please forgive me. A few days ago, I received news from the interior that my second brother's family members all met with accidents." Li Yuanxiu knelt down hurriedly with a look of panic on his face.

He knew that Li Chengguo obviously already knew about this, otherwise he would never ask this question.

"what happened?"

"Yes, there was a rebellion in the army, and he was affected in the chaos. But I think it's not that simple. It might be the work of those spies from the Suzaku Division."

"Hmph, I'm afraid that's not entirely true. I remember asking you to eliminate those spies before."

"Father, please forgive me. It is my fault that I did not do my job well."

"Li Kuang died in the battle of Tianlong Temple. I already feel guilty about it, but you still let Li Kuang die without any descendants. If this gets out, what will the other soldiers think?" A hint of coldness appeared in Li Chengguo's eyes.

The death of Li Kuang's family members is likely to cause people to think too much.

After all, Li Kuang is no longer of any use, and his family happened to be killed. Do other people think that if they die on the battlefield, they will suffer the same fate?

"Please forgive me, godfather." Li Yuanxiu lowered his head and begged for mercy, but did not make any excuses.

"This is the first time, and I hope it will be the last time. My brothers in the army have sacrificed their lives for my country, Li Chengguo, but I cannot protect their families.
How can we ensure that they continue to have no worries in the future? "

"Yes, Yuan Xiu promised his foster father that this is the first and last time!"

Li Yuanxiu spoke quickly.

the other side.

In Yuezhou City.

Jiang Che fell from the void, and this time, he exposed his identity without any concealment. After leaving the Chaos Demon Valley, he and Ao Kun headed north.

There was almost no stop during the period, and after nearly ten days, they finally arrived at Yuezhou City.

It was not until this moment that he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

When they arrived at Wuhou Mansion, Zhao Xianzhi and others came to meet them, and they all breathed a sigh of relief. After all, going to Baiyue alone was too dangerous, and one could encounter an accident if one was not careful.

Fortunately, everything went well.

"Nothing serious happened after I left, right?"

Although Jiang Che inspected the border when he returned and did not find any major unrest, he still needed to inquire.

"Thanks to you, sir, there has been a commotion in Nanyue, but up to now, the Baiyue coalition has not taken advantage of it to mobilize troops. However, a lot of news has been reported back recently.

It is said that Baiyue has begun to mobilize troops, and I am afraid that they may arrive at the border within a few days. For this reason, my subordinates are preparing to leave Yuezhou City and go to the border to take charge.
As for Yuezhou, the rebellion is more chaotic than before you left, but with the transfer of some troops from other states, it can still be maintained for the time being."

Due to the news that Baiyue had mobilized troops, Jiang Che had already transferred most of Yuezhou's troops to the border. Naturally, the other provinces would not station too many troops, but Jiang Che was mentally prepared for this.

"It doesn't matter. As long as we can stop the Baiyue coalition and kill Li Chengguo, the unrest in Yuezhou will soon be quelled."

The more chaotic the situation is, the more important it is to grasp the key points.

Li Chengguo is the key among the keys.

If he dies, everything will be settled. If he doesn't die, even if the rebellion is successfully suppressed, it will not affect the overall situation.

Therefore, from beginning to end, Jiang Che did not pay too much attention to the unrest. Instead, he focused all his efforts on finding sacrifices and improving his own cultivation.

"That's what my lord said."

"What about Li Kuang? Any news?"

Jiang Che asked seriously.

Before he left, he gave instructions on this matter and planned to force Li Kuang to betray Li Chengguo through some sinister schemes. Although the plan was vicious, Jiang Che adopted it.

"The great event has been accomplished. Three days ago, a spy hiding in the Zhennan Army risked his life to bring back a photo stone, on which was the image of the corpses of Li Kuang's family.

After a day of contemplation and rage, Li Kuang decided to submit to you and surrender to you.

"Image of a corpse?"

Jiang Che's brows were frivolous.

This seemed to be somewhat different from what he had ordered before. What he asked Zhou Xuan to prepare was a scene where Li Kuang's family was killed. Of course, no matter which one it was, as long as the result was achieved.

He wouldn't ask too many questions.

However, Zhou Xuan saw Jiang Che's doubts and explained immediately:
"I understand your previous instructions, but after I gave them, someone below expressed an opinion that doing so would likely backfire.

After all, if we produce the images, it may be the work of the imperial court. Therefore, I took the initiative to agree with the opinions below and changed the plan to include the images of the bodies of Li Kuang's family members at the end."

"Oh? You have such a capable person under your command? Very good, he did a good job. Remember his merit and reward him handsomely!" Jiang Che waved his hand and instantly decided the future of an official of the Suzaku Division.

"I would like to thank you for your generous gift on his behalf!"

Zhou Xuan bowed.

"Did Li Kuang reveal the whereabouts of the Zhennan Army after he surrendered?"

"After revealing a secret stronghold, I personally led my men to surround the 3,000 Southern Guards. Unfortunately, in the end, only less than a quarter of them were willing to return to the imperial court.

The rest all chose to die in battle."

"As expected of the elite frontier troops."

Although the Zhennan Army was not his, he admired its style of doing things. After all, most of the soldiers were willing to follow and die in battle even though they knew their superiors were rebelling.

It is obviously not something that ordinary soldiers can do.

For example, some government soldiers in Yuezhou, as long as the chief officer died in battle, except for some personal soldiers, most of the other soldiers would choose to surrender, and there were very few who were willing to die.

"I'm afraid there are more than 3,000 Zhennan troops in Yuezhou, right?"

Jiang Che chose a very good time to break off with Li Chengguo. At least half of the Zhennan Army had no chance to escape, and instead hid in mountain strongholds.

"Li Kuang revealed that there are at least 50,000 Zhennan troops inside the pass, but he is not willing to reveal all of it. Instead, he hopes to meet you in person. In addition, when I was negotiating with him, I found something that you are very interested in."

Zhou Xuan said with a smile.

"what?"

"Evil-repelling Thunder Heart Bead."

"Li Kuang knows where it is?"

Jiang Che's heart moved, and he immediately asked in a deep voice.

Zhou Xuan nodded:

"He did say so, but unfortunately he was unwilling to reveal it despite repeated inquiries from his subordinates. It is obvious that he is using these things as bargaining chips."

Jiang Che tapped the armrest with his fingertips and nodded slightly:

"I am not afraid of him making demands, but I am afraid that he will refuse to surrender. In this case, bring him to the main hall and I will meet him in person."

Since this matter concerns the Evil-Repelling Thunder Heart Pearl, Jiang Che dare not be careless in the slightest.

After all, at this moment, he had already gathered most of the sacrifices, and all he lacked was a Thunder Heart Bead to ward off evil, so he could offer it as a sacrifice to achieve a breakthrough. Naturally, he didn't plan to delay too long.

"Yes, I will bring him here immediately."

Zhou Xuan left in a hurry.

"I've been away for a while, thank you for your hard work."

After Zhou Xuan left, Jiang Che turned his gaze to Zhao Xianzhi with a smile in his eyes.

Zhao Xianzhi shook his head:

"I am in charge of the Marquis' Mansion, there is no danger. The hard-working elders have already gone to the border. Now that you are back, should we set off as well?"

“It’s natural.”

Jiang Che nodded.

Resisting the Baiyue coalition is of course the most important thing at the moment.

"Regarding the matter between you and me, someone from Lingjian Mountain sent a message two days ago. I...I didn't hide it." Zhao Xianzhi pursed her lips and moved her eyes away from Jiang Che.

She had to hide it before because she couldn't get over it.

But now, she was ready to work together with her disciple to resist the Qi sisters, so she naturally had no psychological burden. Therefore, after learning about this at Lingjian Mountain.

She didn't hide it.

The only thing she was worried about was that Jiang Che might be dissatisfied with her for taking the initiative.

"There's nothing to hide. Now that you know, what do you think of me proposing marriage in the future?"

Jiang Che was not at all surprised that Lingjian Mountain learned about this.

After all, in the previous battle at Tianlong Temple, Zhao Xianzhi was willing to offend Buddhism in order to help Jiang Che, which has already proved some things. Even the Qi family could guess some of it, so how could Lingjian Mountain not guess it?
Jiang Che didn't have any psychological burden about this.

Today, he is the envoy of the Vermillion Bird God, the governor of Yuezhou, and the acting general of Zhennan. It can be said that he is the most powerful person in the three states of the southern region and can be regarded as a top figure.

If such a person marries Lingjian Mountain, it will only be a happy ending for everyone.

Of course, the prerequisite is that Jiang Che defeats Li Chengguo and secures his position.

"it is good."

Zhao Xianzhi smiled and hooked the black hair at her temples with her fingertips. She was a little shy, but very satisfied with Jiang Che's answer.

No matter what, she is the Venerable of Lingjian Mountain and has a high status. It is impossible for her to follow Jiang Che secretly and be his mistress all the time, especially when the Qi sisters show hostility.

You can't show weakness to two little girls.

"Sir, Li Kuang has arrived."

Outside the hall, Zhou Xuan walked into the hall first, while Li Kuang lowered his head. Although he was wearing brocade robes, he exuded a gloomy aura.

Jiang Che narrowed his eyes, then smiled:
"Now that I know that General Li has turned from evil to good, I can finally put my mind at ease. With General Li in charge, why should I worry about not being able to subdue the Zhennan Army?"

Li Kuang raised his head and looked at Jiang Che, who was smiling. He felt relieved and stepped forward, bowed and said:
"I have been wandering for half my life, and I only regret that I have never met a wise master."

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(End of this chapter)