Evergreen Immortal..

Chapter 191: Visitors from the Imperial Observatory

"It seems that this Lord Chai has not yet found out about me."

Li Rui looked at the light red smoke.

Right.

Even in the past when technology was more advanced, such cases of murder and corpse dumping in the mountains almost always became unsolved cases.

Even if Chai Jingong was quite capable, it would be extremely difficult for him to find out about such things.

Take back your mind.

"Strengthen your Qi, condense your essence, and open up your Qi Sea."

This is the secret formula of Longmen Realm that has been circulating in the martial arts world for a long time.

That's what I said.

After jumping over the Dragon Gate, one must continue to strengthen the true Qi, use the Qi form to polish the Dantian, form the Qi Yuan, and then one can open up the Dantian into the Qi Sea.

After opening up the Qi Sea, one will naturally step into the Sea Viewing Realm.

This process is extremely long.

Generally speaking, it is almost impossible without more than ten years of hard work.

Ning Zhongtian has excellent talents and has been in the Leap Forward stage for three to five years, but he is still at the first stage, lacking energy.

This also shows its difficulty.

It is neither difficult nor easy to strengthen Qi. It is just to continue to nourish Qi along the path of Willow Tendons. However, the Qi must be a hundred times stronger than when you are nourishing Willow Tendons. Otherwise, if the Qi is not enough, how can it support the Condensation of Essence and the Qi Sea at the back.

Of course, if there are a lot of elixirs to assist, it can indeed speed up the process of strengthening the energy.

It is possible that the invigorating elixirs are at least of the sixth grade. Even among the big clans and sects, not everyone can afford them, unless they are a genius like Jiang Linxian who has gathered the strength of an entire clan.

"I heard that Jiang Linxian opened up the Qi Sea in just seven years, the best in Yunzhou."

If he had not been so stunning, he would not have been called the Sword Immortal of Jiangdong.

Li Rui was born into a peasant family, so of course he didn't receive such treatment.

If you want resources, you have to fight for them yourself.

He took out a small jade bottle from his arms.

Inside were six fragrant pills, which were the sixth-grade elixirs found on Gao Zhen.

"They are all Qi-cultivating pills."

Qi Pei Dan is the most common type of sixth-grade elixir.

Being common doesn't mean it's not valuable.

On the contrary, one Qi Pei Pill is worth twenty seventh-grade elixirs because it is the most sought-after by warriors and has the greatest demand. Therefore, alchemists often have one Qi Pei Pill among three furnaces of sixth-grade elixirs.

The conversion unit has changed from gold and silver to elixir.

The higher the grade of elixirs, weapons and medicines, the more valuable they are.

It's often a huge sum of money.

What is the concept of a thousand gold?
A thousand kilograms of gold can only be pulled by a horse-drawn carriage.

The elixir is small in size, needed by almost all warriors, and can be preserved for a very long time.

Naturally, it became a currency-like existence.

The imperial court also had specific regulations for this, and specially selected the most popular elixirs of each grade as benchmark elixirs to regulate the market.

Six sixth-grade elixirs are equivalent to one hundred and twenty ordinary seventh-grade elixirs.

Li Rui was just an official of the sixth rank.

Moreover, he is just the kind who enjoys the treatment and has no real power of the sixth rank. He has just broken through the sixth rank, so of course he can't afford it.

Talk about it.

This is thanks to Gao Zhen.

Six Qi-cultivating pills are enough to last for a long time.

As for Gao Zhen's sword, it had long been melted into a block of iron by his apprentice Liu Tiezhu.

Gao Zhen was born in the Gao family, so his sword was of course made of sixth-grade spiritual iron. But because of this, Li Rui had no intention of casting the spiritual iron into a weapon, but instead asked Liu Tiezhu to make it into inner armor.

The sixth-grade spiritual iron material is already rare and is currently in the spotlight. People from the Ministry of Justice are still investigating the case in An Ning Wei.

If he took out a weapon made of the same material as Gao Zhen's sword at this time, it would be hard not to arouse suspicion.

It can be made into inner armor and hidden inside clothes.

"No wonder so many people like to be robbers and swordsmen. This is indeed a very efficient way to obtain resources."

If it weren’t for Gao Zhen, he would definitely not have been able to obtain so many sixth-grade elixirs in one go.

Li Rui took out a Qi-boosting pill and put it into his mouth.

The refreshing scent exploded between the lips and teeth, went down the throat into the body, and the immortal energy in the dantian instantly boiled.

The Wu Gu operated on its own, squeezing out every drop of medicinal effect from the Pei Qi Pill.

"It is worthy of being a sixth-grade elixir."

Li Rui could feel that under the effect of the Qi-cultivating Pill, the immortal Qi was at least several times more active than usual. At this time, walking the Qi once would be more effective than walking the Qi a hundred times at ordinary times.

If not for this, the Peiqi Pill would not have become the most popular pill among sixth-grade warriors.

He took a deep breath and quickly practiced his skills.

Complete a big circle.

Only then did he crawl into bed and fell into a deep sleep.

Three days passed.

"Master Chai, have you found anything?"

When Cao Wei walked into the courtyard of the General's Mansion specially prepared for Chai Jingong and other people from the Ministry of Justice, he saw that the room was full of files. The officials of the Ministry of Justice were bent over the desks and studied hard like students going to Beijing for imperial examinations.

Seeing such a heated situation, he secretly praised Chai Jingong for his good governance.

Chai Jingong, like everyone else, flipped through the files in his hands.

Hearing Cao Wei's voice, he raised his head with a tired face and smiled:
"Lord Cao."

Then he stood up and stretched: "I just happened to have something that I wanted to ask Brother Cao for confirmation."

Cao Wei raised his eyebrows slightly: "Master Chai, just ask, I will tell you everything I know." Chai Jingong seemed to be thinking about his words:

"Gao Zhen, why do you know the Duke of Wei?"

Except for the fact that Emperor Taizu of the Yu State conferred titles on his meritorious officials when he founded the country, the control over titles became extremely strict in later generations.

Even a big family like the Gao family does not have a title.

There were no dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts, and barons, but not even a baron.

You know, the title can be inherited, and it will only be taken back by the court if there are no male descendants or the family is extinct.

Once a family obtains the title, they can enjoy royal food for generations.

Therefore, the titles were almost all given to the descendants of the Zhu royal family, and the imperial court did not want to see a family inherit the title and gradually become powerful or even threaten the country.

The Zhu royal family members who obtained the title were also strictly controlled in the capital, with no fiefdom and no power.

Just end up with a noble life.

Perhaps Emperor Taizu also discovered that he had issued too many dukes and marquises in his haste, so most of the marquises died at his hands during his reign, and there were only two dukes left.

After thousands of years of evolution.

During this period, many titles were revoked due to various crimes.

Those who survived until now are all from prominent families who are deeply trusted by the emperor.

The most famous among them, of course, is Marquis Dingyuan, an old minister who followed Emperor Taizu in raising an army from Feng'an and conquering the world.

Among that group of ministers who followed the emperor, Marquis Dingyuan was not the best in terms of military achievement, and his governance was even worse. However, his title of Marquis did not seem out of place among all the other ministers.

But because of this, he was spared from the reckoning of Emperor Taizu.

In addition, as the old Marquis Dingyuan was unrivaled in his ability to give birth to sons, the lineage of Marquis Dingyuan became more and more prosperous, and now has become a pillar of the empire.

But the situation of the Duke of Weiguo is very different from that of the Marquis of Dingyuan.

If Marquis Dingyuan represents the founding heroes, then Duke Weiguo represents the old forces of the previous dynasty.

Yes, the old Duke Weiguo is the uncle of the previous emperor of Xuan Kingdom, and is also the military god of Xuan Kingdom.

Just when Emperor Taizu and the Xuan Kingdom army were fighting fiercely, this military god uncle actually chose to surrender.

Emperor Taizu was very happy.

He was promised the title of Duke of Weiguo on the spot.

Most of the remaining forces of the previous dynasty were under the command of Duke Weiguo.

Although the lineage of Duke Wei was the only two dukes in the State of Yu, they rarely appeared in court affairs.

Cao Wei groaned:
"I have also asked Gao Zhen about this matter. According to him, when he was traveling, he met the Duke of Wei and received his support, which enabled him to become the garrison commander of An Ning Guard."

Chai Jingong frowned slightly.

Gao Zhen was very young, and having just passed the military examination, he was able to become a sixth-rank garrison commander, a powerful official.

It would be strange if there was no one behind it.

But Gao Zhen was a member of the Luyang Gao family, so how could he be promoted by a Duke who rarely showed up?

You know, the current Duke of Weiguo is already two hundred years old.

He had not appeared in the court for a full hundred years.

He has already torn through Gao Zhen's files.

If Gao Zhen wanted to be an official, the Ministry of Personnel would of course send people to investigate the situation and make a file, which would record Gao Zhen's life in detail.

In the beginning, he was an unknown disciple of the Gao family. It was only in the last six or seven years that he began to rise as if he had discovered something.

I think it was at that time that he gained the support of Duke Weiguo.

Cao Wei asked tentatively: "Why, Brother Chai, do you think the person who killed Gao Zhen might be related to the Duke of Wei?"

He did not continue.

The lineage of Duke Weiguo had fallen into decline, but that was not something that a mere lieutenant general like him could comment on.

Chai Jingong sighed and shook his head:

"It's not certain yet, it's just speculation."

kill.

Generally, it is either a random killing, such as a thief killing a beggar. This type of case is the most difficult to solve.

There was no motive and no premeditation.

There is almost no connection between the two.

But Gao Zhen is an officer of An Ning Wei, and he is also a sixth-rank master.

It is possible to casually kill a sixth-rank official of the imperial court, but it is extremely small.

Therefore, Chai Jingong was more inclined to believe it was a premeditated murder.

Since it was premeditated, there are certainly interests involved, and the murderer wants to gain profit by killing Gao Zhen.

Before, he thought it was the enemies of the Gao family who did it, but now it seems that it is more likely that it was the enemies of the Weiguo Duke's lineage who did it.

When I think of this.

Chai Jingong had an even greater headache.

The Gao family of Luyang is already troublesome enough, and now there is also the Duke of Weiguo.

It’s messy, too messy.

Both sides are big shots who are difficult to deal with, and it is difficult for him, a small doctor from the Ministry of Justice, to be caught in the middle.

Some cases, especially those involving officials, are not unsolvable, but people dare not solve them.

Even the Ministry of Justice does not dare to make a decision at will.

After all, the Ministry of Justice is a tool for the imperial court to maintain stability, not really to uphold fairness and justice.

"Difficult, difficult, difficult."

Chai Jingong was just about to continue sorting out the documents when a soldier trotted into the courtyard.

The An Ning Guard soldier first bowed to Cao Wei and Chai Jin, and then said, "General Cao, there is a scholar outside the door who claims to be from the Imperial Observatory and wants to see you, sir."

(End of this chapter)