I proved immortality through the imperial examination.

Chapter 114 Battle
When Xue Xiang arrived at the government office, Guo Xiong announced his transfer order. He was relieved of his post as head of the eleventh office and as acting seal bearer of Suiyang Town. He was reassigned as an advisor to the seventh courtyard of Yunmeng City.

The so-called consultant is just a figurehead position, but they can continue to receive a salary.

Xue Xiang had long been prepared to be transferred away from Suiyang, and at the transfer meeting, he received enthusiastic applause from his colleagues.

When they left the main office and returned to the Eleventh Room, all the clerks and constables rushed out and applauded enthusiastically.

Xue Xiang repeatedly raised his hand to try and suppress the enthusiasm of the crowd, but he couldn't do so.

He had already packed all his things and had nothing to take. After bowing to everyone, he left Room Eleven.

As soon as they stepped out of the compound, a large influx of people suddenly appeared on the streets outside.

"Chief Xue, don't go..."

"Yes, Chief Xue will stay..."

"Suiyang cannot do without Chief Xue..."

At first, there were only one or two shouts from the crowd, but suddenly, the shouts merged into a tidal wave.

A warm feeling welled up in Xue Xiang's chest. His initial intention in coming to Suiyang was not to serve the country and its people, but to achieve something and earn his respect.

Now that things have turned out this way, he suddenly felt that even if he hadn't obtained any of the wish-granting energy, it would be enough.

"Lord Xue..."

An elderly woman with gray hair suddenly rushed forward and knelt down. The little girl with pigtails beside her was also pulled down to kneel down by the old woman.

"Thank you so much, Lord Xue. If it weren't for your keen insight, my son would have died in vain. Ah-Nan, quickly kowtow to Lord Xue..."

Xue Xiang quickly helped the old woman and the little girl up.

He recognized the two as Grandma Zhao and her grandson from He Village. Grandma Zhao had a son named He Qiang, but he was wrongfully imprisoned and died in prison due to Tong Sheng's arbitrary judgment.

Later, Xue Xiang cleared He Qiang's name and gave him 8,000 yuan (in spirit silk) as a consolation payment. He also helped Zhao Laotai contact the village chief of He Village, thus saving the family's livelihood.

He didn't expect the news to spread so quickly; Grandma Zhao and her grandson had come from a great distance.

Before long, more and more people knelt down to him. Among them were people whom Xue Xiang had exonerated and saved, as well as the poor people he had helped. Some were given jobs, and others were given relief.

Xue bowed to the group, took a deep breath, and said, "Fellow villagers, elders, as an official, it is my duty to benefit the people. I am unworthy of your kindness."

Go back home, it's still cold, and there's still a lot of work to be done in the fields..."

As Xue Xiang was speaking loudly, a deafening sound of gongs and drums came from afar, growing louder and louder.

Soon, the crowd from the northwest parted, and a lion dance troupe rushed towards them. In the center of the troupe was a mobile platform, on which sat a large white umbrella, taller than a person, covered with black dots.

Soon, the lion dance troupe stopped in front of the main hall. The presidents of various industry associations stepped forward. The leader, President Song of the Lingzhi Textile Association, took down a large white umbrella with both hands and unfolded it with the help of the two of them. The umbrella was covered with densely packed names.

Umbrella for All!
Chairman Song declared loudly, "My parents gave me life, and Chief Xue enriched me. If it weren't for Chief Xue's management of Suiyang Ferry, we would still be adrift on the rivers, suffering from the wind and waves, and how could we be where we are today?"

Song and his colleagues across the industry jointly created this "umbrella of ten thousand people," on which the names of 13,500 people voluntarily signed.

Chief Xue's kindness and helpfulness are admirable; he truly deserves this umbrella.

"Well deserved."

The entire town of Suiyang was filled with this sound.

"That's what a man should do."

Chen Tong clenched his fist.

Chu Zhao said, "Only in this way can one say that one's life has not been in vain."

"I've met many officials, but Chief Xue is the first one who truly works for the people."

"me……"

Xue Xiang felt a lump in his throat and was speechless for a moment.

Just then, the Wen Palace trembled, and streams of aspiration energy emanated from the Umbrella of Ten Thousand People, flowing directly into the Wen Palace.

Inside the literary palace, the quiet energy of talent and aspiration was simultaneously activated, with streams of aspiration flowing directly into the palace.

In an instant, the literary palace trembled violently, and the dormant talent and aspirations were simultaneously stirred up and merged into the literary energy.

The literary energy trembled slowly and began to grow.

"Purely my own will! Literary spirit flourishes!"

Xue Xiang was shocked.

Normal aspirations are distributed by the Heavenly Way and the literary tradition after one has accomplished something.

This part of the aspiration has almost no personal trace.

Similar to the Wish-Fulfilling Cake Xie Haiya obtained, both are formed from the condensation of literary tradition and the Heavenly Dao.

Pure personal feelings of gratitude, emotion, remembrance, and wishes are formed when a large group of people express gratitude, emotion, remembrance, and blessings towards a particular individual.

It bears a strong personal mark.

At this moment, a large amount of positive energy flowed directly into his literary palace through the Umbrella of Ten Thousand People.

This kind of aspiration is the aspiration of the pure self.

Under normal circumstances, the advancement of literary talent requires the organic combination of talent and aspiration.

The so-called organic approach is through word refinement, which involves constantly polishing and refining the writing to enhance its literary quality.

Pure self-will can directly stimulate the combination of talent and will, without the need for the process of refining words, directly forming the growth of literary spirit.

A great deal of auspicious energy gathered, and the Umbrella of Ten Thousand People began to spin, landing on Xue Xiang's head. It moved automatically without wind, as if by divine intervention.

This unusual phenomenon caused even more people to bow down to Xue Xiang.

The entire process of the crowd seeing them off lasted for more than an hour.

Xue Xiang was planning to go back to the courtyard to bring back two jars of freshly pickled kimchi, but the atmosphere had reached a point where he couldn't stay any longer.

He had no choice but to leave the shore, board a boat, and bid farewell to everyone.

As the boat sailed on Suiyang Lake, Xue Xiang saw the pavilion in the middle of the lake in the distance. He left the money for the boat and, gliding on the waves, went straight to the pavilion.

The snow-capped mountains remain, the cold lake is still, but the people of yesteryear are nowhere to be seen.

Xue Xiang, lost in thought upon seeing the objects, finally turned his attention to the literary palace after a long while. He found that the literary atmosphere had grown considerably, but its growth had not met expectations.

He had read many cultivation notes and knew that once he obtained the Pure Self Will Qi, it would have an excellent effect on the growth of literary Qi. It was normal for literary Qi to grow to almost twice its original size.

What Xue Xiang didn't know was that what occupied his literary palace was not literary energy, but a wisp of literary lineage. And it was not so easy to strengthen that literary lineage.

After sitting in the pavilion in the middle of the lake until dusk, Xue Xiang slipped into the Wenxu Blessed Land.

Through the Wenxu Terrace, one could see Fengnuancheng glancing in this direction from time to time.

Guessing that something was wrong in Fengnuan City, he covered his face with his literary aura and came to the cave entrance.

As expected, Feng Nuancheng stepped forward and handed over a jade pendant, which was a detailed exposition on literary and magical weapons completed by Su Jianmo and a group of bigwigs from Wuzhuang Temple, who spared no expense.

Xue Xiang waved goodbye to Fengnuan City and returned to Wenxu Blessed Land. He quietly read the contents of the jade pendant and was increasingly shocked by what he read.

It not only discusses the reasons, methods, and advancement steps for forging the literary and magical weapon, but also the power of the literary and magical weapon at each stage.

Xue Xiang studied it for more than three hours before he finally grasped the basic outline.

He extracted the following key information from the vast amount of data:
First, the literary spirit and divine weapon are mainly divided into three realms: figurative, authentic, and transcendent.

He even used his own Gatling gun as an example.

The so-called pictograph is the form of the Gatling gun he currently possesses.

This Gatling gun basically only has the form of a Gatling gun; it's just that using the Gatling gun form activates its magical attack.

The so-called id is Gatling's id form.

As the refining process deepens, Gatling will be able to return to its original state, that is, return to its true Gatling state, be forged into a steel gun, and fire steel bullets.

The so-called transcendence refers to transcending the state of the Gatling gun.

The power will emanate from the heart, becoming even more terrifying.

Second, the methods for forging and upgrading literary weapons.

It mainly relies on the tempering of literary energy and the continued blessing of the earth spirit.

To catalyze the advancement of the literary weapon, more powerful literary energy and more earth spirits are needed.

As for the methods of refining, that's not the point.

Third, one must refine a divine weapon of literary energy at the True Self Realm level; the Foundation Establishment Realm is merely the entry-level stage.

This means that, at present, although Xue Xiang can continue to strengthen Gatling, he is far from reaching the level that will enable Gatling to advance.

Just as Xue Xiang was about to leave the Wenxu Blessed Land, a message suddenly appeared on the Wenxu Platform, reminding him that there were still thirty days left in his battle against the Lord of Fusheng Xuanhuang.

Xue Xiang was startled; he had almost forgotten about this matter.

He has one more chance to abstain, and he has seven Wenxu Pearls left.

Even if we forfeit once and consume five Wenxu Pearls, we can still preserve the Wenxu Blessed Land.

That was what he thought at the time.

But now, he doesn't see it that way anymore.

If you abstain this time, will you abstain next time?
If you don't have the courage to fight this time, then next year, when you'll have the strength and courage to fight, will you?
With this thought in mind, he decided to accept the challenge. He would first assess the situation, and if there was truly no room for maneuver, he would then concede defeat.

He didn't believe that the Lord of Fortune and Prosperity would be so stupid as to kill himself. If he really killed himself, he would become the last in line, and without his stable support and filial piety, his life would be much better.

Having made up his mind, Xue Xiang took another look at the battle rules of the Lord of Wenxu.

With sixty days remaining in the match, the player to the left has the right to issue a challenge to the player to the right.

The latest date for issuing a challenge letter must be no less than fifteen days before the match.

At that moment, Xue Xiang chose to issue a challenge to the Lord of Fusheng Xuanhuang, and a streak of light flashed across the Wenxu Platform.

Before long, a streak of light returned from Wenxutai, carrying a challenge letter.

At the end of the challenge, a meeting was arranged, followed by two numbers. Xue Xiang knew that these numbers were essentially coordinates within the Wenxu space, allowing the Wenxu Platform to automatically transport people there.

Furthermore, within the rules, neither party may use force in the Wenxu Space before the agreed-upon time, otherwise they will be subject to Wenxu Space penalties.

Xue Xiang pondered why the Lord of Fusheng Xuanhuang wanted to meet him.

After a moment's thought, I got the gist of it.

The purpose was simply to test his own strengths and weaknesses. After all, from the perspective of the Lord of Blessing and Profound Origin, the Lord of Bright Virtue and Profound Enlightenment had always been consistently respectful and filial.

The sudden challenge now clearly indicates that someone has recently obtained the inheritance of the Lord of Mingde Dongxuan.

With the enemy's situation unclear, this meeting was simply an attempt to probe their strength and weaknesses.

"It seems that this Lord of Fortune and Prosperity is not so terrifying after all? That makes sense. He's already second to last, so he's probably not a top student. What do I have to be afraid of?"

Having made up his mind, Xue Xiang agreed to the meeting.

Before long, a white light emanated from the Wenxu Platform. Xue Xiang, still shrouded in literary aura, vanished in a flash.

When his gaze settled again, he found himself on a pure white jade platform, surrounded by white clouds, with vast mountains in the distance and a rushing river at his feet.

The surrounding spiritual energy was cool and refreshing, stimulating the skin and making one feel relaxed and comfortable.

Suddenly, a rainbow light landed, and a cloaked figure appeared ten feet ahead.

The cloaked figure cupped his hands and spoke in a hoarse voice, "I am the Lord of Fusheng Xuanhuang, greetings to fellow Daoist."

Xue Xiang waved his hand, "Let's skip the formalities, what brings you here, fellow Daoist?"

"It's nothing. It's just that I haven't heard from the Lord of Mingde Cave for too long, and I've been worried about him. I'm very pleased to receive your challenge today."

"I will not disappoint you."

"Very well, I also yearn to fight against the strong. Lord of Mingde Cave, do you have another title? This title is too awkward to pronounce."

"The books of sages contain immortal registers, and the Wenyuan Pavilion cultivates the Dao heart. A scholar's robe cannot contain lofty ambitions, and a single word can erase the names of sages. Fellow Daoist, farewell."

Xue Xiang had a sudden thought and returned to Wenxu Terrace.

He found it increasingly intriguing. He knew, of course, that the Lord of Fusheng Xuanhuang's final question about his alias was a subtle way of probing his origins, intending to investigate further upon his return.

The more the Lord of Fortune and Prosperity acts this way, the more it shows that he is not so confident and is worried.
Of course, Xue Xiang knew perfectly well that even if Fu Sheng Xuan Huang lacked confidence, he was 99% unlikely to be a person with the same kind of opportunity as himself; he was probably just lacking the confidence to fight against top-tier experts.

If you fight with your true abilities, you will surely be killed without leaving a trace.

"We need to think about it carefully."

Xue Xiang gently stroked his smooth chin.

As Xue Xiang was calculating, 30,000 miles away, in the blessed land of Wuliang Mountain, the place where the Murong family had risen for ten thousand years, in the Wuliang Palace, in the Langhuan Jade Cave, a handsome young man who had been sitting cross-legged got up and ran out of the cave.

Passing through the cloud-covered corridor, we headed straight into a magnificent palace.

"Mother."

A handsome young man rushed to a beautiful woman in palace attire, his eyes filled with panic.

"Yu'er, what's wrong with you?"

The beautiful woman in palace attire raised her eyebrows. "You're already thirty-three, and you've reached the late stage of Core Formation. Your father, at your age, was already the powerful and influential Lord of Fusheng Xuanhuang. If it weren't for the natural disasters that killed him..."

Now, he has probably already entered the realm of Nascent Soul.

Now that you have inherited the prestigious position of Lord of Fortune and Prosperity, you should strive for excellence and shoulder the responsibility for the entire Murong family.

Look at you now, so flustered! Go kneel down before your father's memorial tablet.

"Mother, if you want to punish me by making me kneel, I will accept the punishment. But could you please allow me to explain the situation?"

Murong Yu's handsome face was streaked with tears.

"You said."

"Your son has received a challenge from the Lord of Mingde Dongxuan."

"what!"

The nearly transparent jade ruyi in the hands of the beautiful woman in palace attire slipped from her delicate hand. Just as it was about to fall onto the gold bricks and shatter into pieces, Murong Yu caught it in one swift motion.

“I also arranged to meet that person.”

“Stay here, Elder Zhaode and Elder Shou.”

"Follow the order."

A beautiful maid in green bowed and withdrew.

Before long, two beams of rainbow light fell into the hall and transformed into two people.

The man on the left, with a long, flowing beard and a ruddy complexion, was none other than Guangde, the elder steward of the Murong family.

The person on the right had a face like jade, a figure like a crane, and a slender, jade-like appearance, like a beauty. He was also an elder of the Murong family, whose real name was Zeng Yuanshou.

After the two were seated, Murong Yu informed him that the Lord of Mingde Dongxuan had issued a challenge to him and that he had met with the Lord of Mingde Dongxuan.

Guangde stroked his long beard, his brow furrowed. "This is hardly good news, but it's not necessarily bad news either."

The beautiful woman in palace attire knew Guangde's speaking habits and was not in a hurry.

Murong Yu was completely confused.

Guangde said, "It's not good news, it's that the young master has a rival."

It might not be bad news. As long as the young master defeats this opponent, he won't fall to the bottom of the rankings.

In this way, the risk of the blessed land of Fusheng Xuanhuang Wenxu being destroyed is greatly reduced.

"No matter what, we still need to outmaneuver the Lord of Mingde Dongxuan."

In stark contrast to Guangde, Zeng Yuanshou was an impatient person.

The beautiful woman in palace attire asked, "What do you two think of this Lord of Mingde Dongxuan?"

Guangde said, "Everyone knows that the previous master of Mingde Dongxuan was the Old Man Hangu."

This should be the newly appointed position.

This can be divided into two situations. One is to stand out from many competitors. This kind of person is a strong person in the world, and must be at least at the Nascent Soul Realm.

Another type is the inheritance obtained by a destined person through a chance encounter.

In this situation, the newly appointed Lord of Mingde Cave is likely not as strong as the young master.

The young master chose to meet, and the new Lord of Mingde Dongxuan agreed. Perhaps he wanted to test the young master's true strength.

I think he must also be somewhat wary of the young master's strength.

"This is only human nature, what's there to analyze?"

Zeng Yuanshou said, "With the passing of the Elder Hangu, the Lord of Mingde Dongxuan has a new successor."

This process may not be silent. I think we should have Fengxin fully mobilized to search for clues related to the Elder Hangu and the Mingde Cave Mysterious Ruins Blessed Land.

Perhaps we can find out who exactly inherited the Wenxu Blessed Land from the Lord of Mingde Dongxuan.

We can discuss this further when the time comes.

But time is tight, we need to hurry.

The Murong family, a clan with a history spanning millennia, possesses unparalleled hidden strength, and its intelligence network, Fengxindu, is exceptionally capable.

Once the beautiful woman in palace attire issued the order, the entire Fengxin system went into overdrive.

One piece of information after another was collected, and one erroneous message after another was eliminated.

In just two days, the useful information was gathered and delivered to the beautiful woman in palace attire.

The four people—the beautiful woman in palace attire, Murong Yu, Guang De, and Zeng Yuanshou—reunited once again in the beautiful woman's bedchamber.

After reading the information in the jade pendant, Guangde said loudly, "This is interesting. The old man Hangu has passed away, and the new master of Wenxu Blessed Land is also an old man."

The discovery of Wenxu Fudi in the Bohai Bay has sparked a looting frenzy.

As a result, Wenxu Blessed Land already had a new master, who wrote the famous essay "On Teachers," captured a dragon with one hand, and defeated the Nascent Soul monster Zhongli Mo.

Such strength, yet he was a person on the verge of annihilation.

I really don't know why he wanted to seize the blessed land of Wenxu.

"Humans are always afraid of death and cling to life; even those who claim to be carefree are not immune to this."

Zeng Yuanshou said, "Since this person has such strength, Young Master is definitely no match for him. This is truly troublesome."

Guangde said, "I don't think it's troublesome. Whether the rumors are true or false, we should see for ourselves."

Isn't the Lord of Bright Virtue and Profound Mystery in the Bohai Sea? Isn't he teaching and enlightening all living beings?

"If I sneak over with you, young master, and take a quick look, we can find out the truth, right?"

Zeng Yuanshou said, "The Wenxu Blessed Land of Mingde Dongxuan has been shrouded in a great formation by those selfish people. It won't be so easy to get in."

The beautiful woman in palace attire said, "Money can move mountains. Sending Yu'er to see that Lord of the Bright Virtue Cave is the right thing to do."

"I'll take care of it."

Guangde responded loudly.

Twenty-one days later, Zeng Yuanshou, a beautiful woman in palace attire who had received the news early on, was waiting in the Guanghan Palace.

Just past noon, Guangde and Murong Yu returned.

"how?"

Zeng Yuanshou asked urgently.

Guangde looked at Murong Yu, "Why don't you speak, young master?"

(End of this chapter)