The strongest warrior of the Great Qian Dynasty

Li Qingshan was not in a hurry to leave the Treasure Pavilion. After all, since this place sold pills, it must have a place where one could cultivate in seclusion.

Led by the waiter, Li Qingshan passed through layers of mountains and soon arrived at a secret chamber with rolling stones hanging from it.

The waiter carefully showed the token to the guards around him, while at the same time patiently explaining it to Li Qingshan:

"My lord, look at this Dragon-Slaying Stone. It must weigh at least ten million catties to obtain."

If your training is complete, you can activate the button on the wall. The Dragon-Slaying Stone will automatically rise, and the guards outside will receive the order and allow you to leave.

Li Qingshan nodded and then stepped into the secret room where an ever-burning lamp was lit.

This eternal lamp is made from the blubber of whales from the East China Sea. When it burns, it produces no black smoke and even emits a faint scent of ink, which calms the mind.

Li Qingshan sat cross-legged on the futon, feeling the surrounding environment becoming increasingly tranquil, while the Dragon-Slaying Stone not far from him was gradually lowered by a mechanism.

Whoosh!

Li Qingshan flicked his finger, sending a wisp of true energy onto the Dragon-Slaying Stone.

In an instant, muffled sounds echoed around, but the sound was extremely faint and unlikely to disturb those who were cultivating.

"Indeed, it's worth the price of ten taels of silver for a secret room that lasts for an hour."

After calming his mind and realizing that he was in a relatively quiet environment, Li Qingshan began to swallow the herb-returning pill in his hand.

Upon tasting it, Li Qingshan felt as if thousands of plants were moving in his mouth, and his entire mind was moved.

Then, a warm sensation moved from the abdomen towards the dantian, and the surrounding meridians were also continuously enveloped.

Meanwhile, the Yin-Yang intertwined true energy within his dantian, as if it had taken a tonic, began to move rapidly and continuously grow stronger.

At the same time, Li Qingshan began to activate the "Purifying White Lotus Mantra," continuously circulating the white lotus to remove his distracting thoughts and keep his mind focused.

Half an hour later.

Li Qingshan slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, feeling his strength increase dramatically.

"My true energy increased by about 10%, which is comparable to my hard work over several dozen days."

However, this pill cannot be quantified in too large a quantity at once. I can feel some impurities, which are stubbornly persisting in my meridians.

"If I take these pills for a long time, it will definitely clog my meridians and may even greatly affect my future breakthroughs."

Li Qingshan was no longer the naive martial arts novice he once was; he saw through the drawbacks of the Herbal Rejuvenation Pill at a glance.

However, he still felt that this pill was extremely important. After all, he could remove the magazines himself, but the effort saved would be of great benefit to him.

"Alright, I'll refine one today. After these impurities are removed, I'll continue to consume it. In about three days, I'll be able to refine another one."

Li Qingshan silently calculated in his mind and realized that with a few more months of continuous consumption of these pills, he would be able to advance to the late stage of True Qi.

If this were to come to the attention of many True Qi experts who are stuck at their bottlenecks, they would probably be so angry they'd vomit blood.

The True Qi Realm is extremely rare among martial artists, with only one in a hundred achieving it.

Bottlenecks are the fairest existence in the world, capable of tightly suppressing everyone's talents.

Many geniuses throughout history have died at the same level because they were unable to break through their limitations.

But now Li Qingshan's breakthrough is as easy as eating and drinking, how can people not be angry?

Li Qingshan had a sudden thought. He directly struck the mechanism next to him.

Then, the ever-burning lamp trembled slightly and then rotated once.

Click click click!

The Dragon-Slaying Stone, which could not be broken by anyone but a grandmaster, was slowly pulled above Li Qingshan by a nearby mechanism.

Li Qingshan emerged from within at that moment.

"My lord, you should not linger around the secret chamber. Please leave as soon as possible."

The guard leader, clad in black armor and with a cold expression, cupped his hands in greeting to Li Qingshan and spoke in a chilling tone.

Li Qingshan nodded and didn't linger any longer, since there wasn't much to see in this place.

But as soon as he crossed the layers of artificial mountains, he saw the waiter who had greeted him earlier running towards him with a look of surprise on his face.

"My lord, you are too kind! You must be Li Qingshan! A very important person in the Treasure Pavilion wishes to see you. Would you do me the honor?"

The waiter wiped the sweat from his brow and said with a hint of flattery.

However, there was something subtly off about the way he looked at Li Qingshan.

"So this person is not only skilled in martial arts, but also has remarkable achievements in literature. Otherwise, why would the teachers and instructors of Tiantong Academy take care of him?"

Li Qingshan sensed the probing and jealousy emanating from the waiter in front of him, but felt no murderous intent.

On the other side, someone said calmly:

"Who's looking for me?"

The waiter was speechless. His orders were to let Li Qingshan meet that person, but he really didn't know who that person was.

Gritting his teeth, the waiter leaned closer to Li Qingshan and whispered in an extremely low voice:

"This... is a bit difficult for me. I'm just a guard, how could I possibly know the identity of such an important person? But what I do know is that this person seems to be a teacher at Tiantong Academy?"

Tiantong Academy?!

Why would this godforsaken place want to find me?

Could it be that the teachers at the academy found out about my teaching of Tan Tongle some time ago and are planning to cause me trouble?

That's not quite right. Li Qingshan believed that officials were corrupt and narrow-minded, but these people hadn't completely left the academy yet, so how could they have become so narrow-minded?

With a slight shift in his thoughts, Li Qingshan dismissed all the ideas that had just crossed his mind, and said calmly and respectfully:

"Let's go, lead the way!"

The waiter nodded and quickly led the way.

After passing through an artificial hill and a garden interspersed with trees, Li Qingshan saw a pavilion built on the lakeside.

The pavilion is not large, about five zhang (approximately 10 meters) in size. It features rich stone carvings and a wooden mortise and tenon structure. Up close, it appears simple yet grand, while from a distance, it exudes understated luxury, making it quite extraordinary.

Meanwhile, in the courtyard sat a middle-aged man dressed in a blue robe with his hair tied in a bun, playing the zither.

The music was melodious and contained a special rhythm, as if it placed people in the middle of the green mountains, making them feel the vastness of the world and the immensity of the sun and moon.

Before this middle-aged man were only two beautiful maids, who were adding fragrance to his sleeves and performing the tea ceremony for him.

After a long while, the music stopped, and the two women then served up the writing brushes and tea they had prepared.

"Master, your zither skills have improved again!"

"Yes, Master, although the music is long and melodious, one can also feel the unyielding spirit and profound depth of the mountains and seas within it."

The two women laughed.

The teacher smiled without saying a word, looked up at Li Qingshan, and said.

"This must be Master Li?"