The Elixir is for You, The Poison is for Me

#697 - The trend of a prairie fire

“Oh.” Lu Jing pretended to think for a while, but in the end, he had to admit with shame, “I didn’t listen carefully in the academy.”

“…”

“Forget it.” Guo Shouhuai said, “You and Lord Qi did a good job in the Northwest before. You not only solved the strange object case in Shizhou, but also brought back the Golden Scale Secret Carp.”

“Now the secret power between heaven and earth is becoming increasingly thin. It is becoming more and more difficult for cultivators to absorb secret power according to the previous cultivation methods. Lord Qi is studying how to use those carp to supply secret power to cultivators, and has already made some progress.”

“Once he succeeds, he will be able to alleviate the adverse effects of the decline of secret power to a certain extent. So you two can be regarded as making great contributions to the Sitianjian. What do you want?”

“It’s three, and I found that sword, now I have four flying swords.”

“…”

“From ancient times to the present, no one has ever refined so many flying swords in one go. Moreover, you are also clear about the current situation. Even if Lord Qi's research is successful, the Golden Scale Secret Carp can only treat the symptoms, not the root cause.”

“Once there is no secret power between heaven and earth, then those Golden Scale Secret Carp themselves will not be able to generate secret power.”

“I know, but I still want a flying sword.” Lu Jing said.

Guo Shouhuai nodded, "Okay, then I'll give you one, no... let's give you two flying swords. Also, from today onwards, you will be a second-rank supervisor."

Seeing Lu Jing's insistence, Guo Shouhuai didn't say anything more. He was the Shaojian of the Sitianjian, and he had too many things to deal with. Guiding Lu Jing's cultivation was just a casual remark and he wouldn't force it.

However, Lu Jing was quite surprised. He had only just become a supervisor not long ago, and he was directly promoted to the second rank. Was this speed a little too fast?

Also, what are the benefits of the second rank?

Lu Jing thought about it. It seemed that besides a higher salary, more intelligence to access, and more expedited investigations, there wasn't much difference from a first-rank supervisor.

On the contrary, the strange object cases he would encounter later would probably be more troublesome. Thinking about it this way, wasn't he at a loss?

Fortunately, he got two flying swords, which gave Lu Jing some comfort.

At least for the recent period, he didn't have to worry about secret power anymore.

After finishing the small talk, Guo Shouhuai finally got to the point.

“Tell me everything you know about that dragon.”

So Lu Jing put away those messy thoughts and carefully recounted what had just happened in Wujiang City.

Guo Shouhuai listened quietly without immediately commenting. After a while, he explained, "Mr. Ji has a strange object that allows him to travel with his spirit."

“Spirit travel?”

“Yes, to wander between heaven and earth with the spirit, without being bound by the body. In other words, he can go wherever he wants. But I still didn’t expect that he would be so bold as to run into the secret realm, and even reach the deepest part. The danger to the spirit there is no less than to the body.”

Lu Jing was concerned about another matter, “He can travel with his spirit? Isn’t that too much of a cheat?”

Thinking that there was a human-shaped satellite hanging in the sky, patrolling everywhere, Lu Jing felt that there was no point in playing anymore. It was equivalent to one's own fog of war being removed while the opponent had a fully opened map.

Their every move was seen by the opponent, wouldn't that mean that any strategy was useless.

Guo Shouhuai seemed to know what Lu Jing was thinking and shook his head, “It’s not that simple. He can only travel with his spirit for one hour on the second day of the second month of each year. The speed of the spirit's wandering will not be too exaggerated, at most it is like a flying bird. And he can't do anything while traveling with his spirit.”

Lu Jing breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this. It seemed that on the second day of the second month in the future, he had better not do anything and find a place to be a couch potato for a day.

If Mr. Ji wanted to peep, then let him peep and enjoy it.

“But this can't prove that what he said is the truth, right? At least not all of it is true.” Lu Jing thought for a while and said.

“You are right.” Guo Shouhuai said, “So I will verify this matter again.”

“Verify, how to verify? We don’t have anyone here who can travel with their spirit, right?” Lu Jing asked in surprise.

“Yes, but we can send people to the center of the secret realm.”

“But hasn’t no one ever reached there except Mr. Ji?”

“That was the case before, but it’s different now. The decline of secret power has made it less dangerous inside.”

After Guo Shouhuai finished speaking, he noticed Lu Jing peeking at his severed arm.

He didn't hide it, "We were too anxious at the time, in order to find out whether the decline of secret power was accidental or large-scale. We investigated four secret realms in one go, and all of them were medium-sized or larger secret realms. People were tired and horses were exhausted, and there was almost no rest in between, but we still went very far."

“If we choose the smallest secret realm, prepare well, and wait for a while before setting off, there is still a high probability of reaching the center.”

Guo Shouhuai said firmly, “We have no choice. If we don’t understand our enemy, we can’t find a way to deal with it. Whether it’s a dragon or something else, as long as we can find its weakness, we can win this battle.”

… … … …

Facts have proved that Sitianjian is not the only one preparing for war.

When Lu Jing returned to Yuzhou, he received a message from Zhou Yu saying that Zhaozong had rebelled.

Or more precisely, the resurrected Zhaozong claimed that his nephew, the current Da Chen official, and his father were both thieves who stole the country.

Not only did he instruct his confidants to shoot him while hunting before, but he also killed the orphans and widows he left behind, and finally sat on that position with the support of a group of treacherous officials and rebellious parties.

Fortunately, Zhu Zhen, as the true son of heaven, was blessed by heaven and did not die from the arrow. Later, he was rescued by a woodcutter, but because the pseudo-emperor and his son were powerful and had been secretly sending people to hunt him down, he had to hide his name for decades.

He had originally planned to end his life like this, but he did not expect that Zhu Jie would act perversely, causing anger and resentment from the heavens. Seeing the people displaced and unable to eat their fill.

The elderly Zhu Zhen had no choice but to come out to clean up the mess, reorganize the country, and save the world from collapse. He said that he didn't care who was sitting on the chair, he only hoped to stabilize the situation as soon as possible, quell the banditry, and ensure that everyone had food in their bowls.

In order to achieve this simple wish, Zhu Zhen called on the heroes and people of insight in the world to overthrow the brutal rule of his nephew with him.

As soon as this declaration was issued, it immediately caused shock throughout the world.

Immediately, three prefectures and sixteen states raised troops in response. Needless to say, these were obviously people who had secretly joined Zhu Zhen. At this time, it was just a transition from secret to open. Although compared to the vast territory of Da Chen, this little territory and manpower were not fatal.

But the spark has already been ignited, and if you are not careful, it will quickly spread like wildfire.

And at this moment of the confluence of wind and clouds, Lu Jing was studying the walls of his own earth fort.