59. Enemies and Friends
"Kill Si Cao?" Wu Hongbiao was shocked: "The two of us?"
"Yes, the two of us."
The small room of the cloth shop was empty. Wu Hongbiao sat cross-legged on the ground, while Chen Ji leaned against the door frame. The two looked at each other silently.
At this moment, Wu Hongbiao looked towards the door and saw Chen Ji standing with his back to the moonlight, so his expression could not be seen clearly.
He patiently advised, "You've only been in the Military Intelligence Department for a short time and haven't had much contact with this officer. Don't entertain such dangerous thoughts."
Chen Ji discovered that even the most elite spy like Wu Hongbiao had the idea of retreating from "killing Si Cao".
He couldn't help but ask, "How powerful is Si Cao?"
Wu Hongbiao said solemnly, "You are not an officer, so you don't know how powerful officers are. I am just a warrior in the acquired realm. That Si Cao has been in the army for a long time. He is at least an officer who has reached the perfect innate realm. I am afraid he is only one step away from the seeking realm."
Chen Ji looked puzzled.
Wu Hongbiao was helpless. While chewing on a multi-grain pancake, he explained, "Well, you won't understand these realms even if I tell you. Let me give you the simplest example. Once in Nanjing, Si Cao's whereabouts were exposed. The Secret Service's army of hundreds of soldiers couldn't capture him. He killed dozens of them and finally escaped into the Qinhuai River."
Chen Ji asked, "If the Xiantian realm is already so powerful, then how powerful must the Xundao realm be? Is it difficult to cultivate to the Xundao realm?"
"Of course it's difficult!" Wu Hongbiao sighed. "Look, I'm trying to break through from the acquired realm to the innate realm, but I don't know the trick, let alone the innate realm of seeking the Dao? Looking across the entire Luo City, there are probably only two masters of the seeking Dao realm. One is Liang Gou'er, and the other one should be hiding in Yanshi, who is controlled by the Liu family."
Wu Hongbiao said seriously, "At the Seeking Dao Realm, unless you charge with a formation of more than 500 men, you absolutely cannot defeat such a master. Liang Gou'er entered the Seeking Dao Realm at the age of 24. That year, he went to the Ning Dynasty's border army and, during the battle between the two armies, he killed eight generals of our Jing Dynasty in a row, becoming famous for a while. It's a pity that Liang Gou'er's path of cultivation was interrupted. Otherwise, he would have been the most promising person in the Ning Dynasty to make further progress."
"Was it cut off by someone?"
Wu Hongbiao thought for a moment: "I always thought this might be the work of Jing Chao, or even your uncle."
Chen Ji was stunned for a moment: "Why do you say that?"
Wu Hongbiao explained, "After Liang Gou'er's cultivation was cut off, a female swordsman appeared in the border army of our Jing Dynasty and assassinated a talented general of the Ning Dynasty. Someone recognized that she used the Liang family's sword technique. She must have been specially trained by someone in our Jing Dynasty. She came to Ning Dynasty to marry Liang Gou'er in order to destroy his state of mind and interrupt his cultivation!"
"This female swordsman not only cut off Liang Gou'er's path to cultivation, but also stole the Liang family's inherited swordsmanship. It's like killing two birds with one stone. It's truly a fight full of cunning schemes."
Chen Ji was puzzled: "But why do you say this was done by my uncle?"
Wu Hongbiao uncorked the bamboo tube and took a sip of water. "Three years ago, when your uncle was assassinated, a female swordsman also appeared beside him."
Chen Ji: ...
My uncle has a very complicated background.
Until now, he still hasn't had a clear understanding of his uncle. He always feels that there is a layer of mystery surrounding him, and he seems both good and evil, and will do anything to achieve his goals.
Chen Ji murmured, "Postnatal, Innate, Seeking the Dao... What is above the Seeking the Dao realm?"
"Shinto Realm!"
Wu Hongbiao said, "According to your uncle, there are only a handful of people in the world who have reached this level. Lu Yang, the headmaster of the Jing Dynasty Martial Temple, is one of them, as is the disciple son of Huangshan Mountain in the Ning Dynasty. Even Laojun Mountain in Luocheng Dao Court and Luotian Sect in the Ning Dynasty do not have such people."
"A figure like Lu Yangshan is a master who has already touched the threshold of heavenly beings! Furthermore, the people of Jing Dynasty have always talked about his legendary story of 'Jia Zi Ban Mo'. Have you heard of it?"
"I've never heard of it! Jiazi exorcise demons? Are there still demons in this world?"
"They are demonic sects scattered throughout the Jing Dynasty. They practice cultivation through human sacrifice, often kidnapping children and women, and even massacring villages. They are extremely evil! Lu Yangshan has created the Martial Temple to eliminate demons, and he will kill them all without leaving a single one!"
"Because it happened in the Jiazi year, it's called Jiazi Dangmo?"
Wu Hongbiao shook his head: "No, it's been sixty years since I started to exorcise demons."
Chen Ji choked. A sixty-year cycle is sixty years. No demon sect could withstand a master of the divine realm fighting against him for sixty years.
Temple of Martial Arts!
Liang Gou'er once mentioned this place.
The other party once mentioned that Chen Ji should not practice with the sword, but should go to Jingchao Martial Temple to learn the other party's "sword style".
It was not until today that Chen Ji had a vague idea of the officials in the world.
But now... he himself is probably not even a martial artist.
Facing a figure like Si Cao, he was even worried that he would not be able to kill him with gunpowder.
It is a difficult problem to make the other party stay where they are and be blown up by you.
Wu Hongbiao said:
"You still want to kill Si Cao's mother? Give up!"
Chen Ji was silent for a long time: "But if I don't kill him, he will kill me."
Wu Hongbiao also fell silent.
His expression seemed to show struggle and hesitation. He was different from Chen Ji. It was because he knew how powerful Si Cao was that he knew it was impossible for the two of them to accomplish the task alone.
But in the end, Wu Hongbiao said, "Then kill him, but how?"
"I'll find a way. There will always be a way!"
Chen Ji pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Tell me, why didn't my uncle let me go back to Jing Dynasty?"
Wu Hongbiao pondered for a moment. "I can't fathom his thoughts, but he once said that all sons of noble families should be trained on the front lines, otherwise they'll just become playboys, spending their days fighting dogs and whoring. Back then, he risked his life to travel south to the Ning Dynasty, and returned to our Jing Dynasty with the unparalleled merit of assassinating the Chen family's Minister of War. He then single-handedly established the Military Intelligence Department! I think he might hope that you will become like him!"
Wu Hongbiao said longingly, "I don't know how many people in the Jing Dynasty military admire your uncle and want to be like him. I think you should also aspire to do the same and follow the path he once walked."
Chen Ji was stunned. So the Military Intelligence Department was established by his own uncle?
It's really a new discovery every day...
But if he had to assassinate a Shangshu elder before he could go back, then it would be better for Jing Chao not to go back.
Ning Dynasty is pretty good.
"I have another question. You were about to die, so why did you come to deliver a letter to me?"
Wu Hongbiao grinned and said, "I told you we are brothers!"
"I understand!" Chen Ji turned and left. "I can't stay here for long. I'll bring some food and water every night for the next few days. You should take good care of your injuries!"
After going out, Chen Ji stood in the backyard of the cloth shop under the moonlight and let out a long breath.
If you want to kill Si Cao, you may need to plan carefully. At least you need to know what he looks like and what identity he uses to cover up.
He struggled to climb out of the yard and went back to the apprentice dormitory to lie down. The snoring continued in the room, but Chen Ji felt particularly peaceful in his heart.
The wounds on my chest and thighs started to hurt again.
These pains reminded him all the time that weakness was the original sin of this world.
Chen Ji lay on the bunk bed and looked at the beams quietly, his mind still stirring with the words he had said tonight about the officials.
He slowly closed his eyes, mobilized the molten flow in the sixteen fires in his body, and condensed half of it in his heart.
In an instant, the fire in the furnace died down, like a candle in the wind, as if it would go out at any moment.
The ice flow in Chen Ji's dantian felt the power guarding him weaken, and immediately began to stir.
It penetrated from Tianshuxue and spread all the way to Chen Ji's entire body.
The long-lost cold came, and Chen Ji fell into the mysterious and unknown dark sea of clouds again, returning to the ancient battlefield.
In the past, he was forced to fall into this place. He was haunted by this nightmare more than once before he was twelve years old. His parents even thought he was seriously ill and took him to see a psychiatrist.
And this time, Chen Ji came back on his own initiative.
As the little monk said, Chen Ji has always had a gambling nature, but others gamble with money, while he gambles with his life.
Feeling the mist of the sea of clouds flowing beside him, he was like a meteorite penetrating from the sky, landing on the green mountains with all the black luck.
Strangely, this time there were no more shouts and cries of killing on the ancient battlefield, as if everything had stopped.
Chen Ji saw a three-legged golden crow frozen in the sky, its tail not even shaking at all.
He saw a golden feather arrow flying through the battle formation, but it was suspended in the air by some unknown force, and the man who was shooting with a full bow was also frozen in place.
He saw a giant rushing towards the battlefield like Kuafu chasing the sun, but he stopped in the posture of taking one step forward.
This battlefield is like a huge and lonely amber, imprisoning everything for tens of thousands of years.
But the emperor wearing golden armor, holding the royal flag and commanding the battle was nowhere to be seen.
"You still rushed here?"
A loud voice sounded behind Chen Ji.
Chen Ji turned around suddenly and saw the man in golden armor with a figure as majestic as a mountain standing behind him, looking down at him from the top of the green hill.
He was not afraid, but asked calmly: "What's your name?"
"My name is 'Xuanyuan'!"
The sound of the word "Xuanyuan" was like a loud bell, as if it was responded by heaven and earth, and even the dark clouds above the sky were slowly dispersing.
Chen Ji asked again: "Who am I?"
Xuanyuan laughed out loud as if he had heard something funny, "You don't remember, you don't remember anything."
Xuanyuan just smiled, but his tone became lonely: "The peach blossoms in Guixu, the snow on the East Kunlun Mountains, the sea outside Penglai, you don't remember any of them..."
Chen Ji frowned: "Who am I?"
Xuanyuan turned his head and looked beyond the green hills: "This is
"This is the biggest joke I've heard in fifteen thousand years. Even you have forgotten who you are, so who am I? And what is the point of my fifteen thousand years of loneliness?"
Chen Ji looked at the other party quietly, and he suddenly realized that this was definitely not a real battlefield. Those battle formations, those magical birds and beasts, and those people were all fake.
The golden-armored emperor 'Xuanyuan' in front of him is the only living being in this world.
But he saw the other party slowly calm down, and said in a dignified voice: "What is your purpose in coming to my world? Aren't you afraid that I will borrow you to return to the world?"
"Afraid!"
"Then you still dare to come?"
Chen Ji said seriously: "Teach me the sword technique!"
He couldn't go to Jingchao Wu Temple. Maybe one day he would really go to Jingchao, but that would be too long and he couldn't wait.
Xuanyuan was visibly stunned when he heard Chen Ji's words, as if he had heard something incredible. Then he burst into laughter again: "Pass on the sword seed to you? Hahahaha, this is the second joke I've heard in the past 15,000 years."
Chen Ji was speechless for a moment: "Is it so funny?"
Xuanyuan turned around, propped the royal flag in his hand on the top of the mountain, and said in a deep voice: "Do you know that you and I were once enemies?"
"I don't know, but maybe we were friends!"
This time it was Xuanyuan's turn to remain silent. After a long moment, he said in a deep voice, "Then do you know that the sword style I cultivated was what you once despised the most?"
Chen Ji hurriedly said: "I can see it now, I can see it now, it's fierce!"
Xuanyuan: ...
On the top of the green hill, the two of them were speechless and fell into a suffocating awkwardness.
Xuanyuan looked at Chen Ji seriously, as if he needed to get to know him all over again: "You've changed so much!"
Chen Ji said seriously, "Actually, what I want to say is that I'm not someone you know. My name is Chen Ji, and I'm just an apprentice at the Taiping Clinic. I don't look down on swordsmen, nor do I have any lofty ideals. I just don't want to be killed easily. I don't know what grudges you have with that non-existent person. I just want to make a bet with you."
"Oh?" Xuanyuan became interested. "How do we bet?"
"You want to use me to return to the world?"
“That’s right!”
"You taught me the sword seed. If one day you use me to return to the world, then my current cultivation will be for you!"
Xuanyuan pondered: "You want to bet that I can never return to the world?"
Chen Ji looked up at the towering mountains and asked, "Want to bet?"
The Golden Armored Emperor laughed and said, "Even you can use provocation. I can pass on the sword technique to you, but not because of this ridiculous game."
Chen Ji was puzzled: "Why is that?"
Xuanyuan spoke in riddle: "For the Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms in Guixu."
Chen Ji didn't understand.
But let’s do it for the peach blossoms, or for the pear blossoms, or for the camellias.
"How do I practice sword cultivation?"
Chen Ji asked.
Xuanyuan Gaoshen said, "To cultivate my sword path, one must nourish the sword spirit with the stars, and forge sword seeds by seizing the sword spirit of others. I have chosen the Purple Star, a starry sky. You can choose one of your own. Remember, once you choose, you cannot change it."
"How do I nourish my sword with the stars?"
"I will now teach you that cultivating a sword requires patience. The stars are far away and unreachable. The first time I touched the Purple Star with my spiritual consciousness, it took me 434 years."
Chen Ji: ...
…
An unknown amount of time passed before the ice flow penetrated into Chen Ji's heart, causing a violent counterattack from the molten flow, which suppressed all the ice flow back into his dantian.
The rooster crows in the morning.
Chen Ji slowly opened his eyes. He endured the pain in his thigh, lifted the quilt, stood up with difficulty, and slowly moved to the yard.
He looked at the starry sky and quickly found the location of the Purple Star Emperor.
The so-called Purple Star Emperor is actually the North Star, which is about 434 light-years away from his location.
The Big Dipper revolves around it throughout the four seasons.
If the sky is compared to a funnel, then the Purple Star Emperor Star is the top of the funnel, right in the middle.
Chen Ji thought about what Xuanyuan said. Once the star for raising the sword is chosen, it cannot be changed, so he must be extremely cautious.
But according to Xuanyuan, it took a full four hundred and thirty-four years just to use the so-called spiritual consciousness to contact the Purple Star Emperor. If he wanted to practice this method, his lifeline would have to grow from the palm of his hand to the heel.
Even if he dies of old age, he will not be able to achieve enlightenment.
Chen Ji leaned against the apricot tree with his clothes draped over him. In addition to the pain, there was also a bit of youthful melancholy.
The crow looked at him curiously, wondering what was wrong with him.
Chen Ji asked, "Uncle Crow, how do you think I can live to be 434 years old?"
The crow opened its mouth and sneered silently.
However, at this moment, the sun was rising, and a ray of golden light shot out from the farthest part of the sky, dyeing the clouds.
Chen Ji was suddenly stunned...
As we all know, the sun is the star closest to him!
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