"Crackling and popping..."
The capital of the Ming Dynasty was filled with laughter and joy, and the sound of firecrackers was constant.
Three months have passed since the war with Japan ended. It is now the end of the twenty-fifth year of the Jiajing reign, and the New Year is approaching.
The Ming Dynasty left behind all the troops that had been fighting the Japanese pirates, and Qi Jiguang became the first governor of the Japanese islands, in charge of the soldiers who remained. Surprisingly, most of the martial arts practitioners also stayed behind after receiving permission from the court, because they were waiting for the next voyage. This time, they not only received rewards from the court, but also a lot of Japanese land. As a result, many people set their sights on overseas destinations, looking forward to the next voyage with the court.
However, the imperial court did not allow them to stay idly by. On Li Daoyi's advice, the Martial Arts Alliance was established. All martial artists had to join the Martial Arts Alliance, which was directly under the emperor's command. They had a high degree of freedom and could choose to join the army or the civil service. Of course, they could also retain their previous lifestyle. However, whenever the imperial court needed them, the members of the Martial Arts Alliance had to obey unconditionally.
After staying in Japan for a few days, Li Daoyi and his group set off to return to the Ming Dynasty. During this time, accompanied by Dongfang Bubai, he visited Blackwood Cliff and collected all the martial arts techniques. Unfortunately, he only had less than 10,000 points, as they were all incomplete. Later, he went to Wudang Mountain and Shaolin Temple and gained about 20,000 points. By then, his total points had reached 160,000.
Having spent 100,000, Li Daoyi directly raised his cultivation level to the late Foundation Establishment stage. Looking at the one million points he had earned to advance to the Golden Core stage, Li Daoyi could only sigh in despair.
In the Imperial Garden of the palace, Li Daoyi was sitting alone in a pavilion, enjoying tea.
"This world is ultimately too weak. After advancing to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, the number of Innate Martial Artists is too small. Ordinary Martial Artists only give me single-digit points," Li Daoyi sighed.
Then the panel was opened.
"Host: Li Daoyi".
“Cultivation level: Late Foundation Establishment stage”
"Cultivation Technique:..."
"Magic Treasures:..." (To avoid being accused of padding the word count, unless there are major changes, I will try to omit the data on cultivation techniques and magic treasures in the future.)
Points: 68,000.
"Prompt: The host has accumulated more than 100,000 points. You can now start a new world travel. The travel talisman has been sent to your personal backpack."
Li Daoyi opened his personal backpack, inside which lay a token-like object, gleaming gold, with a question mark on it.
"So it's a random time travel?" Li Daoyi asked helplessly. He had originally planned to go straight to the world of Twin Dragons of the Tang Dynasty if he could specify the location.
"The Way of One".
At this moment, a red figure slowly walked over; it was none other than Dongfang Bubai.
I don't know when it started, but she stopped calling him "Daozhang" and started calling him "Daoyi".
"What? Lin'er and the others have left the capital?" Li Daoyi asked.
"Yes, Lin'er has grown up. I respect her choice. She has matured a lot during this trip to Japan, even though it was cruel, but I am very happy," Dongfang Bubai said with a smile.
“Yes, it’s good that you think that way.” Li Dao nodded.
"So, what about you? When are you leaving?" Dongfang Bubai suddenly asked.
Li Daoyi looked up, slightly surprised.
"You can't hide it from me," Dongfang Bubai said with a smile.
"You used a mind-controlling technique on the emperor?" Li Daoyi asked helplessly. The mind-controlling technique was a skill practiced by Dongfang Bubai, which allowed her to subtly bewitch others using her body's fragrance. She had secretly tried it on Li Daoyi before, but it was ineffective.
It was clear that Zhu Houcong had unknowingly revealed his secrets to Dongfang Bubai.
"I'm asking you..." Dongfang Bubai said again.
"Let's celebrate after the New Year!" Li Daoyi said. After all, this was the first world he had transmigrated to, and he still had some attachment to it.
Dongfang Bubai nodded, said nothing more, and simply sat down gently.
Neither of them spoke for a moment, and snowflakes began to fall from the sky.
On New Year's Eve, the palace was brightly decorated with lanterns and colorful streamers. The emperor held a grand banquet for his officials, including some leaders of martial arts sects. Except for the Hengshan Sect, whose members were all nuns and could not stay long, almost all the sect members were invited.
The entire palace was set up with over a thousand banquet tables, but the most eye-catching was naturally the emperor's table, which was occupied by ten people, including Li Daoyi, Dongfang Bubai, Yue Buqun, Feng Qingyang, Master Fangzheng, Daoist Chongxu, Lu Bing, Huang Jin, and Ren Woxing.
"Haha, this can be considered a make-up for the victory banquet in Japan before. I'd like to offer you all a toast first," Zhu Houcong said, raising his wine cup to the crowd.
"Thank you, Your Majesty," the crowd exclaimed excitedly.
This time, the Ming Dynasty was indeed well-fed. The silver alone that was looted amounted to hundreds of millions, which was equivalent to almost ten years of the Ming Dynasty's tax revenue. Not to mention the millions of taels of gold and a great deal of other resources. After deducting the rewards, the court still had more than half of it left over.
Therefore, Emperor Jiajing spared no expense in allocating 100,000 taels of silver to host this banquet in order to entertain everyone.
"From now on, the Martial Alliance will unconditionally support the Imperial Court. Wherever Your Majesty needs us, please feel free to call upon us," Yue Buqun said with a smile. This time, Yue Buqun could finally hold his head high. Being invited to sit at the same table as the Emperor showed that the Emperor had placed Mount Hua on the same level as Shaolin and Wudang.
"Indeed, our Sun Moon Divine Sect has always maintained a close relationship with the imperial court, and will continue to do so in the future. Your Majesty, our sect will obey your orders whenever needed," Ren Woxing laughed loudly. By this time, he had once again become the sect leader, and the unpleasantness with Dongfang Bubai had long been forgotten.
Those present seemed to realize something and couldn't help but look at Li Daoyi, because he hadn't said a word from the moment the emperor began the sacrificial ceremony to the moment he took his seat.
"Taoist Master..."
Zhu Houcong seemed to have thought of something, and couldn't help but be moved. He quickly got up, took the wine pot, and came to Li Daoyi's side.
Slowly fill Li Daoyi's cup with wine.
"Daoist Master, you... could it be..." Zhu Houcong asked somewhat nervously.
Li Daoyi smiled and nodded, then picked up his wine glass and stood up to everyone's surprise.
"Gentlemen, I am very happy to meet you all. I toast you with this cup of wine." After saying this, he drank the wine. Then he took the wine pot from the emperor's hand and poured himself another cup.
"All good things must come to an end. Today is the day I bid farewell to you all. Please." With that, he downed the wine in one gulp.
"What? Daoist Master, you're leaving?" Yue Buqun quickly stood up.
The others also stood up.
"Taoist priest, where are you going?"
The crowd asked.
"Go where I want to go, go where I should go, a flower is a world."
As he spoke, Li Daoyi gave everyone a deep look, but dared not look at Dongfang Bubai, and then turned away.
"Gentlemen, we'll meet again someday."
After saying that, Li Daoyi whistled down.
"Moo..."
The blue ox immediately responded with a roar.
"Hey, Niu Er, where are you going?"
From the crowd below, Qingniu was slowly walking towards Li Daoyi, followed by Linghu Chong, Yue Lingshan, Lin Pingzhi, Ren Yingying, and several others.
Soon, the blue ox came to us.
"The Taoist priest is leaving," Yue Buqun sighed.
The children were stunned upon hearing this, and then Lin Pingzhi immediately knelt down.
"Taoist Master, where are you going? Will you come back?"
"Yes, Daoist Master, is it not possible for us not to leave?" Linghu Chong hurriedly asked.
Yue Lingshan and Ren Yingying, however, had already burst into tears. Girls are extremely sensitive, and they seemed to have foreseen that Li Daoyi's departure was not just a simple departure.
He reached out and helped the two of them up.
"Don't be sad, you have a long road ahead of you. Practice hard and don't be willful." He patted the two on the shoulder as he spoke. His greatest gain from coming to this world was changing the fate of the two protagonists.
Then, with a light tap of his feet, Li Daoyi leaped onto the cow's back.
Only then did he have the courage to look at Dongfang Bubai. However, to his surprise, Dongfang Bubai was very calm, as calm as water. This expression was completely different from that of the pavilion in the Imperial Garden two days ago.
Li Daoyi gave Dongfang Bubai a deep look, feeling slightly disappointed, but quickly calmed down and bowed to the people around him.
"Moo..."
Li Daoyi gently patted the cow's back.
The green ox turned around and stepped into the void, slowly walking towards the sky.
This scene caused thousands of people below to gasp in astonishment, and they realized what was happening, so they all knelt down.
"Thousands of years of ocean changes, fleeting worldly glory, like clouds and smoke in the sleeve, looking back, there is only the bright moon and gentle breeze. With a firm heart and one mind, we will forge ahead, for the great path will never fail us."
"Until we meet again, everyone."
As Li Daoyi finished speaking, he had already arrived in the air at a height of about several tens of feet, and then slightly crushed the time-travel talisman hidden in his sleeve.
A beam of light suddenly descended from the sky, enveloping the man and the ox.
Just then, a voice rang out from below.
"Gentlemen, lend me a hand." It was Dongfang Bubai.
She leaped into the air, reaching a height of ten zhang (approximately 33 meters), and then slowly landed.
"Okay." Fang Zheng seemed to understand something and quickly stepped forward, extending his hands.
"Me too!" Feng Qingyang shouted, then slapped Fang Zheng's back with both hands.
“Watch me,” Chongxu followed closely behind.
"I will help you."
Ren Woxing shouted.
"Me too!" Yue Buqun rushed over as well.
The four men poured all their internal energy into Fang Zheng, causing a transparent ball of energy to appear in Fang Zheng's hands.
At that moment, Dongfang Bubai landed, her feet stepping on the ball of energy. The ball of energy acted like a spring, and her legs bent.
"Go!" the four shouted in unison.
"Whoosh..."
Using this power, Dongfang Bubai instantly soared into the sky, flying towards Li Daoyi in the air.
At this moment, Li Daoyi's mouth dropped open in astonishment. He prepared to fly over and catch Dongfang Bubai, but a tremendous suction force pulled him backward—the teleportation had begun. The distance between the two was still over twenty meters, but Dongfang Bubai clearly had no strength left to fly any higher.
"This is bad." Li Daoyi was extremely anxious. At such a height, if Dongfang Bubai fell, he would be seriously injured even if he didn't die.
Suddenly, a red ribbon flew out from Dongfang Bubai's body, traveling more than twenty meters towards the front.
"Moo..."
Niu Er flicked his head and caught the flying silk with his horns. Li Daoyi quickly reached out and grabbed it.
And so, the three of them—one man, one ox, and Dongfang Bubai trailing behind—flew higher and higher with the light.
Just as the Heavenly Gate closed, Li Daoyi finally pulled Dongfang Bubai onto the bull's back.
"Everyone, this is Dongfang Bai. Thank you all." At this moment, Dongfang Bubai reverted to his real name and waved goodbye to the tiny crowd below.
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