Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Later Ye Family.

Due to the storm in the capital, the Imperial Border Armies in the east, north and south all stopped sending urgent military reports as no one wanted to suffer the rage of the king.

Moreover, there was Marquis Chongwu Ning Qin, who was bound to rise to power.

Ye Gui entered Bohu Hall once more. He bowed respectfully to Ye Bohu before turning to sit on his own seat. He did not say anything.

Since the marshal called on him, there must be something for him to do. He just had to wait.

Ye Bohu looked at him appreciatively. He murmured, "Ye Gui, you are the smartest one in this generation of our Later Ye Family. If you want, I can give you a chance to choose."

He paused, "I can even let you take over the position of head of the family in the future…but this is not a promise. I can only promise to give you a chance."

This itself was already a huge sign of respect and recognition. Those who knew Ye Bohu would know that this was the highest level of recognition he could give to anyone.

Ye Gui looked calm. He did not say anything as he shook his head.

Ye Bohu maintained a neutral expression. He did not let any disappointment show and also did not attempt to persuade him. He knocked his knuckles on the table, "Since this is your decision, I am going to use you as a dead chess piece."

Ye Gui put his hands together, "Marshal, please give me the orders!"

"The Li Family from Parasol County is bound to have a dispute with Marquis Chongwu Ning Qin…I want you to move on your own." Ye Bohu looked at him and his voice turned colder, "Remember that we have already come to an agreement with His Majesty. We cannot do anything in the capital. So no matter what, this cannot be linked back to us."

"Marshal, don't worry." Ye Gui stood up and walked up the hall. He kneeled down, "Farewell Marshal!"

He kowtowed, stood up and left.

There was a soft sigh in Bohu Hall as emotions were suppressed. Ye Gui has always wanted to die. He lived just for today.

He was getting what he asked for!

There was a grave look in Ye Bohu's eyes. He also wanted to know what kind of secret that lady from the Demon Clan had? His Majesty has always been someone highly suspicious. Yet, he could only stand by the side and watch. He was not afraid that the chess piece in his hand would die by her hands.

Although the king was a suspicious person, he was very talented and was the leader of the world. Anyone who passed his test would gain his trust for a period of time.

They could be tested again in the future and if they passed, they would gain even more of his trust. If not, they would be reduced to nothing…like that fool Chen Yuanshen from Seascape City.

So Ye Bohu could not understand why the king kept testing General Jinwu Ning Qin. There must be something going on.

This made Ye Bohu feel slightly strange. The Later Ye Family was now thinking only about killing people. Even if he did not die now, he was bound to die later.

It was a pity that time waited for no man and the Later Ye Family could not wait.

……

Though the West Desolate was made up of 108 main cities and it looked to be easy to get from one city to another, it was not easy to move around.

Having a solid background was one of the most important things. People who had unknown backgrounds would not have a chance to step into the cities' Teleportation Portals. They were very strict on this.

That was why when Iron Wire entered the West Desolate previously, he had to borrow clothes and pretend to be Li Cangzhou. That unlucky bastard.

He was truly unlucky. Initially, Iron Wire had all sorts of ways to enter the capital. However, because of the assassination attempt against Marquis Chongwu, they were extremely strict at the border's Teleportation Portals. He did not dare to delay as he was under orders from Lord Great Shaman. He also coincidentally heard that someone from Parasol County's Li Family was at the Moon Brothel. So he thought that things would be easy.

The reputation of the Li Family from Parasol County was easy to use and it made entering the capital straightforward. As for killing someone from the Li Family, there would definitely be trouble…but this was not something that Iron Wire was scared of as he changed identities as easily as he changed clothes.

Moreover, Lord Great Shaman had helped him to cover his tracks. But it was only now when he tried to re-enter the West Desolate that Iron Wire realize what a huge mistake he had made…no wonder Lord Great Shaman said that if anything happened, he would personally kill him to apologize.

Iron Wire was pale and sweating buckets as he borrowed this identity. It was a disaster. Now, he really believed what Lord Great Shaman said.

He wanted to cry but there were no tears!

Iron Wire looked up at the figure in front of him as he cried miserably, "Lord, I did not do it on purpose. You have to save me!"

Only the eyes of the person, covered in a white robe, could be seen. They looked extremely calm and emotionless, "If he can save me, then there will not be an issue. If not…if the Li Family does not die, he will die in my hands."

Two days later, Iron Wire borrowed another set of clothes as he brought the strange-looking lord with him. They successfully stepped into the Teleportation Portal.

Coincidentally, it was Seascape City again.

"I always feel like this place clashes with my elements. I wonder if anything will happen…" Muttering to himself, the Teleportation Portal lit up and the two figures disappeared.

……

Marquis Chongwu's Mansion.

Rourou opened her eyes. Her eyes were calm - finally, it was here! She took a step and disappeared. When she appeared once more, she was near the border.

It was extremely peculiar that this kind of long range teleportation could remain undetected by the West Desolate capital's array.

Rourou stood on the path heading towards the capital. Everyone rushed past her but did not seem to see her. Even if they bumped into her, they merely passed through her.

It was as if they were in the same place but in two different worlds.

Rourou was expressionless as she looked down and played with her fingernails, "Come out. You have already looked for a while. Tell me what you found out."

In front of her, the air seemed to vibrate and two figures appeared. Iron Wire's face was pale and he looked bitter. It felt as if his mouth owed a lot of favors.

Why did he do this?!

Rushing forwards, he fell to a kneel, "My Lady, please have mercy!"

You should know that this is not my idea. I would not dare to do something like this. Yes, it is the person behind me. She said that she must have a look. No matter how much I disagreed, I cannot object.

He was crying and begging internally but did not say more.

It was because both the people in front and behind him were so close to killing him. One with a death glare and another with a sword…he could not offend either of them!

Rourou looked at him before looking at the person in the white robe. There was an appreciative look in her eyes, "Your sword cultivation is not bad. I have a sword technique, do you want to try it?"

There was a moment of silence under the white robe, "Okay."

Rourou snapped her fingers. The air shook and the three of them disappeared.

……

Another two days passed. Lord Min was in a room, hugging his concubine and kissing her. All of a sudden, his eyes flashed. He sighed and patted her, "Get off, I have something to do."

His concubine nodded obediently but there were some grievances in her eyes.

Lord Min pinched her cheeks, "Hey hey, I have no choice. I have to deal with this in order to continue living a peaceful life."

He stood up and left the concubine's room. Lord Min walked all the way to Min Xiangtai's residence. On the way over, he came across a few female servants and merely said a few flirtatious sentences to them, clearly not in the mood.

The servants in the residence were all used to the lord's personality and did not react much. Most of them threw back flirtatious looks at him. This made Lord Min sigh as he realized how these ladies were getting more bold.

It was only because he was getting old and had to take care of his body. If he were younger, he would have carried all of them to bed and taught them what earth-shattering meant!

Shi Shu and Shi Qi had just recovered from a bout of illness and had been sent home. The Lord had given them a huge sum of money and everyone in the residence envied them. So now, there was no one in the study room.

Lord Min walked to the bookshelf and reached out for the Heaven Concealment Book. As he looked at how worn it appeared, he seemed annoyed.

"There is no way to escape a calamity brought upon oneself.

"Stupid fox. You asked for it. You cannot blame me."

He walked to the stove that was used to heat up the teapot. He reached out for a lighter and blew on it. Very soon, a fire sparked.

Looking at the Heaven Concealment Book in his hands, Lord Min was expressionless as he threw it into the stove.

Hoo -

The flames burned and reached up, engulfing the Heaven Concealment Book and burning it to ashes.

There was regret in Lord Min's eyes, "I killed a nine-tailed fox and lost a treasure from the Demon Clan. I will consider it the price to pay for breaking an oath. So this thing has nothing to do with me from now on. There had better not be karma."

He muttered to himself, putting an end to this situation. With this, he cut off the effect of karma.

Mysterious. The future was unpredictable!

Very soon, the contented look on Lord Min's face turned to bitterness as he cut himself off from this thing.

But it was obvious that the person in Marquis Chongwu's Mansion would not forget him. As long as this person was still around, there was no way for him to pull away from this.

Hopefully, that lady could be trusted. If not, there was going to be trouble!

……

The Li Residence in the capital.

In Li Ge's room, Su Yan was sitting at the table and reading a book. All of a sudden, her expression changed.

Without any warning, an intense fear came over her. Her instinct made her feel as if a calamity was about to happen - as if the sky was about to fall and the earth was about to cave in. Everything would collapse and she would not be spared.

"Li Ge, save me!"

Her cries were interrupted by the flames surging up into the air and engulfing Su Yan. But what was strange was that the flames resembled a shadow and did not seem to affect the temperature. Even the books right beside the flame did not seem affected by it.

However, it was ultimately not just a shadow. Or at least to the demon fox Su Yan, its power surpassed any other flame in this world.

This flame came from the Heaven Concealment Book. At the cost of self-destruction, it produced the Demon Destruction Flame. When the book remained perfectly intact, it was a sacred object of the Demon Clan and was able to help any demon in the world cover their aura.

But if the book was destroyed, it could create a flame that would kill any major demon in this world and make them disappear.

This was the origin of the Demon Destruction Flame.

In the flame, an elegant-looking fairy wearing a white gown was burned into a pile of rotten flesh and looked extremely disgusting.

Very soon, she could no longer hold up her human figure and her original nine-tailed fox appearance came out. As it scrambled in the flame, it caused Li Ge's residence to shake and get destroyed.

The Demon Destruction Flame was like a bone-eating maggot. Once one was infected, it would not stop until death. It did not matter that the nine-tailed fox transformed to her original form that was a hundred times bigger than when she was in human form. The flame still burned her and there was no way for her to escape.

Miserable cries could be heard. The body of the nine-tailed fox was extremely huge as it burned and a lot of attention was on her in an instant. For example, from the Imperial Defence Division that had been under pressure due to the numerous incidents in the capital.

Additionally, there was also the young eunuch from the palace that the king had ordered to search for the nine-tailed fox. He walked out of the shadows and looked up at the Li Family's residence. There was a serious look in his eyes as he thought about how the nine-tailed fox was suddenly exposed and was getting killed by the Demon Destruction Flame.

The nine-tailed fox was actually hiding in the Li Family. Could the king's assumption be right? But this was all too coincidental. Moreover, where did the Demon Destruction Flame come from?

The Li Family? It was highly unlikely that they would sacrifice something as precious as a sacred object of the Demon Clan over the West Desolate's matters.

After all, this was something rare even in the Desolate Divine Area. Everyone would want to have it and attempt to do a trade.

That means that someone had intended to kill the nine-tailed fox and expose her…there was a huge price to pay for this and there must be a scheme behind it!

It did not seem like it was just to target Parasol County. Could their target be the Li Family from the Central Desolate?