Chapter 184: Messenger

Below Tiger's Roar Cliff.

In Huangshan Lord’s original lair.

Li Zhufang shivered.

“Benefactor… Benefactor, you want me to be a mountain… mountain god?” Li Zhufang trembled, shivering all over, unable to even stand steadily.

She never expected that bringing her benefactor to see Huangshan Lord would result in… Huangshan Lord’s death.

This mighty tiger of the mountains, whose power resonated for a hundred li, had died so silently.

To Li Zhufang, Huangshan Lord was an unshakeable god, but now, the god’s head lay before her.

“Who said I was letting you be a mountain god? You don’t have the ability for that anyway, you’d need to be at least a ninth-grade Divine Dao practitioner.” Li Qi smiled. “Don’t worry, I’m just letting you take these Golden Body fragments. They’ll be useful for your future cultivation.”

Li Qi said, “Take these things as your reward. If you walk the Divine Dao, you can use them directly. If you walk other Dao paths, you can break them down and exchange them for other resources. However, you must promise me one thing.”

Upon hearing this, the young girl immediately knelt again. “Please speak, Benefactor. I don’t need these rewards. Just give the command, and Zhufang will do her utmost! I wouldn’t dare to be the slightest bit lax.”

“Do as much as you’re paid, this is the proper Dao. No need to say more, just accept them.” Li Qi handed the Golden Body fragments to the simple young girl, then pointed at Huangshan Lord’s tiger head and said to her:

“This head suppresses Huangshan Lord’s remnant soul. With this here, he isn’t truly dead. Leave it here, and you will guard it day and night, creating the illusion that he is still alive. It doesn’t need to be for too long, one month will suffice. After that, destroy this object and let him return to Reincarnation.”

Suppressing a remnant soul is a method to prevent someone from ever reincarnating. If it weren’t absolutely necessary, Li Qi wouldn’t use such a method, but there was no other way now. So he found a supervisor. After a month, once the dust settled, he could let him return to Reincarnation.

“And this, this is the core of this place’s Formation Plate. I’ve destroyed the part that extracts your essence Qi, but the Mountain and River Grand Formation itself remains. I don’t have the ability to block it, nor is there any need to stop the Mountain and River Grand Formation. After all, this thing is used to resist demons. If it’s destroyed, more people will die.”

“So you must guard it carefully and not let outsiders touch it. Do you understand?”

After giving these instructions, Li Qi looked at Li Zhufang, awaiting her reply.

Li Zhufang quickly kowtowed. “Zhufang will certainly do her best, and will not dare to be lax in the slightest!”

Li Qi sighed. “I have no one I can trust here, so I can only entrust it to you. I still have important matters, so I will leave for now. You stay at Tiger’s Roar Cliff. I have already used the bone pile outside to set up a Restriction, mimicking Huangshan Lord’s method. As long as you don’t make a fuss, a month should pass quickly. Oh, and if Qing Yue appears later, remember to immediately go and pay your respects. You won’t lose out.”

After giving some more detailed instructions, Li Qi turned and left, then climbed up the cliff, leaving Li Zhufang alone there.

This butterfly and he had only met by chance, and with this parting, it was unlikely they would meet again.

But it didn’t matter.

Too many people and things had been left behind on his journey; Li Qi had long grown accustomed to it.

The road was long, and on the path, not many people or things could accompany one all the way.

Thinking this, Li Qi returned to the old horse’s side.

At this moment, an hour had just about ended, and the old horse had rested enough.

So, man and horse set off again.

——————

By the time the sun set, Li Qi finally made it back to the White Rhinoceros Army.

This journey of over twenty hours was finally over.

The White Rhinoceros Army had also led the common people some distance, but not far, only about a hundred li over two days. He found them easily by just looking around from above.

Not to mention the old horse had the ability to track and could find Shen Shuibi’s location.

After all, ‘an old horse knows the way’ was not just an idiom; horses themselves possessed the ability to discern paths.

He returned smoothly, but as soon as Li Qi arrived, he felt that the atmosphere was a bit off.

The White Rhinoceros Army soldiers were all tense, while the common people were very joyful, with smiles on everyone’s faces.

He dismounted the old horse, and immediately, someone from the White Rhinoceros Army came to greet him.

“Mr. Li, you’re back? Are you the envoy you brought?” A soldier stepped forward and asked.

“Envoy? What envoy?” Li Qi frowned.

The approaching officer said, “An hour ago, an envoy from Guangyang City arrived, carrying Lord Situ’s token, saying he wanted to see our current general and commander. He’s been in the tent for an hour now, but there’s no news. Mr. Li, why don’t you go in and take a look?”

“An hour? Alright, I’ll go take a look now. Oh, and this is grain, you take it… Wait, never mind, don’t take it, I’ll handle it later.” Li Qi was about to hand over the grain, but after thinking about it, he decided against it.

People from Guangyang City had arrived; it wasn’t a good time to take out the grain now.

If the common people thought the grain was brought by Guangyang City, there would likely be conflict later.

Li Qi pondered these things, letting the old horse rest, while he quickly walked towards the distant tent, which was the temporary command post.

As he walked, Li Qi could feel that the common people seemed very happy. He heard many voices, all expressing relief that officials had finally arrived, and that they probably wouldn't have to worry anymore.

The more he listened, the more uneasy he felt in his heart.

The officials were not planning to save people, but to perform a blood sacrifice.

Li Qi knew with his toes that the envoy’s intentions were not simple.

But the problem was, the common people trusted the official envoy so much, what did that indicate?

It indicated that the officials were trustworthy in ordinary times, and that the common people were willing to believe them.

So what exactly happened in between that made them even choose to blood sacrifice these commoners?

However, Li Qi didn't fully believe this point, because, while there was a lot of circumstantial evidence to suggest that the officials didn't care about these soldiers and commoners regarding the blood sacrifice.

But then again, the idea of a blood sacrifice was something Li Qi had only heard from Wang Baiyan. In Li Qi's own understanding, this was entirely Wang Baiyan’s personal opinion, with no second piece of concrete evidence, only some circumstantial evidence.

Therefore, in reality, Li Qi didn't trust either Wang Baiyan or the Guangyang officials.

He had his own plans.

But those were not to be spoken of to outsiders.

As he approached the tent, Li Qi hadn’t yet seen the envoy, but he saw a rabbit basking in the sun, half-asleep.

It wasn’t Shen Guniang, but a rabbit.

And this rabbit was wearing clothes.

A perfectly normal rabbit wearing miniature clothing, like those four-legged dresses for dogs, with even flowers embroidered on it—whoever did it was unknown.

This gray-and-white rabbit had its ears flopped down, covering its eyes like an eye mask, and was lying on a stone sunbathing its backside. It was very conspicuous, yet seemed very normal; anyway, no one paid her much attention.

As if everything had nothing to do with her, Shen Shuibi lay there, napping.

However, none of this was her business anyway, and in fact, her appearance was something Li Qi had instructed.

Li Qi had already sent back a message via Shanshui communication, which included a request for Shen Shuibi to return to her original form and conceal her aura.

What Li Qi hadn’t expected was that after returning to her original form, she was still wearing clothes…

Rabbit fur, in her eyes, was probably like skin—neither counted as wearing clothes.

It seemed that the last time he stroked her fur, in her view, it was equivalent to touching her backside.

That truly had serious consequences; he had narrowly escaped with his life…

If it had been someone unfamiliar who had done that, would she have eaten them like a radish?

Crunching and munching them into pieces.

Or perhaps just directly slapping them to death.

He’d be more careful in the future.

Not disturbing the napping Shen Shuibi, Li Qi stepped forward and lifted the tent flap.

Inside the tent, he saw the current acting general of the White Rhinoceros Army, as well as Zhang Lan, both present.

These two were there, and beside them was an old man Li Qi didn’t recognize.

The old man was full of vigor, with a body full of muscle. Although he had white eyebrows, white beard, and white hair, his muscles were bulging and knotted, stronger than any of the soldiers outside. He looked intimidating at first glance.

Though he had the appearance of a youthful elder with white hair, and wore the loose robes of an old man, while most people’s robes hung loosely, on him they appeared bulky and stretched taut by his physique.

As soon as Li Qi entered, the three people in the tent all looked at him.

The robust old man was furious, glaring at Li Qi, and said impolitely, “Who is this?! We, superior officers, are discussing matters. How dare you barge in without first paying respects?! Go down and receive a hundred military floggings!”

Li Qi was still confused when the deputy general of the White Rhinoceros Army quickly stood up and cupped his hands, saying, “Please don’t be offended, Senior Envoy! This person is not a subordinate of the White Rhinoceros Army, but a righteous individual who lent us aid. He is the Li Qi we spoke of earlier.”

Li Qi frowned. “I wonder why the Senior Envoy is so ill-tempered. Is it perhaps an excess of Yang Qi?”

“You are Li Qi?” The robust old man stood up.

“Precisely. May I ask the Senior Envoy’s name? How did we miss each other on the road? I just came from Guangyang City too~.” Li Qi said with a gentle smile.

However, no matter how one looked at it, his smile had a forced, insincere quality.

Zhang Lan said nothing, merely stood up silently, his hand touching his sword box.

He had figured it out.

This envoy and Li Qi likely had some sort of animosity.

But they didn’t know each other. Clearly, this envoy didn’t recognize Li Qi, but he knew Li Qi’s name, which meant Li Qi had done something in Guangyang City that led this official envoy to know about him.

Whatever Li Qi had done must have greatly displeased the officials, otherwise the atmosphere wouldn’t be so tense.

And in Zhang Lan’s view, Li Qi was clearly not the kind of troublemaker or evil person who would commit heinous acts.

So, why did the officials have this attitude towards him?

The various reasons were probably worth pondering.

Therefore, Zhang Lan said nothing, but watched silently, to see how the situation would unfold.

“My name is Zhang Dailu, the ancestor of the Guangyang Zhang Family. You should have heard my name.” The robust old man raised his head and said proudly to Li Qi.

Li Qi had not heard the name Zhang Dailu.

But he knew of the Guangyang Zhang Family.

“I’ve long heard of your great name. But may I ask why Senior is here?” Li Qi asked, cupping his hands.

The deputy general of the White Rhinoceros Army looked between the two, having also noticed the apparent conflict.

However, mediating without knowing the cause of the matter was taboo, so he didn't speak. Instead, he listened to their conversation, ready to interject at any moment to prevent the conflict from escalating through words.

This was the safest approach.

Zhang Dailu flexed his chest muscles, lifted his chin, and looked at Li Qi. “Why I am here, do you not know? The one who openly defied orders on behalf of the White Rhinoceros Army, that would be you, wouldn’t it? The things you did when you arrived in Guangyang City, are you not clear about them yourself? Impersonating a military intelligence envoy, defrauding military rations, defying orders on behalf of the White Rhinoceros Army—in just one day in Guangyang City, you’ve done so many things. You’re quite something, aren’t you?”

Having said that, he looked at the deputy general and raised his voice: “Acting General of the White Rhinoceros Army! Upon seeing this token, as per Lord Situ’s command, swiftly apprehend this scoundrel and execute him on the spot! Then, follow me back to Guangyang City!”

At these words, not only Zhang Lan and the deputy general, but even Li Qi was shocked.

Li Qi had thought the other party would say something else, but he immediately launched an attack!?

He hadn’t even properly introduced himself yet!

The deputy general was also stunned, and quickly rushed forward: “Senior Envoy, there must be some misunderstanding! Mr. Li saved our entire army, and he is also wholeheartedly—”

But before the deputy general could finish, Zhang Dailu raised his hand, displayed a golden token, and sternly shouted, “Acting General, are you defying orders?!”

“This subordinate would not dare! But there must be something fishy here. Mr. Li is absolutely not the kind of person who would do such things. Senior Envoy, please do not rush to judgment; a moment of impulse could harm a loyal and good man!” The deputy general knelt on one knee, but refused to accept the order.

The entire White Rhinoceros Army had witnessed firsthand how Li Qi and Zhang Lan had intervened in the most critical moment, directly confronting two eighth-grade experts, saving one hundred thousand soldiers and common people.

Moreover, Li Qi had specially performed a ritual to deliver their brothers’ departed souls, dispelled the evil spirits of those demons, and performed a ritual to remove the sickness Qi from one hundred thousand people, all without seeking reward. He had truly done nothing but good deeds.

How could such a righteous person have done the things mentioned above?

There must be something suspicious about it.

Seeing that the deputy general of the White Rhinoceros Army actually defied orders, Zhang Dailu’s eye twitched, and he was about to say something.

However, Li Qi interjected at this moment.

“Is that so? What I heard seems to be quite different from what the Senior Envoy says.”

Li Qi took a step back, then began to speak: “I went to Guangyang City, but I only saw countless refugees, yet no one cared about them.”

“I only saw that the granaries of wealthy households like the Guangyang Zhang Family were full, but the military granary was empty.”

“I only saw that various armies received no support and were almost completely wiped out by demons.”

“I only saw you, these conniving scoundrels! When the demons attacked to the extreme, instead of resisting, you only thought of retreating to the rear, establishing the Mountain and River Grand Formation, and foolishly attempting to blood sacrifice the common people for your own safety!”

“Now you even want to use the same rhetoric to deceive truly courageous men and force them to commit acts of ingratitude.”

“Is this the way you Guangyang officials operate? Where is your dignity?!” Li Qi shouted loudly!

Zhang Dailu was furious beyond measure: “Silence!”

Li Qi ignored him, turned to look at Zhang Lan, and asked frankly, “Brother Zhang, dare you kill an official?”

Zhang Lan threw his head back and laughed heartily: “Hahaha! Why not?!”