The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 632 Like
Under the Imperial Palace, Suzaku Street.

Ji Tianrui slammed her hands together.

"【Wanluo】".

The densely packed threads of true energy, which almost filled the surrounding space of several dozen feet, all converged at once, swept past several strangely shaped deities, and gathered in Ji Tianrui's hand with a whoosh.

Wow!

A few breaths later, blood flowers burst forth from the bodies of those deities of the Shinto religion, countless fine lines cracked from head to toe, and then they shattered and collapsed.

Ji Tianrui let out a few breaths.

Her injuries were quite serious.

【Wanluo】is not suitable for skirmishes.

The mystical perception reflects one's true nature, and the resulting supernatural phenomena reflect the essence of the holder. Ji Tianrui excels at weaving conspiracies and setting up battlefields, but is least adept at skirmishes.

That's why she repeatedly collaborated with Li Miao, even willing to give him the biggest share of the profits in every competition. Aside from some unclear and ambiguous thoughts, the key reason was that Li Miao, a ruthless person who would confront her at the slightest provocation, was the type of person she was least adept at dealing with.

When Li Miao stepped onto the Emperor's Palace, she had already begun her return journey from the Ise Grand Shrine, and only a little over half an hour had passed. Her foundation was already unstable, making her significantly weaker than Li Miao at the same cultivation level. Furthermore, the Gu worms on her body had been destroyed by Master Sanfeng, and she had to force her way here in such a short time…

Being seriously injured was already the result of her doing everything she could to cope.

And she doesn't have much time.

Regardless of her feelings for Li Miao, and regardless of whether the two of them will fall out in the future, she cannot lose Li Miao right now... otherwise, she will definitely not be able to fight against the old man from the river on her own.

Li Miao must live.

As long as it's not a matter of trading one's life for another, Ji Tianrui is willing to pay any price to ensure Li Miao's safety.

Ji Tianrui paused to recover, and before her injuries and inner energy had fully healed, she dashed towards the Emperor's Palace with all her might. When she reached the end of Suzaku Avenue, she suddenly stopped and turned to look at the side of the street.

"come out."

Brush la la——

A soft thud of falling rubble came from the ruins of a building on the street. A moment later, Lu Wushuang poked his head out with his sword in hand. After seeing Ji Tianrui, he slowly walked out, his expression complex and indescribable.

"Master Ji".

Ji Tianrui flashed in front of Lu Wushuang, and without answering, reached out and slapped Lu Wushuang's face.

There was absolutely no trust between the two. Lu Wushuang instinctively wanted to dodge, but as soon as she made the move, her eyes flashed, and she forcibly stopped herself, letting Ji Tianrui grab her face.

"My Gu worms are all destroyed; I need to retrieve the Gu worms from your body."

Ji Tianrui offered an explanation.

"Explain the situation. I only have ten breaths."

Upon hearing this, Lu Wushuang immediately recounted everything she knew. Just as she finished speaking, two Gu worms crawled out of her mouth and nose and landed in Ji Tianrui's hand, exactly ten breaths had passed.

"understood."

Ji Tianrui's eyes flickered repeatedly as she took a moment to sort out her thoughts. She then reached into her robes and tossed a seal to Lu Wushuang.

“I have left you a Gu worm. Once you activate it with your true qi, you will temporarily have the lightness skill of the Celestial Realm. Now set off, travel 120 miles north to Xiaobin Port in Wakasa Bay. Show my seal at the port, and someone will prepare a boat and food.”

"You wait there for an hour. If Lord Li and I do not arrive after an hour, you must immediately set off back to the Central Plains, find the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the imperial court, find Zhu Zai, tell him everything, and let him figure out a solution."

"besides……"

Ji Tianrui turned around and looked over. As the two were talking, Miyoshi Ryota also ran over from his hiding place, looking completely distraught. Clearly, the day's events had been too stimulating for him, far exceeding his tolerance.

Lu Wushuang took the seal, swallowed his words, nodded, and reached out to grab Miyoshi Ryota, intending to take him to the harbor, but suddenly his hand grasped at empty air.

Turning around, she saw Ji Tianrui already grabbing Miho Ryota and leaping high into the air, leaving behind only one sentence.

"He might be useful, so I'm taking him with me."

"This is of utmost importance. A single moment tonight could determine everything. If you can wait for us, you'll have time to ask! Hurry up!"

The lingering sound faded away, and Ji Tianrui had already disappeared from sight.

Lu Wushuang gritted her teeth, turned around swiftly, activated the Gu worms that Ji Tianrui had left her, and leaped into the air, desperately heading in the direction Ji Tianrui had indicated.

And let's turn our attention to Ji Tianrui.

When Miyoshi Ryota was first caught, he struggled a few times, but seeing that Lu Wushuang did not stop him, he stopped struggling out of trust for her and let Ji Tianrui carry him towards the Imperial Palace.

The scenery before his eyes changed rapidly, and the wind howled in his ears. He was feeling a little dizzy, but then he suddenly heard Ji Tianrui ask him a question in Japanese.

"What's your relationship with that royal girl?"

Seeing that Miyoshi Ryota looked puzzled, Ji Tianrui added.

"It's that girl named Nanako."

Ryota Miyoshi then came to his senses and said hesitantly.

"……friend."

"Don't hide anything. Now is not the time for you to be coy. Answer my questions truthfully, as this could very well determine the girl's life—have you two confirmed your relationship?"

Ryota Miyoshi was momentarily dazed, but seeing Ji Tianrui's lightness skill, he knew that this woman covered in blood was no ordinary person and would not speak nonsense. So he composed himself and answered calmly.

That's what they say.

Ji Tianrui continued asking questions without pausing.

Have you been through life and death together?

"...sort of."

Would she be willing to die for you?

Ryota Miyoshi paused, recalling how Nanako had turned to him and shouted at him despite her own safety after being captured by the Shinto priests the night before, and answered with a sob.

"...They should be willing."

"Senior, sir, can you save her? If my life is of any use, please take it. I only beg you to save Nanako!"

He raised his head and looked at Ji Tianrui with hope.

But Ji Tianrui showed no intention of answering him.

The next moment, Ji Tianrui's words threw Miyoshi Ryota into the ice cellar.

"So, if you die in front of her, that girl will definitely be traumatized?"

"Okay, I promise you."

What do you mean?
Ryota Miyoshi was also a swordsman. Although he seemed inexperienced in front of Li Miao, he had experienced life-and-death battles. He immediately sensed the strong malice in Ji Tianrui's words.

Before he could react, a sharp pain shot through the back of his neck where Ji Tianrui had grabbed him. A cold, living thing bit through his flesh and burrowed into his spine.

The excruciating pain caused him to instinctively struggle violently, but Ji Tianrui tapped him a few times from behind, causing him to lose control of his body. His limbs hung limply, leaving only his eyes wide open and bloodshot.

Ji Tianrui's voice came from above.

"Although I don't want to waste my Gu worms on you, considering you've served Lord Li for so long, I'll give you a 10% chance of survival." "I promise you, I'll use your life to save that girl."

"But your own fate depends on your own destiny."

Having said that, Ji Tianrui stopped talking, picked up Miyoshi Ryota, leaped up the steps, stepped over the still smoldering ruins, and entered the Imperial Palace.

The moment they stepped inside, a loud bang suddenly came from in front of them!
boom!
A massive chasm snaked its way through the collapsed ruins, instantly reaching Ji Tianrui. She flipped and leaped away, avoiding the chasm, and landed on a small building that hadn't yet collapsed, staring intently in the direction from which the loud noise had come.

That place isn't far.

The Emperor's Palace was naturally not comparable to the Forbidden City, and its radius was only about two hundred feet. To Ji Tianrui's eyesight, this area was almost the same as being right in front of her. With just one glance, she captured the situation in the center of the battlefield.

Then she frowned.

"Lord Li... what are you doing?"

In her eyes, it was a hundred feet away.

In the very center of the Imperial Palace, a strange landscape has been formed, consisting of crisscrossing ravines and bottomless pits. In the middle of this landscape, a figure is slamming a fist into the ground.

This punch showed no force, nor any surge of true energy.

But when the fist landed on the ground—

boom! ! !
The ground suddenly exploded, sending a massive cloud of dust soaring dozens of feet into the air, forming a yellow dragon that blotted out the sun. At its highest point, the dust suddenly fell back down, pattering onto the ground.

The figure missed its punch, but without pausing, it flipped and dodged to the side. In mid-air, it delivered another leg axe strike, cleaving down at its original spot with a deafening roar. Another ravine meandered out, swallowing up all the remaining buildings before disappearing from sight.

Ji Tianrui was all too familiar with that figure.

With a heroic face, a fierce aura, long arms and a slender waist, and a black cloak with tattered edges around his waist, who else could it be but Li Miao?
only……

Ji Tianrui stared intently at the screen.

Judging from the power of Li Miao's move, he had clearly succeeded in bestowing the title of Emperor and used it to deduce the True Constant Technique, achieving the realm of the unity of the six paths.

It can be said that the goal agreed upon by the two has been achieved.

But it seems the struggle is far from over.

Li Miao was clearly fighting with all his might, not just practicing his moves, something Ji Tianrui could naturally see. But... where was his opponent?

So far, in Ji Tianrui's eyes, Li Miao has been fighting against thin air the whole time; there is not a single person in sight when his moves land.

Moreover, Ji Tianrui scanned the battlefield and found that apart from the damage obviously caused by Li Miao's "My Fist," there were only a few traces that had long been covered up by destruction. Judging from the age of the traces, they were obviously formed at the very beginning of the fight.

Standing on high ground, Ji Tianrui narrowed her eyes slightly and looked at Li Miao again—she didn't think Li Miao had lost his mind; there must be an unseen opponent fighting Li Miao to the death...

Can’t see?
Silent photo!

Ji Tianrui fixed her gaze, closed her eyes and pondered for a while, then opened her eyes again to look at Li Miao, while simultaneously deducing the situation with all her might in her mind.

As Li Miao made his move more and more often, the image of his invisible opponent gradually came to form in Ji Tianrui's mind.

Height... eight feet three inches.

The moves... seemed to combine softness with strength, and they looked somewhat familiar.

Moreover, it was very strong, not in a sinister or eerie way, but in a way that forced Li Miao to retreat, block, or even maneuver, a strength that even a full-force punch from Li Miao would find difficult to overcome.

As the conditions became more favorable, Ji Tianrui's pupils narrowed slightly.

"...Master Sanfeng?"

Yes, this is the only answer that meets all the above conditions.

"Lord Li was influenced by his opponent's Jizhao and fought against the illusion of the real Sanfeng that the opponent had created in his mind."

Ji Tianrui drew a conclusion.

With her intelligence, this was certainly not the end.

"Lord Li has already unified the six paths, so even an opponent of the same level should not be able to prevent him from escaping the illusion. Moreover, judging from Lord Li's fierce fighting posture, the Sanfeng Zhenren that the opponent created is intact and can even control the Yin and Yang."

“This is not something that ordinary, silent observation could do.”

"...The Yang Shen Method uses nature to replenish nature, and profound contemplation connects with stillness and illumination!"

"That's right. Only Jizhao, who has been enhanced by Xuanlan, can create the illusion of Sanfeng Zhenren. To do this, the opponent's realm should not be lower than the Six Paths Unity... Xu Fu."

Ji Tianrui leaped down from the high place and slowly approached.

"The Yin and Yang are too powerful. Even the old man from the river was forced to suppress them. Lord Li may be exceptionally talented, but he may not be a match for the perfected Sanfeng Zhenren."

"Moreover... Lord Li was injured just now."

"In other words, the illusion created by the opponent's [Silent Illumination] is already able to affect Lord Li's real body through a life-or-death situation. If he is defeated in the illusion, his real body will also be injured."

"But... even if it has been enhanced by Xuanlan, Jizhao is still Jizhao, and its weakness still exists—that is, its true form!"

Ji Tianrui suddenly stopped.

"Xu Fu."

“If we find his true form, even if we can’t kill him, as long as we can have some impact on him, the illusion of Master Sanfeng will become unstable, and Lord Li will be able to win.”

"But... to get closer to Xu Fu, we have to get closer to the battlefield."

Ji Tianrui looked up and scanned the ground in front of her.

She could sense an illusion standing before her.

That was the area covered by Xu Fu's "Silent Illumination".

If she takes another step, she will be pulled into the [Silent Illumination] by Xu Fu and face the opponent he has created... This is undoubtedly a fatal danger for Ji Tianrui, who only has one Gu worm left and whose injuries have not yet healed.

Want to go?
Honestly, Li Miao and Ji Tianrui were never friends. On the contrary, if it weren't for their father-in-law, they would have killed each other immediately. They might have had some mutual respect, but more than that, they clearly understood that they were "incompatible."

Two people who pursue absolute freedom but disagree with each other's paths, and who are always steadfast in their choices and paths, are destined to have only one outcome: one lives and the other dies.

Unless someone is willing to compromise.

Does Li Miao know how?

"will not."

Ji Tianrui sighed softly.

Do I know how to do that?
"No."

Ji Tianrui chuckled softly.

"But Lord Li is still more...likable than the old man by the river."

"Although he looks hideous when he's shouting for battle, his face is actually quite pleasing to the eye in normal times."

Ji Tianrui smiled and took a step forward.

The world changes.

(End of this chapter)