New and dark light years

Chapter 516 Zhu Jing's Request

Fei Xiuming dispatched a cavalry squad to bring the eunuchs of the "Xuanfu Division" to the central army.

That is, the place where Li Lin is.

The leading eunuch was fair-skinned and plump. When he saw Li Lin, he showed no arrogance and knelt down directly: "This humble one, Wang Shizhong, pays his respects to the military governor."

Li Lin sized the other man up for a moment and said, "I remember you are the emperor's chief attendant."

Jiang Jili emphasized this person when he was telling Li Lin about the "outstanding people" in Beijing.

This person entered the palace at a young age and grew up with the emperor, hence the title 'Daiban' (大伴).

"That's me, sir," Wang Shizhong said with a forced smile.

"What are Your Majesty's orders?" Li Lin said with a smile, "We are currently at war, so let's keep things simple."

Li Lin felt that he had already given the other party a lot of face by speaking like that.

But to my surprise, the other party was even more humble.

"We'll obey the military governor's orders." Wang Shizhong handed over the yellow imperial edict with both hands: "This is the Emperor's decree, sir, you can read it yourself. And..."

Wang Shizhong pulled out a sealed envelope from his clothes and said, "This is a private letter from the Emperor to you."

Li Lin was a little curious, but he still took it.

"Thank you for your help, sir." Li Lin smiled. "How about we go to the military town in the rear and have something to eat?"

"Thank you for your hospitality, sir," Wang Shizhong said with a smile.

Li Lin then sent men to escort them to the rear military town, and said to the escorting captain, "When we get there, give each of them some silver, and give the eldest son a little more."

"There's no need for that, they're just eunuchs..."

Li Lin shook his head: "There's no need to be harsh on the servants."

The captain was slightly taken aback, then nodded and said, "You are truly kind-hearted, sir."

This has nothing to do with being kind-hearted... Li Lin ignored him and instead opened the imperial edict.

Li Lin, the military governor of Cangwu, first swept away the barbarian invaders, then crushed the rebel army. He protected the state from imminent collapse and ensured the safety of the emperor from imminent danger. His achievements surpassed those of his time, and he deserves special honors.

He was granted a special imperial edict and the title of Duke of the State, along with a thousand acres of fertile land in eastern Beijing and a hundred boxes of rare medicines from the imperial treasury. May his legacy be passed down forever, and may he share in the prosperity of the nation.

A proclamation was issued, both domestically and internationally, so that everyone would be informed.

Red seal and iron certificate?

Conferring a title? Founding Duke?

The emperor's reward was quite generous.

But Li Lin understood that this was only on the surface.

He opened the 'private message'!
There were three sheets of paper inside, with hundreds of words written on them.

The gist is: Li Lin, you're too arrogant! Not only did you steal my woman, but you also stole my great-grandmother—that was my opportunity! How are you going to compensate me? As a fellow Daoist, I can forgive you, but the compensation cannot be less than what you owe!

If you're willing to pay compensation, then accept the imperial decree! I will come looking for you.

After Li Lin finished reading it, he looked at the imperial edict!

How do I connect this?
Just as he was wondering, he suddenly noticed a talisman on the back of the imperial edict. He immediately understood and pressed his finger on it.

Soon, the talisman burst into flames, burning the imperial edict to ashes.

Li Lin then understood that the emperor had received his decision.

At that very moment, a golden-armored deity stood up above the capital.

And they 'walked' in this direction.

It walks in mid-air, and every step it takes is enormous.

As the golden-armored deity drew closer, its body grew smaller and smaller.

In the end, it transformed into a golden-armored man the size of a normal person.

The other person looked almost exactly like Zhu Jing.

At this point, Li Lin had already increased the number of paper figures in his storage ring to the maximum.

But then I felt relieved.

Because the golden-armored man had shrunk, he didn't seem to pose much of a threat.

"Your Majesty," Li Lin said, bowing slightly.

Zhu Jing, who had come in the form of the Golden God, smiled and said, "Fellow Daoist Li, you are too kind. Under cultivation, all living beings are but ants. So-called imperial power and generals are nothing more than a passing breeze. We have already reached the clouds. Everything in the mortal world has no meaning for us."

Li Lin looked at Zhu Jing with some surprise.

He discovered that Zhu Jing valued the identity of 'cultivating immortality' very much, and was even extremely proud of it.

Zhu Jing waved his hand, and a table and chairs appeared beside him.

It was also a golden phantom.

"Please sit down." Zhu Jing took the first seat.

Li Lin then sat down opposite Zhu Jing.

“It’s quite troublesome to speak with you in this form, and it can’t last long,” Zhu Jing continued. “Therefore, we must keep this brief. I am extremely angry about you taking my imperial concubine and my great-grandmother.”

Li Lin's expression was subtle, even somewhat embarrassed.

Although it was Lady Zifeng who offered herself up, he did indeed... gain a great deal of benefit from it.

“But I’m not an unreasonable person. If anyone else dared to do such a thing, I would kill them to the ends of the earth. But Fellow Daoist Li, you are different. In this vast world, there are millions of people, but only you and I have embarked on the path of cultivation. We should help each other. As long as you give me appropriate compensation, this matter can be put aside.”

Li Lin raised his eyebrows.

In fact, when he killed the crown prince last time, he realized that Zhu Jing didn't have much 'malice' towards him.

It was still a bit strange, since he had clearly killed his closest relative.

Now he understood that in Zhu Jing's eyes, he already possessed the body of an immortal, and all his close relatives were meaningless. Only those at the same level as him, or at a higher level, could be considered 'human'.

Li Lin thought for a moment and asked, "What kind of compensation does Fellow Daoist Zhu hope for?"

"I know you must have pills that are more effective than the Body Strengthening Pill, right?"

Li Lin nodded.

Above the Body Strengthening Pill, there are also Vitality Pill and Spiritual Energy Pill.

The Vitality Pill is easy to refine, and it is very useful for most people, but it probably doesn't hold much appeal for an emperor who has already cultivated spiritual energy.

Then the only option left is the Spirit Energy Pill.

He had two bottles of this with him just now.

After thinking for a while, Li Lin took out one of the bottles of spirit pills.

Zhu Jing asked with some curiosity, "What is this?"

"Spiritual Energy Pill".

Zhu Jing's eyes widened.

"Is it the kind of spirit pill I imagined?"

“Yes.” Li Lin nodded, then said, “It is extremely difficult to refine; it usually takes more than ten years to refine just one bottle.”

Zhu Jing looked at the bottle with great interest: "I can understand. Spirit Qi Pills are top-grade spiritual pills. It is already very impressive that it takes more than ten years to refine one bottle. The alchemy of your Jin County Li family is indeed extraordinary."

"Can this bottle of spirit pills be used as compensation?" Li Lin asked.

“Of course it’s enough.” Zhu Jing nodded, holding the bottle in his hand, and then said, “It’s clear that the Li family is quite proficient in alchemy, but they don’t seem to have any real immortal techniques!”

He had investigated Li Lin.

The techniques Li Lin is currently using are still martial arts skills.

Martial arts techniques driven by spiritual energy are indeed more powerful than those driven by primordial energy, but the problem is that they cannot fully utilize the effects of spiritual energy.

To fully utilize the true and wondrous uses of spiritual energy, one must have the corresponding cultivation techniques.

“My Imperial Concubine and my great-grandmother are no match for this bottle of elixir,” Zhu Jing said with a smile. “The Empress and concubines in the palace are all quite beautiful. If you want it, just ask.”

He had absolutely no reservations about giving his woman away. Li Lin said helplessly, "Fellow Daoist Zhu, please stop teasing me."

"Haha, then I'll give you a magical technique from the immortals," Zhu Jing laughed. "Although it's not a combat technique, it's still one of the wonders of the immortals."

"What is it?"

"I will send someone to deliver it after I return to the palace. Fellow Daoist Li, please don't be in a hurry." After saying this, Zhu Jing said, "It's almost time, so I'll head back now. Please come often, Fellow Daoist Li, so we can brew tea and discuss the Dao."

After saying this, Zhu Jing flew into the sky and headed back towards the capital.

As he got closer to the capital, the golden-armored deity grew larger and larger.

Finally, it transformed into a hundred-foot-tall giant and then disappeared.

At this moment, the table and chairs that Zhu Jing had conjured up had disappeared.

Li Lin stood up and gave a cold laugh.

Although Zhu Jing appeared very 'gentle,' Li Lin actually didn't believe in the other party's 'sincerity' at all.

If he were truly sincere, he should come in his physical body, rather than coming in a 'Dharma form'.

At this moment, Li Lin believed that the golden-armored deity was Zhu Jing's Dharma form.

However, at this moment, Li Lin did not intend to expose the other party's little scheme.

After all... intelligence reports that the reason the Da Shun rebels were able to escape from the capital was because they were instantly killed by something unseen.

This caused a massive collapse in morale.

This unseen thing is the golden-armored deity.

Li Lin would not put himself in danger until he had a way to fight the golden-armored god.

Furthermore, through his close contact with the golden-armored deity, Li Lin also received new ability hints.

[Divine Puppetry +1]

And I kept refreshing it for quite a while.

Li Lin now has a basic understanding of the Divine Puppet Technique.

This thing... is essentially a special kind of magic.

In other words, given enough time, Li Lin will also be able to condense a golden-armored deity.

Shortly after Zhu Jing left, Li Lin returned to the main tent and took command.

Regardless of the situation in the capital, we should first wipe out the rebel army of Da Shun.

At this time, the rebel army of Da Shun, numbering over 100,000, had gathered in front of Yuyang Pass.

People were everywhere, densely packed, covering the entire mountainside.

Moreover, these people all had gleaming green eyes, clearly the kind who had been starving for a long time.

The Shun rebels were not in a hurry to attack the city, but waited quietly.

Only after seeing the figures of the Tianjin Prefecture soldiers appear behind them did they begin to take action.

Standing on high ground, Zhang Zouzhi looked at the Jin County army slowly approaching from behind and laughed, "I laugh at Li Lin's lack of strategy. If he had abandoned Yuyang Pass and let me attack the city, he would have left due to a lack of sufficient food after I took Yuyang Pass, and he would have lost at most a few thousand men. But now he has sent all his men to try to attack us from both sides. My lord is too greedy."

There was a chorus of flattery all around.

Zhang Zouzhi said, "Who would want to eat such a piece of fat meat?"

"I."

"I."

"Me!"

More than a dozen voices rang out.

Zhang Zouguan pointed to a burly man with a beard: "Commander Zhou, I'll leave it to you. The enemy only has about six or seven thousand men. You can lead thirty thousand men up there and make sure you win decisively."

"Thank you for your patronage, Your Majesty."

Commander Zhou immediately went to gather his soldiers.

Soon, a rebel army of about 30,000 men charged directly at the enemy.

They were very fast; they just charged in recklessly.

Zhang Zouzhi watched this scene from the high ground and laughed, "See that? This is my general, unparalleled in strength, swift as the wind in battle, without any hesitation. Everyone, how long do you think it will take Commander Zhou to defeat the enemy?"

"Two hours."

"I think an hour is enough."

"Half an hour."

Everyone felt that although their guesses might be wrong, the result would definitely be correct.

That means the enemy will definitely be defeated and crushed.

After all, it's 30,000 versus 10,000.

However, what happened next stunned everyone.

The 30,000-strong army, like a black ant colony, pounced straight on.

They encountered several thousand soldiers from the Jin County government, as if they had encountered a small piece of sugar.

It will rush over, crush, cut, and devour it.

However, something amazing soon happened.

That small 'square white block' did not 'retreat' at all, even when surrounded by the black ants. Or rather, after the black ants rushed forward, the formation of the Jin County army never changed; it remained the same.

On the contrary, the number of black ants is decreasing, and the black 'area' is starting to shrink.

When the number of ants had decreased by about three thousand, the dark ant colony collapsed first.

They retreated frantically, just to get as far away from that square piece of white sugar as possible.

Looking at the hordes of soldiers fleeing, Zhang Zouzhi's face turned ashen.

He roared, “Commander Long, Commander Huan, Commander Pang, each of you take 20,000 men and surround the enemy from three sides. You must defeat them!”

"Yes!"

The three answered in unison and then left.

Zhang Zouzhi understood very well that if they couldn't defeat that small 'square formation,' then the morale of their Great Shun army wouldn't be high.

Soon, the three armies went out.

However, a new formation then appeared in the distance and quickly moved closer to the previous 'sugar' formation, achieving joint defense.

"Send five more commanders over there," Zhang Zouzhi roared. "We must capture them."

Just as more soldiers appeared, three more Jin County troops appeared on the horizon, bringing the total number of troops to five.

Zhang Zouzhi took a deep breath and said, "Raise the flag, everyone come back."

Soon, the soldiers of the Da Shun rebels regrouped.

An aide asked, "Your Majesty, what should we do next?"

“The enemy has already joined forces, and it’s impossible to defeat them with just tens of thousands of troops,” Zhang Zouzhi said. “Now we need to gather our strength and send out over a hundred thousand men at once to perish together with the enemy. The general offensive will be launched tomorrow morning.”

"But we don't..."

"Kill all the warhorses, give the soldiers a good meal, and let them sleep peacefully tonight."

"Yes."

The people around fell silent.

At this moment, everyone understood that the king was preparing to burn his bridges.

If they can break through the enemy's encirclement, they will be free to roam the skies and seas.

If they can't break through, they'll be doomed here.

Zhang Zouzhi, however, was full of confidence. He looked at the Jin County army that was merging ahead and sneered, "I have the mandate of heaven by my side. The Imperial Concubine who appeared that day is the best proof. Only heroes can obtain beauties. That was both an omen and a revelation from heaven."

(End of this chapter)