New and dark light years

Chapter 531 The Talking Paper Doll
When Li Lin proposed the 'super soldier' ​​training plan to Jiang Jili, the latter had a strange expression on his face.

"Governor, aren't you afraid that these people will become uncontrollable?" Jiang Jili asked with a solemn expression.

Li Lin looked at him and asked with a smile, "Why worry about them rebelling? Why not just choose those with decent character from the start?"

Jiang Jili couldn't answer and was still somewhat worried. He left looking anxious.

The news quickly spread throughout the three prefectures of Tianjin, Guangxi, and Hunan.

All of Li Lin's soldiers were eagerly anticipating how things would progress.

Everyone wants to be a warrior, but not everyone can be one. Why?
Cultivation resources are controlled by a small number of people.

The term "jianghu" sounds grand, implying a large number of people from various sects and factions.

However... according to official statistics, the number of people in the entire martial arts world who can be considered martial artists is estimated to be no more than 15,000.

This still includes those novice disciples who have only learned the basics and can perform a set of moves in sequence.

This is why a mere thousand elite soldiers are enough to sweep through an entire sect.

Because in all the martial arts schools, the number of disciples who truly learn martial arts will not exceed one thousand.

Those so-called sects or gangs with thousands or tens of thousands of members mostly include logistics personnel.

Therefore, at all times, martial artists are a scarce resource, or rather, the true elite.

Now that news has spread that Li Lin is willing to train 'martial soldiers', many people have taken notice.

They dared not approach Li Lin directly, but many officers were 'harassed'.

In this world, every officer will have a small clique.

It's made up of relatives, fellow villagers, and friends—the kind of people who are still connected even if their bones are broken.

Asking how to become a 'super soldier'.

Unable to withstand the pressure, these lower-ranking officers inquired further, and the middle-ranking officers continued upwards. Finally, it was Xiao Chunzhu who visited them with gifts.

"My lord, this matter is driving me crazy." Xiao Chunzhu said with a pained expression, "Those people come to bother me every day and give me gifts every day. I dare not accept them, but they still want to give them gifts. Not only do they want to find out information from me, but they also want me to open back doors for them and let their people in."

Li Lin took a sip of tea and smiled, "Isn't that great? It shows that everyone trusts you."

Xiao Chunzhu shook her head repeatedly: "Forget it, I can't shoulder such a heavy burden."

Li Lin smiled and said, "Tell them that once I've finalized the rules, we can start selecting people in a month."

"That's great." Xiao Chunzhu breathed a sigh of relief.

He's been harassed to the point of being terrified lately.

He then cautiously asked, "Sir, may I ask what the basic requirements are?"

"Physically able, under thirty years old, and the greater the contribution, the easier it is to be selected."

Xiao Chunzhu nodded, then stood up and said, "My lord, I shall take my leave now. It is my fault for disturbing your peace."

Li Lin waved his hand: "It's nothing, go do your thing."

Xiao Chunzhu bowed and then left.

Li Lin continued to practice the Cloud and Mist Technique and meditate to refine his spirit.

The Tree Fairy instructed him to cultivate his spiritual sense, and he naturally kept this matter firmly in mind.

Several days later, Li Lin received information from the Seeking Immortals Society.

It is said that the Immortal Execution Association is carrying out a large-scale personnel mobilization and is heading towards Jin County, suspected to be aimed at Li Lin.

Li Lin replied: "The Immortal Slaughtering Society is a bandit gang; we shall eliminate them if we have the opportunity. If a large number of Immortal Slaughtering Society members are discovered, we can use the talisman to request military assistance from the government army to suppress them."

This is also the purpose of Li Lin's establishment of the Seeking Immortals Society.

He needed a force to help him with intelligence gathering and 'dirty work' against the enemy.

After all, troop movements are too troublesome, and it's impossible to use a large amount of force to kill a small amount of mosquitoes all the time; that would be too wasteful.

After receiving Li Lin's orders, An Xin began to carry out his work.

Meanwhile, Li Lin summoned Tang Chun at the White Tiger Hall.

Tang Chun knelt on one knee in front of Li Lin.

"Commander Tang, you've been with our army for almost two years now. What are your thoughts?"

"You are a wise and virtuous general!" Tang Chun looked at Li Lin with admiration in his eyes: "You can become a dragon if you advance, or a hidden dragon if you retreat; it's all up to you."

Li Lin shook his head: "That's not what I meant. I meant, what are your thoughts on Jin County and the atmosphere within the government army?"

Tang Chun looked up and said, "Your Excellency is just and upright, and the civil and military officials are harmonious and united. This is a blessed land and a prosperous place."

Li Lin felt somewhat helpless upon hearing this.

Tang Chun kept implying to Li Lin: You can become king now, you can rebel.

However, this is a normal situation; almost all the military officers in Tianjin, Guangxi, and Hunan prefectures share this view.

We're just waiting for Li Lin to raise the banner.

"You know about what happened in Yangxu County, right?" Li Lin asked.

Tang Chun nodded.

Li Lin continued, "Although Yangxu Military Town has returned to our hands, we suffered a loss and are very unhappy about it."

After occupying Yangxu Military Town for more than 20 days, Tang's army withdrew and returned the town to Jin County.

But this incident also served as a wake-up call for Li Lin.

The forces surrounding him were not easy to mess with.

Qin Tuo had the help of the southern barbarians and the Gu people.

The Tang family army, on the other hand, possesses the divine flesh of the White Elephant. They have now assembled a group of very powerful elite soldiers, and can capture a military town without lifting a finger.

Although my side is not easy to mess with, it doesn't feel good to be slapped in the face.

If you don't fight back, others will think you're weak and easy to bully, and they'll slap you every now and then.

Tang Chun listened to Li Lin's words, raised his head and said, "Sir, please give me any orders you require. I will do my utmost to fulfill them."

Li Lin nodded and said, "Since that's the case, I'll be frank. You come from the Tang family, and even if I believe you, the other generals won't completely trust you."

Tang Chun's expression was somewhat bitter.

This is indeed true.

The atmosphere among Li Lin's officers was very good, but he found it difficult to fit in.

Because he is a member of the Tang family, many people are subconsciously wary of him.

"Therefore, you need an opportunity, a real battle, to change other people's perceptions of you."

Tang Chun said solemnly, "Please speak, sir."

"I need you to take a thousand light cavalrymen to harass the Tang family army's supply lines."

"Didn't the lord already send people to conquer Lang Son?" Tang Chun asked curiously.

Li Lin nodded: "They did send people over, but... the results weren't very good. The Tang family army values ​​the protection of their logistics lines more than we thought, so their efforts weren't very effective."

"I understand," Tang Chun said, bowing. "Your will is my will."

Li Lin said, "As long as you lead these thousand men and can stay on the Tang family army's logistics line for three months, and greatly hinder their supply of provisions, then when you return after three months, I can give you the vacant position of 'Military Commander' and make you a full-fledged officer."

Tang Chun's eyes lit up immediately: "Thank you for your guidance, sir."

This task is very difficult; in fact, it could be said that it is pushing Tang Chun to the point of being 'betrayed and abandoned by everyone'.

But he understood that the more this was the case, the brighter his future would be if he met Li Lin's expectations.

Li Lin nodded slightly: "Go and get to work."

"Yes."

Tang Chun stood up to return the greeting, then quickly left, appearing very happy and excited.

Li Lin watched his retreating figure and chuckled softly.

It's a pity that Ji Bo was executed, but the world is not lacking in ambitious talents.

Tang Chun is indeed not as capable as Ji Bo, but he is ambitious and knows how to position himself and has a sense of propriety, which makes him much better than Ji Bo.

It is indeed feasible to cultivate them into key military commanders.

The only flaw was his original identity.

The illegitimate son of the Tang family... he needs more military achievements to prove his loyalty.

Li Lin then handled a few more official business matters before returning home. In the backyard, he saw Liu Chi helping to serve the dishes.

When the girl saw him, her pupils changed from black to bright gold, and then slowly returned to black.

This is a subtle characteristic that appears when she's excited.

"You're back just in time. We can start eating now."

Liu Chi came up and helped Li Lin dust off non-existent dust from his clothes, then straightened them for him.

His mannerisms were much like his wife's.

Li Lin was used to this situation and let her do as she pleased.

After Li Lin and the five women had lunch together, he said, "Next, I need to go to Xiang County. It will take at least half a month and at most a month."

All five women were somewhat lost in thought.

Huang Qing was the first to regain his composure and asked, "Is my lord going to look for a cave again?"

Li Lin nodded.

The Seeking Immortals Society is developing slowly, while secretly dealing with the Immortal Slaughtering Society and also exploring things related to immortals.

Three days ago, someone discovered a new cave.

Although nothing was found during the search, the intelligence still came back.

"Take Yanjing with you, so that someone can take care of you," Huang Qing said.

Li Yanjing looked very happy.

Because she is a ghost, she can reside in talismans, making travel quite convenient.

Liu Chi looked at Li Yanjing with some envy.

Actually, she wanted to go with them, but unfortunately, she is now a True Lord and cannot stray too far from her 'altar'.

Otherwise, one is likely to suffer a backlash and lose one's rationality.

“Sure,” Li Lin nodded.

Now he's become somewhat 'degenerate' because he's gotten used to being served by his wives. Although he can live well without them, it's always more comfortable to have someone help him with things.

Li Lin did not bring any bodyguards with him on this trip.

He rode only one horse and had some dry rations.

To be honest, his bodyguards are now offering him almost no protection; in most cases, they might even become a burden.

He has a storage ring containing five thousand paper figures.

To kill him, one must first get past Li Yanjing's close protection, and then break through the guard of the paper doll army.

During the breakthrough, one must also be able to withstand the attacks of Li Lin's lightning technique.

Generally speaking, there are probably only a handful of people in the whole world who can do that.

For example, the swordsman, Zi Feng, or an emperor in a certain state.

After four days of travel, Li Lin finally arrived at Xianning County in Xiangjun.

The members of the Seeking Immortals Society discovered a cave dwelling in the nearby suburbs.

Li Lin arrived in Xianning County and had only been in the inn for less than two hours when someone gently knocked on his door.

Li Lin remained on guard as he opened the door.

A young man was standing outside. When he saw Li Lin's face, a look of surprise flashed in his eyes. He then cupped his hands and asked, "Are you Chairman Li?"

"Who are you?" Li Lin asked.

"I am Xu Ankang, a subordinate of the Sorrowful Wind Taoist."

After saying that, the young man took out a bronze talisman.

Li Lin said, "I have no token, how can you confirm that it is me?"

“We have your portrait,” Xu Ankang said with a smile. “When Branch Chief Liang showed us your portrait before, many people didn’t believe it. They thought there was no such handsome man in the world. But after seeing you in person, I realized that the portrait failed to capture even 30% of your appearance.”

Li Lin smiled and said, "Come in and let's talk."

The two entered the house and closed the door at the same time.

Li Lin sat down first and said, "Find a seat for yourself, and then tell me about the cave."

Xu Ankang found a nearby chair and sat down, but only sat on one side of his buttock.

For some reason, he felt very nervous looking at Li Lin, who was handsome and had a calm and gentle demeanor. Logically, such a person should be easy to talk to, but in fact, he felt very nervous.

It seemed as if they were facing a very powerful and ferocious beast.

Xu Ankang calmed himself down and said, "There have been rumors about that cave in this area, but its exact location was unknown. After we found out, we searched the surrounding area during the day and spent more than a month before finally finding it on a mountaintop."

"On the mountaintop?" Li Lin asked, somewhat surprised.

Generally speaking, cave dwellings are located halfway up the mountain or at the foot of the mountain.

Xu Ankang continued, "We went in to check once, and there was no one's roof... it was gone. It looked like something had used a sharp tool to flatten the hilltop."

Oh?
Li Lin nodded: "Give me a map and mark the directions."

"Alright." Xu Ankang handed over the map from his pocket, and then asked, "Do you need us to follow you and help you solve your problems?"

Li Lin shook his head: "You can just guard the city gate."

Xu Ankang nodded: "Yes, Chairman."

Then he left.

The next morning, Li Lin ate some flatbread and then, following the map, found the so-called cave in the suburbs.

Although it is called a cave, it is actually a ruin.

The entire mountain peak was cut off, mostly right at the entrance to the cave.

The smooth cross-section at the summit tells a story of how terrible things happened back then.

Li Lin used his lightness technique to stand on the summit.

Here, he could sense the lingering sword intent.

It was an arrogant sword intent, as if it were telling the whole world.

I am the only immortal!

Li Lin squinted and looked around, trying to find the hilltop that had been cut off, but he couldn't.

Where did the hilltop go?!

Such a huge hill...did someone carry it away?

It is not impossible.

Li Lin leaped back into the ruins of the cave.

Here, Li Lin sensed something different.

The atmosphere is different.

The immortal caves I've entered in the past all had the same 'smell,' a kind of intuition that's hard to describe.

But Li Lin knew that all the previous cave dwellings were built by the same person.

This cave dwelling, however, has a completely different feel.

Besides the sword immortal, are there other immortals?
Thinking of this, Li Lin looked at the flat cross-section of the mountain peak above and had a vague idea in his mind.

Could it be that the immortal in this cave was killed by the sword immortal?

He left behind a dozen or so paper figures, sending them to search for something 'different' in the vicinity.

The dozen or so paper figures scattered, but after a while, one of them suddenly stopped moving, and then its body changed from purple to pale yellow.

The entire ruins space seemed to distort slightly.

Li Lin noticed the change immediately.

In an instant, a large number of paper soldiers appeared around Li Lin and protected him.

Meanwhile, taking advantage of the soldiers' appearance, Li Lin crouched down and became invisible, leaving his original position and blending into the paper soldiers.

The transformed paper figure curiously looked at its 'hands,' then at its 'body,' and then at its left and right. Suddenly, it cried out in a strange, unrealistic tone, like a puppy whimpering, "What the hell is this thing! How did I become like this!"

(End of this chapter)