"To bring the secret realm back to you."
Li Guan Yi said, "The previous alliance didn’t include this."
Shaking Light replied, "This is considered a new agreement."
"It’s not the ancient covenant, it is a new agreement made between you and me."
Somehow, Li Guan Yi’s mood suddenly improved, he stretched out his hand, his brows lifted, and said:
"Then I will prepare all sorts of delicacies for you, lamb dipped in leek sauce from the Northern Domain, all kinds of dried fruits and pastries from the Western Regions, more distant fish delicacies, noodles from the Central Plains, the world is so vast, I can assure you, you won’t grow tired of them!"
"Do you plan to go to such distant places?"
Shaking Light looked at the hand Li Guan Yi extended.
This was something children in the Central Plains liked, a promise of the future with a pinky swear.
Still children, unaware of the world’s cruelty, would think that linking fingers meant a promise that wouldn’t break for a lifetime, Li Guan Yi had played with those children before, and in his excitement, he hadn’t given much thought, making such a gesture towards someone who truly understood fate was somewhat embarrassing, and he thought of retracting his hand.
"You also have such a childish side," she said.
Shaking Light thought for a moment but still extended her finger and hooked it with the young man’s.
Fingers linked together.
"But since it’s your invitation, I won’t refuse."
In the following days, sons of military families, including one general’s son, committed suicide, and several others were harshly controlled because of Yue Qianfeng’s incident, the Court suddenly started to scrutinize the past deeds of these noble offspring.
Those deeds, insignificant in the past, became significantly heavyweight before the grand ceremony of Chen Country and were severely investigated because of the connections with Yue Qianfeng.
It was heard that the Court was in great anger.
Those noble offspring, either were sentenced to military service or were beaten half to death and stripped of their martial arts, even their fathers shed a layer of skin over this, which was quite tragic; the two survivors who returned home were hung up by their fathers and beaten half to death.
Before Li Guan Yi even reached the Capital City, he had already earned the nickname Li Shaxing, the noble heirs’ initial reaction.
This man was like a ferocious tiger, extremely difficult to provoke.
There were also those who were eager to try, planning to provoke the tiger.
Li Guan Yi, however, was baffled, yet again earned several merits.
The merits provided by these noble military heirs were enough for him to write a year’s worth of performance reports.
Meanwhile, the atmosphere in the Capital City became increasingly solemn day by day.
Even the mood in Guan Yi City started to change.
Among the guests at the post stations, more faces from foreign territories appeared, commerce was booming more and more, and in the taverns, following the opportunities that came to Chen Country, Western Region beauties performed the Huxuan Dance; their footsteps matched perfectly with the zither sounds from the Central Plains, intoxicating the scholars and young knights with their eyesight.
In contrast, security measures were becoming increasingly stringent.
The number of martial artists from the Martial World was growing by the day.
The vortex of Chen Country’s grand ceremony finally began to affect the nearby border cities.
Li Guan Yi spent his days practicing breathing and cultivation.
He tried to adjust and control the White Tiger and Red Dragon Dharma Forms to maintain a balanced state, avoiding any direct clash of Qi mechanisms, which inadvertently honed his own Qi mechanism a lot, keeping him constantly as if facing a powerful foe.
His Qi mechanism was becoming increasingly condensed.
And less than a month away from the grand ceremony of Chen Country, someone rode a fast horse to the Xue Family from the Imperial Palace.
The third time the Imperial Palace sent a message to the Xue Family, Li Guan Yi finally saw that old man who couldn’t hold his liquor, often got drunk but loved to drink, at the usual old tavern.
Li Guan Yi walked over, sat beside the old man, ordered a pot of wine, and several dishes.
"Elder, how are things?"
Siming glanced at him and said:
"What did you say you called me?"
Li Guan Yi thought for a moment and said, "Old man?"
Then the old man laughed loudly, pointed at Li Guan Yi and nodded.
He tilted his head back and took a swig of wine, boasting spiritedly:
"Mission accomplished!"
As the grand ceremony approached, the tension Li Guan Yi had been feeling finally eased somewhat.
"Tiger Roar Bone Forging Skills," Golden Muscle and Jade Bone, Dragon Veins and Tiger Marrow—the foundation was about to begin.