Li Yan sat in his chair, at a complete loss for a moment. One moment he was thinking about how to escape, the next he was thinking about his parents, brother, and sister back home. After a long while, Li Yan suddenly stood up, his face slightly ferocious, and muttered to himself, "Even if I escape, it's not certain whether my family will be fine in the end. Perhaps my actions will bring great disaster upon my family. If that's the case, why should I bother trying so hard to find a way to escape? I might as well make a clean break with him."
After a while, Li Yan's expression slowly calmed down and gradually returned to normal. He then sat down again and began to think carefully.
In a deep forest, millions of li away from Green Mountain Pass, the mountain peaks soared into the clouds. On a huge platform, a magnificent palace was submerged in the depths of the white clouds. Inside the hall, the hawk-faced old man in the dark green long robe was reporting the situation to the scholar in the green robe.
"Peak Master, a message was sent back by a law-enforcing disciple today. After this period of investigation, they have obtained some clues."
"Oh? Let's hear it," the scholar in the green robe said lightly, sitting in the huge armchair carved with fierce beasts and looking at the hawk-faced old man.
"They investigated the area near where the traitor died. There are no mortal towns within a radius of ten thousand li, but there are some rogue cultivators active in this area. After eliminating a few rogue cultivators who didn't know their place, someone reported that people from the 'Immortal-Seeking Lineage' had appeared there six or seven years ago. This person was gathering herbs for a period of time. After some investigation, the herbs this person was looking for were indeed some of the herbs in our sect's introductory body tempering chapter."
"In that case, this person is likely the one who took the things from the traitor," the scholar in the green robe said, his slender fingers tapping a rhythm on the armrest.
Black qi surged around the hawk-faced old man, and he replied with a fierce voice, "It can be basically confirmed without a doubt. People from this 'Immortal-Seeking Lineage' are always looking for opportunities everywhere. Once they get an immortal art, they won't have any scruples and will generally cultivate it themselves. But the message also said that no one has seen this person in that area in recent years. He must have found a place to cultivate. If we find this person, we will definitely make him suffer the pain of the Soul-Entangling Silk Worm."
"Then what will you do next?"
"Peak Master, I have already ordered them to disperse, expand the search area, and investigate in several directions. I think there will be news back soon."
In the following days, Li Yan cultivated hard behind closed doors every day. It seemed that after his trip to the city last time, his state of mind had stabilized a lot. His aura had even grown a little after these few days of cultivation. Although this growth was very small, it still made the divine sense that probed him every day tremble a little.
But as Li Yan cultivated day after day, after more than ten days, he began to become irritable again. He had to stop after cultivating for half a day. Sometimes he would soak in the pool for half a day. Although this place was in the southwest, and even in winter, the temperature would not be very low, soaking in the cold pool in this late autumn was not something an ordinary person could bear. And sometimes he would close the door and scribble wildly in his room, making the paper fly and ink fill the room.
Chen An and Li Yin would hide far away at this time, not knowing when Li Yan would call them to him and give them an undeserved scolding.
But fortunately, every time Li Yan finished soaking in the cold pool, or after scribbling wildly in his room for half a day, his temper would improve a lot. Otherwise, they would have to be called into the valley to be reprimanded at some unknown time of the day.
Cultivation passed day by day like this. In the blink of an eye, more than a month had passed. During this period, Li Yan went into the city twice more. Strategist Ji did not come out of seclusion, and he was accompanied into the city by Chen An and Li Yin both times. Every time he came back, Li Yan would buy some new clothes, belts, boots, and so on. Strategist Ji would still probe them with his divine sense, but after finding that they were all ordinary things, he didn't pay much attention.
Strangely enough, every time Li Yan came back from the city, his mood would be good, and in the following period of cultivation, his realm would always improve. This made the wisp of Strategist Ji's divine sense, after scanning him, pay less and less attention to him.
On this day, Li Yan summoned Chen An and Li Yin again, expressing that he wanted to go into the city. The two of them naturally agreed cautiously and then led the horses out with him.
The group of three quickly arrived at the north city gate. The person on duty at the city gate today was not Liu Chengyong, but the captain of the first squad of the Third War Battalion, who was leading his men on duty here. The north city gate was guarded in rotation by the squads of the Third War Battalion, while the south gate was guarded in rotation by the squads of the Second War Battalion. The patrols on the city walls were in rotation by the squads of the First War Battalion. After coming to the city the first two times, Li Yan had also looked for Liu Chengyong and had invited him and his brothers to a meal at the "Natural Inn," which had brought their relationship much closer. This made the other squads of the Third War Battalion very envious. Now, Li Yan could be considered a semi-familiar face in the Third War Battalion. There were still many people in the other squads who knew or had heard of this "Lord Li."
They came to the front of the city gate. The squad captain on duty was the captain of the first squad of the Third War Battalion, a man in his thirties, of medium height, with a strong and sturdy build, named Zeng Wen. He had also seen this "Lord Li" from a distance, who had recently become a topic of conversation for Liu Chengyong and his men in the Third War Battalion after tea and meals.
"Well, Lord Li, are you on business in the city today?" Zeng Wen recognized Chen An and Li Yin. He had heard more than once that Li Yan was always accompanied by these two when he went out. Moreover, he had also met Li Yan before.
"Oh, Captain Zeng is on duty. Where is Captain Liu now?" Li Yan's memory was really not bad. Especially after cultivating an immortal art, he could basically be said to have a photographic memory. He had seen this person from a distance in the military camp last time. At that time, Liu Chengyong had even casually said hello, and he had remembered it. He didn't say much now and asked directly.
Seeing that Li Yan could call out his name, Zeng Wen was also happy in his heart. "Captain Liu is resting today. He should be in the military camp."
"Alright, then I'll go and find him," Li Yan said to him with a smile, pulled on the horse's reins, and walked into the city. Chen An and Li Yin also cupped their hands to Zeng Wen and followed Li Yan.
"Captain, that boy Liu Chengyong has been in the limelight recently, often bragging to the other brother squads about Lord Li inviting their squad to drink. Even that group of simpletons under him, every time they talk about this, they get as excited as if they had just been with a prostitute," a soldier behind Zeng Wen said sourly.
"These scoundrels really don't know where they got such dumb luck. Next time we see Lord Li, let's all be more respectful. Maybe we'll get some benefits too. And didn't Liu Chengyong ask us to let him know if we saw Lord Li enter the city? He even said he would give us some benefits. Pfft, I'm not going to tell him. What benefits could he give us? He just wants to find an opportunity to get closer to him. I'm not going to give him this chance, hehe," Zeng Wen said sinisterly to the soldiers around him, causing a burst of playful laughter from his subordinates.
Li Yan, of course, did not know about this. After the three of them entered the city, they rode straight towards the drill grounds. The military camp was located next to the drill grounds. He had been to the military camp to look for Liu Chengyong last time, so the road was familiar. They couldn't ride fast in the city, so the three of them rode slowly. Li Yan sat on his horse with his eyes slightly narrowed, looking a little arrogant. Chen An and Li Yin followed half a horse's length behind on either side, not daring to say much.
At this moment, Li Yan was thinking about something in his heart. Since he had returned from the city for the first time, he had gone into the city twice more. Chen An and Li Yin had really followed him very closely. Even last time when he had invited Liu Chengyong to drink and had deliberately asked him to bring all the soldiers from his squad, opening several tables, these two had still sat by his side without leaving. Fortunately, in the end, he had used the excuse of being drunk to go to the latrine with Liu Chengyong and had managed to get away for a while. These two had even wanted to follow, but he had drunkenly kicked each of them, making them stand where they were without daring to move. Only then did he have the time to subtly ask Liu Chengyong some questions, which allowed him to basically confirm that Liu Chengyong should be Marshal Hong's man. Although he also held Strategist Ji in high esteem, his object of loyalty should undoubtedly be Marshal Hong.
His purpose in entering the city this time was to see if Liu Chengyong had any intentions recently. According to Dong Fuyi, Marshal Hong was very eager to get his hands on Strategist Ji's "martial arts manual." This was very certain. The two times he had started to contact Liu Chengyong, first, was to confirm who he was loyal to and whether he could be used as a medium. Second was to give Marshal Hong a signal that he had an opportunity to contact him.
But at this moment, he was still very anxious. These were all his plans, his speculations. Whether the facts were so was still uncertain now. If, after this contact, Liu Chengyong still had no reaction the next time he entered the city, then he would have to find another way.
It wasn't that he hadn't thought of other methods recently, but after much deliberation, he still felt that Dong Fuyi was right. Only by using Marshal Hong's power was his best chance to complete his plan.
And so, with his eyes narrowed on his horse, his body swaying with the horse's movement, Li Yan arrived outside the military camp gate.
At the gate of the military camp, dozens of armed soldiers had long seen the group of three coming towards them. One of them immediately stepped out from the crowd, raised his hand, and shouted to stop them. "Military camp, no unauthorized entry." He was also a person with sharp eyes. Although he didn't recognize Li Yan, he vaguely felt that Chen An and Li Yin looked familiar, so his words were still polite.
When the three of them were about to reach this person, they had already dismounted. Li Yan raised his hand, and a waist token flew towards the person. This soldier reached out and caught it, looked at it carefully, and walked forward. He then bowed deeply and returned the waist token to Li Yan with both hands.
"Sir, may I ask what business you have here?"
"Oh, I'm here to find Liu Chengyong of the third squad of the Third War Battalion," Li Yan said softly after taking the waist token. He now also knew the general situation of his official position. And he was also a military official, so it was fine for him to enter the military camp, as long as he did not go to the central command tent or important military areas without an order.
"I understand. I'll go and inform Captain Liu right away," he said, turned, and walked towards the military camp gate. He then stopped in front of a soldier and said a few words to him. That soldier then quickly ran into the military camp.
Li Yan was not in a hurry and just stood outside waiting slowly.
Liu Chengyong had been a little anxious recently. After drinking with Li Yan that day, just as he had returned to the military camp, he had been summoned by Marshal Hong. He was at a complete loss at that time. Although drinking was generally not allowed in the military camp, he was an old hand, and he was not on military duty at that time. In this situation, the people above would usually turn a blind eye.
Now that he had been summoned by Marshal Hong, he couldn't help but feel anxious, wondering if he had been backstabbed because of this matter. He couldn't help but curse in his heart, "Which turtle bastard is badmouthing me behind my back? Son of a bitch, there are plenty of people who drink in the army. If I find out who is stabbing me in the back, I will definitely skin him and break his bones."
When he drunkenly arrived at the Marshal's Residence, he was directly called into the main hall of the back residence. When he arrived in the main hall, he saw that only Marshal Hong was there. He quickly knelt and kowtowed.
"This subordinate pays his respects to the Marshal. May I ask what orders the Marshal has for summoning this subordinate?"
"Heh, what orders? I have something for you to do now. Can you do it in your current state?" Marshal Hong's bald head gleamed greenly, and his round eyes glared at him.
"This subordinate... this subordinate met a friend and had to have a drink with him. Hehe, I accidentally drank a little too much horse piss," Liu Chengyong said with a fawning smile, seeing that the Marshal did not seem too angry. He knew that their Marshal was black-faced but soft-hearted towards these brothers who had gone through life and death with him. As long as it wasn't delaying important military matters, it was generally fine.
Marshal Hong did not speak and just stared at Liu Chengyong. Liu Chengyong did not see the Marshal speak for a long time. He looked up and saw that the Marshal was just looking at him with his round eyes. He couldn't help but feel a little scared. He said hesitantly, "Mar... Marshal, if you... if you have something to say, just say it directly. If this subordinate has made a mistake, you can just drag me out and give me a beating."
After looking for a while, Marshal Hong suddenly asked, "Who did you drink with today?"
"This... uh, this subordinate drank with Lord Li, the disciple of Strategist Ji, today. But, but this was all this subordinate's idea. I insisted on dragging Lord Li along," Liu Chengyong said. It had to be said that this Liu Chengyong was a very loyal person. Fearing that drinking would get him into trouble for violating military regulations and implicate Li Yan, he took all the blame himself.
"Oh, so you are quite familiar with Lord Li?"
"We are quite familiar. When Lord Li first entered the city, I met him. We have had contact since then, and we get along quite well. But, Marshal, this drinking matter has nothing to do with Lord Li. It was all because this subordinate's craving for alcohol got the better of him, so I dragged Lord Li along."
"Oh, so that's it," he said after a pause. "You may rise."
Hearing the Marshal's softened tone, Liu Chengyong couldn't help but feel relieved. He had already prepared himself for a beating and had planned to find out who had snitched on him when he got back and give him some trouble behind his back.
After standing up, he stood with his hands clasped, waiting for the Marshal's further instructions.