Chapter 397: 99: Surging Waves

Chapter 397: Chapter 99: Surging Waves

“President,” Li Fei and Shi Caiming looked at each other and calmly said, “Master failed to break through that year, and there may have been various reasons, but ultimately, it was because he wasn’t strong enough.”

Shi Caiming was taken aback.

Li Fei continued, “There are countless reasons for failure in this world, but all those reasons can ultimately be summarized as one—not being strong enough.”

Only the weak continually make excuses for themselves. For the strong, there is always only that one reason for failure!

Shi Caiming was silent for a moment before saying, “But even for a Martial Saint who stands at the pinnacle of martial arts, or an Emperor who holds the world’s supreme power, they couldn’t accomplish what your master wanted to achieve.”

He didn’t interfere in this incident, not only because he keeps his promises.

Unless one cares for absolutely no one and nothing, the higher one climbs, the more one realizes the many constraints in this world.

It’s not that the greater the ability, the greater the responsibility, but rather the greater the ability, the higher the level of entanglement, leaving many things beyond one’s control.

Having a deep understanding and having seen too many tragedies, Shi Caiming advised Li Fei against going to extremes.

“That means they’re still not strong enough,” Li Fei said.

Shi Caiming laughed in spite of himself.

But at the same time, he heard the deep self-blame in Li Fei’s words.

Wasn’t Li Fei also saying that he himself wasn’t strong enough? Shaking his head, Shi Caiming said, “Child, you’ve already done well enough, don’t be too hard on yourself.”

“Have I really done well enough?” Li Fei murmured.

If he hadn’t bought some more time for Hao Yi, perhaps the other would not have been able to successfully break through.

If he hadn’t protected Shangguan Xiao, Hao Yi wouldn’t have been able to calmly deliver the final blow.

If he hadn’t blocked Xu Jing’s Water Control Divine Skills multiple times, perhaps the other party would not have chosen to retreat, and with Hao Yi’s condition at the time, he could only have died in battle, and afterwards Shangguan Xiao would also have been dismembered and executed.

Looking at it this way, he had indeed done well enough and changed many things.

But he still felt it was far from enough.

He was still far from strong!

So he said to Shi Caiming, “You said before, that all the implants I need for my Tao Foundation Stage can be provided by the university for free. Now, I want to acquire my second implant, an Earth Attribute Third Grade lower-class ‘Ghostly Foot.'”

What he intended to cultivate, the Mixed Element Heavenly Gold, was mainly of the Gold Attribute, hence the sequence of his implants was in ‘reverse order.’

The first was the Gold Attribute’s “steel armor,” so the next should be an Earth Attribute implant.

Because Earth generates Gold.

The Earth Attribute Third Grade lower-class ‘Ghostly Foot’ was a very rare implant as well, even rarer than Li Fei’s Second Grade upper-class ‘steel armor.’

‘Ghostly Foot’ came from a Third Grade Exotic Beast known as the Earth Ghost Beast, a creature possessing both Earth and the Mutant Attribute—Dark Attribute; a dual-attribute beast!

Over ninety percent of Exotic Beasts in this world are of a single attribute, with only a very few being multi-attribute.

Earth Ghost Beasts live in swamps, and only in places with Nine Nether Earth Qi. There are only a few known places in the world with Nine Nether Earth Qi, so their numbers are very scarce.

If it were up to Li Fei himself, he didn’t know how much time and effort it would take to acquire ‘Ghostly Foot,’ but with the backing of Wuda, it was a different matter.

“Alright, I’ll have someone find ‘Ghostly Foot’ for you,” Shi Caiming said casually.

“Thank you, President.”

Li Fei saluted again and then turned to leave.

…

That same night, inside a building of the Datong Prefecture’s Righteous Law General Institute.

Bian Jingru and various high-ranking officials of Datong Prefecture gathered together, waiting in a rest room.

A moment later, an elderly man with white hair was helped into the room.

Upon seeing the newcomer, everyone, including the Garrison Commander Bian Jingru, stood up.

“Head Liu, thank you for your hard work,” Bian Jingru said.

The arriving figure was Head Liu Lang of the Righteous Law General Institute.

Traditionally, the main work of the Righteous Court wasn’t to engage in battle but to refine Sha Qi for the court.

Military Formation, Military Evil, were the Da Lan Dynasty’s most valued and most powerful weapons:

Two hundred Imperial Camp soldiers could threaten a Martial Arts Master, a thousand Imperial Camp soldiers could fight a Great Grandmaster, and ten thousand Imperial Camp soldiers forming a Military Formation could even make a Martial Saint avoid their edge!

The Da Lan Dynasty had four fully formed Imperial Camp armies, each with more than ten thousand soldiers, plus the Imperial Camp soldiers stationed all over the lands. This was why it was known as the Central Empire, able to suppress all opposition.

The Sha Qi used by the Imperial Camp are consumables, requiring regular maintenance and replacement. As such, the number of Sha Qi had always been scarce, and Righteous Courts everywhere are forever busy.

Previously, Liu Lang had been refining a batch of Sha Qi right at a critical juncture, which was why he wasn’t present either for the siege of the Iron Blade Sect or today’s execution grounds.

But tonight, Bian Jingru said he was still invited.

Liu Lang settled into his seat with help, and Bian Jingru and the others also sat down.

“Those two should already be dead,” Liu Lang declared directly as he sat.

With Qi Yiming, the most skilled at search and tracking, currently in the provincial city, and likely people from the provincial city, Bian Jingru had no choice but to ask Liu Lang for help.

Aside from Qi Yiming, the best in Datong Prefecture City at tracking magic were none other than this Head of the Righteous Law General Institute.

While not wanting to take the blame for the provincial city, Hao Yi had publicly stormed the execution grounds and rescued Shangguan Xiao, who was to be dismembered. As Garrison Commander of Datong Prefecture, Bian Jingru had to come up with a solution!

“Dead? How could they be dead?” Bian Jingru was puzzled.

Hao Yi had evidently succeeded in taking the person away.

Could it be Xu Jing who caught up and killed him? But wasn’t he heavily injured and fled?

Liu Lang looked at him wearily:

“If I were to determine the exact whereabouts of those two, I might make a mistake, but to confirm their life and death, I’m still not likely to be wrong, unless a present-day True Master skilled in this art intervened to obscure their fate.”

Magicians who follow the path of magic, after reaching the Possession Stage, enter the True Spirit Realm, evolve their magic artifacts into Lifebound Magic Items and become known as True Masters.

True Masters are at least the equivalent of Martial Arts Masters.

Such exalted beings would not go unnoticed, and if Hao Yi had known such a person, it would certainly have been discovered long ago.

So Bian Jingru immediately rejected that possibility.

“So it turns out, both of them are truly dead.”

He immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

If the two were still alive, issuing a warrant for a Martial Arts Master plus a ‘Blood-faced Ghost’ whose Combat Power could match the Peak of the Tao Foundation Stage would be extremely difficult to handle.

Moreover, they would also offend a peerless genius whose breakthrough speed was unprecedented in history.

Obviously, the trouble was caused by those in the provincial city, so why should Datong Prefecture be the one to take the fall?

Now that he heard Hao Yi and Shangguan Xiao were both dead, Bian Jingru suddenly felt as if he had moved from darkness into light.

“In that case, prepare our official statement for the public.”

Bian Jingru instructed the others.

As long as the people were dead, there could be many explanations.

…

The next morning, Li Fei received an invitation from the Government Affairs Building, and Bian Jingru requested a meeting with him.

Li Fei agreed, but he did not take the car arranged by the other party; instead, he still rode the ‘Qilin’, escorted by a team of Wu’an guards, to the Government Affairs Building.

In a reception room, Li Fei met Bian Jingru.

“Please have a seat.”

Bian Jingru’s smile was very friendly.

As soon as Li Fei sat down, he began,

“I’m very sorry about the incident with Xu Jing; I had not anticipated that aside from being hired by the provincial city as an Honorary Tributor of the Zhi Ge Department, he also left Wuda, so I couldn’t keep him that day.”

Earlier, Li Fei had Xia Huan relay a message to Bian Jingru on his behalf, saying that if Bian Jingru could keep Xu Jing from showing up at the execution grounds yesterday, he would owe him a favor.

Bian Jingru had indeed agreed to Li Fei’s request, but he had not been able to follow through.

Thus, the moment they met, the Garrison Commander immediately expressed his apologies to Li Fei.

“Your Excellency Bian is being too polite; I am very grateful that you were willing to intervene.”

Li Fei said calmly.

The Qingyuan City Management Company and Green-faced Manor were not implicated, and neither Baoyun Temple nor Master Yun Shen were investigated, all thanks to the goodwill shown by the gentleman before him, the Garrison Commander.

Li Fei was appreciative of this.

Bian Jingru looked into his eyes and asked, “Xiao Fei, have you figured out what’s really going on behind the scenes with this matter?”

Li Fei replied, “I’ve more or less figured it out.”

“Good.”

Bian Jingru nodded. “I know you had Chen Xiang change his testimony, but just Chen Xiang’s word alone is not enough to overturn this case. If you want to convict the true mastermind behind the scenes, it’s going to be extremely difficult!”

Li Fei said, “I understand.”

“I have already reported the matter to the court and expressed my objections, but without substantial evidence, the outcome of the case is unlikely to change,” Bian Jingru explained.

Although he was ready to break with the provincial city, as for directly accusing Xu Jing or even the Inspector as the culprits, he could not do it!

“I understand.”

Li Fei repeated expressionlessly.

“Xiao Fei, your teacher and your maternal master…”

Bian Jingru asked tentatively.

“They are already dead.”

Li Fei stated directly.

He knew he couldn’t keep it a secret, so rather than let the other party keep probing, it was better to state it outright.

Bian Jingru observed Li Fei’s expression closely, almost certain that Li Fei was not lying.

So, Hao Yi and Shangguan Xiao were genuinely dead.

“Please accept my condolences.”

Bian Jingru said solemnly.

“Thank you.”

Li Fei nodded and then took the initiative to ask,

“Does Your Excellency Bian have any idea what the provincial city and Xu Jing are collaborating on, what exactly they are after?”

He didn’t believe that the provincial city would be so kind as to expend so much effort just to help Xu Jing achieve a Breakthrough.

There must be something they desired.

Bian Jingru’s eyes shifted, he shook his head,

“I too am quite keen to understand what they are really up to.”

…

Feng Province, the provincial city.

Had it not been for the presence of Wu’an University in Datong Prefecture City, this place should have been the true center of Feng Province.

Provincial city, Government Affairs Building.

In the office.

A short fat man, less than one meter sixty, with a big belly and a face full of fat, was sitting on a sofa, wearing a blue official robe embroidered with the sun, moon, and stars.

The sun, moon, and stars pattern on the robe was an exclusive privilege for the highest rank of cabinet officials.

The so-called cabinet officials were those who could enter the court, become Cabinet Ministers, and outside of the capital, be appointed as Governors!

This unprepossessing fat man named Lu Wenzheng was the Inspector of Feng Province, the province’s highest authority.

Martial Arts has the Seven Major Families, and Literature has the Ten Gate Valves.

This was a phrase used in the Da Lan Dynasty to describe the grand clans and their heritage.

‘Martial Arts has the Seven Major Families’ meant there were seven Martial Arts Families with hundreds of years of lineage, each generation boasting a Great Grandmaster!

‘Literature has the Ten Gate Valves’ referred to ten families that took the Government route, each generation producing the highest rank of cabinet official!

Lu Wenzheng’s family, the Lu Family, was one of the ‘Ten Gate Valves’ and its history of heritage was even longer than the existence of the Da Lan Dynasty itself.

Among those bigshots that Hao Yi had defeated back then, some were from the Lu Family.

However, Lu Wenzheng’s collaboration with Xu Jing to set up against Hao Yi was not for revenge on behalf of his family members.

As the current Family Head, what he sought was naturally far greater.

At this moment, Lu Wenzheng was reading a document, one that once publicized, would cause an uproar throughout the entire Da Lan Dynasty!

The title of the document read:

“Meeting Minutes Regarding the Establishment of the Thirteenth University.”

…

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