Chapter 125: The Meet
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
"Master Fang, please take care and remember to visit in the future..."
Outside the airspace of the Secluded Mountain Prefecture and high up in the sky, Daoist Mu Li rode on Wind Chasing Falcon as he reluctantly watched Fang Yuan prepare to take his leave.
The way Daoist Mu Li watched Fang Yuan caused his goosebumps to rise.
However, he knew that Daoist Mu Li was not a bad person and he was even slightly adorable to some extent. Fang Yuan waved his hand and said, "You do not have to send me off further...Before I leave, I would like to tell you that even though this place is excellent, it still cannot be compared to your home. Return to the Dao journey as soon as possible and enjoy the rest of your life!"
Right after he finished his sentence, Fang Yuan nudged Iron-tailed Black Eagle into flight without caring whether Daoist Mu Li understood his parting words. In no time they became a small black dot in the sky.
"Even though this place is excellent, it still cannot be compared to home...What a great saying!"
Daoist Mu Li nudged Wind Chasing Falcon to circle around the area as he muttered these words. Then he smiled bitterly and sighed, "Haiz...you can easily leave this chaos, but I am stuck here for long!"
...
"Whoo whoo!"
High up in the sky in the strong winds, Fang Yuan felt extremely delighted and shouted out in jubilance.
After all, whatever he took back this time was more than enough.
He did not have much intention to control Qinghe County. Based on what he had, it was already slightly challenging to control Qingye town, what more a county?
He was even more disinterested in setting up his own sect.
This time, not only did he take control of Qingye City, he could also nominate the governor. This was already a delightful surprise.
"Most spiritual knights in Xia Country, and even the neighbouring countries, are stuck at the Elemental Gathering Realm and cannot progress further... After 200 years of hard work, Liu Yan is now close to the next realm... Fusing elemental force and purifying it, the next stage would be to break through to the Elemental Opening Realm! To use one's elemental force and break through all the hidden locks in the body, one will be able to control his body like how an arm controls its fingers, unveiling the human body's true potential!"
As he thought about these, Fang Yuan grew increasingly solemn as he thought, "What a pity...Spiritual knights who have reached the Elemental Opening Realm are no longer around. What is left are some information about them in the incomplete inheritances and manuals!"
It was very obvious that if Liu Yan really reached the Elemental Opening Realm, he was the top martial artist in the country. He was even the top spiritual knight.
"Only that...is it even that easy to break through to this level?"
Fang Yuan was very doubtful about this.
There were few highly skilled spiritual knights like Liu Yan in each country who had completed consolidating their elemental force and were very close to advancing to the next stage. But it seemed like nobody had managed to break through, making it seem extremely difficult.
It was obvious that with Liu Yan's advancement and desire to break through to the next level, people around were increasingly worried.
It might even be possible that the unrest created this time was by some people who did not wish to have a spiritual knight who was in complete mastery of elemental force to disrupt the balance of power in the country.
As such, even though Liu Yan looked like he was firmly in control, he was definitely very troubled internally, especially with the problems he was facing emotionally which was the most critical.
"But... what does all this got to do with me?"
Fang Yuan broke into a smile as he thought, "Who cares what goes on outside? I will just take advantage of this peace before the storm to stay in Qingye City to grow my crops..."
"Once I am able to successfully break through to the Dream-building and Illusionary Divine stages, I can still return and reclaim this old piece of land!"
After becoming a dream master, with the inheritance from Master Wenxin, he would be able to cultivate smoothly all the way to the Prominent Divine stage!
Of course, the dream master's Prominent Divine stage was divided further into many sub-stages. Even attaining the most elementary sub-stage would give one the power to rule an entire country!
"After all, the way of the dream master is to make sufficient preparations before acting. The longer I train the more powerful I become, I might even be on par with a spiritual array master!
"Generally speaking, the Dream-accessing and Dream-building Stages of a dream master can be compared to the Elemental Gathering Stage of a spiritual knight. The Illusionary Divine Stage would be comparable to the Elemental Opening Stage. As for the peak of the Prominent Divine Stage and even the stage of actualising an entire spiritual land, these stages must be much higher than the Elemental Opening stage. As for how to attain it, I have no idea too..."
"Dream-building, followed by Illusionary Divine stage, and subsequently the branching out of a dream master. This is the direction I should he heading towards in the future!"
As he was deep in thought, Iron-tailed Black Eagle suddenly let out a loud call of jubilation.
Fang Yuan was shaken out of his deep thoughts and he saw the Clear Spirit Mountain in sight as well as an extremely familiar looking city.
"Qingye City?!"
He patted the eagles neck and it landed.
"Whoo whoo!"
In the midst of the strong downwash and the sight of the intimidating and powerful Iron-tailed Black Eagle, the peace within the city crumbled momentarily into panic.
"Sir is here!"
Then, a group of riders rode towards Fang Yuan. Its leader was Zhou Wenwu. He bowed and said, "Hello sir!"
"Erm, it looks like you're doing well as the head of this city!"
Fang Yuan looked at the guards following behind Zhou Wenwu and burst out into laughter.
In truth, these guards were very fortunate.
When Fang Yuan ordered Zhou Wenwu to take down Qingye City, he had no intention of creating a diversion for himself. If Lu Renjia had not ordered Blood Demon and company to retreat, these guards would probably be in great suffering.
Of course, the risk that Zhou Wenwu took earlier paid off.
At least, with the support of Fang Yuan and the Secluded Mountain Prefecture, Zhou Wenwu was able to consolidate his power as head of Qingye City smoothly.
"Sir, all remnants of the Spirit Returning Sect have been cleared out of the city!"
While walking towards the renovated and revamped official residence, Zhou Wenwu ordered the servants to leave them as Yu Xinlou and him reported the latest news in the city to Fang Yuan.
The last time Fang Yuan came to this place he did so furtively on his kidnapping mission. Now he could stride in proudly as the owner of the place.
"They've been cleared out? Outstanding!"
Fang Yuan dropped Ling Yin and ordered Yu Xinlou to make preparations as he lifted up her forehead.
He then remembered, the head of the Spirit Returning Sect in his custody was another problem for him.
Upon seeing this, Zhou Wenwu spoke up again and said, "The head of the Lin family, Lin Benchu and all 72 of his family members have been locked up. We are waiting for you orders!"
"Oh? Lin Benchu is also detained?"
Fang Yuan was slightly surprised by this news. To Fang Yuan, he could not decide whether Lin Benchu was a sadistic person or he was just plain cold-blooded. It was thus a surprise that this major obstacle was removed so quickly.
"Also..."
Zhou Wenwu then began to flush with awkwardness as he reported, "Lin Leiyu has also been detained. Would you like to see her?"
"Erm?"
Fang Yuan looked at him and asked, "You successfully detained a martial artist with inner force? Who helped you?"
"Sir, you're observant!"
Zhou Wenwu thought about the complicated history between Lin Leiyue and Fang Yuan and felt incredibly uneasy. Beads of perspiration formed on his forehead as he revealed, "Lady Lin was betrayed by her own people from the Spirit Returning Sect!"
"Tell me more in great detail..."
Fang Yuan picked up his cup of tea, his face was expressionless.
"This was what happened..."
Zhou Wenwu calmed himself down and reported everything he knew in great detail. What happened was actually very simple. When he took down Minister Lin's entire family, Lin Leiyue definitely came to their rescue.
When news of Liu Yan's victory arrived, the remaining fighting forces of the Spirit Returning Sect saw their morale completely broken and gave up. A few disciples and elders who were desperate for their own safety rebelled and betrayed Lin Leiyue, turning her in in hope they would be pardoned.
"Where is she?"
Fang Yuan thought in silence for a while before asking.
"She is currently locked up in an isolated cell alone in the prison. So are Lin Yuanwai and his family!"
Zhou Wenwu braced himself as he reported the decision he made for them.
In fact, if Zhou Wenwu did not consider Fang Yuan's dealings with the Lin family, he would have wiped out the whole family. He did not forget how they betrayed his family and took all of his family's property during the crisis in central Song.
"Let's go, after all we know each other, we still have to go over and visit them!"
Fang Yuan stood up reluctantly and walked to the prison with Zhou Wenwu.
The prisoners were separated within the prison according to their statuses. For example, people of more respectable statuses were placed in the single cells as they naturally could not be treated as a normal criminal.
In fact, apart from the lack of freedom, the living conditions of the single cells were almost on par with those in the local inns.
After opening several metal gates, Zhou Wenwu led Fang Yuan to a cell.
Through the grills made of top quality metal, Fang Yuan saw the slender outline of Lin Leiyue.
Lin Leiyue lost significant weight in this short period of time. Her legs were chained by iron chains made of Thousand Years Cast Iron. Even if she recovered her strength, it would be impossible for her to escape.
"Brother Fang...no! Sir Fang, this is a misunderstanding!"
From the other side, Lin Yuanwai stuck his chubby head out and begged, "Please take into consideration our past friendship and spare our family!"
"Fang Yuan?"
The sound of her father's voice caused Lin Leiyue to come out of her thoughts and back to reality. She turned around to face the man in front of her with a complicated expression on her face.
She originally intended to take revenge on Fang Yuan, but she was easily defeated by his subordinate. She could not help but to admit that he had long overtaken her, to the extent the survival of her entire family now depended on him.As for himself, Fang Yuan gained several personal items from this trip. Riding on the strength of the Secluded Mountain Prefecture, he acquired a bunch of precious spiritual items as well as Lu Renjia's alchemy manuals. He even received guidance from Liu Yan on how to become a spiritual knight.
Instead, it was the plot of spiritual crop belonging to the Spirit Returning Sect that failed to impress Fang Yuan.
"This world is mostly made up of spirituality and martial arts. Martial arts only exists because it plays a supportive role to spirituality. Although there are developments in martial arts in the Da Qian Empire, the development is however not seen here..."
Fang Yuan calculated the items he benefitted such as the guidance from Liu Yan, the advice and lessons he took out from Daoist Mu Li and Lu Renjia's alchemy book. After he all he had learnt and gained, Fang Yuan was rather clear about his future after he becomes a spiritual knight.
"After a normal spiritual disciple promotes to become a spiritual knight, it can all be classified as the realm for the consolidation of elemental force already!"
"Based on this aspect, it didn't matter if one was an alchemy master, spiritual knight, spiritual array master or even a dream master, it was the same. The phases of entering the dream world and constructing dreams are all a part of the realm for the consolidation of elemental force. For other aspects or other terms, they do not deviate too much from the original principle that is to consolidate one's elemental force while putting in consistent hard work and effort in doing so!"