Chapter 101: Chapter 77: The Curtain Falls on the Storm, Boundless Prospects
He has a close relationship with my family, Jihai also likes him, and now they have burned incense and sworn blood to become brothers, which essentially makes him one of our family.
You must distinguish between closeness and distance, do not wrong him."
Zhou Chihe pondered, "Now we are counting on him, how could I wrong him?
As for the Prime Minister... it’s hard to find a Secret Martial Arts Martial Artist who is close to the royal family, the Prime Minister shouldn’t refuse to give him a chance.
But I’m worried whether he’s as wondrous as E Li says.
I’ve never heard of anyone being able to complete a new Secret Martial Arts system after double cultivation."
Commandery Princess Chunyang said, "Let’s give it a try.
If he has any progress, this winter, I will whisper his name in front of the Grand Empress Dowager.
By next winter, he might be able to have an audience with the Grand Empress Dowager.
When that happens, if he passes the imperial examinations, he will certainly be granted a high official position.
By then, he would be an unprecedented five-cultivation Secret Martial Arts Martial Artist, coupled with being a high official, he could directly become the Prime Minister’s right-hand man.
At that time, the Li family and the Zhou family would intertwine like vines around a tree, and if he is the tree, our Zhou family would be the vine."
Zhou Chihe nodded, and sighed, "It’s a pity that our Zhou family does not have suitable candidates for cultivation at the moment."
After thinking, he continued, "I heard Li Xuan has a younger brother, who is now eleven years old. And Yanmei is now nine. By then, the two could marry, cementing the relationship between the Zhou and Li families."
After finishing their conversation, each went their own way.
...
...
A few days later.
Li Xuan was strolling through the night market with the Saintess from the Yu Sect of his family, when suddenly he heard the distant thunderous sound of hooves, and the sound of armor like waves.
A large army was directly heading to the north gate of the State City.
The streets of the State City immediately became bustling.
Someone stopped in panic and said, "The Eagle Bandits are attacking! They say a hundred thousand troops are heading to the north gate of the State City!"
"A hundred thousand troops, how is this possible... this... this..."
"You don’t know, the Eagle Bandits are vastly powerful, allegedly they’ve swallowed half of the province, and now, coming south with the army, they want to completely conquer our Cyan Wood Province."
Another person who seemed to understand military strategy said, "If the Eagle Bandits come, they don’t need to attack the city, all they need is to surround the State City. It wouldn’t take long, just after the autumn harvest, our State City would be completely cut off from food."
"Last year’s natural disaster, this year’s military disaster, how can people survive this..."
Li Xuan silently listened to the conversations of the people on the street.
Clearly, the Eagle Bandits attacking the city was no longer privileged military information, after all, the army had almost reached the city limits, and refugees from the north had already started to flee back in recent days.
But Rose knew about the Eagle Bandits.
Her eyes widened beautifully as she looked at Li Xuan, thinking it was his idea.
But Li Xuan shook his head, watching those soldiers going far off to resist the bandits, he showed a thoughtful expression.
...
...
Night fell.
Rose shut the windows tightly, burned three sticks of incense.
Wisps of white smoke floated above the dark red fire.
Rose mysteriously held up the incense, then started to put her hands on her hips, twist her body, wiggle her hips, kick her feet...
After finishing a set, she bowed to the sky, then handed the incense to Li Xuan, saying: "First dance, then bow to the sky, remember you must have a wish in your heart, then you can receive a response."
Li Xuan said curiously, "Does this really work?"
Today, he was determined to learn the Divine Ritual from Rose.
Rose said: "It’s that simple, I just did it and felt I’ve become much stronger.
But, you must first burn incense to succeed.
If there is no incense, it won’t work!"
Speaking, she glanced at the incense he just burned, and said: "Let me show you..."
Then, she ran to the corner of the room, picked up a laundry mallet, and handed it to Li Xuan, saying: "Hit me."
Li Xuan swung twice in the air.
The laundry mallet made a booming sound in mid-air.
Rose seemed to realize it was too much, hurriedly grabbed it, closed her eyes slightly as if in meditation, then suddenly opened her eyes, vigorously struck herself on the forehead with the mallet.
Bang!
A heavy sound.
The laundry mallet actually bounced off.
Li Xuan watched clearly, Rose put no restraint on the force, and this blow that should have smashed her head to pieces was completely ineffective.
Moreover, the power of this blow exceeded Rose’s own strength.
He frowned, realizing the terrifying nature of the Divine Ritual, and said: "Let’s try again."
"Okay, sir," Rose was eager to perform, then grabbed the laundry mallet and began to dance wildly, then tightly gripped the mallet with both hands and fiercely struck her forehead again.
Bang!
The laundry mallet bounced off again.
This time, Li Xuan watched closely.
At the moment the mallet touched Rose, a peculiar murky membrane clearly appeared on her forehead, and the murkiness of the membrane was indeed like the swirling incense smoke.
Rose said: "The Purple-tailed Flood Dragon Monarch said that one must be sincere, once sincere, one can gain the protection of the deity.
Also... the dance moves I performed, sir must follow accurately, don’t get them wrong, otherwise... the deity will not be pleased."
Li Xuan was determined for power and went all out.
He nodded, and said: "Let’s do it."
Then, Rose put her hands on her hips and twisted her body.
Li Xuan felt very embarrassed but followed along.
Rose started to wiggle her hips.
Li Xuan: ...
"Oh dear, sir, this won’t do, you’re too stiff in twisting.
Let me guide your hips."
Rose ran behind Li Xuan, held his waist, and shouted: "Jump."
Li Xuan only felt this action was extremely humiliating.
However, he still focused on jumping.
While jumping, he didn’t feel any changes, nor any shifts in energy or blood.
After jumping, he quickly burned incense, prayed, sincerely reciting in his heart: ’I want to become stronger.’
After finishing the recitation, he inserted the incense into the incense burner and knelt on the mat prepared by Rose.
