Chapter 257: Chapter 153: Northern Warfare, Tell Her I Slipped Away

Four large words were written conspicuously on the Emperor’s desk: My duty is done.

The sun was already high in the sky when Lu Yuan finally got out of bed, immediately letting out a sneeze. He pinched his nose and muttered, "Who in the world is thinking about me now, making me sneeze like this?"

By the time Lu Yuan got dressed and left his room, his wife and his two other ladies had already finished breakfast.

Lu Yuan looked at the breakfast they had saved for him on the table and felt that he was living a truly blissful life.

’It would be wonderful if I could live this peacefully forever.’

After the meal, Gu Ziye came looking for Lu Yuan, asking him to take her for a stroll around Taiping City.

Lu Yuan had no choice but to abandon his original plan to continue cultivating that morning and accompanied Yue’er out of the mansion to wander through Taiping City.

It happened to be market day in Taiping City, and all sorts of vendors lined both sides of the street, hawking their wares.

Some merchants, having had the best spots taken by their competitors, were arguing noisily, adding to the lively scene.

Lu Yuan bought many things for Yue’er, and of course, he also bought a few things for his own ladies.

He also purchased some children’s toys, mostly things that little girls would like.

Lu Yuan didn’t care whether he had a son or a daughter. ’With my current medical skills, I could probably even determine the baby’s gender,’ he mused. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Thanks to the wheat harvesters, the people of Taiping City finished harvesting their crops in just a few days.

All that was left was to let the grain dry thoroughly in the sun for seven or eight days before storing it.

As the County Magistrate of Taiping City, Lu Yuan was not one to engage in corruption or extortion.

Aside from the grain tax owed to the Court, Lu Yuan didn’t take a single extra grain from the common people.

Food is the foundation of the people, and tillers should have their own land. By ensuring the people had food to eat, Lu Yuan had done a good deed as the local County Magistrate.

Lu Yuan had no need to take from the common folk. He had the Zhao Mansion’s Spirit Stone Mine and the factories he’d built in Taiping City.

Right now, Lu Yuan was rolling in money!

In the near future, after Gu Gaoxu repaid the funds he had requisitioned from Prince Yao’s Mansion, he would also be splitting the revenue from the Yandu factory investments with Lu Yuan, who had contributed his technology as his share.

Gu Gaoxu wouldn’t dare to shortchange Lu Yuan. After all, he was counting on Lu Yuan to invent more novel contraptions so they could all keep making money.

’If you’re going to make money, make it off the rich!’

Gu Gaoxu, who was still enjoying his time in Taiping City, would never have imagined that he too would one day have more money than he knew what to do with.

Lu Yuan spent his days cultivating diligently. When he got tired, he would eat, drink, and relax in Taiping City, or spend time with his ladies.

Lu Yuan was cultivating with great effort now. He needed to have his own power to protect those he wanted to protect.

Just like his mother-in-law, who watched over countless Xingzi, none of whom were weak in their cultivation.

After a period of training, by cultivating the Holy Body, Lu Yuan could now produce a purple, fiery glow from his right hand.

It wasn’t very powerful, but if he was out and about without a fire starter, he could use it to light a campfire.

Even a proper Grand Celestial Master might not possess such an ability.

The Celestial Masters of today relied on power bestowed by their ancestors to make their bodies expand and become as hard as stone, which was how they could fight Xingzi without fear.

Even so, this borrowed power had a time limit, and there was a required interval between each use.

Although a Grand Celestial Master was on a higher level than a Celestial Master, even they couldn’t conjure fire from thin air.

This kind of Cultivation Method had existed many generations ago among the Celestial Masters.

However, over a hundred years ago, a powerful leader of the Beastman Race had emerged and conquered this land.

During that time, the older generation of Celestial Masters descended from their mountains to fight the Beastman Race, suffering extremely heavy casualties.

Many Secret Manuals were lost to the river of time as a result.

The Holy Body Secret Manual in Lu Yuan’s possession was a reward from his system. As a transmigrator, he had no way of knowing if it was related to the manuals that had been lost.

’In any case, it’s a good thing from the system, so I should definitely make use of it.’

Recently, the Zhao Mansion’s Mansion Guard Firearms Team had been conducting shooting practice in the rear courtyard, using firearms that Lu Yuan had modified.

These modified firearms produced very little noise when fired, but their power was also relatively weak.

These firearms were only for training and would not be used in actual combat.

Lu Yuan had yet to find a suitable location to train a large number of reliable Mansion Guards and improve their proficiency with firearms.

For now, they could only train in the Zhao Mansion’s rear courtyard. Using these particular firearms was a way to avoid drawing attention, as he didn’t want too many people to know about it.

During training, the Zhao Mansion’s rear courtyard was off-limits to outsiders. A contingent of Mansion Guards took turns standing watch, and not even the Gu aunt and nephew were allowed near.

However, the Gu pair wouldn’t normally come to the rear courtyard anyway. After all, it was someone else’s home, and they had no reason to go there.

Therefore, the Zhao Mansion’s rear courtyard remained a relatively safe and secret place for the time being.

Lu Yuan was also planning to recruit some loyal and reliable men for a second Firearms Team, which would be trained by the first.

The fifty or sixty Mansion Guards in the first Firearms Team were now proficient enough to teach new recruits how to use firearms.

The selection of personnel for the second Firearms Team needed to be handled with more caution.

A new training ground also had to be chosen.

The training ground would best be located in a sparsely populated area, one that couldn’t be easily discovered by others.

Lu Yuan had a steady personality. He preferred to take things slow. ’No need to rush,’ he thought. ’Bite off more than you can chew, and you’ll just hurt yourself.’

This whole enterprise was for self-preservation, not a suicide mission.

If the Court ever got concrete proof that he possessed a private army of significant size and formidable combat strength, he was genuinely afraid they would send their own forces to annihilate him.

However, Lu Yuan had a powerful backer now.

His unfathomably powerful mother-in-law.

His mother-in-law was protected by Da Xingzi.

Lu Yuan was cultivating in his room, just like any other day.

Suddenly, the phone beside him rang.

Lu Yuan’s phone hadn’t rung in a long time, not since he’d returned to Taiping City.

These "phones"—essentially early-model brick-like mobile phones—were something Lu Yuan had managed to produce a few of, off and on.

They weren’t very useful, and with no one to give them to, he’d just stored them all away.

’I can just take them out again if I ever have a use for them,’ he thought.

Lu Yuan answered the phone. At a time like this, the only person who would be calling him was Gu Gaoxu.

Gu Gaoxu’s voice came over the line, "Brother Lu, my old man sent someone to call me back.

He said the war in the Northern region is almost over, and I might be sent with the main army to the front to help with the cleanup.

It’s urgent, so I’m heading back right away."

’Why the sudden rush to call Gu Gaoxu back?’ Lu Yuan wondered.

Usually, even if King Yan wanted him to return, he might not have gone back.

He had no idea what message the King’s man had delivered, but it had made Gu Gaoxu anxious enough to obey and return immediately.

"What about Yue’er?" Lu Yuan asked.

Gu Gaoxu must have guessed Lu Yuan would ask. He answered directly, "Brother Lu, that’s what I was about to tell you. Just let Yue’er stay here for now.

She has her Personal Guards with her anyway, and you can look after her. She’ll be fine there.

Maybe once she’s had her fun, she’ll go straight back to the Imperial Capital herself."

Hearing this, Lu Yuan figured Gu Gaoxu must have his own affairs to handle, so he didn’t press the matter.

Gu Gaoxu didn’t say his goodbyes in person. After explaining the situation over the phone, he set off directly for Yandu.

Later, when Gu Ziye found out that her nephew had slipped away, she was furious.

By that point, she couldn’t find her nephew anywhere, and she was fuming with no one to take it out on.

So, Gu Ziye went to find Lu Yuan. After all, the two of them were good buddies.

Gu Ziye confronted him, "Yuan! My nephew took off, and you didn’t even tell me! That’s just mean."

Lu Yuan looked at Yue’er and said innocently, "Yue’er, your nephew ran off. Why are you coming to me? Isn’t it nice to just hang out here in Taiping City?"

"Hmph! I’ve already explored all of Taiping City recently. Even though I’ve seen a lot of things I’ve never seen in the Imperial City, now there’s no one to hang out with me."

Gu Ziye was incredibly playful and always wanted someone to have fun with. ’Perhaps Gu Gaoxu got so annoyed by her that he took the first chance he got to slip away,’ Lu Yuan thought.

"Yue’er, how about this? I actually have a good place to go, I was just thinking about something I need to do. I wonder if you’d like to come along?" Lu Yuan suggested, a new idea forming.

"Where are we going?"