Longevity Begins with the Seven Injuries Fist-Chapter 186 - 129: Ma Kuanglong! Li Xuanji’s Master! Nine Hundred Years Old!

However, having seen Li Xuanji's state after using that secret technique, he knew it had considerable side effects, so Li Xuanji wouldn't use it lightly.

Therefore, if he wanted to occupy the entire Celestial South State, he had to intervene and deal with Ma Kuanglong.

But he predicted that coming head to head with Ma Kuanglong wouldn't happen so soon.

Because Elder Qingxuan said that Li Xuanji was currently fortifying the foundation of Jiannan Prefecture.

On one hand, Li Xuanji plans to use Jiannan Prefecture City as an experiment to study the implementation and enforcement of tax reforms and other systems.

After all, the Court's taxes are very heavy, and Li Xuanji is determined to lower them, but to what extent requires much consideration and testing.

On the other hand, Jiannan Prefecture City still has many forces like evil cults, mountain villages, and bandits.

Li Xuanji wants to completely remove these to avoid leaving hidden dangers.

Only after these are handled will he attack Nanming Prefecture.

Su Que thought that when the attack on Nanming Prefecture begins, Ma Kuanglong, fearing the Heaven-Breaking Army might take over both prefectures, might intervene.

At that time, he and Ma Kuanglong might clash.

However, he estimated that Li Xuanji's eradication of heterodox forces in Jiannan Prefecture would take some more time.

By then, his strength would be greater than it is now.

Therefore, he paid no mind to Ma Kuanglong.

Instead, he sometimes pondered, if the Heaven-Breaking Army occupied the entire Celestial South State, what would the Court's response be?

Currently, there is chaos within the Court, with all factions and forces entangled in their own conflicts.

If a remote Jiannan Prefecture were taken by rebel forces, the Court might only push the Red Dragon Army to dispatch troops quickly without sending troops themselves.

However, if the entire Celestial South State were taken by the Heaven-Breaking Army, it would likely draw the Court's attention.

After all, the entire Southern Domain consists of Celestial South State and Miaojiang.

Miaojiang is a land of ten thousand mountains, remote, plagued with poisonous mist, and hard to develop.

Some in the Court might not care at all.

To these people, seeing the Celestial South State taken by rebels is akin to the entire Southern Domain being seized.

Despite the intense internal struggle within the Court, they wouldn't wish to see the rebel forces grow powerful, so they would likely dispatch troops to suppress them.

Moreover, martial artists from the Court are very likely to be much stronger than those from Jiannan Prefecture.

Upon this realization, Su Que decided not to interfere with the progress of the Heaven-Breaking Army's conquest of Celestial South State, allowing them to take solid development steps.

This way, both he and the Heaven-Breaking Army would have more time to enhance their powers.

Over time, the strength of both he and the Heaven-Breaking Army would increase.

This would allow them to deal comfortably with the Court's invasion in the future.

'Now, although the effect of the Celestial Essence Pill is somewhat lacking, it's not unbearable.'

'Better to focus on cultivating for now.'

Upon thinking this, Su Que looked into his attributes to check the progress of his main cultivation techniques and plan his future cultivation accordingly.

Martial Arts:

Seven Injuries Fist (Peak of the 8th Realm 31%)

Celestial Deformed Foot (6th Realm Divine Skill 99%)

Exotic Golden Bell Shield (6th Realm Divine Skill 3%)

Picking Flowers and Leaves (4th Realm Elite 30%)

Inner Strength:

Marriage Robe Divine Skill (Peak of the 8th Realm 12%)

Sunflower Manual (6th Realm Divine Skill 9%)

Heart Scripture of Myriad Poisons (5th Realm Refining Skill 99%)

Because the Seven Injuries Fist and Marriage Robe Divine Skill have reached the Peak of the 8th Realm, their mastery is unparalleled in the world.

Thus, the progress in these martial arts is not as fast as before.

'It's better to elevate those techniques at slightly lower realms first to enhance the Talent Value, and then focus on cultivating the Seven Injuries Fist and Marriage Robe Divine Skill.'

'This way, while enhancing the Seven Injuries Fist and Marriage Robe Divine Skill, other techniques are also being developed.'

'This is better than focusing solely on the Seven Injuries Fist and Marriage Robe Divine Skill.'

Upon realizing this, Su Que decided to continue opening meridians while spending more time advancing the Exotic Golden Bell Shield and Sunflower Manual.

...

Amidst cultivation, three months passed quickly.

Early summer arrived, and the branches and leaves of the trees had become lush, with greenery abounding everywhere.

The cave where Su Que usually cultivated had lost the dampness of spring.

The musty smell that once pervaded during spring was now gone from the cave.

Exotic Golden Bell Shield (6th Realm Divine Skill 86%)

Sunflower Manual (6th Realm Divine Skill 76%)

These two techniques were steadily improving.

At the same time, over the past three months, he also opened up the Yinwei Meridian.

Now, he is a Sixteen Meridian Martial Artist.

Day after day of cultivation, even someone like Su Que began to feel a bit bored.

So, two days ago, he wanted Li Xuanji to fulfill his promise, to look at the family collection passed down by Li Xuanji to see if there was any cultivation technique he was interested in.

Most importantly, he wanted to know exactly what the cultivation technique Li Xuanji was practicing to forcefully increase his power.

If he could practice that technique, with the reversal of its side effects, perhaps his longevity would increase by a margin, and his Talent Value would rise as well.

Thereby allowing him to cultivate other techniques even faster.

However, Su Que learned from Elder Qingxuan's words.

That Li Xuanji, for the past three months, has still been managing his affairs in Jiannan Prefecture, running around various places in Jiannan Prefecture, and has not returned to Jiannan Prefecture City.

And the family collection of Li Xuanji can only be read and viewed with Li Xuanji's guidance.

"Sir, I will entrust someone in the army to send a message to the lord. When the lord returns, he will take you to the collection."

This was what Elder Qingxuan said to Su Que.

So, Su Que practiced his martial arts while waiting for Li Xuanji to return.

...

Li Xuanji was in Qihuang County within Jiannan Prefecture.

If Jiannan Prefecture is a remote area of the Liang Kingdom, then Qihuang County is a remote area of Jiannan Prefecture.

In the Southern Domain, bordering Miaojiang lies Jiannan Prefecture to the southwest.

And Qihuang County and Miaojiang are separated by just one river.

Li Xuanji sat on a stilted building, drinking tea, listening to reports from his subordinates.

At the same time, his gaze was cast towards the other side of the river where the misty haze shrouded the grand mountains.

When Li Xuanji first heard the name Qihuang County, he thought this county once really had Phoenixes dwelling there.

The place where a Divine Beast resides must surely have excellent Feng Shui, thus it could be used as a medicinal field to cultivate herbs for Martial Artists.

After coming here and exploring briefly, he discovered there was no such vibrant place.

It seems the Phoenix never dwelled here, and the name "Qihuang" is simply a beautiful fantasy of the local people.

His main purpose for coming here wasn't to see if a Phoenix had ever dwelt here.

But to study how to design a defense layout in this place.

After all, this place is only separated by a river from Miaojiang.

Although Miaojiang seems to be always detached from worldly affairs, they possess formidable skills like Gu Skill and Poison Skill, so he couldn't be at ease.

In addition to this, he had another purpose, which was to meet his master.

Now, he is only twenty-seven years old and, with the recently opened meridians, has already opened thirteen.

To have such power at this age, it was certainly not just by his own effort, but also thanks to his master.

He and his sister were raised and educated by their master from a young age.

He knew his master was the most loyal retainer of his Li Family.

The reason the Li Family survived for nine hundred years after the fall of their kingdom was because of his master.

This indicated that his master was at least over nine hundred years old.

Even though he knew his master was just a retainer of the Li Family, he never considered him merely a retainer.

Instead, he always maintained fear and respect, always treating his master as his master.

Although he was curious about his master's longevity, he never asked why his master lived so long.

His master knew almost everything.

——Martial arts, strategy, skills, Feng Shui, astronomy, geography, medicine, etc.

According to his master, this was a result of his longevity.

The overall strategy he set out since he began the uprising in Jiannan Prefecture, then slowly planned to ascend, was laid out by his master.

He initially thought, with his master living so long, his power must surely be extremely strong.

But he had only seen his master demonstrating techniques and moves in front of him, never seen him use even a bit of Inner Strength.

He didn't know why this was, but he guessed perhaps his master's meridians or Dantian were injured and he could never use Inner Strength again.

Otherwise, with his master's longevity, he would have cultivated extremely powerful martial arts, and over the years would have helped the Li Family restore their kingdom.

He only knew his master's surname was Fan, but didn't know his first name.

His master went to Miaojiang to learn their Poison Skill and Gu Skill.

Li Xuanji's eyes were cast on the river, and suddenly his eyes lit up.

Because he saw, a bamboo raft slowly gliding over the river.

The bamboo raft sliced through the river, creating two trails on either side, causing ripples.

On the raft, guiding it with a bamboo pole, was a person dressed in a green robe, wearing a wooden mask, with every inch of skin covered in cloth.

This was precisely his master.