Read Novel Full Chapter 1229: Chapter 1223: You Have Been Infected
Chapter 1229: Chapter 1223: You Have Been Infected
The Northern Frontier was a land plagued by bitter cold, chaos, and endless disputes.
Li Wei arrived at the desolate border standing between the Northern Frontier and the Imperial Dynasty.
Min Youguo was stationed here. As soon as Li Wei released a sliver of his mighty figure aura, someone naturally emerged to guide him to the Imperial Preceptor’s secluded location.
It was an ancient ginkgo forest. Stepping over a thick carpet of yellowing ginkgo leaves, Li Wei found Min Youguo quietly playing chess.
This was the very first time Li Wei had laid eyes on Min Youguo’s true, physical body.
He could acutely perceive Min Youguo’s transcendent, immortal-like aura. This aura wasn’t overtly oppressive; rather, Min Youguo seemed to blend seamlessly into the very essence of the ginkgo forest.
He sat right in front of Li Wei’s eyes, yet to the divine sense, his presence was almost entirely imperceptible.
Black and white chess pieces were meticulously placed on the board.
A solitary ginkgo leaf drifted down, landing softly on Min Youguo’s shoulder.
The crisp sound of someone stepping on the fallen leaves disturbed Min Youguo’s absolute tranquility, causing the old man to slightly furrow his brow.
Li Wei silently walked forward, observing the board.
Even though there was clearly no physical opponent sitting opposite Min Youguo, Li Wei could sense that an entity from the distant, ice-bound depths of the Northern Frontier was actively playing against him.
Just as Min Youguo gracefully placed a black piece, with a crisp clack, a white piece materialized and struck the chessboard. Unfazed, Min Youguo picked up another black piece.
Who else in the world could he be playing chess with across such a distance? It could only be Grand Tutor Lin Jiu of the Northern Frontier.
These two ancient monsters truly possessed a leisurely and elegant mood.
Wielding such unfathomable, heaven-shaking abilities and not using them to discreetly rob the imperial treasury, but instead playing remote chess—it was simply a tragic waste of talent.
“Daoist friend, you have been infected,” Min Youguo spoke faintly, not lifting his gaze.
Looking left and right and confirming there was no one else, Li Wei knew this cryptic remark was addressed to him.
It seemed Min Youguo was already well aware of his excursion to the Western Frontier. Li Wei casually leaned against a nearby tree trunk. “I’m here to file a complaint.”
“Couldn’t beat him?” Min Youguo remained rigidly focused on the chessboard.
Li Wei unabashedly rolled his eyes.
“The Blood Moon hanging over the Western Frontier—that is the true Dao Seed. Min Tiange is certainly capable, but I’m not exactly trembling in fear of him.
It’s just that the entire Western Frontier has gone completely, rabidly mad. I truly don’t know how to untangle this mess, so I could only come knock on your door.”
“You are Min Tiange’s father, after all. He has harbored that Dao Seed for tens of thousands of years, and he has feared you for just as long.
Don’t even try to tell me you don’t know exactly what that Dao Seed of his is. He is running rampant in the Western Frontier right now. I’d highly appreciate it if you could personally deal with him while you’re at it.”
Over the grueling years, Li Wei had seen through these old foxes’ facades.
The Human Emperor and Min Youguo sitting high in the Imperial Capital actually knew everything under heaven; there was absolutely no need to waste breath playing mind games with them.
A nine-ninety bottle of watered-down alcohol colored with brown sugar simply couldn’t be passed off as an ’82 Lafite to these ancient monsters.
“Does it look like I have the luxury of time, Daoist friend?”
Min Youguo’s hand gripping the black piece visibly tightened, a faint twitch rippling across his usually placid facial muscles.
“If I leave this post, the Imperial Dynasty will fall. If Lin Jiu doesn’t outright rebel, his ambitious subordinates certainly will. And without him, there is no one left to hold back the Demon Race’s Demon Emperor.”
“The mighty Grand Tutor can’t intimidate his own subordinates, so he needs you to act as the boogeyman?” Li Wei found this dynamic incredibly novel.
“His subordinates know they are the ones maintaining Lin Jiu’s power base, and that Lin Jiu won’t slaughter his own men. But I will.”
“…”
The myriad, treacherous political complexities woven into this stalemate were not something Li Wei cared to understand deeply, but he instinctively knew they were profoundly troublesome.
It was exactly like those demonic cultivators Li Xinnian kept as hounds; Li Xinnian had sworn an oath not to execute them.
Those bloodthirsty demonic cultivators constantly thirsted to wreak havoc across Azure Cloud Prefecture, and the sole reason they hadn’t mutinied was that they were utterly terrified of the Li Clan as a whole.
In truth, the major factions of Azure Cloud Prefecture all harbored ravenous ambitions to expand.
They desperately wanted to annex Westfall Prefecture, and eventually, even the Li Clan would be forcibly dragged into a total war against it.
The only reason they didn’t dare cross that line was that Westfall Prefecture was protected by Ancestor Lan.
Then there was that slippery Holy Monk Yidian of the Thunder Fire Demon Cave. The moment there was no one left to intimidate him, he had bolted without a moment’s hesitation.
“Sure enough, when I get back, I should just have Dalong refine those demonic cultivators in the Southern Sea into resources. The family needs to sever these messy entanglements with other factions as soon as possible.” Li Wei experienced a sudden epiphany.
He frowned and steered the topic back, “Then what about the Western Frontier? The Blood Moon’s corruption is expanding.”
“Can the people trapped in the Western Frontier actually get out?” Min Youguo countered.
“They can’t. At the very least, they didn’t dare to pursue me past its borders. The Blood Moon acts as a Dao Seed, and anchoring it underground is a massive array formation.
It acts like a cosmic cage; the cage is steadily expanding, and more and more living beings are being sealed inside.”
“You have witnessed this kind of phenomenon before.”
“I have?”
Li Wei sharply narrowed his eyes, his mind racing as he realized his earlier suspicions were indeed dead on.
“The Eternal Zhao Clan. The Zhao Clan Old Ancestor’s Heavenly Dao Divine Heart. A Tier-2 anomaly, a relic akin to a Mahayana realm supreme treasure.”
Min Youguo smoothly placed a piece on the board, then raised his other hand to point a singular finger toward the heavens.
“In the ancient past, there truly was a Heavenly Court reigning up there, and there were actual gods.
Those gods demanded the incense offerings of us mere mortals, harvesting our faith exactly like those shameless Buddhist monks.”
Min Youguo spoke of world-shattering secrets with an eerie, casual detachment.
“But eventually, the greed of these gods grew boundless; they wanted more and more.
They began to slaughter one another over incense and faith. This was their ultimate source of power, and the living beings of this world were nothing but their livestock.
The Heavenly Dao Divine Heart, Tian Xing’s reincarnation technique, and the Dao Seed you just faced are all festering remnants left behind by those pieces of divine trash.
These cursed items manipulate the hearts of men like an incurable plague. If your Dao heart can suppress them, they are peerless treasures; if you cannot… then you simply become a treasure refined for the immortals.”
“Gods?!!”
The corners of Li Wei’s mouth twitched violently.
“They aren’t nearly as invincible as you might imagine. Otherwise, the Heavenly Dao Divine Heart and those Dao Seeds wouldn’t have been carelessly discarded in the mortal realm to begin with.”
Min Youguo let out a rare, disdainful scoff.
“When we mortal beings hadn’t even produced our first Qi Condensation cultivator, we worshiped them as gods. But once true Dao cultivators emerged, those so-called gods were revealed to be nothing more than mediocre tyrants.
Long before the Imperial Dynasty was established, our ancestors beat the absolute crap out of them—the weak died, and the rest fled the realm in sheer terror.”
Hearing this, Li Wei finally breathed a long sigh of relief.
“Then your son is currently attempting to become the equivalent of a god, and he’s turned the Western Frontier into a devil’s den.
I was trapped there for a month, and the cultivators there have been thoroughly, irreversibly maddened.
From the intelligence I’ve gathered, the Blood Moon’s ultimate goal is to sweep straight down from Grandhaven City and consume the entire Southern Frontier. For some baffling reason, your son has chosen to collude with the Empress.”
This time, Min Youguo finally tore his gaze from the chessboard, turning to stare with a profoundly solemn expression at the black-mist-shrouded Li Clan Old Ancestor before him.
“Your Li Clan is currently stonewalling the Western Frontier. It will take a very, very long time for the Blood Moon to expand to a point where it genuinely threatens your foundation.
I will dispatch Ah Hei to assist you. However, you must also find someone; he is the true, hidden target behind the alliance between the Empress and the Western Frontier.”
“Who?”
“Ancestor Lan.”
“…”
“Also, you have indeed been infected.”
Three black lines of exasperation formed on Li Wei’s forehead. Hearing he had unknowingly fallen for another insidious trick, he fought the immense urge to kick this smug old geezer straight into a wall… Hmm?
Min Youguo abruptly waved his hand, and a crimson Dao Seed the size of a grain of rice was forcefully extracted from Li Wei’s body. Li Wei silently pulled back the leg he had just covertly extended…
“Now, you are no longer infected.” Min Youguo coolly turned his head back to resume his game of chess.
“I was never infected to begin with!!!”
Li Wei spun around abruptly, forcefully clasping his hands behind his back to salvage his pride. Taking a single, rippling step through space, he vanished entirely from the Northern Frontier border.
—
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