Old Residence

Old Residence Aura Concealing Art was called a spell, but it could not really be counted as a true spell. It was more a method of controlling spiritual power.

It used special runes to set up a net inside the body that concealed one's spiritual power, hiding one's true spiritual power fluctuations.

The Aura Concealing Art did not require the cooperation of intent. As long as the runes were drawn, it could be cast.

Li Shiming was not worried about the complexity of the runes. He scanned the Aura Concealing Art into the IBMz15 Mainframe, then repeatedly read it with his consciousness.

In just a few minutes, he had memorized all the runes of the Aura Concealing Art.

He mobilized the spiritual power in his body and began drawing the runes of the Aura Concealing Art beneath his skin.

He did not feel any trouble. The complicated rune pattern was drawn by him without the slightest error.

He felt the spiritual qi vortex inside him tremble faintly, and the spiritual qi vortex seemed to be covered by something.

After successfully activating the Aura Concealing Art, Li Shiming frowned slightly. The feeling of being restrained by the Aura Concealing Art was not pleasant.

In addition, as long as he cast a spell, or mobilized spiritual power to a certain extent, it would destroy the effect of the Aura Concealing Art.

In front of cultivators whose strength far exceeded his own, the effect of the Aura Concealing Art was also extremely limited.

However, the Aura Concealing Art had come for free. It was good enough that it had some use, and he did not ask for too much.

"Eh, Fellow Daoist, you've mastered the Aura Concealing Art?" When Fan Yiyang walked out of the cabin door rubbing his belly, he happened to see Li Shiming and could not help asking in surprise.

How could he not be shocked? It had only been such a short while, yet Li Shiming had already mastered the Aura Concealing Art and put it to use.

Although cultivators were nourished by spiritual power and far surpassed mortals in many ways, especially in memory, spell runes were famously complicated.

No matter how low-level the Aura Concealing Art was, it was still a spell.

"How many days did it take me to learn the Aura Concealing Art again?" Fan Yiyang asked himself inwardly.

He did not really remember such a minor matter from so long ago, but the learning time could not have been less than a month.

Looking at Li Shiming standing beside the railing, his feelings were complicated; even the spiritual rice he had just eaten no longer tasted good.

"I still have to thank you, Fellow Daoist!" Li Shiming said with a bow of thanks.

Fan Yiyang became even warmer toward him. If one wanted to befriend a future fellow disciple of outstanding talent, one had to do it before he rose up.

He had some background in the sect, but because his own aptitude was too poor, the support the forces behind him gave him was extremely limited.

If he wanted to live better in the sect, he had to make more friends. This was his principle for handling matters.

He did not have much ambition. With his aptitude, this was how his life would be. He needed to earn more resources so he could build a family of his own in the secular world in the future, and all of that required the support of powerful friends.

Li Shiming spent twelve days aboard the official ship. After spending these days together, he and Fan Yiyang had also become friends.

"Fellow Daoist Li, we've arrived at Central Capital. Let us part here. I hope we meet again in the sect!" Before they had even docked, Fan Yiyang cupped his hands to Li Shiming and said.

"Fellow Daoist Fan, we'll meet again if there is a chance!" Li Shiming returned the salute.

Fan Yiyang's figure leapt toward the riverbank. A flash of talisman light swept by, and his figure turned insubstantial before vanishing.

Although Li Shiming was also at Qi Refining Second Level, he did not have a move like that. Besides, he had brought a maidservant, a manservant, and a great deal of luggage, so it was impossible for him to be that carefree.

He did not know whether Fan Yiyang had done it deliberately, but in any case, it filled him with yearning.

The official ship stopped at the dock, and Li Shiming led his attendants off the ship.

"Young Master, the residence's carriage has come to pick you up!" the manservant Mo Yan cried out in delight.

Following the direction of his finger, Li Shiming saw an old carriage. If not for the Fourth Rank Li Residence mark on the carriage, he truly would not have expected a carriage in Central Capital to be like this.

Thinking about how this was Central Capital, fourth rank really was not much.

He only sighed inwardly and did not have any requirements for the carriage.

"This servant greets Young Master. I am Steward Zhang of the Central Capital Old Residence!" the coachman greeted him.

Only after he entered the carriage did he discover that he seemed to have been wrong.

The decorations inside the carriage were not the least bit inferior to the carriage back in Nanling Prefecture. That old exterior was only a disguise.

There was quite a lot of luggage, filling up the rear of the carriage.

Aside from Li Shiming bringing Si Qin with him, Mo Yan and the four guards all walked alongside the carriage.

Si Qin opened the carriage window and looked at this Capital City of Great Xia with curious eyes.

"Steward Zhang, how much longer until we reach the old residence?" Li Shiming was not interested in the bustle of Central Capital. What he most wanted to do now was return to the old residence at once.

During these twelve days, he had borrowed the computing power of the IBMz15 Mainframe to repeatedly calculate the activation method for the Spirit Gathering Disk.

Combining it with some information he had gotten from chatting with Fan Yiyang, he was very confident that he could activate the Spirit Gathering Disk.

He had waited a full twelve days without using the Five Elements Qi Absorption Art to improve his cultivation. At most, after casting the Spring Breeze Transforming Rain Art, he had used the spiritual qi in the server room space to recover the spiritual power in his body.

"Young Master, we'll be there after we pass the street up ahead!" Hearing Li Shiming's urgency, Steward Zhang replied while cracking the whip once, making the carriage go faster.

As the carriage sped up, the four guards and Mo Yan also began to jog.

"This is the old residence?" Li Shiming asked aloud as he stood before the vermilion gate.

The vermilion gate looked not small, but according to Great Xia's regulations, this counted as the style of a small household. It did not resemble the residence of a fourth-rank official at all.

Of course, Li Wenyuan lived year-round in the Government Office of Nanling Prefecture, but no matter how one put it, a gate like this was still rather shabby.

The main gate opened, and Steward Zhang bowed as he invited him inside.

Three servants stood in rows on either side of the entrance, two men and one woman, all of them no longer young. Including Steward Zhang, only four people managed the Old Residence.

The Old Residence was a three-courtyard compound. After entering through the main gate and passing the hanging-flower gate, one arrived at the inner courtyard. To the left and right were the east and west wing rooms, directly ahead was the main house, and in the center was a courtyard dotted with flowers and plants.

"Master sent a letter arranging for you to stay in the main house!" Steward Zhang reminded him softly.

"Mo Yan, take the luggage to the main house!" Li Shiming had no objection. As the owner, and with his father Li Wenyuan not living here, it was only natural for him to stay in the main house.

More importantly, there were side rooms on both sides of the main house, and the Rear Cover Room behind it, enclosing it on all four sides, which made it suitable for the four guards to protect him.

Of course, the reason Li Shiming liked the main house was that its interior was spacious enough to make his cultivation convenient.

"Steward Zhang, without my instructions, no one is allowed to enter the main house. If anything comes up, just inform Si Qin!" Li Shiming instructed Steward Zhang in a low voice, then walked into the main house.

Everything inside the room was very clean. There was no particularly valuable furniture, but all the daily necessities were complete.

Mo Yan led the servants in carrying the luggage into the main house. Si Qin dismissed them and began tidying things up.

No one else could help with these matters. Only Si Qin could handle them, since the only female servant there had originally been a cook.