Fragrant Lips and Teeth

Xiantian Martial Artists refine their bodies with the power of heaven and earth, cleanse their marrow, and break through physical limitations, granting them a lifespan of two hundred years!

Li Zhong, a Xiantian Martial Artist at the early stage, infinitely close to the middle stage, in the Xiantian Realm. Due to his exceptional circumstances, if he commits grave sins and reaches the execution threshold, his Merit Points will start at a minimum of ten thousand!

Even Shen Zhui, who was merely an assistant, received over seven thousand Merit Points. This is the system's encouragement for killing powerful individuals.

"Enlightenment Time costs a hundred Merit Points per second. With seven thousand five hundred Merit Points, I can exchange for seventy-five seconds. Let's see if it works!"

Shen Zhui exchanged all his Merit Points for Enlightenment Time and immediately began reciting the second story.

"The Heavenly Dao is impartial, always favoring the virtuous. Accumulate benevolence, conduct yourself with integrity, establish your reputation through steadfast action, and let mutual illumination and affinity guide you..."

The sound of recitation echoed from the courtyard. Shen Zhui read each word and sentence extremely slowly. At this moment, his eyes and heart were focused, his mind concentrated, and his expression gradually became solemn. A faint white light emanated from his entire body.

As he read and memorized, the surrounding spiritual energy of heaven and earth slowly gathered around Shen Zhui.

The book on the table vibrated gently. Characters transformed into golden light, entering Shen Zhui's eyes.

Initially, the process was slow, with words floating out of the book one by one.

But as time passed, entire sentences began to appear, shimmering with light. The white glow around Shen Zhui's body was now overlaid with a layer of golden light.

His spiritual consciousness in his mind continuously condensed, like a tangled ball of wisps gradually becoming neat and orderly under an invisible force.

Birds passing overhead paused before Shen Zhui's window, and the flowers and grass slightly bent and curved towards him, like students bowing their heads to receive instruction.

A faint fragrance emanated from Shen Zhui. Upon contact with this fragrance, the flowers, grass, and birds suddenly underwent subtle changes. The flowers and grass became more vibrant, and the birds' bodies seemed to grow slightly larger.

At the County Yamen, in the main hall.

Wei Wenhe, who had been standing before a map, deep in thought, suddenly felt the divine temple tremble slightly.

"Hmm? What is this..." Wei Wenhe sensed it for a moment, and then a flash of blue light enveloped him, causing him to vanish from before the map.

"Swish~"

In Shen Zhui's courtyard, Wei Wenhe appeared out of thin air.

He couldn't help but be astonished as he watched Shen Zhui reciting under the window, with birds and flowers listening attentively.

"His words carry fragrance, and spiritual energy pays homage. Which Deity has favored this Shen Zhui?"

Listening carefully to the content, Wei Wenhe immediately cupped his hands in a salute towards the statue hall.

"So it is General Liu Gong. I thank you, General Liu, for your compassion."

The simplest and most direct benefit of reciting the deeds of Deities is the refinement of spiritual consciousness.

Subsequently, by borrowing the power of a Deity, the first summon can at least increase one's strength by twofold.

However, twofold is not the limit of the first summon of a Deity; it is merely the minimum standard.

It can reach up to fourfold!

The amplification of divine power borrowed by the user varies from person to person, generally ranging between two and threefold.

But now, Wei Wenhe sensed that Shen Zhui's first summon of a Deity could harness at least double the divine power, reaching the maximum of fourfold strength amplification!

Clearly, this was not without reason; it was the true body of the Deity sensing it and lending Shen Zhui a hand.

The stronger Shen Zhui became, the greater the help he could provide to Wei Wenhe, so he naturally had to thank him on Shen Zhui's behalf.

"Wang Long said he was only approaching the level of the first summon after five days, but it seems he underestimated him," Wei Wenhe said with a smile. As the supreme authority of the county, he could clearly sense Shen Zhui's current progress.

Those flashes of golden light might be invisible to others, but he could sense them.

Shen Zhui was now approaching the level of the second summon!

"Lord Wei, what is Shen brother doing?" Lin Ze had arrived in the courtyard at some point. As a Qi Cultivation True Person, he was extremely sensitive to changes in spiritual energy. Feeling the fluctuations, he followed them and discovered that the source was Shen Zhui. To his surprise, Wei Wenhe was also here, seemingly having set up profound techniques that made Shen Zhui's small courtyard a self-contained space, undisturbed.

This Wei Wenhe was actually acting as a guardian for Shen Zhui!

"Lord Lin," Wei Wenhe noticed Lin Ze's address and replied politely, "It's a good thing."

"A good thing? For Wei Wenhe to call it a good thing, what exactly has happened to Shen Zhui?" Lin Ze was also secretly astonished.

He didn't know Shen Zhui well and didn't quite understand why Wang Long valued him so highly. Now, it seemed that Shen Zhui was not only valued by Wang Long but also cared for by the County Magistrate.

Shen Zhui's importance, in the County Magistrate's heart, was likely much higher than he had guessed.

"Lord Lin, if you have business, you can come in after another fifteen minutes," Wei Wenhe waved his hand, and then his figure dissipated, leaving the courtyard.

Lin Ze nodded and stood at a distance, marveling at the miraculous scene.

The moment Shen Zhui opened his eyes, the restriction Wei Wenhe had set up also disappeared. Shen Zhui immediately saw Lin Ze in the distance through the window.

"Brother Lin, what's wrong?" Shen Zhui quickly closed the book and got up to go out.

"I came to see you," Lin Ze smiled, not revealing what had just happened.

"Please, come in and sit," Shen Zhui extended his hand and invited Lin Ze inside.

Lin Ze said, "It seems Brother Shen has made considerable progress these past few days."

"There has indeed been some progress. I'm grateful for Brother Lin's reminder back then; otherwise, I would probably still be struggling," Shen Zhui said happily.

He was now only a short distance from the second summon of a Deity, only about twenty characters away.

This Enlightenment Time allowed him to leap past the First Summon and reach the threshold of the Second Summon. It was indeed incredibly rapid progress.

"Brother Shen, do you have any plans for the future?" Lin Ze asked casually, as if just making conversation.

"Plans?"

"Brother Shen, haven't you thought about leaving Heyuan County to see the world outside?"

"Not for now," Shen Zhui replied, shaking his head. Although he wanted to see the world, the current situation was unstable, and with his current strength, he wouldn't be able to protect himself out there.

"Why do you ask, Brother Lin?"

"Nothing, just making small talk," Lin Ze said with a smile, quickly changing the subject and chatting with Shen Zhui about other things.

Shen Zhui didn't think much of it and just listened quietly.

Occasionally, he would ask Shen Zhui about Qi Cultivation True Persons, but for the most part, he listened to Lin Ze speak.

"Brother Lin, I heard the Wu'an Army has over ten thousand Xiantian Martial Artists. Is that true?"

Lin Ze nodded. "Yes! And even more than that. The recruitment requirement for the Wu'an Army is Seventh Stage Houtian or above. The training and resources provided in the army are incomparable to those of idle Martial Artists."

"For an ordinary Martial Artist, without a solid background, it might take ten, twenty years, or even a lifetime to break through to Xiantian. But in the Wu'an Army, with a bit of luck, after seven or eight missions within a year, one can accumulate enough resources and treasures to break through to Xiantian."

Shen Zhui was shocked. "A year? That's incredible!"

Lin Ze said expansively, "That's not an exaggeration. Our Wu'an Army is an Imperial Army directly under the capital. The Marquis of Wu'an is a powerhouse beyond the Divine Ability Realm, with countless experts in the Divine Ability and Spirit Bridge Realms under his command. We are one of the top armies in the world. What are a few resources for advancing to Xiantian? As long as you have outstanding talent and performance, and you dare to fight, it's not impossible to become a Spirit Bridge Realm expert within a year. There are too many such examples. After all, the military is the place that never lacks resources."

"Of course, what you gain is proportional to what you give. Executing missions is also very dangerous, and accumulating resources isn't easy."

"The more lucrative the resource missions, the harder they are and the higher the danger. Like this time, I spent nearly half my fortune on a mission, and I've been chasing it for a year without success. This brother of yours had bad luck. That damned Li Family ruined my plans, and I've hit rock bottom! To find the trace of that traitor again will cost a lot of money... I might have to give up in the end."

As he spoke, Lin Ze's expression turned grim.

Shen Zhui had heard Lin Ze mention it a few times. The reason he was staying in Heyuan County was twofold: first, to hopefully obtain the trace of the culprit with the help of the divine temple; second, to vent his anger at the two families who had thwarted his plans and to recover some of his losses.

But now, it seemed neither of these goals could be easily achieved. The compensation offered by the two families clearly did not meet Lin Ze's expectations.