The Earth Book unlocks a new feature

Upon returning to the Xu Residence, he spent the entire morning practicing the "Heaven and Earth One Blade Slash," incorporating the sword intent of several ultimate techniques.

After lunch, I lay on the roof ridge, basking in the sun, and drifted into a light sleep.

Last night, in order to subdue the demoness, he used the "Great Mighty Heavenly Dragon Spell" to suppress the fox demon for a whole night.

The demoness cried and begged for mercy, but in the end, Xu Yinluo of Great Feng won.

However, this one battle left Xu Yinluo severely weakened, so he needed to take a short nap to recuperate.

There are countless female demons in the world; it is the duty of righteous people to eliminate them and uphold justice.

Zhong Li sat beside him, hugging her knees. Senior Sister Zhong had a supple figure and a plump, fleshy bottom, but the linen robe she always wore concealed her natural talent.

Only when she adopts this posture that accentuates her figure does she reveal her mature feminine charm, albeit only for a fleeting moment.

"Your 'intention' seems to have hit a bottleneck," Zhong Li said softly.

"My senior sister is truly a senior sister. Although she pretends to be pitiful on the surface to gain my sympathy and affection, she is actually a very reliable senior with keen insight and a knack for getting to the heart of the matter."

Xu Qi'an closed his eyes and pretended to sleep, sighing.

"No, it's not like that," Zhong Li said sullenly.

Xu Qi'an was taken aback. He sat up abruptly, his gaze intense as he demanded, "Tell me, who was your first man?"

Zhong Li stared at him blankly. "Huh?"

She explained, feeling wronged, "I wasn't trying to gain your sympathy or pity."

Xu Qi'an felt relieved and lay back down. "Oh, you mean this?"

As long as you remain a perceptive and insightful senior, we can still be good friends.

Zhong Li tilted her head, thinking in confusion for a moment, still unable to follow his train of thought, so she returned to the main topic and said:

"Although I am Warlock, I know some things about martial artists. Martial artists cultivate their will, which is a process of understanding one's true nature. It is not that someone who uses a knife for many years can necessarily comprehend the will of the knife, or someone who uses a sword can comprehend the will of the sword. It is not like that."

"If you want to understand the meaning, you must first understand why you use a knife, how much you love the knife, and whether you are willing to spend your life with a knife."

Xu Qi'an shook his head. "I don't want that. I hope to spend my life with beautiful women, and if possible, I hope the number won't be too limited."

Zhong Li ignored him and continued, "And your 'Intent' is a fusion of multiple ultimate techniques, which is the most difficult Intent to cultivate. It is based on the 'Heaven and Earth One-Slash Slash,' but the 'Heaven and Earth One-Slash Slash' is not its spirit. You need a guiding spirit."

Is it the spirit of concise summarization? The spirit of brothels? Or the soul of freeloading?

Xu Qi'an asked, "How should we do this?"

Zhong Li shook her head. "I don't know, I'm not a martial artist."

"You're not a martial artist, yet you keep spouting so much nonsense." Xu Qi'an got angry and raised his hand to slap her soft, elastic, pert buttocks.

The slap wasn't forceful, but Zhong Li felt as if she had been pushed hard. Her buttocks slipped, and she slid down the roof ridge, rolling a few times on the tiles before crashing heavily to the ground.

"Senior sister, senior sister, I didn't mean to!!"

Xu Qi'an was shocked.

Zhong Li groaned as she got up, instinctively wrapping herself tighter in her linen robe. In this cold world, only the robe could bring a sliver of warmth.

After lunch, Xu Qi'an, who was playing Go with Xu Lingyin in the courtyard, suddenly felt a familiar palpitation. Ignoring his foolish younger sister beside him, he took out the fragment of the Earth Book without any psychological barrier.

Check the message.

[Four: I've encountered some issues and may not be able to continue investigating the cases of Hengyuan and Emperor Yuanjing.]

Xu Qi'an's heart skipped a beat, and he sent a message: [Are you leaving the capital?]

This is a very simple line of reasoning. Neither finding Hengyuan nor investigating Emperor Yuanjing are urgent matters. There is plenty of time to do other things first.

There's only one possibility behind Chu Yuanzhen's statement: he's leaving the capital soon and won't be returning anytime soon.

[Four: Yes, Jiang Luzhong from the Nightwatchers's office came to see me this morning, saying that Wei Yuan hopes I can accompany the army on the expedition.]

If the fragments of the Earth Book could display punctuation marks, Xu Qi'an would now type a series of question marks and then send it!

Chu Yuanzhen had absolutely no experience in leading troops into battle. What was wrong with Duke Wei?

[Second: Is Wei Yuan really a military genius? Sending you on a campaign is less desirable than letting me go. At least I've led troops and suppressed bandits in Yunzhou.]

Xu Qi'an was quite pleased to learn that he wasn't the only one with this thought.

[Four: Ha, I was the top scholar in the imperial examination back then. Although I didn't major in military strategy, I've read a lot of military books and studied many large-scale battles, such as the Battle of Shanhai Pass. Whether I go on the expedition depends solely on whether I want to go or not, not on whether I'm capable or not. Even if I don't understand military strategy at all, I can at least match a fourth-rank master.]

[I've long since retired from court and wandered the world, now a commoner with no interest in returning to officialdom. Yet he invited me to join the army. Don't you think Wei Yuan is ridiculous?]

Well, Duke Wei's thoughts are indeed hard to fathom. Xu Qi'an sent a message asking, "[So, have you agreed?]"

[Four: I agreed.]

one. "."

two. "."

three. "."

five. "."

Chu Yuanzhen forced an explanation. "Of course I'm not trying to get back into office. I just feel that wandering the martial world with a sword, eliminating evil and punishing wickedness, only eliminates minor evils. How many villains can I eliminate alone and outnumbered?"

[Ultimately, it's all for the people of Great Feng. If we can contribute on the battlefield and defeat the Witch God Cult, that would be a truly great merit.]

"I feel like you're subtly criticizing me," Li Miaozhen thought to herself.

So all that talk you just did was to save face for yourself? Xu Qi'an silently scoffed.

Seeing that no one had replied for a long time, Chu Yuanzhen sent a message: [What do you think?]

Xu Qi'an thought for a moment, then replied perfunctorily, "[It's fine.]"

[Two: It's good.]

[One: It's great.]

[5: It's good.]

"You three are even more perfunctory than I am, "Xu Qi'an rolled his eyes.

Chu Yuanzhen silently submerged and stopped surfacing.

At this moment, the long-silent Daoist Master Jinlian reappeared to deliver a message:

[I need to go into seclusion to digest the lotus seeds recently, and I will not be able to receive your messages for a while. In order not to delay your communication, I have decided to grant you some access.]

[From now on, you only need to Primordial Spirit into the fragment of the Earth Book to choose the recipient to whom you wish to send a private message. You no longer need to call upon me.]

After saying this, Master Jinlian also submerged and stopped talking.

"Daoist Master, have you finally grown tired of being a mere tool?" Xu Qi'an's thoughts stirred, and he immersed his spiritual power into the fragments of the Earth Book.

He entered the hazy mirror world once again, where eight beams of light of different colors lined up in front of him. The eight beams were red, black, blue, white, yellow, and four murky beams whose specific colors were indistinguishable.

Without needing to consciously identify it, as the holder of the Earth Book fragment, he immediately recognized that the first line on the right was number one.

The number one is acting mysteriously; I might as well test him/her and find out his/her identity. Xu Qi'an gathered his Primordial Spirit and probed the light represented by the number one fragment of the Earth Book.

Snap!

Suddenly, Fragment Number One condensed a powerful spiritual force, shattering his Primordial Spirit.

Hiss. Xu Qi'an felt like he'd been pricked by a needle in his brain. It wasn't a big problem, just a little painful.

This is the Earth Book version: The other party doesn't want to talk to you and slapped your Primordial Spirit?

"If you're not going to talk to me, then don't. Why did you hit me?"

Xu Qi'an cursed and spread his Primordial Spirit, his spiritual power like tentacles probing into the fragments of the Earth Book, re-entering the hazy mirror world. This time, he tried to extend his tentacles to send a message to Number Eight.

Number Eight did not refuse.

[Three: I heard you've gone into seclusion? Are you male or female? What is your name? I am Xu Xinnian, a student of the Cloud Deer Academy and a junior compiler in the Hanlin Academy of the Great Feng Dynasty.]

Number 8 ignored him.

"It seems that number eight hasn't broken through yet."

Xu Qi'an wisely gave up on the conversation and instead extended his tentacle towards Number Seven: [I heard you were being chased? I wonder if you're dead or alive.]

Number Seven ignored him as well.

May good people live a long and peaceful life. Xu Qi'an then sent a message to True Disciple: [Miaozhen, did you receive my message?]

[Two: Hmm!]

Li Miaozhen had already chosen to accept the arrival of the tentacles.

[Part 3: Let's test the functionality.]

[Part Two: How to test?]

[Three: Chu Yuanzhen is a hypocrite, ugh! I'm ashamed to be associated with him. Lina, I have some delicious food here.]

There was no movement for a long time.

[Three: It seems Master Jinlian wasn't lying. Private chats will be much easier from now on.]

Li Miaozhen: "."

[Second: Oh, right, I just remembered something.]

Xu Qi'an remained silent for a few seconds before Li Miaozhen's second message arrived:

[I remember now. When it comes to knowledge of ley lines, besides the Bureau of Astronomy, the Earth Sect is probably the most proficient. The three sects—Heaven, Earth, and Human—each have their strengths. The Human Sect, besides swordsmanship, is strongest in alchemy. The Earth Sect excels in cultivating merit, as well as in feng shui, formations, and so on; ley lines are a part of feng shui. And my Heaven Sect is even more adept at Law Technique like summoning wind and rain.]

So that's why your understanding of earth veins is so shallow, or even completely ignorant? Xu Qi'an nodded slowly.

That's not surprising, since everyone chooses different courses.

[Two: Of course, compared to Warlock, the knowledge of Earth Sect regarding formations and feng shui is rather shallow. I suddenly remembered this after entering the Earth Book Fragment.]

The Earth Sect's achievements in feng shui and formations all stemmed from their understanding of the earth's veins, and the Earth Sect's understanding of the earth's veins came from the Earth Book.

In High Antiquity times, the Earth Book symbolized mountains and rivers. In the archives of the Heavenly Sect, there was a book called "Records of the Gods of the Nine Provinces". It recorded that in High Antiquity times, the Nine Provinces were filled with gods such as mountain gods and river gods. They condensed the power of the mountains and rivers of the Nine Provinces and transformed it into the seals of mountain gods and water gods.

[In a certain year, the Daoist Master annihilated the "Nine Provinces Gods" and melted down all the mountain god seals and water god seals of the Nine Provinces into a supreme treasure, which is called the "Book of the Earth".]

The Earth Book has such a significant origin? When I was researching related materials at the Nightwatchers's Office, it only stated that the Earth Book was a magic Law Treasure of the Daoist Master, and its origin was unverifiable. It was said to be a powerful figure who emerged during the era after the fall of gods and Gods and Devils and the rise of the Human Emperor.

Xu Qi'an's mind wandered.

[Three: But why does the Earth Book feel to me like a storage Law Treasure and a Great Feng QQ chat group?]

[Second: Because the Earth Book was broken. Also, what is a 00 chat group?]

It's QQ, not 00. Xu Qi'an patiently explained the difference between the two to her, then wondered somewhat blankly, why do Li Miaozhen and I, who live under the same roof, still have to chat on fragments?

[Three: Let's talk in your room.]

[Two: No, don't you think this is more interesting? As long as we have the fragments of the Earth Book, we can communicate privately anytime, anywhere.]

Li Miaozhen became fascinated by the novelty of online private chatting.

When everyone was passing the message together, she didn't feel this way; it was like a group of people discussing something using Law Treasure. But once she could chat privately anytime, anywhere, this sense of novelty became apparent.

This... this feels so familiar. It reminds me of the stupid things I did back then: sneaking out of school to chat on QQ; refusing a female student's date invitation because I had to celebrate my QQ pet's birthday. Xu Qi'an silently covered his face.

Just then, Lina's message arrived: [Five: Xu Qi'an, Xu Qi'an, how about we go to the restaurant for monkey brains today?]

[Three: Why eat a monkey's brain when it's so cute? You were clearly five feet to my left, you could have just called out to me.]

[5: Because it's fun, and I can talk to you alone.]

At this moment, Chu Yuanzhen initiated a private chat with him: [Four: Cijiu, could you let me see that military treatise? As the saying goes, even last-minute sharpening of a spear can be effective. Also, I've found it quite interesting to be able to send letters privately anytime, anywhere. There's no need to worry about others seeing it.]

[Three: How do you know no one else saw it? Did you test it?]

[Four: Because I've been secretly exchanging letters with Miaozhen and Lina.]

[Three: Lina, have you been secretly exchanging letters with Miaozhen and Chu Yuanzhen?]

[Five: Huh? How did you know?]

That's enough!!!

Xu Qi'an's lips twitched.

Just then, hurried footsteps rushed in; it was Xu Cijiu, dressed in a blue official robe.

Xu Cijiu looked around for a while, as if searching for something. When he saw Xu Qi'an, he breathed a sigh of relief, "Big brother, big brother, something urgent has happened!"

Xu Qi'an immediately went to greet him. The last time Xu Erlang personally rode back during his lunch break was for Wang Simu.

"Brother, Emperor Yuanjing wants me to go on the expedition with the army." Xu Cijiu's face was serious.

"!!!"

Xu Qi'an felt as if he had been struck by lightning.

He personally experienced a large-scale war. When investigating a case in Chuzhou, Zhu Jiu led the Demon Race tribesmen, and Jili Zhigu led the Qingyan tribe's iron cavalry. The two sides joined forces to attack Chuzhou City.

The siege was short but fierce and dangerous. Under the onslaught of ballistae and cannons, neither humans nor barbarians were much more resilient than weeds.

This damned emperor wants Xu Erlang to go on an expedition? Isn't that sending him to his death?!

"Pretending to be sick?" Xu Qi'an probed.

"His Majesty has approved it, so even if I'm still breathing, I'll carry me away! That's why I came to discuss this with you, elder brother," Xu Cijiu a muffled voice.

So you mean we can't refuse? Xu Qi'an frowned, and said irritably, "What are we discussing? How do we disobey the imperial decree?"

Xu Cijiu choked for a moment, remained silent for a while, and then said, "I mean, discussing how to fight the war, I... I actually want to go too."

"Smack!"

Xu Qi'an slapped his younger brother to the ground. "Fighting? I'd rather fight you."

Xu Erlang got up in a disheveled state, inwardly complaining that his elder brother was a crude and uncouth brute who appeared obedient but dared not talk back, fearing he would be slapped again.

Xu Qi'an looked at him for a long time, then sighed, "Go and talk to your aunt yourself."

Xu Erlang's lips twitched slightly, and he slowly nodded. "Okay."

A moment later, the sound of aunt screaming came from the inner hall. The beautiful woman rushed out of the hall, looked around, and then her eyes locked onto Xu Qi'an.

"Ningyan-- "

The aunt cried out, looking like she was about to cry, and waved her little hand frantically. "Erlang wants to go to the battlefield, you, you have to come and think of a way!"

Now, Xu Qi'an is the only one in the family who can shoulder the main responsibility. Whenever his aunt encounters a problem she can't solve, she immediately turns to her nephew.

PS: I'm home now, updating and resuming. I'm going to write Chapter 2.