Traveling Ten Thousand Miles, Still Too Late

Seeing that he had misunderstood, Mo Jun explained: "Brother Mu, do not misunderstand. I did not mean you are old. I meant that your age is advanced, um... That is not it. My point is, practicing martial arts must be done early. I see that Brother Mu has already passed the weak capping age. If an ordinary person only begins to lay the foundation of martial arts at your age, let alone opening the Qi Mansion in two months, they would likely struggle to achieve great success in their lifetime."

Mu Xiangli did not bicker with her over this and pressed: "Then tell me about the realms after opening the Qi Mansion."

Mo Jun nodded: "Qi, also known as the Qi of Heaven, is the original source qi of humans, also called Origin Qi. Refining Qi is refining this qi. Compared to heaven and earth, an ordinary person is like a drop of water in the vast ocean. But if one can open the Qi Mansion, a human will have the opportunity to expand like heaven and earth. If the qi can penetrate the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, one can become like an immortal in the heavens.

Ordinary people strive for the heights, so we use the Nine Heavens as the standard to divide the realms, which are split into..."

Before Mo Jun could finish, Mu Xiangli spoke ahead of her: "Juntian, Cangtian, Biantian, Xuantian, Youtian, Haotian, Zhutian, Yantian, Yangtian?"

Hearing him finish, Mo Jun asked in doubt: "Do you not already know? Are you teasing me?"

Mu Xiangli explained: "No, no. I have only heard of this saying before, but I truly did not know that those who open the Qi Mansion use this to divide their realms."

Mo Jun remained half-believing and continued to clarify: "Although the majority of martial artists use this standard to divide realms, I heard from my master that in the Nine States, there is also a small portion of people who revere a different standard. As for the specifics, my master was not too clear either."

"What is your current realm?" Mu Xiangli was curious.

"I just broke through to the Cangtian Realm a few days ago." Mo Jun spoke of her realm with a touch of pride. After speaking, she did not forget to ask back: "What about you?"

Mu Xiangli fell silent: "Did I not just tell you that I only recently opened my Qi Mansion?"

Mo Jun hurriedly said: "Ah, I forgot, I forgot."

Mu Xiangli inwardly cursed: "I think you did not forget, but did it on purpose."

"No, no." Fortunately, there were no residents around. If anyone saw two young gentlemen of extraordinary bearing riding a single horse, laughing and chatting, they would likely loudly decry the moral decay of the world.

After rushing for an unknown amount of time, the two suddenly noticed billowing dust ahead. The smiles on their faces vanished. Mo Jun pulled the reins, bringing the horse to a halt, and stared cautiously ahead.

Very quickly, a troop of government soldiers appeared in their line of sight, marching swiftly in this direction.

"It is the attire of our Xi Yu." Mo Jun said excitedly.

Reinforcements coming from the direction of Tan City—could they be the soldiers of Tan City? Gao Meng had led two thousand men out of the city to eliminate the bandits. If these people rushed here upon seeing the smoke signals, it had to be said that the general left to guard Tan City was indeed bold.

"Who goes there?"

Hearing the shout, Mu Xiangli took out the token and said to Mo Jun: "We shall head over, but we must remain vigilant. If anything is amiss, turn back and flee immediately."

"Very well." Mo Jun nodded.

She urged her horse toward the government soldiers, not too fast, ready to turn the horse around and flee at any moment.

Mu Xiangli evaluated the marching soldiers, calculating if he could spot any clues.

As he observed, a man in the ranks rode forward, narrowing his eyes at the token in Mu Xiangli's hand, then scrutinized the two on the horse. He said in a deep voice: "I am the Deputy General under General Gao Meng of Tan City. Who are you, and why do you possess the token of the Palace Imperial Guard?"

Clearly, neither Mu Xiangli nor Mo Jun looked like Palace Imperial Guards.

"My master is Qi Beixing, the former Deputy Commander of the Palace Imperial Guard." Mu Xiangli saw no flaws and decided to trust the opponent. He threw the token over and recounted the events that had transpired at the fastest speed.

The token was genuine, and combined with the previous thousand-mile smoke warning, it could be concluded that Mu Xiangli's words were true.

This Deputy General was quite sober-minded. He immediately sent someone straight to Hongshan Pass to warn the commander there to be careful. Meanwhile, he continued to lead the army forward to assist.

Only after arranging these matters did he turn back to Mu Xiangli: "Before leaving the city, I instructed the soldiers inside that unless I return with General Gao, no one is permitted to open the city gates. Therefore, there should be no issues on Tan City's side. However, even if you rush to Tan City now, you will not be able to enter. Why not rest at Pinggang Town not far from here?"

"If you go now, I am afraid it will be too late." Such words, Mu Xiangli truly could not bring himself to say. He estimated that this Deputy General was likely burning with anxiety, so he did not hesitate further: "My master is still there. I wish to go with the general."

Before he could persuade Mo Jun, she spoke up: "Then I shall go as well."

"Very well, then we shall set off immediately." The Deputy General was extremely decisive and agreed at once.

While speaking with the Deputy General, Mu Xiangli had leaped off the horse. Seeing that they were to continue rushing, Mo Jun said to him: "Get on the horse."

Mu Xiangli glanced at her, smiled, and shook his head: "No need. For now, there is no need to ride alone. I will walk with everyone."

Only then did Mo Jun realize, and she guiltily averted her gaze: "Ah, that is true. Very well then."

Two thousand government soldiers set off once more. Unfortunately, although Tan City could muster two thousand reinforcements, they did not have enough warhorses. Everyone could only rely on their feet.

Some things did not need Mu Xiangli to point out. Rushing like this, by the time they arrived, they would have no strength left to fight. How could they rescue anyone?

The Deputy General was anxious, but he also knew such a mistake could not be made. After running for a while, he let the soldiers rest for a brief moment.

Seeing the sun set, the Deputy General ordered: "Set up camp on the spot."

To his surprise, once he gave the order, the soldiers were unwilling to obey.

"We can still run."

"Indeed, we are neither hungry nor tired. Let us travel through the night."

"General Gao is still waiting for our rescue."

Hearing these words, the Deputy General showed no joy; instead, he grew furious: "Nonsense! Without food or drink, can you truly make it? Can you still hold your blades? What if we are ambushed in the middle of the night? Are we going to save people, or are we going to seek death?"

The crowd also understood this reasoning, but they were still unwilling.

"Let us press on a bit further."

"Yes, we do not need to rest for too long. General Gao is waiting for our aid; how can we sleep peacefully?"

Seeing the crowd so persistent, the Deputy General finally showed a trace of gratification, which then turned solemn: "Very well, let us go a bit further."

The crowd continued to pursue, not setting up camp to rest until late into the night. Sleeping for less than two hours, they set off once more.

The journey that would take ordinary people three to five days was completed by them in less than two days. Mu Xiangli led the crowd to the valley.

However, the closer they got, the more dispirited they became. For the direction of the valley was deathly quiet, indicating that the battle had already ended.

Reaching the valley entrance, the crowd smelled a scent of blood that had yet to dissipate. Drawing closer, Mu Xiangli saw Qi Beixing inside the valley.

"Mas..." Before the word could escape, it was swallowed back down.

He saw that in front of Qi Beixing, a blood-drenched general leaned against a large boulder, still tightly grasping his sword, but his body showed no trace of life.

"General!" the Deputy General cried out and rushed forward.

The valley was strewn with corpses. The soldiers who had rushed here realized they had arrived too late. They could save no one; they could only gather the corpses.

Mu Xiangli glanced at Mo Jun's pale face and sighed. Who didn't know that his own face was likely no different.