After discovering that the three members of the previous generation of the Xiao family had been expelled from the ancestral temple, Li Mu knew that the Empress was serious.
Therefore, in the long days to come, Li Mu needed to do one thing. He needed to help the Empress govern the Great Zhou and ensure that the Great Zhou was stable internally, that there were no strong enemies outside, and that the faith of the people could be maintained or continue to grow.
This was not for anyone else, but for himself, for the people he loved.
In the Secretariat, Liu Yi asked someone to send a pile of memorials to Li Mu's office. She leaned against the chair and let out a long sigh of relief.
The familiar Lord Li had finally returned.
In the office, Li Mu sat behind the table and looked at the two memorials in front of him. He frowned and slowly tapped the table with his index finger.
In the past, the greatest threat facing the Great Zhou was the Demon Nation. They had no time to care about anything else. Whether it was the Shen Nation stirring up a fight at the border of the two nations during the chaos or the greatly reduced faith of the people in the South County, they did not attract much attention from the Imperial Court.
Now that the chaos of the Demon Nation had temporarily subsided, the Imperial Court and the Qianhu Nation were inseparable. These two matters needed to be brought to the forefront.
These seemed to be two matters, but in fact, it was only one.
Ever since the last time the tribute was paid and the Great Zhou fell out, the Shen Nation had been restless. They banned the merchants of the Great Zhou from entering and destroyed the goods of the Great Zhou. The anti-Zhou sentiment in the country was serious, and they repeatedly disturbed the border. The South County bordered the Shen Nation, and the faith of the people was greatly affected.
Li Mu first asked the Empress to go to the ancestral temple to check on the faith cauldron in the South County.
However, the Empress had taken Liu Hanyan, Li Qing, and Zhong Ling to a spring outing outside the city. She was not in the Changle Palace, so Li Mu could do as he saw fit.
She did not bring Mr. Mei and Shangguan Li with her on this trip. Therefore, Li Mu asked them to accompany him to the Ancestral Temple. The Ancestral Temple was an important place in the Great Zhou. It was where the Emperor's Qi was nurtured. It was related to the future of a country. The Xiao family lost the throne because they did not take good care of the Emperor's Qi. In order to avoid suspicion, Li Mu could not go there alone.
Li Mu still had not told them that the Empress planned to give each of them a wisp of Imperial Qi in the future. Zhou Yi was just like that. When a person achieved the Dao, everyone around them would ascend to the Heavens as well. She wanted nothing more than to give all the good things to those around her.
In the ancestral temple, the three elders were no longer there. Even the cattail hassock on the ground had been thrown away.
The golden dragon swam in the cauldron at the center of the ancestral temple. Li Mu looked at the thirty-six small cauldrons. There were differences in the brightness of the small cauldrons, but other than the one in Shen 'du, the differences in the other cauldrons were not too great.
Li Mu walked forward and saw the word "Nan" on the cauldron.
After coming to the Ancestral Temple, Li Mu confirmed that something had indeed happened in Nan County. He then went to the Department of Worship and sent a few Fifth Realm Worshippers to Nan County to investigate the matter.
When he left the palace and returned home, Liu Hanyan and the Empress had already returned from their trip.
He had dealt with too many reports in the past two days. He leaned against the stone chair in the courtyard to rest. Fully relaxed, he quickly fell asleep.
Wanwan was helping Liu Hanyan wash the vegetables. She looked back at Li Mu and said, "Young Master must have dreamt of something good. Miss, look at how happy he is."
Liu Hanyan remembered what happened last night. She could not help but blush. She said, "He must be thinking of something improper again."
Zhou Yi walked to Li Mu and sat down. She secretly formed a seal with her hands hidden in her sleeves.
In his two lifetimes, Li Mu had never been as happy as he had been the night before. As a result, he even had a dream about it. When he woke up, he opened his eyes and saw the Empress sitting across from him. Her face was covered in a layer of light pink.
Li Mu was confused. He asked, "What's wrong, Your Majesty?"
Zhou Yi stood up and said, "No, nothing."
Li Mu watched her leave as if she was running away. He was speechless. "She's so weird …"
Because of his careful actions last night, Liu Hanyan and Li Qing did not let Li Mu into the room tonight. He slept alone in the study and thought about cultivation.
The last trip to the East County made him realize one of his weaknesses.
With his cultivation improved, he was not afraid of ordinary sixth realm cultivators no matter on land or in the air. However, in the water, the strength he could exert was greatly reduced. It would take a lot of effort to deal with Ao Run.
This was not Li Mu's weakness. Human beings were not as good at fighting in the water as the Water Clan. Apart from a few amphibious demon races, only the Dragon Clan could be good at fighting on land and in the water.
When the Department of Offerings encountered trouble from the Water Clan, there was nothing they could do except to pump the water.
Although he had Ao Run, the tool dragon, at his disposal, it was not realistic to let him deal with it every time. Li Mu searched his mind and found a kind of medicine pill called the Water Repelling Pill.
Although it was called a medicine pill, it was actually a magic treasure. It was refined with the essence and blood of the Water Clan. If mortals held it in their mouths, they would not drown. If cultivators carried it with them, it would have a certain water-repelling effect and reduce the weakening of their strength when fighting in the water.
With the Water Repelling Pill, human cultivators could exert seventy to eighty percent of their strength in the water.
It was said that if one could swallow a Dragon Clan's inner core, they would have the abilities of the Water Clan in the water. Not only would their mana not be weakened, but it would also increase greatly. They could even suppress low-level Water Clan. It was the most ideal water-repelling magic treasure.
However, it was rare to see a Dragon Clan on the mainland, let alone obtain a Dragon Clan's inner core. He got some essence and blood from Ao Run to refine some Water Repelling Pills and distributed them to the officials of each county. The next time the Water Clan caused trouble, they would be able to deal with it themselves and would not have to ask for help from Fairy's Capital.
This was what the Empress should do. In the future, Li Mu would have to worry about her.
This time, he did not plan to ask Ao Run to come over. This evil dragon was too talkative. It was better to ask him personally.
If he was talkative and revealed Tingxin's joke, Li Mu would have to spend a lot of effort to explain it to them.
At a lake in Zhong County.
Li Mu floated above the lake. Ao Run's begging voice came from the bottom of the lake, "Master, I'm wrong. I won't talk anymore. Don't worry. I won't tell Mistress that you have two snakes outside!"
Li Mu said lightly, "I'm not here to settle the score with you. Give me some of your essence and blood. I have a use for it."
Ao Run hesitated for a moment and said, "The second one is fine. The first one … can you wait until tomorrow? I don't have it today …"
…
Li Mu extracted a bucket of flood dragon blood from Ao Run's body and casually tossed two pills to the pale-faced Ao Run. Then, he flew back to Luoyang.
There were still some materials needed to refine the Water Repelling Pill. Li Mu spent a few days to collect them. It was already ten days later when he refined the Water Repelling Pill.
He came to the Department of Offerings and gave dozens of blood-red pills to the Offerings in charge. He said, "Distribute these Water Repelling Pills to the 36 counties. In the future, if there are any problems related to the Water Clan, you don't have to ask for help from Fairy's Capital."
After leaving behind the Water Repelling Pills, Li Mu asked him, "How's the matter in South County?"
Speaking of South County, the Offerings looked helpless and said, "My lord, the Shen Kingdom hates our Great Zhou very much. Although they didn't do anything officially, the cultivators of the Shen Kingdom kept causing trouble at the border of South County. Yesterday, the Department of Offerings received news that the colleagues we sent to South County to investigate were all injured by the cultivators of the Shen Kingdom …"
Li Mu frowned and asked, "Isn't there a garrison in South County? Are they just going to watch the people of the Shen Kingdom invade the border?"
The Offerings said, "My lord, you might not know this, but the imperial court has placed most of its troops outside the Demon Kingdom and the Ghost Realm. Among the four armies of Zhenbei, Pingxi, Annan, and Dingdong, the southern army and the eastern army are the weakest. Moreover, the shameless people of the Shen Kingdom don't invade in large numbers. They usually sneak past the border of South County in one or two groups. The southern army can't guard against them.
After leaving the Department of Offerings, Li Mu went to the ancestral temple and found that the psychic power sent by the Psychic Power Cauldron in South County didn't increase. Instead, it was dimmer.
The people of the Shen Kingdom could use anything, but he couldn't use his psychic power.
Whether or not he could have a few seventh realm wives in the future and live off them in peace depended on the psychic power of the people of the 36 counties.
If a few fifth realm Offerings were injured in South County, the result would be the same if they sent others. The countries of the Zu Continent had a tacit understanding. In order to prevent the war from escalating and both sides being injured, the border conflicts were limited to those below the sixth realm. Once the two High Offerings interfered, it meant that the Great Zhou and the Shen Kingdom had officially started a war.
War would only bring slaughter and death. This went against the national policy of peaceful coexistence that the Great Zhou had always pursued. Even if they won, it might cause the two years of hard work of Li Mu and the Empress to go down the drain.
Unless it was absolutely necessary, they couldn't take this step.
Sometimes, having a low cultivation wasn't a bad thing. The two High Offerings couldn't make a move, so Li Mu planned to take a look himself.
After reporting his itinerary to the Empress, Liu Hanyan, and the others, Li Mu summoned Ao Run and immediately set off.
Among the four counties, the South County was the closest to the Divine Capital. With Ao Run's maximum speed, they arrived in less than three days.
South County.
The South County of the Great Zhou bordered the Shen Kingdom. Since the establishment of the Shen Kingdom, there had been an army stationed here. It was called the Annan Army. When the Annan Army was at its peak, in the face of the provocation of the Shen Kingdom, they once invaded the hinterland of the Shen Kingdom and almost broke into the Shen Kingdom's capital. Since then, the Shen Kingdom was unable to recover from the setback and didn't dare to invade the Great Zhou anymore.
After the south was settled, the imperial court began to transfer the powerful cultivators of the Annan Army to the northwest. Now, the once strongest Annan Army had become the weakest of the four armies.
The border of the South County was extremely long. Unlike the Northern Army, the Annan Army stationed in the South County had ten people as sentries. They were scattered all over the border, guarding the border of the Great Zhou.
In recent days, because the Shen Kingdom kept invading the border, the Southern Army's sentries clashed with the Shen Kingdom cultivators many times. However, both sides were able to control themselves and only suffered injuries.
The South Lake was a large lake on the border between the Great Zhou and the Shen Kingdom. In the past hundred years, the two countries had never let go of the dispute over the ownership of the lake. There were many conflicts. Later, in order to settle the dispute, the two countries reached an agreement.
With the small island in the center of the South Lake as the boundary, to the north of the small island was the Great Zhou. To the south of the small island was the territory of the Shen Kingdom. There was a formation that forbade flying above the South Lake. Cultivators could not fly. The soldiers and civilians of the two countries were not allowed to cross the boundary of the small island.
However, at this moment, the light of spells flashed frequently on the northern shore of the South Lake.
Ten Southern Army soldiers were fighting a bitter battle with more than twenty Shen Kingdom cultivators. This was the northern shore of the South Lake, the territory of the Great Zhou. Clearly, the Shen Kingdom cultivators had crossed the border to provoke them. They had the advantage in numbers, and the Southern Army soldiers were retreating.
A young soldier grew timid and could not help but say, "They have more people. We are no match for them. Why don't we retreat first and call for reinforcements …"
Another older man said with a resolute expression, "This is the territory of the Great Zhou. Behind us are the people of the Great Zhou. We cannot retreat a single step!"
The young soldier took a deep breath. Looking at the people around him who were fighting bitterly, his expression gradually became resolute. His hand seals changed even faster.
However, although their opponents were not very strong, they had far more people. Soon, they were all heavily injured. The Shen Kingdom cultivators all had mocking expressions and mocked them.
"This is the Great Zhou's strongest Southern Army?"
"What strongest? Even the weakest soldiers of the Shen Kingdom are stronger than them."
"How did they enter the Shen Kingdom in the past? Did they make it up?"
…
The ten soldiers of the Great Zhou were humiliated and angry, but they could not resist. Just as they were about to fight to the death, a stream of light appeared in the sky behind them and rushed toward the Southern Lake.
There were two powerful auras in the stream of light.
These two auras came from the direction of the Great Zhou. The people of the Southern Army were delighted and said excitedly, "The reinforcements are here!"
However, the expressions of the cultivators of the Shen Kingdom changed. These two auras were extremely powerful, and they could not defeat them. They jumped into the Southern Lake behind them and fled in the direction of the Shen Kingdom.
The stream of light was extremely fast. The people of the Southern Army looked at the stream of light with anticipation. Their expressions gradually changed from surprise to shock.
As the stream of light approached, they saw clearly that it was a flood dragon. The flood dragon was completely white, and there was a figure standing on its head. A young man rode the flood dragon and landed on the northern shore of the Southern Lake.
A middle-aged man quickly walked forward and cupped his fists respectfully. "Greetings, senior. May I ask if senior is sent by the imperial court to reinforce the Southern County?"
Li Mu nodded and said, "I'm from the Department of Worship. What happened here?"
The middle-aged man pointed at the Southern Lake behind him and gritted his teeth. "Sir, the cultivators of the Shen Kingdom forced their way across our borders and provoked our garrison. Before senior came, they had just escaped."
Li Mu felt the auras in the Southern Lake. He glanced at Ao Run and said, "Catch them."
Ao Run jumped into the lake without hesitation. The man was about to stop him, but it was too late.
Under the surface of the lake, two white figures were faintly discernible. Huge waves rolled up on the surface of the lake. Li Mu actually discovered another powerful aura at the bottom of the lake. Just from the aura alone, his strength was above Ao Run.
The middle-aged man said in a panic, "Sir, let your mount come up quickly. There's a huge dragon from the Shen Kingdom at the bottom of the Southern Lake. It's very powerful …"
There was no need for him to remind him. In the next moment, Ao Run let out a painful roar and broke out of the water. He stood beside Li Mu in a sorry state.
He pointed at the bottom of the lake and said to Li Mu through gritted teeth, "Master, there's a dragon in the lake. I can't beat it. Let's draw the water. We can't spoil it!"
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