Back at the Sky Academy, Li Tianlan managed to regain some mental and physical strength as he drifted off to sleep all the way. After performing the sword move that had exhausted his essence, qi, and spirit, he had an indescribable feeling of emptiness yet comfort. It was like lying comfortably in bed, half asleep, half awake, with no rest for a long time.

Outside the window, the rain fell on the car roof, with a delicate yet manic rhythm. When the car stopped, Li Tianlan opened his eyes in a daze, only to find that he had been back to the river, where he was attacked by the black-robed man.

Li Tianlan looked through the car window. Two days of heavy rain had washed away the battlefield, only the nearby destroyed woods still had traces of the battle. He shook his head subconsciously, clutching the full set of Immortality Potions in his hand with some emotions.

Within just a few days, his fate and mental state seemed to have undergone a great change. His mindset had also changed subtly.

“What are you going to do?”

Zhuang Huayang parked the car on the bank and opened the door.

The chill wind and rain were accompanied by a heat wave. Although the fire did not appear, the rain around the entire vehicle disappeared all of a sudden. As three of them stepped on the white bridge on the shore toward the Sky Academy, Zhuang Huayang asked casually.

“I’ll eat this first. I need to meditate.”

Li Tianlan said, lifting the box in his hand. It was what allowed him to heal completely and the meaning of him going back to the Sky Academy.

Li Tianlan knew exactly his current state. The sword move that enabled him to kill Gu Changjiang in the rain gave him too much inspiration. Under this state, with the help of the Immortality Potions, he was confident, after a few hours, that he could restore his strength to the Ice-condensing Realm.

“Should I make a breakthrough or not?”

Li Tianlan was in a daze all the way, but he kept thinking about it all the time.

He had cultivated Martial Arts again, and he had entered the Thunder-shocking Realm from the basic Qi-controlling Realm, the secondary Ice-condensing Realm, and the tertiary Fire-flaming Realm. Because he’d been through the whole process, he would not have any bottlenecks or anything like that. What he needed most were an understanding of Martial Arts, and to seek perfection in the realm and sword intent. And he had to go through the road he had taken before carefully again, to make up for some of his own shortcomings.

All this could be done in an easy way, but more attention was required. Although he wouldn’t encounter any bottleneck in the process of recovering his strength, he needed to be more careful and cautious than before to walk the road he had taken before. After all, at his current age, he didn’t have the opportunity or the capital to start all over again if he wanted to maintain his age and potential advantage.

The time he had stayed in the Thunder-shocking Realm was too short to consider temporarily.

As for the defect of his Fire-flaming Realm, Fire Man, the one who claimed to be the strongest Fire-flaming Realm expert, had pointed that out to him, when he was in the desert.

He had a general idea of the defect of his Ice-condensing Realm too. However, he hadn’t seen anything wrong with his Qi-controlling Realm before. But it wasn’t until he saw Tribulation that he realized that his former Qi-controlling Realm wasn’t perfect.

Tribulation was now in a weird state; he followed almost the same path as Fire Man had, and they were all pushing the envelope in a single realm and trying to go straight to the Invincible Realm. According to the present situation, Tribulation had gone even farther in the Qi-controlling Realm than Fire Man did when he was in the Fire-flaming Realm.

When Tribulation forced Li Tianlan to withdraw his sword move, there was already a hint of him entering the Invincible Realm. Now he was not so much a Qi-controlling Realm expert as an expert who was a half step to Invincible Realm.

Li Tianlan had no intention of taking the same promising but thorny path. But he really wanted to talk to the man who had gone the furthest in the Qi-controlling Realm about the fullness and limits of this realm.

They would only talk about the Qi-controlling Realm and would not discuss the Martial Arts beyond it.

This should be of great help to Li Tianlan.

“Slow, I should take it slow.” Li Tianlan suddenly spoke.

His voice was very soft at first, but in the end, it became very firm.

Currently, he was eager for strength the most, but he also understood that haste makes waste.

He would encounter no bottlenecks if he cultivated again, but the tremendous danger in the process was enough to affect his future foundation and eventual achievement.

Li Tianlan breathed deeply and squinted.

On no account could he be in a hurry.

“What?”

Zhuang Huayang turned to look at him and asked in astonishment.

“Nothing, I just figured out that something cannot be done in a hurry,” said Li Tianlan with a smile.

Although the rain poured down around them, the wind and rain could never invade them. It was a pleasant sensation of trampling on the laws of nature, and something that every warrior sought.

The corners of Zhuang Huayang’s mouth twitched and he glanced at Li Tianlan without speaking.

“Something cannot be done in a hurry?”

He shook his head with a troubled look in his eyes, as he thought of Gu Changjiang and Zhong Shaofeng, who died miserably.

“Go to my office. It’s quiet there for you to meditate and recover.”

Facing the wind and rain, the old man walked on the narrow bridge and said in an insipid tone.

Li Tianlan nodded unconsciously and then glanced at Wang Yuetong beside him.

Wang Yuetong held the little Golden Retriever she brought from Yonghua Villa tightly in her arms. As she looked at Li Tianlan, she chuckled and said, “Senior brother, your recovery is critical. Call me when you’re well, and we’ll eat together. I still have 200 credits for you to take.”

They approached the end of the narrow bridge.

A school bus happened to be parked by the side of the road.

Wang Yuetong carried the dog to the school bus, walking lightly.

Zhuang Huayang looked at her dainty figure and sighed softly. “You’re going to drag the Wang family of Beihai into the mire again.”

“What do you mean?”

Li Tianlan asked, raising his eyebrows slightly.

“Don’t you know what you’ve done? Do you really think this is the end of Gu Changjiang’s affair?”

Zhuang Huayang glared at him and snorted, “This is just the beginning.”

He looked at the rain falling from the sky and continued slowly, “Gu Changjiang is one of Gu Xingyun’s trusted subordinates. “Kunlun City has developed rapidly over the years. At least in the Special Warfare System, they’ve basically finished their layout. It’s a mighty force you can’t imagine. Gu Changjiang is dead, can Gu Xingyun be willing to take things lying down?

“News of Gu Changjiang’s death will come out by night at the latest. When the time comes, both I and Dongcheng Wudi will be called to the Hidden Dragon Sea by Gu Xingyun for questioning. He is an unrivaled giant in Zhongzhou State. If he wants to check something, no one can stop him. Combined with the time of Gu Changjiang’s death, Dongcheng Wudi and I will even become the first two suspects of Gu Xingyun because we appeared almost together on the battlefield. At such times, if the Wang family of Beihai can be brought in to share some of the pressure, General and I will feel better.”

There was a long silence before Li Tianlan spoke softly, “He can only suspect you, can’t he?”

While in the hospital, they clashed with Gu Changjiang, but at the end of the day, it was just a slap in the face. Furthermore, Zhuang Huayang and Dongcheng Wudi were both lobbyists. Even if Gu Xingyun was Zhongzhou’s God of War, he couldn’t call white black without some hard evidence. Was it possible that they were going to kill Gu Changjiang for the slap he suffered that was irrelevant to them? Perhaps Gu Xingyun himself would not believe it, not to mention others.

Nonetheless, Li Tianlan would soon fall into the Qi-controlling Realm. He was a nonentity, and presumably, Gu Xingyun would not care about him. As for Qin Weibai, not to mention which airport she went to, at least she did not have the motivation to kill Gu Changjiang. Even if she went crazy and wanted to kill Gu Changjiang, she would not choose this time and choose to risk her life, so she was equally not an object of suspicion.

Li Tianlan had planned everything before he acted. No matter how he thought, he didn’t believe that Kunlun City could figure out that he was the murderer in a short time.

“Don’t look down upon Kunlun City and Gu Xingyun.”

Zhuang Huayang looked at Li Tianlan seriously and added, “Now the other party is probably just skeptical about it. But if they fail to investigate it clearly, neither the top officials nor Gu Xingyun will be willing to let it go. They will surely investigate it carefully. Maybe something wrong will emerge from the detail and you’ll be exposed then. Kunlun City has the ability to do that, and it doesn’t even take long.”

“What are you going to do?” asked Li Tianlan calmly.

“Can this matter also get the Wang family of Beihai involved?”

“I can do it if I want to. The Academy and Dongcheng Clan can join hands to help Ye Fengcheng take Gu Changjiang’s place.”

Zhuang Huayang continued thoughtfully, “Ye Fengcheng was born in the Ye family—a top wealthy family in Youzhou. He wouldn’t have come to the Sky Academy if he hadn’t been so wild. It’s a good opportunity to push him to take the post.”

Li Tianlan wished to speak but stopped on second thought. He thought it over before he spoke slowly, “Wang Tianzong is no fool. Gu Changjiang has just died, and you join hands with General to promote Ye Fengcheng. Wouldn’t that make Kunlun City more suspicious of you? Even the Wang family of Beihai will doubt your purpose.”

“Our purpose is obvious.”

Zhuang Huayang chuckled and continued, “We won’t give Ye Fengcheng the position in vain. It’s a deal. If he goes to replace Gu Changjiang’s place, the position he left will naturally be left to Tribulation. In this way, the Academics, Dongcheng Clan, and Sigh City will create a sense of closer cooperation. Kunlun City has always been wary of Sigh City. Once Sigh City acts, Gu Xingyun will get distracted. Similarly, once Ye Fengcheng takes the position, Gu Xingyun will fix his eyes on him. Gu Changjiang’s death will be downplayed for the time being. As for the future, let’s do it slowly.”

He looked at the thoughtful Li Tianlan and laughed.

High officials were now engaged in a hot battle. Sometimes even he himself couldn’t see through the big picture, let alone Li Tianlan. The world was turbulent and filled with sudden changes. If he carefully guided the attention of Kunlun City, the case of Gu Changjiang could be kept under wraps for at least a long while.

“Will the Wang family of Beihai accept the position as the director of Huating Special Operations Bureau?”

Li Tianlan asked suddenly.

“At any rate, it’s a position enables the taker to enjoy the treatment of the Governor. The Wang family of Beihai doesn’t know the ins and outs, so why don’t they accept the position? Moreover, when the Ye family put Ye Fengcheng in the Sky Academy back then, they probably had the intention of taking over Huating Special Operations Bureau. The Ye family is one of the most core components of the Southeast Group. Therefore, Wang Tianzong still has to take care of the face of the Ye family.”

“Ye family… Ye family…”

Li Tianlan squinted his eyes and suddenly remembered Ye Dongsheng—the Zhongzhou God of Army and also the middle-aged man who went to the border, intending to take his grandpa back to Youzhou. He asked, raising his eyebrows slightly, “Ye Fengcheng and Ye Dongsheng…”

“Ye Dongsheng is his elder brother. They are blood brothers,” said Zhuang Huayang casually.

He patted Li Tianlan on the shoulder and added, “Don’t think too much. Now your main task is to enhance your strength. Someone’s gonna have to figure out a way to cover something up for you.”

Li Tianlan nodded in silence.

“Are you confused about your realm now? Especially the Qi-controlling Realm? I have an appointment with Tribulation at my house. You can have a good talk with him. Although Sigh City hasn’t announced it officially, you’re already the Young Governor of Sigh City. Tribulation won’t hide anything from you.”

Zhuang Huayang continued with a smile.

Li Tianlan was stunned.

“Sigh City? Young Governor?”

On the day his hair turned white and after the death of the black-robed man, he had indeed heard such words, but he totally ignored them at that time. Now, as he heard the words again, he suddenly had a complete understanding of it.

His heart was pounding and he asked subconsciously, “You’re saying that I’m the Young Governor of Sigh City?”

Only now did he realize how powerful Tribulation’s words “he’s one of us” had been.

“Of course.”

Zhuang Huayang added smilingly, “Situ Cangyue is going to make the announcement right away. But since the current situation is sensitive, I personally communicated with Her Highness Hidden God. We agreed to keep it a secret temporarily until it’s the right time to announce it.”

“Why me?”

Li Tianlan’s voice was strange and hoarse.

The Sigh City of Mount Taibai…

He had never even been to that place, but somehow he had become the Young Governor.

Li Tianlan felt stunned and absurd in his heart.

“Tribulation chose you himself. Who else could be the Young Governor other than you?”

Zhuang Huayang answered unconcernedly.

“Isn’t Situ Cangyue the one who has the final say in Sigh City?”

Li Tianlan frowned slightly. He had been worried a few days earlier about the stance of Sigh City and the danger that might pose to him if the Desperate Chase was revealed. Unexpectedly, he now became the Young Governor of Sigh City. That was really a big change.

If so, what a firm stance Sigh City took! They were so loyal.

“Both Situ Cangyue and Tribulation have the final say. They are siblings. Tribulation’s full name used to be Situ Wanjie, but that name is no longer spoken.”

Zhuang Huayang added softly, “Before you appear, Tribulation is the next Governor of Sigh City. Now that he is ready to stand down, what could anyone else say?”

“But why me?”

Li Tianlan’s mind was in a whirl, and he smiled bitterly. It was as if a large pie had fallen from the sky and landed squarely on his head, making him dizzy.

“Because Tribulation had a teacher.”

Zhuang Huayang shook his head as he said gently, “Almost everything he has now, including the road he is taking, was given to him by that man. That man almost became his brother-in-law.”

“Who?”

Li Tianlan’s heart quivered.

Zhuang Huayang glanced at him and added calmly, “Your father, Li Kuangtu.”