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Chapter 270 Piece of Cake

“Whoosh!” Li Ye flew out from mid-air and peeled the sun-soaked domain open. He formed a Mudra Lion seal with his hand, causing a huge Yin-Yang symbol to appear before his hand. He pushed the symbol forward, transforming it into a huge “Zhe” character written in ink and sent it crashing down on the Dragon Lady who was standing above the water spout!

The Dragon Lady was using her magical abilities and trying to rescue the Crab General covertly. Her attention was completely focused on Su Emei and her entire body trembled as Li Ye’s sudden strike came raining down upon her. Her hands froze, and the “Waterspout Rain Attack” was about to stop.

Li Ye advanced with great speed and appeared in front of the Dragon Lady, slashing at her with the Luke Sword. It looked as though he was about to slice her into two just as the “Zhe” seal was about to hold her in a stationary position.

At this moment, a crafty smile appeared briefly on the Dragon Lady’s lips, whose facial complexion was completely flawless. Her gaze fell on Li Ye as she said softly, “Charm!”

Li Ye, who was sprinting forward, suddenly felt his spirit tremble and his surroundings turn pink. It looked as though a huge amount of pollen was being scattered, and he began to lose control over his consciousness. He had fallen into a strange funk, and his world seemed to be filled with beauty and love, while the Dragon Lady, who was standing right in front of him, had become the object of his admiration. He wanted to fling the Luke Sword aside and run up to her.

The woman raised her long sword up toward the skies again. “Water Attack!” she exclaimed.

A water spout suddenly erupted and was about to wrap up Li Ye within it.

“Lin!” Li Ye said calmly at this moment.

The word was the first of nine characters in the Nine-word Method. Its sole effect was to steady the user, and it allowed him or her to become a calm mind and steady spirit.

Li Ye had shrugged off his hypnosis. “Sword Qi Born Lotus!”

The water spout had erupted beneath him and shot straight up into the sky. However, Li Ye was no longer at his original spot. The water spout had completely missed him and turned into a column of ice in mid-air, becoming completely useless.

The Luke Sword, on the other hand, had already pierced into the Dragon Lady’s heart!

Her eyes were wide opened and filled with confusion and incomprehension. Blood was already streaming out of the corners of her lips.

She could not understand why Li Ye could have broken free of her charm so quickly. Even if he had invoked the Nine-word Method, he could not have shrugged it off so quickly, as he was just a Spiritual Pool Master.

The Dragon Lady was well versed in the use of magic techniques and had an all-rounded skill set. Her enchantment was suited for close combat, and the closer her opponent was to her, the more he or she would be unable to react. Anyone who was charmed by her and struck by her Water Attack would surely be doomed. She had already taken 90 steps, but Li Ye managed to turn the tables on her at the very last moment. How could this be possible?

Li Ye looked at her expression and could easily guess what she was thinking about. “Spiritual Attacks have little effect on me,” he said with a smile.

He was speaking the truth. Even though he was only at the Spiritual Pool Master realm, he was a Yang Spiritual Master before undergoing transmigration. He was familiar with the Nine-word Method for a long while now, and it was already part of him.

Even ordinary people could calm their minds and chase their inner demons away with the help of the Nine-word Method. This was especially effective when one just had a nightmare or was feeling disturbed. Chanting the Method a few times would help one calm down immediately.

Li Ye’s comprehension and mastery of the Nine-word Method had long exceeded that of a Spiritual Pool Master and his will was stronger than ordinary people. As long as the person who tried to charm him was not of Immortal Realm power, he could break out his funk immediately.

The Dragon Lady’s strongest ability in close combat was rendered completely ineffective. Naturally, she was defeated instantly.

The Dragon Lady looked extremely indignant, but there was nothing she could do about it.

Li Ye twisted his wrist. Spiritual Qi erupted from the sword and blasted the Dragon Lady into dust.

The entire process of slaying the Dragon Lady was extremely easy and took only a while.

In reality, the Dragon Lady was also a Yin Spiritual Master and no weaker than the Demon Fei. She was unlucky to have met a transmigrator like Li Ye and had her skills completely nullified.

“The Dragon Lady’s dead?!”

“How could the Dragon Lady possibly die?!”

“The Dragon Lady has been turned into dust!”

The Prawn Soldiers were unable to believe what they had just seen. Most of them looked shocked and began shouting insanely.

The cultivators from Changhe Gang erupted into an earth shattering cheer as they witnessed Li Ye’s victory.

Liu Shibo swallowed a mouthful of saliva with great difficulty; it felt as though he was in a dream. “How could a Great Demon that could kill us in the blink of eye and whose subordinates is able to flood our merchant ships with water from Ji River be killed so easily by His Highness? His Highness... so, he wasn’t being overconfident and frivolous earlier on? Was he just being certain and did he really possess such unbelievable power all along?”

Liu Shibo turned peach red thinking about the slanderous thoughts of Li Ye he harbored earlier on. He felt so ashamed that he wished he could hide himself by burrowing into the ground.

“Come to think of it... he’s Prince An and has millions of troops under him. Even Huang Chao, who was sowing chaos all over the world, was taken down by him in a few months’ time. Why wouldn’t he be able to deal with these demons easily? Of course he didn’t need to plan or feel nervous about facing them. He would be able to slay them with a casual swing of his sword!”

By now, Liu Shibo had the utmost admiration for Li Ye. “Even cultivators from Penglai, a Taoist sect that has existed for one millennium, wouldn’t be able to subdue the Water Demon so quickly, right? Sigh... I was really foolish. His Highness must have definitely been stronger than Penglai Sect, to have forced them into retirement!” he could not help but think.

...

Warm sunlight of winter cast itself down on the dirty official’s robe on Cui Keli. He lifted his head from the field on the farm and wiped the sweat off his forehead. He shielded his eyes with an arm as he looked toward the sky, his sweat covered face breaking into a sincere smile.

“Grand Historian Cui, come to have some water. You must be tired. Say, look at how dirty your robes are. Aren’t you afraid of being punished by the imperial court?” a white-haired old man who was holding a teapot and teacups said to Cui Keli while standing on a raised path beside the field.

There were farmers working the field all around Cui Keli, and they ranged from children to old folk with white hair. Winter had just arrived, and there was not much arduous farm work left to be done. Aside from tidying up the vast numbers of farm crops, it was also time to re-work the fields to prepare for next spring’s plowing.

However, in the five provinces of Pinglu, farmers worked through winter as well. Since Cui Keli took over agricultural duties, he had gathered a group of statesmen from the Confucian School to perform a thorough investigation into how best to improve the state of farming in Pinglu, based on concrete evidence. He did not want simple, short-term solutions such as using more cows for plowing or introducing better irrigation systems.

The officials tailored a plan according to local circumstances in the five provinces of Pinglu. They segregated all sorts of crops that could be grown there and even differentiated the shady and sunny areas of mountainous slopes and areas which were surrounded by vast amounts of water from arid ones. Aside from this, Cui Keli and his team even performed research on creating fertile soil, such as burning animal waste aside from reworking the farms during downtime in winter. In this way, a solid foundation would be created for the farms and ensure that their plowing in spring would be successful.

After a few years of regulation, Pinglu had long past the stage whereby there were still thousands of issues left unfixed. It was in a state of prosperity and development. Cui Keli was taking charge of agricultural matters and attended to all matters personally. Aside from organizing manpower and editing books which encouraged mulberry farming, he would head down to the fields frequently and mix with the farmers while making thorough observations.

“Even though the robes of an official represent his authority, it’s a greater offense to not fulfill my duties than dirty it. Don’t worry, the observer in Pinglu doesn’t care about trivial matters like this,” Cui Keli replied as he walked up to the raised path and sat down on the ground. He received the teacup handed to him by the old farmer and raised his head to drain it. He wiped his lips casually and chatted about everyday matters with the old man cheerfully.

Back then, when Cui Keli was working the land and studying in the Cui Family, he had tended to a field with an area about 13 hectares. He would still behave as “scholarly” as possible and not sit on the ground like he was doing so now. Over the last few years, however, he had witnessed many things and his frame of mind had changed. He now believed that he could not and could not be bothered about such trivial matters sometimes. He did not feel that there was anything wrong with such actions if he was really tired now.

A minor official came hurrying over to Cui Keli along the path while he was conversing with the old farmer. He greeted Cui and said, “Great Historian, we’ve received military intelligence.”

Cui Keli got up and returned the greeting by bowing. After finding out about the situation from the beadle, he turned to bid the old farmer farewell. He strode hurriedly on the official road and leaped up onto his horse before urging it forward with his whip.

The old farmer watched Cui Keli leave and his look of world-weariness and suffering was also filled with respect. “I’ve never seen or even heard about an official like that.”

An elderly woman walked up to his side. She looked like she was tasked to deliver food to farmers working in the field and nodded continually after hearing the old farmer. “Isn’t that right. Ever since Prince An came to Pinglu, all major and minor officials are gradually changing their practices. It’s completely different from what happened here before. Other matters aside, would the old officials remember to fix our irrigation? We would have been gratified if they didn’t show up with fearsome guards to collect taxes.”

A smile appeared on the old farmer’s face as he continued, “Prince An is really something. I heard that he’s also the brother of the current emperor. I heard that he’s going to promoted after his huge victory in battle!”

When Cui Keli returned back to the bureau, there were already people waiting for him.

The chief official immediately walked up to him as he entered the bureau. “Great Historian Cui, we’ve already come up with a casualty list of all soldiers after they returned from the battlefront. Earlier on, the Observer instructed us to immediately make arrangements for their families’ bereavement.”

Li Zhen had led a few administrative officials as he followed the army. Cui Keli was the highest-ranking official left in Pinglu and he had to take up civil administration duties aside from managing agricultural matters. As Li Zhen had just arrived back to Pinglu, he still had not found the time to take over these duties.

Cui Keli received the scroll and glanced at its contents for a while after taking a seat behind his desk. Not only was he a little stunned, he even turned to speak to the official, “The Observer took down Huang Chao and subdued troops from the capital. How come there are only so few casualties after these major battles?”

The official had followed the expedition and understood the battles extremely well. A proud smile appeared on his face as he spoke, “The Observer is extremely skillful at heading military operations and broke through Tongguan very swiftly. He achieved great victory when trying to subdue troops from the capital. Furthermore, he took extreme measures to slay Huang Chao, causing the rebel troops to crumble quickly. As such, we suffered few casualties.”

Cui Keli nodded and summoned a few officials, tasking them with a few official matters.

After a short break, he summoned another official over. “Have we already sent out news of the Observer’s slaying of Huang Chao and achieving complete victory after taking up the post of Commander-in-chief?” he asked.

The official replied, “Aside from approving distribution of imperial bulletins, notices have been posted up in every province and villages. Every civilian in the five provinces of Pinglu already known about the great victories achieved by the Observer.”

Cui Keli nodded in approval and allowed the official to make a copy of the list of casualties. “The Observer once gave us instructions to rebuild the Garden of Loyalty in Qing Prefecture and inscribe the names of all soldiers who gave their lives valiantly in battle on a stone tablet for everyone to see and pay their respects. This is the latest list of casualties we’ve received, and we have to inscribe these names on it. Aside, the ceremony should be grand like before, to motivate the citizens of Pinglu to pledge their loyalty to our nation,” he instructed in a serious tone.

The official acknowledged his orders. “The effects of the first few ceremonies were wonderful. Now, all soldiers and citizens in Pinglu know about the generous financial support the Observer gives families of soldiers who died in battle. Not only did he send them money and grant them land, he even conferred official positions on the soldiers. Everyone is singing praises of his wisdom, and plenty of warm blooded youths are clamoring to join the army!” he replied before leaving.

After about two hours, an official walked up hurriedly to Cui Keli and bowed before reporting, “Great Historian Cui, two of three sons of Old Man Liu from Crying Rooster Lane have been killed in battle. His youngest boy has also been injured...”

Cui Keli’s expression changed as he took the name list from the official for a look.