Liu Maopao was no fool.
In fact, the man was sharp as a needle.
Earlier he had not paid much attention to Li Yan, so he had not thought deeply about the matter. But now that Dao Xuan Tianzun seemed to value this person, and Sun Chuanting had spoken the same way, Liu Maopao's brain immediately began spinning like a well-oiled wheel.
It took him less than ten blinks to figure things out.
Suddenly he slapped his thigh.
"You are right. I told him too early."
"At this moment Chuang Wang has not yet been beaten down. He still commands a hundred thousand troops and is at the height of his arrogance."
"If that strategist returns and repeats our ideas aloud, he will surely be killed."
Liu Maopao sighed loudly.
"If only I had told him after Chuang Wang had already been defeated. Then he would have been safe."
He looked at Sun Chuanting.
"So… we cannot save this man, can we?"
Sun Chuanting let out a long sigh.
"We do not have the ability to leave the city to rescue him."
"The main forces of the militia are currently focused on a large scale campaign in Liaodong. Nearly all manpower and resources are being sent there."
"Here I only have Chen Qianhu and six hundred Guyuan frontier soldiers. The other four thousand men are newly recruited militia with almost no combat ability."
Liu Maopao nodded grimly.
"Then merely defending Jinan city will already take everything we have."
"There is truly no way to deal with Chuang Wang's army. We cannot save him."
At that moment, Li Dao Xuan spoke calmly.
"In that case… I will go take a walk."
Sun Chuanting and Liu Maopao immediately bowed.
"Tianzun is truly benevolent!"
Li Dao Xuan himself was not even sure whether he would find the man.
He would simply wander around a bit.
If Li Yan's fate was not meant to end, then perhaps he would run into him.
If he could not find him, then there was nothing more to be done.
Among the supplies carried by the Guyuan frontier troops was a mass-produced Tianzun body. Suddenly that figure sat upright on the transport cart.
After asking a few questions from the special soldier who had previously fought the bandits of the Old Eight Squad, Li Dao Xuan quickly confirmed something.
Chuang Wang's army was definitely not far from Jinan.
Li Yan had exited the city through the east gate.
If so, the rebel army must be somewhere outside that gate.
There was only one likely place.
Panlong Mountain.
The mountain itself was not very large. With one hundred thousand rebels gathered there, finding them would actually be quite easy.
Unlike places such as Huanglong Mountain or the Shu Mountains. In those kinds of terrain you could throw half a million men inside and still struggle to locate them.
Once he left Jinan and reached a deserted stretch of land, two small wheels flipped out from the bottom of Li Dao Xuan's feet.
He began gliding toward Panlong Mountain.
---
Morning sunlight slowly spread across Panlong Mountain.
Li Yan had risen early.
In truth, he had barely slept at all.
Dark circles hung under his eyes as he stared at the dawn sky, his mind tangled with complicated thoughts.
For years he had believed that his goal was to create a world where common people paid no grain tax.
Now he suddenly realized he had been completely wrong.
If he wished to change course now, was it already too late?
Just as he was lost in thought, Niu Jinxing walked over with a smile.
"Brother Li, you are up quite early."
Li Yan sighed.
"I could not sleep."
"Because of what we discussed yesterday?"
"Yes."
Li Yan nodded.
"I thought about it all night. The proposal from those firelock rebels truly seems more practical."
"Perhaps we really should learn from them. If possible, we might even reconcile our past grievances and form an alliance."
"Together we could overthrow this wicked dynasty."
Niu Jinxing smiled warmly.
"I share the same thought."
"Why not discuss it in greater detail?"
Li Yan's eyes brightened.
"Brother Niu thinks the same way? That is wonderful!"
"I was worried everyone would oppose the idea."
Niu Jinxing lowered his voice.
"There will certainly be opposition in the army. Discussing such matters here might damage the brotherhood among our men."
"Let us leave the camp. At the foot of the mountain we can find a quiet place and speak freely."
Li Yan nodded immediately.
"Excellent idea."
He mounted a horse in one smooth motion.
Niu Jinxing also climbed onto his own horse.
Two scholars on horseback rode out of the rebel camp and disappeared along the mountain path.
Not long after they left, a group of Niu Jinxing's men slipped out of the camp and followed them from afar.
---
Early that morning, Li Dao Xuan woke up, washed his face casually, brushed his teeth, and sat beside the box.
While ordering breakfast on his phone, he casually switched viewpoints and randomly checked on several cities within the Tianzun Liberation Zone.
Now that his field of vision had expanded so widely, it was no longer possible for him to visit every city every day.
At best he could randomly show concern for a few of them each day.
That meant every city could only receive Tianzun's attention by chance.
Who knew how many days it would take before each city got noticed once.
Li Dao Xuan understood that this was simply the natural consequence of growth.
It could not be helped.
After finishing his random inspections, his consciousness suddenly jumped.
In the next instant he was inside the mass-produced Tianzun body on Panlong Mountain.
Last night he had reached the mountain's base, walked around for a while without finding anything, and eventually it became time to sleep. So he had simply laid the body down inside a patch of grass.
Now, returning to that body, he instantly jumped from a modern city into the middle of a remote mountain wilderness.
The smog in modern Chongqing was terrible.
But the moment he arrived in Ming dynasty Panlong Mountain, he felt nothing but fresh air.
The morning forest was cool and crisp. Tiny droplets of dew clung to the grass. Everything felt clean and alive.
The sensation of escaping the modern city like this was something he could experience a hundred million times and never grow tired of.
He was just about to sit up when he heard the sound of hooves.
Two riders.
Moving slowly.
He pushed aside the grass and looked out.
Two scholars were riding down the mountain path at an unhurried pace.
Their horses looked rather lazy, as if still annoyed about being awake so early.
The two riders chatted casually.
One addressed the other as "Brother Li."
The other replied with "Brother Niu."
Li Dao Xuan felt his heart skip.
What a coincidence.
If his guess was correct, those two must be Li Yan and Niu Jinxing.
Looks like Li Yan's fate had not yet run out.
The two riders passed the patch of grass.
Soon afterward another group appeared on the road behind them.
This second group was clearly following from a distance.
Each man carried a blade. Their expressions were dark and full of killing intent.
Li Dao Xuan clicked his tongue twice.
He waited for the second group to pass before climbing out of the grass.
The silicone body itself would not get wet, but the Daoist robe worn over it had absorbed some morning dew.
As he brushed grass and dirt from the robe, he quietly followed behind.
---
Li Yan and Niu Jinxing rode while chatting.
Ahead of them lay a small valley.
It was quiet and secluded.
A small bamboo grove stood inside the valley.
Strangely, within the grove there was an old stone table and four stone chairs.
Niu Jinxing smiled.
"Brother Li, I wonder who placed this stone table and chairs here. Quite elegant, is it not?"
"Why not sit here and talk?"
Li Yan nodded.
"Excellent."
They brushed dust from the chairs with their sleeves and sat down.
Niu Jinxing glanced casually toward the path they had taken.
In the distance he could see his men approaching quietly, slipping into the bamboo grove and slowly closing in.
A strange smile crept across his face.
"Brother Li," he said slowly.
"Regarding the matter you mentioned… my opinion is this."