"Immortal Master Qingfeng, you've finally arrived!" Upon seeing Chu Qingfeng, Li Jun gave a standard military salute, then realized that he was still not properly dressed, so he quickly put on his shoes and greeted Chu Qingfeng again.
His extremely rude behavior was interpreted completely differently by Chu Qingfeng. Their eagerness to see him was like a godsend for the somewhat disheveled Chu Qingfeng and the teachers and students of the Magic Academy, who had just been expelled from Thunder City a few days prior.
It turned out that Thunder City was now completely under the control of the Hua Palace. The Hua Palace treated the mercenaries who had rendered great service in the bloody coup with exceptional courtesy. However, on the one hand, they were extremely dissatisfied with the fact that the Magic Academy had only appeared after the mercenaries had suffered heavy casualties in the defense of Thunder City. On the other hand, the Magic Academy, loyal to the Hua family, was also a thorn in the side of the mercenaries who wanted to further control Thunder City. Therefore, under the instigation of Qi Guang and Mo Yunlong, the Hua Palace used a pretext to suspend the Magic Academy's funding, forcing the teachers and students to swear allegiance to him. For the highly proud mages, this was a great humiliation; they would rather leave Thunder City than submit to him. Just then, they received a letter from Hua Xuan, and they decided to go to Tonghai City.
"How could we possibly accept such an honor?" When Li Jun bowed to everyone again, Chu Qingfeng hurriedly returned the bow, saying, "Commander Li, we will be in need of your help many more times in the future."
Li Jun puffed out his chest and laughed heartily: "Those blind fools treat the Magic Academy as something dispensable, but in my eyes, the Magic Academy is a priceless treasure. From now on, we'll probably be the ones taking good care of it."
His words were perfectly timed, greatly comforting the teachers and students of the Magic Academy. Chu Qingfeng suddenly looked at Li Jun's dragon-head helmet in surprise, hesitating to speak.
After settling the teachers and students of the Magic Academy, Li Jun led Chu Biaofeng into his tent.
"Immortal Qingfeng, the reason I invited you here is to borrow your strength," Li Jun said to Chu Qingfeng directly. Although it was only their first meeting, he had already sensed the immense spiritual power that Chu Qingfeng had been hiding. Apart from the unpredictable Thunder Soul, Chu Qingfeng was the most powerful mage Li Jun had ever seen. Therefore, Li Jun had confidence in him.
"Commander Li, please give your orders." Hua Xuan's letter only stated that he had a request, but Chu Qingfeng did not know what it was.
"We need your magic to eliminate the sea serpent demon." Li Jun explained the cause and effect, and then said, "For the Peace Army and Tonghai City to protect themselves and even grow stronger, the key is whether they can have this maritime trade route. I wonder what Mr. Qingfeng thinks?"
"I see." Chu Qingfeng listened to Li Jun's explanation, his gaze occasionally glancing at the dragon-headed helmet, seemingly extremely curious about it. After Li Jun finished speaking, he smiled slightly and said, "Exorcising demons and monsters has always been the responsibility of mages and warriors. In the millennia of war, we have squandered our abilities on meaningless infighting. Now that we can finally do something beneficial for the people, why not? Commander Li, I am willing to help you, but I have a request. I wonder if Commander Li will agree..."
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Note 1: Just as Confucian masters are ranked as Confucian scholars, learned scholars (wise men), and sages, Taoist and Buddhist masters also have hierarchical systems. "Immortal Master" is the highest-ranking title in Taoism; junior masters are called "Taoist Masters," and senior masters are called "True Men." In Buddhism, junior masters are called "Lay Buddhists," intermediate masters are called "Zen Masters," and the highest-ranking masters are called "Living Buddhas."
Section 2
"Please give your orders, Immortal Master." When Li Jun heard Chu Qingfeng make his request, he was somewhat surprised, wondering what kind of request this highly skilled mage would make.
"May I borrow Commander Li's helmet for a look?"
Chu Qingfeng's request made Li Jun breathe a sigh of relief, and he laughed heartily, "That's easy. I thought the immortal was going to make some difficult request." As he spoke, he took off his helmet and handed it to Chu Qingfeng.
Chu Qingfeng smiled and examined the helmet repeatedly, even pressing it against his forehead while muttering something to himself. After a long while, he handed the helmet back to Li Jun.
"Strange, strange..." Chu Qingfeng shook his head, his smile turning into confusion, and asked, "Where did the commander get this helmet?"
“This was made for me by a friend from the Yue people, using the head of a dragon,” Li Jun replied.
"It seems this Yue craftsman is a remarkable magician... I didn't know there were still people who knew this kind of craft."
Chu Qingfeng's words puzzled Li Jun, who asked, "What does the Immortal Master mean..."
"So the commander himself didn't know how precious this helmet was?" Chu Qingfeng said in astonishment. "This helmet was not only made from a dragon's head, thus possessing the mental attack power of dragon's wrath, but the tools used to make this helmet must have been divine artifacts of the ancient gods. What's strangest is that the craftsman cast a powerful healing spell on this helmet, so that even if the wearer is injured, he will quickly heal himself."
Li Jun was stunned for a moment. This helmet was made for him by Mo Rong when he was unconscious and recovering from his injuries after the battle of the dragon slaying. However, as far as he knew, Mo Rong did not know any restorative spells except for some magic skills commonly used by the Yue people. Moreover, he also understood that it was not something an ordinary mage could do to give an item magical properties, let alone a Yue girl who knew a little about magic.
"It's him!" Li Jun's attention immediately shifted to Lei Hun. He said, "It must have been someone else who cast the spell. This person is just an ordinary scholar."
“An ordinary Confucian scholar?” Chu Qingfeng chuckled. Li Jun realized his mistake and laughed as well, saying, “He is dressed like an ordinary Confucian scholar, but he claims that he can be evaluated by sages at any time if he wants to.”
"I think so too. If I were to meet this person, I would be willing to become his disciple..." Chu Qingfeng said with great longing.
“There’s something strange about this person.” Li Jun suddenly remembered something that had been bothering him for a long time, and he couldn’t figure it out. Since he had finally met a high-ranking immortal, he thought he might be able to find out. So he asked, “Immortal, have you ever seen a person with a Taoist Tai Chi symbol and a Buddhist swastika symbol on their chest?”
"What!" His casual question greatly surprised Chu Qingfeng. "You mean, this Confucian scholar has the sacred marks of two religions on his chest?"
"Indeed. How come, Immortal Master, are you aware of this?"
Chu Qingfeng's face turned pale, and he said, "No wonder, no wonder... Commander Li, when will we get rid of the dragon spirit?"
Li Jun knew that Chu Qingfeng was trying to change the subject, but since Chu Qingfeng was unwilling to bring it up again, out of politeness, Li Jun could only keep his doubts to himself.
"Tomorrow," Li Jun said after a moment's thought.
When the sea is calm, the surface is flat and vast. Standing on the deck and looking out, the water and sky merge into one blue expanse, and the ship seems to be flying in the sky.
The waves gently lapped against the ship's hull, and seagulls occasionally darted past the masts. The sails, billowing like clouds, were propelled by the wind, propelling the ship eastward.
Besides Chu Qingfeng and Jiang Tang, only Meng Yuan and some Yi sailors accompanied Li Jun on the ship; Li Jun left the rest in the city. They had been sailing for three days, and as if by divine intervention, the winds had been favorable. The Yi sailors at the helm told Li Jun that during autumn and winter, westerly winds blew across most of the eastern coast of Shenzhou, while southeasterly winds blew during spring and summer. Li Jun was quite curious about this, but after much thought, he couldn't figure out the reason. When he discussed it with Chu Qingfeng, Chu Qingfeng smiled and said, "Spring brings life, summer brings prosperity, autumn brings withering, winter brings death; life and death cycle endlessly. All things in the world are like this; it seems there's something in the universe that dictates this."
"The will of Heaven?" Li Jun laughed loudly. "I don't believe in the will of Heaven. If the will of Heaven truly exists, why doesn't it favor good?"
Chu Qingfeng stared at Li Jun in astonishment. Only then did Li Jun realize that he was not speaking to Meng Yuan or Feng Jiuzhou, but to an immortal deeply influenced by the Taoist idea of "knowing one's destiny and following nature." He apologized and said, "I was just rambling. Please don't be offended, immortal."
Chu Qingfeng shook his head and smiled slightly, but a sense of foreboding arose in his heart. This young mercenary leader, who so blatantly disregarded the will of Heaven and even questioned it, would probably be punished by it.
As if to confirm Chu Qingfeng's premonition, a moment later, a barbarian sailor rushed into the cabin nervously and said, "Commander Li, we see a waterspout, and a storm is coming soon. What should we do?"
Far from being afraid, Li Jun became excited. No matter how mature he was, the adventurous spirit of youth still made his blood boil; as long as he didn't get seasick, he thought there was nothing to fear at sea. Therefore, he rushed out of the cabin and asked, "Where's the waterspout?"
The sailors weren't as excited as he was; on the contrary, they were somewhat afraid. One of them pointed to the eastern horizon and said, "Look there, a waterspout!"
Looking out, Li Jun saw three thin streams of air swirling in the distance. One end of the vortex was connected to the dark clouds, and the other end was connected to the sea. The seawater was being sucked up by these streams and shot straight into the sky. Moreover, these thin streams seemed to be getting bigger and bigger, and were rapidly approaching their ship.
"What do you suggest we do?" Despite his curiosity, Li Jun wasn't so curious as to forget that he was an amateur at sea. He handed over the authority to the foreign sailors who were more familiar with life at sea.
"Lower the sails!" The sailors' shouts rose and fell, and everyone busied themselves with something, leaving Li Jun feeling like he had nothing to do. So he refocused his attention on the waterspout. But after only a moment of inattention, he realized that the waterspout was getting closer to them; what had initially appeared as a thin stream was now a huge whirlpool.
Just moments ago the sky was clear and blue, but now it was covered with dark clouds, as if night had fallen early. Thunder rumbled in the air, and a fierce sea wind began to howl, scattering seabirds far and wide. The surrounding seawater surged, tossing the ship up and down with each tumble, making Li Jun wonder if it would be smashed to pieces on the crest of a wave. Moreover, with the ship's rocking, seasickness returned to Li Jun, forcing him to retreat to the cabin.
In his dazed state, Li Jun could only hear the sounds of the raging wind and rain outside. The ship was rocking so violently that he had to tie himself to the floor with a rope to lie down. Of course, the worst part was the splitting headache and nausea caused by seasickness. Many times, Li Jun even thought that the ship was about to sink and that he would be buried at the bottom of the sea with it.
After an unknown amount of time, a foreign sailor nervously entered his cabin and said, "Prepare to abandon ship, sir, the ship is leaking."
Li Jun was taken aback. He untied the ropes binding him and hurriedly went to the deck. At this time, all the sailors and crew members had gathered on the deck.
"Get on the small boats!" The barbarian sailors skillfully threw the two small boats tied to the gunwale into the sea, then jumped off the boats one by one, easily climbing onto the small boats despite the wind and rain. Meng Yuan and Li Wuze looked at each other, neither of them could swim, and there was a high chance they would never float again after jumping in.