This Sword Cultivator is Somewhat Dependable

Compared to the thousand-mile trek to the South Sea, the journey back to Qing State was much more relaxing.

In every prefectural city of the major states, there is inevitably a Teleportation Array equipped.

Therefore, by just needing to go through several Teleportation Arrays, Lu Qingshan could effortlessly reach each prefectural city of the various states in Qing State.

In a flash of light and shadow, the figures of Lu Qingshan and Qin Yitian appeared within the Teleportation Array

"We have arrived," Lu Qingshan said to Qin Yitian, "Qing State, Lingxu City."

When Dantai Qingrun had said her goodbyes, she had informed him that her next post would be in Lingxu City, Qing State, inviting Lu Qingshan to come find her at Lingxu Tower whenever he had handled his affairs.

Having such a strong supporter willing to help, Lu Qingshan unhesitatingly made his way straight to Lingxu City with a clear purpose.

Of course, aside from Dantai Qingrun, there was another significant reason why Lu Qingshan hurried to Lingxu City.

That copy... according to the expansion pack, it seemed there was a chance to obtain an Immortal Codex...

Upon arrival in Lingxu City, Lu Qingshan immediately took out a Communication Token from his Storage Ring.

The Spirit Message imprint on it was from Xiao Zhi.

If he remembered correctly, Xiao Zhi should have also come to Lingxu City with Dantai Qingrun.

Lu Qingshan thought so.

The three Cultivators from Zhenjiang Tower were still showing indignation on their faces over the injustice towards Dantai Qingrun.

At that moment, Xiao Zhi suddenly frowned slightly, reached into his chest, and pulled out a Communication Token.

The Token was glowing faintly.

The Spirit Message imprint on this Token was Lu Qingshan's.

The Communication Token would only function within a certain distance.

Since his separation in Zhenjiang, this Token had been quiet for a long time.

Now that it suddenly became active, didn't this indicate that Lu Qingshan was currently in Lingxu City?

"..."Xiao Zhi hesitated only momentarily before he released his Divine Sense into the Communication Token to receive the Spirit Message.

The next moment, Xiao Zhi exclaimed in great surprise, "He's here!"

"Who's here?" Zuo Tao, seeing Xiao Zhi suddenly get excited, asked in confusion.

"A helper, one who can turn the tide and clear up the situation for the Tower Master!" Xiao Zhi exclaimed excitedly.

"Ah?"

Zuo Tao and Zhong Mian were both puzzled.

"I'll explain in detail later, I need to find him now," Xiao Zhi hastily dropped a line and quickly left, leaving Zuo Tao and Zhong Mian staring at one another.

"What did Xiao Zhi just say?" Zhong Mian asked uncertainly, "Did he say someone could help the Tower Master turn the situation around?"

"It seems that's what he said..." Zuo Tao replied, equally hesitant.

But in such a situation, what kind of person could possibly turn the tide?

Zuo Tao and Zhong Mian both found it hard to believe.

...

Beside the Teleportation Array.

Lu Qingshan and Qin Yitian stood side by side, both displaying exceptional bearing and drawing frequent glances from the Cultivators guarding the Teleportation Array.

A moment later.

The figure of a round-faced male Cultivator entered Lu Qingshan's view.

"I hope you haven't been waiting long." Xiao Zhi, seeing Lu Qingshan hurriedly greeted him, his face barely concealing his joy.

"Eh..." It was only when he got closer that Xiao Zhi noticed Qin Yitian standing next to Lu Qingshan.

Seeing Qin Yitian standing beside Lu Qingshan, looking gentle and harmonious with him, Xiao Zhi speculated uncertainly, "Lu Qingshan, is this your Dao Companion?"

No way? It had only been half a year since he left, and Lu Qingshan already had a Dao Companion?

Qin Yitian calmly said, "Although what you say is not wrong, Qin Yitian and I are indeed not in the kind of relationship you are thinking."

"It was wrong of me," Xiao Zhi hurriedly apologized.

Qin Yitian shook her head to indicate it was okay.

"How are things over here?" Lu Qingshan asked.

Lu Qingshan's question, like opening a valve, allowed Xiao Zhi to instantly start sharing with Lu Qingshan all the frustrations he experienced in the Lingxu Tower over the past six months.

A long time later, once Xiao Zhi had finished talking, Lu Qingshan had a clearer understanding. After pondering for a while, he softly said, "Take me to see Dantai Qingrun first."

"Okay, follow me," Xiao Zhi nodded, "The Tower Master will definitely be pleased to see you back!"

Lu Qingshan recalled Dantai Qingrun's face, which was delicate yet perpetually cold, and muttered, "That's hard to say."

...

Ding ding ding!

While poring over the mountain of jade slips on the desk, Dantai Qingrun, hearing the warning sound from the restriction at the door, knew someone was waiting outside. She set down the jade slip in her hand and said coldly, "Come in."

The door was pushed open.

Originally with a frosty face, Dantai Qingrun's pupils uncontrollably shrank for a moment upon seeing Xiao Zhi walking in shoulder to shoulder with Lu Qingshan and Qin Yitian.

However, Dantai Qingrun quickly composed herself, as if she hadn't seen Qin Yitian, she asked Lu Qingshan indifferently, "You're back?" Continue reading at empire

At this point, Xiao Zhi had already tactfully left, leaving the space for the three of them.

To Dantai Qingrun's question, Lu Qingshan nodded nonchalantly and said casually, "If I hadn't come back, who knows how much more aggrieved the Tower Master would have been."

Hearing Lu Qingshan speak like this, Dantai Qingrun swept her cold gaze, and for some reason, she subconsciously didn't want to admit her predicament in front of Lu Qingshan with other women present.

Yet, what she planned to deny remained unspoken at the tip of her tongue, as she also seemed to understand that denial was futile in the face of reality.

After a long silence, Dantai Qingrun pursed her lips and retorted, "Do you have a solution?"

"Not sure yet. Xiao Zhi briefly told me about the situation when I arrived, but to find a breakthrough, I need to delve into all the details. Tower Master, please tell me everything," Lu Qingshan urged.

Dantai Qingrun glanced at Qin Yitian but didn't speak.

"She is Qin Yitian, hmm... a fully trustworthy person, there's no need to avoid her," Lu Qingshan understood Dantai Qingrun's hesitation, thought for a moment, and explained.

Dantai Qingrun's eyelids flickered slightly, and seeing Lu Qingshan speak this way, she no longer raised any objections and softly relayed the current difficult situation they were facing.

...

For nearly a hundred years now, Lingxu Tower, for unknown reasons, seemed to be led by the nose in confrontations with the strength of the Netherworld, suffering frequent setbacks and severe losses, in a very degraded situation.

State Master of the Zhenjiang Main Tower had also tried multiple times to change the dire straits of the Lingxu Tower, but with the brewing of major events over the past century, he had been too embroiled to address it, and the matter had been temporarily shelved.

That was until Zhenjiang City was nearly destroyed due to the Netherworld instigating the Corpse Puppet Chaos.

Under these circumstances, most cultivators of the Zhenjiang Tower were punished for their dereliction of duty, and Tower Master Chu He was directly dismissed and called back to the Qing State Main Tower.

However, there were a few individuals in the Zhenjiang Tower who not only escaped punishment but even received substantial rewards from the State Master.

Dantai Qingrun was among these rare few.

She had first cleared the Netherworld forces in Yuanshan City while serving as the Tower Master there, her achievements outstanding, which led to her promotion to Vice Tower Master of the Zhenjiang Tower.

In the Zhenjiang Tower, she was just settling into her role, having served for less than a month.

Thus, the breach of Zhenjiang City was clearly due to previous oversight, and did not closely relate to her just assuming her new role.

Not to mention, if Dantai Qingrun hadn't detected the traces of Netherworld cultivators lurking in Zhenjiang City, decisively striking out and sending a plea for help to the Qing State Main Tower ahead of time, the losses from this Zhenjiang City chaos would likely have been much more severe.

In the Qing State main tower, despite having done no wrong and even having made meritorious contributions, the cultivators considered the problem of the Lingxu Tower and simply transferred Dantai Qingrun to the Lingxu Prefecture.

If this time Dantai Qingrun can still make solid achievements and sweep away the many years of decay in the Lingxu Tower, she will inevitably be heavily relied upon by the Tower Master.

Dantai Qingrun naturally did not fear challenges, so she followed the order and came to the Lingxu Prefecture.

However, she didn't expect the situation in the Lingxu Tower to be so unbearable; she hadn't even officially clashed with the Netherworld when she was already troubled by her own teammates.

"The decline of the Lingxu Tower over the years, besides being due to the clever tactics of the Netherworld, is also largely due to the inaction of the high-ranking cultivators of the Lingxu Tower!" Dantai Qingrun said coldly, "These high-ranking cultivators of the Lingxu Tower only think about how to preserve their own interests, putting the elimination of the Netherworld second or even farther back."

"Thus said, the Tower Master of the Lingxu Tower isn't really biased towards Yi Yuan as Xiao Zhi suggests," Lu Qingshan gained a very clear understanding of the situation in the Lingxu Tower from Dantai Qingrun's account, pondering, "The bigger reason is simply that they are a community of interests.

The reasoning is quite simple; they have been ineffective for so many years, and if you were to accomplish what they haven't in a hundred years, it would prove not only your outstanding capabilities but also how incompetent these high-ranking cultivators of the Lingxu Tower are.

When that time comes, why would Yi Yuan be the only one in trouble?"

Dantai Qingrun remained silent, biting her lip softly, "These people seem to have no resistance against me on the surface, and everything appears to be done as I say, but in reality, they are merely paying lip service and are not making sincere efforts.

The Tower Master of the Lingxu Tower is an even bigger fox, verbally saying he will fully cooperate with me, but in fact, he has been playing tai chi.

I wanted to look into the intelligence materials collected and organized by the Lingxu Tower over the past hundred years, but all I could find were mere superficial things.

The truly core intelligence has obviously been hidden away by them."

Lu Qingshan frowned.

The high-ranking cultivators of the Lingxu Tower might be ineffectual in their official capacities, but these minor tactics were indeed very clever.

Seemingly obedient to Dantai Qingrun in every way, in actuality, they were working without putting in effort.

This mode of response made it so that even if Dantai Qingrun wanted to report back to the main tower, she had no evidence to present.

"With this source of intelligence being choked off, indeed, it's troublesome," murmured Lu Qingshan.

Even in a one-on-one battle to the death, knowing the opponent's tactics can increase one's chances of winning by several percent, let alone in this kind of organizational clash where the importance of intelligence is a hundred times greater.

Seeing Lu Qingshan's deeply furrowed brows and his deep thought, Dantai Qingrun added, "The Dantai Family also has a certain power in the Lingxu Prefecture, so I have also used the power of my family to investigate the situation in the Lingxu Tower.

On the surface, the high-ranking cultivators of the Lingxu Tower are squarely opposed to the Netherworld, and Yi Yuan was even nearly killed in an operation to encircle the Netherworld.

So, the possibility of the high-ranking cultivators of the Lingxu Tower colluding with the Netherworld is currently rather low.

Since the probability of mutual collusion is not high, and the Netherworld, an entity that should be out of sight, is repeatedly securing major victories in its clashes with the Lingxu Tower,

I suspect that the Netherworld must be in cahoots with some major power within the Lingxu Prefecture."

"Smart." Lu Qingshan praised, returning from his state of contemplation, his eyes flashing with a cold light.