Chapter 136 – Long Yue Jindan
Although this time the war between the Mongolian Kingdom and the Tang Kingdom had been short-lived, many soldiers did great service for the state and the most commendable ones among them were Long Yu and Pond Snow.
In spite of being just an ordinary experts of Zhenling second layer, Pond Snow had displayed exceptional keenness on the battlefield, and at a critical point, he even managed to rescue Major General Long Ji back to safety!
However, Long Yu had to bite the bullet and after being misunderstood as a traitor, he went ahead to infiltrate into the Mongolian army camp and beheaded the enemy commander, Old General Man Yi!
These two people truly deserved to be rewarded.
Major General Long Ji did not show up for the reward ceremony due to the severe injuries he had received.
In his place sat the bald headed Senior General Yan Shan, who was a subordinate of Long Ji and was now gnashing his teeth with contempt as the glorious achievements of Long Yu were being announced before finally rewarding him.
“Major General Long Ji is severely injured, while this Long Yu is being rewarded!”
This naturally made Yan Shan uncomfortable. In spite of Long Ji proclaiming Long Yu to be a traitor, all the soldiers were now idolizing him as their hero. After all, he had evidence supporting his claim of innocence.
100,000 soldiers were not blind!
If Long Ji tried to deal with Long Yu once again, it would have a great impact on his reputation as well as on his military career. He would surely not commit such a silly mistake. Moreover, the matter had already been reported to the Imperial family and Long Ji simply could not go against the decision of the Imperial family!
As for Long Yu, he did not have to worry about dealing with Long Ji because there were more important things for him to be taken care of.
“Core disciple of Zhentian Sect, Long Yu, has brought the severed head of the enemy veteran general Man Yi and we have sent this information to the Imperial City.” Yan Shan announced in the assembly: “His Majesty, Chu Chao Sheng has ordered the boy to be rewarded with a best quality spiritual level immortality pill, Long Yue Jindan.”
Long Yue Jindan!
The mere utterance of these four words stirred up commotion in the whole Tang Guan.
Long Yue Jindan was one of the highest rewards that were bestowed upon the soldiers of the Tang army. It not only contained rich amount of Lingqi but also represented martial glory.
Since the ancient times, whoever got rewarded with Long Yue Jindan later went on to attain enormous power and glory and became the most powerful martial artists of the Tang Kingdom.
“Little Yu, this……”
Feng Longsong was stunned as he stood beside Long Yu.
Long Yue Jindan was the highest grade immortality pill in the whole Tang Kingdom!
How could Chu Chao Sheng bestow such a precious reward upon Long Yu?
The pill was so powerful that once absorbed, it could not only enable a martial artist to condense their Zhenling but would also promote them directly to the next layer!
“It unexpectedly turned out to be Long Yue Jindan.”
Long Yu heard the announcement while walking to the other side and was startled.
“Highest reward of the Tang state just for beheading the Old General Man Yin?”
Bu Xing thought as he was also aware of the enmity between Chu Chao Sheng and Long Yu’s father. He himself held great contempt for Chu Chao Sheng as he had attacked and injured his teacher, Baiyun Zong.
(TL: He got to know about Long Yu’s father and other things that happened in the past from his teacher Baiyun Zong, the sect head of Zhentian Sect and also a good friend of Long Yu’s father.)
“This Chu Chao Sheng is an abnormal devil and is definitely planning something.”
With this thought, Long Yu’s eyes flashed.
Although the whole Tang army envied him for his reward, Long Yu was as careful as ever.
He had never actually met the left prince, Chu Chao Sheng. Was his service of bringing the head of the old general really eligible for being rewarded with the greatest reward in the Tang Kingdom?
Long Yu was absolutely unconvinced with this generosity!
“I’m afraid there is something hidden in this Long Yue Jindan…..”
Long Yu thought to himself while narrowing his eyes and then he walked towards the stage.
With hate and envy flashing in his eyes, the Senior General Yan Shan handed over a stylish mahogany box to Long Yu, in which was placed the best quality immortality pill of the Tang Kingdom – Long Yue Jindan!
Throughout the Tang kingdom, there was only one alchemist who could concoct this powerful immortality pill and he worked only for the Imperial Chu family.
Long Yu stood there on the stage, holding the mahogany box. Although he now had the worthiest reward which made everyone jealous of him, he did not show any signs of pride.
This was not the right time to examine the Long Yue Jindan.
“Expert Pond Snow led his troops to rescue Major General Long Jin back to safety and was very active in the battlefield. Therefore, he shall be rewarded with a top grade spiritual level immortality pill, the Iris snow Dan; a top grade spiritual level battle armor, the Dragon Prisoner armor! In addition, the land surrounding the Ling Clan villa in the radius of 500 miles shall also belong to him!”
The bald senior general kept announcing the rewards for Pond Snow.
So many rewards for Pond Snow! He certainly has established great credibility in front of the Major General as well as the imperial clan.
Long Yu stood there, utterly surprised.
Imperial family rewarded Ling Clan villa to Pond Snow!
“Many many thanks to the Imperial family for bestowing these rewards upon me.”
Pond Snow, dressed in a brown fur jacket, steadily approached toward the stage and collected his rewards from Senior General Yan Shan.
“I have heard that the Ling Clan villa is situated at a very gloomy and barren place which is of no practical use to the Imperial family.”
Bu Xing narrowed his eyes and continued, “A piece of waste land in exchange of a brave heart – the Imperial family has really played well!”
Long Yu said nothing but couldn’t stop himself from thinking about Ling Han.
If this Pond Snow took the Ling Clan villa, what would become of Ling Han and Ling Yiyue?
In any case, Long Yu planned of contacting Pond Snow regarding this matter!
Afterward, Senior General Yan Shan praised and rewarded some more soldiers and ordinary experts who had killed the Mongolian soldiers. The more the number of killings, the more was the reward.
Among them, those who had followed Pond Snow to rescue Major General Long Ji were rewarded more and better than the others. These rewards would certainly help them in raising their cultivation levels to become stronger than ever.
However, they deserved these rewards because Pond Snow had taken with him a large number of armed men to rescue Long Ji and hundreds of men had died in the battle that ensued.
Therefore, though Pond Snow had a dignified look on his face while accepting the reward but there was no sign of happiness in it.
This made Long Yu see him in high regard, this Pond Snow being a righteous man must be having a heavy heart.
The reward ceremony continued for the rest of the day. By the time the ceremony ended, almost every soldier had some reward, more or less. However, Bu Xing and Feng Longsong were not among the people who were rewarded that day.
“Since he had been severely injured and you, Long Yu, have rewarded with the Long Yue Jindan, the Major General must certainly be unhappy.”
Bu Xing smiled as he did not care for the reward, “You have been rewarded by Chu Chao Sheng himself. As for me and your foster father, Long Ji is not so generous to reward us.”
“At this age, I don’t mind being not rewarded.”
Feng Longsong said lightly.
“Foster father, you were injured too. Will you be able to recover soon?”
Long Yu asked, looking at Feng Longsong.
“Yes I was injured, my meridians are damaged just like the old general. I will only be able to recover with an immortality pill of a level higher than the spirit level.”
Feng Longsong shook his head and said, “Little Yu, the Lon Yue Jindan is the highest level immortality pill available in the Tang kingdom. Trying to find an immortality pill better than that would basically be useless. My meridians are blocked. Please don’t put any efforts into finding a cure, rather dedicate yourself to your practice.”
“As you command, foster father.”
Long Yu nodded his head.
Although finding an immortality pill of a level higher than the spirit level was almost impossible right now, this did not mean that Long Yu would give up.
If he could successfully cure Feng Longsong, this would not only heal his injuries but would also restore him to his former glory as a great martial artist!
In this world of Wudao where only the strong had a worth, Feng Longsong had suffered in silence for twenty years. But perhaps Long Yu would restore him to his former glory in this year itself.
Even the Old General Man Yi, who was admired by thousands of people all over the Mongolian Kingdom, could not recover his cultivation level after all those years. That pretty much explained how difficult it must be to get an immortality pill of such a high caliber which could successfully heal Feng Longsong.
“For now, I have to go back.”
After the crowd dispersed, Feng Longsong mounted a war horse and prepared to leave.
“Won’t the people of the Mongolian Kingdom try to avenge the murder of their beloved Old General?”
Bu Xing asked, narrowing his eyes.
“They will not attack us again.”
Long Yu said, shaking his head in negation. “The war has caused casualties on both the sides. Even if the Mongolian army dares to attack us, they will not be able to break through the Tang Guan fortress. All they will get is more casualties. I don’t think they would be that stupid.”
“Such being the case, I should also head back.”
Bu Xing said as his eyes shone brightly. “After fighting with the enemy Generals, I expect I will be able to break through the bottleneck and enter into the 4th layer of Zhenling. By the time I reach the sect, I may be able to congeal a solidified Hawk Zhenling.”
“Please protect my foster father on your way, Brother Bu.”
Long Yu said. “As for me, I think I should go and have a chat with Pond Snow.”
“Are we not leaving together?”
Bu Xing was extremely surprised.
“No, Brother Bu. You should head back to the sect soon as your break through the bottleneck is extremely important for defeating Yu Qianning in the seven sects competition.”
Long Yu said, shaking his head.
Bu Xing nodded and solemnly said, “Such being the case, I shall take your leave. But you should stay vigil, Brother Long. Although Long Ji is severely injured, he has so many pet dogs here in Tan Guan. Be careful and try not being framed again.”
“Rest assured, Brother Bu. I will be extremely careful.”
Long Yu nodded.
Bu Xing and Feng Longsong mounted their respective horses to depart from Tang Guan and rode in the direction of the Zhentian Sect.
After their departure, Long Yu turned around and walked towards the Tang Guan fortress where Pond Snow was temporarily residing.
He had to sort the matter about the Ling Clan Villa and the only way to do so was to have a chat with Pond Snow.
As he reached the soldiers’ residence, he asked one of the soldiers “Is Brother Pond inside?”
The man was surprised to see Long Yu there so he quickly stood up. “General Pond is resting inside. However, our general said that should General Long come here looking for him he should immediately be allowed to see him.”
General Long?
Long Yu was somewhat puzzled on being called a General but then he realized that many soldiers in Tang Guan already called him so, perhaps because of his father’s influence.
But as a matter of fact, Long Yu was no soldier in the Tang army. He was just a core disciple of the Zhentian sect.
Long Yu was also surprised by the fact that Pond Snow had been waiting for him, and this relieved him of half of the stress.
He paced forward along with the soldier and reached a cabin. Inside, Pond Snow was sitting at a wooden table and his eyes were closed.
Sensing someone just entered the cabin, Pond Snow immediately opened his eyes only to see Long Yu standing right in front of him. He laughed loudly and exclaimed, “So I have not guessed wrong. It is really you, Brother Long Yu!”