Time seemed to accelerate as Li Fan prepared for the 50th year during his third life.
Li Fan implemented his plan in a meticulous and step-by-step manner.
With the experience of two lifetimes, everything went smoothly.
He retook the imperial examinations.
This time, however, with the additional decades of experience in governance, the essays he wrote were naturally far superior to his previous life. Whether it was the county, provincial, or imperial examination, he always ranked first, becoming renowned throughout the world!
Subsequently, despite his youth, he was appointed as an official in Wen County.
After being anchored for 3 years, he came to Wen County once more.
This life, gaining control was much more efficient than the last. With his considerable reputation and thorough knowledge of local officials, he easily took control over Wen County.
Then, he began to promote and cultivate the trusted aides he had in his previous life and continuously strengthened his influence.
At the same time, he drafted designs of flintlock pistols and ordered craftsmen to produce them, while assisting them with all the difficulties in production he knew about. After that, he ordered people to go around and privately recruit skilled craftsmen, striving to develop more advanced weaponry.The mountain mines were not forgotten either. Li Fan swept away all the mountain bandits near Wen County and forced them into work in the mines. Relying on the mine resources, he established many workshops in the deep mountains to mass produce iron weapons. At the same time, he organized trade caravans to travel around the world and accumulate funds.
After 4 years, Li Fan secretly searched and finally found the body double of Emperor Xuanjing. It was the existence of this double that led to the near failure of his assassination plan in his previous life. Luckily, he had always been cautious, and with his many backup plans, he was able to avoid failing in his endeavors. Li Fan personally trained the double to flawlessness in half a year.
After 5 years, Jiangnan suffered a severe drought. Li Fan ordered his subordinates to pose as refugees and attack the Langya Prince's residence. On the surface, Li Fan spearheaded the rescue attempt, but in secret, he commanded his people to kill the Prince of Langya and his family. At the same time, he revealed his trained double.
Since then, Li Fan took control of the Langya Prince's estate.
The news of the killing of Langya Prince's family, with the sole survivor being the Langya Prince himself, shocked the whole country. The Emperor was furious and sent troops to suppress the refugees. As a reward for his efforts, Li Fan was promoted to governor of Jiangnan Province.
Li Fan's power further expanded. However, after this, he became more cautious. Instead of continuing to expand, he kept a low profile and developed technology.
In the 7th year, the locust plague came as predicted. Li Fan had prepared for it, and naturally, Jiangnan Province remained virtually unaffected. He also petitioned for the imperial court to open warehouses and release grain to assist the victims. The court agreed.
With this opportunity, Li Fan gained the support of a large number of people. Many victims settled down under Li Fan's rule, and Li Fan's strength was bolstered.
In the 9th year, the wedding of the Prince of Langya and the granddaughter of the Chief Grand Secretary was held as scheduled. That night, Li Fan broke into the bridal chamber at night, scaring the Langya Prince's consort half to death. After learning that Li Fan had killed the Prince of Langya and used a double to take over, she even angrily denounced Li Fan as a traitor. Li Fan instead laughed and asked her to write about this appalling incident in a letter.
With this letter, Li Fan posed as the Prince of Langya’s messenger and secretly sneaked into the capital to see the Chief Grand Secretary.
With a calm demeanor, Li Fan revealed that he controlled the entire Langya Estate. The Chief Grand Secretary, though shocked, remained calm and asked Li Fan what he wanted to do.
Li Fan confidently explained that because the Imperial Advisor had held power for so many years, he had garnered many enemies. Furthermore, because his several sons were incompetent, it would be difficult for the Imperial Advisor’s family to maintain its wealth and status after the death of the Chief Grand Secretary. As long as the Chief Grand Secretary could step in at a necessary time to help Li Fan with a favor, Li Fan would protect the future safety and prosperity of the Chief Grand Secretary's family.
The Chief Grand Secretary pondered for a long time and finally asked what the favor would be. Li Fan laughed and only said it would be known to him in time, and then left.
After 10 years, Lady Langya gave birth to a son. Obviously, this was Li Fan's child. Li Fan wrote a letter to the Chief Grand Secretary to report the success.
After 15 years, the Emperor finally became seriously ill. After receiving the decree summoning the Langya Prince, Li Fan took his trusted aides, traveled by night and day, and entered the capital.
After the Prince of Langya succeeded the throne, Li Fan borrowed the Emperor's power to control the courts and develop his people. With the Chief Grand Secretary’s secret cooperation, no concerns were raised as Li Fan took complete control.
After 16 years, rebellion rose everywhere. Li Fan took the opportunity to integrate his trusted aides into the army and took advantage of their military success against the rebels to grant many promotions. In just three to four years, the army was firmly under Li Fan's control.
After 20 years, the world gradually recovered from the turmoil of the Emperor’s death. Li Fan decisively poisoned the fake Emperor at this time, killing the last possible threat.
After supporting his own son to become the Emperor, Li Fan appointed himself as the Imperial Advisor, moving from behind the scenes to the limelight once more, holding immense dominion and influence.
After this, the Grand Xuan Kingdom’s technological development greatly accelerated due to Li Fan's will.
In the 35th year, the Imperial Advisor’s Mansion.
Li Fan looked at the secret letter handed over by his men. After reading it carefully for a moment, he could not help but frown.
"So, you're saying that the mists over the Ruins Abyss will disperse for half a day every fifteen years?"
"Reporting to the Imperial Advisor, this is exactly the case. Our Immortal Seeking Battalion was ordered to station beside the Ruins Abyss and observe it day and night. Finally, a few days ago there was a harvest." The Immortal Seeking Official kneeling on the ground recalled the scene at that time, a look of awe still remaining on his face. "After the fog cleared, there was a faint light shining out from the bottom of the abyss. We used telescopes to observe it and discerned all sorts of wondrous sights."
"Although what each person saw was not the same, the sights included a mountain range with thousands of peaks rising and falling, with majestic buildings scattered throughout, vaguely visible; there were towering cities situated on the plains, with no less than a million people each; there is even a city in the sky enveloped in radiant light, and all kinds of rare birds and exotic beasts were flying in between, it was really…” the Immortal Seeking Official paused, before expressing the feelings in his heart. "It was truly incredible."
“They really were from the Ruins Abyss.” Although he had suspected this for a long time, now that it had been personally confirmed by his subordinate, Li Fan was still a little excited in his heart. However, his many years of experience had long since tempered his self-control.
He asked indifferently, "Can you find a way to get down to the bottom of the abyss?"
The Immortal Seeking Official's breath stuttered, and then his face turned a little white. He quickly kowtowed and said, “Subordinate is incompetent. We tried various methods, but as soon as we descended to a certain depth, we were cut to pieces by an astral wind. The astral wind is so powerful that even our toughest armor cannot resist it for a moment."
Upon hearing this, Li Fan did not look disappointed.
After waving his hand and letting the Immortal Seeking Official leave, Li Fan muttered to himself, "It seems that I still have to wait for you guys."
......
50th year, Grand Xuan Kingdom, Xuanjing.
Xuanjing City, which used to be incomparably lively, was now silent and somewhat eerie.
The vast majority of the people of Xuanjing had been forcibly relocated to the neighboring cities a month ago under the decree of the Imperial Advisor, who claimed that it was in order to avoid a calamity. This ridiculous excuse was met with heavy skepticism. However, the Imperial Advisor did not go too far and force those who didn’t want to move, only suggesting that they build underground shelters to hide. These warnings were mostly treated as jokes.
When Li Fan got the report, he did not bother. He had already done his best.
In the streets and alleys of Xuanjing City, ambushes were waiting in place consisting of the special troops that he had carefully prepared over the years to use against the two immortals.
Now that everything was ready, all that was needed were the protagonists!
At night, under the bright moon, the two immortal cultivators arrived as expected!
"Dao Xuanzi! Don't you oppress people too much!"
Kou Hong's angry shouts spread throughout Xuanjing City.
“Ratatatatat...”
Countless tongues of fire suddenly lit up, and tens of thousands of bullets poured forth like waterfalls, suddenly bombarding the two immortals in unison!