Chapter 3: A Mortal’s Desire to Capture Immortals

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. Nôvel Binz was the first platform to present this chapter. 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. “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.