Becoming an Advisor, the Jade Glaze Barrier!

Li Guanqi looked calm upon hearing this, but a tremor went through his heart!! No wonder... No wonder Yu Su, upon discovering his identity, had approached him first before explaining things to Xiahou Cang. At that thought, Li Guanqi looked back at the woman walking over at an unhurried pace. Her youthful, dignified face truly was far too deceptive. Compared to the powerfully strong Xiahou Cang, Li Guanqi was somewhat more wary of the woman behind him. Xiahou Cang then spoke in a deep voice. "I would like to invite you, my young friend, to join our manor for a brief period. "The compensation... five million immortal crystals, plus ten bottles of Heavenly Origin Pills!" Li Guanqi frowned slightly, in no rush to accept. Although the compensation was exceedingly generous, he did not dare agree lightly. "What do you need me to do?" The man gestured toward the door. "Let us speak inside." The three took their seats once more, and Xiahou Cang was the first to speak. "Help me break this deadlock!" Li Guanqi knit his brows tightly. "What would count as breaking the deadlock?" "First, help me weather the immediate predicament and offer counsel and strategies. Shift the gaze of the six cities away from Xialin City." The man spoke in a deep voice. This was currently his greatest dilemma, for the eyes of the other cities had gradually locked onto Xialin City. Li Guanqi pondered for a moment. "Castellan Xiahou's terms are still too vague. It is impossible to define..." At this moment, Yu Su spoke up in a gentle voice at just the right time. "So long as Young Master Li can help ensure the other five cities do not join forces to besiege Xialin City before the aura of the Cold Soul Jade Glaze erupts, that will suffice! "Even... merely maintaining the balance would do!" Li Guanqi thought it over. It was not out of the question; if he could fish in troubled waters, it might indeed be workable. Not to mention, the entrance to the rift lay right within Xialin City! *Cold Soul Jade Glaze... if I can get it for my wife, that would be wonderful.* Li Guanqi simply agreed. A faint smile finally appeared on Yu Su's face, and Xiahou Cang also breathed a slight sigh of relief. He then arranged lodgings for Li Guanqi, settling him in for the time being. As for Li Nanting, the other party did not ask too much, and Li Guanqi naturally could not be bothered to bring it up. Looking at the spacious courtyard within the Castellan Manor, Li Guanqi quietly made his own calculations. Before long, a middle-aged male steward came to invite Li Guanqi to the study for a discussion. When Li Guanqi arrived at Xiahou Cang's study, Yu Su was seated nearby brewing tea for the two of them. Xiahou Cang briefly outlined the current situation among the six cities to Li Guanqi, mostly repeating the gist of what had been said earlier. However, Li Guanqi specifically inquired about the personalities and cultivation realms of the castellans of the other five cities, and even some of their personal preferences. Though Xiahou Cang was puzzled, he answered each question one by one. Only Yu Su, who was brewing tea to the side, had a glimmer of sharp insight flash across her beautiful eyes. For people like them, understanding a person's disposition and inclinations was the only way to better grasp human nature! After listening, Li Guanqi stood up and asked, "Can you take me to see the rift?" Xiahou Cang hesitated upon hearing this, exchanged a glance with his wife, and stood up. After another moment of hesitation, he nodded and said, "All right, I will take you to see it." Li Guanqi said nothing, following behind the man. Pushing open the study's bookshelf, they revealed a secret passage leading into the depths. Walking all the way to the end, Li Guanqi discovered there was a hidden world within—there was actually another subterranean level! The two arrived before a teleportation array, and Li Guanqi stepped onto it behind the man. A powerful spatial ripple enveloped them. A moment later, when the two reappeared, they had arrived inside a mysterious cavern. Outside the teleportation array, two cultivators rose abruptly, drawing their swords with a sharp clatter. Only upon seeing that the newcomer was Xiahou Cang did they sheath their weapons and bow respectfully to the two of them. "Castellan." Xiahou Cang nodded expressionlessly. Stepping off the teleportation array, Li Guanqi immediately felt a wave of chill rush toward him from a ten-foot fissure in the distance. The cavern's stone walls and floor were covered in frost, condensed into an ice-blue layer of ice. Immortal essence circulated through Li Guanqi's body, instantly expelling the chill, and the white mist puffing from his mouth even condensed into ice crystals that rattled to the ground. The surrounding temperature was extraordinarily low, and the ice-attribute celestial spiritual energy was unusually active. "That is the fissure." Li Guanqi walked slowly toward the rift. As he drew closer, the chill grew increasingly concentrated. Moreover, the dissipating aura contained terrifyingly potent celestial spiritual energy, though ordinary cultivators would find such power difficult to refine. Li Guanqi raised a hand, drew in a wisp of celestial spiritual energy, and directly refined it right before their stunned gazes. Closing his eyes to sense it, he indeed perceived an extraordinary power in that aura!! The deduction that this stemmed from the Cold Soul Jade Glaze was indeed well-founded. Li Guanqi casually produced a jade vial to bottle up some of the celestial spiritual energy. *Crack, crack, crack!* Ice coated the vial, fracturing it clean apart from the sheer cold. Li Guanqi frowned slightly. He brought out the jade casket Wanbao Tower had used to hold the Blood Calyx Flower, but the result was the same... "What are you doing, young friend?" Li Guanqi glanced at the man, in no mood to explain. "Nothing. Just a random test." Standing before the fissure, Li Guanqi found that it opened from underground, extending upward. "Have you gone down to look?" Xiahou Cang nodded. "I went down. After a thousand feet, it is impossible to descend any further. There is an ice-blue celestial spiritual barrier there." Li Guanqi leaped up and plunged headfirst into the depths of the rift!! Xiahou Cang followed closely behind, instructing the guards, "Keep watch here." *Whoosh!* The rift was only four feet wide. Wind howled past Li Guanqi's ears, and the surrounding stone walls were completely encased in ice. Li Guanqi's descent was extremely swift, reaching the barrier the man spoke of almost in an instant. A deep blue barrier appeared before him, but his gaze shifted slightly backward. The man arrived right behind him. "This is the barrier. Its fluctuations are extremely violent right now, so it will likely open before long. Half a month at the shortest, two months at most." Li Guanqi nodded slightly. No wonder the man was so anxious. It appeared the aura here could hardly be concealed much longer. "How far is this place from the city center?" Li Guanqi asked casually. Xiahou Cang said in a deep voice, "Xialin is a border city. This place lies in the mountains thirty li outside Xialin City." Li Guanqi looked at the man in some surprise. "In other words... this is not inside the city?" Seeing the man nod, Li Guanqi remarked, "No wonder... I suppose quite a few people have been searching for it lately? Earlier, when Madam Yu took me away, a spy from Beizha City was tailing us." Xiahou Cang gave a troubled, wry smile. "Lately, there are at least a hundred scouts in the city..." However, right as the two were speaking, a large white radish slipped silently through the barrier and burrowed inside!! "It's so cold..." "Hiss! That's... this..." Covered in ice, Pengluo scrambled and crawled frantically back out, its eyes filled with sheer terror!! Yet it did not forget to slap an inscribed talisman onto the wall.