Chapter 36

Li Kuan sat cross-legged on the ground, his hands forming seals, and he muttered incantations. Li Er had seen this process once before, but he watched very attentively again, hoping to find clues about the mysterious school behind Li Kuan.

However, Li Er still couldn't figure it out. The three seals Li Kuan formed seemed to have a Buddhist flavor, but he couldn't pinpoint it. Perhaps he should send someone to Shaolin Temple to invite Master Jueyuan, or Master Tanyin. Actually, the closest one was the Great Master Daoyan from the White Horse Temple in Luoyang near Chang'an, but he was one of the imperial masters appointed by Emperor Li Yuan, along with Daoist Yuan Shoucheng and Zhang Daoqin from Longhu Mountain. Therefore, Li Er didn't want to consult them, as he subconsciously treated Li Kuan's matter as something that needed to be kept secret, not wanting Li Yuan to know.

Li Kuan silently recited in his heart: "Start absorbing." A fine whirlwind appeared beside him, slowly rotating like a protective shield, enveloping Li Kuan. As Li Kuan focused, the whirlwind spun faster and stronger.

A display screen visible only to Li Kuan appeared before his eyes. It showed a map, a very precise one, as if taken by a satellite. Li Kuan's position was marked by a green dot, and there were dozens of white dots around him, which should be Li Er and his guards.

Li Kuan looked around and saw only Li Er and the guards. Anyone else was several miles away. In this snowy weather, no one came to Blackstone Mountain to mine, which meant that only these dozen or so people knew about this. This made Li Kuan sigh with relief. He didn't want this to become widely known, as the person sitting at the top was not his father, but his grandfather. Plus, there were two uncles who harbored ill intentions towards his family. Li Kuan didn't want to die, and even more, he didn't want to die without knowing why. These dozen or so people were Li Er's personal guards, and they could be trusted.

Li Kuan looked at the screen, unsure how to use it. Was it a touch screen? Or controlled by thought? Just as he had this thought, he realized it was a simple system. A prompt appeared: "Do you want to temporarily expand the energy absorption range? Yes, No!"

Li Kuan chose "Yes," and then selected the area, choosing 100 acres directly. After making these selections, the whirlwind around Li Kuan had grown significantly, sweeping up the surrounding snow and continuously spinning around him.

Li Er also noticed this and showed a hint of surprise, but he held back, knowing this might be a normal phenomenon.

Sure enough, as soon as Li Kuan confirmed, the whirlwind became even more intense, almost evolving into a tornado. But this phenomenon changed after a while!

Li Kuan, still sitting cross-legged, slowly rose from the ground, floating about three feet above it. The whirlwind swept up the snow, drawing intricate patterns on the ground, like an ancient spell array or a casual doodle, but the lines were very intricate. Li Kuan sat at the center of this pattern, as if presiding over the array.

Li Er's expression finally changed. This was indeed beyond his imagination. He had seen several imperial masters perform magic, but never such a technique: "Kuan, are the people behind you human or immortals? How can such skills be mastered by ordinary people?"

At this moment, Li Er was filled with awe at the powerful capabilities of the scientists behind Li Kuan. He was also relieved that this mysterious school had chosen his son rather than the crown prince's sons. However, he no longer had the idea of controlling this school, as they were beyond human control. Li Er thought more: Li Kuan's master claimed to have made a bet with Emperor Liang Wudi, who lived nearly a hundred years ago. If the old ancestor Chen Tuan could bet with the emperor, his status must have been very high, even transcendent. He must be very old, yet he is still alive. This means he has lived for at least a hundred years, or even longer!

Li Er's thoughts raced, and he became even more determined not to offend these scientists. Who wouldn't want to live longer? And his beloved woman suffered from a chronic illness, which could flare up at any time, even threatening her life. If he could get the health methods from these scientists, there might be a turning point! The more he thought, the more he believed his guess was reasonable, and the light in his eyes grew more intense, looking at Li Kuan as if he were a rare treasure!

Li Kuan didn't know these thoughts. He only knew that he was floating in the air, with a mysterious pattern like an array beneath him. The blue circle on the screen indicating the energy absorption range began to expand, gradually encompassing the entire Blackstone Mountain.

When the circle reached its limit, a progress bar appeared, and the energy absorption continued...

This process was quite long, as Blackstone Mountain contained a lot of coal, and the system's progress bar rose very slowly.

However, Li Kuan and Li Er didn't feel bored, as new phenomena appeared. Faint red light points slowly rose from Blackstone Mountain, drifting towards Li Kuan. These countless light points slowly formed lines, then merged into light bands, connecting Blackstone Mountain to Li Kuan.

Above Li Kuan's head, a tiny flame appeared, very small, like a match flame, pale red. But as the red light bands converged, the flame's color deepened, turning from pale red to orange-yellow, though the orange-yellow was very faint, almost invisible.

Li Er watched the entire process, his surprise growing. He even considered silencing his dozens of guards, as the fewer people who knew about this, the safer it would be. He even wondered if he should have come at all, as it would have been best if Li Kuan had come alone. He was uneasy, thinking: "I wonder what this mysterious school is planning. They are so confident to display such phenomena openly. Do they really believe that the hundreds of thousands of troops of the Tang Dynasty can't deal with them?"

Li Kuan didn't know about his father's thoughts. He was bored! This system was like a mute, giving no response to his questions, only cold, impersonal answers. Now, as the host, he was so bored that he yawned, and the system didn't even play some music or show a movie. Even a Japanese love action film would be a good choice! But he had to watch the red light bands connecting to the flame on his head.

"Damn, I'm not the Immortal Luo Xuan, what's the point of having a flame on my head? And it's changing color. Does this mean the flame can level up? Pale red is ordinary fire, and orange-yellow is the Three Pure Fires? Is there white Sun Fire or golden Southern Ling Fire above that?" Li Kuan complained in his heart.

"Host, this flame represents the system's energy storage. Pale red indicates a very low level, and when the system's remaining energy is less than one ten-thousandth, it will show this color. Above that are orange-yellow, sky blue, emerald green, deep purple, and so on. When the system's energy storage reaches the deep purple level, the host will receive a pleasant surprise!" The system was more human this time, directly revealing Li Kuan's doubts and even leaving a hint.

"System, do you have any music? Play a couple of songs, I'm so bored. Looking at this progress bar, it will take at least three hours to finish, and I have nothing to do during this time!" Li Kuan complained.

But his complaints were like a stone in the water, causing no ripples. The system fell silent again, no matter how Li Kuan spoke, it didn't respond.

Time passed, and the sky began to darken. It was almost night. But Blackstone Mountain didn't feel dark at all. The pale red light bands connected to various parts of the mountain, like colorful ribbons draped over the entire mountain. These light bands emitted heat, melting the snow on the mountain, revealing the black mountain body. Snow water flowed down the mountain, making a pleasant sound, like a joyful song echoing on Blackstone Mountain.

However, there were few people to appreciate this. Li Er and his dozens of guards had been on the mountain top, on high alert. The strange phenomena could be seen from a distance. Yueyou Plain was not flat, but it had few hills. From the mountain top, Li Er could see the smoke rising from the chimneys of houses several miles away. Therefore, Li Er was unsure if he could keep Li Kuan's secret, as they hadn't hidden their tracks when they came, and there were bound to be people who noticed.

However, Li Er and Li Kuan had extremely good luck this time. The crown prince and Prince Qi, due to their previous disagreements, had both focused their spies on each other. The crown prince feared that Prince Qi would do something inappropriate, while Prince Qi feared that the crown prince would report to Li Yuan.

Because of their abnormal behavior, Li Yuan's secret agents also shifted their focus to them. Plus, the heavy snow last night had lasted all night. All parties had withdrawn their spies from outside the city to inside Chang'an.

Therefore, the strange phenomena created by Li Kuan and Li Er only attracted the attention of some villagers outside the city, adding to the legend of immortals descending on Blackstone Mountain.

Finally, after three hours, Li Kuan saw the progress bar reach its limit, and his complaints about the system subsided. He was eager to see how much energy he had gained from this. He stared at the screen, like someone trying to grab a ticket during the Spring Festival travel rush.

Finally, the system's voice came: "Absorption complete. Deducting the energy points required for expanding the range, the host can now check the harvest!"

Li Kuan assured himself that this was the most exciting moment since he came to the Tang Dynasty. Even when he first met Changsun, Li Yuan, or Li Er, he hadn't been this excited. He counted the digits on the screen with his fingers.

"One, two, three... seven, eight! Damn, eight digits, a full thirty million! I'm rich! It won't be long before I'm free from being a sickly person!" Li Kuan finally saw a glimmer of hope. He believed victory was just ahead!

PS: The author has been thinking about how to resolve the Blackstone Mountain issue. After much consideration, he wrote this somewhat fantastical scene. Some readers might criticize the author, saying this doesn't look like a historical novel. However, considering the subsequent plot, he decided to write it this way. Of course, such a scene will only appear once, just this once.

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