"Whoosh!"
The arrow shot out like a meteor, speeding rapidly towards the bullseye.
The arrowhead carved a sharp trajectory through the air and finally hit the bullseye precisely.
Jiang Li wasn't satisfied with just that. He quickly drew out another arrow, nocked it again, took aim, and shot. One arrow after another flew towards the bullseye like raindrops.
Since the day he learned about the emperor's rewards and the warning words conveyed by his father, Jiang Li had been devoting himself more and more to his cultivation.
The damage to his spiritual soul had been mostly repaired by now, though there were still some flaws. The meridians that were once as thick as woolen threads were now only as thin as spider silk. However, the overall strength of his spiritual soul was actually higher than before.
Every night, when Jiang Li entered the state of spiritual soul cultivation, he could clearly feel the spiritual power slowly flowing within the spider-silk-like meridians.
Although it wasn't as smooth and powerful as it used to be, it had an added sense of delicacy and liveliness.
During the process of repairing his spiritual soul, Jiang Li also discovered some new changes.
The spiritual soul space, which had been somewhat chaotic due to the damage before, now seemed to have become clearer and more orderly.
Some spiritual power nodes that had originally been hidden deep within were gradually emerging.
However, the cultivation of the spiritual soul was invisible, intangible, and didn't make any noise.
But after all, it wasn't like martial cultivation that could be carried out openly and aboveboard.
He had to stay vigilant at all times. Even in this secluded courtyard, he didn't dare to be the slightest bit careless.
Every time after finishing his cultivation, he would carefully check around to make sure that no fluctuations of spiritual power leaked out, lest it arouse others' suspicions.
If word got out that a person whose spiritual soul had been crippled could still cultivate his spiritual soul, it would surely cause trouble.
Jiang Li shot a few more arrows. It wasn't until all the arrows in the quiver had been shot that he slowly put down the bow in his hand. At this time, his arms were slightly sore.
He walked over, pulled out the arrows stuck in the bullseye one by one, and put them back into the quiver. Taking a deep breath and adjusting his slightly disordered breath, he then turned around and walked towards the place where the stone locks were placed in the courtyard.
He was ready to continue with the next item of cultivation. On the path of striving for strength, he didn't stop for a moment.
At one end of the bustling streets in the capital city, there was a restaurant called "Zui Xiang Ge"(Drunken Fragrance Pavilion). On ordinary days, it was a place where noble officials and wealthy young masters could go to amuse themselves.
At this moment, in a private room of the restaurant, the atmosphere seemed rather solemn.
In the seat by the window sat a young master dressed in a gorgeous brocade robe. He was Yu Linfeng, the second son of the residence of the Minister of Rites.
This man had fair and clear skin, with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes. However, there was an air of innate arrogance and domineering in his eyes, which made people feel intimidated at the sight of him.
He was playing with an exquisite jade wine cup in his hand. The fine wine in the cup had an alluring luster under the sunlight, but he had no intention of tasting it. Instead, he was looking at the person opposite him with a gloomy expression.
The one sitting opposite him was Zhao Zhongze, who had provoked Jiang Cheng and beaten him up in the restaurant that day.
Zhao Zhongze was burly in stature, with a face full of fierce and fleshy features, looking like a ferocious fiend. But at this moment, in front of Yu Linfeng, he had restrained a lot of his usual arrogance and kept his head down, not daring to look Yu Linfeng in the eye.
Yu Linfeng suddenly slammed the wine cup in his hand heavily onto the table, and a little wine splashed out. He said in a cold tone with an interrogative air,"Hmph! Let me ask you, why is there still no news about that spirit master? I had clearly told you to have him teach that Jiang Li a good lesson and vent some anger for Sister Wanrou. Well, look at you. You've handled this matter so sluggishly. Could it be that you don't take my words seriously?"
Hearing this, Zhao Zhongze quickly put on a flattering smile and explained,"Second Young Master Yu, please calm down. After beating up Jiang Cheng that day, our people made sure that Wang Dahai had been taken into the Jiang Mansion by Jiang Cheng. Everything was done according to the plan."
"You know as well that Jiang Li was just an ordinary person who had never practiced martial arts before. We thought there would surely be no problem. Who could have expected..."
Yu Linfeng impatiently interrupted him,"Hmph! Who could have expected? I don't care about these excuses. I only care about the result. Sister Wanrou was wronged because of Jiang Li, and I will definitely make him pay the price!"
Just as he was speaking, Yu Linfeng casually glanced out of the window and saw Jiang Cheng walking alone unsteadily on the street. Judging from his appearance, he was obviously drunk.
A trace of ruthlessness flashed in Yu Linfeng's eyes, and a sinister smile appeared at the corners of his mouth. Then he gave a wink to his subordinates beside him.
Those subordinates understood his meaning and immediately went downstairs. Before long, they secretly tied Jiang Cheng up and brought him over.
Jiang Cheng was so frightened by this sudden turn of events that he sobered up a bit. When he saw Yu Linfeng and Zhao Zhongze clearly in front of him, he looked completely bewildered.
"Where's Wang Dahai?" Yu Linfeng asked directly.
Hearing him ask about Wang Dahai, Jiang Cheng understood what was going on and a surge of anger rose in his heart. He loudly questioned,"Well, so Wang Dahai was arranged by you to be by my side. How dare you use me!"
Yu Linfeng sneered, stood up, and slowly paced in front of Jiang Cheng. Looking down at him condescendingly, he said with contempt,"Fourth Young Master Jiang, don't make it sound so unpleasant. Don't you want Jiang Li to die? That Jiang Li has made you suffer a lot in the mansion lately, right? At best, we're just in a cooperative relationship!"
Hearing this, Jiang Cheng was suddenly at a loss for words.
Indeed, in the Jiang Mansion, Jiang Li was truly outstanding in every aspect. How could he not have feelings of jealousy and resentment in his heart? But now that he had been used like this, he felt extremely aggrieved.
After a moment of silence, Jiang Cheng gritted his teeth and told the truth,"Yu Linfeng, don't even think about dealing with Jiang Li anymore. That spirit master... is already dead."
Hearing this, Yu Linfeng's face immediately turned extremely ugly. His eyes widened as he roared in disbelief,"What? Dead? How is that possible? That spirit master had some skills. How could he die so easily?"
"There seems to be a master with excellent martial arts skills behind Jiang Li. He's not that easy to deal with," Jiang Cheng didn't hide anything and told the truth.
"Master? Isn't Jiang Li unable to practice martial arts? You're not lying to me, are you?" Yu Linfeng paced back and forth in the private room, and the anger in his heart burned even hotter.
"Humph! What good would it do me to lie to you?"
Zhao Zhongze also chimed in beside him,"Yes, Second Young Master Yu. There's probably something fishy about this. It seems that Jiang Li is really not an easy target. We should be more careful."
Yu Linfeng had originally planned to teach Jiang Li a good lesson and vent his anger for Wei Wanrou, but he didn't expect to be thwarted one after another.
However, the hatred in his heart didn't fade away because of this. Instead, it grew even stronger.
"Hmph! So what if there's a master behind Jiang Li? I don't believe that I can't deal with a young whippersnapper like him," Yu Linfeng said through gritted teeth.
"Let's wait for an opportunity. When Jiang Li is alone, we'll block his way."
But in the following days, they sent people to keep watch near the Duke of An's Mansion every day.
However, they never saw Jiang Li leave the mansion even once, as if he knew that they would take action.
In fact, Jiang Li had indeed expected this long ago.
Since experiencing all the previous changes, he had realized that he had made quite a few enemies, and people like Wei Wanrou definitely wouldn't let him off easily.
Apart from cultivating hard on a daily basis, he tried his best to stay at home so as not to give those people any chance to take advantage of him.
Yu Linfeng and his men had been lying in wait outside the Jiang Mansion for several days, but they never caught sight of Jiang Li. With the imperial examinations in spring just around the corner, they were burning with impatience yet could do nothing about it.
"Damn it! Why is he always hiding? Let's leave him alone for now. We'll deal with him after the imperial examinations in spring. I don't believe he can keep hiding indoors all the time," Yu Linfeng said resentfully. Then he led his men and left the vicinity of the Jiang Mansion.
Inside the Jiang Mansion, Jiang Li had been quietly observing those people's secret actions with his spiritual consciousness all along.
Nowadays, his spiritual consciousness was like an invisible large net, covering the area around the Jiang Mansion and taking in every word and every move of those people. As long as he didn't take the initiative to probe those experts, there would basically be no risk of being exposed.
When he sensed that Yu Linfeng and the others had all withdrawn, he finally let out a sigh of relief in his heart.