After bidding Princess Jingan farewell, I exited the city; then found a secluded and quiet spot.
I wanted to finish the preparations for the fuma selection as soon as possible. There were only ten days left until the event. I was roughly seventy, eighty percent confident that I could triumph in the three contests that the Emperor had chosen. However, that didn't an that I could sit on my laurels and still win.
We weren't told what the "to be determined" topic was, while the remaining two were peculiar. Although they were related to martial arts skills, as well, to be honest, defeating Jin Wangsun while hiding my skills in front of the Emperor was a tall order.
The first topic was 'shining edge'. As the na suggests, it was a weaponry combat contest. Besides requiring us to demonstrate martial arts proficiency, we also needed a quality weapon. Jin Wangsun was lauded as Jiangnan's Sabre King. Though his skills were far from qualifying as a Sabre King, he did possess genuine skills. Further, his family had a weaponry workshop; hence, he didn't have just one blade on him.
I had considered stealing a few of his weapons. Tiger Fang, which was wielded by his broadsword expert, A Hu, was a quality blade that could didn't pale in comparison to any of the supre weapons. However, I scrapped the idea in the end, as all famous blades in the pugilistic world had their own origins. Hence, they couldn't be faked. If nothing else, Tiger Fang had been ntioned in the Black and White Reflection on more than one occasion, aning that it was a famous weapon.
Jin Wangsun had his own n; therefore, there was the off chance that Gold and Silver Sect might've marked their weapons with their unique symbol to avoid losing their weapons. That, alone, was enough of a reason to dissuade from stealing his weapons.
Mount Daluo certainly had weapons. Nevertheless, I never learnt styles involving weapons; consequently, I never paid any attention to them. I, therefore, didn't know if there were any good weapons at Mount Daluo. Shiyi, on the other hand, was well-versed in all eighteen weapon types. But alas, with her suave personality and dislike for burdens, she whinged that carrying a weapon with her all the ti was just dead weight, literally. Whenever she entered combat, she'd pick up whatever was available within the vicinity. Worst cos to worst, she didn't have to be concerned about tackling opponents with her bare hands, since she had learnt Mount Daluo's Five Divine Styles and Heavenly Net Treasure. Subsequently, I needed to find myself a weapon on par with Tiger Fang to compete against Jin Wangsun.
The second round of the contest was 'thousand miles', a contest where we were to search for a rare object within a thousand miles, and bring it back for the Emperor. The further the object was located and the rarer it was, the more points would be assigned. Obviously, the one with more points assigned would be deed the victor. The round was a contest of manpower and resources. Gold and Silver Sect was a wealthy family in Jiangnan. You'd be hard-pressed to na a rare object that they couldn't get their hands on.
I wasn't afraid of fighting Jin Wangsun one on one, but frankly, the two aforentioned contests were all subtly in Jin Wangsun's favour. I, initially, didn't realise it, but now that I thought about, I'd bet my head that it was Jingan's idea. That lass would definitely support him in such a roundabout way. I just didn't know what the last contest 'to be determined' was.
I stayed at a place outside the city for three entire days to prepare for the contest before returning to Liu Shan n.
As soon as I entered the doors of Liu Shan n, there was a strange atmosphere lingering in the air, but I couldn't put my finger on what exactly it was. As a quick summary, everybody walked around with their hands down. My comrades, who usually greeted , checked left and right. They were either had sothing holding them up or were busily heading sowhere.
'It's just a greeting! Just how busy can you be?! You, ssenger boy, you still haven't left when the sun is at its peak; just how busy could you be?!!'
When I got to the side yard, I caught sight of Su Xiao leading a small team out.
"Xiao, are you going out on patrol?"
I raised a hand to greet him, only for him to pout sideways. With a, "hmph," he looked away and led the team out.
Bewildered, I chased after them, "Hey! Wait. What's going on here?"
Su Xiao wore high boots on his straight and slender legs, yet the boots had the vibe of dance shoes. When he saw give chase, he suddenly halted in his tracks, leading to nearly colliding with him. He, too, jolted due to appearing up close so abruptly, but I caught him in ti.
"Careful."
To my surprise, Su Xiao shook my hold off, "I-I'm not careful, beat it! It's none of my business even if I die!"
"Just what is the going on here?'
"What is going on, you ask?" fud Su Xiao. "Mr. Ming! You don't even know about the unscrupulous deed you committed?! Is there a need for you to ask the obvious?! Hmph!"
With a flick of his hip, he turned around and left.
'What in the world is going on here?!'
After I strolled through the entirety of Liu Shan n, I gradually noticed that they didn't just avoid , but basically despised .
'God, you've got spinning. Have you mistaken for soone else?'
'Tang Ye was the one who gave Jin Wangsun a green hat and bedded the man's fiancée, not !'
The atmosphere in Liu Shan Man was truly bewildering.
Even my loudmouth second brother had a cold and sounded husky. True, his cold did have to do with him getting drunk then sleeping naked on a cold night on the streets, but it was still perplexing. The heavy atmosphere was weird, but I couldn't put my finger on what the trigger was. It was similar to… feeling as if soone would push you from behind while you were urinating down the edge of a cliff.
'It's only been a few nights since I was last in. Just what exactly happened?'
I headed to my room… Man, I didn't get any sleep for several nights again. It seed as though sleep and I didn't sh recently. If it wasn't Su Xiao moving in, it was Princess Hongzhuang taking my bed, consequently robbing of a peaceful night of sleep.
'Man, I miss the good old days when Boss was around. If Boss Shen was here, you two girls… a girl and a Su Xiao wouldn't be able to bully out of my bed.'
I didn't see any traces of Princess Hongzhuang anywhere. Perhaps it was inconvenient for her to stay with just Su Xiao when I was out, and thus, went sowhere else. I pushed the door open and walked straight over to my bed.
Suddenly, my nose picked up a faint sweet scent. It didn't seem to be Su Xiao's scent or the perfu Her Highness liked to use, but it was a familiar scent, nevertheless.
My curiosity was piqued all of a sudden. I strolled over to the bed and pulled open the curtain. On my small bed, lied a pretty, small, delicate young girl with youthful white shoulders. She lied face down on the bed. Her attractive long hair covered a small portion of her face, but left enough visible to see her face. Her face was pretty; she had red lips and white teeth. She looked younger than sixteen year old Su Xiao by several years. She was the assassin I ran into at Heavenly Fragrance Garden, Sisi.
'She tried to kill last ti, but was exposed by . She shouldn't be coming after so soon; why is she on my bed, and asleep for that matter?'
I seemingly heard a sound. The girl, who resembled a purring kitten, wasn't asleep. She vigilantly raised her head up, turned her head around and glanced at . Realising it was who entered, she reacted with shock.
"Wh-Why are you here?"
I was unable to withhold my chuckle, "This is my room, yet you're asking that?"
I took two steps forward. Sisi struggled with her entire body, seemingly in an attempt to flee. Unfortunately, she couldn't move. When I had a closer look, I realised that she was restrained with a thin rope, thereby totally restricting her movents. She wasn't sleeping on my bed, but forced to wait on my bed.
"You… you shaless lecher!" exclaid Sisi. With a flushed look, she yelled, "You used Liu Shan n's authority to abduct from Heavenly Fragrance Garden after my assassination attempt failed! You know well and truly that I am not a girl working at Heavenly Fragrance Garden, yet shalessly violated ! You bring sha to your exalted na in the martial world!"
Notes:
*All units of asurent in the series have been converted to units you, readers, are more familiar with. For instance, all the phrases using incense as asures of ti have been converted.
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