In the quiet courtyard of i Wangsheng, Wang Anfeng and Gong Yu stood fifteen steps apart.
Apart from Tai Shu Jian, who was overjoyed with Jue Que strapped to his back, and Hong Luoyu, who stood with his hands behind his back, as well as i Wangsheng, who had co upon hearing the news, there was no one else around. All the servants had been sent away.
Hong Luoyu sat under the pavilion, composed and even more dignified in the presence of outsiders, wearing a moon-white long robe. As he poured tea without even glancing at Wang Anfeng, he said indifferently,
"Thirty-five moves are the limit."
"Do you understand?"
Wang Anfeng and Gong Yu nodded, and Hong Luoyu laughed lightly, lifting his tea cup to take a delicate whiff, slightly nodding in great satisfaction. This was the first sprout from the i Family's tea trees in Wanling after the winter, brewed thrice with spring water yet not overdone, of the highest quality.
He admired it for a mont but nonchalantly flicked the sleeve, scattering the tea.
The droplets ford a line, becoming a dragon.
It scattered precisely in between Wang Anfeng and Gong Yu with a clear and lofty sound of a sword's ringing, and to everyone's surprise, there was only one clink.
i Wangsheng's pupils slightly contracted.
Two longswords erged from the left and right, piercing through the dragon.
A sonorous and shrill whistle!
"Elder Sister, Miss i, look over there..."
"And there too..."
"Miss Qiaofu, this is sothing from our Wanling City..."
On the bustling streets of Wanling City, Lin Qiaofu pulled Lv Baiping along, her eyes nearly shining with excitent. Lv Baiping wore a look of helplessness but had no choice but to keep up.
i Lianhua followed with a smile.
They ran into Lin Qiaofu and others when leaving the i residence and decided to go together.
The girl from the noble clan was full of vigor and could speak about the origin and folklore of anything that caught Lin Qiaofu's interest, who, despite being well-read, simply nodded eagerly.
This young miss had been raised in Qingfeng Edge and had never left the mountain. There were many famous swords with significant history on Myriad Swords Peak, and in the Library at the foot of the mountain, all of which she was likely to control in decades to co.
Usually, she just road Myriad Swords Peak, found a nice spot to read or enjoy the breeze, and wasn't fond of practicing the sword. She even cared little for the light movents that allowed one to leap up and overlook the sea of clouds from Qingfeng Edge, recognized as the most reserved among her sisters.
Yet since descending the mountain, she had beco increasingly active day by day, seemingly insatiable, reading less, and even Lv Baiping, who was a martial artist with so cultivation, found it hard to keep up, but she didn't want to show weakness in front of i Lianhua and continued to stride along.
The stern-faced old Lü carried the broken longsword and followed five steps behind.
This distance was not close enough to interfere with the enthusiasm of the duo ahead but was enough to intervene in half a step if an incident were to occur—not even a breath's ti would be wasted.
To Lin Qiaofu and Lv Baiping, the explanation was that Master Yuchi had treated them, but in secret, Yuchi Jie had instructed him to keep a close watch. There were many noble clans and scholarly families along Jiangnan Road, and two disciples who had just left Qingfeng Edge to travel must be wary of being swindled.
He was also told his identity held so weight and should not be wasted there. In Jiangnan Road, he could make even better use of it.
Old Lü focused inwardly, silently grumbling to himself.
Not to let others swindle them round and round, but he himself was the one who enjoyed stirring things up the most.
To speak out of turn, to the sons of noble clans, their family head indeed allowed no one else to light a fire but could ignite one himself, and once full, he would flip the table, an unfortunate creature...
Ahead, Lin Qiaofu was intently watching a craftsman making sugar paintings, depicting the scenery of the ten-li flat lake in Wanling City. The golden sugar in the old man's hand was incredibly steady, like a hand wiping away morning mist, perfectly presenting the lake's vista, captivating the young girl.
A group of young n and won descended from a nearby tavern, seemingly aware of the group below, and headed straight for Lin Qiaofu and others. The young noble leading them called out from seven or eight steps away with a smile,
"Lianhua, I never expected to et you here."
"It must be fate."
"By the way, who are these two young ladies? How have I not seen them before..."
He sounded familiar, but i Lianhua didn't pay him any attention, rely frowning and telling the old craftsman to send the finished painting directly to the i residence, ntioning her na to ensure no interruptions.
Then she turned to Lin Qiaofu with a smile, suggesting there were still many interesting sights to see, and with the sky darkening, they would miss out if they delayed any longer. Qiaofu, not a dull girl by any ans, quickly adopted an obedient expression and nodded in agreent.
The group proceeded as if they hadn't noticed the stiff-faced young nobles and continued forward. The young noble's eyes shifted as he stepped forward, blocking their path and saying,
"Lianhua, we've known each other since we were kids, even if you don't want to..."
i Lianhua interrupted, unapologetically,
"I don't know you."
The young noble choked on his words; the jeers from the young n and won around him made it even harder for him to back down.
They had just been drinking upstairs, spotted i Lianhua passing by, and knowing his fondness for the little lady of the i Family, they urged him to go down and strike up a conversation. After having a couple of drinks, he didn't refuse at the ti.
i Lianhua, pulling Lin Qiaofu along, proceeded forward. Lv Baiping, who was following, quietly asked,
"Who is that person?"
i Lianhua replied, "He's the son of Wanling State's deputy governor, wielding so power in Wanling. He lacks in literature and martial arts but is annoyingly clingy."
Lin Qiaofu thoughtfully mused, "From a fourth-rank official downwards..."
i Lianhua glanced at her with a hint of surprise; she had initially thought the girl was just a delicate young lady from a modest family rarely venturing out of the city, but such a lady would not possess such insight.
In the Great Qin, officials were divided into upper and lower provincial rankings, with the Deputy Magistrate of a lower province being no more than an official of the Fifth Rank Upper Grade, and a far cry from the Deputy Magistrate from an upper province of the Fourth Rank Lower Grade; they were not to be ntioned in the sa breath, and distinguishing them at a glance was quite remarkable.
i Lianhua had not initially intended to worry the two, but now it was difficult not to say anything; she only whispered lowly,
"Don't bother with him; my third uncle's official rank was even higher than his, and now grandfather's official rank also overshadows his father's by a grade. We don't need to bother with him, and he wouldn't dare to cause trouble."
Yet, having walked only a few steps forward, the son of the upper provincial Deputy Magistrate, who usually knew his place, beca relentless. When words proved useless, he gritted his teeth and stretched out his hand toward i Lianhua's shoulder.
Lu Baiping's eyebrows raised, her thumb pressed against the sword scabbard, revealing a sliver of the cold aura of the Qingfeng Edge sword weaponry.
Before she could draw her sword, the older servant following behind swiftly stepped in, kicking the handso son of the noble clan several ters away; he crashed into a fruit stand and was covered in fruit pulp, looking extrely pitiful.
The other noble clan youths were montarily stunned, and then collectively enraged with curses and shouts. The guards by their side tensed up and charged forward, but the older servant muttered to himself and waved his hand at Lu Baiping, who was about to draw her sword behind him, signaling there was no need.
Watching the guards charging towards him, his expression solemn, he cracked his knuckles and inwardly cursed,
Although the young master is the type who flips the table after eating his fill, leaving no food for others, it was always him who had to flip the table. Following such a master, he too seed to others to be the unlucky one; truly damned unfortunate.
Yet his face remained stern, his deanor still solid and reliable, silent as a mountain.
With a quick grab, he caught one of the guards by the collar, lifted him up, and threw him away, accompanied by screams. Without drawing a blade, he beat the guards into disarray with his fists and feet. The commotion drew the attention of a squad of Iron Soldiers.
The leader, seeing the young Deputy Magistrate's son crawling up from the ground, was startled and rushed forward to lift the young nobleman. Embarrassed by such rare humiliation, the young nobleman was too angry to speak. After hearing a few words, the leader waved his hand and bellowed,
"Arrest them!"
"How dare you injure the nobleman; into the jail with you!"
Lu Baiping, coming from a Jianghu sect, was sowhat nervous, but the older servant remained composed. When the Iron Soldiers surrounded them, he calmly took out a heavy golden waist tablet and shook it, saying indifferently,
"I am a Colonel under the personal rit guard of Great Qin's Pillar of the State."
"Since when does Great Qin's Iron Cavalry take orders from a commoner with no title or renown, acting as a lackey for a noble's son?"
The Deputy Magistrate's son, who was busily knocking fruit residue off himself, trembled at the words, and the other noble youths quieted down like defeated roosters.
i Lianhua clapped her hands with her eyes shining, whispering,
"I know this; it's called 'playing the pig to eat the tiger,' right? I often see this in stories."
"So it does exist… much more interesting than listening to storytellers."
Lin Qiaofu, already accustod to Jianghu life and with no storytellers on the mountain, didn't grasp the aning behind i Lianhua's words but felt it was quite impressive and nodded in confusion,
"Oh, I see."
"Uncle Lu is really formidable…"
The old servant's cheeks twitched slightly.
The rest of the noble clan disciples stared at the waist tablet in the plain-dressed man's hand, looking like re servants, and their eyes nearly bulged.
Pillar of the State?
Great Qin had Seventy-Two Pillar States, sixty-seven of which were Pillar State Great Generals, ranking as Third Rank officials and holding the sa position as the heads of the Six Ministries at the central governnt – an extrely high status. There were only five Pillar of the State positions in all of Great Qin, ranking as Second Rank officials and sharing status with Pri Minister and Minister of the Ministry.
Above them, First Rank officials in the literary field were Grand Preceptors, a position abolished by Great Qin.
In the martial field, Great Generals of the Tiance Command, a position vacant for nearly twenty years, could command Great Qin's eighteen routes of Iron Cavalry.
Countless renowned generals yearned for that Celestial Command, yet none achieved their wish; a Colonel of the personal rit guard was rely a lowly Sixth Rank official, not fearso in the least. But importantly, was the Colonel just an attendant?!
The onlookers turned pale.
On the third floor of the restaurant, by the window sat a young man in his twenties, toying with a folding fan; the fan bones were made of superior white jade, as pure as mutton fat without a single blemish, an exceptionally rare kind of suet white jade.
Smooth and kind-hearted, any hint of blemish would see the jade discarded as mutton fat jade or powdered jade, but the young man's fan was flawless, with twelve spines altogether blemish-free; the fan's face depicted a Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains painting.
On one side, there were seals from famous masters.
With the folding fan gently swaying, the young man observed the scene below, his brows slightly furrowed.
He then turned to the man next to him and said with a light smile, "To make i Wangsheng leave his residence, it really was soone from the Divine Martial Mansion. Pillar of the State, Pillar of the State, it turns out to be soone from the Yuchi Family."
"I had long heard that Yuchi Jie was inadequate; I had not expected that a slight test would reveal his identity. Such a big fish indeed."
"Let's go; I need to report this to my father."
The man in grey closed his eyes and held his sword, silent. As the young man stood up, the grey-clothed man also rose, pausing slightly before looking askance.
The young man asked, "What is it?"
The man in grey spoke hoarsely,
"Soone in the east of the city is brandishing a sword."
"The Sword Intent is fierce and vast, no less than mine…"
PS: Here's the first update of the day…
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