What no one had anticipated was that Changling would win against Fu Yangui in the final moment.

Not a single person understood how this young lady had merely bounced once on that bamboo branch, and the palm she’d struck down wasn’t even any particularly remarkable move—so how had she enticed Fu Yangui to use his other hand, leading to his defeat?

Even though there were quite a few martial arts experts among those seated, internal skills as subtle as “reverse flow rebellion” couldn’t be discerned just by a few tree leaves stuck to the body. Therefore, that thrilling confrontation on the stage appeared to most people as simply Prime Minister Fu not paying attention for a moment, allowing Changling to win by luck.

Shen Yao said to Jing Wuwei, “A tiger daughter from a military family—truly eye-opening indeed.”

“It was only because Prime Minister Fu couldn’t bear to harm my daughter that he yielded with every move.” Though Jing Wuwei said this, his eyes still carried a trace of puzzlement as he looked toward the stage.

Fu Yangui lowered his eyes, concealing the dazed look in them, and returned the courtesy to Changling. “Miss Jing has excellent skills.”

With that, he strolled down from the platform at a leisurely pace. He glanced at Ye Qi but didn’t return to his own seat, assuming a posture of watching the battle from nearby.

Ye Qi lightly touched down with his foot, floating gracefully onto the stage. Smiling, he cupped his fist. “Miss Changting, since Prime Minister Fu used his right hand, I’ll use my left hand to experience your martial arts. If I accidentally strike too heavily, please forgive me.”

Everyone was slightly astonished. Judging by the implication, he seemed certain of victory. Could it be that this young marquis’s martial arts were even higher than Prime Minister Fu’s?

Changling heard him start shamelessly boasting again and silently rolled her eyes internally. But the reason she’d jumped onto the competition platform today was precisely because she didn’t want to see him fight and injure his body. Now that she’d already defeated Fu Yangui, she needed to lose this match. Otherwise, wouldn’t Ye Qi still have to fight that Fu surname fellow?

However, with so many eyes watching, the water she let through couldn’t be too obvious. To make it convincing, she’d probably have to get serious at the start.

“Young Marquis, please.”

Before the words had even fallen, Changling stepped forward. Her left elbow sank forward, her right fist formed a hook, both hands vibrating out together, greeting him with an overwhelming assault.

This move “Hawk Entering the Forest” was swift and fierce in power, with unique intent. Someone in the crowd immediately exclaimed, “Isn’t this the Crouching Dragon Fist?”

The Crouching Dragon Fist originally derived from Shaolin Long Fist. After being refined and evolved by various sects, quite a few people in the jianghu could practice it. But this fist technique was extremely complex—non-Shaolin disciples couldn’t practice it to the essence. Though many learned it, few truly mastered it.

After Changling executed several moves, those with discerning eyes could see she was quite proficient. They couldn’t help but admire silently: They’d thought this Miss Jing merely had agile movements, but unexpectedly her Crouching Dragon Fist flowed so smoothly. She hadn’t used it against Prime Minister Fu in the previous match—could it be she was saving it to surprise the young marquis?

Ye Qi saw the fierce fist attacking. His left hand didn’t defend—he just stood in place letting her hit him. Changling hadn’t expected him to seek death right from the start. She hastily withdrew force midway—but managed to withdraw only half, with the other half still striking his shoulder and chest.

However, the moment her hand touched his body, she felt the force suddenly shift. She was slightly startled, then saw a surge of vigorous wind emerge from his left palm, as if he hadn’t been hit at all.

Changling immediately reacted. “Grafting Flowers onto Trees?”

Grafting Flowers onto Trees was a martial art uniquely created by Uncle-Master Jiagu. When attacked, it could instantly disperse the force through hands and feet. But how much force could be expelled depended on the practitioner’s internal cultivation. In other words, the deeper the internal energy, the greater the technique they could receive—Changling had personally witnessed Master strike Uncle-Master Jiagu’s chest three consecutive times, yet Uncle-Master remained unharmed.

This Grafting Flowers onto Trees was extremely difficult to master. Not one of Uncle-Master Jiagu’s former disciples had learned it. This fellow had even learned this?

Ye Qi saw her staring at him with a shocked expression, not making the next move for ages. He grasped her wrist, the corners of his eyes curving. “Don’t tell me you were planning to let me win right from the start?”

Changling glanced at him woodenly and suddenly stomped hard on his instep. Ye Qi let out an “ow” and hopped backward three times. “You, you, you…”

Heh. So what if he’d learned “Grafting Flowers onto Trees?”

He could unload force from his body to his feet, but could he possibly unload force from his feet to the top of his head?

In the following moves, she no longer held back, striking out without restraint.

Ye Qi didn’t know this “Grafting Flowers onto Trees” had once been a technique someone had long coveted but failed to learn. Seeing Changling’s moves getting faster and faster, he couldn’t help but feel somewhat embarrassed. He took advantage of a gap to withstand a palm and asked softly, “Hey, are you for real?”

Changling humphed but didn’t answer him. The long fist in her hand drew a half circle, drilling diagonally toward his nose bridge.

Ye Qi exchanged several moves with her, and his mind immediately became clear: She was conserving most of her internal energy, probably afraid that if she used too much force, his “Grafting Flowers onto Trees” wouldn’t work. Though every move looked merciless, in reality every move showed mercy.

He resisted laughing aloud, but the joy was still irrepressible. So he swept his long sleeves and engaged in spirited combat with her.

This was the first time Changling truly fought with Ye Qi.

Before this, she’d always thought this half-dead sickly invalid was just a rookie who only knew how to wield a whip and his mouth.

But when they truly exchanged moves, she suddenly discovered that Ye Qi’s martial arts approach was extraordinarily “flexible.”

Like an expert who’d weathered hundreds of battles casually waving, yet also seeming able to anticipate the enemy’s moves in that split second. In short, no matter how endlessly varied her strikes, he seemed able to quickly dissolve them with a clever force. And each move and stance seemed both familiar yet untraceable.

Could this also be martial arts that Uncle-Master Jiagu taught him?

After the two had fought for over a hundred moves, Changling’s mentality had gradually shifted from “need to yield to him” to “does he really receive every technique?” Unconsciously, she executed another set of Wudang’s “Twenty-Four Celestial Constellation Palm.” Every palm strike carried faint sounds of wind and thunder, while Ye Qi’s body movements were ethereally elusive, able to smoothly dissolve them perfectly, as if even the most exquisite fists and palms, reaching his sleeves, all fell into emptiness.

The only flaw was he could only dissolve moves but couldn’t shift from defense to offense, just like that “Grafting Flowers onto Trees.”

Changling employed her lightness skill, falling from high above. Her two fingers formed a sword, thrusting out with one strike “Flying Crane Pecking the Chest”—this was precisely the final killing move of the Solitary Crane Sword. If this finger strike were infused with true qi, no matter which position on the head it struck, death or disability would result. Even if avoided in time, one would still be kicked by her rapidly rotating feet descending.

This move was extremely abrupt. The observing crowd couldn’t help but cry out in alarm. Even Fu Yangui unconsciously stepped forward.

However, they saw Ye Qi point one finger toward the sky. The two people’s four fingertips actually met in midair!

Though Changling’s finger strike naturally carried no internal force, and her body’s own gravitational force was also “grafted” by him to his other hand, she performed an inverted leap and landed back on the ground. She looked in astonishment as Ye Qi spread his two raised fingers apart and playfully waved them at her.

The crowd didn’t know that from beginning to end, the two hadn’t used any internal force. But seeing those moves even more perilous than the previous match, fighting until now still evenly matched, it was clear Young Marquis He’s martial arts were even more brilliant than Prime Minister Fu’s.

At this moment, seeing the incense stick about to burn out, Changling suddenly remembered her task to “lose.” Just as she was hesitating whether to forcibly move to the edge and perform an “unfortunate slip,” Ye Qi’s form flashed and without warning leaped to a corner of the stage.

Just as she was puzzled, she heard several “crack crack” sounds of floorboards breaking. Changling almost instinctively leaped up, landing on the ground. In a thunderous moment, the entire stage collapsed and completely fell apart.

“What happened?”

“Why did the platform collapse?”

“Hey, everyone look at Marquis He!”

Everyone looked up. On the now-collapsed stage, there was still one wooden stake firmly planted in the ground, and Ye Qi stood atop it with hands behind his back, standing steadfast and unmoving, carefree and at ease.

Changling was momentarily stunned. After looking several more times at the wooden strips shattered into pieces at her feet, she suddenly reacted—this stage had originally been supported by several wooden stakes. Earlier when exchanging moves with Ye Qi, while he maneuvered with her, he simultaneously borrowed force to shift his feet, imperceptibly shattering the stakes.

No wonder his evasion directions were sometimes east, sometimes west—he’d actually progressively broken through point by point according to different positions, then at the final moment stood on that one intact wooden stake. Thus, according to the competition rules, whoever remained on the platform at the final moment won.

What meticulous thinking, flawless strategy, combined with perfectly appropriate skills—to win this match under everyone’s watchful gaze in such an almost unbelievable yet surprising way.

“Remarkable.” Everyone’s hearts were both shocked and admiring, so stunned for a moment they forgot to cheer.

Ye Qi stood on the stake. Seeing Changling’s eyes shoot over a look that said “you come down, I promise I won’t beat you to death,” he couldn’t help but shiver and asked, “Um… does this count as me winning?”

Changling looked up at him, his garments flying in the moonlight. She endured, ultimately not kicking him down.

“Mm.” She smiled without smiling. “You won.”

Only then did applause and cheers ring out in the venue. Ye Qi jumped down from the stake, pulled up Changling’s hand in one motion, and walked before Shen Yao. “Please, Your Majesty, uphold justice and bestow marriage… upon Miss Changting and me.”

Changling froze. Before she could speak, Ye Qi quietly pinched her palm, signaling her not to make a sound.

The play having reached this point, Shen Yao had no reason to forcibly object. He coughed lightly. “Since there was an agreement beforehand and Marquis He won this competition, taking the beauty home is naturally as it should be. I shall decide for you two beloved ministers and establish this marriage engagement. General Jing, do you have any objections?”

Jing Wuwei said, “This minister has no objections. Everything shall be as Your Majesty decides.”

Shen Yao nodded twice with a chuckle. Seeing Fu Yangui return to his seat, he remembered that having lost this competition, his mood probably wasn’t happy. He quickly asked, “I wonder if Prime Minister Fu has any objections?”

“This minister naturally has no objections.” Fu Yangui’s face showed no trace of displeasure. He courteously bowed to Ye Qi and Changling. “Congratulations to you two lovers finally becoming a couple.”

Ye Qi smiled. “We must also thank the Prime Minister for his gracious accommodation.”

Shen Yao, seeing they didn’t continue bickering, secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He pointed at Ye Qi again. “However, Minister He, you’ve trampled my platform flat. At the very least you must rebuild it, otherwise I won’t let you leave tonight.”

Hearing this, everyone burst into accompanying laughter.

After all, it was just a joke. Young Marquis He didn’t rebuild the stage, nor did Shen Yao dare not let him leave.

“The reason I requested Shen Yao to bestow the marriage was because if I didn’t make that request, this matter would always have the possibility of changing.” An hour later, inside the He family carriage, Ye Qi peeled an orange and handed it over. “You don’t understand Fu Yangui as a person. If he’s truly determined to marry you, he can make an issue out of anything.”

After the banquet dispersed, Jing Wuwei had been called away by Shen Yao for a private chat. The task of sending the beauty home was righteously taken on by “He the betrothed.”

Seeing Changling hadn’t shown a pleasant expression the entire journey, knowing she was still annoyed at his recklessness, he explained, “Don’t think that just because you don’t want to marry, you can run away at worst. This matter isn’t that simple. Once a marriage engagement is established, even if you run to the ends of the earth, that Fu surname can send people to chase you to the ends of the earth. Then he’ll have a legitimate reason to keep you by his side. You understand?”

Changling glanced at him coolly. “You make me sound like a rabbit.”

“No, you’re definitely not a rabbit. The problem is he’s a wolf,” Ye Qi flipped his hand over his eyes, “the white-eyed kind.”

“He knows I’m not Nanxu. I previously rejected his proposal for cooperation,” Changling said. “He has no reason why he must marry me.”

Ye Qi clicked his tongue twice. “He didn’t even give Shen Yao face insisting on fighting for you. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have known his martial arts were so high. The facts are before your eyes—you can’t not acknowledge them.”

“Then what exactly is he after?”

“How would I know?” Ye Qi recalled Fu Yangui’s gaze toward her tonight. “Perhaps…”

“Perhaps what?”

He gazed at Changling and couldn’t help but retract his speculation. “Nothing. In any case, you still need to maintain high vigilance toward him and not relax.”

Changling didn’t have much interest in someone like Fu Yangui to begin with. Unable to figure it out, she simply stopped overthinking. Hearing Ye Qi say this reminded her of another matter. “Speaking of which, what technique were you using tonight?”

Ye Qi bit into an orange segment. “Grafting Flowers onto Trees.”

“I’m not talking about Grafting Flowers onto Trees. I mean those palm techniques you used.”

“Oh, that,” Ye Qi suddenly understood. “When Master Jiagu was thinking about it, he said it was called ‘No Moves Defeats All Moves.’ Later I found the name too long, so I changed it to ‘Heartless Palm.'”

“Heartless Palm?”

Seeing the Second Young Master Yue proactively inquiring about his martial arts, Ye Qi’s inner self instantly swelled. He cleared his throat. “Master once said that palm techniques in this world vary in a thousand ways, countless in number. Even a martial arts sage who could study hundreds of schools would be extremely rare. However, even mastering many martial arts ultimately amounts to using cleverness against cleverness, using moves against moves.”

“I know all this…” Changling didn’t want to hear him show off his learning. “I’m asking what ‘no moves defeats all moves’ means.”

Ye Qi’s lips curved. “Try striking me with a palm?”

Changling looked at him hesitantly and swished a palm over. Ye Qi called out to stop. “Look, with this strike of yours, I could break it with ‘Dragon Grabbing Hand’ or intercept it with ‘Chopping and Hanging,’ right? But if I do this…” He used his right hand’s back to backhand slap, lightly shifting the position of Changling’s hand gesture a bit. “Then what will your instinctive next move be?”

“I’ll follow through with the chop.”

“And I will be one step ahead of you before your hand chops down, like this…” Ye Qi extended his left hand and grasped Changling’s wrist. “Then you’ll definitely use your left hand to strike my shoulder, but I’ve also calculated that. Before you strike…” His right arm bent in a hook, blocking Changling’s incoming right hand. His form suddenly pressed down, pinning her onto the soft couch, both legs tightly locking her knees. “This way, you can’t move.”

Changling didn’t notice the ambiguous posture, still savoring these three extremely simple move-breaking techniques. “In other words, you first use the most inconspicuous move. On the surface you’re breaking moves, but actually at the moment of striking you’ve already calculated my next three moves. After three moves, you guess three more moves. This way, you only need to casually break moves as you see them until I expose a weakness, then you find a gap to strike directly?”

“Smart. The so-called Heartless Palm means using moves without heart, yet penetrating every opening,” Ye Qi raised his eyebrows. “Want to learn?”

Changling thought briefly and shook her head. “I fight entirely by instinct. This set of ‘No Moves Defeats All Moves’—without an exquisitely clever heart, even wanting to learn it might not succeed.”

Ye Qi had shown off enough and modestly added, “If I truly encountered a master of unprecedented brilliance like you, it wouldn’t be of much use. As long as you break the technique with force, slapping and breaking my hand in one palm, I’d have no moves left to use.”

Changling sincerely evaluated, “Your martial arts talent is extremely high. You’re just suffering from insufficient internal energy. If you could cultivate internal energy, perhaps within ten or eight years, those in this world who could defeat you would be few and far between.”

Ye Qi, seeing her so serious, instead laughed frivolously. “I’m already taking you home as my wife—what do I need to cultivate internal energy for? If someone hits me, you’ll protect me.”

Just as she was about to “ptui” in his face, suddenly the carriage jolted. Ye Qi’s entire person suddenly tilted, couldn’t brake, and his mouth swiftly grazed past her lips, touching briefly.

His breath suddenly caught. He was dumbfounded.

“S-sorry… I…” Ye Qi quickly released her and scrambled up, his heart pounding wildly, his face flushing red like a lantern. “I didn’t mean to…”

Changling still lay there in a daze, one hand lightly touching her lips.

She didn’t know why, but that instant of warmth earlier seemed to slide down from her lips to her chest, where it spread warm ripples in circles, floating up and down, thump-thump.

This feeling had never happened before, so much so that she didn’t come back to her senses for a long time.

Ye Qi saw her motionless, afraid she’d be so angry she’d never speak to him again. “Don’t be angry. If you’re really angry, h-hit me a couple times…”

Changling suddenly sat up. Her movement arc was so large that the young marquis didn’t even dare breathe heavily.

Those eyes of hers, clear as a stream, flashed with a slightly curious yet indescribable light.

In the next moment, she tilted her head slightly, moving closer at an extremely slow pace, lightly kissing his lips like a dragonfly touching water.