“This residence is my great-uncle’s old house. It’s been vacant for a long time with no one living there. My roommate snores so deafeningly that I’ve been losing sleep for days…” Fu Yanyang pointed at the dark circles around his eyes. “So I asked my great-uncle for the key. I was just making the bed when you guys scared the piss out of me with that flying hammer.”

Changling: “Then why don’t you go home?”

“My home is so far away—even riding fast it takes half an hour. If I spent all that time traveling back and forth every day, how would I have time to practice martial arts?” Fu Yanyang had already climbed over from the other side of the wall. “But I never expected… hey, what are you all doing here?”

“Master is teaching me martial arts, but I’m too clumsy and can’t even hold weapons properly…” Zhou Qin bowed deeply. “I, I’ll definitely repair the wall for you…”

“Teaching martial arts? You’re secretly doing special training? Fu Yanyang threw his arm around Changling’s shoulder. “Master, you’re being biased! I’m your disciple too… How can you bear to leave me behind?”

Ye Qi pulled him three steps away from Changling. “If you want to talk, talk—don’t get handsy.”

“Young Marquis… can’t I feel wronged?” Fu Yanyang couldn’t move as Ye Qi held him. “I’m already at the bottom of this year’s Scholar Court. If I don’t think of something, I won’t be able to participate in this military examination…”

Ye Qi said, “What’s so difficult about Second Young Master Fu seeking an official title? Why must you compete with others for this position?”

Fu Yanyang said stubbornly, “I just don’t want my brother to look down on me! He always says I’m neither accomplished in literature nor martial arts, and he’s been opposing my studying martial arts all along. But I won’t give in—this time I want to show him that without him, I can still become a military examination graduate!”

Seeing this foolish boy full of fighting spirit, Changling was about to speak when she saw Ye Qi quickly shoot her a meaningful look, then smilingly patted Fu Yanyang’s shoulder. “How do I know whether you sincerely want to learn martial arts, or if your brother sent you as a spy?”

Only then did Changling realize—what she was about to teach Zhou Qin would more or less reveal her school’s martial techniques. Even if Fu Yanyang couldn’t recognize them, if he someday used a move or two in front of Fu Yangui, wouldn’t that arouse suspicion?

However… running into him right now was indeed somewhat troublesome.

These words hinted at complicated relationships. Zhou Qin was confused and didn’t dare make a sound.

“My sincere heart can be witnessed by the sun and moon. My loyalty to Master is absolute.”

After expressing his loyalty, Fu Yanyang found Changling unmoved. He pulled Ye Qi aside as if seeking help. “Young Marquis, you should know that my brother and I aren’t on the same side. If I were aligned with him, I would have already reported how you chase after my future sister-in-law every day…”

Ye Qi’s expression also changed. Before he could react, Fu Yanyang leaned in closer. “If the Young Marquis helps me, I’ll help you too.”

“How?”

He whispered quietly, “I’ll help you sabotage their marriage.”

Ye Qi’s eyelashes flickered, suspicious. “This kind of betraying your own family… dare I trust you so easily?”

“This isn’t betraying family—I’m just a clear-eyed observer,” Fu Yanyang said. “My eldest brother… if he really marries Sister Ting, it won’t end well for him… And I can tell that Sister Ting doesn’t care about my eldest brother at all. On the contrary, toward the Young Marquis…”

“Hmm?”

“In any case… it’s just different.” Fu Yanyang’s eyes darted away. “Unless you help me persuade Sister Ting to let me study martial arts together with you all, then I’ll tell you.”

Ye Qi: “…”

A cunning fox facing a shameless monkey—it wasn’t that he had no solution, but that his weak spot had been struck.

Changling watched them muttering together over there and said rather impatiently, “Fu Yanyang, it’s not that I’m unwilling to help you, but I can barely manage Zhou Qin alone. Adding you as well, I’m afraid…”

Before she finished speaking, Ye Qi turned around. “Actually, I think having Second Fu join isn’t a bad idea. This way Little Zhou will have a sparring partner, which would be more beneficial for increasing their practical combat experience.”

Changling glanced at them. “Will you teach him?”

“Why not?” Ye Qi patted Fu Yanyang’s shoulder. “Second Fu, if you follow this Scholar, you might have even better prospects.”

Fu Yanyang naturally didn’t dare object. Being able to stay and learn some martial arts was still profitable. Seeing they’d all reached a consensus, Changling was too lazy to say more. Only Zhou Qin, who’d been confused the whole time, asked, “So now… should we repair the wall first?”

“No need, no need. I think this is great. From now on I can come and go without knocking,” Fu Yanyang waved his hands repeatedly. “You continue, I’ll help you get that hammer back.”

After this little incident, using the black iron hammer as a weapon was naturally no longer feasible.

Zhou Qin had great strength but difficulty controlling her force. Ordinary swords, bows, and crossbows weren’t suitable. Whip and archery techniques couldn’t be mastered quickly, and as for spears and halberds…

“With Little Zhou’s supernatural strength, I think bladed weapons aren’t suitable for her. If she’s even slightly careless, it might not be a matter of entering the military examination, but of entering the Ministry of Justice.”

Zhou Qin didn’t understand Ye Qi’s joke and asked curiously, “Why?”

Fu Yanyang laughed heartily. “You’re so silly—if you stab someone to death, won’t you have to go to the Ministry of Justice’s prison?”

“Bladed weapons won’t work,” Changling suddenly said. “How about a staff?”

There were no staffs on the weapon rack. Changling found a broom from her courtyard, removed the head, twirled it in a flourish in her hand, and said to Zhou Qin, “As for staff techniques, common grip methods include the Yang grip, Yin grip, facing grip, crossed grip, and sliding grip.”

As she spoke, she demonstrated. “Among all staff techniques in the world, Shaolin’s Mighty Staff, Wudang’s Xuanwu Staff, and the Beggar Sect’s Dog Beating Staff are the most famous. These three staff methods each have their mysterious aspects. The latter two don’t advocate hard clashes of force and primarily use skillful force. Only Shaolin’s Mighty Staff wraps copper around wood. If used properly, its momentum is powerful and heavy. Ordinary women find it difficult to wield, but for you, it should be effortless.”

After Changling finished speaking, she advanced with披身, striking and chopping in grand sweeping motions. Zhou Qin and Fu Yanyang couldn’t keep up with their eyes and were reluctant to look away.

In truth, Changling wasn’t proficient in Shaolin staff techniques—it was her eldest brother’s specialty.

Back then, heaven and earth’s torrents surged, war smoke rose, and the two siblings wielded sharp weapons to slay souls, roaming freely wherever they wished,演兵 at mighty passes amidst flying sand.

Planning military strategy in the commander’s tent—never returning home until the enemy was destroyed.

When the final move settled, Changling herself hadn’t come back to her senses. Only when Zhou Qin and Fu Yanyang couldn’t help but clap and cheer did she toss the staff to Zhou Qin. “Try it yourself once.”

Changling sat on the corridor railing, her eyes watching Zhou Qin clumsily practicing with the staff, but her heart drifted to who knows where.

Ye Qi sat down beside her and said, “You’ll wait for it.”

Changling turned her head to look at him. “What?”

“Someday,” Ye Qi gazed at a firefly flying toward the bottomless night sky. “When the floating clouds no longer obscure your vision and the cold frost can finally recede, when you look back at tonight, you’ll know that Second Young Master’s story isn’t even half over yet, because the good times still stretch long ahead.”

“Is this your attempt at comfort?”

“No,” Ye Qi turned his head to look at her, smiling gently. “It’s a promise.”

When he said this, he still wore that appearance of treating worldly cynicism as carefree nonchalance. But at this moment, Changling suddenly had a very strange feeling, as if those ethereal, illusory days he spoke of could truly be reached.

Even if heaven shows no mercy to the lonely, even if the world’s ways don’t permit satisfaction, in this small space, with him by her side, that would be enough.

The two sat there watching their two unreliable disciples practice back and forth, the corners of their mouths unconsciously curling up in mutual understanding.

Ever since Zhou Qin began using the staff, her martial arts gradually improved. Every other day she could learn a new technique and integrate it with the Duckweed Step.

The very pleased Second Master Yue, in a good mood, took her to Jinling’s best blacksmith to forge a staff that balanced hardness and flexibility—the staff was divided into two sections with three layers. At the core was hidden a thin, sharp steel blade, wrapped in the middle with the hardest ironwood, and encased in the outermost layer with thin copper patterns. Normally it could be used as an ordinary staff, but in truly critical moments, one could twist the staff’s center and draw the blade for self-defense.

Zhou Qin was delighted, but Fu Yanyang was unhappy—his second master, the young marquis, not only didn’t forge him an wickedly cool and arrogant weapon, but also wouldn’t let him use his own precious sword.

Instead, he gave him a flexible sword.

“Your problem is lacking strength, unstable stance, getting tired after running a bit… In short, all strength-intensive tasks aren’t suitable for you—exactly opposite to Little Zhou.” Ye Qi said, “But fortunately you have some spiritual energy and your lightness skill is passable. You can try the flexible sword.”

Fu Yanyang tilted his head, watching the sword blade droop down limply. “Will this… work? I feel like this thing not only can’t be used to cut people, but couldn’t even kill a chicken…”

Ye Qi clicked his tongue twice. “Have you heard the saying, ‘Why must a hundred-forged steel blade become soft as silk wound around fingers’?”

Fu Yanyang nodded. “I’ve heard it. When I heard ‘soft as silk wound around fingers,’ I thought it was a love poem. Isn’t it?”

“…” Ye Qi sighed and had Zhou Qin, who was sitting cross-legged to the side, shake the pear tree in the courtyard. Zhou Qin did as told. After shaking just twice, the century-old tree’s branches trembled wildly, leaves rustling down, flying in the wind.

A cold gleam shot through. Ye Qi’s long sleeves suddenly moved. The flexible sword instantly straightened like a bowstring. As he leaped into the air, his sword momentum was nimble and unrestrained, as if wielding a long whip, sometimes ethereal, sometimes condensed.

Zhou Qin watched in amazement and asked, “Can a flexible sword have such power?”

“The flexible sword is soft. Though not suitable for chopping, it can easily cut tendons and sever necks. It’s an extremely formidable killing weapon.”

Changling’s gaze followed Ye Qi’s movements back and forth. “However, the Young Marquis’s sword is slightly duller than ordinary flexible swords. It can bend or be rigid—quite distinctive.”

“Really? How is it distinctive?”

He nimbly spun around with light, swift movements. With just one move, the sword flowed out like water, and all the surrounding leaves were cut in half, without exception.

As Ye Qi landed “very naturally,” he brushed his hair back and cast Changling a look that said “Aren’t I more handsome than you imagined?”

Changling answered Zhou Qin: “…Distinctively foolish.”

As the military examination drew closer day by day, the students of Qingcheng Courtyard also worked tirelessly day and night. Zhou Qin and Fu Yanyang studied literary courses and archery with everyone during the day, then after hastily eating dinner would hide in the small courtyard to spar—wishing they could work without sleep or rest to fully absorb everything their masters taught them.

Although one couldn’t become fat in a single bite, the people supporting them from behind were truly too formidable. Both smoothly passed the second round of the retest.

In ten more days, it would be the military examination.

This night, Changling sat on the roof of the He Manor. In the distance, she could faintly see the high palace walls under the night sky. She thought to herself: Ten more days, and we should begin settling our accounts.

Ye Qi wandered around under the eaves for a while without finding anyone and called out, “Ling, where are you?”

Changling’s brow unconsciously furrowed—Ling what Ling? Was this loose-tongued young marquis looking for a beating?

“I’m up here enjoying the cool air. What is it?”

“Seventh Uncle has returned,” Ye Qi leaped up. “He’s brought the thing back. Hurry down and take a look.”

Changling couldn’t be sure of the meaning of “thing.” “You mean…”

“Right, the Yue family heirloom.”