Chu Yuanzhen’s eyes lit up. Far from being angered, he smiled with anticipation and said, “Our previous exchange was rather dull. Feel free to use any supreme skill you have.”
Xu Qi An nodded and added, “I’ll only make one move. After that, our duel ends.”
He was taking precautions in case Chu Yuanzhen countered after receiving one strike, turning him into a human pincushion. In that scenario, Xu Qi An: is deceased, aged twenty.
Chu Yuanzhen pondered for a moment and asked, “Will you enter a weakened state after using this supreme skill?”
…As expected of the Top Scholar, he’s quite perceptive! Xu Qi An thought admiringly, and nodded, “Yes.”
“What kind of supreme skill is it?”
Hearing their dialogue, Emperor Yuan Jing turned to look at Luo Yuheng beside him.
Luo Yuheng shook her head. She actually knew but didn’t want to waste her breath explaining to Emperor Yuan Jing.
Her nonchalant attitude made Emperor Yuan Jing frown inwardly. As the supreme ruler, he commanded vast territories and held sway over his subjects’ lives. Yet before this woman, he became an emperor with nothing impressive to offer, at a complete disadvantage.
Emperor Yuan Jing had always wanted to practice dual cultivation with the National Preceptor to achieve his desire for longevity. But whenever he brought up the idea, Luo Yuheng would either ignore or deflect it.
Before this Second-Rank Daoist Master, he felt like a pauper with shallow pockets. This greatly discouraged Emperor Yuan Jing.
Clang!
In the garden, Xu Qi An sheathed his black gold long saber.
Then, he stepped into a bow stance, slightly bending his knees, and slowly placed his right hand on the saber hilt, assuming a posture ready to draw.
His breath steady and emotions settled, he resembled a shoreline before a tsunami, his energy contracting and collapsing inward.
Chu Yuanzhen’s expression turned solemn. He made a sword finger and lightly summoned a tree branch, grasping it as a substitute sword.
Clang… As Xu Qi An’s thumb flicked out the black-gold long saber, he visualized the Golden Lion’s Roar in his mind. Accompanied by a deep roar, he drew his blade.
A thunderous boom exploded next to Chu Yuanzhen’s ears as if lightning had struck right above him. Then he saw a hair-thin blade aura flash by.
In this critical moment, the Top Scholar unhurriedly extended the tree branch in his hand.
Boom!
The instant the branch touched the blade aura, a violent shockwave swept through the entire garden. The artificial mountain beneath Chu Yuanzhen’s feet shattered first, followed by the pavilion behind him. Its four pillars snapped, and the roof was sent flying skyward.
The calm pool water surged into massive waves, erupting in spray. Just as it seemed about to demolish the Quiet Room behind, Luo Yuheng’s red lips parted slightly: “Still!”
The violent shockwave instantly froze and then vanished.
In the arena, Xu Qi An sat cross-legged with his saber across his knees, looking drained.
Half of Chu Yuanzhen’s sleeve had disintegrated, revealing his muscular forearm. He slowly flexed his fingers, then relaxed them, repeating the motion several times to ease the pain. He sighed in admiration:
“Impressive, truly impressive… If you were at the Fifth-Rank Realm, this strike could have severely wounded me.”
Damn it, I gave it my all, and all I did was cut through emptiness… Xu Qi An grumbled inwardly. He raised his head, imitating Xu Er Lang’s expression, and said coolly:
“As expected of a powerhouse who can face Li Miaozhen. Xu concedes defeat.”
Xu Qi An is also quite proud, his pride no less than the scholars of Cloud Deer Academy… Chu Yuanzhen smiled and nodded.
Emperor Yuan Jing scanned the garden and then turned to look at Luo Yuheng. The stunningly beautiful National Preceptor was staring intently at Xu Qi An.
Seeing this, Emperor Yuan Jing broke into a pleased smile, “Chu Yuanzhen truly lives up to his reputation as an outstanding disciple of the Human Sect. Such cultivation is rare indeed. Xu Qi An still has a long way to go, but he’s just a Silver Constable after all, with much room for improvement.”
While seemingly praising Chu Yuanzhen and belittling Xu Qi An, his words conveyed the opposite. For a mere Silver Constable to tear Chu Yuanzhen’s sleeve, implied that the Constabulary had many more such talents.
Luo Yuheng forced a smile.
Emperor Yuan Jing felt even more pleased and said, “I have matters to attend to in the palace and can’t stay long. National Preceptor, please see me out.”
Luo Yuheng made a gesture of invitation.
At this moment, Xu Qi An in the courtyard suddenly called out, “This humble official pays respects to Your Majesty.”
Chu Yuanzhen also bowed but remained silent.
Emperor Yuan Jing and Luo Yuheng had no choice but to pause. The former swept his majestic gaze over Xu Qi An, who had already been promoted to Silver Constable. Unusually, he didn’t wear a stern expression but nodded and said:
“An excellent duel, Xu Qi An. You have good potential. Don’t waste the court’s nurturing of you.”
Xu Qi An responded smoothly, “Thank you for Your Majesty’s cultivation. This humble official will serve with utmost loyalty until death.”
Emperor Yuan Jing nodded with satisfaction and walked towards the exit alongside Luo Yuheng.
Empty praise without any substantial reward… Xu Qi An watched their retreating figures and pursed his lips.
After the two were out of sight, Chu Yuanzhen said, “Brother Xu, please wait a moment while I change my clothes.”
With that, he turned and entered the Quiet Room.
A few minutes later, the door of the Quiet Room opened, and Chu Yuanzhen called out, “Brother Xu, come in for some tea.”
Xu Qi An stepped over the threshold and saw Chu Yuanzhen sitting by the desk, wearing a moon-white robe. The torn cyan robe was nowhere to be seen.
“Oh? Where did Brother Chu get these clothes? What happened to the cyan robe?” Xu Qi An pretended to look around.
“I have a storage artifact,” Chu Yuanzhen explained mildly as he poured tea for him.
…Well, I was going to say: Wow, Brother Chu, that’s amazing! Is it the Sleeve Dimension technique? How can someone be as honest as you? Tch, you’re not giving me any opportunity at all. Even more honest than Li Miaozhen! Xu Qi An inwardly complained, but kept a straight face as he asked, “May I see it?”
Chu Yuanzhen shook his head, “The senior who gifted me this treasure once instructed that I shouldn’t show it lightly to others.”
Even his refusal was forthright and aboveboard.
“No matter, no matter,” Xu Qi An said with disappointment.
Golden Lotus Daoists had given him similar warnings, mainly to guard against Earth Sect Daoists. After all, the Earth Sect was a tradition spanning thousands of years. Despite the split many years ago, their foundation remained profound.
One couldn’t be too careless.
“Brother Chu isn’t a student of Cloud Deer Academy, is he?” Xu Qi An asked.
“I studied at Cloud Deer Academy before, then went to the Imperial Academy,” Chu Yuanzhen revealed without hesitation. He sighed, “In my youth, I was full of ambition, with a belly full of talent I wanted to offer to the emperor. Knowing that Cloud Deer Academy students weren’t favored, I left the academy to study at the Imperial Academy.”
“Then why did you resign from your official post later?”
“Because a scholar is useless in all things. Learning literature couldn’t save Great Feng, so I simply resigned, became a commoner, and roamed the jianghu with my sword,” Chu Yuanzhen sighed.
I know someone who thought studying medicine couldn’t save the country, so he went to write novels instead… Xu Qi An slapped the table in approval, “How dashing!”
No wonder Chu Yuanzhen only gave a slight bow to Emperor Yuan Jing earlier without verbal greetings… He had noticed this detail, and now connecting the dots, he realized it was probably this cultivation-obsessed supreme ruler who had truly disappointed Chu Yuanzhen.
As they drank tea and chatted, it was mostly Chu Yuanzhen speaking, recounting to Xu Qi An the experiences from his years of travel.
“The northern barbarians have a population of just over a million, while a single great province of our Great Feng has tens of millions. Yet for thousands of years, the barbarians have remained a thorn in Great Feng’s side. Do you know why?”
“Because the northern barbarians are descendants of ancient gods and demons.”
“Ancient gods and demons?” Xu Qi An was puzzled.
“It’s said that when the world first formed, a group of gods and demons were born who could move mountains and fill seas, pluck stars, and seize the moon. Later, they became extinct for unknown reasons. The northern barbarians being called descendants of gods and demons isn’t baseless. They are born with strong physiques capable of lifting great weights. Occasionally, children are born in the tribes showing signs of atavism – scales growing on their bodies, a single horn on the forehead, a giant python’s tail, reaching two zhang tall at just three years old… Various phenomena confirm this theory.
“Based on these phenomena, Great Feng’s historians have speculated that in the primordial era, there must have been an age when gods and demons were active. In that age, humans were as weak as ants and could only survive by attaching themselves to gods and demons. This led to the present-day northern barbarians.
“And we are the human race that rose to power later.”
No, shouldn’t gods, demons, and humans have reproductive isolation… While inwardly raising objections, Xu Qi An asked, “I suspect it’s a mix of humans and beasts, not so-called gods and demons. After all, the northern barbarians and northern beast tribes are allies.”
Chu Yuanzhen pondered this question for a long time before saying, “Regarding whether gods and demons exist, I’ve heard a theory that the Gu God sleeping in the Extreme Abyss of the Southern Border is a god-demon who survived from ancient times, and perhaps the only one.”
The Gu God is an ancient god-demon? This is a question I could ask Number Five… Xu Qi An suddenly had a thought and made a connection, “So during the Shanhai Pass battle years ago, the northern and southern barbarians were allies?”
“That’s a good line of thinking. We only know that the northern and southern barbarians have always maintained a relatively friendly relationship. We assumed it was because Great Feng stood between them, and they both coveted this ‘pancake,’ making them natural allies. But it could also be that their divine-demonic bloodline maintains their relatively friendly relations.”
Chu Yuanzhen said excitedly, “If the historians knew about this perspective, they’d be thrilled.”
The conversation continued.
“Beyond the northern barbarian territories, further north is the polar region. It’s so cold there that people freeze from the inside out. But there are still signs of life surviving. I once saw a peculiar race with human heads and fish bodies. They possess intelligence but don’t speak human languages. We could communicate through gestures.
“Their population is predominantly female, with one male often assigned to multiple females, responsible for impregnating them. Apart from mating, the males don’t do anything else; hunting is left to the females.”
Extremely envious… Xu Qi An thought to himself.
“But due to overexertion, males often don’t live past twenty years, and the offspring born are still predominantly female.”
So, boys should stay pure and protect themselves, not letting women covet their bodies… Xu Qi An mused inwardly.
“Every sixty years, they face a crisis of extinction because all the males die off, and there’s no one left to impregnate the females… Coincidentally, I went to the northern polar region that year.”
Xu Qi An asked in shock, “Then you successfully impregnated the females?”
“Pfft…”
Chu Yuanzhen spat out a mouthful of tea, spraying it on Xu Qi An’s face.
“Why would you make such a guess?” Chu Yuanzhen asked in astonishment while handing over a handkerchief.
“…Please continue,” Xu Qi An waved his hand, refusing to answer the question.
“That year happened to be when their race’s males went extinct. To allow the race to reproduce again, some females would transform into males, bravely shouldering the burden of propagating the species.
“The queen of the race would be the first to change gender, as it was her duty. After becoming king, he would gather a harem, summoning his daughters into his harem.”
…I have so many thoughts I don’t know how to express. What should I do?! Xu Qi An sighed, “The wonders of creation are truly astounding.”
After chatting for another quarter of an hour, Chu Yuanzhen smiled and said, “Don’t just listen to me talk. Brother Xu, your great name is known to all in the capital. Your glorious deeds must be the talk of taverns and teahouses.
“Tell me about those cases.”
“Well, that’s a long story…” Xu Qi An sat up straight and said:
“Let me start with the tax silver case. At that time, Second Uncle was implicated in the theft of tax silver. Knowing his life was in danger, he had harmed others. When I learned of this, I told Second Uncle: ‘Don’t panic, Uncle. This case is full of loopholes. In my eyes, it’s just a small trick. I could solve it in the time it takes to burn a stick of incense…’
“But I must admit, I was indeed young and arrogant then, underestimating the heroes of the world.”
“Oh? What do you mean by that?” Chu Yuanzhen became interested.
“It took me two incense sticks to solve the tax silver case.”
…
Xu Qi An started from the tax silver case and continued to the Favored Consort case. Chu Yuanzhen held his teacup without drinking a sip, listening with rapt attention.
When he encountered confusing points, he frowned in puzzlement. After Xu Qi An explained the inside story, he would suddenly understand and smile.
“Brother Xu solves cases like a god. I’m truly impressed.”
Chu Yuanzhen had a thought, remembering this Mister Xu’s cousin, Number Three. Previously, he had speculated that Number Three was related to the Clear Qi Soaring to the Heavens of the Sage Hall, believing that the Golden Lotus Daoist had given him the Earth Book fragment because of Number Three’s special qualities.
Then, learning about Number Three’s cousin Xu Qi An, he thought this young man was equally brilliant, and that the Golden Lotus Daoist had ostensibly given the Earth Book fragment to the cousin but intended to win over both brothers.
Now, seeing Xu Qi An’s abilities and talent firsthand, he became even more certain of this guess.
“Golden Lotus Daoist is indeed deeply calculating.”
Just then, Chu Yuanzhen suddenly felt a palpitation, understanding that a fragment holder was sending a message. He immediately said, “I need to use the latrine.”
As soon as he spoke, Xu Qi An, sitting opposite him, almost simultaneously said, “I need to use the latrine.”
They fell silent for a moment, and then Xu Qi An said with a straight face, “Brother Chu, please go first.”
Chu Yuanzhen nodded and left the Quiet Room. He estimated that the message from the Heaven and Earth Society members wouldn’t end quickly.
If Xu Qi An went to the latrine first and returned shortly, it would be awkward if he encountered him.
After the footsteps faded away, Xu Qi An took out the small jade mirror to check the message.
[Five: My silver was scammed. What should I do?]
This is an expected and understandable situation… Xu Qi An’s mouth twitched. Considering his status as a “dead person,” he didn’t send a message to inquire.
After waiting a few seconds, he saw Chu Yuanzhen’s reply: [Four: What happened? How was the silver scammed?]
[Six: Number Five, where are you now? How far are you from the capital? How much silver was scammed? If you have nowhere to eat, see if there’s a temple nearby and go there to beg for alms.]
Pfft… Xu Qi An covered his mouth, almost laughing out loud.
Usually, only monks beg for alms. If Number Five went to a temple to beg, how would the monks feel?
[Two: It’s okay if the silver was scammed, as long as you weren’t scammed… Your tribe is something, letting a young girl travel thousands of miles to Great Feng alone? Don’t they know to send an elder to accompany you?]
[One: Remember not to do anything that violates Great Feng’s laws.]
[Nine: Ah, Number Five, if you’re not far from the Southern Border, just go back. The road is dark and slippery, and the jianghu is complicated.]
Everyone is so worried about Number Five… Xu Qi An’s finger touched the mirror surface several times, then withdrew. It’s so hard, that I want to add a comment.