Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Lv Mudui left Beiluo City in a daze.
He was leaving in a wagon. With wheels rolling over gravel, the wagon was rocking.
The wagon man was driving the wagon to Wangtian City at high speed.
When they arrived in the city, they found out that because of those Yinyang assassins, Wangtian City was currently on high alert.
Compared to Drunken Dragon City’s City Master Jiang Li and Beiluo City’s City Master Lu Changkong, the City Master of Wangtian City was not that famous.
Among the six cities guarding the capital city, Wangtian City had always been in a less important position.
In fact, Wangtian City was even weaker than Yuanchi and Tong’an cities.
However, Yuanchi and Tong’an cities were captured, while Wangtian City was not.
Lv Mudui’s wagon entered the city after being inspected by the soldiers guarding the city gate.
After a long while, the wagon stopped in front of an old teahouse in downtown Wangtian.
“Hongchen Teahouse.”
The wagon man, sweating heavily, looked back at the teahouse’s plaque, on which its name was carved. Squinting, he shouted at Lv Mudui in the wagon, “Master, here we are. This is Hongchen Teahouse.”
In the wagon, Lv Mudui finally came to himself. He lifted the curtain and gave the wagon man some pieces of silver.
“Wait outside,” Lv Mudui said.
The wagon man took those pieces of silver. His smile was wider since the pieces of silver were enough to buy a good piece of clothing for his wife.
Lv Mudui went into the teahouse.
Hongchen Teahouse was the base of the mysterious Tianji School.
The teahouse was old, but it had a unique decoration that gave it an extraordinary atmosphere.
Inside the teahouse was a wooden stage with a pretty teenage girl playing the pipa. The sound produced by the pipa was like that of countless beads—large and small sizes—falling onto a jadeite plate. It was pleasing to the ears.
There were quite a few influential people from Wangtian City sitting in the audience. Sitting in wooden chairs, with their eyes squinting, they were listening to the music while enjoying a pot of good tea. That was really relaxing.
Lv Mudui waited for a while. A white-haired old man with a wrinkled face, wearing luxurious clothes, excused himself from those influential people in the audience with a smile. Then he stood up and walked toward Lv Mudui.
“You are back,” the old man said to Lv Mudui, smiling.
“Your Excellency…”
Lv Mudui looked like he was struggling. He had no idea where to start.
He sold Tianji School… Would he have the nerve to say that?
On the surface, the old man merely looked like an old rich man, but in fact, he was Tianji School’s philosopher, Lv Dongxuan.
“You look restless. You have something on your mind?”
Lv Dongxuan told a maid to fetch a pot of hot tea, and then he made some tea. The green tea water was spinning in the cup.
Then he pushed the tea across the table to Lv Mudui.
“Tell me. Tianji messenger pigeons carried messages regarding the Immortal Palace’s Secret Realm. It was you, wasn’t it?”
Lv Dongxuan took a sip of the tea.
“Your Excellency, Young Master from Beiluo… As you said, he is a really mysterious man.”
“He used Tianji School’s messenger pigeons to tell the whole world about the Immortal encounter so that the Secret Realm of the Immortal Palace would be jeopardized. The Immortal planned the Immortal encounter, while Young Master Lu jeopardized it. He once said it was fun to fight the Immortal…,” Lv Mudui said with respect.
“It’s fun to fight an immortal.”
Lv Dongxuan let out a sigh. A deep look was on his face.
“What an interesting person.”
“Your Excellency…”
Looking at Lv Dongxuan, Lv Mudui hesitated.
“Spit it out.”
Lv Dongxuan took a sip of the tea. The tea spun three times in his mouth. Every spin of it produced a unique fragrance.
A little bit embarrassed, Lv Mudui said, “Your Excellency… Young Master Lu wants to incorporate Tianji School.”
“I… I sold Tianji School somehow…”
Oh?
Lv Dongxuan was dumbfounded.
Gazing at Lv Mudui with an emotionless face, he sprayed a mouthful of tea toward Lv Mudui’s face.
“I beg your pardon?”
The tea dripped off Lv Mudui’s beard. He wiped it, worried.
“I…”
However, before he could start…
Lv Dongxuan banged the table and excitedly sprang to his feet.
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?!”
Lv Dongxuan walked to the wooden stage at a fast pace. Then he clapped his hands to interrupt the playing of the pipa.
“Old fellas, let’s call it a day. The teahouse is closed. Go back to stay with your concubines,” Lv Dongxuan said carefreely, waving his hand.
Those rich men started to curse right away, but they got to their feet and left obediently.
On the stage, the teenage girl with the pipa was kind of lost.
“Lil Mingyue, let’s go. Let’s go to another place to sing,” Lv Dongxuan said.
The teenage girl did not ask any questions. She put her pipa aside and bowed to Lv Dongxuan slightly.
Lv Dongxuan packed some great tea leaves, while the teenage girl quickly packed some clothes and followed Lv Dongxuan, carrying the pipa on her back.
Lv Mudui was surprised by the reaction of the head of Tianji School.
Lv Dongxuan walked out of the teahouse and then took the plaque of Hongchen Teahouse off.
He stuffed the plaque into the wagon under the wagon man’s lifeless gaze.
“Let’s go. Head for Beiluo City.”
Lv Dongxuan climbed into the wagon, with a golden necklace around his neck. He waved his hand in a dignified manner.
Lv Mudui was very surprised.
******
At the lakeside of Beiluo Lake…
A scent of blood was all over the place.
The officials were rooted to the spot.
A black butcher knife was spinning in the air, with blood dripping off the blade.
“Go on. Why did you stop?”
“Our Young Master is a wizard. Our Young Master is sabotaging the country and harming the people…,” Nie Changqing said indifferently.
His voice was hoarse but quite threatening.
Emperor Yuwen Xiu, already on the boat, took a deep breath.
“Your Majesty, we are ready to depart,” the old eunuch said to Yuwen Xiu with respect.
A shrewd light flashed in his eyes.
“Go ahead.”
Sitting in the wooden boat, Yuwen Xiu was trying to calm down.
The boat left the jetty. Led by Ning Zhao, who was advancing atop the lake surface, the boat gradually vanished in the fog from people’s sight.
On the bank…
Seeing the emperor out of their sight, the officials all started to tremble.
“You vicious bandit! We are Great Zhou’s high officials. How dare you kill any of us!”
That big-bellied high official was pointing at Nie Changqing, trembling.
Nie Changqing threw him a glance.
Then he looked back at Yi Yue.
“What would Young Master do if he were here?”
Yi Yue had a graceful movement and gesture. Her charming face looked indifferent. Suddenly, she extended her hand, and the long whip at her waist dropped…
“Young Master is so clement…,” Yi Yue said.
The whip in her hand was suddenly thrown over as she spoke. It zipped across the air with a sharp noise.
That old big-bellied official screamed tragically. He was horrifically beaten.
“He would certainly forgive them and allow them to continue. They can go on speaking until the last minute of their lives…”
The officials were as pale as a sheet of paper.
A military general sprang to his feet in anger.
“You vicious bandits. You went too far!” he roared.
His Qi and blood blasted. He turned out to be a first-class martial arts practitioner.
Seeing this, the other officials pinned their hopes on him.
However…
The next second, the butcher knife cut across his body. That military general lifted his head in tension and spilled his blood.
Lu Changkong remained calm at this sight. He obviously had anticipated this.
He knew his son very well…
Luo Cheng was extremely thrilled. He put his hand on the long knife he was carrying at the waist.
These bastard officials!
General Jiang Li was risking his life on the battlefield, while these bastards were scheming against one another.
They should be killed!
The faces of those scholar officials were as pale as a ghost.
The scent of blood made them shiver.
Some of them were bawling, shouting at the boat that was taking the emperor away.
However, as soon as they shouted…
Yi Yue’s whip came. The official whipped by her was profoundly hurt.
“City Master Lu, you are a high official too! How could you put up with the bandits’ violence?!” some minister asked Lu Changkong, staring at the latter.
However, Lu Changkong unsheathed his knife. The knife flashed across the air. When it had been sheathed again, that minister fell down in blood.
“I’m a City Master, but I’m also a father,” Lu Changkong said indifferently.
“Those who curse my son, die.”
Pah!
Pah! Pah!
Yi Yue’s whip kept coming.
The officials who had been whipped were all severely injured.
Nie Changqing lifted his knife. The butcher knife could kill not only pigs but also humans.
“My bad. My bad. Young Master Lu is brilliant and great. He is a pillar of Great Zhou!”
“City Master Lu, please forgive me… I’m wrong. I believed those rumors. I’m stupid!”
Blood stained the lakeside, and the breeze blew over the dead bodies.
A lot of officials died, but more of them were kneeling on the ground, begging, with wounds caused by the whip.
They had been carried away by fame and wealth.
They did want to be remembered in history, but they did not want to die.
“Keep all of them in prison,” Lu Changkong said.
On the main street of Beiluo City, every official that kept arriving in their wagons learned about the tragedy that happened at the lakeside of Beiluo Lake.
They all turned pale.
They asked their wagon man to turn around, intending to escape out of Beiluo City.
However…
Lu Changkong already gave the order.
All wagons that had entered the city were blocked. Those officials got off their wagons with a pale face, going weak in the knees. All of them were taken into prison.
Outside of Beiluo City, one after another, the wagons turned around, raising a cloud of dust.
They escaped back to the capital city. They were in such a hurry that they did not even care which way to go.
The news spread to the capital city.
The whole capital city was shocked.
******
The boat was rocking.
Sitting straight on the boat, Yuwen Xiu was gazing at the lake surface that was shrouded in fog, feeling nervous.
The old eunuch was even more nervous than the emperor. Young Master Lu was mysterious and unpredictable. If he did anything to the emperor at such a moment…
The old eunuch would not be able to stop him.
Beads of sweat formed on his forehead.
“Relax…”
Ning Zhao looked back at the emperor and the old eunuch as if she had perceived their nervousness.
“Young Master is a kind man.”
Yuwen Xiu pressed his lips into a thin line. The palms of his hands, pressed against the deck, were involuntarily closed.
Would you shut up?
He could still hear the tragic screams of the officials coming from the lakeside. It seemed they would never dissipate.
All of a sudden…
A light shone through the fog.
Yuwen Xiu saw a boat at the center of the lake.
On the boat, a red-lipped and white-teethed handsome teenager was sitting in a wheelchair. In white clothes, he was placing chess pieces onto a chessboard while grasping a fishing rod. A small fish was biting the string of the fishing rod, wagging its tail.
Yuwen Xiu looked at Lu Fan. This was the first time he met this legendary Young Master Lu in person.
Drops of sweat rolled down the old eunuch’s forehead.
Under the dreadful pressure, even he, a Seventh Resonance Grandmaster, felt suffocated.
The small fish was drawn to Lu Fan.
Below the boat, numerous fishes were surrounding the boat quietly. Yuwen Xiu looked at those fishes. He had a weird feeling that those fishes were jealous of the fish hanging in the air before Lu Fan.
Lu Fan took the straight “hook” out of the mouth of the carp.
“I will always catch the right fish.”
Lu Fan showed a gentle smile.
“Young Master, the emperor has arrived,” Ning Zhao said to Lu Fan, bowing.
On the boat, Lu Fan nodded slightly.
Then he lifted his right hand. His forefinger suddenly became a bright golden color, like the golden radiance from the scorching sun.
He extended this finger to touch the carp.
Then…
Yuwen Xiu and the old eunuch saw something they would never forget…