Chapter 929: News from the West!

Wente climbed down from the carriage, and the husky jumped down after him.

Man and dog followed Fan Li deeper into the Residence.

Prince Pingxi Residence inherited the traditional architectural style of All Xia, but it did not deliberately pursue fussy ornamentation in every detail. Instead, there was a clean simplicity to the place.

As Wente walked, he carefully took in his surroundings.

To a Westerner, the Yan Empire of the East was an incomparably formidable existence, because the people of the West had never forgotten the catastrophe brought by the Barbarian invasion centuries ago.

For a hundred years, no matter how many songs and stories they used to glorify their ancestors’ great victory, they still could not deny that victory had depended heavily upon luck.

Yes.

Luck.

Had that Barbarian Khan not underestimated his enemies and advanced recklessly with the Golden Tent Royal Court’s direct forces, only to be encircled and killed, no one could say for certain how that great war would ultimately have ended.

The Yan Empire, by contrast, had spent centuries standing alone against the Barbarians without yielding ground.

Among the merchant caravans traveling between East and West, and among those westernized Barbarians—or Barbarians who simply made their living through that trade—the overwhelming majority of what they knew and understood about Yan still came from the iron cavalry of the Zhenbei Army.

There were two things in this world capable of breaking through the barriers of language, culture, geography, and everything else, reaching directly into another person’s heart.

One was art.

The other... was force.

After returning west and losing the struggle to inherit his father’s position as an illegitimate son, Wente had no choice but to pick up his old trade again. Half merchant, half fugitive, he once more made his way east.

This time, the enormous changes in the East had left him deeply shaken.

The terrifying Yan Empire had finally begun baring its fangs.

Not toward the desert... but toward the other states of the East.

Yan had swallowed Jin and beaten two other great powers until neither had any temper left to speak of.

Throughout his journey, what Wente heard most often was Yan people praising their invincible Prince Pingxi.

It was only after he reestablished contact with the Blind Man that Wente learned, to his astonishment, that this Prince—who possessed vast fiefs and countless loyal cavalry—was actually an old acquaintance from his days in Beifeng Commandery.

They had even done business together.

“We’re here. Go in.”

Fan Li had no intention of reporting to Master first.

He planned to bring man and dog straight inside.

He had just poached the Blind Man’s prize.

He certainly did not intend to give the Blind Man a chance to poach it right back while he was away reporting.

Besides, the Blind Man should realize he had been tricked very soon.

He would definitely come rushing back.

Fan Li pushed open the door.

Inside...

Zheng Fan was taking a bath.

Fortunately, after finishing his saber practice that day, Zheng Fan had chosen not to let anyone attend him. He merely wanted to enjoy being alone for a while.

Had Fan Li barged in on something else... even inviting the Jade Emperor himself down from Heaven would not have saved his advancement today.

Even so, Zheng Fan still came out wearing nothing but a robe, his expression displeased as he looked at Fan Li.

“Master, take a look. See who I brought you.”

Fan Li very tactfully moved aside, revealing the man and dog behind him.

Wente immediately dropped to the floor.

“After so many years apart, to behold my King’s honored countenance again today is truly a blessing granted to me by God!”

Wente understood perfectly well that the relationship he had once shared with this Prince amounted to nothing more than a business transaction.

And the moment affection became entangled with business... it became thin as paper.

So he could not show the slightest arrogance.

He had to lower himself as much as possible.

The husky beside him prostrated itself as well, doing its best to flutter those watery eyes.

At first, Zheng Fan genuinely failed to recognize either of them.

Fortunately, over the years there had only been so many blond-haired, blue-eyed people connected to him in this world.

After thinking for a moment... he finally remembered.

“Didn’t you go back to fight over the inheritance?” Zheng Fan asked.

Back then, he and the Blind Man had even joked about the whole “battle of the bastard sons.”

“Replying to Your Highness, I was useless. I failed. Not only did I fail to inherit my father’s position, I nearly lost my life there too. I only barely managed to escape.”

“That really is a pity.”

Zheng Fan pulled over a chair and sat down.

At that moment...

Fan Li kept glancing toward the door while his eyes rolled rapidly.

Everything had happened too quickly.

There had been no time whatsoever to rehearse the lines.

But Fan Li felt he could gamble.

Calculating the time... the Blind Man should be arriving soon.

Thud!

Fan Li dropped to his knees.

Zheng Fan, who had just been about to light a cigarette, was startled badly enough that the cigarette fell from his fingers.

“Master, after All Xia is unified, I am willing to accompany Master in searching for Prince Jingnan’s whereabouts. He... he has clues!”

Fan Li pointed toward Wente.

Zheng Fan’s gaze instantly sharpened.

On the floor, all ten of Fan Li’s fingers... and all ten of his toes... began curling.

Wente froze for a moment.

Then still answered:

“I... do.”

“Good work, A’Li!”

Zheng Fan released a long breath and slapped the arm of his chair.

The next instant... a vast, powerful aura surged from Fan Li’s body.

The husky prostrated beside him stared in disbelief at the tower-like giant.

He advanced!

Fan Li scratched his head with an honest smile and stood.

“Master, ask him. This subordinate will go prepare something for you to eat.”

“Good.”

Zheng Fan nodded.

He had noticed that A’Li seemed almost excessively well behaved today.

But first, acting a little more obedient while chasing an advancement was perfectly understandable.

Second, right now Zheng Fan’s mind had already been completely seized by the news Wente had brought from the West.

He had no interest in thinking about anything else.

Fan Li withdrew from the room.

He thoughtfully pulled the door shut behind him.

Then turned around.

The Blind Man stood below the steps.

Those pitch-black eye sockets... somehow gave off a chilling pressure at this moment.

“Tsk.”

The Blind Man smacked his lips.

“A’Li, that was filthy.”

Fan Li scratched his head again, looking a little embarrassed.

“Fine. Fine. I’ve spent half my life scheming against people, and somehow I end up taking a loss in your hands. I prepared the whole bridal gown for you.”

“You’re angry?” Fan Li asked.

“If I told you I’m delighted, would you believe me?”

“Yes.”

“Then just pretend I’m delighted.”

Fan Li pointed at his own face.

“If you want to become even more delighted, I can fight you and let you vent some anger.”

“...” the Blind Man.

The Demon Kings differed in methods and abilities.

But when it came to combat awareness and experience, there was no real gap between them.

That meant if one of them stood an entire realm higher than another... the lower one basically had no chance to turn the tables.

The stronger one would eat him alive.

Once Fan Li poached the opportunity, he had rushed straight for the target.

As for what consequences might follow once the poaching was discovered... he genuinely had not considered them.

You can’t beat me anymore anyway!

The Blind Man clasped his hands behind his back.

Then smiled.

“Fine. Beautifully done.”

With that... he turned and walked away.

Fan Li had already advanced.

Arguing now served no purpose.

And he could not win a fight either.

So why stay?

Once the Blind Man left...

Fan Li rolled his neck and walked off as well.

When he passed a pavilion, a graceful figure flipped down from above.

Fan Li familiarly spread out one enormous hand.

The figure landed directly upon his palm... steady as could be.

Even sitting there, the Sword Maid’s feet still hung in the air.

She swung them a couple times.

Then asked curiously:

“Why aren’t you tossing me up?”

In the past, whenever she landed in his hand, Fan Li would give her a casual upward slap and let her use the force to hop onto his shoulder.

“Oh.”

Fan Li nodded.

He raised his hand to chest height, still carrying the Sword Maid on his palm.

“This pose is ugly.”

The Sword Maid’s face reddened slightly.

She finally took the initiative and flipped herself onto Fan Li’s shoulder.

Being held underneath by one enormous hand felt... strange.

Why had this giant suddenly turned bad today and started taking advantage of her without even giving warning?

At least give her some mental preparation first.

It was not as though she would forbid him.

The Sword Maid liked Fan Li.

That was no secret.

Years ago, after her master died and she was taken in here, the Sword Maid had feared everyone else.

Nobody else paid much attention to her either.

At the time, she decided Fan Li was the dullest and stupidest member of the entire group.

So she enjoyed bullying him to vent her temper.

Of course... look at the matter over a long enough period... and it had already become quite clear who had truly benefited in the end.

Third Master had mocked Fan Li more than once:

How the hell did you have the nerve to start playing the raising game with a little girl back then?

But this time... the Sword Maid had truly misunderstood him.

Fan Li genuinely disdained taking secret liberties like copping a feel.

The main reason was simply that he had advanced moments ago.

For the Demon Kings, rising one realm brought an even more terrifying increase in actual strength than it did for ordinary cultivators.

Fan Li had not yet adapted to his new power.

And nearly all of his bloodline’s characteristics manifested through his physical body.

So the old routine, where he casually slapped the Sword Maid upward and sent her bouncing onto his shoulder... was something he genuinely did not dare try right now.

If he misjudged the force and slapped her backside into a bloody ruin... what the hell kind of scene would that be?

Fan Li, however, had never liked explaining himself very much.

Earlier, he had only spoken a few extra sentences to the Blind Man because he felt a little guilty about stealing the opportunity... and because he wanted to annoy him further.

With anyone else, Fan Li would probably just grin stupidly from beginning to end.

“Hey, did it work?” the Sword Maid asked.

As the Demon Kings recovered more strength, their methods for hiding their auras became richer as well.

With the Sword Maid’s present cultivation, she naturally could not see through him.

“It worked,” Fan Li answered.

“Then I’m the miserable one. You know the one person among all of you I fear most is that Blind Man. This time I helped trick him. Who knows what he’ll do to me later...”

“He won’t.”

Fan Li sounded certain.

“You’re that sure?”

“Mm.”

At least among the Demon Kings, this much character could be trusted.

None of them would retaliate against someone’s family.

Even if the Blind Man wanted revenge, he would direct it at Fan Li.

He would not touch the Sword Maid.

After all, everyone had long since tacitly accepted that the Sword Maid was Fan Li’s little child-bride.

“You have to protect me.”

“Good.”

“Oh, right. Let’s go to Master’s place. I still haven’t paid respects to Master today.”

“Good.”

Fan Li walked.

The Sword Maid sat on his shoulder.

The two of them went straight from Prince Pingxi Residence to the Sword Saint’s home.

It was extremely close and convenient.

The road connected directly.

There was not even a gate between them.

They pushed open the door.

Just in time to see the Sword Saint seize the duck and toss it into the chicken coop.

The duck’s legs kicked wildly.

In the end... it still failed to escape tonight’s fate.

The Sword Saint turned around.

His gaze first fell upon his disciple.

He had always thought his disciple sitting on a man’s shoulder looked deeply improper.

Unfortunately... she liked it.

She insisted.

So the Sword Saint could hardly say much.

When he first took her in, she was already a young girl with experiences and opinions of her own.

His relationship with her had always been more about teaching.

Big Girl was different.

Big Girl was still small.

So he was her true master in the fullest sense... teacher and father alike.

He would not merely teach her swordsmanship.

How she conducted herself, how she dealt with people... those things were also his responsibility.

Of course, the Sword Saint did not believe Big Girl would grow up to be as “wild” as the Sword Maid.

If Big Girl ever sat on some man’s shoulder in the future, Yu Huaping probably would not even need to act.

The bastard surnamed Zheng would likely tear the fellow limb from limb first.

The Sword Maid understood this too.

Just as in this age, rotten things like the Three Obediences and Four Virtues were still upheld as orthodoxy for women... the divisions within a martial lineage were also drawn with great precision.

Direct disciple.

Closing disciple.

First disciple.

Every category mattered.

That was why, during Big Girl’s Grasping of Fortune ceremony, the Sword Maid had actively helped the Sword Saint.

She never thought gaining a little junior sister meant someone had come to steal her master’s affection.

Instead, she thought the lineage was growing stronger.

That was good.

The path of the sword was not like dividing a peasant family’s fields and property.

One became smaller the more it was divided.

The other... grew larger.

Very quickly, however... the Sword Saint’s gaze shifted toward Fan Li.

Fan Li had only just advanced.

Although he concealed his aura well, he could not yet hide it perfectly.

So the Sword Saint still detected something unusual.

He was not surprised.

This had happened too many times.

Whenever that bastard surnamed Zheng advanced... those gentlemen who had followed him from the earliest days began advancing one after another as well.

Once or twice might be coincidence.

Three times?

Five times?

What the Sword Saint found even stranger was something else entirely.

These gentlemen possessed comprehension and accumulated experience in martial arts and killing that far exceeded the level of strength they currently displayed.

Fan Li looked back at the Sword Saint.

Then rubbed his hands together.

Not because he felt awkward over carrying the man’s female disciple around.

His hands genuinely itched for a fight.

The Sword Saint was a fellow traveler on the martial path.

Naturally, he understood the feeling.

So he smiled.

“Want to spar?”

Only at Fan Li’s present realm did he truly possess the qualifications to “spar” with the Sword Saint.

“You can’t open Second Grade.”

“I won’t.”

“And you have to hold back.”

“Of course.”

“Then we find somewhere?”

“Outside the city.”

“Good.”

The Sword Saint added:

“I’ll go bring Big Girl out.”

“Junior Sister is still very young, Master.”

The Sword Maid felt that even if one wanted her junior sister to watch a battle... wasn’t this a little early?

“Opportunities are rare.”

The Sword Saint felt embarrassed displaying too much fondness for the little disciple in front of his eldest disciple.

“So let her join the fun?”

“I’ll go get her, then,” the Sword Maid said.

“I’ll go myself.”

The Sword Saint insisted.

The Sword Maid could only remain seated on Fan Li’s shoulder.

The Sword Saint entered Prince Pingxi Residence.

First, he went to Xiong Liqing’s courtyard and explained his purpose.

The Princess naturally understood how much the Sword Saint adored her daughter.

She agreed immediately.

Still, she asked whether they should notify Xiao Yibo.

In truth, there was no need to ask.

If the little Princess of Prince Pingxi Residence was leaving the city, Brocade-Clad personal guards would inevitably accompany her.

But asking still showed respect.

The Sword Saint naturally agreed.

Holding Big Girl, he did not leave immediately.

Instead, he went to the courtyard where the Princess Consort of Prince Fu lived.

Siniang spent her days busy in the Signing Office and did not especially like keeping her son beside her at night either.

So Zheng Lin spent most of his time with the Princess Consort of Prince Fu.

The Princess Consort of Prince Fu naturally possessed no standing to say whether she agreed or disagreed.

And so... the Sword Saint held Big Girl in his left arm and Zheng Lin in his right.

Like that... he openly walked to the front gate of the Residence.

Liu Dahu waited there.

He had brought a detachment of Brocade-Clad personal guards.

Holding two spirit children in his arms, the Sword Saint glanced at the saber hanging from his son’s waist.

Somehow... it no longer bothered him nearly as much.

He even felt faintly as though he had profited enormously.

The bastard surnamed Zheng had abducted his son into practicing the saber.

But when all was said and done, whether his eldest son or youngest, the boys’ aptitude could not be called poor.

It was acceptable.

Yet compared with two spirit children... no.

There was no comparison.

All told... he, Yu Huaping, had made an enormous profit.

If that bastard Zheng had simply told him years ago that one day he would produce a pair of spirit-child offspring, there would have been no need for all those years of warmth, concern, favors, and shameless coaxing to get his help.

The group left Fengxin City and traveled north, toward Gourd Temple.

The temple had originally been slated for expansion, but the plan had been delayed again and again.

As a result, an enormous open drill field remained nearby.

Fan Li set the Sword Maid down.

He reached up, gripped his own neck, and twisted.

A chain of crisp cracks sounded.

Between his breaths... a faint cloud of greenish qi seemed to circulate.

The Sword Saint handed the two children to the Sword Maid and Liu Dahu.

He had them stand on a slightly raised platform where they could see the entire field clearly.

When he turned back, the Sword Saint noticed the qi moving between Fan Li’s breaths.

It was only a tiny detail.

Yet it proved that Fan Li’s physical body had already integrated with the surrounding environment.

Equivalent to adding another solidified layer of protective qi around himself.

“A Fourth Grade Martial Artist using the protective qi of a Third Grade Martial Artist.”

The Sword Saint shook his head.

“Should I open Second Grade after all?”

Fan Li immediately waved his hands.

“Then I surrender.”

“Hahahaha.”

The Sword Saint stopped joking.

A strand of sword qi condensed above the fingers of his left hand.

He said:

“Please.”

...

The Sword Saint and Fan Li began their spar.

His son and daughter were watching.

The field was lively.

Yet the one person who most loved excitement... and most ought to have been here... was absent.

There was no other reason.

He truly had no time.

At that moment... inside the main residence in the rear courtyard of Prince Pingxi Residence...

Zheng Fan asked in a deeply doubtful tone:

“You’re saying that when you came from the West, you heard the young Barbarian prince had gathered a number of local Barbarian tribes along the western frontier? And that he has already begun raiding the small states nearby?”

“Yes, Your Highness. To tell the truth, I don’t understand why that young Barbarian prince, who fled like a homeless dog, suddenly dares behave this arrogantly either. Before I left, I had already heard that one of the Empire’s generals responsible for frontier defense sent a messenger to warn him. If he refuses to restrain himself, the imperial army will march out and suppress him.”

Zheng Fan listened.

Then nodded slowly.

When Old Tian left, the stated reason had been to pursue the fleeing young Barbarian prince.

But in Zheng Fan’s eyes, that had always been nothing more than an excuse deliberately chosen because one was needed.

Yet now... that same young Barbarian prince remained alive and kicking.

Worse, he was trying to stir up trouble along the western edge of the desert.

How could that possibly be?

Unless...

[End of Chapter 929]