Chapter 28 – Wang XIII Lang
“Iron phase?” Fan Xian’s eyes glanced toward the green streamer, narrowed his eyes slightly, and with a flick of both sleeves, he walked back into the middle of the clan school, actually leaving the green-clothed man out in the cold.
The six swordsmen of the Supervisory Academy gave the green-clothed man a wary glance and also retreated back into the house, although they were not sure why Lord Tiji would stop himself and his men from going after that archer, but the Academy’s order was like a mountain, and nobody dared to make any comments.
The man in green slightly inclined his head, his hand leaning on the green streamer, seemingly somewhat stunned. The snow was flying, falling in the darkness, gradually accumulating on top of his shoulders.
This scene was indeed a bit strange, after the steep assassination, Fan Xian was surprisingly quiet as if nothing had happened, and for this green-clothed man who had suddenly appeared in front of him and blocked that shocking arrow for himself, he did not listen to or pay attention to him, and did not seem to have the slightest interest in talking.
The man in green looked at the closed door and couldn’t help but shake his head and smile, thinking that the legendary Lord Little Fan was indeed a wonderful person.
He rearranged his clothes and very calmly walked to the wooden door of the clan school, reaching out and knocking gently twice with extreme politeness.
After a long time, Fan Xian’s calm voice came from inside the door.
“Please come in.”
The green-robed man rested his green streamer on the side of the wooden door of the clan school, the snow and water on the streamer dampening the grayish ground. With his head lowered, he could see the hint of a smile at the corner of his lips, and he didn’t directly salute Fan Xian, instead he laughed softly and said, “Compared to the rumors, Your Excellency has a few more hints of impetuousness.”
Fan Xian rested his hands on the fire in front of him, still not speaking.
The man in green said gently, “Is this how you treat your guests?”
Fan Xian rubbed his warm hands together, took a bag of wine from his subordinate’s hands and drank two mouthfuls of it, and said lightly, “It’s freezing cold, so if you knock on the door, this official will let you come in to take shelter from the snow; this is this official’s way of taking pity on the people, but not treating you as a guest.”
“If I do not knock on the door, your honor will not see me?” The man in green continued to ask, “Doesn’t your lordship have anything to ask me?”
Fan Xian gave him a cold look, not looking at the green-clothed man’s face clearly, and said, “What qualifications do you have …… to make me see you? And what is it that I need to ask you?”
The green-clothed man slowly raised his head, and the firelight illuminated the Clan School lobby suddenly brightened.
Only to see that this person’s eyebrows were like swords, his eyes were warm and moist like jade, his lips were thin and slightly curved, weakening a hint of harshness and adding a few more points of kissable color, his appearance was exceptionally clear, and his age was exceptionally young.
Fan Xian could not help but be slightly lost in thought, smiling and thinking, this guy is also good-looking, only a little worse than himself.
The man in green seemed to have not expected such a cold attitude from Fan Xian, and said with a bitter smile, “Why does your honor have to turn people away?”
Fan Xian took another sip of wine, withdrew his gaze from the man’s soft face, and said blandly, “Could it be that you have done me a favor?”
The man in green thought for a moment and said, “Even if I wasn’t here tonight, that arrow naturally wouldn’t have been able to injure Your Excellency in the slightest.”
These were words that had been spoken earlier.
Fan Xian rested the wine bag to his side and looked at him and said calmly, “Since you’re not of any help to me, don’t expect me to remember your favor, that’s something you need to understand.”
The man in green froze and laughed, “Precisely.”
Fan Xian continued, “This official does not owe you, you want to avoid snow then avoid, you want to talk then say …… but do not make a mysterious, inexplicable appearance, I’m very sick of this.”
The man in green was stunned and said with a bitter smile, “What the adults say is.”
“And there is ……” Fan Xian suddenly moved forward and said seriously, “Are you preparing to let me take you in?”
From ancient times to the present day, from history to the talking books, this kind of meeting in the wilderness, where famous lords and dignitaries turn together with the wheels of history, is always accompanied by incomparable idealistic glory as well as dogged drama such as courtesy to the virtuous and loyal to the faithful and so on, and such a direct and shrewd …… and even mercenary and ugly as Fan Xian said, has only never been the case.
Fan Xian stared into the green-clothed man’s eyes and said, “Don’t have the luxury of being able to have an equal relationship between us, if you want to be my subordinate, you have to stand below me, pay attention to your own proportion, whether it’s talking, doing things, or even gestures to the point that your innermost thoughts have to be placed below this official’s.”
He straightened up and said indifferently, “If you want me to accept you, give up those unrealistic fantasies and pride. This world is not something that won’t turn without anyone, and this official has a somewhat strange nature, and has no hobby of accepting a wide range of disciples.”
The green-clothed man was struck by Fan Xian’s successive words, and stood somewhat depressed in the hall, silent for a long time before saying with a bitter smile, “Your Honor is indeed aggressive.”
Fan Xian calmly intercepted, “Because this official has this qualification.”
Without waiting for the man in green to open his mouth, Fan Xian said, “If you have anything you want to say, say it, or else squat in a corner and roast the fire, and as soon as the snow stops you’ll leave.”
The man in green hadn’t expected things to develop to this state at all, and couldn’t help but shake his head. He had to rush to get close to the other party before Fan Xian entered Kyoto, to convey to him a certain aspect of his meaning …… and he coincidentally knew where that small arrow was going, so he sought this opportunity to appear in front of Fan Xian, and thought that he would be able to gain a good impression of Fan Xian’s first face, but didn’t think that Fan Xian, although he wasn’t paranoid, was unusually forceful and poked his own heart out .
After a few moments of deliberation, the man in green smiled and said, “All the way back to the capital, the grass people may be able to protect your lordship for a moment or two.”
“Not a good reason.” Fan Xian shook his head, “You and I both know that what’s coming is just a small arrow, I wouldn’t put him in my sights yet.”
The man in green thought about it again and finally sighed, “I have brought news for your lordship.”
“What news?”
“News from the east.”
Fan Xian raised his head sharply and stared into the green-clothed man’s eyes.
The green-clothed man received it as if it were nothing, and this person was in fact already the topmost character amongst the young people in the world, so he was able to be so calm in the face of Fan Xian’s might.
Fan Xian clapped his hands.
All of the Inspectorate’s swordsmen and spies in the center hall stood up in silence and walked out of the door of the clan school. Hong Changqing turned back and carefully closed the wooden door, leaving a quiet place for Fan Xian and the man in green.
After silence returned to the room, the man in green smiled and bowed his hands in a salute and said, “Dongyi City greets Lord Tiji.”
Fan Xian fell silent, slowly taking several deep breaths to bring himself back to calm, a cold light flashed through his pupils as he coldly asked, “Report your name.”
“Thirteen disciples of the Sword Lodge, Tie Xiang.”
“The Four Gu Swords only took in twelve disciples,” Fan Xian said as he looked at the man in green, “And this official has never heard of a young man named Tie Xiang in Dongyi City……. If this official hasn’t heard of him, he doesn’t exist. ”
With the intelligence network of the Supervisory Court spread all over the world, Fan Xian’s words were said with extreme confidence.
The man in green bowed his head in silence for a little while and then smiled and said, “My real name is Wang Xi, I was ordered by my teacher to enter the country of Qing to travel, and I changed my name to Iron Phase.”
“Wang Xi?” Fan Xian said casually, “Good name.”
The green-robed man called Wang Xi smiled and said, “The name is not necessarily good, but this person is still of some use.”
At this point, Fan Xian should have asked, “Your Dong Yi City and my Supervisory Academy are implacable enemies, so why did you come to my door to vote for me, but marvelously, Fan Xian didn’t open his mouth to ask, and Wang Xi didn’t take the initiative to open his mouth to explain.
These two young people, both have wisdom and calculation far beyond their age, will each other’s mind in the swiftly see through. For Fan Xian, Dongyi City should have sent someone over to make contact with him a long time ago, but he didn’t expect that the one who came was such a somewhat imperceptible young man.
Yes, Dongyi City had always had a good relationship with Xinyang, and it was thought that the Four Gu Swords was also enjoying the offerings of the Junshan Society, as was Ye Liuyun. Fan Xian knew that there were no eternal enemies or friends in this world, only eternal interests.
Although the Four Gu Swords was an idiot back then, he was able to shelter Dongyi City and those vassal states for twenty years with a single sword, relying on more than just the sword in his hand.
Under the strong pressure of Qing, if Dongyi City wanted to survive, it had to maintain close ties with the highest levels of power in Qing, and that’s how the relationship between the Four Gu Swords and the Princess developed.
It was only with Fan Xian’s emergence that the power structure of the Qing Kingdom had changed dramatically, especially after taking charge of the Supervisory Academy and the Inner Treasury, Fan Xian already possessed the strength to threaten Dong Yi City. In comparison, the Princess had fewer and fewer chips in her hand.
Eggs can’t be put in just one basket, chips can’t always be bet on the big side, the girls in the family can’t all be married off to one family, this is a problem of risk equalization.
The Four Gu Swords are still betting on the Princess, and the closeness of Dongyi City’s relationship with Xinyang is something Fan Xian cannot match, not to mention the fact that since Fan Xian’s debut, he’s made an unsolvable vendetta against Dongyi City, such as the two female assassins on Niulan Street, and the sudden attack on everyone in Yun Zhilan at the West Lake.
But Dong Yi City still had to come into contact with Fan Xian.
If the Eldest Princess fell, there was no doubt that Fan Xian would be the first person Dong Yi City would choose, and before such a choice could be made, Dong Yi City would have to first express its goodwill.
Politics is indeed very marvelous, obviously Fan Xian and Dongyi City are still in the middle of hostility, but both sides know very well that, while hostile, they must also begin to try to contact, today is still you and I live and die, but in the coming day, maybe they will talk about wine and wine.
In the face of huge benefits, what kind of grudges can be washed away, although Fan Xian will not think so, but the four Gu Jian must think so.
However, Fan Xian is also clear, Dongyi City and himself can only be this kind of hidden in the shadows of the eyebrow to eyebrow, four Gu Jian that idiot today most of the chips are still pressed on the side of the Princess, just as Lin Xiangzhi analyzed in Wuzhou, if that thing really happened, Dongyi City can guarantee decades of peace, where there is still a need to come to find himself.
The reason why this white-robed man called Wang Xi would come to contact himself today was just an opening beforehand.
“Is this your master’s intention, or Dong Yi City’s?” Fan Xian opened his mouth and asked.
Wang Xi smiled after a brief thought and responded, “It is the meaning of my master.”
Between the question and answer, it became clear to both sides that this contact was still not on the table today, and that this was just a hidden move by the Four Gu Swords’ Old Spice, a move that could not be made known to anyone.
“What’s in it for me?” Fan Xian asked directly, “A large number of your Sword Lodge’s Ninth Grade experts are trying to assassinate me in Jiangnan, it’s impossible for me to pretend that nothing has happened just because of one word from you.”
“There is no favor, only attitude.” Wang Xi mildly explained, “Dongyi City and your lord are still enemies, but I am not …… I am the attitude expressed by my master, including Dongyi City there are not many people who know of my existence, as long as your lord is willing, I will stand beside your lord, and this will never change. ”
“Even including your Eldest Brother trying to assassinate me again?” Fan Xian picked up the brazier, picking at the coals in the basin, and said casually, “You will also stand by my side and kill your Dongyi City’s people cleanly?”
“Will.” Wang Xi replied extremely seriously, “But anyone who is unfavorable to your lordship is my enemy.”
Fan Xian couldn’t help but laugh and said with a long sigh, “Four Gu Swords, ah Four Gu Swords, there really is something amusing about what this idiot thinks about.”
As he said this, Fan Xian watched Wang Xi’s reaction out of the corner of his eye, and when he said the word idiot – the biggest taboo of this Dongyi City – the other party surprisingly remained calm and unperturbed.
“The Thirteen Apprentices of the Sword Lodge ……,” Fan Xian narrowed his eyes. The four great patriarchs in the world, plus one of Uncle Five Bamboo, Bitter Lotus’s true shut-in disciple was Haitang, Uncle Five Bamboo’s shut-in disciple was of course himself, and this green-clothed man in front of him, if he really was the shut-in disciple of the Four Gu Swords, then he should have been quite a formidable character as well.
“From now on, I will call you Wang XIII Lang.” Fan Xian calmly said, “Thirteen Lang ah …… Have you ever thought that with this official’s such a vindictive personality, you Dong Yi City will have to follow that crazy woman to deal with me in the future, so how would I let Dong Yi City go because of you alone?”
“Combined, two benefits.” Wang Xi smiled with indescribable panache, “As for those who have offended your lordship, you can kill them by all means. Master has allowed me to travel into Qing, and I’m not harboring any secret mischief, so naturally I’m going to survive.”
“As long as I survive,” Wang Xi said calmly, “Dong Yi City will also continue to live as it is now.”
Listening to these very plain, but actually very unusual words, Fan Xian slightly bowed his head and said, “You are also going to enter the capital?”
“Yes.” Wang Xi leisurely sighed: “Both is traveling, of course to the Qing country Kyoto, I heard that Kyoto has a family hold the moon building …… building in the beauty of countless, must be a good taste.”
Fan Xian did not raise his head, “I will not give you a discount.”
Wang Xi laughed, “I can also earn a lot of silver by telling fortunes.”
“Didn’t you say earlier that you’re not a fortune teller?” Fan Xian said.
Wang Xi whispered back, “Your …… lordship’s fate is too strange, out of the wind and into the clouds, and the star view flickers and fluctuates, so where is it that mortals can calculate it.”
Fan Xian heart slightly moved, after a long time slowly said, “To return to the initial topic, then it is equivalent to say …… that you are the attitude of the four Gu Jian one person, a subtle part of the attitude, and the general purpose of the city of Dongyi does not have anything to do with it?”
“It can be said like this.” Wang Xi responded without being humble.
“Very well.” Fan Xian rubbed his hands, which were starting to get cold again, and rested his hands on top of the fire pot, his eyes looking at the bright red in the white ash in the pot under his hands, and said, “I don’t like the idea that all the way back to the capital, there’s a very powerful archer peering into the darkness, and will also coldly release a few cold arrows.”
Wang Xi was silent.
“You go and break that small arrow outside.” Fan Xian raised his head to look at him, “Since you’re the attitude of the Four Gu Swords, I’m going to see your attitude. Before I enter the capital, I want to see the head of that little arrow.”
Wang Xi continued to be silent for a long time before gently nodding, picking up the long, green-colored streamer from beside the door, and as his hands were about to push open the wooden door, he suddenly turned back and said, “I don’t really like killing people, so can you change the content?”
Fan Xian’s head had lowered again by now, and he said indifferently, “If you don’t know how to kill, what’s the use of me keeping you?”
“I have good hands.” Wang Xi said calmly, but there was a flavor of inscrutability in his words, “I can protect you.”
“Protect me?” Fan Xian’s lips curled up and smiled, “I don’t think you’re qualified to say that.”
Wang Xi smiled, “I have the qualifications, you can try, my lord.”
With Fan Xian’s current realm, the fact that Wang Xi dared to say such a sentence meant that he had quite strong confidence in his level. However, Fan Xian still didn’t look up, and only said softly, “Don’t talk big in front of this official, Qing Guo isn’t Dongyi City, and you could die in the middle of nowhere at any time without realizing from which part of the sky the rope that is claiming your life is dangling down.”
Where the words fell, the light in the clan school suddenly dimmed for a moment, an unprovoked wind arose, blowing the snow-like charcoal ashes in the fire pot, and a powerful and stealthy, sternly murderous and trackless aura enveloped Wang Xi at the doorway.
Wang Xi’s hand holding the green streamer shook slightly, and the black feathered arrow that had been inserted on the green streamer pole broke in pieces!
Wang Xi gently coughed twice, his feet stepped back two steps, but there was not a trace of panic on his face, instead, he said with a smile, “No wonder my big brother will return in Jiangnan in defeat, your honor has such an expert beside him to protect him, so naturally, he can’t use me …… Also, then I will kill a few people for your honor. ”
After saying these words, he pushed the door and disappeared into the dark night, the long green flag, in the night snow sometimes hidden sometimes far.