Chapter 50: We’re all a sea of different colors

The fact that the Four Gu Swords did not order the disciples of the Sword Lodge to kill Fan Xian, and even spared the leader of the assassins of the Supervisory Academy who had been so bold as to stab himself, caused the disciples in the Sword Lodge to feel a hint of amazement as well as shock, and Yun Zhilan, who had stepped out of the Sword Lodge in silence, had even heavier feelings.

He looked around, the third and fourth disciples had stayed in the hut, it seemed that the master teacher had something to say to them. Yun Zhilan couldn’t help but look at the setting sun in the west and sighed softly, these two senior brothers respected him the most and were also involved in the action of house arresting Thirteen Lang and ambushing Fan Xian, the master teacher left them behind at this time, could it be that he wanted to ask about this matter?

With his understanding of the Four Gu Swords, if the master really wants to dispose of what he has done, I’m afraid that he doesn’t need to investigate anything, ask anything, and directly let himself kill himself, and I’m afraid that it would be very difficult for him to give birth to the courage to resist.

Faint twilight light shines on the face of the first disciple of the sword hut, some gloomy, some helpless, today’s master of the house all lost, has fully demonstrated the attitude of the four Gu sword, this Dongyi City, above the city, and then some days, I’m afraid that we will have to change the Li Dynasty’s dragon flag.

He knew that this might be the inevitable of history, otherwise Master would never have reached an agreement with Fan Xian and bowed down to the Qing Emperor surnamed Li, but his heart still couldn’t help but throb with pain.

There was no longer any way to stop this thing from happening, the one big power in Dongyi City, the City Lord’s Mansion, had now all turned into dead bodies in a pool of blood, and the Four Guards Sword had used the simplest and most brutal method to unify the minds of the entire upper class of Dongyi City, deterring all the disciples in the Lodge. And those uncountable merchants and fellows in the city must have been willing to accept this fact, after all, fighting was never a recreational activity that merchants enjoyed.

Yun Zhilan narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at the mountain residence above him. That Emperor of Northern Qi, at this time, had already returned to the mountain residence in silence under the guardianship of Wolf Peach and Daoist He. He didn’t know what was going through the minds of these Northern Qi people at this moment, and whether the agreement he had secretly made with the other party should be broken off or moved on.

Next, the mountain residence’s closed door refusal of guests further complicated Yun Zhilan’s complex mood. His Majesty the Emperor of Beiqi had traveled a long way to take the risk of coming here, and must have had the attitude of paying a great price to accomplish his mission, so why did His Majesty seem to concede defeat after being captured by Fan Xian into the sword lodge and no longer continue to try to tear apart the relationship between the city of Dongyi and the Southern Qing Dynasty?

Yun Zhilan stood outside the mountain residence, spoke softly with Wolf Peach, and walked down the mountain somewhat glumly, all the way down the mountain, all the way down the mountain, thinking in his heart, “Fan Xian, what kind of marvelous skill does this person have, that he is able to press the Northern Qi side to not be able to move?

He still didn’t believe that Fan Xian had this ability, and secretly thought that it should be because the master teacher had made his attitude clear to the Emperor of Northern Qi, which made the Northern Qi people become a bit desperate. Glancing back at the twilight-colored Sword Lodge, Yun Zhilan’s expression was extremely grave, and after a slight pause, he walked towards the interior of Dongyi City. He will never deviate from the will of the Sword Lodge and the interests of Dongyi City, just tonight’s Dongyi City is in a state of panic, the lack of the City Lord’s Office officials to channel the pressure, he, the first disciple of the Sword Lodge, only to be forced to helplessly begin to manipulate the affairs of the government.

Contrary to what Yun Zhilan imagined, the people of Beiqi did not despair, more accurately, the Emperor of Beiqi surnamed War did not despair. She sat indifferently by the window, looking at the flowers outside like burning flowers, thinking about what had happened to her in the past two days, and couldn’t help but feel a little shaken. When she was young, she was held in the Empress Dowager’s arms and sat on the dragon chair, and since that day, she had never known what it meant to be fearful or desperate.

A person in any position should have the appropriate judgment, and the young emperor knew that in the matter of fighting for Dong Yi City, she had already lost to Fan Xian, and that she had lost so thoroughly that there was not the slightest possibility of reversing the situation. But on the other hand, she was also clear that the reason why the Four Gu Swords had chosen Nanqing was not because this Great Master had any favorable feelings towards Nanqing, but simply because the existence of this person, Fan Xian, seemed to be able to bring about one more shred of security for the future survival of Dongyi City.

The most crucial question was still hidden in the heart of the Four Gu Swords, and after pondering for a long time, the intelligent Little Emperor of Northern Qi vaguely grasped that key, and although she still didn’t know the details, she guessed that the Four Gu Swords would surely cause Fan Xian a great deal of trouble in the future.

Fan Xian’s trouble was Emperor Qing’s trouble, and the gospel of Northern Qi. Although she knew in her heart that if Fan Xian was truly ruthless enough, she would be nothing but a puppet doll in the other party’s hands, the problem was that Fan Xian had never been a ruthless enough person, especially to his own woman.

What happened that night made the little emperor feel a little humiliated, a little stimulated, a little excited, a little new, and in hindsight, it seemed to have great benefits.

Fan Xian used this to control the little emperor, and why would the little emperor not use the relationship between the two to put Fan Xian in an extremely difficult situation. The little emperor slowly turned his head, indifferently looking at Si Li Li who was sitting on the edge of the bed, and opened his mouth to say, “Consort, comb my hair for me.”

Together with Fan Ruo Ruo, there were three and a half women on the side of Northern Qi, the young emperor calmly enjoyed Si Li Li’s jade hands combing gently while silently thinking, three and a half women against a father with a potential rift, what should Fan Xian do?

Fan Xian at this time people in the depths of the sword hut, standing outside the door, calmly looking at the couch on the four Gu sword. After Shadow woke up, he found himself a place to recuperate, as a top assassin, they always have the last nesting place to lick their wounds, Fan Xian was not worried about this.

In the twilight, he once again met the sword hut’s people’s sword-like gazes, and walked into the depths of the hut, in order to deal with the point that the little emperor of Northern Qi had thought of earlier – the Four Guards’ Sword had the potential to bring big trouble to himself in the future.

Wang Thirteen Lang coughed twice, glanced at him, and walked past him with a basin of hot water without saying anything. Fan Xian turned his head and looked at the blood stains on his back and couldn’t help but smile, the earlier scene of backstabbing his master had confirmed how much Four Gu Swords favored this young disciple.

Including the hot blood basin inside the door earlier, the towel wiping his body, even a great master was sometimes nothing more than a poor old man being served by a filial son.

The more Si Gu Jian favored Wang XIII Lang, the more Fan Xian’s heart settled. He coughed twice, cleared his mind of thoughts, stepped over the threshold, sat down on the chair beside the bed, looked at Four Gu Swords who had his eyes tightly closed, and spoke, “Shadow won’t take over the Sword Lodge.”

At this time the group of rooms in the depths of the Sword Lodge was quiet, except for Wang Thirteen Lang in the courtyard, no one was able to stay in this room, even those sword children who served Four Gu Swords close to their hearts had been driven to the former Lodge long ago.

This sudden words, just like this in the quiet house resounded, curling and rising, for a long time without stopping, came without reason, said inexplicably.

The Shadow was the one bent on killing the Four Gu Swords, an official of the South Celebration Supervisory Court, and yet Fan Xian was serious enough to tell the Four Gu Swords that the Shadow would not take over the Sword Lodge? Could it be that Four Gu Swords would let Shadow inherit his most precious legacy in this world?

And shockingly, the Four Gu Swords did not laugh at this inference of Fan Xian’s, slowly opening his eyes with a palpitating chill in them, and said in a hoarse voice, “Why can’t he?”

Fan Xian’s heart tightened slightly, not realizing that with a single sentence, this Great Master had directly confessed his heart. He couldn’t help but smile bitterly and said softly, “Because he’s one of mine.”

“You are half of the Eastern Barbarians, but he is the entire Eastern Barbarians.” The Four Gu Swords resumed and slowly closed his eyes again, saying, “He is my own brother, he is my Sword Lodge’s true great disciple. After I die, the Sword Lodge will not be taken over by him, will it be given to you?”

“Me?” Fan Xian shrugged and said, “I have my own master, and I don’t have a penchant for starting a sect.”

Si Gu Jian closed his eyes and said, “How did you guess my thoughts?”

“Yun Zhilan would have been a good choice, but it’s a pity that he went against your wishes this time, and he’s so used to affairs work that it’s hard for him to make an inch of progress above the sword path, and you won’t just watch the Sword Lodge fall into decay after your own death.”

“Thirteen Lang is a good choice, but unfortunately, you favor him too much, your hopes for him are too high, and you definitely don’t want him to be bound by these grass huts.”

“Only the shadows.” Fan Xian was silent for a moment before saying, “It’s definitely not that you can’t bear to kill him if you don’t kill him. Saints are merciless, this is something you yourself admitted earlier. You left Shadow a life, so naturally, you want to utilize that life. The position of the Sword Lodge Master, if left to him, the trouble that would be straightened out in the future would be quite clear to both you and I.”

“What happened on the Hanging Temple, it turns out that Chen Pingping really did it.” Si Gu Jian suddenly rattled off a laugh that was extremely gratifying, “It seems that even I have misjudged this old black dog, it turns out that he doesn’t have any loyalty to speak of to your Emperor Majesty.”

Fan Xian wasn’t annoyed either, smiling gently, he said, “No one can question the dean’s loyalty to the Qing Kingdom, if you want to let the shadow surface and thus provoke a war between His Majesty and the dean, I advise you to give up quickly.”

The Four Gu Swords fell silent and did not speak for a long time, the entire Sword Lodge was shrouded in a depressing atmosphere. From last night to today, Si Gu Jian finally realized that Fan Xian, the son of his late husband, really possessed a calmness and even indifference that was extremely difficult to find in the general population, and actually guessed his true feelings that he had been hiding only from his own slightest movements.

“How long can you hide the fact that Shadow is my youngest brother? One year, two years?” Si Gu Jian suddenly spoke indifferently, “What happens within Dong Yi City today will always be rumored back to Kyoto in Qing Kingdom. Do you think that old man of yours, the emperor, really won’t guess anything?”

“I don’t care what he guesses, it’s only a moment if he can drag it out, but I don’t want you to make this matter clear and real.” Fan Xian looked at Si Gu Jian’s thin cheeks without flinching and said, “Within Dong Yi City, there are only six people who can guess the Shadow’s identity. Earlier, the three disciples and four disciples in the Lodge had already met you, and naturally told them about what happened the night before, and I’m sure you’ve made them seal their mouths, so with your position in their hearts, they’re only afraid that they won’t say anything in their lives. As for Thirteenth Lang, I believe in his heart and virtue. The only ones left will be me, you, the little emperor, if you don’t say anything and I don’t say anything, what is there to be afraid of?”

Si Gu Jian spoke indifferently, “The problem is that you haven’t been able to convince me why I won’t say anything. Once the world knows about this matter, your emperor’s old man will definitely kill Chen Pingping, what will you do if Chen Pingping dies?”

Fan Xian was silent for a long time and said, “You pretended to agree to the agreement with me, but in fact, you put your eyes on the aftermath, if the dean dies, my Daqing will be plunged into civil strife, how can I have time to look east ……”

“I just don’t trust that emperor old man of yours.” Four Gu Jian suddenly opened his eyes and looked at him, “I still believe in you more. The problem is that as long as you don’t become the emperor, it’s useless for me to believe in your sincerity, and it’s not your turn to be the master of the Kingdom of Qing.”

Fan Xian’s expression was extremely serious as he spoke, “It’s true that I don’t have the ability to make the decision to make His Majesty rest in his resolve to start a great war. But if you provoke me, at least I can make the decision to let the Qing Kingdom destroy your Dong Yi City.”

He stood up and said, “Don’t try to stir up civil unrest in the Kingdom of Qing, and don’t try to put my most beloved elders in danger, or else there will be no agreement in my heart.”

Four Gu Jian did not utter a single word for a long time before he suddenly spoke, “If that day really came, you would still have your heart set on Dong Yi City?”

“It’s all things that haven’t happened, but this threat is an alarm that can be sounded in advance.”

Si Gu Jian looked at him and said, “Is this the same rough way you used to force the female emperor of Northern Qi to shut up?”

Fan Xian did not worry that the gender of the young emperor would be leaked out by Four Gu Swords, as the upheaval of Northern Qi was definitely not a scenario that this great master would like to see, and directly responded, “I now realize that I can only use rough ways to solve these problems. This …… is learned from you.”

“Don’t try to utilize me or control me.” Fan Xian opened his mouth to say such a sentence, his mind slightly disorganized, as if he had returned to the old Fan family house in Kyoto many years ago, and was speaking to his father himself.

Ever since he came to this world, every move, all his behavioral thoughts, seemingly free, had actually been shrouded under countless shadows. Father, Emperor Laozi, Chen Pingping, all the old guys were arranging his future according to what they thought was right.

Later on, there were more monsters within these old guys, such as Bitter Lotus, such as the Four Gu Swords on the bed at this time, all of whom wanted to use the events of that year to secretly manipulate him.

If Fan Xian wasn’t Fan Xian, I’m afraid that he would have to live a much easier life, and as long as he stepped on the inherent pace, he would be able to survive extremely quickly and deliberately. However, he was unwilling to do so, even if the name Ye Qingmei was always looming over his head, he was still unwilling.

After two days, the two major envoys from South Qing and North Qi finally sailed over from the official highway in an extremely slow and dignified manner. Ever since the two major envoys left Song, they had begun to carry out a sensational low-speed race on the road, as if no one was willing to be the first to set foot on the territory of Dongyi City and carry out the first wave of political offense.

Wei Hua, the main envoy of the Northern Qi mission, vaguely felt that something was strange, but there was no way to change all of this, and in his heart, he somewhat helplessly guessed that he was afraid that Fan Xian had already arrived in Dongyi City a long time ago. However, the officials of the Ministry of Ceremonies of the Southern Qing side’s mission would never have imagined that the negotiating official of the Northern Qi side who had arrived in Dongyi City ahead of schedule was actually their Emperor!

The welcoming ceremony in Dongyi City was extremely lively, but inevitably, there were still a lot of problems in the middle of it, because the officials of the City Lord’s Mansion were all dead, and the officials Yun Zhilan had recruited from the various territories, acted in haste, and would always be a bit out of order.

These details also all fell into the eyes of the two major mission officials, immediately after they learned of the bloodshed in the City Lord’s Mansion, they couldn’t help but look at each other in disbelief, not knowing exactly what had happened.

In fact, the real negotiation, as early as before the mission into the city has already ended, the two sides of the real big shots have already in the dark exchanged countless times, has for the belonging of Dongyi City, set a solid tone.

This day was a bright spring day, this day was windy and sunny, and this day, within the separate courtyard where the Southern Qing mission resided, the officials of Southern Qing had their jaws dropped as they looked at Lord Fan Jr. sitting in the first place, so stunned that they were unable to speak for a long time. Of course they knew that Lord Fan had already entered Dong Yi City in advance, but they could not have imagined that Lord Fan had actually used only three days to repel the aggressive attacks of the Northern Qi people, convince the lonely and arrogant Sword Saint Patriarch, and deterred the opposing forces within Dong Yi City to settle this matter for the Kingdom of Qing!

After hearing Lord Fan’s words, all of the Southern Qing officials were excited, and if it wasn’t for the Dong Yi City’s ceremonial officials outside, I’m afraid that at this point, the cheers would have already broken through the roof and rushed up into the blue sky above Dong Yi City’s head.

Qing has been born out of blood and fire, and has developed from a small border country into the world’s number one power, relying on non-stop border conquests, non-stop wars, especially twenty to thirty years ago, His Majesty the Emperor personally led the army to the north and south to conquer, and only then did he lay down the present boundaries and strength of the Qing country. The four words “open up the border and expand the land” have long become a part of the blood of the people of Qing, no matter whether they are corrupt officials or clean officials, no matter whether they are peddlers or scholars, all of them are eagerly longing for the Southern Qing to be able to unify the world.

It’s just that twenty years ago, the world’s three major powers were in power, and Qing had been quiet for too long, and the enthusiasm for expanding its borders had been suppressed for too long, so after the incident at Dadong Mountain, knowing that the two great masters from the enemy country would no longer be an obstacle, all of this enthusiasm erupted.

Dongyi City was included in the territory of Daqing!

This was not a conquest of Nanzhao, nor a western invasion of the steppe, nor a small war back and forth with Northern Qi to cut off some land, but a real conquest of a major power!

In addition to his majesty’s three expeditions to the north, the great Wei was broken into pieces, honoring the work of the Kingdom of Qing for a thousand years, to be able to conquer the city of Dongyi is undoubtedly the history of the Kingdom of Qing’s expansion of the border, the most glorious one!

All the officials looked at Fan Xian as if he were a god, and their eyes were filled with enthusiasm. Without wasting a single soldier or a single pawn, just by negotiating, they were able to gain such great benefits for the Kingdom of Qing, they could no longer find any words to describe their feelings, they even thought in their hearts that His Majesty, the Emperor, was truly prescient, and was prepared to make Lord Fan Jr. His Majesty’s Prince two years ago.

Little Lord Fan has made such an unparalleled achievement today, not to mention splitting the earth, at least the title of king cannot be escaped.

The Minister of Ceremonies, who was a bit old, had a hard time digesting this shocking news, and was so excited that his face turned red, and his throat thumped, blocking the phlegm in his mouth, and he actually watched Fan Xian fall down like this!

Fan Xian walked out of the lively and unusual envoy’s quarters without the slightest hint of joy on his face. According to the theory of the Dao, being able to persuade the Four Gu Swords to subdue the little Emperor of Northern Qi, and using this relatively peaceful way to bring Dongyi City into the territorial boundaries of Qing, must be the greatest deed he could do in his life, but he still couldn’t be happy, because he knew what kind of danger lay behind the promise of the Four Gu Swords.

He had already explained to the officials in the mission that the one in charge of the details of the negotiations on the side of Dongyi City was Yun Zhilan, the head disciple of the Sword Lodge. Yun Zhilan’s position in this matter had long been known to everyone, and the Four Gu Swords had chosen him to come out and negotiate, without a doubt, to use a tough attitude to maximize the benefits for Dongyi City.

Fan Xian didn’t care about that. Whether it was actual rule or nominal submission, at least it was not an issue that needed to be considered within this year, after the death of the Four Gu Swords, Dongyi City simply didn’t have much opposition, as for whether it was to remain unchanged for fifty years or five years, that was the decision of the Emperor’s old man.

Once he thought about this, his mood was gloomy again. The secret report to Chen Yuan had already been sent out, and the shadow that had been trapped in silence had also been sent by him to Jiangnan Inner Treasury to heal his wounds, but whether or not he could smoothly digest this matter, Fan Xian was really not at all sure.

After walking out of the mission gate and getting into the carriage, Fan Xian leaned against the window with a headache and looked at the bustle of Dongyi City. This prosperity did not seem contrived because of the arrival of the two great missions, nor did it seem bleak because of the collective deaths of the officials of the city’s main government; the businessmen’s nature of seeking profit and boldness allowed them to appear to be uninhibited and incomparably free.

The black carriage traveled to the end of the long street, with three places to go. The member of the Qiyin group who drove the carriage asked for instructions, “Lord Tisch, where to now?”

“To the seashore.” Fan Xian softly replied back.

It took a long time for the carriage to pass through Dongyi City, dodging those busy transportation queues and heading in the opposite direction from the liveliest harbor to the most tranquil piece of silver sandy beach outside of Dongyi City. The official who drove the car jumped out of the car and brought the carriage to the side of a sandy beach, and suddenly realized that there were people on the sandy beach, and was extremely keen to notice the identity of the other party, and the pupils of his eyes violently shrunk, and he lowered his voice and said, “Beiqi people.”

Fan Xian had stepped out of the car by now, and as he looked at the member of the Qi Nian group beside him, he smiled and said, “I’m here today to find these Northern Qi people.”

This member of the Qi Nian group was the same one that Fan Xian had encountered within the city of Qingzhou during the fall of last year. Fan Xian did not have the slightest doubt about the loyalty of these cronies, and under the two tutelages of Wang Qinian and Deng Ziyue, these cronies only knew Fan Xian, and perhaps did not even care much about the one in the palace.

Today, he wanted to meet with someone face to face, so Fan Xian didn’t bring any swordmen from the six divisions of the Supervisory Yuan, and only brought this crony with him. This member of the Qi Nian team froze, and wisely didn’t ask any more questions, leading the carriage to a secluded spot, where he stood guard under the green trees and closed his eyes to fake sleep.

Fan Xian stepped on the soft sand and walked step by step towards the beach. There were a few people on the beach, looking at the sea. The waves of the East China Sea were so calm and gentle, gently lapping at the silvery sandy beach, painting it in varying shades of wet colors, and with the circle of reefs not far from the sea and the layers of green trees behind the beach, it looked very beautiful.

Fan Xian arched his hands once and saluted earnestly, “Greetings, Lord Wolf Peach.”

Wolf Peach looked at him calmly, his hands hanging naturally by his side, his two curved swords hanging by a chain as a rope, swinging gently in the sea breeze. He looked at the young man in front of him with very mixed emotions, but his expression was unusually calm. After a few moments, he stepped aside from the path leading to the beach and walked toward the far side of the beach himself.

Fan Xian walked over to the young man dressed in a plain colored tunic with a refined air, crossed his arms, and joined him in looking at the sea.

Si Li Li, dressed in a beautiful pale yellow dress, was like a fairy, smilingly accompanying the two of them.

That young man was naturally the young Emperor of Northern Qi. With the defeat of Bei Qi in the matter of the Eastern Barbarians, it was impossible for him to leave the court in Shangjing and leave that dragon chair for too long, so he had to leave today.

In the mission, while the Qing officials were excited and thrilled, they had worried about whether Bei Qi would sabotage them, but Fan Xian did not answer at that time because he was about to meet with the Emperor of Bei Qi.

The Emperor of Northern Qi still had two straight eyebrows, and his eyes were so clear and resolute that no one could tell that he was a woman underneath his clothes.

Without looking at Fan Xian, he suddenly raised his right arm, pointed at the Cangcang sea, and said in an extraordinarily firm tone, “If I were a man, I would definitely be able to unify the world and conquer this sea again!”

The waves suddenly grew large at this moment, hitting the reefs in the distant sea, stirring up a loud sound like thunder, engulfing this confident yet resigned sentence of the Emperor of Northern Qi.