Chapter 81 – There is Blood on the Way Back

When Wang Thirteen Lang heard these words, he pondered for a moment and did not reply, but stood up, standing in front of Fan Xian and slowly drawing the sword at his waist. Today’s Thirteen Lang was not the green streamer arithmetician who walked the world experiencing the hearts of men, but only the swordsman who followed Fan Xian around and refused to live alone.

Fan Xian’s expression became serious, his right hand climbed to his back and drew out the Great Wei Son of Heaven Sword, the light of the sword was like autumn water, reflecting with the sea water not far away, it was even more rippling.

Without any sign, the wordless sword stabbed Fan Xian a foot in front of his face.

This was the first time Fan Xian had actually seen Wang XIII Lang move his sword, and he realized why the Four Guards Sword had placed his mantle on this young man. Undoubtedly, Thirteen Lang’s comprehension of sword intent had reached an extremely high level, and the tip of the sword arrived at the slightest movement of his mind, which seemed to have exceeded the constraints of the environment.

This was the terrifying realm brought about by the toughness of the mind, once Thirteen Lang moved his sword, there were no distractions in his mind, only the sword.

Fan Xian’s Heavenly Son Sword in his hand was still pointing diagonally at forty-five degrees to the sky, and it was too late for him to react, his face was pale, and the overbearing true qi at the back of his waist at the snowy mountain exploded, and he forcefully pulled himself up at the moment when he couldn’t afford to lose time and lifted up both his wings like a sand gull, and drifted and slid towards the back of the beach.

A slip is fifteen feet, this is completely unlike the bizarre stance that humans should possess.

Wang Thirteen Lang’s sword stabbed the guest, the cold aura of the sword tip slowly retracted, while a sword mark appeared on the beach in front of him for no reason at all, as if someone had traveled by, a sword had traveled by.

A deep trace.

The two were fifteen feet apart, Fan Xian’s hand was still tightly gripping that Tian Zi sword, he suddenly had an illusion, Thirteen Lang this seemingly light and direct sword, actually had some of the flavor of that day in the Dong Yi City Lord’s mansion, the shadow condensed decades of power mind hatred and stabbed a shocking sword.

He looked at the silent Thirteen Lang in a daze and said after a long time, “What a domineering sword.”

As the words left his mouth, he realized that his voice was a bit hoarse, thinking that in order to avoid this simple sword, the true qi in his body had been raised too much in a very short period of time, thus shocking his lung veins.

Fan Xian took a deep breath, his pale face gradually returning to its normal color. He gave Thirteen Lang a deep look and said, ”Going forward, this is indeed your means. It’s just that normally you aren’t this fast and this powerful.”

“I practiced the Overbearing True Qi, I just couldn’t even manage to pass the first level, but experienced the flavor of this technique.” Wang Thirteen Lang’s sword was ineffective, slowly closed his eyes and said, “I’ve already figured out that greed can’t be chewed. I have the sword in my hand, why do I need to learn Emperor Qing’s mastery?”

The Nameless Kung Fu Technique was too overbearing, especially when passing through the first pass, the feeling of mind and body being completely severed, completely conflicting, and uncontrollable was too much like going off the deep end. The reason why Fan Xian had easily gotten through this level back then was because he had spent the last years of his previous life in bed, and he had long since gotten used to the years of being a vegetable who couldn’t move his body but only his mind.

Therefore, knowing that Wang XIII Lang had not been able to embark on the path of the Hegemony Technique, Fan Xian was not surprised, he was only surprised at how enlightened XIII Lang had been, that he had actually perceived the danger of the Hegemony Technique within such a short period of time and possessed such a high level of wisdom and clarity of judgment that he had immediately aborted his quest in this regard.

“If I couldn’t dodge this sword just now, would you have killed me?” Fan Xian curled his lips and asked in a slight mockery.

Wang Thirteen Lang shook his head after a moment of silence. He was a bit tired and sat down directly on the slightly wet seaside beach. That sword seemed simple, just a basic elbow flexing maneuver, but to explode with such speed and hold such a determined stance had depleted too much of his energy.

Within a short period of time, it was impossible for Thirteen Lang to strike the same second sword, just as Shadow had only been able to strike that sword against the Four Guards Sword in the City Lord’s Mansion.

Fan Xian clearly grasped this point and slowly raised his steps, walking towards Thirteen Lang’s side, saying with an inexplicable emotion, “Many people say that greed is not good enough to chew on, and even you have such a clear judgment, but I always used to think that the arts are not good enough for me, am I wrong?”

A faint trace of doubt flashed in his eyes, “The four great masters in the world, together with that blind uncle of mine, I have mastered four out of the five great arts, and even the Ye family’s Flowing Cloud Scattering Hands have been touched by me to get the general know-how.”

He sat down in front of Wang Thirteen Lang, frowning, he said, “In the world, no, I should say that from ancient times, I am the only one who has learned so many Jedi arts, yet the me of today was forced back by a single stroke of your sword, what’s the use of me learning so many?”

“Being able to learn so much already shows that you are the most terrifying one in the world.” Wang XIII Lang was simple-minded but not the kind of person that Dabao was, he was extremely keen to notice the feeling of frustration that was gradually rising in Fan Xian’s heart, and looked him in the eye and said, “Any martial art requires the most focused intention and a lifetime of practice and perfection, not to mention the great masters who have left behind their great skills… …Your Excellency was able to cultivate four of these disciplines to perfection in the short span of twenty years, which is already jaw-dropping enough.”

Fan Xian had practiced the mastery of the four great patriarchs, yet in front of this sword of Wang Thirteen Lang, he had to retreat for the time being, and he could not help but think of the realm of the Four Gu Swords, as well as the realm of the Emperor’s old man, and an unquenchable gloom arose in his heart.

Wang Thirteen Lang looked at his eyes and said softly, “Your enlightenment is extremely good, especially the foundation is laid incomparably firmly, coupled with such good luck …… you should be the most powerful one under the sky.”

“My enlightenment is only that of a middle-aged person, especially in front of you and Haitang Duo.” Fan Xian took a deep breath and said, “All I can rely on is the word diligence, only manpower is sometimes poor, even if I am twice as diligent as I am nowadays, but there’s still no way to poke through that piece of paper.”

Today’s Fan Xian, facing Wang Thirteen Lang’s sword as if it came from outside the sky, was also able to avoid it in a dashing manner, coupled with those great skills that he had been hiding in his sleeves and inside his body, especially with his sinister fighting character, coupled with those dexterities that the Supervisory Yuan had given him ……

He was confident that no matter if he was facing any of the ninth grade powerhouses in the world, he could defeat the other party, even Wang XIII Lang, or Haitang, or rather Wolf Peach, Yun Zhilan, once he was up against himself, the one who would end up dead, would definitely be the other party.

When Ye Liuyun left this world, no matter if it was power or personal cultivation, Fan Xian was undoubtedly the second person in the world.

Wang Thirteen Lang also sensed this from that seemingly easy and casual sliding retreat of Fan Xian’s earlier, and a faint austere feeling arose in his heart as he looked at Fan Xian, never able to figure out how the other party, who was also only a young man in his mid-twenties, managed to raise his own cultivation to such a realm as it was today.

The realms of the three young men in the sky were now similar, only that Fan Xian was more ruthless than the two of them and had more means.

“How did you exit that retreat?” Wang Xulang asked him with narrowed eyes.

Fan Xian was silent for a long time and didn’t reply, only staring back at the white waves rising and falling in the sea. He had been in Dongyi City for a long, long time, and the pamphlet left behind by Master Bitter Lotus was deeply imprinted in his mind, and every time he meditated on the seashore, those words poured into his mind, and although he still didn’t understand most of the meanings, it was very mysterious that as long as he thought about it himself, it seemed that there were some very subtle factors inside and outside of his body that began to echo with each other.

His body lighter, his movements faster, the speed of recovery of the true qi in his body also faster, it seems that there is really that kind of unseen and untouchable Yuan Qi in the world, willing to replenish his loss along with his thoughts.

It was just that this kind of replenishment made his heart palpitate a little, could this be the Western spells? Humans would always be afraid of things that they did not know the root of. And what made Fan Xian even more indifferent was that the changes brought to him by that pamphlet were not enough to solve too many problems, the speed of that replenishment was too slow, and the enhancement of that realm was too small ……

The second in the world, it seemed, could only ever be the second in the world.

For a moment, Fan Xian even thought that he hadn’t made a heavenly mistake. Whether it was Master Bitter Lotus, or the Four Gu Swords, whether it was Ye Liuyun or His Majesty the Emperor, these characters at the very top of the earth, whether it was the firmness of their wills or the diligence of their cultivation were surely far above their own, but all of these great masters had only been cultivating their own mastery for a single lifetime, and had never had their hearts in the right place.

He himself had learned too many things, and knew too many things that were too disorganized.

Fan Xian had a feeling that he was afraid that Thirteen Lang and Duo Duo would have an easier time breaking through that paper than he did in the future, and that was probably what the Four Gu Swords had said about the mind, and that his own mind was still not as strong as these two, because he was too afraid, and so he was searching for ways to make himself stronger at all costs.

This kind of deliberate perhaps then fell down, but he was really afraid, he was afraid of death, he was afraid that the people he cared about would die.

“I’ll be returning to the capital the day after tomorrow.” The corners of Fan Xian’s lips suddenly spread a smile, and he said softly, “As long as Dongyi City is not in turmoil, at least right now the world is still peaceful, so why should I worry about so many things?”

Yes, Dongyi City was under the boundaries of the Kingdom of Qing, and although there were some upheavals here and there, under the suppression of the Kingdom of Qing’s powerful military force, and the cooperation of the upper echelons of Dongyi City, it simply could not set off any major storms.

His Majesty’s trust in Fan Xian remained, and Chen Pingping would soon be leaving the capital to retire, Fan Xian thought about this section and stood against the sea breeze, feeling immensely relieved, regardless of whether Uncle Wuzhu would return or not, it seemed that just by going along with the trend, he would always be able to find a second path between himself and the Emperor’s old man.

Bleeding doesn’t have to be necessary.

Bleeding is necessary.

When the winds of early fall began to travel through the hills behind Dongyi City, Fan Xian finally took care of most of the affairs in Dongyi City and waited for the return of the Grand Prince and Yun Zhilan. The first major turmoil after the surrender of Dongyi City was finally extinguished within the borders of Xiaoliang with the cooperation of both sides, and the flames started by the self-immolation of the great scholar Mr. Koo were quickly extinguished by the blood and water, and did not spread for long.

Xiaoliang country died a total of more than four hundred people, these bloodthirsty Dongyi people, unfortunately lying in a pool of blood.

After Fan Xian had finished reading the general report, he explained some matters with the Grand Hall, and then boarded the caravan that left Dongyi City; he had to go back to Kyoto to report on his duties once again.

The conquest of a land brought with it the intense hustle and bustle of these expeditionary ministers, day in and day out, and killing.

After the Grand Prince parted ways with Fan Xian, he brought his garrison to watch every movement in Dongyi City with a cool eye. At this time, both he and Fan Xian felt that the momentum had been set, and that if they just slowly tossed and turned like this, no matter whether it was the Southern Qing dynasty’s politics or the world’s general situation, they would all be in a controllable range.

So both brothers were in a very good mood. In the high season of autumn, their hearts were also incredibly refreshed, leaving behind all their worries.

Even Fan Xian could not think about the problems of the ten villages and the past for the time being. As for that red man of the dynasty, He Zongwei, he was even more of a clown in his eyes, unable to affect anything at all.

Today was a good day. These were the rare good days in Fan Xian’s life.

The black convoy of the Inspectorate left Dongyi City and slowly traveled on the official road back to the capital. Fan Xian was in no hurry to return to the capital, and it was a rare treat to look around at the beautiful golden, slightly yellow and deep yellow leaves in a variety of colors, and the autumn mountains that were painted like oil paintings.

Of course, the blood along the way is still flowing. As a powerful minister of the Qing Kingdom, the master of the Sword Lodge, the representative figure of the invaders, and the favorite illegitimate son of Emperor Qing, Fan Xian, who was returning to the capital all the way, naturally became the first target of the attack by the righteous armies and chaotic people of the vassal states around Dongyi City.

It might not be appropriate to say that the people were disorganized, but should be said that they were righteous people. The people in Dongyi City who refused to accept surrender and bravely entered the mountains and forests to fight against the Qing invaders were mostly the so-called Jianghu people. These people who were armed with force clearly showed a bit more directness in defending their moral code.

It was unknown how these people had found out when Fan Xian had left Dongyi City, grasped the route of the Supervisory Court’s convoy back to the capital, and all along the way had begun to launch an onslaught of assassinations and even suicide attacks on the powerful officials of the Qing State in the black carriages.

Arriving directly at Yanjing about twenty days, the black caravan was actually attacked a total of seven times, Yanjing side of the army to receive as well as rooted in the junction of the black cavalry did not come in to receive, the great prince also just allocated a thousand men team to Fan Xian, so to cope with these seven big attacks, it was actually quite a hard work.

Fan Xian no longer had any interest in enjoying the scenery, and instead fell into deep thought. There was no problem with his personal safety, and the incoming volunteers often had no choice but to retreat after throwing down countless corpses, but his subordinates, especially the Western Expeditionary Army under the Grand Prince, had also paid quite a price for it.

Because they were caught in the midst of an unrelenting offensive, the top secret courtyard report from Kyoto had not arrived for three days.

Fan Xian lifted the curtain of the carriage, squinted at the west, and secretly prayed in his heart that everything would be safe in Kyoto, and that the people he cared about would be safe.

While Fan Xian was traveling through the mountains on that side, within the borders of the Kingdom of Qing, there was also a long convoy traveling on a lonely night road. This convoy was also solid black, and in the extremely wide carriage in the center was an old man with a woolen blanket covering his knees. His eyes were a little cloudy, looking at the road in the night, feeling as if this road would never end.

The former head of the Supervisory Academy, secretly in charge of the dark forces of Qing for decades, the most loyal subject of Emperor Qing, the most hated enemy of the civil officials of Qing, the old thief most feared by the Northern Qi people and the Eastern Barbarians, the great man who had once influenced the situation of the entire world, Elder Chen Pingping, had finally embarked on a journey to return to his old age.

This time when he left Kyoto, it was not to return to his hometown to save his family, but to settle down in his hometown. First class merit, countless rewards, going home to old age is a rare honor that His Majesty has given to this old black dog, and all the civil ministers of the Qing Kingdom think so.

Chen Pingping’s hometown was in the eastern part of the Qing Kingdom, if you look at the map, it was just below the city of Dongyi, but it was quite a distance away from Tanyu and Jiaozhou, on the contrary, it was closer to the south of the Yangtze River, which was an impoverished area that wasn’t very developed.

The lonely caravan returning home was still a long way from home, and on this day, the caravan only passed through Dazhou, a state and county that Chen Pingping must pass through in order to return to her hometown.

The caravan did not notify the officials along the way, so as not to startle all the officials again to come out to kowtow to the old dean in fear and trepidation.

However, today’s Dazhou was brightly lit, and the magistrates in the official government were busily searching around for something, looking for something, under the stern reprimands of the upper officials of the Ministry of Justice.

Chen Pingping’s eyes narrowed, he did not remember any important people in Dazhou. He lifted the curtain of the car and beckoned an unfamiliar-looking official beside him, asking a few questions in a soft voice.

That official’s face was unfamiliar, yet those eyes carried a wryness that came with insight into the world, and he responded with a gentle smile, “We arrived long ago when Lord Titus returned to the capital.”

Chen Pingping gave a somewhat tired hmmm, but his eyes flashed with a trace of complex emotions, he thought of the conversation he had with his majesty in the palace before leaving Kyoto, and he had already seen those meanings in the deepest part of his majesty’s heart.

In this world, there was no one who understood Emperor Qing more than Chen Pingping, so his eyes were complicated. And the strange official beside the carriage stared at the brightly lit Dazhou, stared at the bloody man who stood out from the crowd, his eyes also became complicated while being shocked.