Among the onlookers were martial artists from the New Army, but they were merely a few knights, and none took up the remark.
Grand Knight Jeff was permanently stationed in the barracks; if their commander wasn't stepping forward, why would they stir up trouble?
Meanwhile, two rows of buildings away, Commander Jeff was wiping his greatsword.
A faint smile touched the corner of his lips. *Boy, didn't you refuse to join the New Army? Feel the pressure, then.*
He had zero interest in responding to what the grand knight from Count Shengming's estate had shouted.
*What kind of thing do you think you are, ordering the New Army around?*
At this moment, Manna kept silent. She didn't want to bring up the New Army either.
Even though back in the Guizu domain, when the youth from Jin had posed as a member of the New Army, he had jokingly claimed he had received an invitation from them.
The crux was that Grand Instructor Hong Da's stance toward the New Army was to keep them at a respectful distance, and she naturally had to follow her master's lead.
After demanding an answer, the sinister grand knight was surprised to find that no one responded at all.
He blinked, inwardly wondering, *Is there more to this than meets the eye?*
After a moment's thought, he gave a cold snort. "Fine. I won't lower myself to squabble with you juniors. I'll take this up with Hong Yan later!"
With that, he actually turned and led his people away!
This scene he had made was truly all thunder and no rain, baffling everyone.
Next door, however, Commander Jeff's lips curled into a cold sneer. *Sly old fox!*
Clearly, the man had realized something was off and decisively pulled back.
It wasn't that he himself was afraid of trouble, but rather that the count's estate behind him did not want to get dragged into the New Army's vortex.
At the same time, this reaction left Tianwu's grand instructor somewhat bewildered as well.
Fortunately, he had spoken from a distance and hadn't come too close. Seeing this, he turned and left as well, without offering a single word of explanation.
The student stirring up trouble didn't belong to his group; stepping up to lend vocal support had already fulfilled his obligation.
Whatever had happened in the Guizu domain had been handled by his colleague; it wasn't his place to meddle.
Seeing both grand knights depart—one of whom was from their own side—the Tianwu knights froze in unison.
What was the meaning of this?
Their brains really couldn't keep up with this sudden turn of events.
"All right, Rossi, let's go," Rossi's friend spoke up, trying to smooth things over.
He hadn't joined in the argument earlier, but neither had he walked away, so he had enough standing to offer some advice.
And so the Red Pine group departed, and the onlookers gradually dispersed.
The Tianwu martial artists looked at one another, at a loss for what to do.
Finally, someone sighed deeply. "What you said just now offended every middle- and lower-tier martial academy."
"Then let them be offended," the knight student retorted, still indignant. "Liang's future ultimately depends on the high-tier martial academies anyway!"
"You damn..." The speaker shook his head and turned to leave.
Even if you think so in your heart, you can't say it out loud!
A moment later, the stocky external affairs knight said in a low voice, "Forget it. The New Army's attitude is ambiguous. Let this matter end here."
In the past, anyone who dared impersonate the New Army would never get away with it.
Now a grand knight from the New Army was right here in the camp and hadn't stepped forward. What did that signify?
Tianjing Martial Academy had indeed produced countless outstanding martial artists, but in the end, an academy was merely a loose network.
Over trivial matters, they could band together, but they could never become an independent pole of Liang's political power.
Having handled external affairs for years, the stocky knight subconsciously sensed the risks involved.
The knight student's lips moved as if to say something, but in the end, he shook his head and walked away.
He was indeed young and hotheaded, but among those who gained admission into a high-tier martial academy, how many were truly brainless?
In contrast to their gloomy, dejected mood, things were much livelier on Red Pine's side.
Apart from Rossi's friend and people from Marquis Tanyong's Estate, martial artists followed along in twos and threes, eager to hear some gossip.
It didn't even require them to ask; for instance, Rossi's friend spoke up first.
He looked thoroughly excited. "Detonating ghost-destroying mines at night—what were you guys thinking?"
This was what every martial artist wanted to know; pulling off such a move was sheer madness.
It wasn't that no one had ever thought of it before—some might have even experienced it; when blood rushed to their heads, martial artists were capable of anything.
Yet the details of the process and the aftermath had never been leaked out.
Rossi naturally knew where to draw the line and could only shake his head with a sigh.
"Sigh, don't even mention it. Talking about getting infected by Guizu aura, I was the damn first victim! Back then, they approached our campsite..."
He selectively shared what was safe to say, mainly emphasizing their own innocence: it wasn't that they had spotted a Guizu-transformed creature and wanted to hoard it for themselves, but rather that their camp was right there!
Public opinion was pretty much a joke in Great Liang, but having it on your side was better than not.
Just as young Wu put it: make your friends as numerous as possible, and your enemies as few as possible.
The listeners enjoyed hearing it. Even though some among them had bullied the weak in the past, who hadn't once been weak themselves?
Still, after listening for a while, someone finally asked, "So what are the actual consequences of detonating ghost-destroying mines at night?"
"It's a long story," Rossi replied crisply. "Trust me, you definitely don't want to experience it a second time!"
"Details, give us details!" An increasing number of people grew impatient. "Are you holding out for tips or something?"
"All right, disperse, disperse," Namuzha spoke up. He was an official instructor of Red Pine, after all, and carried more authority than Rossi.
"If you gentlemen want more details, go try it yourselves. Who doesn't have secrets they can't share?"
The excuse was solid, but people's curiosity was simply too overwhelming.
Since they couldn't get information from Red Pine, they could only go ask Tianjing Martial Academy.
The people of Tianwu cared deeply about face, but regarding this incident, they considered themselves the victims, so they didn't have much hesitation.
There were quite a few senior martial artists here hailing from Tianwu; coming over to learn about such rare information wasn't unreasonable, was it?
The student steeled himself and simply recounted the whole sequence of events in detail.
He placed heavy emphasis on how dangerous the other party's actions were, and how grave the consequences had been.
As for the specific origins of their feud and how they had handled things afterward, he didn't mention a word.
Yet that didn't mean others couldn't spot the holes: Were the people from Red Pine crazy? Why would they clash with you so desperately in such an unimaginable manner?
Besides, after returning to the military camp, those people weren't even afraid of retribution and dared to wander around openly. What backing did they rely on?
Most martial artists staying in the camp were relatively idle, so they came back to probe Rossi and the others.
Anyone fond of gossip knew that once a bite was taken, one couldn't resist digging to the bottom of it—not to mention that this matter could truly broaden one's perspective.
Namuzha and Manna kept their lips tightly sealed, and Rossi maintained his basic bottom line as well.
He merely stated that only three of them had pursued the other party; the whole ordeal had been agonizing, yet they endured.
The underlying meaning went without saying: three chasing seven, with a grand knight on the opposing side—how could they not stake it all?
Yet the most crucial part was what he stated: all three had gotten away unscathed!
They had only four people in total. As for which three took part... care to guess?
His answer even made many martial artists secretly ponder: Was using ghost-destroying mines at night inside a Guizu domain not as dangerous as thought?
Everyone was a knight; there was no reason you could do it while I couldn't!
Yet when word reached the Tianwu student, he vehemently refuted it—it was truly very, very, very perilous.
Even with a chief instructor protecting him, he had still accidentally gotten tainted by Guizu aura! The other side was just trying to downplay how severe it really was!
The gossiping martial artists couldn't help snickering inwardly: *The problem is... all three of them came back alive and kicking!*
At this point, the onlookers had reached the core question of the spectacle: How had the Red Pine crew managed it?
Frustratingly, neither side said another word!
Some wanted to inquire with that young apprentice knight, but nobody knew him, and the fellow holed up inside his room without showing his face!
Seeing that the situation had been kept under control, Grand Knight Jeff stopped paying attention.
He had originally hoped that when Red Pine couldn't bear the pressure, they would come seek his help; now it seemed... there was likely no need to wait.
Still, there was no rush regarding this; he didn't lack patience.
Another day passed, new drama surfaced, and the buzz around the matter died down—until three days later, when Hong Yan and Xia'erzi returned!
They returned driving five vehicles. Apart from the two of them, there were eleven knights and three funerary urns.
Half the knights were wounded. The burly man who had guided Hong Yan into the Guizu domain had a broken leg.
Aside from looking a bit dispirited and exhausted, Grand Instructor Hong Da's overall condition seemed decent.
Wu Youren was surprised to discover that the instructor from Marquis Tanyong's Estate, legendary for his terrifying combat power, was not particularly burly at all—in fact, he was on the lean side.
Quite different from the physique typical of Liang natives.
Xia'erzi looked exceptionally weary. His steps were limp, seemingly devoid of strength, and he went straight into his quarters to rest.
Instructor Hong was not doing much better after entering her room. Moments later, Manna stepped out and said, "Keep your voices down."
Hong Da only emerged from her room the following evening, having slept for a full day and night.
She said nothing of what she had experienced, immediately asking about the four's haul instead.
After getting a general grasp of things, she had a hearty meal before sipping tea and leisurely reviewing the video recordings.
An hour later, she began inspecting the harvest in an unhurried manner while inquiring about details.
Hearing that they had taken the risk of hunting near the Guizu aura pillar in the early morning hours, she gave the youth from Jin a deliberate, fleeting glance.
Then she nodded slightly without saying a single word.
Roughly half an hour later, she had grasped everything clearly. She stood up and walked toward another row of rooms.
The night was already quite deep. Instructor Hong walked up to a room, raised her hand, and struck—shattering the door to splinters.
"Motherfucker..." The person inside snapped angrily. "Are you out of your fucking mind?"
Instructor Hong's face showed no expression. She crooked her finger. "Come. Outside the barracks."
"Can't you just talk if you have business?" The man stepped out of the room; it was none other than the grand knight from Count Shengming's estate.
His face, sinister to begin with, was now dark enough to drip water.
People spilled out from the rooms on either side of him as well—all from the count's estate.
"I hear you don't like to reason things out," Hong Yan said, her face terrifyingly calm. "Then I'll beat you up first, and we can talk afterward!"
Chapter 135