A Familiar Bird

Wu Youren was somewhat surprised by the appearance of Discipline Inspector Ranxue and Rossi. However, once he learned the identities of those people in the distance, he understood a little better. When Ranxue asked him if he had killed a grand knight, the youth was silent for a moment before producing a curved saber with a short piece missing from its tip. "I don't know about any grand knight, but I did get hold of a weapon." The discipline inspector took the curved saber, turned it over a few times, and looked at him in utter disbelief. "You weren't hurt?" The youth gave a bashful smile. "They were traps I designed myself. How could I hurt myself?" This was a classic evasion of the real point. Rossi took the curved saber from Ranxue, inspected it as well, and pointed at the jagged break at the tip, asking in astonishment, "A fresh break?" "Wasn't me," Wu Youren spread his hands, answering candidly. "Maybe the explosions caused it." "Explosions..." Rossi said nothing, his eyes filled with disbelief. *Are you kidding me?* "The steel of the blade is relatively brittle," Ranxue said. Though he didn't believe it either, at least he could find an excuse to rationalize it to himself. What he cared about was the other things he had heard from the New Army on the way. "You actually fought knights head-on in hand-to-hand combat?" The two barbarian apprentice knights had claimed that this person bombed two knights to death, while the other four knights were killed in face-to-face combat. The two had even stubbornly insisted that the killer was a grand knight! Whether to the Red Pine Martial Academy instructors or to the New Army, that claim was utterly absurd. A sixteen-year-old grand knight? Rossi could even state with certainty that just over half a year ago, this youth in the apprentice knight realm didn't even have a decent saber! Wu Youren answered calmly, "They hadn't eaten enough, and the explosions affected them too. Um... I also used a bit of poison." Ranxue was at a loss for words. An underfed knight was still a knight—and you cut down four in a row? Rossi believed it even less. "Poisoning in the open wilderness... What kind of poison?" The youth looked at him calmly and gave no answer. The two stared at each other for about ten seconds. Feeling the atmosphere turning awkward, Ranxue cleared his throat softly. "That's enough. He was dealing with barbarians. Are you trying to stand up for the barbarians?" "I..." Rossi was at a loss as well. "Can't I just ask out of curiosity?" Ranxue looked at him helplessly. "Do you know what happens when you're too curious?" As a martial artist, who didn't have secrets of their own? Could young Wu possibly mean you harm? If not, why ask so much? Yet Rossi still felt slighted. On the way back, he couldn't help griping, "The kid's wings are fully grown now, huh?" "I'm never fucking riding in your car again," Ranxue stated coldly. "Being around an idiot is too dangerous." "Don't start insulting me," Rossi said, growing increasingly upset. "Was anything I said wrong? Look at his attitude!" Ranxue snorted coldly. "If you could cut down four knights in a row, I certainly wouldn't dare insult you." "Let me just ask you one thing: you're still hoping to get benefits through him, so who the fuck is the one with the wrong attitude?" The discipline inspector had handled many cases and heard of even more; he genuinely had zero tolerance for stupidity. Rossi fell silent. For a martial artist who had advanced to knight in his early twenties, admitting that he was outmatched did not come easily. "But he... Ranxue, he is a Jin native!" "If Jin had won that war, we'd all be Jin natives right now," the discipline inspector replied coldly. "Don't think you can represent Liang. Do you think you're worthy? That's for the big shots to worry about." "What you need to get straight is who you can afford to cross, who you can't, and who can get you benefits. You and I are both nobodies." Rossi was quiet. Only after a while did he speak up: "Could he turn against me?" "Get your head straight before you speak," Ranxue said, unwilling to waste words on an idiot. In fact, deep down he even suspected there might be more behind Namuzha's death—and Namuzha had been Hong Da's guard! However, he would never voice that suspicion to anyone. Young Wu might be young, but what an easy person he was to deal with! Treat him well, and he treated you well in return. Nationalistic sentiment? What a load of absolute nonsense. Could that compare to tangible benefits in hand? When you were strong enough, the whole world smiled at you. If you weren't strong enough, suck it up! In truth, Wu Youren had indeed felt a bit of displeasure toward Rossi. *If you don't know how to speak, you don't have to talk. Why pry into things you shouldn't?* Fortunately, he held no expectations for the Liang people anyway. As long as things didn't go too far later on, he didn't plan to do anything drastic out of his way. More importantly, seeing the curved saber hadn't given the two instructors any untoward ideas, which proved his test had succeeded once again. Wasn't living space carved out bit by bit just like this? In the days that followed, the youth cultivated while continuing to improve the layout of his camp. In the blink of an eye, ten days passed. The weather was mostly fair, but the temperatures were so low that the snow melted very slowly. On this day, an off-road vehicle drove up, and four people stepped out, led by Talisi. She had come on behalf of the Protocol Office to learn about the battle between the Jin hostage and the barbarians. Wu Youren stated that the battle had been too intense, so he had forgotten most of it; in any case, the barbarians had definitely tried to rob him. Compared to her predecessor, Talisi was indeed more in touch with reality—at the very least, she had waited more than ten days after the battle before rushing over. After gaining a general understanding of the situation, she stated that the barbarians were furious about this, especially since he had also seized a grand knight's weapon. She advised the Jin hostage to avoid the barbarians as much as possible in the future, as Liang did not want further complications between the two sides. As she was leaving, she asked, "Your country's Seventeenth Prince seems to be unwell. Aren't you going back to see him?" "Many people have already gone back," Wu Youren replied without batting an eye. "I have a bit of experience killing Guizu, but I really have no clue when it comes to treating illnesses." On the road as the vehicle drove away, a knight murmured quietly, "Lying through his teeth. He didn't take any mission; he just hid out here." Talisi ignored him, turning instead to another apprentice knight. "Did you sense the blood curse?" "No," the man shook his head with a grave expression. "I used three different methods. Could that grand knight have had no seed?" The Court of State Ceremonial knew quite a bit about barbarian blood curse seeds. While linked to cultivation realm, it was not an absolute rule. It could be arranged for important figures within a tribe, but the grand knight realm was by no means a hard requirement. A blood curse was simply a marker meant for revenge, to keep others from bullying them with impunity. If a tribe only had one or two grand knights, then once their ceiling of combat strength died, knowing who the enemy was held little meaning anyway. There were also grand knights who personally rejected the blood curse—*I'm already dead, what fucking use is any of that!* Talisi remarked impassively, "Intelligence shows there was definitely a seed. We've paid you a high salary for so long, and you can't even find this?" "Perhaps another power intervened," the apprentice knight said, his face turning pale. "For state-level powers, shielding a seed is not very difficult." The female knight let out a cold smile. "Could he have that? No wonder. So someone might be meddling." Wu Youren truly just wanted to quietly and silently grow his strength. Yet there was no helping it; the record of this battle was simply too shocking. Although it was merely a minor skirmish and very few people knew about it, anyone who heard of it couldn't possibly ignore it! Two days later, Liu Jingming sent a message: "Hostage Manor is asking where you are, what mission you took, and why you haven't returned yet." Wu Youren really didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Several departments with real power in Liang had already sought him out one after another, yet Hostage Manor was still putting on airs, asking when he would return? He was certain the Guard Captain definitely knew his current situation—without needing to say more, the man only had to press Liu Jingming hard with questions. Yet Hao Wei had made no move, and only after so long did official Jin authorities send an inquiry demanding to know what was going on. Talk about a delayed reaction... The Court of State Ceremonial was truly a government bureaucracy through and through—it was downright hilarious! Half a month passed, and the horned owl did not return. Another ten days went by. Just as the hard crust on the surface of the snow had frozen solid enough that one could almost walk on it, the third snowfall arrived. Starting and stopping, this snowfall lasted seven or eight days before the skies cleared completely, with total snowfall roughly matching the second one. However, this snow settled things: winter in Tianjing this year would be like this, and the snow wouldn't melt away until spring. For Wu Youren, this was a good thing. With this snowfall, it was virtually impossible for the barbarians to come looking for trouble again. In his heart, he also silently thanked Commander Jeff. Without the supplies that man had eagerly sent over, it would have been very difficult for him to survive the winter in the wilderness relying solely on his own stores. On the eighth day after the snow stopped, Xiao Ha finally came down from his shoulder, fluttering about in the snow as if attempting to fly. Fortunately, the successive snowfalls had awakened a bit of the little snow harrier's genetic memory. Otherwise, who knew when it would finally remember that it had a pair of wings. Early that morning, while it was fluttering around, a black dot suddenly appeared in the sky. The little creature was extremely alert; gripping the youth's trouser leg, it flapped its wings and scrambled swiftly back onto his shoulder. "An acquaintance... or rather, a familiar bird?" Wu Youren looked at the sky. The horned owl spiraled down to land, cocking its head to glance at Xiao Ha. "Can it leave your side yet?" "No," Wu Youren shook his head. "At least another month, and if it wants to fly, at least two months... Did you lose weight?" "The horned owl lost weight!" Chen Quanxu corrected him very seriously. "In the dead of winter, there's hardly anything to eat. Has Xiao Ha produced anything yet?" "Nothing," the youth sighed. "Making me squat out here in the wilderness for so long, honestly." After a pause, he couldn't help asking, "How was... the effect of the flawless crystal?" The horned owl remained silent for a long while before slowly nodding. "It works, but... it wasn't controlled well!" "As long as it works," Wu Youren said, ignoring the "but." In life, one had to focus on the main point. "About that..." The horned owl hesitated, then added, "The blood curse works too, but it seems I didn't use it quite right." "That's already impressive," the youth nodded, not pressing for details. "Figuring out so much in such a short time." "That's certainly true," Chen Quanxu said, perking up at the topic. He took great pride in his research capabilities.