This green-robed cultivator had rodent-like, furtive features. Taking an insolent step forward, his words drew the gazes of several Qingchi Sect cultivators. Li Xuanfeng frowned slightly, left with no choice but to raise his bow and draw the string.
Most of these cultivators were disciples of Yuanwu Peak, and treating his group as playthings had gone on for some time. Fei Yihe and the others had always been servile and compliant; hearing this, they looked nervously toward Li Xuanfeng.
*Twang...*
Li Xuanfeng remained silent. Raising the golden longbow in his hand, he exhaled and focused his breath. Golden radiance converged and intertwined, coalescing into a gold-and-white arrow.
His eyes reflected that tattered figure. The longbow in his hand brimmed with razor-sharp intent. The conscript slave faltered in midair as if sensing danger, then turned his head to look back.
Cultivators possessed astonishing eyesight. Exchanging a glance across a hundred zhang, Li Xuanfeng met a pair of eyes filled with burning resentment. A sudden sense of familiarity struck him. His heart stirred, and he loosened his grip.
The arrow burst into blinding light, streaking across the vast sky like a shooting star. Hurling straight toward the figure, it arrived in the blink of an eye and struck the man squarely between the shoulder blades. Like a bird with broken wings, the conscript slave plummeted erratically toward the ground.
"Good!"
The green-robed cultivator laughed heartily, watching the golden-white arrow trace a brilliant streak across the heavens. He called out candidly, "Fast arrow!"
He had a leering, repulsive face, with the head of a roebuck and the eyes of a rat, managing to make even the flowing green daoist robe look thoroughly sleazy. Clutching his belly in laughter, he drew sideways glances from everyone around him.
The higher-ranking man before him was tall and dashing, with a high nose bridge. Glancing in disgust at the laughing cultivator beside him, he said coldly, "He isn't dead!"
Fei Yihe, who had been waiting on the side for some time, hurried to offer a flattering smile and said respectfully, "The exalted immortal might not know, but my brother's archery is unique. Once struck by his arrow, astral qi clings to the target. Within three quarters of an hour, they will dissolve into a pool of blood."
The leading Qingchi disciple was tall, towering a full head above Fei Yihe. His gaze lingered on Fei Yihe's face for a breath before he suddenly whipped his sleeve.
*Slap!*
The slap sent Fei Yihe staggering back a step. Clutching his face, Fei Yihe profusely begged for forgiveness. Only then did the tall man abruptly spin around, a look of pure savagery on his face, and kick the crouching, rat-faced man.
*Thud!*
Caught completely off guard, the rat-faced man took the full force of the blow. Kicked a zhang away by his fellow senior brother, he tumbled across the ground in a pathetic roll.
"Senior Brother!"
The tall man's sudden strike startled the Qingchi disciples behind him. The various family cultivators looked at each other in dismay, unsure why these immortal sect disciples had suddenly turned on one another again, and all bowed their heads, not daring to speak.
"Senior Brother! You must not, Senior Brother!"
A chorus of Qingchi disciples rushed forward to dissuade him. The rat-faced man, seeming utterly unfazed, brushed the footprint off his daoist robe and chuckled cheerily. "Senior Brother Ning's kick was truly accurate. It has the poise of our Ancestor hurling a shoe at people back in the day."
Senior Brother Ning took a step forward, his expression hideous. His large frame cast a shadow that thoroughly engulfed the scrawny, rat-faced man. Grabbing him by the lapels, he hauled the man's face up close and ground his teeth. "Deng Yuzhi... You had better truly be an unruly, rotten wastrel. You had better truly have had your wits damaged by your cultivation technique. Keep playing the fool your whole life until you die! The moment I catch you slipping, I will show you the methods of Yuanxing Peak!"
The moment his words fell, he threw the rat-faced man to the ground with a thud. Shaking his robes, he stepped forward in jade boots embroidered with gold thread and said softly, "Let's go!"
Senior Brother Ning clearly possessed noble status. Once he spoke, none of the Qingchi disciples dared speak on Deng Yuzhi's behalf. Bowing their heads in silence, they followed behind Senior Brother Ning, riding the wind down toward the city.
Only Deng Yuzhi was left covered in dust, his hair disheveled, sprawled on the ground in utter humiliation. The bystanders could only pretend not to have seen anything, rushing to face the enemy.
"What a temper."
Deng Yuzhi picked himself up unhurriedly. Pinching an incantation gesture, he dusted himself off, grumbling under his breath for a moment. Looking down at Li Xuanfeng, who stood holding his bow in contemplation, he cursed, "Utterly useless! A reputation hard to live up to—aren't you afraid of courting disaster?!"
With that, he turned and bounded into the city, leaving everyone looking at one another in silence.
*Those words... seem to carry a double meaning.*
Watching Deng Yuzhi's departing back, Li Xuanfeng fell into deep thought.
*I seem to have seen this person before. When he came to conscript our family, he spoke with the Ancestor for a long time... It seems the scene just now also involves Qingchi's internal strife...*
He pulled his gaze back, the youth's backward glance lingering in his mind. Stroking the longbow in his hand, he thought to himself, *My arrow was fierce on the outside but hollow within, merely a performance. An enemy of the Qingchi Sect is a friend to us. Leaving a favor behind is never a bad choice.*
Li Xuanfeng was now at the peak of Qi Refinement, possessing cultivation far surpassing those wet-behind-the-ears Qingchi disciples. Moreover, he had never met anyone superior to himself in archery, making it easy to deceive the group.
Slinging the longbow onto his back, he watched the slowly receding beast wave, then looked back at Fei Yihe. "How are you?"
"Fine!"
Fei Yihe had suffered a slap for no reason, but he had already wiped away the blood from the corner of his mouth, and the red mark on his face was fading. He said gently, "When one is meat on another's chopping block, taking a slap is nothing. It doesn't matter."
***
Eastern Shanyue.
The main hall of Mulu City was magnificent and splendid. The dim, yellow lamplight rippled against the walls, casting pitch-black shadows that danced like ghosts and demons.
Tian Zhongqing finished organizing a stack of wooden slips. An attendant from below hurried up, bowing respectfully. "My Lord! The nobles have submitted another memorial, urging for Li Jiman's accession... They claim today was the agreed-upon date in the covenant and can be delayed no longer."
"Bring it here."
Tian Zhongqing sighed. Taking the memorial handed up by the servant, he lifted his brush and circled several points on it.
Tian Zhongqing was currently acting as the regent over Shanyue affairs. The ochre-red brush tip swept continuously across the surface. Eastern Shanyue had originally used vermilion ink for official endorsements, switching to this color only in recent years.
After all, the main line of the Li family used vermilion, so the Clan Rectory used a slightly darker crimson to signify its subordination to the main lineage. Upon hearing of this, Shamoli had promptly changed his own endorsements to an even darker ochre, which had been retained to this day.
"Tell them to revise these inappropriate phrases and submit it again in a few days!"
Tian Zhongqing dismissed them with a casual excuse, feeling a knot of dread in his chest.
*It isn't that I, Tian Zhongqing, want to suppress you all... It is the Master family's will... Until a batch of nobles is wiped out, how can Li Jiman take the throne?*
He sighed internally, looking at the grand hall before him. The furnishings below gleamed golden, quite captivating. Having served as regent for over half a year, he had grown somewhat attached to this lofty position.
The lights in the inner hall flickered, casting a hazy glow over the numerous jade and gold vessels. This hall had been Mu Jiaoman's palace, built with breathtaking splendor, but when it passed down to Qimu, expenses had been drastically cut.
Later, Li Feiruo launched a coup, and the Li family's carriages rolled into the palace. Blood had washed over the palace steps multiple times as the nobles scrambled to massacre the royal family to curry favor with the Li clan.
*The wheel of fortune turns... Soon, it will be splattered with the blood of these nobles...*
Dazed, Tian Zhongqing looked at the golden-red hue, finding it resemble blood. Startled awake, he put away those thoughts, only to hear a clanking sound outside the hall. A burly man stepped inside.
The man stood eight feet tall with thick eyebrows and a massive build, gripping a pair of heavy golden-melon maces in his hands. He looked like a highway bandit who had charged straight off the road, as though he might throw a mace and crush someone into meat paste at any moment.
Tian Zhongqing hurriedly leapt down from the dais and rushed down to meet him, smiling. "Brother Wen! Why have you come here? Could it be the Family Head has arrived in person?"
"Uncle Tian misunderstands."
Li Wen looked ferocious, but he possessed a mild temperament. He answered in a muffled voice, "The family has mobilized the Jade Court Guards and stationed them throughout the city. The Family Head said it is time to haul in the net, so he sent me to hold down the fort."
"Good, good, good!"
Tian Zhongqing chuckled, speaking with a touch of ingratiation. "Brother Wen, did the Family Head leave any instructions?"
Li Wen nodded and replied, "The Family Head promised that once this matter is concluded, the children of the Tian clan may return to the Twelve Towns."
"Wonderful! That is wonderful!"
Tian Zhongqing was overjoyed. Ever since his Tian clan had been exiled to Shanyue to balance the situation, the Eastlanders had looked down on them more and more, considering them to have thrown in their lot with the barbarians. In this current climate where everyone revered the east, it was a tormenting existence.
The Tian clan disciples enjoyed lofty status in Shanyue, but back in Lijing Town, they were treated as inferiors. Though their family had two Qi Refinement cultivators, they lacked the backing of the main lineage and were secretly despised by many.
His eldest son had visited Lijing Town only once; unfamiliar with the drinking games of the town, he had been laughed at, and upon returning, moped for three whole months, leaving Tian Zhongqing sighing repeatedly.
Moreover, here in the Shanyue lands far from the main family, the Tian clan ranked first in strength among the non-Li clans. Tian Zhongqing had been walking on burning coals and the edge of a blade, living in daily terror...
Now having received Li Yuanping's promise, he was overjoyed. Even the gloom of being used as the Li family's knife and offending Li Jiman and the nobles vanished completely. He sneered inward, *Earlier I was worried about how to survive in Shanyue in the future, but now, let the killing begin! Let heads roll! Once I pack up and leave, who cares about a few local snakes?*
He immediately issued the order. The palace guards sprang into action, armor clanking loudly as the palace gates swung wide open. Carriages drove out of the palace one after another, galloping down the newly paved avenues.
*Rumble...*
Thunderous noise exploded across the neighborhoods. The Shanyue commoners awoke from their dreams, looking up in bewilderment.
***
In another corner of Mulu Town, cups clinked amidst wanton singing. Li Jiman sat at the head of the table with a sour expression, watching the nobles below sing loudly, filled with exasperation.
*Barbarians after all... What on earth is this rubbish?*
There were neither drinking games nor pitch-pot, neither poetry nor verses. All the refined arts Li Jiman had studied were entirely wasted here; there was only singing followed by gulping wine, making him thoroughly uncomfortable.
As he was lost in thought, a man from one of the clans approached drunkenly, chuckling. "Great King, you see how that Li Yuanping is pale every day, looking as though his days are numbered... Doesn't that mean change is coming?"
Li Jiman's face changed drastically. He was close to the main lineage and had always taken pride in it; having been spared by Li Yuanping before, his gratitude and reverence knew no bounds. How could he tolerate such words?
Moreover, the memory of his previous secret being exploited by the Tian clan was still fresh in his mind. Li Jiman was gripped by terror and flared into a furious rage.
*Ptui!*
Li Jiman hurled the wine cup in his hand straight into the man's face, smashing it until blood covered the man's features. Falling with a thud, the man rolled across the floor. Li Jiman cursed, "How dare you harbor such treasonous thoughts!"
The hall fell dead silent. Li Jiman scrambled to his feet, shouting as if explaining to an unseen listener, "A tiger strides as though ailing, an eagle perches as though asleep! How could contemptible scoundrels like you comprehend even one-tenth-thousandth of him?!"
The moment his words fell, the crowd fell to their knees. The decadent music ceased, leaving the courtyard so quiet a needle could be heard dropping. Li Jiman pricked his ears to listen, and his heart gave a sudden lurch.
*Why is there the clashing of weapons?!*
As he voiced this, the people below exchanged blank glances, but then came a scream.
*Crash!*
A host of white-armored soldiers burst through the door, brandishing weapons with solemn expressions as they filed in. Several clan members jumped up immediately, shouting, "Who are you? Do you know where this is? How dare you act so insolently here!"
The white-armored soldiers ignored them completely. Several clan members with cultivation attempted to resist, only to be struck down within two moves by the leader. Watching these clan members get subdued one by one, Li Jiman stared blankly, murmuring in disbelief, "Jade Court Guards?"
Only groans and cries for mercy remained in the hall. Li Jiman barely managed to ask a couple of questions before the entire group was swept outside like a whirlwind. Stepping down in a daze, he had suddenly become a general without an army.
Fortunately, the leading Jade Court Guard in the center was relatively polite, cupping his hands slightly. "Young Master, forgive the intrusion."
"This is..."
Having his entire foundation emptied out in an instant, as if being robbed clean while walking down the street, Li Jiman could hardly process it. Only after several breaths did he squeeze out those two words.
The man before him bowed slowly, his eyes bright. Waving his hand toward the back, he sent all the other Jade Court Guards outside, leaving only the two of them. Only then did he speak: "In reply to the Young Master, the Tian clan submitted a whole carriage full of criminal evidence to the Clan Rectory, implicating all the Shanyue clans. This lowly one was ordered to apprehend them."
"The Tian clan?!"
Li Jiman snapped awake, finally understanding why the main family had suddenly turned so heartless. His eyes reddened instantly, and he ground his teeth. "It seems the Tian clan planned this long ago, scheming for who knows how many years, wanting to slaughter all my followers so that I become a rubber-stamp puppet!
"Yet now that the Tian clan dominates Shanyue, without the nobles to keep them in check... disaster will surely follow! Family Head... this must not be done, Family Head!"
Hoisting his robe, he rushed forward. Hearing his words, the Jade Court Guard seemed to hesitate, lowering his voice. "This matter was indeed handled too harshly. Brother, you might consider begging the Family Head... I heard he intends to recall the Tian clan, but the Tian clan has always refused, slandering others from multiple angles to remain in Shanyue."
"Ah! Many thanks, brother!"
Hearing this news for the first time, Li Jiman was ecstatic. His face flushed bright red, his bloodshot eyes glowing with agitation as he gritted his teeth. "Right, as long as the Tian clan pulls out of Shanyue and returns to the towns, everything will be resolved! No matter what, I must persuade the Family Head... to make the Tian clan withdraw from Shanyue and return to the Twelve Towns!"
He had studied the art of statecraft diligently at home for over a decade; how could he be willing to serve as a puppet? Having made up his mind, he hurried to slip on his shoes and rushed toward the outside of the hall.
The Jade Court Guard appeared quite moved. Seeing his frantic manner, he hesitated for a moment and could not resist offering a reminder: "Brother! I heard the Family Head has been troubled for years over the spiritual resource yield of Shanyue and sent our Jade Court Guards to investigate several times. If you have the heart for it, Young Master, you might start from there!"
Li Jiman's eyes lit up. This piece of news came like rain after a long drought, bringing him immense joy. Nodding as he rushed out of the hall, he suddenly stopped and turned back. "Brother, you have helped me immensely today. May I know your name?!"
The Jade Court Guard chuckled and answered, "This lowly one is Chen Mufeng. I only returned home from the market a few days ago. In the future, I will still need the Young Master's care and support."
"Chen Mufeng."
Li Jiman turned the name over in his mind, committing it to memory. With no time for further talk, he merely offered his thanks and rushed outside in a frantic hurry.
Chapter 338