Martial Cultivator

In the small pavilion at the center of the lake, the dean was currently yawning with boredom. He was very sleepy too.

Except, after a glance at the old man standing in front of him, the dean knew he would not be able to sleep well tonight. He casually threw out a handful of fish food before saying with some annoyance, "Nothing happened to that disciple of yours either, she's coming right away, what are you worrying about?"

"Pulling such a long face, those who don't know would even think that she... forget it."

The dean rubbed his face, wanting to wake himself up.

The old man did not turn around. He just looked ahead and said calmly, "Out of all the assassinations, the most dangerous one wasn't that last guy, but that very first arrow."

When Zhu Xia entered the city, the first arrow shot by those assassins seemed ordinary, but it was actually the most dangerous because it was the first attack and nobody was prepared. That arrow was sudden enough and the facts also proved that without Chen Chao who was by the side, that arrow would have definitely pierced through the carriage and Zhu Xia's body along with it. Although she had a talisman on her, she would not have been able to react in time in that kind of situation because it was truly too sudden.

The old man currently did not dare to imagine what would have happened if Chen Chao was not around.

The dean mumbled, "Didn't nothing happen? That kid was around."

The old man suddenly turned around and looked at the dean as he said angrily, "Was that boy arranged by you in advance? If he wasn't, today's incident was just a coincidence. Without this coincidence, wouldn't my disciple have died for real?"

The dean had a stern look on his face as he said firmly: "Of course it was arranged by us. You should know about that young man too, he defeated He Yi at the imperial banquet and comes from the background of being a local warden. He's the most suitable for dealing with these situations. Otherwise, would we have promoted him to the deputy commander of the Left Guard?"

"How old is he? If it wasn't because he's in the Left Guard, would we have arranged for the Left Guard to fetch that disciple of yours into the city?!"

The dean had been swallowing his anger all night. At this moment, he finally let it out. He stared at the old man in front of him, his words brimming with confidence. But, who would have thought that actually, everything that he was saying at this moment was a lie.

As for why Chen Chao would show up there, he knew nothing about it. Not only did he not know, but he was also sure that the emperor himself did not know too. What happened in the afternoon was absolutely a coincidence.

But, even if it was a coincidence, he could make it sound convincing too!

The old man snorted coldly. Although he was not fully convinced of this explanation, he was not as angry as before now.

"Are you all trying to have him gain the friendship of the Myriad Heaven Palace?"

The old man said with some disgust, "You know that what I hate most about you Liang people is your scheming."

The dean frowned and replied, "Don't accuse us of things we didn't do. We want to ally with the Myriad Heaven Palace and establish some goodwill. But how can we do such a thing?" "I've studied for so many years, do you think that I have no shame in my heart?"

The old man sneered and said, "I can't speak for others, but I really don't believe that you, old punk, have any sense of shame."

Although he said that, his mood had actually calmed down a lot compared to before.

The dean said angrily, "If this is how you're behaving, then let's fight it out! If I can't convince you with words today, I'll use my fists to reason it out with you! Let's see if you make more sense or if I do!"

"Old punk, do you think that I'm scared of you?!"

The old man gave a cold laugh.

The dean rolled up his sleeves and walked towards the old man, looking like he was going to get physical.

The old man's expression turned ugly. In the end, he had not expected the dean to actually want to fight. If they were going to fight with their cultivation, it would still be alright. But he could tell that this old punk in front of him had clearly made up his mind to punch and kick him like two village bumpkins.

"What have you been doing all these years? Studying books?"

The old man could not understand why the dean was still the same after all these years, with no change at all.

The dean stopped in his tracks and looked at the lake. "Of course I've been studying books. Furthermore, I also a body full of righteous air."

Hearing him say so and feeling his shamelessness, the old man finally backed down and took the initiative to change the subject.

"Then in your view, who's the one behind the scenes?"

Things had already happened, since it was not a farce made by the Great Liang Dynasty themselves, then it would be especially important to know who was the person behind it.

The dean said calmly, "Whoever doesn't want to see the relationship between the Great Liang Dynasty and the Myriad Heaven Palace become closer, it will be them."

The old man frowned. In the foreign lands, the Myriad Heaven Palace had always been cultivating in peace. While they did have enemies, none of them would dare to assassinate the saintess of the Myriad Heaven Palace.

Other than those enemies, the Myriad Heaven Palace's only rival was the Infatuation Daoist Temple which was also the leader of a daoism branch. However, the Infatuation Daoist Temple had been thriving in recent years, and the two geniuses of this generation were known as the Twin Pillars of daoism, who were extraordinary. How could Myriad Heaven Palace surpass them in such a short time?

Even if they had a Saintess, she was absolutely not as good as the Twin Pillars of daoism too.

"Then who is he? Has his identity been uncovered?"

The old man looked at the dean, anger accumulating in his eyes.

The dean rolled down his sleeves and said very indifferently, "Of course there are results, but it's as if there were no results. His background is too clean; an itinerant cultivator from the mountains, no one has gotten close to him in Great Liang Dynasty in all these years, and he has no friends in the foreign lands too. What's the use of investigating someone like this any further?"

"Since they're looking for trouble with you, they will naturally cover their tracks. I just didn't expect that these people would also know about the history between you and me. It's really a little unexpected."

The dean spat out a turbid breath. He could not quite tolerate this matter.

Only a few people knew about that matter, but now, it seemed like everyone knew.

"Old man, was your mouth too loose, spreading it around everywhere?"

The dean had an unfriendly expression.

Just as the old man was about to speak, the lantern appeared over there. The scholar carrying the lantern and the little girl who had disappeared on a walk came.

The dean quickly tidied up. When meeting juniors, one should naturally pay attention to one's demeanor.

Zhu Xia arrived outside the pavilion and soon saw the middle-aged man with handsome features and black hair. Zhu Xia quickly prostrated and said, "Disciple Zhu Xia of Myriad Heaven Palace, greets the dean."

Before the dean could speak, the old man snorted coldly first and said, "Get up."

Zhu Xia quickly got up, looking at her master next to her with some confusion.

The dean smiled and said, "What a pretty girlie, did you get a scare during the day?"

Zhu Xia shook her head and said while sizing the dean up, "It was nothing during the day, this disciple wasn't scared."

The dean smiled and said, "Brother Daoist, this is indeed your disciple. She is so level-headed at such a young age. I believe she will definitely be an outstanding talent in the future."

The old man gave a fake smile, but fortunately, his mood had somewhat improved.

The dean glanced at Wei Xu and said, "Wei Xu, go get the box next to my bed. There's a gift in there that I want to give to this girl. Remember not to take the wrong box."

Wei Xu nodded and quickly left.

The dean sat down at the table and lamented, "You don't know, if something really were to happen to you, this academy of mine would probably have already been half-demolished by someone."

Zhu Xia looked obediently at the old man and said seriously, "I actually made Master worry for me, this disciple is at fault."

The old man's anger was originally because of Zhu Xia, but now that she had returned unharmed, he did not feel as angry anymore. The old man said rather self-reproachingly, "It's master's fault for being too anxious. If I wasn't so anxious, who would dare to make a move?"

Hearing this, Zhu Xia could not help but think that luckily, you were in a hurry. Otherwise, how could today's incident have happened?

But, although she thought so, she did not dare to say it out loud.

If she said this, her master would definitely be sad.

The old man waved his hand and said, "Never mind. Since you're back, there's nothing more to say. I think someone also knows that he was wrong, otherwise, why would he present gifts?"

The dean knew that the old man was hinting at him, but he did not show it. He just smiled and said, "Could you tell me what happened today?"

The matter had ended, but it was not completely over.

At least, those people had not been caught yet.

Zhu Xia nodded her head. She had a very good impression of the dean in front of her. Of course, the emotion here was more admiration. She originally thought that the dean would be like her master with white hair; an old man. But she never thought that not only was the dean not old, he was also very handsome.

How could one not like him?

After pondering, Zhu Xia began to talk about what happened today.

Of course, the story still started with that feathered arrow.

Without that feathered arrow, the subsequent events naturally would not have happened either.

"At that time, this disciple just felt a murderous intent from a distance. Then, I heard whooshing sounds..."

The story was not too long, so no matter how slowly Zhu Xia recounted it, it quickly came to a conclusion.

The dean frowned slightly, not entirely satisfied with the specifics of the story. However, before he could speak, Wei Xu had already returned.

He carried a box and said, "What that person used in the end was the Profound Light Curse."

Hearing the words Profound Light Curse, the old man frowned slightly. The dean waited for his answer.

"This daoist technique isn't considered too rare. There are four or five sects that collect it. Based on the answer you all gave earlier, he may be an abandoned disciple of those four or five sects, but it's also possible that he has no relation to any of them. After all, unless it isn't a unique secret technique, almost no one will register and record every disciple who learns this daoist magic."

The old man said with a sigh, "The situation is very troublesome and it's also in the divine capital. I'm afraid there won't be any result."

Although he knew this was the result, he still could not help but feel angry.

The dean looked at the lake and took the wooden box that Wei Xu handed over. He then passed it to Zhu Xia and sighed, "Pull one hair and it moves the whole body. There are many people who won't be able to sleep tonight. How could it possibly be just you alone, old man?"

……

……

It was not until the news of the assassination attempt on the Myriad Heaven Palace's saintess spread that many people realized that the current Divine Capital was no longer a peaceful place, but truly in troubled times.

If you calculate carefully, starting from Chen Chao's killing of the foreign cultivators that alarmed the capital, then the debates at South Lake, the imperial banquet conflict, and then today's attack on the saintess of the Myriad Heaven Palace, every one of these events would have been rare in the former Divine Capital. They probably would not have appeared during the whole year. But now, they had already occurred more than once in this short period of time, and each of them seemed to have some connection with that young man. Although it was not yet known what this meant, the Divine Capital was already in turmoil, and it seemed virtually inevitable.

Moreover, the Myriad Willow Convention has yet to be hosted.

Just as the dean said, not too many people would be able to sleep tonight.

As the Chief Judicial Officer of the Court of Judicial Review, Han Pu was one of them.

As the Chief Judicial Officer, who knows how many government officials throughout the imperial court he struck fear into. But after learning about what happened tonight, he had already smashed several pieces of gavel.

In the hall of the Court of Judicial Review, Han Pu glanced at the third imperial edict placed not far away, his expression terrifyingly gloomy.

All the officials of the Court of Judicial Review, from high to low ranking, stood quietly in the hall with lowered heads, not daring to meet the eyes of this Chief Judicial Officer.

"Speak up!" "You guys brag all the time about how capable you are! Now that something has happened, why aren't any of you speaking up?!"

"Do you really want me to ask each and every one of you?!"

Han Pu's voice was cold, like the coldest wind blowing through the mountains, making people shiver.

But the officials remained silent.

"Investigate matters! Is there any news yet?"

"Where did that old fellow come from, where did those assassins come out of before they appeared on that building, go and investigate thoroughly! What I want is answers, answers!"

Han Pu smacked the table and said angrily, "Hurry up and go!"

As soon as he said that, the officials in the hall dared not stay any longer and hurriedly left one after another, busying themselves with their respective tasks.

Although they did not know if their busy work would have any substantive meaning, they were very clear that if they did not look like they were slogging away, they would really be tormented to death by that lord.

Han Pu gave a cold snort, sitting behind his desk as he rapped on the tabletop constantly. His pair of eyes seemed to have long seen through the Court of Judicial Review, reaching an extremely distant place.

……

……

The Xie Family's ancestral hall.

An old voice rang out, "That young man has done yet another impressive thing. All the events that happened in the Divine Capital these few days were related to him. Who in the world is adding fuel to the fire?"

The old man sitting outside the ancestral hall smiled, "There's probably no one who is more eager to know his identity than His Majesty. Is he really from those impoverished families?"

The old man's voice grew somewhat excited as he said, "Those impoverished families have always been up to something over these years. It's hard to say whether this is a smokescreen or not, but no matter how you look at it, that young man is still pretty good. It's not a bad thing that the girlie is getting closer to him."

The old man outside the ancestral hall said with vicissitudes of emotion, "It's hard to say. But among these young kids, there are definitely many who already hate him."

The old man laughed, "This baseless hatred is really reminiscent of the past."