Chapter 153: The Possibility of Practicing the Yin and Yang Heavenly Sword (2/2)

”...”

Junior Leopard sweated profusely as he listened. The rumors even went as far as to say Wang She and Miss Ma had an affair.

”That's an exaggeration. Wang She is a Level Nine expert. Lu Shaoyou and the Mingyi School aren't idiots to openly go against a Level Nine expert. Even if they're killed, they would've deserved it. Do you think they're that stupid?”

”You're right! They're not that stupid!” These personal guards were not fools either. Earlier they were confused by the explosive gossip, but they had regained a calmer mind after being reminded by Junior Leopard.

It was true. Forcibly challenging a Level Nine expert was akin to seeking death.

Level Nine experts had their own dignities. It was like when an ordinary master dared to challenge an expert at the Tendon-Changing Realm. Whoever dared to challenge the expert's dignity, he could strike back. Even killing the challenger was well within his right. There was no reason, also the unspoken rule of the world. Lu Shaoyou was the first genius of Mingyi School in hundreds of years, also the one most likely to achieve Level Nine in a hundred years. He was their treasure. It was precisely because of this that the Mingyi School would not let him fight Wang She. Who knew if Wang She would take this opportunity to stamp out their future star?

”No matter how you put it, the Mingyi School and Lu Shaoyou really disgraced themselves. Hehe, Lu Shaoyou really got cuckolded bad this time!”

”It's fine if he was just cuckolded. There are so many women in this world and Miss Ma isn't the only one. But more importantly, he couldn't directly challenge Wang She after what had happened. It may affect his mood in the future, perhaps making it difficult for him to take his cultivation any further!” said Qi Fei, the Captain of the personal guards. He was a Level Five master. Having achieved his current cultivation, it was very difficult for him to move forward. In his current situation, he had a certain understanding of the relationship between the mood and cultivation. That was why he said these words.

Junior Leopard fully agreed with Qi Fei. Adding insult to injury, he said, ”I think that's possible. Though it's only because of a woman, it's not easy to think positive when such things happen!”

”Exactly! How can it be so easy to think this through?” Everyone agreed wholeheartedly.

This was the truth. Witnessing one's bride being kidnapped on their wedding day, yet being unable to challenge the kidnapper out of fear of his strength, would greatly affect those who cultivate. This was especially true for Lu Shaoyou, a Level Eight expert who had been put on a pedestal for many years. How could he feel positive after taking in such a harsh blow?

”Oh, right. Junior Leopard, we've sorted the work duties for this month. Since your leave ends in the middle of the month, I'm worried you'll be delayed so I put you on duty at the end of the month. Since you're just back, you must be tired. Take a few days off at home.”

”Okay. Thank you, Camp Supervisor!”

”We're like brothers. You're too polite!” Qi Fei laughed. ”You're young and promising. Who knows, you may need to take care of us in the future!”

”What kind of words are these!” said Junior Leopard in a hurry. ”Camp Supervisor, if you say that again, I'll really have to punish you to drink three cups of wine!”

”Yeah! Drink wine, drink wine!” Several personal guards next to Junior Leopard echoed his words, turning the environment lively once again.

”Eh?”

Amidst the happily drinking personal guards, one of them who sat by the window made a surprised noise.

”Dong Chen, what's wrong?”

The question came from Qi Fei.

”Camp Supervisor, look! Isn't that Teacher Hu of the Guard County Manor? It's already so late. What's he doing, sneaking around?”

”Teacher Hu?” Qi Fei paused and poked his head out the window. ”It's Teacher Hu, no doubt. What is he doing?”

”Camp Supervisor, Brother Dong, what happened?” Junior Leopard came up to them, breath full of the smell of alcohol.

”It's the Teacher of Guard County Manor. Look at him!”

Looking at the direction Dong Chen pointed, Junior Leopard saw a thin man in his fifties, like a weak scholar. Carrying a green parcel in his hand, the man scurried into a back alley not far from the restaurant.

It was already late into the night. Though this was a regional city, it was not as brightly lit as the gleaming modern city in Junior Leopard's previous life. In fact, every corner of the regional city except brothels and taverns would be basked in darkness when evening came. There were the occasional patrolling soldiers who would arrest anyone who looked suspicious. Under such circumstances, most people would not leave home at night. This naturally excluded those looking for fun and those like Junior Leopard and the guards who came out to drink and chat. Those who came out for fun or drinks were almost always congregated in an area. For Teacher Hu to hold a green parcel and go sneaking into the back alley, something must be up. Something was truly fishy here.

If it was someone else, the personal guards would just turn a blind eye. They were not going to lower themselves to do the garrison's work. But that man was the Grand-master of the mayor, making it a completely different scenario.

For a long time after Zhonghejun City was recovered, the city was under the control of Li Yuan's army. The power was only shifted when the imperial court sent a new mayor. It was also their present mayor, Wan An.

Li Yuan and his control over the city was not altogether inexcusable. After all, Zhonghejun City was the hinterland of Jin. Li Yuan had no choice but to govern the city and he and his soldiers had zero intention of becoming warlords. Therefore, when Wan An arrived in the city, Li Yuan readily handed over all the government affairs.

Unexpectedly, Wan An must be missing a screw in his head. After taking over the government affairs, he even tried to intervene in the military affairs and criticize Li Yuan's every behavior. This was pure nonsense. The mayor and the Admiral managed government affairs and military affairs respectively, which were two completely separate systems. If there was an occasional mishap in the government, the army would help keep the peace. They would be considered to have done their jobs. But what Wan An wanted was not just the surface work, but also the essence of the army itself.

Zhonghejun City was the hinterland of Jin and bordered not only Qianzhou, but also Haozhou. It was a city that sat at the junction of these three states and was surrounded by many lawless, unclaimed places. Prior to the Sect of Flame capturing the city, it was a dangerous place crawling with bandits. After it was recaptured by Jin, the city stabilized for a period of time. That was because the famous bandits like Black Three Lady and Beard Ma were involved in the Sect of Flame's rebellion. When the sect was defeated, the bandits they led naturally disappeared with them. But peace did not last long. Bandits were an ancient profession existing since the beginning of human society, much like prostitutes. In recent times, several bandits had appeared in the city. Not only did they pose a great threat to small towns and villages, but they also harassed people on the trade route to the city. This had seriously affected the economic recovery and prosperity of the city. Mayor Wan often used this as a reason for Li Yuan to send his troops to kill the bandits. After he was turned down several times, he changed his tactic. This time, he would ask to borrow Li Yuan's soldiers.

His mentality was this: if Li Yuan would not go, then he would. But since he did not have enough troops, Li Yuan had to lend him some!

In the beginning, Li Yuan tried to save his face and lent Wan An a thousand soldiers, including many officers led by a lieutenant-colonel. Three days later, only 700 returned. Of those survivors, more than 100 were wounded and 300 were left in those lawless, unclaimed areas. Li Yuan almost fainted with anger. He flared up at once after questioning the lieutenant-colonel in charge of the troops.

It turned out that the mayor hijacked the lieutenant-colonel's military command from the start, scattering Li Yuan's soldiers into his own ranks. The lieutenant-colonel tried to oppose, but due to his lower status, he was not qualified to speak to the mayor at all. After the troops were scattered, the mayor took them for granted and positioned them in the front, middle, and back lines. When he commanded the army to march to the bandits' place, they were ambushed by the cunning bandits. Dozens of soldiers were killed or wounded, forced to retreat with tails between their legs.

Li Yuan was naturally furious to hear this. He took four personal guards with him to the Guard County Manor to question the mayor. The mayor himself was also infuriated by the defeat and turned around to question Li Yuan's capability to lead his army. Li Yuan was so angry that he did not have the mood to argue with him. He slapped the mayor twice and kicked him to the ground, before leaving with his personal guards.

Wan An was truly offended this time. Not even Wang Tianlei's grain store was safe from his ire. In the beginning, it was thanks to Junior Leopard that the grain store was well cared for. Following the insulting incident with Li Yuan, Wan disliked the grain store related to Li Yuan's personal guard. However, it was not easy to deal with Wang Tianlei now. Firstly, Wang Tianlei's business had expanded to become popular among the public. Secondly, even when Junior Leopard was not around, there were his fellow officers of the personal guard camp paying attention to the grain store. These people were the epitome of unreasonable old soldiers. The people of Guard County Manor dared not offend them. A few attempts later, Wan An had no choice but let the grain store be. After all, if he had to resort to tactics to deal with the grain store, he would truly be a failure of a mayor.

Though Guard County Manor and Admiral Manor could not be considered as mortal enemies following this incident, they had the tendency to keep away from one another. The troops of both parties did not like each other and wanted to trouble each other every now and then. However, those from Admiral Manor were all soldiers and Li Yuan hailed from the Li family in Pingzhou. Thus, they had the upper hand in several of their civil disputes.

Of course, Li Yuan was a smart person and abided by his duty scrupulously. Though he had the upper hand, he never overstepped the line or initiated any dispute. So Zhonghejun City was considered peaceful.

Though it was peaceful and the superiors were also restraining themselves, what about the people below them?

The small arguments and fights had never stopped. Now that they saw the Grandmaster of Guard County Manor sneaking around in the middle of the night, these personal guards were naturally excited. Teacher Hu was Wan An's trusted subordinate. From the looks of it, he seemed to be doing something evil in secret. If they could catch his Achilles' heel and hand it over to Li Yuan, then the Admiral would be able to strike down Wan An. Everyone would also be better off in Zhonghejun City.

Thinking of this, Qi Fei squinted his eyes and exchanged a glance with Junior Leopard and Dong Chen. He quietly went down the stairs, sneaked into the back alley, and closely followed Teacher Hu.