Chapter 270: Heading for the Fire Vein (1/2)
Chapter 270: Heading for the Fire Vein
Translator: TransnEditor: Transn
The second year of Jinyuan in Jin dynasty.
This year, as throughout previous years, Jianghu was thick with disturbances. Compared with the earth-shattering battle in the first year of Jinyuan, the second year incurred several huge events as the war to overthrow Northern Yuan drew to an end.
Unmistakably, the most famous one among those events was the World Hero Competition, during which, following the debut of Zhou Bao from Yunzhou, three more teen experts emerged splendidly. Li Xiu from Pingzhou, Ji Yeyue and Yan Fei all demonstrated strength over Level Seven at the World Hero Competition. This Li Xiu from Pingzhou was the first legitimate son of Li Family in Pingzhou, a true prodigy. Ji Yeyue's background was more mysterious. She was said to be a disciple of a secret school that was barely known in the general martial circle. However, this secret school had close relationships with today's Three Great Sects, namely Tian Long Taoism, Mingyi School and The Sect of Flame. It was also connected with some millennium families, for the masters and disciples of the said sects and families had received command before coming to the World Hero Competition, demanding them not to mess with Ji Yeyue. Therefore, as mysterious as this Ji Yeyue was, she leveraged her excellent cultivation and nailed down all her competitors without encountering any serious trouble. When it came to Yan Fei, it was even more amazing because he hid his true strength and fighting ability, which were both up to Level Seven, until the last three days of the event when he achieved a sweeping victory. Moreover, after Yan Fei's real identity was unveiled, another wave of upheaval began.
Yan Fei was Xining King's Eldest Son, a junior Roral Uncle!
Although this Yan Fei was pretty young, merely 18 years old, his seniority in the family was extremely high due to him being the Roral Uncle of the present emperor Yan Yuntian and son of Emperor of Xining Yan Zidan.
In this world, it had to be the emperors who had the largest number of wives, and in this world, most of them practiced this feat, making them fit and healthy. They could start having children from 15 years old, continuing until they reached their seventies. Accordingly, the ages of their offspring varied across a wide range. It was common to see a junior son born when a senior son already had grandchildren or even great-grandchildren. As such, the population of the Royalty became very large and the seniority also became quite complex, meaning that it was not rare for Yan Fei to rank as a Roral Uncle at the age of 18.
What's rare was the strength he possessed!
A young expert of Level Seven, at the age of 18, nailing down all others at the World Hero Competition and breaking into the semi-final was not a huge piece of news if he was nurtured by the Royalty, considering the great power and strength the Royalty had. However, this junior expert, Yan Fei, was not from the imperial palace, but the mansion of the vassal king, which rendered all this relatively novel.
Nowadays, the Emperor had many sons, but none of them had achieved a cultivation above Level Four. They were all far from this Xining King's Eldest Son, their Great Roral Uncle.
Due to this, the subject of what role this Great Roral Uncle would play in the future battle for the throne was a sensitive subject. Especially as the battle for the throne was already budding forcefully.
Of course, these were things that might happen at a later time, only worrying and concerning the bigwigs. For the nobodies in the martial arts world, the greatest point of focus at the moment was the result of the World Hero Competition where three young experts had entered the semi-finals along with an Elder from a millennial family, but no one believed him to be the winner in light of the strength displayed by the previous three young experts.
The World Hero Competition had roused an enormous racket for some time, but now, what people discussed most frequently was two other issues, both related to the Wang family in Cenzhou. The first was that Zhou Bao from Yunzhou had heavily injured Wang Yuebai, the First Elder of the Wang family, and knocked their prized wizard weapon Pero Purple Striped Saber into the air. Rumors had it that the Wang family were yet to find their Pero Purple Striped Saber yet. Of course, that was just hearsay. The second was that Luo Haiyun, the Family Head of Luo Family in Minshan Commandery, which was said to be wiped out, had reappeared in Jianghu, and the mystery of his family's genocide was also unraveled, it was the Wang family that carried out the slaughter. Hence, Luo Haishan initiated a vendetta against the Wang family, causing the latter great headache.
Luo Haiyun was an expert of Level Seven that had lost everything and cared about nothing but sparing no effort to destroy the Wang clan after his return. He struck with unparalleled insidiousness and ruthlessness. He never went head to head with the experts in the Wang family, but started with peripheral organizations of the Wang family, such as the Four Seas Trading Company and the Dragon Escort Agency. The men he killed were all elites in these peripheral organizations. They might be highly talented in a certain field, but they were lacking in terms of fighting. For example, the shopkeeper of the Four Seas Trading Company, Wang Datong, a sharp businessman who had brought immense fortune to the Wang family for decades, who was also a key figure in terms of the protection the family, was killed by Luo Haiyun with a single blade move.
There were many similar examples.
Normally, all these kinds of talents of the Wang family were under very tight protection. It was very hard for ordinary people to approach them, not to mention killing them. Unfortunately, Luo Haiyun was an expert of Level Seven, while the bodyguards of these people were only up to Level Five. Though the Wang family possessed a large fortune, it was not so large that they could afford experts as bodyguards. In fact, even if they had such wealth, experts of Level Seven still would not lower themselves to be the bodyguards of ordinary people.
Therefore, these bodyguards stood no chance under the onslaught of Luo Haiyun. Besides, since Luo Haiyun had lost everything and turned himself into a sworn enemy of the Wang family, he had no fear for the potential revenge of them. Moreover, Wang Yuebai, the only fighter in the Wang family who could have fully subdued and killed him, was seriously injured in the battle against Junior Leopard. He was not only unable to hunt Luo Haiyun down, but he actually required of a large portion of protection from the Wang family. Thus, there was even less force the Wang family could employ to take on Luo Haiyun.
Then, resigned to the harsh situation, the Wang family adopted a downsizing defense strategy and announced a bounty in Jianghu, offering a wizard weapon for the head of Luo Haiyun.
However, this brought little effect. Most experts had been exclusively working for those well-known families and schools, which were all in collaboration as well as competition, so no one would risk being vindictively attacked by Luo Haiyun, a lunatic that had nothing to lose, just for a wizard weapon. Meanwhile, as a result of his revenge against the Wang family, martial arts practitioners all got a better understanding of how terrifying an expert could be when he was cornered into a dead end.
Revenge from an expert who cared about nothing was absolutely more powerful than a wizard weapon. Therefore, everyone was waiting to have a good laugh at the Wang family, to see them being forced into resorting to their long concealed strength.
For every ordinary man in the martial arts world, recently, Jianghu was really noisy, but also fantastic to observe. This drama in Jianghu reached one climax after another, dizzying all the audiences and incurring lots of exclamations. Even Zhou Bao, a maker of a certain climax, had now been completely reduced to a minimal role as one of the many onlookers.
”This time, the Wang family is in really big trouble, but you also have to be careful, because the main reason why they have suffered such a great loss is that you injured Wang Yuebai so badly. The Wang family will never let you off the hook!” In an ordinary restaurant, Junior Leopard and Wang She were sitting in the middle of the lobby, eating as well as chatting, without tending to any obscure looks cast by diners around them at all.
”I've heard that the Pero Purple Striped Saber was lost?” asked Junior Leopard, who merely gave a gentle smile and took a sip of his wine at Wang She's advice.
His voice was not loud, but there were more than enough people with sharp senses in this restaurant straining their ears to hear snatches of their dialogue, for they were trying to figure out what kind of relationship it was between these two men, the young expert and the Chief of Tian Long Taoism.
”Right, it's lost. Hee-hee, the Wang family had lived a comfortable life for too long. Relying on their awe-inspiring reputation, they thought it would be compelling enough to send another expert of Level Seven there, but they never expected that there would be so many people refusing to acknowledge their superiority. It is actually several Elders from the Dark Sect Ninemoon Sea who took that Pero Purple Striped Saber away!”
”Dark Sect Ninemoon Sea?!”
Talking about the Dark Sect, Junior Leopard thought of Xue Wuya, an eccentric feeling involuntarily arose in his stomach.
”Hum, interested in the Dark Sect?!” Wang She couldn't help but tease him at his weird look. ”For thousands of years, the Dark Sects have been weak in power, shunning from public sight and remaining mysterious. But they are actually great places, especially the Ninemoon Sea. Lots of beauties there. Do you want me to introduce one or two to you?”
”Come off it. You'll still enjoy yourself!” Junior Leopard snapped with a smile. ”As long as that sissy doesn't mind, it's fine!”
”Boy, don't talk nonsense. I have no close relationship with her!” Wang She put on a rarely stupefied look and shot Junior Leopard a nasty glare.
”Right, right, right, no close relationship. But I am going to have some relationship with her!” Still beaming, Junior Leopard changed the subject. ”I'd better settle that matter I promised her last time as soon as possible. When will she arrive?”
”In two days!” Wang She said, ”Just about when you finish enjoying this World Hero Competition!”
”Forget it, I'm not interested in all the fighting and killing stuff. Anyway, that Pure Yang Celestial Device will have no chance of ending up in my hands!”
”You have no interest in fighting and killing?!” Wang She almost sprayed a gulp of wine on Junior Leopard. ”If you're not interested in fighting and killing, no one else in this world could claim to be interested in that stuff!”
”I do mean it. I'm a pacifist. It's only because the Wang family screwed with me first that I was forced to give them a bit of a lesson. If it was you, Chief Wang, who came to provoke me, I would certainly run for my life!” Junior Leopard laughed.
”Stop joking around. You always call her a 'sissy'. Be careful in case you bump into her and get killed under her palm!”
”Yeah, that's true...”
”...”
”...”
The two just continued chatting as if no one was around, and the topics they discussed seemed to be merely trivial issues. However, soon after their small talk, the content of their dialogue was converged into pieces of information and passed down via various channels to different people, ready to be dissected and consulted.
...
”Seems that the rumor is true. This Zhou Bao is really not simple. The relationship between him and Wang She is surely not as simple as it looks!”
Western Capital, the imperial palace.
Looking at all the copies of information, Jin Emperor Yan Yuntian gently furrowed his brows. ”Look, who could that sissy be that they referred to?”
”That neither Wang She nor Zhou Bao dares to offend them easily, at the very least, they're bound to be an expert!” Ming Yuesheng smiled, but this smile was mingled with a hint of concern. ”Your Majesty, this Zhou Bao is apparently more surreptitious than we'd expected. The wizard weapon in his hand is something we've never heard of, which could occur in only two possible situations. One is that this weapon has never shown up since antiquity times and he was lucky enough to discover it. The other is that this weapon was made recently. If it is the second one, Your Majesty, this situation would be completely out of our control!”
”Exactly. If it's truly a recently-made weapon, then, there must be a powerful force behind Zhou Bao. Just because of this force, he has been able to operate in such a ferocious and domineering manner. It's not his stupidity, but his sufficient confidence that makes him unafraid of this millennium family of Wang at all!”
”Based on his usual style, it's quite possible!” Ming Yuesheng signed softly. ”A solid background is nothing intimidating. What shall be intimidating is whether or not all the troubles he has stirred up were done so out of his own will, or someone else's command. This is the key issue here! Your Majesty, it seems that we must pay more attention to this Zhou Bao!”