Shuo Ling sneered in his mind. He had to admit that the drama given by Emperor Xiling and the guard was well played. If he hadn’t seen the wizard, he might have been fooled by the good acting of Emperor Xiling!
The two corpses lying on the ground were wearing the wizard and the man in black’s clothes. Their body shapes were also similar, but their faces were hit to be unrecognizable. Obviously, Emperor Xiling had already thought of a retreat.
“In this case, I will join you in your acting.” Shuo Ling thought. So, he walked towards Lan Kuo and said, “There is no need to be angry, Emperor Xiling. Since these two are already dead, what’s the point of implicating these innocent people? It’s very likely that the missing persons’ case in the frontier was just caused by these two. There are no other people behind this, so don’t waste your effort to find people to blame anymore!”
Hearing this, Lan Kuo said, “Since Marquis Dongling pleaded for you, your death penalty will be spared for his sake. But you will still be punished. Drag them down and hit each of them 30 times using sticks!”
At this moment, Shuo Ling said again, “Here, I would also like to thank Emperor Xiling for capturing these two people and removing bad forces for Dongling.”
“You’re kidding, Marquis Dongling. This matter is just a piece of cake. And solving the case about missing people in the frontier makes our two countries get along with each other without enmity.”
Since it was already like this, Shuo Ling didn’t want to go on acting with Emperor Xiling. He said to Lan Kuo, “Since the missing persons case has been solved and I have also left Jing City for a long time, it’s time for me to go back and report. I’m not staying here any longer.”
“Well, as you’re eager to go back, I won’t ask you to stay. Please wait here for a moment, Marquis Dongling. I’ll ask my servants to prepare a few things, and please help me give them to Emperor Dongling as gifts of greeting.” Lan Kuo thought for a little while and said.
Shuo Ling nodded and agreed. After all, acting had to be performed to the very end.
It took three horse-drawn carriages to carry Emperor Xiling’s gifts.
Shuo Ling bid farewell to Emperor Xiling and set off for the frontier.
“The trip to Xiling was not a waste of time.” Shou Ling thought. At least he knew that Xiling was planning to annex the other three countries.
There was no obvious change for now, but Zhan You became obedient to him. If he later raised more nightmare venomous insects, it would be tricky.
As soon as he arrived in Elysium City, Shuo Ling commanded General Li to guard the frontier to prevent attacks and also focus on Xiling’s movements.
Shuo Ling summoned the Dark Guard and let him sneak into Xiling to investigate Emperor Xiling’s recent movements. He asked the Dark Guard to keep him informed all the time.
Then he went to the Witchcraft City to find the head of nightmare venomous insects personally, and explained to him that Zhan You might’ve colluded with the Royal Family of Xiling. Shuo Ling asked him to be careful and prevent Xian You from raising too many nightmare venomous insects.
After everything was explained, he then prepared to return to Jing City with Mo Li.
…
In Jing City of Dongling, Pei Moning had already been to Worry Relief Valley to invite the Ghost Fairy Runyu.
Of course, it was not simple. It took him a lot of effort. When the sweetheart of the Ghost Fairy suddenly disappeared, leaving no trace of clues, the Ghost Fairy looked everywhere for her crazily. But he couldn’t find her, not even a corpse. Then he realized that he wouldn’t be able to find her if she intended to hide from him.
Then he heard Pei Moning say that he had traced the whereabouts of Wan Chu. The Ghost Fairy considered it for a long time and then decided to find out the reason why Wan Chu left back then and untie the knot in his heart. So, he reached an agreement with Pei Moning, whom he then went to the Jing City.
Pei Moning took Runyu to the martial club first. When the people in the martial club saw Pei Moning’s return, they all went on at him.
“Well, Pei Moning. You assembled everybody here, but you hid away yourself without showing up!”
“Yes, indeed. You’re back today. Buy us a drink.”
…
The crowd kept on saying.
Seeing it, Pei Moning explained with a smile, “Calm down, everybody. I’m going to buy you drinks. But you need to know that I didn’t go out to hide. I was just looking for someone who could lead our martial club.”
“Who is he?” Everybody stopped talking at the moment, wondering who the person standing here was.
“Look!” Pei Moning said as he moved away.
They saw a man standing behind Pei Moning. Clean and flawless in a white shirt, the whole person looked spotless. There was a piece of emerald green jade hanging around his waist. He was holding an unusual sword in his hand, and there was a nip in the air.
At the moment, one of them asked, “Is this person the Ghost Fairy, Runyu?”
When Pei Moning nodded, they were so surprised that they even opened their mouths. After all, Runyu, the Ghost Fairy, had lived in the Worry Relief valley, which was of great strategic importance, for many years. It was an honor to even look at him from a distance. But right now, the Ghost Fairy was standing right in front of them. It was like a dream.
They were all still stunned and silent till Pei Moning coughed a little bit to help them come to their senses.
They quickly saluted Runyu, “We’ve admired you for a long time, Ghost Fairy. We’re really lucky to see you today. We would be happy to wait here for you even for three years.”
Seeing the unhappy look on Runyu’s face, Pei Moning knew that he thought it was too noisy here.
“Let’s take a break first, everyone. Now that we have Ghost Fairy lead our martial club, we will definitely be famous after the opening of our martial club!” Pei Moning said to everybody.
After arranging Ghost Fairy’s accommodation, Pei Moning went to Blossoming Peach to find his sworn sister, Yang Zijin.
Before entering the city, he heard people on the road say that the Young Master of Blossoming Peach had built something new.
When he walked to the backyard of Blossoming Peach, he found what he heard from outside to be true.
There were some scholar-like people sitting under the tree and working hard.
Meanwhile, Yang Zijin was sitting in a daze looking at the sky.
After Pei Moning shouted out her name, Yang Zijin quickly looked up, following the voice. Seeing Pei Moning, she ran over and asked, “Where have you been these days, Moning? Why didn’t I hear anything about you?”
“Come with me now. You’ll get to know it later.” Pei Moning pulled Yang Zijin’s arm and ran out of Blossoming Peach.
Yang Zijin was so confused at the time that she let Pei Moning take her away.
Pei Moning dragged her to a courtyard and stopped. He said breathlessly, “Look, how is it?”
Yang Zijin remembered that this was the mansion he had paid attention to before. This was the place where people were coming and going.
“This is…?” Yang Zijin was puzzled and asked Pei Moning.
Pei Moning heaved a long sigh, “I don’t want to lead a wandering life outside anymore. So, I decided to settle in Jing City!”
“Did you decide to stay?” Yang Zijin asked with disbelief.
She knew her sworn brother well. “He was used to living a lazy life outside. Why did he suddenly think of settling in Jing City?” Yang Zijin thought.
Seeing Yang Zijin react in this way, Pei Moning said angrily, “Why? I’m here to accompany you to stay in Jing City. Don’t you want me to stay?”
“Yes, of course, I do. From now on, I have someone to discuss things with me in Jing City.” Yang Zijin replied immediately, just thinking that it was like a dream.
“That’s good!” Then he flicked gently on her head.
Yang Zijin covered her head, “You bullied me again, Moning.”
“Stop standing here. Come in and have a look now.” Pei Moning urged with a smile.
Yang Zijin sorted her clothes a little bit and followed Pei Moning to go into the yard. The yard was filled with things that were necessary for martial arts. “Was her brother going to open a martial club?” She thought.
Seeing Yang Zijin staring at the things placed in the yard, Pei Moning said again, “What are you looking at? Come in quickly!”
Entering the place, Zijin saw people sitting around. They were those who practiced martial arts from outside. Now they were staring at her, and Yang Zijin was not sure how to greet.
One of the people sitting here asked her brother first, “Pei Moning, who is he?”
“He is the one that I mentioned before, my sworn brother. I hope you will take care of him in the future.” Pei Moning introduced Zijin to the people sitting here.
As Pei Moning introduced Zijin, he hinted at her to move forward. Yang Zijin got it, and greeted all the heroes.
Everyone liked the sworn brother of Pei Moning.
Before leaving, Yang Zijin asked again, “Are you going to open a martial club, Moning?”
“Exactly! You’re so smart.” Pei Moning praised her.
Originally, Yang Zijin thought that her brother was joking with her again. However, when she saw the things in the yard, she realized that he was doing it for real.
Having set the martial club’s opening date, Pei Moning released the news concerning about the martial club’s location and its leader, the Ghost Fairy, to the outside.
Well, on the opening day, many people indeed came here admiringly!
After the layer-by-layer screening, Pei Moning kept only 30 people who looked physically strong and had the talent to learn martial arts in the end.
So, the martial club opened like this!
The annual imperial examination was also held as scheduled.
On the day of the announcement of the examination result, some people were happy, and some were worried! Some of the candidates who had stayed at Blossoming Peach also failed, and couldn’t help but look depressed.
Yang Zijin saw them and stepped forward to comfort them, “Stop acting like this. I know you didn’t pass the exam this time, but you can just wait for the next year’s exam.”
“There’s something you don’t know, Young Master Yang. People like us, who are from a poor family, have to save for the travel expenses in advance for a long time in order to come here for exams. We won’t be able to make it next year, so we can only surrender to our fate!” Someone heaved a long sigh and said.
At the moment, someone else said, “Thank you for keeping us here all this time, Young Master Yang. We are very grateful. It’s just that we can’t return the favor. We’ve disturbed you all these days, but we won’t disturb you anymore, Young Master Yang.”
As they spoke, they walked back to their rooms to pack things, and they seemed to be ready to leave.
After these days, Yang Zijin could see that these people had great ambitions. It was indeed cruel that their fate would be decided by only one failure in the examination.
She lowered her head and thought for a moment. Then she shouted at these lonely figures, “Stop!”
“What’s the matter, Young Master Yang?” The men stopped and asked.
“I don’t know if you are willing to stay here and wait for the next year’s imperial examination.”
Hearing what Yang Zijin said, several people were happy in their hearts. But only after a little while, they shook their heads again.
Yang Zijin was confused, “You have been studying hard all these years, because you want to return to your village one day being successful. But why do you want to give up now?”
“Young Master Yang must be joking. It has already been embarrassing for us to eat and live here for free all these days. How can we continue to stay here with you?” Yang Zijin’s words clearly got to them. Some people hesitated but still said it.
These scholars only cared about their faces, so Yang Zijin said to them with annoyance, “Who said that you would live here for free? I’ll let you live here to work for me. I don’t support idlers here.”
“Work? As long as you don’t let us do anything bad, we are willing to do any hard work.” Several people were obviously excited about it.
They seemed to be stuck in the darkness, and Yang Zijin was the light that appeared in it.