Qin Shi Ambitious

Page 96

"Why would he offer such unsolicited kindness? There are so many people in this inn, why does he want to befriend us?"

The inn's lobby was indeed full of people; roughly counting, there were about twenty tables filled with all sorts of wandering knights and merchants.

"It's not just about befriending us." Lu Wei chuckled nonchalantly, "Take a look at the waiter too."

As he spoke, Ziwu turned his head and saw that the waiter had brought out another dish of the same food and placed it in front of the two newly entered wandering knights.

This behavior reminded Lu Wei of Lü Qing's actions when they first met. However, there was a difference: back then, Lü Qing's goal was to cultivate his reputation in his hometown and try to befriend passing wandering knights to eliminate the bandit Zhuang Jia of Zhuang Mountain.

The young man who was throwing money around in this inn, judging from his clothes, should also be a visitor from out of town. Such behavior will not help him maintain his reputation... unless he is already very famous.

Or perhaps he simply has a lot of money and casually makes some good connections...

"Interesting. Since he's doing this, he probably wouldn't mind if I made the acquaintance."

Ziwu put down his chopsticks, and after receiving a nod from the hall master, he got up and went to the young man's table.

In Lu Wei's view, Zi Wu was invited to sit down by the young man. Besides him, one of the two wandering knights who had just entered also stood up, walked over and sat down as well, tentatively.

The table of three people has become five.

The other patrons didn't find it strange; they just glanced at it casually and went on with their own business.

While eating, Master Lu regained his composure and considered the opportunity for him to take action in Daliang.

The Xinling Temple is located within the city, so neither is the Pijia Gate. Although the Zuimeng Tower remained in Daliang after its merger with the Daliang Tantai last year, according to Situ Wanli, the person in charge, Hua Ying, attempted to rebuild the Zuimeng Tower at a different location in Puyang City on the Wei border.

Be prepared to relocate at any time.

That place is not far from the Dazeshan area.

"I stayed in Zhao for a long time. Lu Ni and the others, along with Mei San Niang who came from Daze Mountain, should have already met up in the city."

"Let Mei San Niang handle the matter of persuading the disciples of the Armored Sect to join the Farmer's Clan. The current leader of the Armored Sect, Dian Qing, is a man who cherishes old friendships. Even if he discovers Mei San Niang's actions, he will not harm her."

“Zhang Er and Chen Yu have been wandering back and forth between Wei and Chu for years. I wrote to them at the end of last year. They must be waiting for me at Xinling Temple for a long time now. We can take them in once we enter the city.”

"As for Zui Meng Lou, my goal is simply to control half of the discourse. This will allow Xue Nu to test her skills against that Hua Ying girl, and it won't be difficult to select a Gong Gong Tang representative from among the Tan Tai dancers."

"Furthermore, considering the timeline, Xiaomeng, the future head of the Taoist Heavenly Sect, is probably about two years old now. She also has naturally white hair, which is quite rare. With this information, we can have the disciples search for her and perhaps find some clues."

"First, I need to locate Xiaomeng. That way, when Qin attacks Wei in the future, I can save her and make her owe me a life-saving favor!"

"Finally, among the local wandering knights of Wei, let's see if there are any like Ziwu who are wandering around; I'll take them in as well!"

"After taking all the resources that can be looted from Daliang City, this hall master will then head south to Chu..."

Having analyzed his actions in the State of Wei, Ziwu then probed back:

"The other person's name is Xu Wang. He used to be a Wei person, but now he belongs to the Qin people."

"His purpose in making this trip was to visit his homeland and fulfill his father's dying wish. He also wanted to marry a woman from the Liang Dynasty, which he said was another of his father's last wishes."

“He wasn’t very wealthy, but he didn’t find anything special about gold and silver, so he was very generous in Wei territory and didn’t ask for anything in return.”

After giving the young man his information, Ziwu lowered his head and ate quickly for a while. The young man's identity was too ordinary, not worth his time.

Lu Wei repeated the name 'Xu Wang' twice, but he couldn't recall it at all. At most, he was somewhat familiar with the surname 'Xu', and it seemed that he had killed someone with the surname Xu before.

The other party is not a character from the original work, and it is unknown whether he is a historical figure, but in any case, since this Xu Wang is rich and acts differently from ordinary people, he is within the scope of people who can be befriended.

As for how much influence the Hall Master should have on him, that depends on how the other party behaves afterward.

After finishing their meal, Lu Wei and Zi Wu continued their journey. They led their horses for a walk, chatted about sword techniques, and just as they were about to mount their horses and gallop away, Xu Wang from the inn happened to catch up with them.

"Are you two brothers heading to Daliang? How about we travel together?"

He smiled and greeted the two men with a fist and palm salute, a gesture of respect common in martial arts circles.

"Meeting is fate, so it's natural."

Ziwu remained silent, while Lu Wei readily agreed. He wanted to observe Xu Wang further: the other party's request to travel together was definitely not because they happened to have the same destination; there must be another reason.

As for the real reason... since he's going to travel together, it will inevitably be revealed at some point.

------

In a spacious courtyard in the city of Daliang.

Lu Ni, Xue Nu, and Mei San Niang stood outside the arena, watching Xiao Yan'er perform the basic sword moves step by step.

They rented a large attic, which belonged to the Pijia Sect. Mei San Niang personally negotiated with the disciple in charge of this matter within the Pijia Sect and secured it at a reasonable price.

When Mei San Niang learned in Daze Mountain that Master Lu wanted to accept disciples of the Armored Sect into the Farmer's Clan, she did not make a decision immediately. Instead, she frowned and pondered for several days, and only after learning that the Qin Kingdom was gathering troops in Nanyang did she finally make up her mind.

She was already unwilling to serve that scoundrel King Wei, and it would be an even greater tragedy to see her fellow disciples die for him!

After rushing to Daliang, she waited in the city for a whole month before she could reunite with Lu Nixue.

Mei San Niang is straightforward and very responsible for her duties, so both Lu Ni and Xue Nu can get along well with her.

Her care and responsibility towards Xiao Yan'er was no less than that towards Xue Nu from the very beginning, and she even won the approval of both women.

Since they didn't know when Master Lu would arrive, they had been focusing all their attention on Xiao Yan'er these past few days. Lu Ni was quite familiar with Daliang City and was the only one of the three women who knew the real reason why Lu Wei had sent Ji Yan to Daliang City.

But she was very careful not to tell any outsiders about this, nor did she contact the retainers of the Xinling Temple privately... After all, she had killed that person with her own hands...

This information is currently kept secret, but the Luo Wang organization knows it! In the crucial moment of the future, Luo Wang will definitely expose the true cause of Lord Xinling's death.

However, she was not worried about this, because by then these retainers of Lord Xinling would have long been living in the countryside, and if they had any other ideas in the hands of their master, they would really die.

"Whoosh," Xiao Yan'er finished her sword dance, picked up the scabbard from the ground, sheathed the Jingni sword, tiptoed to place it on the sword rack, and then ran to the side of the arena, letting Mei San Niang wipe the sweat from her forehead with a damp silk cloth.

"Thank you, Sister Mei."

"Mother, Sister Xue Nu, I'm going back to my room to practice my internal skills."

After saying that, Ji Yan skipped away.

After putting away the wet wipes, Mei San Niang couldn't help but sigh, "Ayan is so sensible at such a young age; he's sure to achieve great things in the future."

The Snow Maiden playfully hugged Lu Ni's arm, saying, "It's all thanks to Sister Lu Ni's excellent guidance!"

"..." Lu Ni's lips curled into a faint smile, but her mind drifted back to the conversation she had with her daughter on her first night in Daliang:

"Mother, is my father a big shot in the State of Wei?"

"My brother, the sect leader, has always been very lenient with me. There must be something important about Ayan that he has his eye on, right?"

"Since I can remember, I have been protected in Luqiu Pavilion in Yan State. This year, everyone in the pavilion has been evacuated to other places. But my brother, the Hall Master, asked Sister Xue Nu and my mother to bring me to Daliang in Wei State. Is it because Ayan can create value for him in Daliang?"

"Mother, can you tell Ayan some of the truth?"

“With such great power as the Hall Master, if Ayan knew nothing about him, she could only be cautious in front of him, afraid of angering the Hall Master and implicating her mother.”

"Mother..."

My daughter is indeed intelligent, perhaps even a little too intelligent.

But in this world, those who are too intelligent and don't have enough protection are very likely to not live long!

The master needed his daughter's identity to gain the support of his retainers and some of the people in Wei, but as his power grew, these things became less and less important to him...

If the threat posed by some of her daughter's actions outweighs her worth, and she is no longer capable of protecting her...

“Ayan, your father is Lord Xinling.”

After much deliberation, Lu Ni decided to tell Xiao Yan'er part of the truth that night.

She knew she wasn't particularly intelligent and could only serve as a henchman for Master Lu. At most, she could take on some of the Snow Maiden's duties when the Snow Maiden was absent and her master needed her, but that was the extent of her value.

The daughter, in the master's plan, was being groomed to be a subordinate. Only if she was exceptionally talented could she survive even after the master's death...

Six-year-old Xiaoyan returned to her room and closed the door expressionlessly. Instead of practicing her internal energy cultivation as instructed, she ignored her aching muscles, moved a chair, and climbed onto it to retrieve a bamboo scroll from the top of the wardrobe.

Lord Xinling died in the seventh year of King Jingmin of Wei, which is...

Ji Yan took a second to calculate: "Seven years ago? The year before I was born?"

"My mother is still hiding a secret from me..."

Chapter 119 Revisiting Xinling

Xu Wang's purpose in requesting to travel with Lu Wei and Zi Wu was soon revealed.

Or, to put it another way, he never intended to hide anything from the beginning; it's just that Xu Wang omitted some information during his conversation with Ziwu at the inn, such as:

He is a disciple of the Yin-Yang School...

This made the Hall Master subconsciously think of the Moon Goddess: all his contacts with the Yin-Yang School were related to the Moon Goddess, but she had not appeared since she left Ji City at the beginning of last year.

However, Xu Wang made no mention of this Yin-Yang School protector during their casual conversation.

"Disciples of the Yin-Yang School are extremely rare in the martial arts world. I never expected that Brother Xu would be one of them."

Ziwu sighed, while Xu Wang could only respond with a wry smile:

"People are very curious about the mystery of the Yin-Yang School, but that is all about the elders and even higher-level protectors."

"But I am just an ordinary person. I studied Yin-Yang techniques at the 'school' for a few years with most of the disciples. My talent was too poor, and I didn't learn anything. Just then, my father fell seriously ill, so I asked to go home."

"After my father passed away, no one in the sect called me back, so I decided to travel to the State of Wei to fulfill my father's last wish..."

After saying this, he sighed: "I don't even know if I can still be considered a disciple of the Yin-Yang School. My current plan is to marry a woman from Daliang, then go back to my hometown and try to get a minor official position through connections. If I can live a peaceful life for the rest of my life, that wouldn't be bad."

"The Yin-Yang School is divided into five branches. I wonder which branch Brother Xu has studied?" Lu Wei did not see any signs that the other party was lying. Xu Wang's internal energy was also only shallow, probably at most similar to that of the Snow Maiden at the beginning of last year.

"That's not a secret. I studied the Metal element, and I'm under the jurisdiction of Elder Yunzhongjun."

Xu Wang answered simply, adding, "The head of the Jin Department is skilled in alchemy, and even His Highness Prince Qin praised Lord Yunzhong's elixirs. However, when I was making elixirs, every batch I tried would explode. In the end, I had no choice but to give up alchemy and switch to a minor path: Qi observation."

At this point, he looked up, his gaze sweeping over Lu Wei and Zi Wu. Because of the close distance, Lu Wei could clearly see a cloud of mist in his eyes: "The reason I'm traveling with you two brothers is precisely because of this skill of observing qi."

"Observing Qi," commonly known as "reading appearances," refers to predicting a person's future based on their shape, complexion, and aura. It's like a human version of astrology, and sounds like something out of a charlatan's tale, but Ziwu was very interested:

"What can you see in me and the sect leader?"

“I can’t see anything…” Xu Wang withdrew his remaining internal energy, his eyes regained their focus, and he shook his head apologetically: “I’m sorry, even my best skill, Qi observation, is considered poorly learned in the Yin-Yang School’s ranking system, and it’s sometimes effective and sometimes not.”

"But among the group of people at the inn just now, the two of you have the strongest 'qi'. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but I think following the two of you will definitely be more interesting than following other wandering knights."

"That's pretty impressive," Ziwu thought for a moment and comforted him, "When I try to observe someone, I have to use my internal energy to carefully probe and estimate their strength, which is easy to be discovered. Your Qi-observation technique makes things much easier."

"Besides, there's a lot of room for improvement in the future!"

"..." Xu Wang could now tell that he wasn't deliberately mocking him but genuinely looking for his strengths, which only made him feel more frustrated...