Hsu Fengnian did not know who the person on the stele was referring to, but with his excellent memory, he recognized the old man's identity at a glance. It was the old servant of Mount Qing Liang who had temporarily become a stonemason, Wu Jiang, who loved eating ginger. When they first met, the old man was standing among the group of stonemasons. His figure was stooped, his face weathered, and he was not eye-catching. If Hsu Fengnian had not fallen so much, he might have been able to see some clues at that time. Hsu Fengnian did not retreat, but instead advanced slowly. Only then did he realize that the old man, who had straightened his back and did not pretend to shrink back, had an excellent bearing. He actually had the powerful aura of an elder in the palace hall.
In Hsu Fengnian's impression, the older generation of masters who were pure Jianghu people, except for Han Shengxuan and Sui Xie Gu, were easily intimidating. At first glance, Old Huang, the old man in the sheepskin coat, and the old Zhenren of Mount Longhu, Zhao Xituan, were not even close to the high and mighty masters of the martial arts. This confirmed Hsu Fengnian's previous guess. Even if the old man, who used the pseudonym of Wu Jiang, was not the West Chu dynasty's master of calligraphy, Qi Lianhua, who was known as the "second of the Millennium Ranking", he was still closely related to the master of calligraphy. It was not difficult for a person to hide one's inadequacies, but it was not easy to hide one's inadequacies in calligraphy. Qi Lianhua, who was born in a powerful family, was recognized as a master of calligraphy with extraordinary talent. However, in the Da Chu dynasty, he was only an official in the Hanlin Academy. He only did small things like helping the emperor surnamed Jiang write articles on titles and inscriptions on steles. He edited half of the history books of the previous dynasty that died without any illness. Therefore, at that time, he was also nicknamed "Qi Lianhua" and "Tianhua Lang". The latter implied that Qi Lianhua could only add flowers to brocade and not provide timely help. After the fall of West Chu, the Qi family of Guangling declined. Qi Lianhua's whereabouts were also unknown. Qi Lianhua was originally the West Chu's "Book Armor", who was known for his semi-cursive script. As soon as his "Warring States Style" was published, it was praised as the world's second semi-cursive script. Later, Nalan Youci, who was appointed by the Liyang government as the Double Champion of Spring and Autumn calligraphy, had the world's first semi-cursive script, "Sheng Guan Style", to compete with him. However, the people of the world were not willing to accept this saying. They did not recognize Nalan Youci as the Double Champion, and only recognized that Qi Lianhua's calligraphy attainment was close to that of the ancient sages. However, as for the Spring and Autumn Book Armor, it belonged to none other than Huang Longshi, who was known as the "Unrivaled Champion" in cursive script. Later on, Liyang impatiently pushed out This Old Man of the Song family as the First Champion of Literature, but he was also sneered at by the people of the time. It was fine if This Old Man of the Song family was content to be the head of the literary world as a lackey of the Zhao family of Liyang. However, with the Shangyin Academy's Chancellor Qi Yang Long Zhu in front of him, how could he be the First Champion of Literature for the Spring and Autumn Book Armor? The Liyang imperial court was not satisfied. Although there was no First Champion of Literature, there was no Second Champion of Martial Arts. Therefore, they wanted to push Wang Xianzhi of the Martial Arts City as the First Champion of Literature. However, they were directly rejected by the self-proclaimed "Second in the World" Old Monster Wang. As a result, there were many dazzling versions of the Spring and Autumn Book Armor. Among them, there was a certain Number Champion of the Taoist surnamed Zhao from Mount Longhu. However, the most widely circulated and most convincing version was still the earliest version. Although many people missed out on the Spring and Autumn Book Armor, no matter what, as long as they were nominated by others, they were naturally dragons and phoenixes among men. Hsu Fengnian's master, Li Yishan, praised Qi Lianhua's calligraphy skills to the extreme. He said that the running script was worthy of being called the best in both ancient and modern times. Therefore, Hsu Fengnian was naturally implicated. When he practiced running script in his youth, he always copied the few authentic "Qi Pads" that had been handed down for generations. He didn't know how many times he had scolded Qi Lianhua.
Hsu Fengnian was very curious. If the old man in front of him was really Qi Lianhua, how did he become a West Chu loyalist who had slipped through the net of Mount Qing Liang? In order to make the Beiliang Palace, which was full of experts, misjudge him, it was not enough to rely on mere forbearance. It was necessary to have the support of terrifying strength. Hsu Fengnian was not surprised by the old man's hiding in the Xu family. Jiang Ni was the only bloodline of the West Chu imperial family. Naturally, the West Chu scholars, who had been raised by the country for two hundred years, would not be able to repay the kindness of the king even if they did not die. However, what really made Hsu Fengnian apprehensive was that the fact that the fallen princess Jiang Si had been brought back to Beiliang by Xu Xiao was a huge secret. Otherwise, Cao Changqing would not have secretly investigated the Liyang court for so many years without any results. How did the old man in front of him know about this?
Hsu Fengnian did not immediately retreat from this mausoleum. Instead, he looked into the eyes of a remnant of the Old Chu. This was actually a very big risk. Although Xu Xiao had taken the liberty of leaving behind a precious "remnant evil" surnamed Jiang for West Chu, after all, Xu Xiao had personally taken down the Western Fortress. He had also personally led the troops to break down the main gate of West Chu's Imperial Palace. The Emperor and Empress had died right in front of Xu Xiao's eyes. It could be said that Xu Xiao's feelings toward West Chu could only be described as personal gratitude and national hatred. Moreover, the current Guangling Road was filled with smoke, and the battle in Liyang was not going well. In the eyes of the common people, even if the Beiliang cavalry could not withstand the invasion of Beimang's million-strong army to the south, it was definitely more than enough for them to retreat out of the barren northwest and run to the Central Plains to clean up the West Chu rebel army. At present, from top to bottom, many people felt that this was undoubtedly the King of Beiliang, Hsu Fengnian's choice of retreat. Leaving Liyang would not result in the loss of a single soldier, and Beiliang would also have enough military merit to arrange a retreat for its generals. Everyone was happy. As for the 300,000 border troops, at worst, they could just disband them. In any case, the Great Pillar State Gu Jiantang's two Liao border troops could absorb more than 100,000 soldiers in one go. For this reason, the Imperial Court of West Chu paid close attention to the Beiliang Frontier Army's movements, especially Hsu Fengnian's. They were afraid that the young vassal king would one day lose his mind and lead his army all the way to the Central Plains, using the Da Chu as a proof of allegiance to the new ruler of Liyang.
At this moment, the only experts at Hsu Fengnian's side that could act were Mei Fengjie and Fan Xiaochai, and they were both outside the mausoleum, forbidden from entering the forbidden grounds. The Sword Eater Ancestor, Sui Xiegu, and the Wu Clan's hundred cavalry were on the northern front of Liangzhou, in case Beimang tried to assassinate Chu Lushan in the Beiliang Protectorate, regardless of the cost. Xu Yanbing was still single-handedly pursuing that group of top-notch Beimang experts that had infiltrated Youzhou. Tantai Pingjing and the disciples of the Guanyin Sect were also working with Xu Yanbing, determined to keep that Little Idea and the Great Yue House in Youzhou.
In the past, where in the world would Hsu Fengnian not be able to go?
The old man carefully sized up this somewhat absent-minded young man, a complicated look in his eyes. Perhaps his very existence made the surrounding atmosphere a little more hostile, but for some reason, the old man in his twilight years did not seem to harbor any hostility. Hsu Fengnian's peak cultivation was no longer present, but his sharp intuition was still present. As a result, when Mei Fengjie and Fan Xiaochai realized that something had happened in the mausoleum and rushed into the garden, Hsu Fengnian only raised his hand, indicating for them to withdraw. Mei Fengjie silently left. Fan Xiaochai hesitated for a moment, then continued to stand in the distance. Hsu Fengnian also did not make a fuss about this female sacrificial warrior's overstepping her bounds.
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