Knock, knock, knock —
Cheng Wei gently knocked on Wang Qiong's bedroom door.
His years of experience told him that this level of knocking was enough to wake his master up.
"Who is it?" Sure enough, not long after, Wang Qiong's half-awake voice came from the room.
"Manor Lord, it's me …" Cheng Wei replied. He paused for half a second before continuing, "There are guests … in the courtyard."
"Ah?" Wang Qiong turned around and glanced outside the window. The sky was still pitch black. "What time is it now?"
"Manor Lord … it's the time of the three in the morning," Cheng Wei replied.
Normally, when people heard this, they would immediately shout something like, "Are you crazy? Why are you meeting guests at four in the morning?"
However, Wang Qiong's reaction was different — he instantly woke up.
Wang Qiong knew Cheng Wei very well, and also knew how strict the security measures were to protect him. Hence, when he heard the answer "the time of the three in the morning", Cheng Wei's emphasis on the words "in the courtyard" seemed a little serious.
In the entire martial arts world, the number of people who could come to Wang Qiong's courtyard at this time could be counted on one hand. What was even stranger was that Cheng Wei, as one of the guards, actually helped the other party to inform him? What was going on?
"Hmm …" Wang Qiong muttered. He thought about many things in that short moment. Then, he opened his mouth and said, "Let them in."
"This …" Cheng Wei hesitated for a moment, "Directly into your room?"
When he asked this, Wang Qiong had already moved the kang table beside the bed to the bed and lit the oil lamp on the table with a match.
"Ah, yes, you can come in too," Wang Qiong replied as he flung the fire booklet away.
Seeing that the room was already lit, Cheng Wei didn't say anything else. After replying with an "Yes", he turned around and led the two "guests" to the front of the room.
Not long after, Cheng Wei pushed the door open and entered. Behind him, there was a man and a woman.
"Manor Lord." After Cheng Wei entered the room, he respectfully said to Wang Qiong, "I've brought the guests."
"These two are …" Wang Qiong looked at his Brother Jue and Ruo Yu as he asked.
"Sure." Feng Bujue took advantage of the opportunity to cut in and saluted Wang Qiong absentmindedly. "This humble one is the head of Broken Sword Chahitsu, Feng Bujue." He then raised his hand towards Ruo Yu. "This is my junior apprentice-sister, Li Ruo Yu."
He didn't give Ruo Yu the title of "Madam" this time, not because he didn't want to, but because Ruo Yu had told him in advance not to take advantage of this kind of "slightly childish".
"Broken Sword Chahitsu?" Wang Qiong's reaction after hearing these four words was beyond Brother Jue's expectations. "Broken Sword Chahitsu … Broken Sword Chahitsu …" He muttered these four words repeatedly in a low voice. He seemed to be deep in thought. After a full minute, he looked at Brother Jue and said, "Are you really Feng Bujue from Broken Sword Chahitsu?"
At this moment, Brother Jue acutely sensed something. He smiled and said, "Oh, I didn't expect Boss Wang to have heard of my name."
Wang Qiong ignored his probing and continued to ask, "Can you prove it?"
"What kind of proof do you want?" Feng Bujue spread his hands and said.
"It doesn't matter. Do as you see fit." Wang Qiong's answer was flawless.
"Haha … Good … You're not bad." Feng Bujue smiled. He looked at Wang Qiong with a meaningful gaze.
After he finished speaking, Brother Jue lifted his leg and took a step forward.
His movements were very ordinary. It was as if he was walking up a flight of stairs. However, there were no stairs in front of him.
However, he still went up. Using [Void Tread], which allowed him to stand in mid-air, Brother Jue floated one step above the ground.
Ruo Yu was not surprised by this. However, Cheng Wei's expression was very interesting.
Steward Cheng's martial arts skills weren't low, and he had seen many miraculous lightness skills. However, he couldn't understand the ability to "stand in the air" without any preparation.
"Hmm … It seems like you might be Feng Bujue." When Wang Qiong saw this, he seemed to be quite calm. It was as if he was watching a show.
"It's just a 'possibility' and not a 'certainty'?" Feng Bujue asked.
"I have to ask you a few more questions before I can be sure," Wang Qiong said.
"Ask away," Brother Jue replied straightforwardly.
"May I ask … Master Feng, how old are you?" Wang Qiong asked.
"I don't know," Feng Bujue almost blurted out in a matter-of-fact manner.
"You don't know?" Wang Qiong repeated the three words in a questioning tone.
"During the sword duel in Chang Lin, I looked like this. During the duel at the Forbidden City, I looked like this too. Later, when I went sightseeing in Buried Heart Valley, I still looked like this …" Feng Bujue was quick-witted. He knew that age was not the main point that Wang Qiong wanted to test him. The main point was this information. "If you want to know how old I am, I can only tell you … I've lived for too long. I can't remember."
"Hmm …" Wang Qiong nodded. "That makes sense." He paused. "However, I can't completely confirm your identity."
"Oh?" Feng Bujue asked curiously. "Is that not enough?"
"Not enough," Wang Qiong replied. "You could be Feng Bujue himself, but there is also a possibility that you are just someone who is good at qinggong and like me … you have read the Forbidden Martial Record."
The Forbidden Martial Record that he mentioned was a top-secret book. It was one of the Three Forbidden Scrolls.
According to rumors, these three scrolls were hidden deep within the palace, and only the current emperor had the right to read them. Other people … if they dared to open the seal, they would be punished by having their whole family executed.
Since the secrets recorded in the other two scrolls had nothing to do with this book, I won't mention them here. I will only talk about the Forbidden Martial Record here. This book was written during the last years of the Ming Dynasty. That year, Yuan Qi, the leader of the Wulin Alliance, who was regarded as a legend, passed away due to illness. In order to fight for the supreme martial arts skills he left behind and the position of the leader, a cataclysmic battle broke out in the Wulin Alliance. And the result of this battle was that … the strength of the martial arts world was greatly damaged, and the imperial court saw an opportunity to intervene. They took advantage of the situation and wiped out all the forces of power. (Traditional powerful sects like Shaolin and Wudang had already been destroyed at that time. Among the old sects, only the Beggar Clan still had a little bit of incense left.) The few remaining sects could only survive if they accepted the imperial edict to be incorporated into the imperial court.
It was that year that the Wulin Alliance of this world became a thing of the past.
The nature of the 'Martial Prohibition Secret Record' was like an epitaph written for the 'Jianghu'. Most of the information in this book was provided by the spies of the imperial court who had infiltrated the various sects and clans. There were many anecdotes and secrets that were unknown to the public.
Broken Sword Chahitsu and Feng Bujue were naturally mentioned in the book. Of course … as a book written from the standpoint of the imperial court, they didn't pay much attention to the Sword Duel in Cang Lin and Buried Heart Valley. Their focus was on Brother Jue's fight with a beautiful woman in the Forbidden City.
Back to the main topic.
Wang Qiong had obviously read that book before. As for why and how he read it … that was not important.
Because he was Wang Qiong, he had his own way.
In a way, this explained why the emperor wanted to kill him, the merchant.
"This is the first time I've heard of this book." Several seconds later, Feng Bujue spoke again. "But I can roughly guess what is written in it …" He shrugged. "In any case … that is not important. I still have many ways to prove my identity."
As he spoke, Brother Jue raised one hand and pressed two fingers together. A black, glowing card appeared at the tip of his finger.
"This … is not considered Qinggong, right?" Feng Bujue asked.
Wang Qiong stared at the card for several seconds. "This … what is the use of it?"
"There are many uses," Brother Jue replied calmly. "The simplest and most direct use … is to throw it out."
"So what if you throw it out?" Wang Qiong asked.
"It can hurt people," Feng Bujue said.
"How bad can it be?" Wang Qiong asked.
"At the very least, it can cripple your friend on the beam." Feng Bujue replied with a smile on his face.
But Wang Qiong's expression changed. "Hmm …" He thought for a few seconds and finally came to a conclusion. "Looks like you really are Feng Bujue."
Boss Wang did not need Brother Jue to prove himself. When he noticed the existence of the "man on the beam", everything was clear.
The man hiding on the beam was called Cheng Yong. He was Cheng Wei's younger brother.
As mentioned before, Wang Qiong had two bodyguards. One was Cheng Wei, who was also the butler, and the other … was Cheng Yong.
Compared to his brother, Cheng Yong was far behind in terms of scheming and etiquette. But there was one thing that Cheng Yong was better than Cheng Wei — martial arts talent.
Cheng Yong's martial arts were very high, so high that even Wang Qiong felt "reassured".
No one knew what kind of martial arts he practiced, and no one knew how good he was. They only knew that once Cheng Yong made a move … his opponent would die.
In fact, he did not have many chances to make a move. The few times he did, his opponents were all top-notch fighters from the martial arts world or the imperial court. Only those top-notch fighters had the ability and opportunity to stand in front of Wang Qiong.
However, none of these people could last more than five moves against Cheng Yong.
If Cheng Wei was Wang Qiong's right-hand man, then Cheng Yong was Wang Qiong's shadow. There was nothing more reliable than a shadow, because he was always by his master's side.
There were even a few times when Wang Qiong was attacked in bed, but Cheng Yong saved him.
Seeing this, everyone should understand why Wang Qiong dared to talk to so many martial arts experts at such a close distance without being afraid of being ambushed.
"Then …" Wang Qiong paused for half a second, then asked, "Master Feng of the legends … Why are you looking for me in the middle of the night?"
"Boss Wang, you're a businessman," Feng Bujue said, "I'm looking for you to talk about business." As he spoke, he walked forward and sat on the edge of the kang bed. "As for why I chose to come at this time, I have no choice …" he explained slowly, "During the day, there were some 'situations' in the town, so it was inconvenient for me to enter the town. Fortunately, more than two hours ago, that 'inconvenience' no longer existed."
"Then, from more than two hours ago until now …" Wang Qiong did not care much about his Brother Bujue sitting on the kang bed, so he continued the conversation calmly, "… What did you and your junior sister do this time?"
"Haha …" Feng Bujue laughed. "We went to find someone and asked him some questions. Then, we chopped his head off and brought it to you." After he finished speaking, he seemed to remember something and added, "Oh, of course, before we entered your courtyard, we made the guards around your house unconscious. After we came in, we chatted with Butler Cheng for a while."
"Oh …" Wang Qiong nodded. "Right, I haven't asked yet …" He suddenly looked at Cheng Wei. "Old Cheng, what's going on today? Why did you obediently help them pass on the message? "
Cheng Wei did not answer the question. The person who responded to Wang Qiong was Ruo Yu.
"Because he lost," she said in an icy tone.
"Did he fight with you?" Wang Qiong asked.
"No," Ruo Yu replied.
"Then how did he lose?" Wang Qiong asked again.
Before he finished speaking, Ruo Yu had already raised her right hand and held the hilt of her sword.
At that moment, her gaze shifted, and a fierce murderous aura instantly filled the entire room.
The murderous aura was like a pair of invisible hands that tightly gripped the throats of everyone in the room. Even Brother Bujue felt the suffocating pressure.
Chi — —
In the blink of an eye, just as Ruo Yu's murderous aura rose, she saw a black shadow dash down from the beam.
That shadow was as fast as lightning. In the blink of an eye, he was in front of Ruo Yu, his hands already holding his weapon.
Then, his movements stopped.
It was not a slight pause, but a complete freeze.
A bean-sized drop of cold sweat dripped from Cheng Yong's forehead to the bridge of his nose and split in two.
He stood there, his eyes wide open as he stared at the female swordsman in front of him.
She looked to be in her early twenties, and her otherworldly temperament and beauty were unforgettable.
But at this moment, these visible appearances were covered up by the heavy sword intent, and became negligible.
Ruo Yu's hand did not move, and her sword was still in its scabbard.
But from Cheng Yong's point of view, the tip of her sword was already pressed against his throat.
He did not move, because he could not move.
His hands, his feet, his torso, even his fingers and eyelids … … None of them could move.
If he moved, he would be beheaded.
This was what Cheng Yong felt at this moment … …
The silence lasted for about ten seconds.
Ten seconds later, Cheng Yong's body loosened, and his whole body fell to the ground like a collapsing building block, gasping for breath.
Cold sweat covered his horrified face.
At this moment, Ruo Yu, who had retracted her murderous aura and sword intent, walked steadily to the kang bed.
She nonchalantly took out a human head that was still bleeding and wrapped in cloth from her bag. She then casually placed it on the table.
When she put down the head, Ruo Yu continued her unfinished words, "That's how I lost."
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