Volume 3 – The Place Where My Heart Feels At Peace, Chapter 82: Discussion (part 1)
Qianye’s room was the last one in the terraced building, so the commotion shouldn’t have reached his doors even if there were minor conflicts between the Yin family’s staff and guards.
Qiqi’s eyebrows rose after hearing the ruckus outside. She jumped out of bed and swiftly rushed out. Her voice rang out almost immediately afterwards, “What do you two think you’re doing in my camp!? Two grown men causing such a ruckus in the dead of night! Don’t you feel you’ve chosen the wrong place for an open battle?” 1
Qianye couldn’t help rubbing his temples after hearing Qiqi’s voice.
Meanwhile, the area outside his room was suffused with origin energy. Even Qiqi didn’t dare to rush hastily into the midst of the clas.h.i.+ng blue and yellow lights. There wasn’t a soul in their immediate vicinity, but one could see moving silhouettes around the distant path leading toward the inner courtyard entrance. Judging from their uniforms, it seemed that the guards of the Song, Wei and Yin families were all present but apparently none dared to wade into these troubled waters.
The two combatants had turned a deaf ear to everything going on around them. Song Zining’s palm pushed forth to clash against Wei Potian’s fist. The impact resulted in a loud rumble that forced the both of them back. Song Zining’s voice was cold and firm as he said, “Wei, was our fight in the arena not enough for you?”
These words increased Wei Potian’s agitation and caused his eyes to suddenly turn red. The other day, he had lost with unprecedented misery in the arena. In the past, he would still be able to return a few fierce blows even when he fought against people like Qiqi whose skills were able to restrain him. This shameless Song Zining, however, did nothing but dodge throughout the entirety of the battle. As the fight progressed, Wei Potian truly began to hope Song Zining would deal him a ruthless blow—it would’ve been the better outcome even if his Thousand Mountains was broken—but Song Zining kept dragging on until in the end, he collapsed like a dead dog! This battle made Wei Potian feel like an absolute idiot!
With a deep roar, Wei Potian expanded the Thousand Mountains’ radiance to form the silhouette of a mountain range. His combat strategy had also changed substantially. He kept true to his own pace and threw out simple punches left and right, no longer trying to chase after Song Zining’s elusive figure. His attacks even looked somewhat clumsy at a glance, seemingly missing every strike and would land quite far from Song Zining’s figure at times.
However, Song Zining had surprisingly lost the advantageous position he possessed back in the arena. He was soon forced into a direct clash which sent both combatants staggering a few steps backward. Wei Potian was relatively unscathed from this exchange. Song Zining, on the other hand, was left with his blood and qi churning wildly. Even he couldn’t come out unscathed after forcefully receiving the Sky Shattering Bright Fist delivered during the Thousand Mountains state.
Song Zining frowned. This was the third time he had exchanged open blows with Wei Potian, and the latter’s improvement each time was nothing short of rapid. Apparently, the Wei clan had dispatched their scion to the spring hunt in order to nurture his talents in battle along with an expert to tutor him after each fight. That was how he learned such a restraining move.
Suddenly, scattered fallen leaves rained down as Song Zining extended his hands and circulated his secret technique. Sure enough, Wei Potian’s movements were impeded as if he was walking through a swamp. His attacks, however, still maintained their rhythm—he now had his own strategy and was no longer being led by the nose.
Song Zining lost his patience after exchanging blows for several rounds. The ruthlessness within his furious eyes intensified as a stream of falling leaves suddenly appeared like unsheathed blades. A cold and somber intent rapidly inundated the atmosphere.
Qiqi’s expression slightly changed the moment she saw Qianye who had just walked out of his room. She hauled him over and shouted, “I’ll fling Little Ye in if you two don’t stop!”
Wei Potian was shocked. He immediately withdrew his fist, knowing nothing was out of the question for this crazy la.s.s. Song Zining’s imposing figure was surrounded by fallen leaves rapidly rotating around him like thin blades, flickering with a cold and sharp radiance. Only after a while did he disperse them with a flick of his sleeve whereupon they vanished entirely.
Qiqi extended her hand to touch Qianye’s face as she spoke in an almost disappointed tone, “I knew these words would be effective!”
Qianye quickly reacted this time and moved away as soon as she raised her hand. “Qiqi, what’s the meaning of this?”
Qiqi immediately recovered her usual demeanor. She chuckled and replied mischievously, “I meant it literally of course!”
Without waiting for a reply, she proceeded to dismiss her maids and waved toward Wei Potian and Song Zining. “I know you two came to visit Little Ye so I’ll give you some s.p.a.ce!”
Qiqi suddenly turned back midway and called out, “Little Ye, remember to come to my room tonight after sending off the two young masters!”
“What for?” Qianye asked grumpily. He was quite upset at Qiqi whose only aim was to create more trouble.
“To sleep together, of course!” Qiqi laughed in a voice so loud that likely everyone in the compound had heard her.
After closing the door, Wei Potian immediately glanced at Qianye with a naughty expression and asked excitedly, “Don’t tell me what Qiqi said just now is the truth?”
“What truth?”
“About sleeping together, of course!”
“We have indeed slept together before. What of it?” Qianye appeared puzzled.
Wei Potian unexpectedly slapped his thighs and cried out, “You’ve really slept with her?!”
Qianye glared at him and inquired suspiciously, “What are you so excited about?”
Wei Potian laughed mischievously, “That woman, Qiqi, always bullied me since we were young, and I’ve had to endure all this time because I couldn’t beat her. The elders said that, because I’m two years her junior, I would need to wait until I reach the champion rank before I can suppress her. I have broken through recently and might not need to wait that long though. Who would’ve thought you were able to conquer that violent woman right away? It’s naturally quite satisfying!”
Qianye was flabbergasted after hearing the Wei family’s heir speaking such vulgar words and even bragging about himself as if it was all right and proper. He replied curtly, “She’s not my woman. She’s my boss!”
“You’ve even slept with her. Why are you denying that she’s your woman?”
“We only slept together. Sleep! Understand?”
Wei Potian’s eyes went wide. “Sleep?”
Qianye nodded.
“You meant literally?”
“Nonsense, what else!?”
Wei Potian appeared greatly disappointed. “Are you even a ma… urgh….” The Wei scion at least managed to stop himself from uttering the last word after sensing the abrupt murderous intent.
“Idiot.” A m.u.f.fled yet delightful laugh came through at this point. Song Zining had long since taken a seat, poured himself a cup of tea and was watching the ‘comedic play’ the whole time before commenting just at the right moment.
Wei Potian suddenly turned around and only then did he notice a third person in the room. Song Zining spoke indifferently without waiting for the former’s angry retort, “Qianye, I’ve managed to obtain some useful information that might prove useful to you since you’ve already made up your mind to return to the Evernight Continent.”
Wei Potian forgot about bickering with Song Zining after hearing this. “Little Ye, you’re going back to the Evernight Continent!?”
Song Zining cut in, “Qianye has an enemy there that he needs to take care of.”
“An enemy? I’ll slaughter whoever dares to bully you!”
“He’s nothing much—only a brigadier-general of the expeditionary army.”
“A mere brigadier-general isn’t enough to enter my eyes! Your daddy can crush him with a single finger. It’ll be as easy as squis.h.i.+ng an ant!” Wei Potian thumped his chest and met Qianye’s doubtful gaze. “The expeditionary army brigadier-generals are only late stage champions, and I have more than enough people who can slaughter him.”
These words sounded logical. It wouldn’t be difficult for an aristocratic family to kill a brigadier-general if one were to solely compare martial capacity. This was especially true for scions like Song Zining and Wei Potian who had already grasped a certain level of authority within their clan and had no shortage of champion level guards at their side.
Song Zining merely chuckled. “Indeed, a mere brigadier-general of the expeditionary army is nothing before Marquis Bow.a.n.g’s heir. The Far East Wei Clan has enough talented personnel to take over that garrison area.” He added after some thought, “It’s only a rank three garrison.”
At this point, Qianye had finally discovered that something fishy was going on. He grasped Wei Potian’s shoulder and stopped him from speaking before replying firmly, “Ning, I know it’s going to be a difficult task. There’s also no need to accomplish it immediately. I’ll naturally find a way to finish him off after I become a champion. I don’t wish to drag the both of you into this!”
The room became momentarily silent. They knew, from Qianye’s words, that he planned to perform the a.s.sa.s.sination himself.
Wei Potian slapped the table and said, “I’m indeed not capable enough to eliminate a division commander. Why don’t you and I just rush into his office and kill him directly?”
Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, Qianye patted Wei Potian’s shoulder and replied, “At our current level, we’ll die without a doubt if we rushed to Wu Zhengnan’s place.”
“Dammit, don’t be too serious about life and death. Just kill when you’re dissatisfied! So what if we throw our lives away?” Wei Potian’s temper had surfaced.
“Nothing will happen if I throw mine away, but the Wei clan won’t let me off so easily if you do. It’s settled, we’ll stop talking about this matter here!”
Wei Potian immediately recovered his composure. He now understood that there was a reason why Song Zining had brought this matter up in his presence. He glanced at Song Zining, who returned the gaze with a frustratingly enigmatic expression, before turning towards Qianye. “Little Ye, why did you have to find this useless person to discuss matters?!”
Wei Potian was becoming increasingly indignant. It was as if his image as a pampered young master couldn’t be washed away since they first met during the recruitment many years ago.
“I didn’t…” Qianye wanted to say that he had just mentioned it casually because Song Zining had asked.
“That’s naturally because I’m more dependable,” Song Zining interrupted.
This time, Wei Potian didn’t blow his top. He thoughtfully stared at Song Zining before saying, “Little Ye, it seems you’ve known him since long ago?” He followed up with another question without waiting for an answer, “Is that division commander a field commander or a dispatch commander? What did he do?”
Song Zining slowly gave them all the information he had gathered in the recent days with Wei Potian interrupting with a few questions every now and then. Qianye finally understood why Song Zining wanted to drag Wei Potian into this matter all along. It appeared that toppling Wu Zhengnan involved a great deal of work.
The empire’s policy towards the expeditionary army was akin to breeding. They were tasked to establish a defensive border within a certain perimeter while being granted only half the supplies compared to the regular army. The empire cared little about the methods utilized by the expeditionary army in order to accomplish this. As far as the Ministry of Military Affairs was concerned, this was within the scope of their normal duties.
Only when the Ministry issued commands for special operations like a major battle with the dark races or when certain other corps happened to be dispatched to the Evernight Continent would they receive some attention. Sometimes, they would even receive extra funds or supplies.
1. The word 野戰, literally meaning battle in the wilds, is also used to describe outdoor s.e.x.