Translator: Ninetales Editor: Fish_Creek
Qin Mu was slightly stumped. This young girl looked slightly familiar but he couldnât recognize her in a sudden. That young girl was pushed forward by the crowd while she waved her hand, âCowherd boy, where do you stay? Iâll go find you!â
âImperial College!â
Qin Mu waved towards her and suddenly a light flashed through his mind, âThatâs right, sheâs Ling Yuxiu! Why does she look different since the last we met?â
The Ling Yuxiu before was about the same height as him and now she was even taller than Qin Mu by a few inches. Furthermore, she had become such a big maiden now, looking very lovely and moving. When she had waved at him earlier in the crowd, he hardly recognized her.
âItâs good that her face is still chubby and hasnât changed.â Qin Mu said in gratification.
Imperial Physician Qu and the rest looked at him with a weird expression. Imperial Physician You, elder than others, was more kind-hearted and reminded him, âLittle divine physician, if you say that to a girl, especially a princess, your head will roll.â
Qin Mu was bewildered, âWhy? The words we praise girls pretty in Great Ruins are all words like sturdy, and good at giving birth. Even though Princess Yuxiu isnât considered sturdy, itâs good sheâs a little chubby. I think she will be good at giving birth.â
Could these words be used to praise girls?
The few imperial physicians understood tacitly and they all had an expression that this fellow was hopeless. He would be beaten to death sooner or later.
Imperial Physician Mu said, âLittle divine physician, let us return to Imperial College. After a night of torment, itâs really getting unbearable for our old bones.â
After leaving the palace, Qin Mu split paths with the few imperial physicians. He returned to Flower Alley and ate breakfast at Rain Listening Pavilion. After bidding farewell to Fu Qingyun and the rest of the girls, he brought his luggage and Hu Lingâer back to Imperial College.
Imperial College, Scholarâs Residence.
Qin Mu walked towards his own courtyard and Hu Lingâer popped her head out of his backpack and looked around curiously.
From far away, Qin Mu could see that a few rows of scholars sat in front of his courtyard. These scholars sat upright and they all had sword cases beside them. With their left hands on the sword cases, they all had a solemn expression.
The person in the lead sneered towards the courtyard, âAbandoned person, shouldnât you be awake by now? Could it be youâre scared of us? If you are scared then come out and erase the words on the wall!â
Another scholar sneered, âAll we have is patience. Is hiding in your house forever the best you can do? I would like to see how long you can hide!â
âWerenât you very cocky yesterday? You actually dared to leak out how you schemed us yesterday, letting the whole Imperial College know and making us look bad. Why you are hiding inside now? Are you going to hide like a tortoise?â
âThe reason we had left your words up there is to shame you, to make you embarrassed! We are going to make the entire Imperial College know that you are merely an abandoned person from the lands of barbarians. We are the authentic ones!â
â¦
Qin Mu walked forward and passed by them while thinking in bewilderment, âWhen did I ever leak out what happened?â
All the scholarsâ gazes turned blank as they stared at him while he pushed open the door and walked in. They had originally thought that Qin Mu had hidden in the room and didnât dare to come out. Never did they expect Qin Mu had been out, making them waste half a day outside shouting for nothing.
Qin Mu came to the central room and placed his backpack down, âLingâer, go tidy up the room and the blankets. Iâll be out for a while.â
Hu Ling replied yes and asked, âWhatâs young master going out for?â
Qin Mu didnât turn his head and replied, âThese people are too noisy. If I donât beat them up, itâll be hard for me to fall asleep.â
Hu Lingâer could only control the wind to tidy up the room. At this moment, she suddenly heard a huge rumble and she immediately looked out of the window and saw a scholar flying up into the sky before falling back down head first.
âNext.â Qin Muâs voice came from outside.
The rumblings of thunder were like thunders exploding in the clear sky. Hu Lingâer heard a whooshing sound which should be a human body breaking through the air but she couldnât see anyone flying in the sky and could only hear a heavy object crashing in the distance.
âNext.â Qin Muâs voice sounded out again.
Sounds of water surging and huge waves smacking rang out as the raging waves splitting the shore. Among the sounds of churning waters, another miserable scream sounded out and silence followed after. Only Qin Muâs voice could be heard, âNext.â
Hu Lingâer quickly tidied up the room, folded the blankets and placed the bedsheets. She then took out the items in the backpack as she thought to herself, âIf I tidy the room fast enough, I can still go out to have a look!â
The earth-shaking sounds from the clashes traveled in from outside and the miserable shrieks also never stopped. When she had finished tidying up and ran outside excitedly, she saw Qin Mu walking back in from outside, looking a little tired.
âYoung master, it has ended?â Hu Lingâer was slightly disappointed.
Qin Mu nodded his head and gave a yawn, âIâm sleepy and Iâm going to sleep first. Donât run around.â
Hu Lingâer nodded her head and popped her head out of the door. She couldnât help getting a fright when she saw scholars scattered everywhere on the road of Scholarâs Residence. Some of them were sprawled out on the floor while some were hanging on the opposite walls. There were some hanging on tops of trees and some being embedded in wall far away. Some were thrown into the canal beside the road and others were planted into the ground with two legs sticking out which would twitch from time to time.
Hu Lingâer stuck her tongue out and ran over to search the scholarsâ bodies. She took down all the jade pendants, spirit pills, jade bracelets, hairpins and et cetera before delivering them back into the house.
âLingâer, what are you doing?â A sleepy voice came from inside the house.
Hu Lingâer replied in?righteousness and confidence, âDevil ape had said, win, snatch, rule.â
Qin Muâs snores sounded out and he shouldnât have heard it. Hu Lingâer ran out again to carry in the scholarsâ sword cases and one of the scholars woke up and grabbed onto his own sword case weakly.
Hu Lingâer spat out a whirlwind which swept the sword case up to smash this scholar in the head. The scholarâs head became completely covered in blood yet he still wouldnât faint. Hu Lingâer smashed a few more times and that scholar finally fainted. Hu Lingâer gave a sigh of relief and swept that sword case to send it back to the courtyard. That scholar secretly peeked and when he saw this fox walking away, he finally let out a sigh of relief.
âAh, heâs awake again!â
Hu Lingâer saw him peeking and cried out in surprised. The scholar then saw a tornado sweep up a rock that was as big as a small mountain to smash to him and he immediately fainted. This time he had really fainted from fear.
Hu Lingâer placed down the rock and started hopping around to loot everyone as she went further and further away. At his moment, a scholar in the distance woke up and saw this fox pillaging all the treasures on the scholarsâ bodies. He immediately struggled to crawl away but he was discovered by Lingâer who dragged him back into Scholarâs Residence. That scholar howled miserably all the way and then fell silent. The fox had knocked him out.
Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptorâs mansion.
Imperial Preceptorâs mansion was grand and gorgeous but the place where he cultivated was very simple. It was only a huge hall that was empty and had no other stuff.
If one raised his head to have a look, he could see an extremely spectacular sight. No roof but the sky could be seen above the huge hall. The countless stars seemed to become extremely low and could be grabbed.
The was the marvel of formation spells.
Thirty thousand yards above the ground, there was a formation floating there which was formed by countless of transparent glass and a few of Imperial Preceptorâs disciples were there managing the formation. This formation was formed thirty thousand yards above the ground and had a radius of sixty-six hectares. It was gathering starlight and through the transparency of the glass, the starlight directly shone through the roof of the huge hall.
Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor was gathering the starlight to cultivate therefore his cultivation was extremely high.
At this moment, Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor had a haggard aura as he was currently recuperating. There was a black clothed man beside him, who was currently concocting medicine.
Suddenly a red color flying bug flew over and came to the ear of the black-clothed man. The black-clothed manâs face was full of warts that looked like the ones on toads. Warts covered his entire face and he looked frightening. He nodded his head repeatedly as if he understood the words of the red flying bug, which was very weird.
âImperial Preceptor, my junior brother has arrived.â
The black-clothed man was the Little Poison King that Empress Dowager had mentioned and his name was Fu Yuanqing. He continued, âHe had cured the Thousand Opportunity Poison in Empress Dowagerâs body.â
Eternal Peace Empire opened his eyes and let out a strong smell of blood from his mouth. He asked puzzledly, âHow did you know that itâs your junior brother who had cured the Thousand Opportunity Poison in Empress Dowager?â
âThousand Opportunity Poison is my masterâs proudest work. The only ones who can cure this poison are only me and him.â
The warts on Fu Yuanqingâs face twitched and he explained neither too fast nor too slow, âThe little bug had told me that a youth had arrived therefore itâs obviously not my master. That could only mean itâs his new disciple. I had thought he was already dead and I never expected he would still be alive and even taught a little junior brother out. Imperial Preceptor, now that the poison in Empress Dowagerâs body is cured, do you want to poison her again by feeding her another strange poison?â
Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor shook his head, âThereâs already no need.â
Fu Yuanqing didnât understand.
âThereâs no personal grudge between Empress Dowager and me. She had only opposed to me pushing for a political reform for the sake of her sonâs empire. His Majesty became hesitant due to this, therefore, I had ordered you to poison her, not for the sake of killing her. It was just to make her unable to meddle with the politics of the imperial court. Without Empress Dowagerâs meddling, His Majesty could now put his heart and soul into pushing for a political reform. Now that my influence is already stable, there are half of the people in all levels of society supporting the political reform.â
Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor continued, âAnd the ones that oppose me are currently taking the chance to revolt. My plan has already succeeded and with the current general trend, even Empress Dowager canât stop me.â
Fu Yuanqing smiled, âYou talk about the general trend but I talk about gratitude and grudges. Your injuries are almost healed and itâs useless for me to stay here so Iâm going out to take a walk. Now my junior brother is here, shouldnât I visit him as his senior brother?â
Eternal Peace Imperial Preceptor warned, âYou need to be careful. Empress Dowager wonât do anything to me but she can still put you to death.â
Fu Yuanqing hesitated for a moment and the warts on his face trembled randomly. He grumbled resentfully, âYou are the one that ordered me to poison her so why will she kill me instead of you? How innocent am I?â
âDid you forget that you betrayed your master? Furthermore, Empress Dowager had a history with your master and with her intelligence, she will definitely know that the person that had cured the poison is your junior brother and you will definitely want to find him. She will definitely be waiting for you to take the bait and kill you, taking revenge for herself as well as for your master.â
Fu Yuanqingâs head started to ache and could only drop this thought.