“A play? Mengde, why are you sure it’s a play?” Ouyang Yan asked in a rather pedagogical manner.
“Nothing else, I don’t believe that there can be such a coincidence.”
Qing Yu spread his hands and said, “General Yi Qianshan killed Bo Han in front of Guancang Pa*s and annihilated 100,000 troops, so even if it was an urgent report, it could not have been dictated by a soldier instead of written on paper.
Moreover, a soldier covered in blood, all the way into the Pavilion of Ten Thousand Blessings, this is not normal at all, right?”
Of course there was one last point that Qing Yu didn’t say.
Feng Tianming’s performance was a bit pompous, and his surprised expression after hearing the short report lasted for several seconds. A normal person’s surprise was always fleeting, as long as they weren’t stunned, they couldn’t have been surprised for a few seconds.
As the emperor of a country, Feng Tian Ming should not be so poorly-motivated as to be stunned by a good news report.
This point was not mentioned by Qing Yu as it was suspected of offending the emperor.
The first two points alone were enough, there was no need to show too much.
“Very well,” Ouyang Yan nodded in satisfaction, “You can see through the two points here, your powers of observation can be said to be extremely amazing.”
“It’s nothing, it’s just that the student has become better at seeing the world with his eyes since he lost his hearing.” Qing Yu said in a feigned self-effacing manner.
“This is probably a blessing in disguise.” Ouyang Yan looked at Qing Yu’s ears and still sighed with some regret.
Then, his face turned serious and he said with a straight face, “Meng De is right, this dinner party tonight is what His Majesty can promote. The great victory at Bracket Pa*s happened the day before yesterday, and the soldiers who delivered the good news arrived at the divine capital yesterday, only to be secretly suppressed.”
“But sir, why would Father do this?” Feng Jiu asked out loud.
“For the sake of the Son of Heaven’s martial arts.” Ouyang Yan said in a muffled voice.
‘True enough.’ A hint of realization flashed in Qing Yu’s eyes.
“The Heavenly Son Martial Arts?” Zeng Yue muttered.
It had only been less than a year since that last literary battle for position, and Zeng Yue could still recall the faces of the scholars who had entered the small secret realm together at that time. Those people, most of them had died, including Senior Brother Lin Shenfeng, whom Zeng Yue admired the most, and this time, the word appeared in his ears again.
“For the sake of the Heavenly Son’s Martial Arts,” Ouyang Yan said with certainty, “ever since the academy exposed the matter of hiding the Heavenly Son’s Martial Arts, even after winning the last literary contest for the throne, there was nothing to stop others from coveting and testing it. Not to mention the Great Qian, even my Emperor of the Great Zhou has mentioned the Heavenly Son’s Martial Science implicitly many times.
The recent situation seems to be that His Majesty cannot wait any longer, and he wants to use the power of the Secret Sect to force the Academy to hand over the Heavenly Son’s Martial Science. His Majesty’s intention is that if he still refuses to hand over the Heavenly Son Martial Science, then don’t blame him for actually luring the Tantric Sect in.
Tonight, it may be His Majesty’s ultimatum.”
“Then why does the School refuse to hand over the Heavenly Son Martial Science? If it is handed over, it would also spare His Majesty’s suspicion of the Shuyuan and allow Great Zhou to truly become a piece of iron, right?” Zeng Yue said.
Thinking of the fellow disciples who sacrificed their lives in the last literary contest for the throne, Zeng Yue was still saddened by the fact that if the Secret Sect were to enter, then the future Northern Zhou would be a battle between two tigers, and by then, far more fellow disciples might be sacrificed than in the last literary contest for the throne.
“This is not how things work out,” Ouyang Yan said, shaking his head. “Of course, this may make Great Zhou an ironclad state, but this man, His Majesty, is too radical. He is constantly thinking of counter-attacking Great Qian and taking back the lost territory of Great Zhou, but he has overlooked the gap between Great Zhou and Great Qian.”
Yes, the gap. The gap between Northern Zhou and Great Qian is simply too great.
Two dynasties, one occupying seven states, previously eight before Qingzhou was taken, and the other with only two, still in the bitter cold north.
Such a situation has been maintained for three hundred years, and God knows how much the difference in resources between the two sides is, how much the difference in military strength is, and how much the difference between the masters is.
Ouyang Yan went on to say, “The gap between the two is so great that if it were not for the fact that Great Zhou has Lord Meng Shan sitting in the town, probably Great Qian would have come over long ago. But it was also because Meng Shan Lord alone had preserved the entire Great Zhou, making His Majesty feel that the power of the strongest could determine a country’s qi, but ——”
The next words, Ouyang Yan did not go on, but several other people could guess.
The power of the strongest person was indeed able to determine the qi of a country, but the academy did not think that Feng Tianming would be able to reach Meng Shanhe’s level after receiving the Heavenly Son Martial Arts.
If the Heavenly Son Martial Arts were that amazing, not to mention the Great Qian Imperial Family, any martial artist would be interested. Even if they could not cultivate it, they would still benefit from just learning the mysteries of it.
But now, apart from the Great Qian Imperial Family, no one else was interested in the Heavenly Son Martial Arts, which meant that the Heavenly Son Martial Arts were not that magical.
Feng Tianming had pinned all his hopes on the Heavenly Son Martial Arts, and could be said to be possessed. The reason why the Mountain River Academy did not give the Heavenly Son Martial Arts to Feng Tianming was because it was afraid that after he obtained the Heavenly Son Martial Arts, his whole person would be inflated all of a sudden.
When the time comes, it doesn’t matter if he blows himself up, he is afraid that the entire Northern Zhou will be detonated along with Feng Tianming.
When the key was pointed out, the carriage, then, suddenly fell silent, and each of the four men pondered.
The silence continued until it was broken by Qing Yu.
Qing Yu suddenly lifted the carriage curtain, as if looking outside, and said, “Sir, up ahead is the Tong Fu Inn where the student is staying now, so the student should get off here.”
Ouyang Yan nodded in understanding and called out, “Carriage driver, stop the carriage.”
“Phew…”
With the carriage driver’s call to stop, the carriage slowly stopped.
“Sir, the student takes his leave.” Qing Yu arched his hand and said.
“If there is any trouble, just go up to the academy and tell me.” Ouyang Yan said.
“The student will, thank you sir.”
After saying that, Qing Yu turned around and jumped off the carriage.
“Sir and the two senior brothers go well.” Qing Yu waved his hand and watched the carriage fade away.
It was only when the carriage was out of sight that Qing Yu slowly lowered his waving right hand and stood in front of the Tong Fu Inn, standing with his hands folded.
“Dragon Head, information from the Shadow House side.” A figure, not knowing when it came behind Qing Yu, reported to him.
Under the dim light of the lantern in front of the inn, one could see that the figure was none other than the Pill Master’s disguised appearance.
The information that could make the Pill Master personally come to deliver must be very important.
“Oh? So fast? The Shadow Tower’s speed is beyond imagination.” Qing Yu reached out to receive the information handed over by the Medicine Master.
This information was something that Qing Yu had sent a message to the Shadow Tower side this morning, asking the Shadow Tower’s intelligence officers to gather. Unexpectedly, it had arrived this evening, completely out of Qing Yu’s expectation.
After unfolding the information, Qing Yu looked at the details inside in the dim light. With his eyesight, everything in front of him at this time was as if it was daylight, and a little light was enough.
The intelligence was briefer than expected, Qing Yu could scan through it with a single glance, and the content, too, was more amazing and interesting than expected.
“Heh, it’s time to send Kiyoharu on his way ——”
These were Qing Yu’s first words after reading the intelligence.
