The autumn rain began to fall again.
“You want to join the World’s society?”
Gu Yanying placed down the documents in her hand and studied Wu Huan. Even though everyone in the northern region now practised martial arts, only a very small number could break through to the innate realm. Innate masters were still important talents they required, not to mention the fact that he had come from the south, which made him even more important, as well as require even more investigation.
“Yes.”
Wu Huan tried his best to recover from his shock. He still struggled to believe there was such a beautiful woman in the world. Originally, he thought her beauty had already reached the limits of mortals, but even with his love for her, he could not help but recognise the disparity that existed between the two of them.
Perhaps describing her as “beautiful” was not particularly accurate anymore. She gave off a stern sense of dignity, so even the ordinary table seemed thousands of metres tall. She sat right behind that table and gazed at him from above, where her cold gaze could pierce his heart. It made him tremble.
Was this the might of the leader of the World’s society?”
“Why?’ Gu Yanying crossed her fingers and sat back in her seat.
“I admire the hero king’s righteous deed, and I want to learn even greater martial arts.”
These two reasons were perfectly normal. Wu Huan lowered his head to hide his thoughts.
“Oh?” Then what deed by the hero king do you admire the most? And what martial arts do you want to learn?”
Wu Huan was taken by surprise. The fury he felt when she was taken away filled his head again. That was the “righteous deed” by Li Qingshan that had left the deepest impression on him. He was a man on the verge of death too, so what martial arts did he want to learn?
He thought quickly. Only as a member of the World’s society could he get close to Li Qingshan naturally. If he exposed himself before that, the consequences would be unthinkable.
Right as he tried to string together a lie, Gu Yanying smiled. “Which hall would you like to join?”
“I’m merely a ruffian who knows some martial arts, so I don’t really understand the difference between the halls. I only want to work beside the hero king!”
Wu Huan could not meet her eyes anymore. Every moment he spent before her was like torture.
“The hero king is taming the waters in the north right now.”
“Then I’ll go and tame the waters,” Wu Huan said immediately.
“Alright, I accept your request to join the society. Once you take the oath, you can set off immediately, Wu Huan!”
“Yes-” Wu Huan choked up. His heart began to thump. “Society leader, my name is Wu Geng.”
“Wu Huan, Wu Feng. Aren’t you a little too careless with coming up with a fake name? Your father must be the first cave master of the seventy-two caves of the southern region, Wu Ming!”
Wu Huan was shocked. He tried his best to explain. “I’m a distant nephew of cave master Wu, Wu Geng.”
Since he needed to specify the martial arts he practised when he filled in the form and would be specially tested for that, he did not fake his background. However, the Wu clan had a large population. They were not one of the great clans and were located towards the south of the southern region, which was several thousand kilometres away from here. The leader of the World’s society had to tend to a host of problems every single day, so how could she remember such an unimportant detail?
“Cave master Wu has a total of eight nephews, none of which are called Wu Geng. As for being a distant relative, how can you be a figure without any renown given your martial arts? You must have come for one of the ten great beauties back then, Nangong Wan’er, right? If I recall correctly, you were engaged to her back then. I didn’t think you’d still come for revenge after so many years. Have you developed some kind of surekill move?”
Wu Huan was pale-white as if he had been stripped bare in the eye of the public. He reached towards the Bone of Killing in his clothes instinctively. If he could not kill Li Qingshan, then all he could do was kill the society leader right before him.
“Just follow the river to the north of the city, and you’ll be able to find him. Coincidentally, Nangong Wan’er is there as well.”
Gu Yanying lowered her head again to handle the paperwork.
“You’re not going to kill me?”
“You’re not my enemy, so why would I kill you? On top of that, I also feel like he’s acted a little far too inappropriately with this. You’ve practised and trained arduously for all these years, so you should get an opportunity at the very least.” Gu Yanying did not even look at him. “Since you aren’t actually trying to join the World’s society, just go. I still have other matters to handle!”
Wu Huan made his way out of the World’s society tensely. He did not encounter the slightest obstruction, which left him rejoicing and furious. He rejoiced over their carelessness, but he was furious over the fact that they did not take him seriously.
Hmph, when I see Li Qingshan, you’ll definitely regret this!
Gu Yanying did not pay too much attention to something as insignificant as this. If Li Qingshan could be assassinated that easily, who knows how many times he would have died already. Over the years, he had travelled across the entire world, basically stepping into all the traps laid down for him. Whether it were strange poisons, mazes, or immense dangers, none of them could do anything to him. Only then did he slowly rein in his playful nature and come back, focusing on work.
Actually, even without her broad knowledge and sharp memory, she could still see through Wu Huan’s lies with ease, as her connection with the Hot Wind Hell had rapidly strengthened throughout the years. Even without any external help, she could unleash the hot winds of hell. If she returned to the nine provinces, she would definitely make a breakthrough with the Illustrations of Naraka.
After all, she had set down laws in this world and enforced them strictly for sixteen years. That was not something she could experience in the nine provinces. The role she played here was just a sheriff. The world around her might have varied in size, but what she learnt from her training and trials would always apply.
As a result, the solemnity she gave off became heavier and heavier. If someone had a guilty conscience, they would be frightened out of their wits as soon as they saw her. Meanwhile, she also gained a wondrous ability to see through falsehoods and distinguish truths from lies.
As a result, from the moment Wu Huan had set foot in here, she knew he had not come to join the World’s society.
Of course, she was not planning on using this assassination as an excuse for war either. She stood up and arrived by the window, gazing towards the south. “Those guys are probably running out of patience already!”
Over the past sixteen years, she carried out the entirety of her plan on this land, which contained the methods from various schools of thought, like confucianism, mohism, and so on. She established a system of grammar, revolutionised technology, opened free trade, and improved the crops.
The World’s society had not raised an army to invade the south, but the trend of times they had developed had already swept through the world, such that they gradually won over the people. Let alone the common folk, even the new generation within the sects and clans had accepted a part of the World’s society’s ideologies unknowingly.
This was thanks to the martial arts alliance. In order to contend with the World’s society’s invisible assault, the great alliance leader Zhang Yuntian had ordered the various clans and sects to release a large number of martial arts manuals so that they spread among the people. After all, if they still did not do that, then everyone in the world who wanted to learn martial arts would have moved to the northern region.
However, this instead coincided with the World’s society’s ideology, which made it more convenient when they wanted to unify the world in the future. The younger martial arts practitioners who began as commoners obviously felt a sense of gratitude towards the World’s society.
Great alliance leader Zhang even devoted a tremendous amount of effort to reduce the clans and sects’ oppression of the common people. He even established a proper set of laws for that too. He basically did whatever the World’s society did. By now, the martial arts alliance was basically an inferior replica of the World’s society. The people of the martial arts alliance all joked that he was the number one spy sent down by the World’s society.
He had ended up developing an extremely impressive reputation instead, basically consolidating his status as the great alliance leader. As a matter of fact, he no longer resembled an alliance leader, but the lord of a country. It had turned into a confrontation between two countries.
Now, all the common people were satisfied, and everyone was only waiting for the day when the World’s society ventured south. She had already begun ordering people to encroach on the south too. In another sixteen years’ time, the world would be united, and even war would not be necessary anymore.
If the other side refused to accept their fate of failure, then all they could do was put up a desperate battle. War was already imminent!
It was time to settle this once and for all.
