NOTICE: Sorry, I must’ve been high or something, but I uploaded chapter 5 as chapter 4. I’m sorry about that, so here is the correct chapter 4. To make it up to you, I’ll get chapter 6 done today as well. Still don’t know how I managed to do that…
There's a magazine which is widely circulated in the pugilistic world. Everyone has a copy. The monthly magazine is called “Black and White Reflection”.
It records the events which happen in the martial world each month in great detail. They also create all sorts of polls ranking martial artists from different sects and styles, which become a weapon of sorts for them to flaunt for whatever reasons in the pugilistic world.
It’s not just limited to those belonging to different sects and schools in the martial world though. Even ordinary people are interested in the happenings of the pugilistic world, so it sells incredibly well and it continues to thrive. You could say that it’s a noble contribution towards promoting the culture of the martial world.
But today’s topic is not about the “Black and White Reflection”, but its sister magazine, the “Pink Reflection”.
It’s said that the publisher of the “Black and White Reflection” magazine got bored one time and released the “Pink Reflection” as a sister magazine. He wrote about the story of a magnificent beauty in the pugilistic world at the time. Not only did he write about her everyday life, but he also described her spicy meeting with a swordsman in the middle of night in great detail. As a result, the sales of that month’s issue of the “Black and White Reflection” were off the charts. It still holds the record for the highest number of sales in history.
That gave the publisher the confirmation that publishing the "Pink Reflection" was sellable idea.
Consequently, the two of them are comparably popular. Like the “Black and White Reflection”, the “Pink Reflection” contains many polls for the beauties of the martial world making countless shameless scumbags in the martial world dribble like salivating dogs.
Today’s star is one of the beauties featured: Shen Yiren.
She’s from Nan Jing and is seventeen this year.
She may not be the strongest female hero, or the most beautiful, but she certainly is the most stuck-up and violent female in the martial art.
To this day, everybody still remembers the day she caught a disciple of one of the famous sects trying to grope her butt and gave him an explosive ball-shattering kick, right up the middle. All the guys present who saw it instinctively retreated. They probably felt the pain in their own nuts just seeing that…
No one dared to cross her again after that fiasco, because not only is she a famous beauty, but she’s also one of Liu Shan Men’s A-class fighters and the second in command.
And right now… She's really pissed off… Real pissed off…
"Shit! What did you say?!"
She was dragging a constable over thirty and staring him down. She looked like she was ready to swallow him whole.
“The Qilin guards asked the emperor to remove us from the martial arts tournament in front of the palace? When was this?”
“Th-the day before.”
“You motherfucker! The day before? Why didn’t you tell me earlier?!”
“I wanted to tell you, but you were arguing with the master, I mean, the governor, so I couldn’t tell you in time.”
Her eyes widened, as she asked: “So you’re saying that this is my fault?”
“No, not at all. The fault lies with me.”
This is the Qing Long Compound; Liu Shan Men’s workplace.
Liu Shan Men has lost their standing in the imperial court for quite some time now.
There are three groups in the martial world which work for the imperial court: Liu Shan Men, the Qilin guards and the emperor’s entourage. The emperor’s entourage are responsible for guarding him and don’t participate in any internal power struggles. So there’s only Liu Shan Men and the Qilin guards who’re going at each other’s throats.
But after the incident with Yan Shisan a few years ago, the Qilin guards now wield more power than Liu Shan Men.
The situation has remained like that for some years until now.
But the emperor suddenly felt like seeing the skills of his amazing warriors and arranged for a martial arts tournament in front of Bai Guan* next month.
The tournament itself is probably meaningless for the emperor’s entourage and the Qilin guards. But for Liu Shan Men, it was an opportunity to prove themself. That’s why they immediately started spending thriftily to find talent.
And that's how Ming Feizhen ended up looking for work there.
"But I went to the Qilin guards place to warn them already…"
“What good would that bloody do?! Do you actually engage your brain when you think? If you don’t explain it properly, then it’s the same as telling them that we really are weak right now. What happens if the emperor really asks us to pull out? You good-for-nothings…”
The beautiful young maiden vulgarly scolded Constable Zhang terribly. Everyone else, both guys and girls put their head down to avoid further angering her.
A young man came in from outside and tried to help out after seeing her scold him. “Sis, d-don’t be so violent.” The young man is her younger twin brother. His name is the complete opposite of his soft and weak nature – Shen Kuang**. They arrived in this world only moments apart, yet their personalities are the complete opposite of each other. The sister is arrogant and violent, while the brother is meek and obedient. Yet funnily, the sister is called “Yiren” while the brother is called “Kuangren”…
She glared at her brother and said: “I’m violent? How?!”
A playful female voice from behind Shen Kuang said: “Of course you’re violent. In fact, you’re heaps violent~”
Shen Yiren immediately recognised the owner of the voice, and puffed her chest out to flaunt her dominance.
All the guys present couldn’t help but look towards Shen Yiren's chest region. But fearing the consequences, they quietly looked back down.
“What are you doing here, you witch?!”
A peculiar behaving and dressed woman came out from behind Shen Kuang. She was perfect from head-to-toe and right-to-left. Every guy present ogled her.
“I’m just seeing Master Kuang home, is there a problem? He's a highly skilled martial artist, comes from a reputable family and isn’t favouring any one side. Is there a reason we Qilin guards can’t try to recruit him?”
Shen Yiren replied: “Of course you can… After I die! Kuang, get over here. Fucking bitch. This is Liu Shan Men’s workplace. You shouldn’t be here, so take a hike.”
Situo angrily replied: “My name is Situo, not ‘fucking bitch'!*** You second-rate trash, are you illiterate?”
Shen Yiren glared at her.
“Why the hell would people like us need to act like scholars? Only you Qilin guards are that cringeworthy. Throw her out of here!”
Situo knows that Shen Yiren is the type that makes good on her word, so she left. When she left, she winked at Shen Kuang, basically saying “I’ll be waiting~”, and then slipped away.
Shen Yiren glared at Shen Kuang without uttering a word. Shen Kuang felt a cold chill run up his spine and started begging for forgiveness before she could say anything.
“Sis, I…. She clung to me right after I left the study. I didn’t promise her anything. Believe me!”
“I know you’re kind. I’m just worried that someone might lead you down the wrong path. The fucking bitch knows that we plan to recover our reputation and standing at the upcoming tournament, that’s why she wants to steal our people.”
Out of the blue, Shen Kuang said: "No wonder why she acts so friendly with me. You're a genius, sis."
Shen Yiren had no time for her brother. She thought to herself: “The Qilin guards are doing everything they can to stop us from rising to power again. They might try and pull something since we’re publicly recruiting.”
"I'm going to personally watch over the recruitment exams this time."
Glossary
*Bai Guan = The courtyard in directly in front of the main room where the emperor holds his meetings with his retainers
** Kuangren = 狂人 = Crazy Person; Yiren = 伊人 = This Person / That Person / Someone's Love
***司抚 (Situo) and死腐 (Sifu). Yiren is subbing the two "si" characters, and changing the second character. 死腐 technically means Fujioshi, but that wasn't a derogatory term in ancient times, so I subbed it for 'Fucking bitch' which matches Yiren's vulgar cussing style of speech.
