Having had a fascinating glimpse into internal energy, Ling Zhang showed great diligence in his cultivation. For the next few consecutive days, he immersed himself in it. Every time he sat in meditation, he entered a state of such concentration that he himself didn’t seem to exist anymore. And each of his cultivation sessions lasted very long – either all night or all day. Surprisingly, as if having got some kind of magic formula for it, he was really in his element during these days’ cultivation, encountering no hindrance whatsoever.
Everybody was amazed by this, for Ling Zhang’s perception was so amazing.
“It’s true that the Marshal unblocked Childe Ling’s meridians (each of a set of pathways in the body along which vital energy is said to flow) beforehand, but the progress he’s been making is still too quick.” Yue Qi and the others clicked their tongues in astonishment.Please visit on our NovelFull
Wang Dashan, other security guards, Xia Feng and Li Sicai all had little knowledge of this, so they had no choice but to strictly restrain the servants from approaching the main courtyard house. At this moment, after hearing the compliment Yue Qi and the others paid their young master, they naturally were secretly delighted.
Yuwen Tong was also surprised, but he was the one who had unblocked Ling Zhang’s meridians, and who had read the secret manual of the mental cultivation method of internal energy, so he knew more about it than Yue Qi and the others did. He was aware that the mental cultivation method of internal energy that Ling Zhang was following was not suitable for everybody, that there were some highly exacting requirements. Even for him, some of the requirements and cultivation reactions mentioned in the manual were impossible to achieve, but for Ling Zhang they seemed very easy. It was not that his comprehension or constitution was not as good as that of Ling Zhang but that this cultivation method seemed to be tailor-made for Ling Zhang. It conformed to Ling Zhang’s physical condition in a very ingenious way, which meant that this mental cultivation method of internal energy was solely suitable for a particular kind of people, and Ling Zhang was one of them.
As a result, Yuwen Tong was getting more and more curious about the parentage of Ling Zhang’s mother. All members of Ling family were common people without any specialness, so what distinguished Ling Zhang had to be something he’d inherited from his mother.
‘Exactly what kind of family background was her from?’ Even he couldn’t find any information about it. And about this matter, Ling Zhang had also adopted a cautious attitude tinged with subtle nervousness and wariness to; he hadn’t even dared to try the mental cultivation method of internal energy given to him at first. Therefore, Yuwen Tong deduced that not only was Ling Zhang’s mother’s parentage shrouded in mystery, there was also something dangerous involved in this.
The fear Ling Zhang had been trying to conceal had been the very reason why he’d instructed Yao Yi and others to stop inquiring into Ling Zhang’s mother’s family background. He was worried that they might alarm some people if they kept digging into it. Maybe this was also the reason why that old man showed up on that day. Although from the vantage point of the present, the old man seemed to mean no harm, Yuwen Tong didn’t want to take any risks for no good reason.
But playing a passive role was also not Yuwen Tong’s style. Though he had told Yao Yi and others to stop digging into Ling Zhang’s mother’s background, he had already started inquiring into the pamphlet on martial formations given by Ling Zhang as well as that sentence he read on the inner side of the title page of the secret manual on that day. It was impossible that formations of such ingenuity had never been used before, and there must be some traces left behind; and that sentence that sounded familiar to him must have some particular connotations. The reason why it sounded familiar to him must be that he had read it somewhere before. During the past few days, he had returned to the residential compound of Yuwen family and consulted the ancient books and records left by his forebears. It was just that there were too many of them and he hadn’t finished all of them; and for the moment he hadn’t recalled where he had read a sentence similar to that one.
And there was also that mysterious old man. Since he had shown up in the Wu City once, it was almost certain that he would show up again, and maybe he was in the capital city right now. Given how important that mental cultivation method given to Ling Zhang was, it was impossible that the old man didn’t care about what would happen next. The greatest possibility was that he was covertly observing Ling Zhang’s each and every move right at this moment. After all, because of him, both Ling Zhang and the Ling Mansion were in the limelight, which made it very easy for anybody having the intention of keeping watch on Ling Zhang to find this place.
He had already instructed his men to keep every corner in the Ling Mansion under secret surveillance, but nothing suspicious had been found so far. Either that old man had not shown up or the old man’s kung fu was so good that his men were unable to detect him. Yuwen Tong was more inclined to believe that the latter was the truth. He had had a brief meeting with the old man in the Wu City, and even he couldn’t tell how good the old man’s kung fu was. But he was not anxious; he believed that old man would show up again, especially when Ling Zhang was making such quick progress in his cultivation.
Thinking of this, Yuwen Tong decided to let Ling Zhang continue cultivating. When it came to cultivation of internal energy, comprehension was very important. Ling Zhang was now in a critical phase, and all other matters had to be put aside.
“Originally Zhang planned to teach you the seventh array of the formation in the next few days, but he doesn’t have the time, so I’ll teach you,” Yuwen Tong informed Wang Dashan and others.
He had given clear-cut orders for matters on his to-do list to be handled, and he had also visited the emperor and asked for a couple of days’ leave, which had been permitted by the emperor without any questions asked. As a result, he was at leisure now.
After hearing this, Wang Dashan and other security guards, who had had a previous experience of being instructed in formations by Yuwen Tong, were all very composed. “Yes, Marshal. We’ll concentrate our mind on learning!”
Unlike Ling Zhang, Yuwen Tong was much stricter and less forgiving. Wang Dashan and others had learned their lesson the hard way. Under no circumstance would they dare to be slack. On top of that, with their mastery of the first six arrays, they had an increasingly deeper perception of the trap-and-kill formation, so they made very quick progress in learning the seventh array.
In addition, with directions of Yao Yi and others, their kung fu skills had improved significantly. Practicing the trap-and-kill formation had brought a marked difference in them, and their kung fu skills were now several levels higher than before; and now after Yao Yi and others gave them some directions, they were far more powerful than the security guards they had been in Tanyang.
Yang Liuzi and the other eleven, however, were somewhat anxious. They had started learning the second array. Seeing the progress the other group was making, they were quite envious and only too anxious to reach the level of them immediately, but the training given by Xie Shi was very strict. He’d adopted a different method from the one used by Ling Zhang to teach the other group. Since Ling Zhang had only a superficial knowledge of kung fu, his training method focused on the formation itself, but Xie Shi was a kung fu expert, and seemingly for some particular reason, he was almost perversely stern to Yang Liuzi and the other eleven. The past few days had been torturous for Yang Liuzi and others.
What was gratifying was that Yang Liuzi and the other eleven had all made considerable progress, and the change in them could almost be deemed qualitative. If they were to fight their former selves, every one of them would prove to be worth three. Because of the awareness of their progress, Yang Liuzi and the other eleven, though jealous of the progress of Wang Dashan and others, were not really bitter about it.
Xie Shi had told them, “As long as you do what I tell you to, you’ll be able to keep pace with them in the near future.”
Yang Liuzi and the other eleven all trusted and respected Xie Shi very much and they laid no doubt whatsoever on his remarks.
“Xie Shi has been working his ass off these days. Every day he not only gives strict training to Yang Liuzi and others but also selects people suitable to learn detoxification skills, which makes him even busier than the Marshal and also make us look like idlers,” Yue Qi said to Yao Yi.
Yao Yi, however, cherished his leisure very much. “We haven’t had such opportunity to relax for quite some time, yet you seem to dislike being at leisure. I think I can do you a favor and talk to the Marshal. I’m sure the Marshal will gladly assign you a lot of tasks to keep you occupied.”
On hearing this, Yue Qi hurriedly shook his head. “Please don’t! I was just saying. Don’t you do that to me. Otherwise I will fight you, tooth and nail, even though you are our captain.”
Yao Yi, who had anticipated that Yue Qi would put it this way, gave a sneer.
…
When all people in the Ling Mansion were engaged in their respective business, many people in the capital city were perplexed.
Because the Ling Mansion was too quiet; Yuwen Tong was too quiet; and the residential compound of Yuwen family was too quiet as well. Just a couple of days ago, Ling Zhang and Yuwen Zhi had a dispute, which took a heavy toll on the reputation of Yuwen family. Yuwen Zhi hadn’t walked out of his home for several days, which showed how humiliating it had been for him. But this was the end of the story?
A lot of people in the capital city were counting on Yuwen Zhi to make trouble for Ling Zhang. All of them didn’t like the idea of Yuwen Tong marrying Ling Zhang. They either wanted to co-opt Yuwen Tong onto their side or had some other intentions. How could they just stand by and watch people of Yuwen family resign themselves to the situation?
“Did you find out what’s going on? What on earth happened to Yuwen Zhi? Why did he suddenly lie low?” the King Hui inquired of his henchman in his residential compound.
It was not that the King Hui intended to marry anybody to Yuwen Tong or draw Yuwen Tong over to his side but that he wanted to avenge the sufferings inflicted on his younger sister. Only one day after Ling Zhang entered the capital city, his younger sister had been sent into a temple to practice Buddhism, which was a punishment synonymous with stripping her of her title. He and his wife had also been implicated and scolded by his father. In the past few days, at the meetings in the imperial court, other princes had picked on him and he had had no choice but to swallow it in order to allay his father’s dislike for him, which had rendered him bitterly aggrieved.
“Your Highness, I did find something. It’s said that Yuwen Zhi broke Yuwen Qi’s leg and locked him in their ancestral hall to have him introspect about his faults. Zheng shi nearly cried her eyes out, but Yuwen Zhi still seemed to have no intention of releasing Yuwen Qi. He only sent for a physician to treat Yuwen Qi’s leg. And there’s Yuwen Feng. These days he enters and exits the Ministry of Rites in a very punctual fashion, and he goes to no other places apart from the workplace and his home. No matter who sounds him out, he refuses to breathe a single word. He’s very discreet about it,” reported the henchman.
“Yuwen Qi was forced to his knees on the street. Though his snake bit Ling Zhang, it caused Ling Zhang no harm. Given how much Yuwen Zhi dislikes Ling Zhang, it’s so confusing that he broke Yuwen Qi’s leg to pacify Ling Zhang.” The King Hui was puzzled.
“On that day the Marshal went back home in a great hurry. He definitely put pressure on Yuwen Zhi. It’s rumored that there was a quarrel. Pity because of Yuwen Tong’s presence, all servants didn’t dare approach the living room and nobody overheard anything. All those who know inside information are Yuwen Zhi’s trusted subordinates and can’t be bought,” observed the henchman regretfully.
The King Hui’s brow corrugated in a frown. “A man like Yuwen Zhi will by no means yield merely because Yuwen Tong puts pressure on him. There’s definitely something else that happened that day. Make some inquiries and figure out a way to find out what Yuwen Tong did to his uncle.”
“Yes, Your Highness,” his henchman hurriedly answered.
“What about my third brother? Did he do anything particular?” The King Hui asked another question.
‘On that day he gave me tit-for-tat and afterwards went so far to fawn on Yuwen Tong. How is it possible that he didn’t make any further moves?’ he thought.
“And didn’t you say that the one who tried to poison Ling Zhang in the Wu City had been seized by Yuwen Tong’s men? Why has Yuwen Tong been lying low all along? Any news from the Ministry of Penalties and the Dali Temple (the Supreme Judicial Court in feudal China)?”
The henchman wiped the sweat from his forehead and cautiously replied, “The King Duan didn’t do anything particular in the past few days. He’s been staying at home all this time. And Marshal Yuwen didn’t report the case to the Ministry of Penalties or the Dali Temple. There’s no telling what his intention is.”
The King Hui furrowed his brow, feeling dissatisfied.
