Chapter Eighteen Realm Four
This was a grand carriage.
The two tall horses that pulled this carriage had strange silver hides and were unusually clean. They shone was though they had been rubbed with wax. The cabin of the carriage was made from first-class sandalwood and the surfaces carved with patterns that overlapped each other and embedded with jade and gold.
Even the driver of the carriage was a silver-robed swordsman with a long sword at his waist.
This swordsman was elegant and noble, tall, heavy browed and bright-eyed. His black hair fell behind him with two locks tied up loosely behind him by a green cloth strip in the middle and the other strands of hair remained loose. The hair would not reach the sides of his face even in the wind. This kind of adornment caused him to appear free and casual.
He looked just in his twenties, but his actions appeared very steady. When the carriage reached the wine shop, it stopped next to a parasol tree by the wall. After making sure that he wouldn’t affect the passage of other people, this silver-robed swordsman slowly walked into the wine shop.
Ding Ning looked at this silver-robed swordsman brimming with elegant nobility and his eyebrows rose. With a glance, he saw the crane-shaped talisman hanging off the jade hilt of the swordsman’s sword and knew the origins of this uninvited guest. He realized that this uninvited guest was related to the unknown Chu person who had come here not long ago.
The alley was short. So while the silver-robed swordsman’s actions were calm and elegant, when he walked into the wine shop, and appeared in Ding Ning’s field of view, Xu Heshan had just managed to recover and took a breath to speak.
Zhangsun Qianxue’s gaze landed on this swordsman.
Everyone’s gaze unconsciously landed on this swordsman.
Xu Heshan was about to speak but was interrupted by the arrival of this swordsman. He paused and naturally felt displeased.
The silver-robed swordsman saw so many students in the wine shop and stilled slightly. When he looked at Zhangsun Qianxue, his eyes showed a clear hint of shock.
In the next moment, he kept his composure as he bowed slightly to Zhangsun Qianxue. He said, “This one is Chen Moli, in the service of Li Lingjun. Greetings to Miss Zhangsun Qianxue.”
Xu Heshan’s expression suddenly changed.
Nangong Caishu’s eyebrows rose like two small swords.
Xie Changsheng snorted slightly.
The students around them reacted differently, but murderousness rose in everyone’s eyes.
Because this was related to the humiliation of the Qin Dynasty.
Li Lingjun was that Chu hostage prince traded for six hundred square miles of Qin’s fertile land.
These youths of Changling would become famed cultivators in the future. They carried a burden unlike the common and poor people. Without needing the provocation of any words, they already felt enmity.
Unlike those ordinary common people, each of them knew that Li Lingjun was not an ordinary person.
Other than his status as the son of the king, Li Lingjun’s history could be described as “dreary.”
His mother had been a musician of the palace and favored by the Chu King. She birthed Li Lingjun, yet in the years after, because she verbally offended the Chu King, she was killed.
In order to avoid seeing him, the Chu King bestowed upon him a piece of land no one wanted to send off Li Lingjun far from him. Supposedly, that was the result of people in court trying to urge him. Otherwise, with the Chu King’s personliaty, he may have used a secret decree to send Li Lingjun to follow his dead mother.
Even though the lands Li Lingjun held were far from the capital of the Chu Dynasty to the point people forgot about him, when the Chu Dynasty needed a prince as hostage to trade for the cities of the Qin Dynasty, the Chu King immediately thought of him!
Everyone knew that the outcomes for hostages were mostly terrible.
To those kings who had countless troops and cultivators, when war started, they would not care about the life and death of a son they disliked.
However, as a Chu person who came from afar and did not have much wealth, in less than a decade in Changling, Li Lingjun became an important person.
He had more than a thousand dependents, including hundreds of cultivators.
No one knew how he was able to slowly climb from the position of a throwaway to his present status in Changling. However, everyone was sure that he must have some traits other people could not rival.
For the academy students who had not reached such a level, they naturally felt respect and awe towards someone like this.
As this Chen Moli, this cultivator in the service of Li Lingjun spoke, Xie Changsheng and the others looked back at Zhangsun Qianxue again.
Unexpectedly, Zhangsun Qianxue did not say anything.
She appeared like a celestial who walked out of a painting, frowning slightly before turning to walk back into the courtyard.
Even Chen Moli paused at such a response.
Xie Changsheng also stilled at Zhangsun Qianxue’s actions but then he saw Chen Moli’s slightly awkward expression. This proud youth, who came from a prestigious family, felt pleased inside.
He suddenly laughed, his eyes squeezing together. The scorn in his eyes grew even greater.
“You think you can frighten people with Li Lingjun. However Li Lingjun is not a marquis of Changling. Otherwise, Miss Zhangsun Qianxue might pay attention to you.”
Ding Ning looked calmly at Xie Changsheng. He felt that this proud youth with many shortcomings had great courage. His opinion of Xie Changsheng immediately grew.
Chen Moli’s hand unconsciously landed on his sword hilt.
Sparrows did not know the ambitions of swans. The two were not of the same world. Detachment and decorum sometimes came from a lack of care. In Chen Moli’s mind, these students were not on the same level as him. So his handsome face was expressionless, and he did not show any anger.
To the numerous families of Changling, no matter prosperity or decline, Li Lingjun was an outsider. So no matter how ugly the words of the students were, he would still not care.
But today, Zhangsun Qianxue was something Li Lingjun had to obtain. This matter was greatly important so he needed a quiet space to talk. He needed to do something.
His expression did not change. He did not even look at Xie Changsheng. He only shook his head and said softly. “So young, yet you do not study the sword but do unnecessary things.”
Xie Changsheng was very young.
He and Ding Ning were about the same height and similarly slim. Even the satin robes he wore were slightly loose. When he smiled as he usually did, he could be described as adorable.
Yet he already became a cultivator.
The surrounding people who were familiar with Xie Changsheng stopped breathing for a moment when they heard Chen Moli’s words.
Cold spread through the air.
Xie Changsheng”s small face turned frosty. He was silent for many seconds. Then he raised his head slightly, looked at Chen Moli, and shook his head. He said, “I hope that your sword will let me feel you qualify to say such things.”
Chen Moli smiled slightly.
He did not say anything.
Yet a strange presence suddenly expanded outwards from him.
A wind suddenly rose in the wine shop.
All the students stopped breathing.
Chen Moli still did not move. But the primal energies of the universe which came out of him grew stronger.
Pew pew pew … …
Many minuscule wind tunnels formed around him. Countless gusts of primal energies of the universe blew outwards. Even though this kind of speed was very gentle in the eyes of cultivators, the great power caused the surrounding tables and chairs to move outwards.
Xie Changsheng’s eyes grew colder, and his expression started to turn pale.
His robes and the robes of all the students flapped in the wind.
This was realm four.
Only cultivators who reached realm four could fuse primal energies in their vital energy during their normal cultivation.
Nangong Caishu’s eyelashes fluttered. She was angry but also helpless.
However, at this time, Chen Moli’s presence started to weaken.
A dam seemed to build up inside his body and give off a strange sound.
“I am older than you. If I subdue you using my cultivation, I think you will not accept it.”
Chen Moli looked calmly at these Changling students and said coolly, “Who is the strongest among you … … I can suppress my own cultivation to the same realm as him. If he can win over me, I will apologize and leave. But if I win, please leave immediately.”
Historical Note: The first Qin Emperor didn’t proclaim himself “emperor” until he finished conquering the Chu and Qi but the author has already been referring to the Qin ruler as “Emperor Yuanwu” multiple times and “His Majesty”.