Jiang Qihu

Carp Tide City after nightfall was a riot of gongs and drums in the streets, with lion dances, embroidered balls, lanterns, and harmonious music.

In the most bustling heart of the city stood a towering hexagonal pavilion, as sharp as a sword. Each layer of the eaves was hung with a lantern, swaying in the wind, scattering a brilliant red light in the night.

This was the Tide Watching Pavilion, the most famous restaurant in Carp Tide City, contracted by the Great Chu Dynasty to brew liquor. The pavilion accounted for seventy percent of Carp Tide City's continued prosperity after dark.

Many people jokingly called this towering, sword-like pavilion a gold-devouring pit for fools. Although Qing Province was located in the north and was somewhat remote and barren, this Tide Watching Pavilion was worth its weight in gold. A cup of wine or tea could cost ten or even a hundred times more than elsewhere... Yet, wealthy young masters with bulging purses frequented the place, lingering and reluctant to leave.

Because in this restaurant, as long as you had silver, you could buy anything you wanted.

Of course, provided it complied with the laws of the Great Chu.

To be able to do such a thing...

Clearly, the owner behind the Tide Watching Pavilion was extremely powerful.

Tonight, the Tide Watching Pavilion had been cleared in advance. Although the entire pavilion was still brightly lit, it seemed unusually empty. Faint zither music lingered around the beams, lingering for a long time.

The attendants and maids all stood respectfully outside the door. Those young masters who were usually arrogant and domineering were politely asked to leave. The expressions of anger and dissatisfaction on their faces instantly turned to awe and fear when they heard the names announced by the maids.

That name that could make everyone avoid him.

Naturally, it was King Youhai.

This heteronomous king of Qing Province, also the owner of the Tide Watching Pavilion, deliberately hosted a banquet tonight to entertain distinguished guests.

This was a "grand event" that had not occurred for many years.

Outside the Tide Watching Pavilion, many people gathered... Everyone wanted to know who the distinguished guests King Youhai was entertaining tonight were.

Soon.

A carriage escorted by Black Scale Guards arrived at the end of the street. On the scabbards of these Black Scale Guards' sabers, fierce tigers were embroidered.

The crowd parted to make way, and the originally lively atmosphere suddenly became quiet.

The maids also lowered their heads.

The entire street was tinged with a hint of murderous intent.

A heroic and tall young figure, dressed in casual clothes, slowly got out of the carriage, refusing the maids' offers of assistance and sleeve-lifting. He also wore a standard-issue long saber like the Black Scale Guards, but the tiger embroidery on this saber was exceptionally vivid and lifelike.

An invisible sense of oppression and murderous intent enveloped the Tide Watching Pavilion.

Small whispers arose from the crowd of onlookers.

"Jiang Qihu..."

"He actually returned from the Imperial City?"

"I didn't expect that King Youhai was entertaining this butcher tonight..."

These noisy voices reached the ears of the tall and heroic figure.

Jiang Qihu paused slightly.

He looked back, his hand resting on the hilt of his saber.

With a "click."

Those who were whispering immediately fell silent.

For a moment, only the leisurely zither music and the faint sound of the wind intertwined and echoed in the Tide Watching Pavilion.

Jiang Qihu expressionlessly turned his gaze back, continued forward, and entered the Tide Watching Pavilion.

The maids filed in and finally closed the door, and the entire building's brilliance disappeared into the long night.

The Tide Watching Pavilion was brightly lit tonight, but it was very quiet.

Especially the top floor.

When Jiang Qihu ascended to the top floor, the windows were wide open, and the gauze curtains fluttered.

King Youhai had already dismissed his attendants. The night wind flowed like water, and the firelight swirled like fireflies. Several familiar figures could be vaguely seen sitting at the table.

"Brother Qihu, you've finally arrived."

King Youhai, dressed in luxurious clothes, sat lazily, having already drunk half a cup of wine. He raised his glass at this moment, smiled, and indicated that Jiang Qihu could sit down.

"..."

Jiang Qihu slowly took his seat, removed his saber, and placed it horizontally on the table.

Then, he raised his wine glass and drank it in one gulp.

He looked at King Youhai in the highest seat and said softly, "Please don't blame me for being late tonight, Your Highness... The Imperial City Bureau has many affairs to handle, and I had to deal with them one by one before I could rush to Qing Province."

"What are you saying?"

King Youhai sighed and waved his hand very magnanimously, indicating that he did not mind the lateness.

He raised his glass again with drunken eyes and asked with a smile, "Brother Qihu, is the Little National Preceptor well recently?"

"Thank you for your concern, Your Highness."

Jiang Qihu drank his second cup, lowering his gaze as he slowly said, "My master is still the same, his chronic illness is difficult to cure, and his old ailments often flare up... but at least he doesn't have any major illnesses."

"Truly, heaven is jealous of talent."

King Youhai shook his head, his tone full of worry. "Fate is predetermined, and those who pry into it suffer. Lord Chen is a pillar of Great Chu, and presiding over the Primal Chaos Monitor requires immense mental effort. He absolutely cannot afford to have any mishaps... In a few days, I'll have someone send some more medicine over."

"In that case..."

Jiang Qihu filled a third cup, raising it above his head with both hands. "I thank Your Highness on behalf of my master."

King Youhai took a small sip, dismissing it with a smile.

After Jiang Qihu finished his third cup, his gaze burned brightly.

He looked around.

Besides King Youhai, there were two other people, both women.

One was sitting behind a screen, playing the zither with delicate hands, her slender figure vaguely visible.

The other was wearing a bamboo hat and a snow-white veil, sitting alone opposite him, leaning against the window lattice of Tide Watching Pavilion, her snow-white clothes fluttering in the wind.

"Your Highness... this is Ye Qinglian, the young mistress of Hundred Flowers Valley, I know."

Jiang Qihu's gaze swept over the woman in the bamboo hat, and he looked towards the zither-playing woman behind the screen. "And this one is?"

Tonight was the banquet at Tide Watching Pavilion.

Those who could attend were certainly of noble status.

"Chu Man."

King Youhai smiled slightly and said softly, "Brother Qihu, she's a good seedling, just like you... destined to take over the entire Chu Family in the future."

The woman behind the screen stopped plucking the strings.

She raised the teacup beside the zither stand and lifted it slightly towards Jiang Qihu from afar, as if offering tea in place of wine, as a greeting.

"If that's what Your Highness says, then it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call her a young master."

Jiang Qihu frowned and said, "But the name 'Chu Man' is unfamiliar."

"You haven't been back to Qing Province for too long, it's normal that you haven't heard of her."

King Youhai sighed softly and smiled. "This Chu Man is no simple woman. She has only cultivated for ten years, yet she has already entered the Grotto-Heaven realm. At this rate, it won't be long before she can enter the Yin Spirit realm. In terms of cultivation speed... no one in the Chu Family has been her equal in sixty years. Even looking at Great Chu today, I'm afraid there are few who can compare to her, right?"

"Her talent is indeed good."

Jiang Qihu took a sip of wine, responding perfunctorily, his gaze falling behind the screen. "But the Chu Family is large and prosperous, with many talented people. Chu Man is still young, and bearing the burden of family head will certainly not be easy."

The Little National Master had told him.

The relationship between the Chu Family and King Youhai was very delicate.

In recent years, the Chu Family had been able to establish itself in Qing Province thanks to Chu Lin and the power of the Great Chu Dynasty behind him.

In this way, the so-called position of family head was naturally determined by Chu Lin himself.

If he said Chu Man was suitable, then Chu Man was suitable.

In fact, Jiang Qihu didn't care at all about who would inherit the position of Chu Family head.

But he was interested in this woman.

Ten years of cultivation to advance to Grotto-Heaven?

If King Youhai hadn't exaggerated, then that was indeed extremely high cultivation talent... In the younger generation of Great Chu today, the only one he could think of who could surpass Chu Man.

Seemed to be only one person.

That Prince Jiangning, Xie Sheng, who was known as the "Reincarnation of the True Dragon!"

"The Chu Family... is far from comparable to the Jiang Family."

King Youhai sighed with a smile that wasn't quite a smile. "Old Master Jiang is hale and hearty, and two extraordinary geniuses have emerged in the family. One is the Deputy Chief of the Imperial City Bureau, and the other is a Sword Immortal of Jade Screen Peak. If you want to talk about who is the most well-established force in Qing Province, I think... it has to be the Jiang Family."

As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere in the room became slightly strange.

Jiang Qihu narrowed his eyes slightly.

Here it comes.

The Little National Master had told him.

Tonight's banquet was not that simple.