License to Kill

Done!

Liang Qu shook the dust from his sleeves and strode out of the palace.

The warm breeze gradually faded, replaced by a bitter wind that swept up flurries of snow and stirred the pendants at his waist with a tinkling chime.

Painted boats filled the river, hung with colorful lanterns whose reflections shimmered in the water. Clear, lovely singing drifted in silken strands, like petals caught by the wind and carried into the sky.

"Whew."

A long plume of white mist escaped his mouth and nose.

Liang Qu lightly tapped the railing.

The Sacred Emperor had said nothing, yet he had said everything.

"Muddy waters, ah, muddy waters."

The Old Monk was a lone wanderer of the martial world.

To kill the Snow Mountain Heretical Monk, he had borne the label of a "crippled dantian" and pursued him across more than half of Da Shun. To eradicate the last disciple of the Heretical Monk, he had squatted in Pingyang Prefecture for years.

If Jian Zhongyi had not thrown out the matter of Blue Lake to preserve life, Liang Qu had no doubt that, on the very day Jian Zhongyi confessed, the Old Monk would have charged into the Prefectural Office and struck him dead with a single palm.

Yet people were born this way. Relationships and emotions tangled into knots, mixed with conflicts of interest.

No one could unravel them.

Fortunately, he had grown quickly.

Today's "heart-to-heart talk" had eliminated far more than future troubles!

Loyalty, righteousness, benevolence, filial piety, wisdom! What was a model young man? How could the Sacred Emperor not be pleased?

He was probably secretly delighted in the Hall of Diligent Governance!

Strolling along the banks of the Gathered Water River to Dragon Ford Bridge, Liang Qu hummed a little tune. He took out a