Night Talk

The moon shone bright and the stars were sparse. The night breeze carried a slight chill. Within Weiyang Palace, Ning Chen sat on his bed, circulating the cultivation technique recorded on the Golden Pages.

"Eh, where did my true qi go?"

Feeling the emptiness in his meridians, Ning Chen was utterly baffled. He immediately leaped out of bed and hurried straight toward Qing Ling's room.

"Sister Qing Ling, are you asleep yet?"

When he reached Qing Ling's room and saw that the lamp was still lit, Ning Chen raised his hand and pounded on the door, calling loudly.

Inside, Qing Ling had just loosened her clothes in preparation for bed. Hearing the knocking outside, her head began to ache. Helplessly, she went to open the door.

"What is it?"

Qing Ling opened the door halfway, blocking the entrance with her body as she asked irritably.

"You were going to sleep?"

Seeing Qing Ling in a white nightgown, Ning Chen felt a little awkward. Should he go in or not? It was rather chilly outside.

"I'm a eunuch. What am I afraid of?"

The facts proved that Ning Chen's skin was indeed thick. Quite consciously, he pushed the door open wider and strode in with perfect ease.

... Qing Ling was speechless, unable to understand what exactly Ning Chen's face was made of.

"Sister Qing Ling, my true qi is gone. Do you know what happened?" Ning Chen sat down at the table and voiced his question. He had still had it yesterday. Could this stuff get lost too?

Qing Ling's body trembled. She shot Ning Chen a surprised glance, then thought it over and roughly understood what had happened. That brat's cultivation technique had certainly been taught to him by that woman the other night. Still, what astonished her was that, with this fellow's aptitude, it was already a marvel that he had cultivated true qi so quickly.

"Cultivating a cultivation technique requires perseverance, and the early stages are especially important. When anyone begins cultivating, they dare not let their attention wander for the first three months. They cultivate day and night, all to stabilize the true qi within their body."

At this point, Qing Ling changed her tone. "As for you, I never expected you to amount to much anyway. Just cultivate however you like."

... Ning Chen felt his heart shatter with a snap into tofu dregs. This was a naked slap to the face! She was bullying him far too much!

"I'm going back to sleep. Goodbye!" With the subject brought to an end, Ning Chen's mood soured tremendously. He rose to leave.

"I won't see you out," Qing Ling said casually as she sat beside the table.

Ning Chen paused. After struggling inwardly, he sat back down in a dejected manner, poured Qing Ling a cup of tea, and offered it to her pleadingly. "Sister Qing Ling, please tell me about cultivation."

Qing Ling took the tea and sipped it lightly. "What do you want to hear?"

"The cultivation levels. Like, are there Golden Cores, Nascent Souls, Tribulation Transcending, and such? And can peerless experts shatter heaven and earth with a wave of their hand, pluck stars and bring down the sun? Also, after cultivating to a certain level, can one live forever and never die? And then..."

Ning Chen's eyes grew dreamy as his imagination ran wild without end. In his previous life, he had often envied the characters in those books. Now that he had finally learned that Cultivation Techniques truly existed and true qi was not a lie, perhaps his great dream could be realized.

"Eh, Sister Qing Ling, why aren't you saying anything?" After talking for quite a while, Ning Chen realized that Qing Ling had remained silent. He asked curiously.

"Are you still asleep?" Qing Ling swept him a glance and said coolly.

... Ning Chen knew he had been looked down on again.

Qing Ling set her teacup on the table and said helplessly, "I truly don't know where you heard all this random nonsense. I've never heard of a single thing you mentioned, and I fear no one else has either."

Ning Chen was depressed. "Then how do you distinguish masters from supermasters?"

"The Acquired Realm, and then the Xiantian Realm," Qing Ling answered.

"What realm are you in?" Ning Chen's curiosity rose again.

Mu Chengxue had said that Qing Ling was very strong, and had also said that she herself was somewhat stronger than Qing Ling. Of course, Ning Chen had always taken that as boasting. He had never seen Mu Chengxue fight, but he had seen Qing Ling fight. Even with such grave injuries, she had still been ridiculously formidable.

By comparison, Mu Chengxue's record was rather miserable. She had gone out twice: once, he had saved her; the other time, she had fainted, and he had still been the one to save her.

Thinking of this, Ning Chen became even more eager. He stared fixedly at Qing Ling, waiting for her answer.

Qing Ling felt uncomfortable under his stare, but she answered honestly, "Peak Acquired Realm."

"That's not all that impressive." Ning Chen was deeply disappointed. He had thought Qing Ling could at least count herself among the Xiantian. But if so, Mu Chengxue might be one of those Xiantian Realm supermasters. Yet even as a Xiantian, she still could not make a go of it in the imperial palace and was repeatedly injured. It seemed that no matter how high one's martial arts were, one still feared the kitchen knife. There were many people and many blades in the palace; no one could withstand that.

Seeing Ning Chen's disappointed expression, Qing Ling said irritably, "Do you know how many Xiantian experts there are in this world altogether?"

"How many?" Ning Chen asked carelessly.

Qing Ling calmly raised five fingers.

"So few?" This time, Ning Chen was astonished. He had thought Xiantian experts were as common as dogs, while Acquired Realm practitioners walked everywhere.

"Did you think reaching the Xiantian Realm was so easy?" After a pause, Qing Ling continued, "No one knows how many people in this world are trapped between the Acquired Realm and the Xiantian Realm, yet only those five have succeeded."

"Where are they all?" Ning Chen asked curiously.

"The Eternal Night Divine Cult has two. Great Xia and the Ancient Mongol Royal Court each have one. The last is in Du'e Temple in the southwest."

"Great Xia only has one?" Ning Chen was somewhat disappointed. The Eternal Night Divine Cult had two; even Du'e Temple, tucked away in some unknown corner, had one. Yet mighty Great Xia had only been allotted one Xiantian expert. It was truly irritating.

Qing Ling then introduced the five Xiantian experts to Ning Chen one by one. These five supreme martial artists in the world were the two hall masters of the Eternal Night Divine Cult, the abbot of Du'e Temple, the Headmaster of Tiancang Academy in Great Xia, and the Golden Staff National Master of the Northern Mongol Royal Court.

Ning Chen listened with immense envy, his eyes gleaming. What resounding titles—supreme martial artists of the world. Just hearing it sounded so imposing.

Judging by what Qing Ling had said, Mu Chengxue had not yet reached the Xiantian Realm, though she should not have been far from it.

"You have only cultivated for a short while, so do not slack off. If there is anything you do not understand, you may come ask me at any time," Qing Ling softly instructed. After weighing matters in her heart, she had unexpectedly arrived at the same idea as Mu Chengxue: she would only guide Ning Chen in cultivating his cultivation technique and would not teach him any moves.

Naturally, Ning Chen did not know what Qing Ling was thinking. He was simply delighted to have found a good teacher, his little face blooming like a flower. "Thank you, Sister Qing Ling."

Having received a satisfactory answer, Ning Chen returned contentedly. He resolved to cultivate the cultivation technique on the Golden Pages diligently. Even if he could not become invincible under heaven, he could at least strengthen his body. Then... he still had to find a chance to run away.

It had to be said that Ning Chen's ambitions were truly not great. Of course, the main reason was that his enemy was too powerful. Changsun alone had him thoroughly pinned down, forcing him to temporarily set aside his great aspirations and devote himself wholeheartedly to finding an opportunity to flee.

Chairman Mao had once said that all reactionaries were paper tigers. Unfortunately, Changsun was not a paper tiger, but a tigress.

After watching Ning Chen leave, a trace of worry finally appeared on Qing Ling's gentle, beautiful face.

It was not difficult to deduce that the woman Ning Chen had taken away that night was the assassin who had broken into the imperial palace twice. To speak disrespectfully, Qing Ling did not care in the least whether the Xia Emperor lived or died. The only person she cared about was Changsun—perhaps, barely, that brat from earlier could be included as well.

But how long could this matter remain hidden? And why had that woman taught Ning Chen a cultivation technique?

No one understood Ning Chen's situation better than Qing Ling. Judging by aptitude alone, he was absolutely the sort one could scoop up by the handful on the street—and among them, he would still rank near the back. Calling his aptitude ordinary was almost too embarrassing.

Yet this brat, who just over ten days ago had still pestered her to teach him martial arts and knew nothing whatsoever about the martial path, had somehow muddled his way into cultivating true qi without anyone's guidance. It was truly beyond comprehension.

In this world, martial artists were not cabbages that could be grabbed by the handful. It was like studying: countless people had studied, but how many could truly be called scholars?

Simply put, with Ning Chen's aptitude, even with a good teacher's guidance, it should have taken him three to five months to cultivate true qi. If he had to figure it out himself, then it truly depended on Heaven's Will...

A bold conjecture flashed through Qing Ling's mind, but she immediately shook her head. It should not be a Heavenly Book, because Heavenly Books had vanished for a thousand years, and every volume required at least the Xiantian Realm to cultivate.

Unable to make sense of it no matter how she thought, Qing Ling could only temporarily suppress her doubts. She resolved to inspect Ning Chen's meridians when she had time. So long as it was not a cultivation technique that harmed his body, she would let him be.

Ning Chen did not know Qing Ling's thoughts. Otherwise, he would have been scared out of his wits. The reason he had dared let the shopkeeper at Ci'an Pharmacy take his pulse some days ago was because the shopkeeper already knew he was a newly entered young eunuch whose castration had happened only recently. It was normal for his pulse to show no major changes.

But Qing Ling was different. Having cultivated martial arts to the peak of the Acquired Realm, her perception of the meridians within the body far surpassed that of ordinary people. With only a little attention, she could easily determine that this eunuch was an unlicensed counterfeit filled with water.

This night was destined to be an extraordinary one. Yet no matter how extraordinary it was, it still passed.

After dawn, Qing Ling accompanied Changsun to the Heavenly Edict Hall. Today was the final deadline given by the envoy of Zhenji Kingdom, and Great Xia's ministers had already been waiting in the hall since early morning.

The Three Grand Ministers sat at the head of the officials, as calm as still water as always, detached and indifferent, taking no part in any court affairs.

Compared to the calm of the Three Grand Ministers, the expressions of the officials were excessively grave. The eye sockets of some elderly ministers were dark, their eyes bloodshot. Clearly, they had not slept enough.

Great Xia's ministers might not be virtuous, and they might not be talented, but few were disloyal.

This vast empire, this invincible dynasty, had been forged through the heart's blood of more than twenty generations of rulers, ministers, and soldiers. Every inch of land had been stained with the blood of generation after generation. No matter what, they would never allow any force to encroach upon even the slightest part of it.

Great Xia's strength was by no means accidental. After all, wise rulers did not arise in every generation, nor did worthy ministers appear in every generation. Yet relying on this loyalty, Great Xia had remained invincible for a thousand years and proud for a thousand years.

The Xia Emperor and Changsun arrived and summoned the envoy of Zhenji Kingdom for an audience. Emperor and empress appearing together represented respect for a foreign envoy. Great Xia was proud, but pride was not arrogance. Great Xia had never lacked the proper courtesies.

The envoy of Zhenji Kingdom entered the hall with four companions. Their clothing was extravagant and strange, their heads raised so high that their nostrils nearly pointed at the heavens.

A broad space had been cleared in the main hall. The ministers stood on either side, while Changsun sat below the Xia Emperor, with Qing Ling standing behind her. She looked at the Zhenji Kingdom envoy as though he were an idiot.

"Xia Emperor, have you solved my question?" the Zhenji Kingdom envoy asked, brimming with confidence.

"You will know shortly, Envoy. Attendants, prepare the banquet," the Xia Emperor said calmly.

At the same time, Qing Ling's brows drew together slightly. Lowering her head, she whispered in Changsun's ear, "Empress Dowager, something is wrong. This envoy of Zhenji Kingdom and all those he brought with him are martial artists."

Changsun narrowed her eyes. With her exquisite mind, she immediately understood what was happening.

"Go bring Ning Chen here."

"Yes."

Qing Ling quietly withdrew, then swiftly swept toward Weiyang Palace...