A casually spoken sentence stirred astonishment throughout the hall. The ministers looked at Qing Ling, then at the Empress Dowager. Everyone knew that this woman was the Empress Dowager's most trusted person. What did it mean for her to issue this challenge now?
The meaning was already obvious. The Empress Dowager was angry.
At that moment, even the Xia Emperor's pupils contracted slightly, though no one knew what he was thinking.
Yet since the Xia Emperor had not spoken, he had tacitly approved Qing Ling's challenge.
While the ministers guessed at the Xia Emperor's intentions, they were even more puzzled as to why the Empress Dowager was so angry.
Was it because the Zhenji Kingdom envoy had just chosen someone by her side?
Among the Three Grand Ministers, Grand Tutor's half-closed eyes opened slightly, then closed again, as though he had heard nothing.
A bewitchingly beautiful smile flashed across Wan Yunshang's alluring face. She knew their Empress Dowager would never get angry over such a boring reason. Her intuition told her that this was inseparable from that little eunuch eight or nine times out of ten.
One had to admit, a woman's sixth sense was sometimes a terrifying thing. Wan Yunshang's baseless guess had come infinitely close to the truth.
The Zhenji Kingdom envoy wore a marvelous expression. He did not understand why the Xia Emperor had not stopped this absurd, rude, and meaningless provocation. Caught in a struggle, he fell into the dilemma of whether to accept or refuse.
In the end, the Zhenji Kingdom envoy accepted. There was no surprise in it; he had no choice but to do so.
"Jin Yi, you go."
At the envoy's command, a man around thirty stepped forward from behind him. He wore a loose red-and-black robe, his face somewhat pale, with a viciousness unlike that of ordinary people.
Qing Ling saw at a glance that this man named Jin Yi possessed strength no lower than Eighth-Rank Martial Arts. He was the strongest of the five.
The martial path under heaven was divided only into the Innate and the Acquired. The Acquired had nine ranks, and Qing Ling stood at the very peak of those nine ranks—a powerhouse among powerhouses.
There were only five Innate experts under heaven, so Qing Ling was one of the strongest beneath those five.
However, Qing Ling was injured. Though she had recuperated for more than ten days, her injuries had been too severe to heal so quickly.
Injuries had an extremely serious impact on any expert. Sometimes, a low-level fighter like Ning Chen, who had not even entered the ranks, could accidentally and luckily kill a heavily injured Ninth-Rank master.
Qing Ling had never been one to underestimate an enemy or grow arrogant, so she faced the opponent before her with utmost seriousness.
In Heavenly Edict Hall, the martial contest began in an instant. Qing Ling stepped forward—not especially fast—and one slender hand reached straight for Jin Yi's chest. It was a simple move, yet it tore through the air with hissing force, scraping painfully across people's faces.
Jin Yi's expression changed slightly. He retreated three steps in succession, then shifted two steps sideways. Yet that jade-white hand followed him like a shadow, impossible to evade by even half an inch.
The moment she struck, Qing Ling gave no quarter. Her fierce and domineering assault sought to crush all of Jin Yi's fighting spirit in a single move.
Jin Yi's expression changed again and again. He could see that the woman before him was at a higher realm than he was, yet there was a faint sense of discord in her movements.
Jin Yi understood what that discord was: injury. An injury that had damaged her foundation.
All martial artists knew that an injured body could not endure a prolonged battle, much less one that had suffered grave damage to its foundation.
Thus, though he knew he could not dodge it, Jin Yi still did his utmost to evade. After retreating another three steps, he raised the true qi around his body to its peak and threw out his right fist, meeting that slender, terrifying hand head-on.
He had already prepared to use the force of the clash to retreat again. The longer he dragged things out, the greater his odds of victory would become.
Who would have thought that at the instant the two made contact, Qing Ling's fierce attack changed in a flash? Her slender hand curved around, avoiding the full-force punch before her. In the instant she turned sideways, her palm stamped toward Jin Yi's right shoulder.
Bang! The palm landed, and a spray of blood burst from Jin Yi's right shoulder. Yet Qing Ling, whose pace had not seemed quick, flashed forward, her speed reaching its limit. Her afterimage swept around him, and that slender hand descended once more.
It was still the shoulder, but this time it was the left. Qing Ling's slender hand shook, true qi erupted, and Jin Yi's body flew out at once. The moment he hit the ground, he coughed up a mouthful of blood, his face whiter than snow.
Qing Ling gave a cold laugh. She was injured, but even injured, she was still Ninth-Rank. Even if she was not at her peak, she would not be defeated by a mere Eighth-Rank fighter.
There were prodigies in this world capable of challenging those above their rank, but Jin Yi before her was clearly nowhere near qualified.
Jin Yi had lost, and there had been no suspense in his defeat. It was not because he had underestimated his opponent, nor because he had been arrogant. It was the gap in their combat reactions, and even more so, the gap in their absolute strength.
The Zhenji Kingdom envoy's face darkened. He had not expected such a young palace maid beside the Empress Dowager of Great Xia to possess strength beyond Ninth-Rank, much less that Jin Yi would lose so quickly. There was a gap between Eighth-Rank and Ninth-Rank, but not one so great that one side should win with such overwhelming ease.
The atmosphere in the hall was strange. At some point, Ning Chen had secretly slipped back in and stood behind Changsun. His face was pained, his right arm smeared with white ointment and hung from his neck by a strip of red cloth, making him look exactly like a cripple.
The Great Xia ministers looked at Ning Chen, satisfaction flashing through their eyes. This little eunuch was not bad.
Ning Chen felt uncomfortable under their stares. He had come back to watch the show, not to be watched. But for the sake of the exciting scene to come, he endured it.
"Thank you for letting me win," Qing Ling said coldly, clasping her hands in salute.
Jin Yi rose, his expression shifting several times. In the end, he endured the piercing pain in both shoulders and returned the salute with clasped hands.
Seeing this, a smile appeared on Ning Chen's face, brilliant as a flower in bloom.
Changsun could not stand seeing Ning Chen so pleased with himself. She said, "Ning Chen, you have rendered merit to our dynasty, so I shall grant you a favor. You may choose the contestant from the Zhenji Kingdom envoy's side."
Ning Chen's smile immediately froze. Yet he did not dare defy Changsun's order in public, so he put on an exceedingly punchable, flattering expression and said, "Thank you for Your Majesty's grace, Empress Dowager."
Changsun gave a soft acknowledgment, her expression unchanged.
Ning Chen glanced at the Zhenji Kingdom envoy, then at the three people behind him. Finally, his gaze shifted to the injured Jin Yi. With a faintly embarrassed look, he said, "Since this general's arms are unharmed and he can still salute, then let this general do it."
At these words, the Zhenji Kingdom envoy's eyes turned cold. He looked at Jin Yi and asked, "How is it?"
"I will not disgrace my mission."
Jin Yi endured the pain and answered in a low voice.
"Good."
The Zhenji Kingdom envoy nodded in satisfaction, then coldly swept a glance at the little eunuch behind Changsun, his eyes fully exposing their chill.
At the entrance of the great hall, a breeze passed by, but it could not disperse the rolling heat. Jin Yi stepped forward and looked at the bottomless vat of oil. True qi circulated around his body as he concentrated all his strength into his right arm, then thrust it fiercely inside.
Violent pain surged through his damaged meridians. The true qi around Jin Yi's arm shook intensely as boiling oil continuously seeped through and scalded his skin, worsening that agonizing pain.
At that moment, not only the Zhenji Kingdom envoy's side, but even the Great Xia ministers grew nervous. Changsun glanced at Ning Chen, still unable to understand what was going through that boy's head.
More and more time passed. Jin Yi's whole body began to tremble, his expression growing uglier and uglier, yet he still had not picked up the thin needle in the oil. More accurately, it was not that he had failed to pick it up—he had not found it at all.
Seeing this, Ning Chen grinned so widely that his mouth was nearly unable to close.
It would be strange if he could find it. Scald to death, you grandson!
Changsun did not understand. The Xia Emperor did not understand. The Zhenji Kingdom envoy understood even less. They watched helplessly as time ticked away, yet Jin Yi still did not pull out the needle.
"Urgh!"
Heat poison invaded his body, and Jin Yi could no longer endure the heart-piercing pain. He stepped back and pulled his arm out.
"Imperial physician," Changsun immediately called out, with timing that was almost excessive.
"No need."
The Zhenji Kingdom envoy gave a cold snort. He looked at Jin Yi, kneeling on the ground, then said, "We concede the first round. At this time tomorrow, I will come announce the subject of the second round. But this time, I will not grant you another three days. I hope that when the time comes, the Xia Emperor and the Empress Dowager will still have such good luck."
With that, the Zhenji Kingdom envoy led the three people behind him out of the palace hall, never once looking again at Jin Yi on the ground.
Jin Yi pressed his head to the floor, his body trembling without cease. Whether it was from pain or some other reason, no one knew...
As the morning court was about to end, the Xia Emperor was in excellent spirits. Before leaving, he gave Ning Chen an approving glance. Whether he had pleased anyone or not, Ning Chen himself broke out in a cold sweat.
Wan Yunshang rose as well. A fragrant breeze swept past. When she passed Ning Chen, she paused briefly, but said nothing. She merely gave a soft laugh before drifting away gracefully.
"Let's go."
Changsun was in a fairly good mood. Supported by Qing Ling, she rose and returned to the palace.
Ning Chen followed behind with no status whatsoever. While pretending to be wounded, he also had to reveal everything to satisfy Changsun's wicked curiosity.
The cheating trick he had demonstrated yesterday had originally been enough. Who would have thought the Zhenji Kingdom envoy would be even more shameless, directly bringing four martial arts experts?
So he had added a little extra. He replaced the original oil with soybean oil, and incidentally had Qing Ling cripple Jin Yi. Soybean oil had a very high boiling point, close to four hundred degrees—nearly twice that of ordinary oil. Jin Yi's arms were crippled and his true qi unstable, so he certainly could not last long.
"Why could Jin Yi not find the needle in the oil?"
Changsun was extremely curious. This was what she understood least. Jin Yi had searched in the oil for so long; by all reason, he should have found the needle.
Hearing Changsun's question, Ning Chen smiled awkwardly and said with a faintly embarrassed expression, "That needle was made of tin. It had already melted into the oil. Not to mention him—even I couldn't find it now."
He had noticed earlier that there were many exquisite tin objects in the palace, so he had specifically asked Qing Ling to have a palace craftsman make a tin needle.
Tin melted at just over two hundred degrees. Before the oil had even reached a boil, it had melted away without leaving a trace. If Jin Yi could fish it out, that would truly be seeing a ghost.
Changsun nodded thoughtfully, then gave Ning Chen a strange look. The flickering light in her eyes made one's scalp tingle.
Ning Chen smiled sheepishly, knowing that Changsun had once again begun to entertain ideas about the strange and bizarre things inside his head.
As they talked, they arrived at Weiyang Palace. Changsun immediately reverted to her nature of tearing down the bridge after crossing the river. Her steps paused slightly as she said blandly, "All right, we're here. Go continue your confinement. I need to rest."
"..." Ning Chen was speechless. He had finally learned what it meant for a face to change faster than the weather.
Still, before Changsun left, Ning Chen could not help reminding her, "Empress Dowager, that Jin Yi may perhaps be useful."
"Do not worry about things that are not your concern." Changsun stopped walking. She did not answer him, merely warned him calmly.
Night fell, and stars dotted the sky. In Ning Chen's room, silver radiance flourished, roaring and surging as it spread ripples in circle after circle. The reappearing true qi was even stronger than before, breaking through the martial artist's first barrier in one stroke. At the dantian qihai, a vortex took shape, becoming a churning silver cloud that continuously emitted streams of True Essence Power.
"Unthinkable."
Outside the room, Qing Ling's hand, raised to knock, stopped. She stood at the door, not daring to disturb him, unable to conceal the shock in her heart.
There was no lack of geniuses in this world. Entering Martial Arts First Rank in half a month was not some rare occurrence. But such a thing absolutely should not have happened to Ning Chen.
The martial path had never been fair. The distance between geniuses and ordinary people was so vast that it was difficult to imagine. Though cruel, that was the truth.
"Not good!"
Just then, Qing Ling's expression changed. She sensed the aura in the room suddenly becoming chaotic. Without time to think, she broke through the door. Her graceful figure flashed, and in two steps she reached Ning Chen's side, her slender hand pointing toward his sea of qi.
"Focus your mind and gather your form. Do not let your mind wander!"
Seeing the silver cloud within his sea of qi shake, its form and spirit about to scatter, Qing Ling used her own aura to forcibly protect the silver vortex that was continuously collapsing within Ning Chen's body as she shouted sharply.
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