The friendship between the Marquis of Wu'an and the Huaying Palace Mistress was known throughout both court and countryside. There was nothing to hide—it was a bond forged when they had both been insignificant.
This was not Jiang Wang's first time at Huaying Palace.
But arriving in the dead of night truly was a first.
Compared to the grand openness of Changsheng Palace, Huaying Palace's architectural style was more imposing, more steeped in a heroic air. Weapons were often used as decorations, armor and longbows hung everywhere, and flowers and grass were scarcely seen.
If anything was planted, it was trees—trees that could be made into spears, fashioned into bows, or used as beams for houses.
They stood proudly like guards arrayed in attendance.
As he followed the silver-haired old woman through Huaying Palace, Jiang Wang found that the guards and maids all possessed a soldierly bearing. They spoke and acted with meticulous precision, and even their salutes were crisp and proper.
Jiang Wang did not know the name of this old woman who had followed Jiang Wuyou for so many years. He only knew that Jiang Wuyou sometimes called her "Granny Shen."
It sounded rather like "spirit medium."
Though they had met many times, Jiang Wang had scarcely exchanged words with her. She was an elderly woman of a rather cold disposition.
They met at the Martial Arts Arena.
Huaying Palace's Martial Arts Arena could be said to be the most painstakingly designed structure in the entire palace.
Its soundproofing, concealment formations, essence-gathering formations, and all manner of formation patterns were all the work of masters from the School of Names. Not to mention materials such as the floor tiles.
Even the swords, spears, staves, clubs, axes, and polearms on the weapon racks beside the arena were all extraordinary