Explosive

Xiao Fan obligingly took the black cloth and covered his eyes. "I don't."

He did want to know, of course... but the look on the man's face was too smug. Xiao Fan refused to give him the satisfaction, so he simply stopped asking.

"Hahaha..." Liu Jiashan burst out laughing. "No harm in telling you. My martial arts rank is the same as yours: ninth-rank Qi Refining Realm..."

Xiao Fan did not believe a single punctuation mark of that. "If you don't want to tell me, sir, that's fine. Why toy with me..."

A Qi Refining Realm cultivator killing someone in the Iron Bone Realm with one punch? Who did he think he was fooling? Xiao Fan cursed inwardly.

He remembered all too clearly how badly Zhang Bin, fresh into the Iron Bone Realm, had beaten him when he entered the city yesterday!

Liu Jiashan smiled. "Such a hot-blooded youth! I wasn't finished... My martial arts rank may only be ninth, but my mystic arts rank is sixth."

That revelation... was explosive!

The man was an expert in both martial and mystic arts?! Xiao Fan was stunned. The two paths followed completely opposite principles of cultivation; mastering both was as hard as climbing to heaven!

That was why his opponents were always so shocked whenever Xiao Fan ignited Blood-Burning Flame to use the Fire Element Art...

"Seriously?! You can cultivate both martial and mystic arts?" Xiao Fan's curiosity burst forth.

Liu Jiashan nodded lightly. "If you want the details, become a gray-robed officer under my command."

You rotten old fox! This trick of cutting off the story right where it hooked him was just like something a shameless webnovel author would pull! Xiao Fan was too furious for words.

In the northern district of the Capital City, near the city wall.

The sound of wheels broke the silence of the street.

The carriage stopped outside the Xiao Residence. Two black-clad officers helped Xiao Fan down, removed his blindfold, and returned his saber before striding away.

Everyone at home was already asleep. Xiao Fan slipped back into his room, careful not to wake anyone.

He had escaped death by a hair tonight. After being taken to the Shadow Pivot Court, he had worried the whole time that his Essence-Storing Pouch would be confiscated. After all, it held a third-rank calamity artifact!

Fortunately, the Essence-Storing Pouch proved reliable. It had its own mysteries within; even if someone other than its owner opened it, it appeared to be an ordinary empty bag.

Liu Jiashan apparently had not noticed anything amiss, so he had not confiscated it.

Even so, Xiao Fan did not dare take out the Soul-Capturing Porcelain to study it at home. It was far too dangerous. At his current rank, he had no hope of controlling it.

After putting away the Essence-Storing Pouch, Xiao Fan began reviewing everything that had happened tonight.

He lacked crucial information about Wu Xiong's assassination attempt, so there was nothing he could do about it for now. He would have to find a way to meet Wu Xiong's master, Qin Han, before deciding how to respond.

Then there was his father's assignment escorting Dowager Consort Wang's coffin.

Of the entire escort party, only his father had survived. There was no way to know what they had encountered in Hidden Valley on Great Azure Mountain.

One thing was certain: the real purpose of the mission was not the coffin at all. It was the Soul-Capturing Porcelain... or perhaps Xun Huan, whom the porcelain had sealed away.

Xiao Fan's thoughts raced. He suspected his father's true mission had most likely been to bring the Soul-Capturing Porcelain back to the Capital City from the imperial mausoleum!

But something had gone wrong on the return journey. The Soul-Capturing Porcelain had gone out of control, releasing the white mist of death that swallowed the entire party and awakened Xun Huan.

With the information he had, that was as far as Xiao Fan could reason. He would have to wait for his father's return to learn more.

As for the Shadow Pivot Court's interrogation, Xiao Fan was not particularly worried. His father was the mission's sole survivor. They would certainly keep a close watch over him.

He even suspected that the real reason the Shadow Pivot Court had gone to the Armament Hall in the middle of the night to take his father away was not interrogation at all, but protection!

He thought so because Liu Jiashan's questioning tonight had hardly been rigorous. Not even a supervising judge from the Inspectorate had appeared.

That suggested the truth of the answers might not matter much. What mattered was Xiao Wu, the only living witness.

The Shadow Pivot Court might simply have used the interrogation as a pretext to take him from the Armament Hall.

Xiao Fan then lit a candle, removed his bloodstained shirt, and carefully examined the scales on his chest...

"Huh? The scales don't look much bigger, but I distinctly felt them growing back then... Was I imagining it?"

Xiao Fan peered into the bronze mirror, studying the scales on his chest.

"Could it be that they've barely changed on the surface, but have mainly grown inward?"

At that thought, he cautiously tugged at a scale...

"Aah!"

The pain nearly made him cry. Clutching his chest, he curled up on the floor. Cold sweat instantly soaked his body. He panted like an ox, drenched in sweat, as though his heart were being torn apart!

Sure enough! The scales were burrowing deeper and deeper! They had even begun to adhere to the vessels around his heart!

After a long while, the pain finally eased somewhat...

Xiao Fan gasped for breath, sweat still pouring off him. "Damn it! That nearly killed me. If my Calamity Poison exceeds the limit again, I might actually die!"

He did not dare act recklessly anymore... This time, he truly did not dare...

Who knew what deadly consequences would follow if these damned scales kept growing?

Xiao Fan got up, slipped out of his room like a thief, washed quickly, then returned to bed!

Whatever earth-shattering matters awaited him could wait until tomorrow.

The night passed without incident...

Xiao Fan got up early, only to be caught by his mother and questioned about last night.

Naturally, he could not tell her the truth. He could hardly say that the Shadow Pivot Court had taken his father away. She would worry herself sick...

With no other choice, he told her his father was busy with official duties and could not come home for the time being.

To keep his mother from pressing for details, Xiao Fan hurried out as soon as he finished breakfast.

He had a great deal to do today.

First, he needed to visit Bladesmith Studio and have a scabbard made for his saber to contain the baleful aura seeping from the damned blade.

Old Zhang at Bladesmith Studio was skilled at forging blades, and his scabbards were excellent too. Once he had measured the blade, he could start making one.

"Come back for it in three days!" Old Zhang said casually as he worked.

Xiao Fan set down a silver ingot. "Here's the deposit."

He turned to leave, then suddenly remembered something. "Oh, right, Old Zhang. Watch out for the baleful aura in that saber. If anything feels wrong, come find me immediately."

Old Zhang had seen enough to be unfazed. "All right, all right, I know. Every good blade has a baleful aura. If I were afraid of that, what kind of bladesmith would I be?"

He had a point. For a bladesmith, baleful auras in swords and sabers were commonplace. Old Zhang had long since grown used to them.

With the scabbard arranged, Xiao Fan hurried south without stopping.

The Nine Provinces Martial Tournament would be held in the Capital City next month. It was the perfect chance for him to make a name for himself, and he could not miss it.

Under the Martial Arts Association's rules, competitors in the Nine Provinces Martial Tournament could be no higher than eighth rank.

The rule existed to give newcomers a chance to show their abilities without being overshadowed by higher-ranked martial artists.

Mystic arts practitioners could also enter, provided they were no higher than eighth rank.

Though the rules allowed them to sign up, in practice almost none took part in the Nine Provinces Martial Tournament...

The reason was simple. In a contest fought face-to-face on an arena, mystic arts practitioners were no match for martial artists. Their fighting power was on an entirely different level.

It was like scholars preparing for the imperial examinations entering a fighting tournament. No matter how learned they were, learning would not help them withstand a hard fist.

Before absolute brute force, any fancy flourish was pale and powerless...