The Three Heavenly Kings (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

Three Heavenly Kings (Please Continue Reading)

"Gladly..."

Xu Xing did not decline, smiling as he accepted Wu Huaiyuan's gesture of goodwill.

Wealth could open the way even to the gods.

If Zhou Ying had amassed such a vast fortune without secretly forging ties with high-ranking officials behind the scenes, who would believe it?

With money but no power, one was nothing more than a fat pig awaiting slaughter.

The Wu family had both wealth and connections. They were not someone Xu Xing could easily afford to offend at present.

Besides, according to the customary rules of inns, once he had placed first in the prefectural examination, waiving his food and lodging fees was nothing unusual.

It was no great matter.

Inns had done the same throughout the years.

Wu Huaiyuan was merely more generous now, directly waiving the cost of Xu Xing treating everyone to a meal.

"I heard that Top Scorer Xu came from Jingyang County..."

"As it happens, my Wu family is also from Jingyang. We are fellow townsmen."

Wu Huaiyuan took a seat and proactively began drawing connections with Xu Xing.

As natives of Jingyang County, the two naturally had a few more ties between them. That was also why Wu Huaiyuan had taken the initiative to establish a relationship with Xu Xing. Prefectural examination top scorers were common enough, but ones from Jingyang County were far rarer.

"Top Scorer Xu still has matters to discuss with his friends..."

"I intruded so rashly. I hope Top Scorer Xu will not take offense..."

After briefly strengthening their connection, Wu Huaiyuan tactfully rose and bade Xu Xing farewell.

After leaving the private room, he quietly instructed the old manager, "Manager Lu, send a few more dishes to Top Scorer Xu's room, and change his rented room to a Heaven-grade room."

Once he realized Wu Huaiyuan had gone far away, Chen Jian'an shook his head. "Young Master Wu—I had wanted to speak with him a little longer, but who would have thought his eyes stayed fixed on you, Brother Xu? He only gave me a few perfunctory words."

A dragon would not dwell with a snake, nor would a tiger walk beside a dog.

He did not say this because he resented Wu Huaiyuan for refusing to show him respect. Rather, he was lamenting his own lot. If he had been today's prefectural examination top scorer, how could others have looked down on him so lightly?

"Prefectural examination top scorer?"

"It would still be difficult to form ties with the Wu family."

Seeing this, Xu Xing offered Chen Jian'an a word of comfort.

Not to mention a prefectural examination top scorer—even an academy examination top scorer or a first-class stipend student would not amount to much before the Wu family. Setting aside the Wu family's future, the Wu family as they stood now were already beyond the reach of ordinary people.

It was not only his fellow students at the academy who were paying attention to Xu Xing's prefectural examination results.

Filial Righteousness Hall was as well.

"First in the prefectural examination?"

"He... really made it?"

After learning of Xu Xing's results from one of his subordinates, Master Ma's expression grew somewhat complicated.

He sighed. "In just one short year, from a mere commoner... to a xiucai? And his internal martial arts cultivation is not bad either. How did he manage it?"

He knew, of course, that Xu Xing was the sort of scholar with a photographic memory.

Yet having watched Xu Xing rise from a servant boy who held the reins and stirrups for the Pao Brothers of Filial Righteousness Hall to where he was today, Master Ma still found it hard to calm his heart when he thought of it.

"Kid Brother, you usually had the most contact with Xu Xing."

"What kind of person is he?"

Master Ma sent for Kid Brother and asked him.

Before joining Filial Righteousness Hall and becoming a Pao Brother, Xu Xing and Kid Brother had been the closest. They were about the same age, with little difference between them, and could be considered playmates.

"He did everything in such a bookish way..."

"When I applied medicine for him, he even bowed to me and thanked me."

Kid Brother possessed the heart of a child. Without thinking much of it, he told Master Ma everything about how Xu Xing had interacted with him the previous year.

As for the Xu Xing from even earlier, he did not remember much.

"Bookish?"

Master Ma frowned. "It seems that even when he was a servant boy, he had secretly been reading and learning characters. No wonder... after entering Taste Classics Academy, he improved so quickly."

He filled in Xu Xing's past in his own mind.

After Filial Righteousness Hall had saved him in the fifteenth year of Guangxu, he had studied diligently without pause...

"You may go now."

Master Ma waved a hand, dismissing Kid Brother.

As father and son, Kid Brother could not possibly have deceived him. Back when Xu Xing had been at Filial Righteousness Hall, he had already displayed conduct that "understood propriety." After enrolling at Taste Classics Academy, although his rise had been too swift, he must have had foundations laid in his early years as well...

"Agree to it. Give him an opportunity..."

"It's time to seek out Daoist Liu."

He mused inwardly.

The top candidate of the prefectural examination was the scholar degree already reserved for him.

He knew something of this as well.

The real world.

The twenty-first year of Chongming.

Phoenix Creek Kingdom.

West Jiangnan Circuit.

Four Brightness Mountain, a side room.

"Lord Xu..."

"No matter how busy Mourning Heaven King is with official duties, he can't leave us hanging for three days and three nights, can he?"

Chang Ji hurried into the room, casually pulled over a chair, and complained to himself, "Speaking of status, you're an eighth-rank Assistant Director of the Imperial Stables, while I'm a fifth-rank General Who Stabilizes the Distant Lands. We came all this way to throw in our lot with Four Brightness Mountain... We heard Mourning Heaven King had such a grand reputation, but who would have thought he was also such a narrow-minded man?"

"He's afraid we, powerful dragons, will crush him, the local snake!"

He slapped the tea table, his face full of resentment.

After traveling south along the canal, and after two and a half days, he, Xu Xing, and Earth King's party finally arrived at Four Brightness Mountain in West Jiangnan Circuit.

Yet after arriving at Four Brightness Mountain, neither he nor Xu Xing received Mourning Heaven King's audience or regard. They had not even seen Mourning Heaven King Yao Dang's face before Might King sent them off to stay in a side room with a single offhand remark.

There was not the slightest sign of someone thirsting for worthy talent.

"Mourning Heaven King is not... a shortsighted man."

"If Four Brightness Mountain wants to grow stronger, relying on a band of jianghu heroes may work at first. But in the long run, if it does not take in defected officials like us... it will be hard to say..."

Xu Xing withdrew his gaze from the surface of the Ancient Bronze Mirror in his mind. He brewed a pot of tea, poured Chang Ji and himself a cup each, then spoke slowly.

text
[Mirror Master: Xu Xing]

[Dao Fruits: Righteous Thief (Crimson), Martial Arts Prodigy (Bright Yellow), Literary Brilliance (Crimson), Reform (Crimson), Broad Learning and Strong Memory (White).]

[...]

[Fate: None.]

After his consciousness returned to the real world.

The first thing he did was use [Dao Fruits] to solidify the crimson fate traits [Reform] and [Literary Brilliance].

After solidifying the [Reform] fate trait, he did not remain idle. He first observed the flawed policies of Four Brightness Mountain, then, after careful consideration, wrote several letters on reforming its abuses and had Earth King deliver them to Mourning Heaven King Yao Dang...

If nothing unexpected had happened, Mourning Heaven King Yao Dang should already have finished reading those letters.

The reason he had still not come to see Chang Ji and Xu Xing... Xu Xing guessed it was because he found it difficult to arrange positions for the two of them, and so had kept leaving them out in the cold.

Chang Ji's visit and outpouring of grievances were another kind of palace coup by the two of them against Mourning Heaven King.

Inside the Hall of Brotherhood.

Three armchairs stood side by side in the seat of honor.

The three Heavenly Kings sat in them respectively.

The man seated in the foremost chair was Mourning Heaven King Yao Dang.

He looked to be around forty, dressed in luxurious purple robes, with little to distinguish him from an ordinary wealthy gentleman. What stood out, however, was his face—square and upright, brimming with righteous spirit.

"Did he really say that?"

After hearing his subordinate's report, Yao Dang's brows drew together slightly. "What he said is indeed true. If Four Brightness Mountain wishes to develop, relying solely on a few Green Forest heroes will not suffice. Since ancient times, no jianghu men have ever been seen overthrowing a dynasty... It's just that..."

A dilemma rose within him.

If Earth King had not sworn brotherhood with Xu Xing, arranging for Xu Xing to serve as Four Brightness Mountain's military strategist would have been exceedingly fitting. He had read Xu Xing's letters as well; every word and sentence was a pearl of true insight. Xu Xing could be called ministerial talent.

But Earth King had, unfortunately, sworn brotherhood with Xu Xing.

If he let Xu Xing take this fourth chair, he feared Xu Xing would hollow out his authority.

"Big Brother, what are you still hesitating for?"

Earth King on the left immediately called out, "I personally saved Fourth Brother. I know his talent. With Fourth Brother here, Four Brightness Mountain will sooner or later overthrow the court and avenge Big Brother's blood feud!"

Third update—before one in the morning.

There isn't quite enough time today.