Return to Dongling, Ambushed!

It was afternoon.

Fine snow still drifted down without a sign of stopping.

Jiang Ning once again heard footsteps crunching through the snow.

A moment later, Qinghe appeared before him again, wrapped in a green fur cloak.

She came up to Jiang Ning and pushed back her soft fur hood, revealing her smooth forehead.

"My lord, someone else has come to visit!" Qinghe said.

"Who?" Jiang Ning asked.

"Wan Jianyi, the martial examination's runner-up. He brought several disciples from the Sword Pavilion. Would you like to see him, my lord?" Qinghe asked.

The arrogant, insufferable man from before the martial examination immediately surfaced in Jiang Ning's mind.

"I'll see him," he said.

Though he had stayed home these past few days, visitors had come calling every day.

And among them were people he could hardly turn away.

There was Martial King Xiang Yuan, the princes and princesses, and important figures from the Inspection Office.

He was now the newly crowned martial examination champion, the newly invested Marquis Dongling, and the inspector of Zeshan Prefecture, one of the nine provincial inspectors.

Had he not asked Qinghe to turn many visitors away herself, he would have had even less peace.

In the front hall.

When Jiang Ning reached the entrance, he saw Wan Jianyi inside with a man and a woman who had accompanied him.

He knew the woman well. She was Li Qing.

She had once been his guide at the Blue-Wave Martial Academy.

Later, she had traveled a thousand miles to Bashu Commandery and joined the Sword Pavilion.

In Jiang Ning's eyes, it had been a wise choice.

Luoshui County was merely an ordinary county town in Dongling Commandery, and the Blue-Wave Martial Academy was ordinary too.

The Sword Pavilion of Bashu Commandery, however, stood in a class of its