Huang Seshu's Ambition

Huang Seshu's Ambition

"Mo, have you gone mad...?"

"Qin Mo... don't fight someone like him to the death. It isn't worth it." Even Qin Yuanze, who had always been steady and composed, began to grow agitated.

"No matter what sort of person he is, if this is to be settled, it must be fair. I chose this path myself, so I'll walk it to the end myself." Qin Mo knew that if he did not dare fight Huang Seshu fairly, the Dao Heart within him would never be whole.

"Fine... this was your choice. I didn't force you." An indescribable expression appeared on Wang Yuyan's beautiful face, as though she were... regretting it.

A Wang Family servant brought over paper and brush. Qin Mo stopped Qin Yumu and Qin Yuanze, then heavily signed his own name. Once this name was signed, the duel between the two would no longer violate Great Xia's laws. No one could stop it. If either side regretted it afterward, they would be despised by all martial cultivators. In Great Xia, where a family's reputation stood above all else, such a thing was absolutely intolerable.

Huang Seshu looked at the black writing and red fingerprints on the white paper. His hands, tempered through countless trials, actually began to tremble faintly. Would the humiliation of three years ago finally be settled today?

He had been born into poverty. His elderly parents had labored day and night to support his studies. Just when he was about to come of age and sit for the examinations, his parents passed away one after another. He could neither carry a burden on his shoulders nor lift one in his hands. Though his belly was full of learning, he could not even afford paper, brushes, or travel expenses for the examinations.

Huang Seshu watched those nobles and wealthy men, every one of them clothed in fine silk and fed on rich food, with mountains of wealth piled up in their homes, while he himself was nearly starving to death. In a fit of rage, he joined the army and became a military clerk. After surviving brushes with death time and again, he finally exchanged his accumulated military merits for a copied cultivation manual and a vial of vital-energy medicine.

He would never forget the night he sensed heaven-and-earth vital energy. Vital energy brimming with life seeped into his body, and he became a cultivator—a cultivator standing above ordinary people.

On the second day after Huang Seshu became a cultivator, he received an offer from the Longxi Wang Family. Though he was merely one of their lowest-ranking retainers, he had still escaped the world of common mortals. He also knew that if he wished to continue cultivating, he could not do without the resources and environment of a great aristocratic clan.

Huang Seshu had come from a scholarly background, so his starting point differed from those battlefield butchers. His understanding of the Breaker Manual far surpassed that of ordinary soldiers. Could one imagine an illiterate brute scratching his ears and cheeks as he struggled to comprehend those obscure cultivation formulas? Huang Seshu's cultivation speed was unbelievably fast. Before long, he received the Wang Family's focused support.

Three years ago, he had been assigned as a guard for Duke Wuwei's second daughter. Because of one person, the second daughter suffered humiliation unlike anything she had ever endured. He decided to gamble everything, found an opportunity to provoke that person, and ultimately defeated him in a duel.

Then... then that person's friend came to his door and directly broke both his legs. If not for a Wang Family young lady stopping him, he might have been beaten to death.

But all of it had been worth it. After recovering from his injuries, he was accepted into the Wang Family Sword Room. Only then had he truly touched the threshold of the Wang Family's inner circle.

Every noble family in Great Xia possessed its own combat techniques. Families liked to give their secret techniques resounding names, such as the "Flowing Cloud Sword" and the "Overlord Saber." Yet great aristocratic clans with deep foundations did not bother with so many flashy tricks; they often did not even name their combat techniques. Only exceptionally powerful moves had names.

The Wang Family's combat techniques were taught and honed within the Sword Room. The instructors only pointed out the proper direction of one's cultivation and one's mistakes. Everything else came through sparring with fellow disciples. In the Sword Room, many combat techniques that would be passed down as a family's secret inheritance elsewhere were merely ordinary unnamed moves. Over the past two years, Huang Seshu had not only reached the peak of the Yellow Realm, but his combat techniques had also become utterly different from before.

This year, the Wang Family had even secured Huang Seshu a post as a Wuwei Army commandant. The Wuwei Army was one of the Empire's Imperial Guards, and many Wang Family descendants served within it. As an officer with actual command over fifteen hundred men, Huang Seshu could be considered to have formally entered the Wang Family's inner circle. Sometimes, he would stare blankly at Wang Yuyan's retreating figure, his heart filled with endless thoughts.

Huang Seshu raised the longsword that carried sharp, bewildering light and poured vital energy into it. The dazzling radiance forced everyone to narrow their eyes. His confidence swelled without limit. He had defeated Qin Mo three years ago. Today... he would kill him.

Qin Mo looked at the light emanating from Huang Seshu's sword, baffled. Are you wasting vital energy? A formation like this only has its greatest effect when activated suddenly during combat. Keeping the formation running every moment... are you showing off, or trying to scare me?

When Qin Mo arrived in this world, he was already in the Mysterious Realm. His control over vital energy had long since reached the point where it answered at the first stir of his heart, becoming a bodily reflex. He did not know that in the Yellow Realm, activating formations on weapons always came with a delay, much less separately controlling two or more formations. It was not that Huang Seshu did not wish to conserve vital energy. He simply could not flexibly activate the two formations on his sword separately.

The three of them had only come out for a stroll today and had not brought weapons. The weapons carried by Qin Yumu and Qin Yuanze's guards were merely fine weapons with a single formation. Qin Mo always felt that they did not match his status. That was also why he had never chosen a fine weapon for himself in Dayuan. The Elven Race's fussiness truly did not have an undeserved reputation.

Qin Mo turned around and walked to the shelf piled with scrap metal. He picked up a double-bladed axe with a chipped edge and asked Hoss, "Hoss, how much is this axe?"

"Your Highness has a keen eye. This double-bladed axe was found by our Carlos family on a battlefield from a thousand years ago. Its formations are flawless, its design is solid and weighty, and it is a..." Hoss went on and on. As expected of the Carlos family's business talent, he had traveled thousands of miles to Great Xia to trade for good reason... his ability to spin a tale was exceptional.

"How much?" Qin Mo asked, lightly flicking the large chip with his finger.

"Uh... five hundred taels." Hoss's senses were sharp. He felt killing intent coming from Qin Mo. Could this beautiful, slender young man truly possess killing intent?

Qin Mo ignored him and carried the axe straight out to the street. The guards from both sides cleared a stretch of road to serve as a temporary dueling ground. The Wang Family stood on one side, while Qin Mo and his two companions occupied the other, facing each other in confrontation.

When Wang Yuyan and Huang Seshu saw Qin Mo standing to one side with a broken axe in hand, casually signaling that they could begin, their teeth ground with creaks. They both considered it a thorough and utter contempt for the Wang Family.

The light from Huang Seshu's sword flared brilliantly, even brighter than before, showing that he had pushed his vital energy to its utmost limit. He assumed an opening stance. That stance alone drew a wave of praise from the surrounding crowd. There were no lack of cultivators and warriors on the streets of Western Continent, and they knew quality when they saw it. After Huang Seshu took his stance, he immediately seemed like a different person—steady as a mountain, his killing intent sharp as a blade.

Qin Mo looked at Huang Seshu with even greater contempt. What use was striking a flashy pose? If you want to keep standing there, then keep standing there. I'll watch the stars for a while. After Allen's countless brutal beatings, he had long learned not to pose. His aura moved as his heart moved; he had no need for a stance to help him gather momentum.

The two faced each other for the time it took half a cup of tea to burn. Qin Mo kept his head slightly raised, gazing upward. At first, Huang Seshu thought it was some peculiar opening stance. Now he realized that Qin Mo was simply resting. The fire in his heart surged into his mind with a boom, and his whole body was engulfed in fury. With a roar, he charged straight at Qin Mo.