What? Lord Gu Is Injured?

Over the next ten-odd days, Ye An's daily life returned to peace.

He went to the martial arts hall at dawn to practice his finger techniques, and returned home at dusk to read the booklet given by Su Yuanshan.

The Qian Family's expression of gratitude completely relieved him of any worries regarding resources; two hundred Body Tempering Pills were enough for him to use for a long time.

[Azure Cloud Finger (Third Layer): 84/500]

[Azure Cloud Finger (Third Layer): 91/500]

[Azure Cloud Finger (Third Layer): 99/500]

[Azure Cloud Finger (Third Layer): 108/500]

With the Qian Family's pills and Su Yuanshan's guidance, his progress was indeed much faster than before.

Yet he was still a far cry from achieving triple body tempering.

The Green Bamboo Martial Arts Hall had grown a bit livelier lately.

The matter of Ye An defeating Zhao Heng on behalf of the Qian Family a few days ago had spread all over Anping County.

Once word got out, not many people believed it. Defeating someone in the late stage of the second body tempering while at the early stage? That was simply too absurd.

Thus, people began asking around about the Green Bamboo Martial Arts Hall.

Where the martial arts hall was located, the tuition fees, who the master was, what martial arts were taught, and which disciples had emerged. After inquiring, some shook their heads, some hesitated, while others gritted their teeth and sent their children over.

Su Yuanshan did not deliberately welcome these newcomers, nor did he raise prices simply because there were more people.

The tuition remained three taels a month, the body tempering martial art was still the Azure Cloud Finger, and the training grounds had not changed at all.

It was just that with more people coming, the front courtyard was much livelier than before.

Ye An did not care about these matters.

Whoever came or left had nothing to do with him.

Every day, he remained as usual in his corner, poking the iron plate and practicing the third layer of the Azure Cloud Finger.

Until one day, when an extra person appeared in his corner.

It was a young girl. Fifteen or sixteen years old, dressed in a light blue dress tied at the waist with a white silk ribbon, and her hair tied in a pretty light blue butterfly bow.

She stood in the corner, tilting her head as she watched Ye An poke the iron plate, feeling rather curious about this person.

"Hello, Brother An."

Ye An glanced at her, said nothing, and continued practicing the Azure Cloud Finger.

"My name is Wang Jinse," the young girl introduced herself. "The legitimate daughter of the Wang Family, newly arrived at the martial arts hall."

Imitating Qian Duoduo's manner, Wang Jinse squatted down beside Ye An to watch him practice.

After a while, her legs grew numb from squatting, so she stood up, rubbed her knees, and squatted right back down.

Ye An ignored her and kept poking.

Wang Jinse watched him for a long time before suddenly speaking up, "Brother An, you practice like this every day. Don't you ever take a break?"

Ye An withdrew his hand and turned to look at her. Wang Jinse felt somewhat uneasy under his gaze and stepped back half a pace.

"Because I haven't reached triple body tempering yet." With that, Ye An resumed his poking.

Wang Jinse was stunned for a moment before suddenly letting out a silver-bell-like giggle, feeling that Ye An was "really an interesting person."

Yet very soon, she lost that feeling.

Over the next few days, Wang Jinse would come to Ye An's corner every day and squat for a while.

Sometimes she brought a pot of tea, sometimes a plate of pastries, and sometimes she brought nothing at all, simply watching Ye An practice in silence.

Ye An neither refused nor accepted. He did not drink the tea, eat the pastries, or speak many words. Ye An practiced his own way, and if Wang Jinse chose not to leave, he would not chase her away.

After hanging around for a few days, Wang Jinse discovered a problem—this person named Ye An seemed to have only martial arts in his eyes.

When she brought tea, he would say, "Put it there," and then forget to drink it. When she brought pastries, he would say, "Put it there," and then forget to eat them.

When she squatted beside him and spoke, he cycled through three words: "Mn," "Oh," "Got it." Not a single extra word came out.

Wang Jinse felt somewhat frustrated.

Having grown up in the Wang Family, although she was not the most favored, she had never been treated with such indifference.

When Qian Duoduo heard that she had hit a snag with Ye An, he laughed for a long time.

"Don't waste your effort."

"Brother An is the sort of person who only has martial arts in his eyes. I've known him for so long, and he won't even go if I invite him to dinner."

Wang Jinse looked at him. "Then how did you get close to him?"

Qian Duoduo rubbed his chin in thought. "I brought him body tempering pills, and he accepted. I brought him more pills, and he accepted again. I brought him even more pills, and he accepted yet again. And then we became close."

Wang Jinse fell silent for a good while before asking again, unwilling to give up, "Doesn't he have any... other hobbies?"

Qian Duoduo thought about it and answered in all earnestness, "Practicing martial arts."

Wang Jinse: "..."

Wang Jinse observed for a few more days and found that Qian Duoduo was right.

From morning till night, Ye An's life consisted entirely of practicing martial arts, practicing martial arts, and practicing martial arts.

He did not chat with people, go out to eat, or attend any gatherings.

Even when Senior Brother Zhao Tieshan invited him for drinks, he turned him down.

Still, Wang Jinse refused to give up.

Initially, her lineage had told her to rope Ye An in, but by now she had simply grown curious about him.

That day at the mine, she had seen Ye An from afar as he felled Zhao Heng with a single finger.

That composed, neat-and-tidy figure was simply not the same person as the youth currently standing honestly in the corner and poking an iron plate.

She longed to know which side of him was the real one.

Upon learning that Wang Jinse was the legitimate daughter of the four great lineages' Wang Family, Ye An did not pay her any special heed, remaining just as he always was.

He had already rejected the four great lineages' attempts to win him over three times; he cared little for a fourth.

If you think this book is good, to avoid not finding it next time, please remember to add it to your bookshelf.

Right now, he only wanted to practice martial arts—reach triple body tempering, then open his pulse meridians, and finally advance even further.

The waters of the four great lineages were too deep, and he had no wish to wade into them.

As for why Wang Jinse came every day to watch him practice, Ye An did not care.

If she wanted to watch, she could watch; it made no difference to him whatsoever.

At noon that day, Ye An was practicing in his corner when he heard a few nearby disciples chatting idly.

"Listen to me, Lord Gu has truly returned this time."

"Shouldn't he have arrived long ago? Why is he only back now?"

"I heard he was ambushed on the road. He got hurt and has been recuperating, which is why he was delayed."

"Ambushed? Who has such guts, daring to ambush the county garrison commander?"

"Who knows? Those scoundrels from the Blackwind Stronghold, probably. Only they have the nerve."

"The Blackwind Stronghold? They dared move against Lord Gu? Lord Gu is a pulse-opening expert!"

"Pulse-opening experts are human too. When people launch a sneak attack, what can you do? I heard Lord Gu was quite heavily injured; his face looked terrible when he returned, and he had to be helped down from his horse."

"Then what about the county town? Lord Gu is injured. If the Blackwind Stronghold comes again, who will stop them?"

"What are you worrying about for? When the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up."

Squatting in the corner, Ye An continued his practice of the Azure Cloud Finger without stopping.

Gu Changfeng was injured? He thought of that maid by Liu Ruyan's side—she was above triple body tempering.

Gu Changfeng was at the pulse-opening realm, so anyone capable of injuring him must be at the pulse-opening realm as well. Anping County still possessed many experts.

Triple body tempering—he still needed to push himself harder!

Anping County Yamen, inner hall.

Gu Changfeng sat in a grandmaster chair, holding a cup of red tea in his hand. His complexion was rosy and his breathing steady, showing not the slightest trace of injury.

Yet his right arm was wrapped in bandages, and an area of dark red bloodstain seeped through the cloth. He had instructed the physician to wrap it this way, and the blood was from a chicken.

"My lord, it is time to change the medicine." A servant walked in carrying a tray.

Gu Changfeng waved a hand. "Leave it there. We'll change it later."

The servant placed the tray on the table and backed out of the room. Gu Changfeng stood up, walked over to the window, and pushed it open. In the courtyard, only the rustling of wind through bamboo leaves could be heard.

Footsteps sounded outside the door—three long beats followed by two short ones, the secret signal he had agreed upon with his subordinates.

"Come in."

The door was pushed open, and a middle-aged man dressed in black martial attire walked in. He was lean and slender, with a dark complexion and eyes that were long and narrow, resembling two knife scars. He dropped to one knee and cupped his fists.

"My lord, your subordinate has returned."

Gu Changfeng turned around and looked at him. "Found out?"

The middle-aged man stood up, pulled a stack of paper from his tunic, and offered it with both hands.

Gu Changfeng took it, opened it, and read page by page. The paper was densely covered with writing detailing dates, locations, names, silver amounts, and more.

"The Zhou Family, March twelfth, sent five hundred taels of silver to Blackwind Ridge. April eighteenth, sent thirty pieces of weaponry to Blackwind Ridge. May twenty-third, sent one hundred dan of grain to Blackwind Ridge," Gu Changfeng read aloud, the temperature in the room dropping a fraction with every word.

"The Sun Family also made moves, though not as overtly as the Zhou Family," the middle-aged man said. "No problems have been uncovered with the Li Family and the Wang Family as of yet, but your subordinate is still investigating."

Gu Changfeng closed the stack of paper, placed it on the table, and tapped his fingers twice against the surface.

"The Zhou Family," he repeated, as if savoring the weight of those two words.

"My lord, the Blackwind Stronghold has also been investigated. Pang Hu has been recruiting soldiers and buying horses recently, and a great many unfamiliar faces have appeared in the stronghold. The silver and weaponry sent by the Zhou Family have all been used by him to expand his forces."

Gu Changfeng walked back to the window and gazed at the bamboo in the courtyard. The wind blew past, causing the bamboo leaves to rustle as though whispering secrets.

"A tiny Anping County can stir up so many movements," Gu Changfeng said softly, as if speaking to himself. "Is it that a newly arrived garrison commander is an eyesore to them, and they wish to snuff me out right here?"

The middle-aged man did not reply, knowing that Gu Changfeng was not asking him.

"What a pity, their methods are far too crude." Gu Changfeng turned around to look at the middle-aged man. "Keep investigating. The Zhou Family, the Sun Family, the Li Family, the Wang Family—leave none of them out. Dig up all the evidence you can find."

"Understood."

The Blackwind Stronghold meant little to Gu Changfeng; the four great lineages were the true big fish!

"Keep a close eye on the Blackwind Stronghold as well. When Pang Hu comes down the mountain, who he contacts, and what he says—I want to know it all."

"Understood."

Gu Changfeng sat back down in his chair and took a sip of the tea, which had already grown cold, though he paid it no mind.

"Go."

The middle-aged man cupped his fists. As he reached the door, Gu Changfeng called out to him again.

"There is one more matter."

The middle-aged man turned back.

"A certain figure has been rather prominent lately. What was his name again... Ye An?"

"A retainer of the Qian Family, the one who defeated Zhao Heng. Go and investigate his background."

The middle-aged man raised a doubt, "Does my lord suspect he has ties to the Blackwind Stronghold?"

Gu Changfeng shook his head without explaining. "Investigate him first, then we'll see."

The middle-aged man cupped his fists and pushed the door open to leave.

Gu Changfeng sat alone in the inner hall, pretending he had just finished changing his medicine.

Ye An, Green Bamboo Martial Arts Hall, early stage of second body tempering, having defeated Zhao Heng.

Su Yuanshan's disciple, the Qian Family's retainer.

A youth with middle-grade bone structure who went from the first stage to the second in four months, and then defeated a late-stage second body tempering expert while still in the early stage himself.

Such a person was either a genius, blessed with great fortuitous encounters, or backed by someone powerful.

No matter which it was, he was worth a second glance.

Gu Changfeng closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair.

The waters of Anping County were deeper than he had imagined.

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