"Insolent! You dare injure someone right under my nose? Submit to the law!"
Just as an oppressive force descended out of nowhere, about to land on the young man's head, he spoke calmly:
"Are you sure? You want me to kneel?"
The young man took out a token and waved it.
The force paused for a moment, then dissipated. "Tomorrow, I shall pay a visit to the Prefect of the Capital and question how he teaches his children..."
"You're not qualified!" The young man waved a hand, and no further sound came from that direction.
Meanwhile, Lin Ke had reached the spot where Chen Pingping had fallen and slowly helped the old man up.
"Uncle Chen, are you all right?"
"I'm fine. That young man used a deft bit of force and merely sent me flying." With Lin Ke's support, Chen Pingping straightened up.
"That's a relief." Lin Ke let out a breath at his words.
At the same time, however, the son of the Left Secretary of the Capital Prefecture had fallen silent.
Lin Ke looked up.
Beside the storytelling platform stood an exceedingly slovenly, burly man wearing a bloodstained apron, with two meat-cutting butcher's knives slung over his shoulder.
Butcher Zhang!
"You..." The young man's chest heaved violently, suppressed by Butcher Zhang's aura!
"You've got some nerve, little brat!" Butcher Zhang laughed heartily. "You dare attack someone right under my nose?"
Seeing Butcher Zhang firmly suppress the young man, Lin Ke felt a little more at ease.
The young man frowned. "You intend to make an enemy of the Capital Prefecture? Even if..."
"Enemy, my ass!" Before the young man could finish, Butcher Zhang spat. "Then are you fucking trying to make an enemy of my Demon Department's Demon-Slaying Division? And that 'may one not judge, pray?' Pray, my ass! I, a butcher, have slain demons by the trillion; may I slay thee, pray?"
Butcher Zhang stared at the young man, his face fierce.
The young man had initially been cowed, but upon hearing Butcher Zhang's mangled phrasing, he sneered. "By the trillion? Do you think you're the Sage Emperor? Ignorant ant."
Without waiting for Butcher Zhang to answer, he turned to Lin Ke. "If I'm not mistaken, you're Lin Ke."
Lin Ke said nothing. He handed Chen Pingping over to a worried-looking Chen An, then stood up.
Seeing this, Butcher Zhang withdrew his pressure as well. After all, with Chen Pingping in that state, the young man would not dare attack again.
The people around them suddenly cried out in surprise.
"Th-this is Lin Ke?!"
"Aaaaaah! I want to have your babies!"
"Get out of the way, you vulgar women! Ahem, Brother Lin, my name is Zhou Xingxing. Might we exchange a few words?"
"He's sooo cool! Our darling is sooo cool!"
The girls around them, tall or short, plump or thin, all began screaming.
In particular, although Lin Ke was dressed plainly, he naturally exuded an air of looking down upon everything.
What did an air of looking down upon everything mean?
It meant that, in Lin Ke's eyes, everyone seemed to stand on the same level. No matter where they belonged within the Three Honors, Six Paths, Nine Classes, they were all equal.
What a gaze!
Never mind anyone else-even the young son of the Left Secretary of the Capital Prefecture and Butcher Zhang were somewhat surprised.
The eyes were the windows to the soul.
A person's gaze reflected their state of mind.
At that moment, at least in Lin Ke's eyes, this young man from the Capital Prefecture was no different from the other people of servile status beside him.
The young man wore a mocking smile. "I merely wanted to see what remarkable person of 'prostitute' status dared compete against Brother Qi. I never imagined it would be someone who knows neither the height of heaven nor the depth of the earth."
"I know how high heaven is and how deep the earth is, but what does that have to do with my looking down on you?" Lin Ke said calmly. "When the brave grow angry, they draw their blades against those stronger than themselves. When cowards grow angry, they draw their blades against those weaker."
"I am sixteen, of servile status, with clear eyes and a dustless heart. I disdain petty men, respect the old and young, honor the Sage above, and protect the people below. Why may I not look down upon thee, pray?"
As soon as Lin Ke finished, cheers erupted around him.
"Good! Excellent! Beautifully said!"
"The strong draw their blades against the strong, and the weak draw their blades against the weak. How incisive!"
"Our Young Master Lin, Divine Detective, truly speaks in polished verses, one brilliant line after another!"
At the words about the strong and weak drawing their blades, the son of the Capital Prefecture Left Secretary frowned. When he heard "Why may I not look down upon thee, pray?" his eyelid twitched violently.
Butcher Zhang had just said, "...pray?" Now Lin Ke had followed with another "...pray?"
The result made him look like a complete idiot.
"You seem very confident in your literary talent." The son of the Capital Prefecture Left Secretary narrowed his eyes.
"The Great Wei Code does not seem to prohibit confidence in my literary talent." Lin Ke delivered the words evenly, yet his drawn-sword, strung-bow defiance stunned everyone.
After all, Lin Ke was merely of servile status!
The crowd did not know that Lin Ke's trump cards were Butcher Zhang, Wang Lin, Li Chungang, Shopkeeper Tong, Minister Qi... and his own bellyful of Blue Star literature and civilization.
Thus, they could only conclude that Lin Ke must have gone mad!
The young man merely raised his eyebrows and chuckled softly. "Do you dare compete with me in poetry?"
The map had unrolled, revealing the dagger!
The young man's purpose in coming was plain: he wanted a poetry contest!
Everyone present was dumbfounded.
A... a poetry contest?
Wasn't Lin Ke the Young Master Lin, Divine Detective?
You wanted to compete in poetry against someone of servile status?
Yet some people gradually began to grasp what was happening.
This son of the Capital Prefecture Left Secretary did not seem to have come looking for trouble because of the title "Young Master Lin, Divine Detective."
Hadn't he mentioned some Brother Qi earlier?
Before the crowd could puzzle over it further, the young man raised his voice and swept his gaze around them. "Everyone! Young Master Lin of Divine Case-Solving is having a contest against my elder brother Qi Ye in two months! The first round of that contest is literary!"
"So my literary contest with him is merely a test to see whether he is qualified to compete against Brother Qi! I am not bullying him! But if he cannot even beat me, he should spare Brother Qi the trouble."
At his words, the gathering erupted into an uproar.
A contest?!
Young Master Lin, Divine Detective, was actually going to compete against someone?
Meanwhile, some people familiar with officialdom and the various figures of the Imperial Capital spoke up.
"Qi Ye... I remember that Minister Qi of the War Department's eldest son is named Qi Ye," said someone who looked like a young gentleman, his expression thoughtful.
"Yes! Apparently, Minister Qi once hired a fortune-teller to read their destinies, and the verdict was that father and son had incompatible birth charts. At first, Minister Qi thought nothing of it!" someone beside him replied.
Naturally, another person pressed, "And then? What happened afterward?"
The young gentleman explained, "Later, Minister Qi poured his heart and soul into Qi Ye, reminding him constantly and supervising his body tempering and combat practice. In the end, however, this only made Qi Ye rebellious. He ultimately stalled at the Intent-Communing Realm and became a Confucian Scholar instead."
"So you mean... Young Master Lin is going to compete against Minister Qi's son, who is at the Intent-Communing Realm on the Martial Path and the Confucian Scholar Realm on the Confucian Path..."
Hearing those words, everyone turned their gaze toward Lin Ke.
Someone of servile status wanted to compete against a minister's son who cultivated both the Confucian and martial paths...
Wasn't that going to be far too bloody and brutal?
Before you continue