Grease stained his lips until none remained; the bowl was set down, its trotter soup drained.
Wang Tai set down his bowl, thoroughly satisfied, and sighed:
"'Speak no more of being cast aside; strive instead to eat your fill.' Whatever happens, a person ought to eat well. Eat well, and your spirits improve. Yuanyuan, are you really not having any?"
The black-clad man with the eyepatch withdrew his gaze from downstairs and cupped his hands. "Thank you, my lord. I'm not hungry."
"It's not a matter of being hungry. Forget it, you don't know how to enjoy life... Did you make anything of them?"
The black-clad man said, "Both are experts. The taller one has excellent kicking techniques. Her swordsmanship isn't outstanding, but it's serviceable. Judging by her movements, she seems to have some military training..."
Wang Tai asked curiously, "You know military fighting methods too?"
Wu Qian had not noticed that, because he was purely a man of the martial world. Then this Yuanyuan...
The black-clad man remained silent. Wang Tai did not press him, but changed the subject. "What about the other one?"
The man shook his head. "Hard to tell. It resembles the close-quarters fighting of the Qiongdu Yi in Shu, but it's different. What she practices is the art of killing."
"Aren't all martial arts arts of killing?"
"She trains to kill in a single move. Every move is lethal, without a single wasted motion. Once she gets close, she can kill in the blink of an eye. She had no intention of killing just now, and she didn't have the initiative, but the taller one still came off worse."
"How does she compare to you?" Wang Tai suddenly asked.
"We haven't fought. I can't say."
"The proprietor of Ruyi Tower is named Zhao Quan. He's