A servant of three masters

Perhaps he was the "wind and clouds" Huang Jingji needed.

Of course, Lianshan Xin was not being that kindhearted.

His main targets were still the Golden Scale Alliance and the Kong Family.

"Gang Leader Huang, you know about my relationship with Kong Liulang, don't you?" Lianshan Xin asked.

Huang Jingji nodded. "Of course."

The Thorn Gang controlled this neighborhood.

If he did not even know that Kong Ningyuan had personally come to see Lianshan Xin, he would have been utterly useless.

But clearly, Huang Jingji had something going for him.

The fact that he still dared approach Lianshan Xin despite knowing that suggested he had even more up his sleeve.

There were seven brothers in Kong Ningyuan's generation. Though they had grown from the same root, their specialty was burning one another in the pot.

With Lianshan Xin's help, Kong Ningyuan had used a single move, "yielding the pear," to cook all six of his brothers.

The affection between them rivaled that between Cao Pi and Cao Zhi.

Such loving elder brothers, such respectful younger brothers. What a harmonious family.

Lianshan Xin was unquestionably on Kong Ningyuan's side.

If he had another chance to cook Kong Sanlang, he would not pass it up, for the sake of his friendship with Kong Ningyuan.

Lianshan Xin gave Huang Jingji another meaningful look.

He wants to be a servant of three masters.

But Fengxian's fighting prowess was beyond any ordinary turncoat.

Playing the field could yield enormous rewards if it worked, but once everything capsized, the outcome was far more miserable than it was for someone who played it straight.

It all depended on Huang Jingji's luck and skill.

"Let's go."

Seeing that Du Jiu had finished giving instructions to the other members of the Nine Heavens, Lianshan Xin nodded to Huang Jingji.

Huang Jingji, however, felt his heart tighten.

Du Jiu had merely waved casually at the crowd.

An unremarkable man had immediately stepped out.

Clearly, this man was also a member of the Nine Heavens.

Yet even with him standing right before you, you would never know who he was.

These were the methods of the Nine Heavens.

Yesterday, during the raid on the Qu Family, a single command from Qi Shiyun had brought a group of Nine Heavens elites silently emerging from every direction.

They lurked among the crowd, indistinguishable from the onlookers, yet could tear away their disguises at any moment and become gods of slaughter.

At the time, Lianshan Xin had been stunned by the Nine Heavens' ability to conceal and organize themselves. Now it was Huang Jingji's turn to experience that shock.

That forced Lianshan Xin to consider another question:

Did Thousand Faces escape because he was too powerful, or because the Nine Heavens deliberately let him swim free as bait? Of course, most likely, it was a bit of both.

Clearly, the rank-and-file members of the Nine Heavens also possessed Thousand Faces' skills in disguise and altering their appearance. Naturally, they could not pass off the false as real as convincingly as Thousand Faces could, but Thousand Faces was one of the Demon Cult's four great elders.

When you compared one of the Demon Cult's four great elders to an ordinary member of the Nine Heavens, the difference between the two organizations was already plain.

"The Nine Heavens' methods have truly opened this humble man's eyes." Huang Jingji was sincerely convinced.

Of course, he knew that Lianshan Xin was showing him this to warn him against any tricks. If so much as a single hair on Lianshan Xin's head fell out in the Thorn Gang's territory, his nine clans would be in danger.

A middle-aged man with property, a wife, and three children was practically covered in weak spots. The likelihood that he would dare sacrifice his nine clans was infinitely close to zero.

Huang Jingji received the threat and became even more deferential. "Young Master Xin, please."

"Lead the way."

Lianshan Xin followed Huang Jingji out.

He did not notice the slightly odd look in his father's eyes.

Lianshan Jingcheng wanted to speak, but hesitated.

In the end, he chose to let silence remain golden.

But after sharing his bed for twenty years, He Miaojun understood Lianshan Jingcheng better than Lianshan Xin did.

"Has Huang Jingji bullied you before? Why do you keep looking at him?"

Lianshan Jingcheng looked at He Miaojun in surprise. "Even Xin didn't notice. You have sharp eyes, my dear."

He Miaojun said smugly, "You men are nowhere near as observant as we women."

"Xin is usually very observant too. It's just that too much has happened over the past two days, and success has come too easily for him. Making a name for yourself at a young age isn't necessarily a good thing. It's all too easy to take a nasty fall."

Clearly, Lianshan Jingcheng had also noticed the recklessness Lianshan Xin had deliberately revealed.

He Miaojun understood their son no less well than Lianshan Jingcheng and was equally aware of it, but she thought it perfectly normal. "Xin is already much more mature than most children. Expecting him to have forty-eight years of experience at eighteen would be the strange thing. My dear, I've come to terms with it now."

"With what?"

"Xin isn't us. He's still young, and young people ought to have some of that spirited confidence. The Imperial Court has endured for a thousand years, but its rules aren't rigid, and its laws vary from person to person. There is no shortage of heroes among those who kill and burn, while most who win glory and build great achievements are overbearing. Once your name resounds beneath heaven, you have a chance to rise above your station and soar straight into the nine heavens.

"Xin grew up hearing stories like that, and the education Teacher Dai gave him before was as orthodox as it came. It's perfectly normal for him to pursue fame and fortune. The young favorites of heaven in this world all grow up that way, really.

"We can't use our forty years of experience to judge eighteen-year-old Xin. Over the Imperial Court's thousand-year history, countless geniuses have made their names while young. Compared with them, Xin is already quite restrained."

He Miaojun had been born into wealth, and her knowledge and experience were beyond those of ordinary people. Lianshan Jingcheng could not refute her words.

The Great Yu Immortal Dynasty had its own particular circumstances. A thousand years of accumulated foundations had made the Imperial Family supremely confident, even arrogant.

Because they were so powerful themselves, the Imperial Family did not place particularly obvious restraints on either the common people or even the Imperial Court's high officials.

Indeed, they mostly admired those who dared offend the throne with blunt remonstrations and behaved with swaggering arrogance.

As a result, Great Yu's court was filled with fierce ministers, while experts crowded the martial world like clouds. There were no few martial heroes who used their prowess to defy the law.

Yet the emperor did not particularly care.

That did not fit the thinking of a conventional ruler.

But anyone clever could see it clearly: strength allowed tolerance.

And the facts bore it out. Despite producing countless ruthless figures whose power overshadowed the realm, and despite Land Immortals repeatedly manifesting their might in the martial world, the thousand-year-old Great Yu still stood to this day.

"Don't deliberately change the subject. What's going on with Huang Jingji?"

He Miaojun forcibly steered the conversation back.

Lianshan Jingcheng shook his head. "Nothing. Perhaps I was mistaken."

"I hate people who only tell half the story." He Miaojun narrowed her eyes.

Lianshan Jingcheng sensed danger and promptly decided to surrender, leaning close to He Miaojun's ear to murmur a couple of sentences.

"Huh?"

He Miaojun was stunned.

"Doctor Lianshan, congratulations!"

"Your son's recommendation to White Deer Grotto Academy is a blessing for our whole street."

"I truly envy you and your wife, Doctor Lianshan. I'll certainly have my child learn more from your son in the future."

Lianshan Xin had become the exemplary child everyone compared their own children to, and Lianshan Jingcheng and He Miaojun finally enjoyed the perks of being that child's parents.

The two exchanged a glance and saw the smiles tugging at each other's lips, almost impossible to suppress.

At the end of the day, they were only ordinary people.

Who did not enjoy being praised?