The logic worked both ways.
Since the Qi Refining practitioner, as the weaker party, could morally blackmail Chen Xia,
then Chen Xia could turn around and blackmail him too.
The Qi Refining practitioner's expression darkened. Gritting his teeth, he clenched his walking stick in both hands and said angrily,
"Trading my life as an overseas Qi Refining practitioner for two or three thousand of your Great Song's people is no loss."
"Mm, as long as you think so." Chen Xia nodded sincerely, then yawned. Looking rather bored, he leaned back against the wall and said casually,
"I'll give you two choices. Get lost, or die here."
The old man's expression shifted uncertainly. After a long moment of thought, he said heavily, "I came to demand an explanation for the fifty-six Qi Refining practitioners who died."
"You still haven't figured out the situation." Chen Xia rubbed his eyelids and asked the old man, "Would you let an insect threaten you?"
"If you want to kill these people, go ahead. I can't stop you, but you can't stop me from killing you either."
"Afterward, I'll also make a special trip overseas and wipe out every last one of your Qi Refining practitioners."
"No objections, right?"
The old man's hands trembled around his walking stick. He realized that Chen Xia truly did not care about these two or three thousand lives. Chen Xia's entire manner was utterly casual, without the slightest intention of stopping him.
But he was the National Preceptor of Great Song. How could he act like this?!
Chen Xia turned his head and asked the girl in the pear-yellow dress, "Are you afraid of dying?"
The girl froze for a long moment. She did not understand what was happening, but nodded anyway.
"Then stand closer to me. I'll make sure you don't die in a moment."
Hearing this, the girl instinctively moved closer to Chen Xia.
The old man suddenly turned ruthless, forming hand seals and crying out under his breath.
"Qi..."
He never finished.
Because half his head was already gone.
Chen Xia stood before him. It had taken nothing more than a casual chop of his hand.
Yet a cruel smile spread across the remaining half of the old man's mouth.
"So you do care! We have another Qi Refining practitioner. He'll cast his spell any moment now!"
"Mm, all right."
Chen Xia nodded calmly.
He really did look as though he did not care.
"Qi explosion..."
Chen Xia clearly heard the faint sound from roughly eight hundred meters away.
Flood Dragon Qi surged out of the ground, instantly surrounding the figure who had spoken and restraining him.
The old man's body, with only half its head remaining, could hold on no longer either. His life slipped away.
Chen Xia said with some regret, "I couldn't have stopped you originally. Unfortunately, your mind faltered, and your hands slowed."
The experts from the Constabulary hurriedly emerged and dispersed the surrounding people, who had no idea what was happening. Then they gathered around Chen Xia, dropping to their knees and kowtowing.
"The Constabulary failed to protect you. Please punish us, National Preceptor."
Chen Xia paused, finding it rather funny. "I really don't need your protection. Stop following me, too. Go home and rest."
"Thank you for your forgiveness, National Preceptor!" The Constabulary experts hurriedly kowtowed.
Chen Xia could not be bothered to say anything more. After wandering around, he returned to the imperial city and sat in the luxurious sleeping palace Song Wei had prepared for him, intending to enter seclusion again.
That night.
A sudden knock came at the door, followed by a timid voice.
"National Preceptor, may... may I come in?"
Chen Xia found the voice familiar but could not place it, so he nodded and replied, "You may."
The door was gently pushed open. The first thing he saw was a pair of slender, shapely legs, fair as jade, with only a little fabric covering the hips, followed by a graceful figure.
Finally came a pretty face.
"It's you." Chen Xia realized who she was. His visitor was actually the girl he had met that day, the one who could swallow a rock-sugar-coated snow pear in one bite.
The girl lowered her head, her face so flushed with embarrassment that it almost seemed ready to drip. Not daring to look at Chen Xia, she greeted him softly.
"Greetings, N-National Preceptor."
Chen Xia asked casually, "What's your name?"
"Huang Qingyue." The girl answered Chen Xia gently, keeping her voice low for fear of disturbing him.
Chen Xia stood and approached Huang Qingyue, asking with interest, "When you bought candied fruit today, you showed me how you could swallow a snow pear in one bite, didn't you?"
"Mm... yes." Huang Qingyue nodded bashfully in admission, her face growing even redder than the candied fruit she had eaten that day.
"Good." Chen Xia smiled and hitched up his trousers. "Then could you demonstrate again? This time, we won't be swallowing candied fruit."
"Huh?" Huang Qingyue's flushed expression went slightly blank. She asked in confusion, "If not candied fruit, what am I swallowing?"
Chen Xia felt around and replied, "Using such impressive mouth skills to swallow candied fruit is really wasting great talent on a trivial task. Besides, there's something I've always wanted to try."
"Wh-what?" Huang Qingyue raised her eyes in confusion, not quite understanding, yet feeling that Chen Xia seemed to mean something more.
"This should be something no man could refuse." As Chen Xia spoke, his fumbling hand stopped. He smiled at Huang Qingyue and continued,
"Could you demonstrate eating a whole pig in three bites?"
He asked.
"Huh?"
Huang Qingyue's eyes widened as she stared at the roast suckling pig before her, incomprehension written all over her face.
Still, she ate it, and it did not even take three bites. She finished it in two.
"A heaven-sent genius!" Such was Chen Xia's appraisal.
Huang Qingyue's cheeks bulged with food. Unable to speak clearly, she could only chew rapidly.
Afterward, the two of them stared at each other.
"What did you come here for?" Only now did Chen Xia ask this question.
Huang Qingyue lowered her head and said softly, "Daddy sent me. He said you'd taken... taken a liking to me, and told me to come at... attend to you."
As she said this, her maidenly bashfulness left her deeply flushed. She did not even dare raise her eyes to look at Chen Xia.
Such was a young maiden's charm.
Chen Xia nodded, quite agreeing. "I did take a liking to you. After all, swallowing a suckling pig in two bites proves my judgment really was good."
Huang Qingyue grew even more embarrassed, her head almost touching her chest as she explained quietly,
"I am... a little greedy for food. I've made a fool of myself before you, National Preceptor. But I came here to at... attend to you."
The girl was bashful, after all. Whenever she reached the words "attend to," her voice suddenly grew quieter, not daring to say them aloud.
"How do you plan to attend to me?" Chen Xia asked with a smile, finding it rather amusing to tease the young girl.
"However you... you wish." Huang Qingyue answered quietly, still not daring to look at Chen Xia.
"Good." Chen Xia nodded and asked, "Can you play Chinese chess?"
"I learned from Daddy, so I suppose I can," Huang Qingyue replied.
"Good."
Chen Xia took out a board, arranged the pieces, and extended a hand in invitation. "Since we're doing nothing anyway, why don't we play a few games?"
Huang Qingyue hurriedly nodded and sat up properly. "Please make the first move, National Preceptor."
"Then I won't stand on ceremony." Holding a chariot piece, Chen Xia declared in a low shout,
"I'll drift right in and put you in check!"
Huang Qingyue's hand stopped as she reached for a piece, her face blank.
Huh?
The Upper Realm.
The Fuyao Immortal Sect.
An old man in lavish robes rode a ferry through the sea of stars, arriving before a cave abode. First, he straightened his clothes, then called respectfully,
"Elder Wang Wu requests an audience with the Holy Maiden."
"No need for an audience. Whatever it is, say it outside the door. The Holy Maiden is busy. I'll pass it along."
The cave door suddenly spoke, actually opening two eyes and looking at the old man as it answered.
"Yes." The old man nodded reluctantly and said, "The immortal realm is holding the Sacred Assembly of Ten Thousand Sects. The sect master sent me to notify the Holy Maiden to prepare to attend, and to use the new Holy Maiden's name to build good relations with those sects while she's there."
"So the Holy Maiden must make ample preparations. The Sacred Assembly of Ten Thousand Sects isn't far off, either-exactly one thousand years from now. I ask that the Holy Maiden cultivate diligently and display her brilliance when the time comes!"
The cave door sounded impatient. "Enough, enough. Hurry along. You're only delivering a message for the sect master. Why tack on so many words of your own?"
The old man looked displeased, but dared not flare up. He left quickly.
The cave door did not relay the old man's words to Xu Zhen.
Because Xu Zhen could hear them. She simply did not want to acknowledge this elder.
Since arriving at the Fuyao Immortal Sect over thirty years ago, she had seen plenty of flattery and treacherous hearts. She also knew that most of these elders saw nothing but profit.
And as a Holy Maiden whose cultivation realm was low but whose talent was extraordinary, she was precisely the sort of person these elders most liked to approach.
Fortunately, her status as Holy Maiden was high enough that she could simply refuse to acknowledge these elders and cultivate in peace.
Xu Zhen shook her head, blinked her lovely eyes, and asked the cave door,
"Little Wu, what realm do you think I need to reach before I can go out freely?"
The cave door thought for a while before answering hesitantly, "At least the Sea-Overturning Realm, surely. No, no, Sea-Overturning still isn't quite enough. Even the Heaven-Mending Realm doesn't seem quite sufficient. Great Emperor would be safest."
Xu Zhen knitted her willow-leaf brows, feeling that she might as well not have asked.
She sighed again.
Thirty years of passing suns and moons was a very short time in a cultivator's lifespan, not even something that needed much attention.
But Xu Zhen felt it was long.
Her longing was long, and every passing year stretched it further.
If longing were a long, long river, then the longing in Xu Zhen's heart might already be gathering into a sea.
The more she encountered the immortal realm, the more she missed her days in Weixi Town.
The more she missed Chen Xia.
She missed Brother Xia, who had treated her with genuine sincerity.
Of course.
She was the same.
Her feelings had never changed.
No one had ever managed to produce a crown prince succeeding to the throne after being put in check.
But Huang Qingyue witnessed it. She had played Chinese chess all night and finally managed to put Chen Xia in check. Just as she was about to rejoice,
Chen Xia pulled a smaller "general" piece out from behind him, grandly calling it the crown prince's succession, and even named the piece Second Emperor.
Huang Qingyue did not know whether to laugh or cry. Pouting, she finally resorted to a girl's wheedling tactics and looked pitifully at Chen Xia.
"National Preceptor, can't you let me win just once?"
Chen Xia shook his head. "Any game involving competition stops being much fun once you lose."
Huang Qingyue nodded in wholehearted agreement, looking pitifully at Chen Xia with her large, watery eyes. "It really isn't much fun."
Chen Xia paused briefly, then muttered something to himself.
Huang Qingyue's sharp ears caught it.
"So cute. She'd probably cry for ages if I punched her, wouldn't she?"
Huang Qingyue hurriedly wiped away the tears in her eyes, sat up straight, and looked solemnly at Chen Xia as she replied,
"Please be sure to spare my life."