If the other party was the grandson of Duke Jiu, Zhao Fengchen wouldn’t dare to bear any unseemly intentions even with the backing of the Imperial Army and the Zhao Clan.
Furthermore, this made the matter complicated. Those nobles didn’t lack money and often behaved wilfully. Common sense couldn’t be used to fathom their intentions.
Just like what happened earlier, these nobles would even reject a sum of 40000 gold taels easily.
Zhao Fengchen had no confidence that the other party would sell the sword to him!
The bearded man has served Zhao Fengchen for many years, he could figure out Zhao Fengchen’s thoughts in an instant. In fact, the news which he had gathered was worse than what he had told Zhao Fengchen.
That fellow was a famous profligate scion in the capital. Not only was he wilful, he was also rebellious, often going against his family. There was a high probability that he would reject Lord Zhao’s request, regardless of his offer.
“Lord, even though Duke Jiu’s reputation is resounding and we can’t do anything to his grandson, it isn’t like there isn’t a way at all.”
The bearded man suddenly said.
“Oh?”
Surprised, a glint flashed across Zhao Fengchen’s eyes. “You have an idea?”
“I had the brothers look into the matter and we coincidentally found out that the uncle of that lad is currently serving in the Imperial Army. He is a section leader guarding the North Gate. Even though we can’t do anything excessive over the sword, if lord were to meet with his ‘uncle’, it might turn out to be even more effective than lord visiting the Wang Clan personally.”
The bearded man offered a strategy.
This time, Zhao Fengchen was truly surprised. There were four gates to the royal palace, being the North Gate, South Gate, East Gate, and West Gate. Given that the emperor lived in the north of the palace, who would dare to go further up than him? Thus, even though there was a gate at the north, it was rarely opened.
A section leader of such a place actually held one of the lowest and most insignificant positions in the Imperial Army. Zhao Fengchen didn’t expect that the son-in-law of Duke Jiu would actually be holding such a minor appointment at such a place.
“It must be the Yao Clan’s doing.”
Zhao Fengchen thought. The Imperial Army was the personal guards of the emperor. Even though Yao Clan held incredible prestige in the capital, there was a limit to how far their arms could stretch.
Given the style of the Wang Clan Old Master, Zhao Fengchen guessed that it was likely that this ‘uncle’ was a person of limited capability, that’s why he didn’t take the effort to promote him.
Even so, these had nothing to do with him.
As these thoughts flashed through his mind, an idea suddenly appeared in Zhao Fengchen’s head. He pushed aside the teacup, stood up, and walked out.
Hualala!
At the same moment as Zhao Fengchen leaving the room, countless pigeons were flying all around in the capital through the darkness.
“Investigate! Investigate! Investigate!”
“It’s impossible for there to be no news about the forging of such a powerful sword!”
“In the capital, there’s nothing that can be hidden from the swordsmithing clans. Since the sword doesn’t belong to them, it must have come from somewhere else. Regardless of whether it’s the marshlands, mountains, wilderness, or remote villages, I want to find out the background of the sword!”
“This is a good opportunity to surpass the prestigious swordsmithing clans!”
“As long as we find the origin of the sword, we can become the number one swordsmithing clan in the world!”
…
Countless voices flew about through the letter pigeons, and no one believed that Wang Chong’s sword would have come from nowhere. The greatest shock in the sword duel gamble this time was that not even the prestigious swordsmithing clans knew of the origin of the sword.
In the swordsmithing industry, forging a sword required many factors, be it the ores, the swordsmiths, forge, coal… It was impossible for there to be no traces given the multitude of steps required for the forging of the sword.
As long as they could find the origin of the sword, the sword in Wang Chong’s sword meant nothing at all. To the powers who had been oppressed by the prestigious swordsmithing clans in the capital, this was an ideal opportunity to surpass them once and for all!
…
Peng peng peng!
Before the sun has risen, the sound of punching fists could be heard from the backyard of the Wang Family Residence.
Wang Chong was gowned in gray training clothes with a belt around his waist. Dressed casually, he was practicing his fist technique. Since the crisis of his clan has been resolved and the matter regarding the Hyderabad ores had been settled, the pressure gripping Wang Chong’s heart was released. Finally, he could devote his attention to martial arts.
Peng peng peng!
Executing the Constellation Steps, his feet moved rapidly. The fist he released would either cause a tremor or burst the air before him. The great strength in his fists caused the air in his surroundings to shudder, and the sound of waves echoed loudly.
Three chi away, pots of plants which were about the size of an arm swayed along with the shock wave from the fists.
Training the ‘Herculean Punch’, one had to gather all his strength into his fist. Only when the air in the surroundings and one’s steps moved as though a wave could one be considered to have primarily grasped the essence of the fist.
Wang Chong had spent a significant amount of time before managing to expand and contract the muscles and meridians in his body to adapt to the strength of the Herculean Punch.
“That’s more like it!”
Wang Chong thought.
The reason why Wang Chong had decided to cultivate the Herculean Punch alongside the Dragon Bone Art wasn’t just because the fist technique was strong and allowed one to utilize strength several folds of what they possessed.
More importantly, when one had reached the level of being able to manipulate the air in the surroundings to create the sounds of waves, one would be able to make use of the intent behind the Herculean Punch to stimulate one’s blood and hasten the cultivation of the Dragon Bone Art.
Meaning to say, these two complemented one another!
Wang Chong only happened to stumble on this trick coincidentally.
Weng!
Wang Chong shut his eyes as the blood in his body billowed. As if a wave, it surged through his veins. Wherever his blood flowed his body, Wang Chong could sense a faint and weak Origin Energy from the air filling his body, bringing a cooling sensation along with it.
Melding into his blood and flowing through the veins, the Origin Energy eventually seeped into Wang Chong’s bones.
Under the propagation of this strength, Wang Chong could clearly sense the increase in the rate of progression in his Dragon Bone Art.
Peng!
Wang Chong threw another fist out. He didn’t use any moves, simply executing the basic ‘Herculean Punch’ while complementing it with the Dragon Bone Art. Just like that, he continued training in the backyard of the Wang Family Residence.
Time crept slowly. Alone and without any disturbance, Wang Chong soon fell in a trance.
After an unknown period of time——
Hu!
Wang Chong expelled a long breath. Sweat dripped off his entire body, soaking his clothes. Wang Chong could feel his strength growing significantly after this training session.
“Looks like my conjecture isn’t wrong. Complementing the Dragon Bone Art with the Herculean Punch can indeed hasten the cultivation of the Dragon Bone Art.”
Wang Chong thought.
This time, he could sense that his cultivation was clearly much faster than how it was usually, equivalent to two days of training. This was the effect of the Herculean Punch. However, the cultivation of Herculean Punch sapped one’s stamina.
Training from yesterday night until now, Wang Chong felt drained.
“I should return to my room and wash up. Mother and little sister should be waking up soon.”
Wang Chong expelled the turbid breath from his body and calmed his cultivation. Grabbing the towel that was hanging on the branch of a tree not too far away, he wiped off the sweat on his face before returning to his room. On the way, he passed by a man-made hill and abruptly punched it.
Boom!
Upon striking the man-made hill, there was a loud explosion and the hill shattered into innumerable fragments.
“Not bad! Since the punch was able to smash the boulder, this means that my punch is able to rival Origin Energy Tier 6 to Tier 7 experts!”
Wang Chong smiled and nodded his head in satisfaction.
This was the effect of his training.
By right, his current cultivation realm wasn’t enough for him to destroy this kind of man-made hill. However, augmented by the strength of the Herculean Punch, he was able to crush the entire hill easily, rivaling the strength of Tier 6 to Tier 7 experts.
“The time I spent cultivating it still too short. With time, I should be able to reach higher realms.’
Wang Chong thought cheerfully.
Due to Wang Chong’s insufficient skill, his fists hurt from the Herculean Punch he sent at the boulder. Flinging his pained knuckles about, he swiftly returned to his room.
Currently, the matter from the Bluebottle Pavilion hasn’t blown up yet. It was as though a volcano on the verge of eruption, and at least on the surface, it was still calm. Even though a large commotion had broken out yesterday, the Wang Clan was still peaceful.
Wang Chong hurriedly washed up, ate his breakfast, and left the residence alone.
“It’s time to carry on with that matter!”
Standing in the middle of the streets, a thought flashed through Wang Chong’s mind.
In his previous life, the Great Tang had countless brilliant marshals and generals. These people were like shooting stars, and in that catastrophe, they died one after another, disappearing under the cloak of history.
Of all of the marshals and generals, there was once which Wang Chong thought it was the most regrettable. His name was Su Zhengchen.
In this world, there were many things that were different from how Wang Chong remembered it. Su Zhengchen was one of them.
He was one of the oldest and most established official in the royal court, as well as one of the legendary marshalls of Great Tang Empire. Fifty years ago, this name was once well-known throughout the lands of Great Tang, and in the military, Su Zhengchen possessed incomparable influence.
But his name slowly faded along with time, and to date, his name had disappeared from everyone’s memories. There were many in the Great Tang that thought that he had died. After all, he was much older than Wang Chong’s grandfather.
After all, when Wang Chong’s grandfather and the Yao Clan’s Old Master came to power, he had already retired and gone into seclusion. It has been long since then, and Wang Chong’s grandfather had already come to be respectfully known as Duke Jiu. From this, it was clear how old that person was,
The reason why Wang Chong remembered him was because numerous years later, when that catastrophe struck and thousands of foreign armored cavalries came charging into the capital, it was him who singlehandedly blocked all of the invading armored cavalries, buying the civilians precious time to evacuate from the capital.
But it was a pity that he had surpassed his limits during that event, resulting in his death.
Buried along with him was the most destructive and incredible martial arts of the Great Tang!
During those precarious times, when the remaining elders entrusted their hopes in Wang Chong and infused all of their strength and techniques into him, he remembered the words of one of them:
“Even though you have received our lifetime of work, it is a pity that Su Zhengchen’s supreme skill has been lost! If that old fool wasn’t that obstinate, everything might be different. But now… You can only depend on yourself!”
These words left a huge impact on Wang Chong!
Calmed his cultivation: (收功)
There isn’t a clear translation for this, but if you’ve watched wuxia dramas (such as Legend of the Condor Heroes), after a fight, they would normally heave a long breath and ‘calm their cultivation’.
I’m not too sure about the idea behind it, but I’ve always thought that during a fight/training, one’s Inner Energy is in active mode. Thus, after your fight/training, you’ve to calm your Inner Energy down so that it doesn’t hurt your body. (Similar to the concept how you don’t simply stop running from a sprint) And the action of forcefully calming down your Inner Energy is called 收功.