Realms In The Firmament

Although Ye Xiao remained expressionless, he was still sneering inside.

When he talked about the thing that the Crown Prince had done at the beginning… he was actually talking about the dead ‘Ye Xiao’ getting poisoned.

However, the Crown Prince seemed to be playing innocent or he had truly misunderstood Ye Xiao’s words…

Anyway, Ye Xiao wasn’t prepared to let it go.

Only when he had avenged the dead ‘Ye Xiao’, could he finally satisfy the obsession in his mind.

It wasn’t just something which involved the dead ‘Ye Xiao’, but also something which he himself would have to take care of.

“Meaningless?” The Crown Prince murmured. He suddenly smiled and spoke blandly, “It shouldn’t be meaningless. So… This time, I invited you to dinner because I wanted to discuss a solution with you to conclude this business between you and me.”

Ye Xiao rolled his eyes and said, “You have invited me to dinner, which means that you must have planned to talk it through. However, there is no need for any discussion at all. I wonder what solution you have in mind now?”

“It is simple. A fight can settle everything once and for all.” The Crown Prince rubbed the sides of his head and showed an expression of helplessness, “Basically, I don’t want to use this vulgar way to deal with this event. But you know, sometimes, the proper way isn’t really enough to settle up some differences. A combat is not an elegant way, but it is the best way when it comes to the present situation.”

Ye Xiao nodded and showed understanding, “That’s true. The situation is obvious now. Unless you become king, considering my father’s great exploits and power, there is no proper way for you to take care of me.”

The Crown Prince’s eyes were filled with coldness.

The great general and his son were equivalent to a fish bone stuck in his throat. It troubled him so much that he had to destroy it.

Ye Xiao said blandly, “In fact… in spite of what you think about the truth, at the beginning, if your brother-in-law hadn’t come and messed with me, he wouldn’t have died. He could have been spending his days luxuriously in the capital right now.”

After that, he stopped talking.

The Crown Prince spoke blandly, “Lord Ye, there was another way in my mind. It should benefit both your side and mine. Yet we have now blocked all the routes towards that direction. There is only one way left to take.”

He turned around, looked at Guan Zheng-Wen and said, “You have to fight against Old Master Guan. After the combat, no matter who wins, it will be the end of all troubles. In fact…”

The Crown Prince looked at Ye Xiao with sincerity and sighed, “Lord Ye, I don’t want to mess with our General Ye… As long as I show my attitude to my woman, I believe… she and her men will not cause any more trouble. The dead are gone, they don’t need to keep on making troubles, right?”

Ye Xiao frowned and his eyes had already locked onto Guan Zheng-Wen who was standing besides the Crown Prince.

Since the Crown Prince sent off everyone except Guan Zheng-Wen, he had started to pay attention to him. The old man seemed different. The possibility that he was a hidden superior cultivator was very high.

As long as he was here, the Crown Prince would feel safe and fear nothing.

According to Ye Xiao’s research, this old man, Guan Zheng-Wen, was well-known in the Kingdom of Chen. On the surface, he was an elegant old man who reads a lot.

Such an old man might be good at talking. His words might be sharp like a knife or a sword, but he seemed useless in combat.

However, to fight against Ye Xiao, the Crown Prince had actually chosen this old man… The Crown Prince naturally wouldn’t send his men to death, so this man must be a well-hidden superior cultivator, mustn’t he?

Right now, things were not following Ye Xiao’s predictions.

Suddenly, Ye Xiao felt the need to employ cautiousness.

Because he… he had failed to notice anything unusual till now.

With his great senses, he had actually failed to feel any sort of threat from this old man. There was only one explanation to that. The only possibility was that this old man’s cultivation was way above Ye Xiao’s.

And he must be at a higher level than the Grade of Diyuan.

He was at least at… the Grade of Tianyuan.

In other words, Ye Xiao was now facing a superior cultivator of the Grade of Tianyuan. Besides, a man who could stand so close to the Crown Prince all times, a man whom the Crown Prince trusted to such an extent, must have some sort of special abilities.

It was very likely that… this man was a superior cultivator at the Grandmaster Levels of Tianyuan.

A cultivator at the Grandmaster Levels of Tianyuan would be among the most powerful men in the Land of Han-Yang.

Ye Xiao couldn’t help cursing in his mind.

[This is really coming across a ghost after a long way in the dark. How come such an old bastard suddenly showed up?]

Guan Zheng-Wen looked at Ye Xiao with a smile on his face, his expression tranquil. He spoke gently, “The Crown Prince is a generous man. He wants to settle our differences in a peaceful way by having a combat. I have to participate by having a fight against Lord Ye to lay the troubles to rest. Lord Ye, we should just go through the motions and finish the combat. You don’t need to be cautious. I am old indeed, yet I could still fight for two rounds.”

He coughed and continued, “I hope that Lord Ye wouldn’t say anything about having no capability in martial arts and words like that… Heh heh. As I have no troubles with my sight, I think your cultivation has reached at least level 9 in the Grade of Renyuan, right? You are only one step away from getting into the Grade of Diyuan… Regarding your young age, you are really a young man with an outstanding ability. A tiger wouldn’t truly have a dog son [1] …”

Ye Xiao spoke blandly, “You are flattering me.”

Ye Xiao had hidden his own cultivation capability intentionally. He had operated the Lunisolar Shadow to cover the martial aura of his cultivation. He didn’t completely erase his martial aura, yet there were only a handful of people who were capable of discovering it. Guan Zheng-Wen had actually noticed it and found out that he had a good cultivation capability.

Although he didn’t find out everything about Ye Xiao and thought that Ye Xiao was only at the ninth level of the Grade of Renyuan, he was still the man who had the best insight amongst everyone Ye Xiao had met in his present life.

The Crown Prince said that he just wanted to end their differences and didn’t want to mess with General Ye. Ye Xiao didn’t believe any of his words.

[If you really want to make it so easy, why did you invite me to come over for dinner?

If you stop making troubles for me, how could I mess with you?]

When Guan Zheng-Wen said, ‘go through the motions’, Ye Xiao was disdainful of it.

[If I believe that, I must be… really stupid if I get myself into the fire.

Go through the motions, huh?]

Ye Xiao was thinking, [Maybe it isn’t completely a lie. They wouldn’t dare to kill me in the Crown Prince’s Palace after all. In fact, in order to settle everything, I have to get out of here alive and everything will reach a good end.

That means they will make up a false story that they had never laid their hands on me.

Yet they will absolutely not let me go so easily. All of these people are aiming at getting me killed.

But this is an unresolvable contradiction for them…

The key to solve the contradiction is the words ‘go through the motions’.]

“Old Master Guan is right. It is the best situation that we all go through the motions and nobody gets hurt. Since the Crown Prince and Old Master Guan both wish for it, let me go along with your wishes.” Ye Xiao played the role of an understanding person and said, “But you are an aged man. An old man who doesn’t take pride in his ability to fight. How could I overwork you by fighting. Although my cultivation capability of martial arts is weak, by any chance, if you couldn’t hold my attacks, how can I be sure that I won’t get you hurt…”

After Ye Xiao spoke, the Crown Prince and Old Master Guan were both stunned.

[What?

What did he say?

He doesn’t want to fight against an old man?

Because he doesn’t want to accidentally kill an old man?

What? How could he be so shameless?]

Old Master Guan was truly well educated. After being shocked, he immediately said, “It doesn’t matter. The Crown Prince has given his word. To end the troubles in this way, I think it will be fine for me to hang on for a few rounds. Let’s just go through the motions… Go through the motions…”

Ye Xiao laughed, “No, no, no. We can’t have a combat. You are venerable in age. You surely wouldn’t mind losing the combat. But I still need to live in the society. If we really have such a combat and people learned of it, the smart ones may understand that it was decided by the noble Crown Prince, but the others will think that I am bullying an old man… Anyway, it is absolutely wrong to have such a combat.”

The Crown Prince and Old Master Guan were astonished once again. [What? He could actually swear that black is white [2]. How shameless could he be.]

Old Master Guan spoke in a deep voice, “Lord Ye, it is you who said that it was decided by the Crown Prince. He has given his words. There is no way to change the decision. If I really couldn’t bear the attacks of yours, so be it. I won’t complain about it…”

Ye Xiao spoke with a smile, “Relax. I surely have an alternative for this. It will neither violate the Crown Prince’s decision, nor make us fight in the combat ourselves. You are so aged; how could I possibly hit you. I am always respectful to the elderly…”

Guan Zheng-Wen was angry inside, yet he still had a smile on the surface. He said, “I wonder what solution you have that could kill two birds with one stone. I am willing to listen.”

Ye Xiao cheerfully spoke, “It is more than killing two birds with one stone. It actually kills three with one stone. It could even be more birds. My solution will make you satisfied for sure. It is really the most perfect solution”

Guan Zheng-Wen was nearly freaked out because of his shamelessness. He once again spoke in a deep voice, “I am willing to listen.”

Ye Xiao said, “My solution will satisfy you. You are well known in the kingdom. To fight in a combat will surely get you hurt. Let’s finish the troubles through a verbal combat.”

“A verbal combat?”

“A verbal combat goes as follows, I will say one move and explain how I will proceed the move to attack you, and then you will say your move, and explain how you will defend. Or you explain your attack and I will explain how I will defend. The result will come out after all…”

Guan Zheng-Wen and the Crown Prince were both furious.

They were still underestimating how shameless Ye Xiao could be…

—————

[1] A tiger wouldn’t have a dog son (虎父无犬子), means a son is as good as his father.

[2] Swear the black is white (黑的说成白的), means persist in saying something to deny the truth.

5th gu of the week.

Translated by: Rain

Edited by: Alpha, Arch