A Clash of Gods - Chapter 197
Chapter 197 “Falling Leave”
In all honesty, Yang Ning’s body was currently not as strong as Longtai’s. He couldn’t call on his internal power. The original owner of this body had been a down and out beggar without a foundation of martial arts, who although had some strength, couldn’t compare to Longtai.
Although Yang Ning’s soul occupied this body, his strength couldn’t be brought with it.
The good thing was that he was skilled in fighting techniques, so he could barely maintain a deadlock with Longtai on his technical superiority.
In fact, after dozens of bouts, Yang Ning had already recognized the technical flaws of Longtai. It was not difficult to put him down, but since he was the emperor after all, and as the saying went, accompanying the emperor is like accompanying a tiger, who knew whether the emperor would be infuriated if he put him down.
He naturally wouldn’t let Longtai easily put him down. Longtai knew his ability from their last match. If he was tripped by the emperor, he would seem patronizing. Yang Ning didn’t want the emperor to think he was sucking up.
Almost half a day passed with them fighting back and forth. It had darkened outside, but they still failed to distinguish the winner. Longtai’s forehead had already sweated.
Suddenly the voice of Eunuch Fan sounded from outside, “Your Majesty, it’s getting dark, should I turn on the lights?”
Only then did Longtai stop, let go of his hand, pointed at Yang Ning and laughed, “Good for you to be able to tangle with me for so long.” Facing outside, he said, “Come in!”
Eunuch Fan pushed the door and came in, obviously already knowing that Yang Ning realized the identity of Longtai, bowed. Two young eunuchs came in too, and lit the lights in the room. The dim study suddenly brightened up, Eunuch Fan then came over and respectfully said, “Your Majesty, it’s already five p.m. No one would be allowed to come in and out of the palace at seven p.m. Should I send the marquis out of the palace? It’s time to have dinner, too.”
Longtai took the towel handed over by the eunuch next to him, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and smiled, “Fan Dehai, I still have something to discuss with the Marquis of Honor. Set my dinner here. I want to have dinner with Qi Ning here.”
Eunuch Fan said, “I take the order.” He led the young eunuchs out.
Yang Ning then laughed and said, “Your Majesty masters martial arts. I am no match.” Secretly, he thought, “Your martial arts skills may be better than ordinary people. But it’s nothing in face of a real master-hand.”
Longtai waved his hand and laughed, “I don’t have to be strong in martial arts. I practice kung fu, only to strengthen my body. I heard there are many people with high martial arts skills, both in and outside the court. I heard Ximen Wuhen from the Mansion of the Divine Marquis was a first-class master. But it could easily take more than ten years or even decades to achieve such a level of martial arts. If I spend all my thoughts on practicing martial arts, how am I supposed to study, let alone learn the way of governance.”
Yang Ning thought to himself that this was not quite true. There were indeed many people with high martial arts skills who might also study. But he also believed that if someone really spent all his thoughts on practicing martial arts, he would have less time and energy to spend on other things.
But he well knew it was reasonable for Longtai not to care about his martial arts skills. After all, this kid was the emperor, who must be surrounded by plenty of kung fu masters.
“Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager just asked you to get married?” Yang Ning asked.
Longtai sat down on the chair and pointed across, meaning to let Yang Ning sit down too. While Yang Ning hesitated, Longtai said, “When there are no outsiders, there is no need to pretend to be reserved in front of me. I know very well of your nature. If I let you stand still, I’m only afraid that you will blame me for turning my back on you, right?”
Yang Ning smirked, then went over and sat down, said, “Xiao…, oh no, Your Majesty. I wouldn’t dare to think so.”
“Qi Ning, let me ask you. Do you have a girl in mind?” Longtai asked, gazing at Yang Ning.
Yang Ning was stunned for a moment, the first image that crossed his mind was surprisingly that of Gu Qinghan, and then in an instant Xiaoyao’s face came up.
He was surprised, secretly thinking how come the two girls instantly came up in his mind in reaction to Longtai’s question.
In fact, although his soul was placed on Qi Ning’s body who seemed only sixteen or seventeen years old, he had a rather old mental age instead, which was even older than Gu Qinghan. This had differentiated his taste of woman from a sixteen-or seventeen-year-old teenager’s.
Gu Qinghan was mature and plump, elegant and gentle, competent and rational. Coupled with her outstanding looks, she was indeed the type that Yang Ning liked.
But with his current status where Gu Qinghan was his aunt, although he always seemed to have a crush on Gu Qinghan when occasionally thinking of her, he knew inside there were something that couldn’t be easily overstepped.
As for the thought of Xiaoyao, even Yang Ning himself was a bit surprised about it.
He only saw Xiaoyao twice. From the bottom of his heart, Xiaoyao couldn’t compare with Zhuo Xian’er and Chi Danmei in terms of looks, but Xiaoyao’s smart and elegant temperament still impressed Yang Ning a lot.
“Looks like you really have someone you like.” Seeing Yang Ning’s expression, Longtai laughed, “If I’m right, you must meet the person you desire after entering the capital.”
Yang Ning just smiled and asked, “Why is Your Majesty talking about this?”
“Qi Ning, actually I’m somehow envious of you,” Longtai said, “You are now the Marquis of Honor. If you have a girl you like, you can always marry her with your ability and keep her company day and night. But for me, that is just a dream.”
“A dream?” Yang Ning said surprised, “Your Majesty. People living in this land are all your subjects. The whole world is now yours. Is there someone daring to prevent you from getting the girl you like?”
Longtai chuckled and said, “You heard what happened today. The Empress Dowager asked me to marry Sima Wanqiong, whether I want to or not, it seemed there was no way to change it.”
“Your Majesty, I just heard that Sima Wanqiong seems to be your cousin?” Yang Ning unconsciously forgot to address himself as “minister”.
Longtai either didn’t notice, or simply didn’t care. A trace of indifference showed on his handsome face, he said indifferently, “She is my cousin, but someone has wanted her to become my empress. I have only been on the throne for a short time, but it seems that someone has already decided on the candidate of empress.”
Yang Ning sighed, “In fact, it happens not only on Your Majesty. Even the marriage of ordinary people is under the order of their parents.”
“Parents’ orders?” There was a hint of harshness in Longtai’s eyes and he said, “Unfortunately, my parents have passed away, and now I am all alone.”
Yang Ning was stunned, then surprised, “Then the Empress Dowager…”
“She is not my mother,” Longtai said, “My mother passed away when I was eleven years old, and the current Empress Dowager, at that time, was only a noble consort. After my mother passed away, it took two years for Father to crown her as Empress.”
Only then did Yang Ning understand why there was no sense of affection when they had the talk. He had thought it was because of the marriage Longtai was rebellious on and he had a dislike for the Empress Dowager, but now he knew Longtai was not born by the current Empress Dowager. He could tell the emperor didn’t feel close to the Empress Dowager.
“So that’s the case.” Yang Ning pondered.
“Qi Ning, as you heard today, the Empress Dowager asked me to promote the Marquis of Loyalty as a duke.” Longtai gazed into Yang Ning’s eyes. Although this young emperor was still young, he seemed to be incommensurately calm. He said slowly, “You are the Marquis of Honor, what do you think?”
Yang Ning responded right away, “This is an important matter of the state, I really dare not to get a word in.”
“Crap.” Longtai was slightly annoyed, “Since I asked you, you shouldn’t hesitate and let out what you’re really thinking. I don’t have many people to discuss something with like normal people do. Although Master Xiang is loyal to me, he rarely talks to me about state affairs. Who else can I discuss this with if I don’t come to you?”
“Your Majesty, the Master Xiang you are talking about is…”
“That’s right. He was the one who followed me on my mission to Eastern Qi State and had been by my side for protection. You have seen him before,” Longtai said, “When Master Xiang was little, his family suffered a calamity. It took him decades of effort on practicing martial arts to finally reach a great proficiency and wipe out all his enemies.”
“Wipe out all his enemies?”
Longtai laughed, “You have no idea of what Master Xiang can do. It was a sect that killed Master Xiang’s family back then. It was kind of famous in the ganghood, with ordinary people simply daring not to provoke. After Master Xiang reached the proficiency, he wiped out all the 54 people in that sect overnight.”
Yang Ning was appalled, thinking that he was really ruthless.
“The Mansion of the Divine Marquis intervened in this. Master Xiang didn’t try to hide after taking revenge,” Longtai said, “So the Mansion of the Divine Marquis easily caught Master Xiang who also confessed all. As the case closed, people such as Master Xiang should be secretly executed. But before the execution, Ximen Wuhen presented the case files to Father. Maybe Master Xiang wasn’t destined to die, Father actually secretly pardoned him.”
`Yang Ning was stunned, while Longtai continued, “Knowing it was Father who pardoned him, Master Xiang emasculated himself, swearing the rest of his life was given by Father, and he was willing to serve Father in the palace. Father called him into the palace, thinking he was loyal and righteous. But he couldn’t use his previous name anymore and was named Xiang Tianbei!”
“Xiang Tianbei?” Yang Ning was surprised, “That’s a strange name.”
“He suffered a tragic disaster since childhood, spent half of his life on seeking revenge, and became a servant in the palace after taking the revenge.” Longtai sighed, “Isn’t that tragic?”
Yang Ning said, “So… Master Xiang served the late emperor, and since then has served by your side, Your Majesty?”
“Master Xiang’s martial arts skills are one of the best in the palace,” Longtai said, “When I was young, I learned some kung fu from Master Xiang. Although I didn’t formally worship him, he is indeed considered my master. Master Xiang originally wanted to teach me swordsmanship, but I had no interest in sword.” Laughing, he continued, “What you don’t know is Master Xiang’s swordsmanship is rather skillful. Father once said to me Master Xiang’s swordsmanship was enough to rank among the world’s top ten swordsmen, so Father gave him the imperial treasured sword ‘Falling Leave’, which is said to be one of the world’s top ten famous swords.”
“The top ten famous swords in the world?” Yang Ning was stunned.
He was quite familiar with the name. He had seen the Obsidian Sword held by Bai Yuhe in the Temple of Great Light, which also gave him the Vairocana. Both swords were ranked among the top ten famous swords in the world with Obsidian coming third and Vairocana coming fourth. Longtai said that the Falling Leaf Sword of Xiang Tianbei was also ranked among the top ten famous swords. He wondered which place it was.
