A Clash of Gods - Chapter 201
Volume 3 Evildoers’ Harassment – Chapter 201 Regain
Qi Ning walked out of the imperial palace, and Duan Canghai had been waiting outside for one afternoon in anxiety. Seeing that Qi Ning came out safe and sound, Duan Canghai quickly walked to him to ask.
Qi Ning just said that Emperor Longtai told him to have dinner in the imperial palace. Duan Canghai asked in surprise, “Marquis, did His Majesty say why you needed to stay and have dinner?”
“His Majesty told me to have dinner with him. Does he need a special reason?” Qi Ning smiled. “Perhaps we feel like old friends at the first meeting, and both of us feel good.”
Duan Canghai knew that when the emperor summoned an official, especially for the first time, the meeting would end soon. He didn’t see Qi Ning come out after one afternoon, so he thought that there was something wrong and felt anxious. Hearing that Qi Ning came out after dinner, he was astonished. After all, it was rare that an official stayed in the imperial palace to have dinner when he was summoned for the first time.
However, since the emperor rewarded Qi Ning with a chance to have dinner with him, it was certainly not bad. Duan Canghai thought and then felt relieved.
It was dark. Fortunately, Duan Canghai had thought at dusk that Qi Ning might come out of the imperial palace late, so he told somebody to prepare lanterns. They hung the lanterns on the carriage and then went back to the mansion of the Marquis of Honor.
As the carriage rattled, Qi Ning was lost in thought inside. After a long time, he suddenly heard a sad and shrill voice from outside. He was surprised and lifted the carriage curtain, looking out, to see that the carriage was moving on a street, with an alley next to it, and a figure rushed out of the alley.
Duan Canghai shouted harshly, “Protect Marquis.”
Several attendants unsheathed their broadswords and protected Qi Ning around the carriage alertly. Qi Ning saw that the man who rushed out of the alley was gesticulating with hands and feet like a madman and howling shrilly, seeming to be in pain.
Then he saw that several people ran out of that alley, with a crabstick in the hand of each. They were clothed in ragged garments with messy hair.
Duan Canghai asked in a deep voice, “Who are you?”
One of them saw the carriage and walked forward, cupping his hands. “Homeless people travel around the world and follow the laws of nature everywhere.”
Duan Canghai’s voice got soft. “It turns out that you are brothers from the Beggar Sect.”
“Let’s go on our own right ways. Please!” that man said politely and raised his hand, making a gesture of invitation.
The rest people surrounded the howling madman. Some of them reached out their hands to capture him, and the madman was surrounded, dodging here and there but couldn’t escape. Those people seemed to fear the madman, and they just circled around him, trying to find a chance to capture him.
Duan Canghai cupped his hands in front of the speaker and didn’t say more. Then he urged his horse to the window of the carriage, saying in a low voice, “Marquis, it’s nothing. They are from the Beggar Sect.”
“The Beggar Sect?” Qi Ning felt that these words sounded familiar and asked, “Are these from the Beggar Sect? Who is that madman? Why do they want to capture him?”
Duan Canghai responded, “Marquis, we don’t need to interfere in the Beggar Sect’s business. The Beggar Sect and our mansion have no feeling of gratitude or resentment. Don’t need to look for trouble.”
At the moment, they saw that somebody suddenly found an opportunity and rushed to the madman from behind, making him fall on the floor. The madman roared and dodged. He even shook off that man successfully. It could be seen that he had powerful strength. Fortunately, at this time, the others took the opportunity to rush over and press the madman. Someone said in a deep voice, “Tie him up first.”
The members of the Beggar Sect swiftly tied the madman up. The madman screamed in a weird voice, yet he was captured by some people, so he couldn’t get rid of them.
The members of the Beggar Sect didn’t look at Duan Canghai and the others. They hurriedly carried the madman and then entered the alley quickly, disappearing in an instant.
“Duan Canghai, nobody disciplines them?” Qi Ning frowned. Although it was late, there were still passers-by on the street occasionally, and what happened didn’t last long, while the passers-by stayed out of it and didn’t walk to them.
Duan Canghai explained, “Marquis, this is the domestic affair of the Beggar Sect, and the outsiders won’t get involved. Even the mansion of the Divine Marquis won’t meddle unless the Beggar Sect causes a disturbance. They are from the Ghost Golden Goat Branch of the Beggar Sect. They didn’t cause trouble in the capital city these years and the members of the Beggar Sect cooperate with the government well.”
“The Ghost Golden Goat Branch?” When Qi Ning was in Huize county seat, he knew that there were twenty-eight branches in the Beggar Sect, and they were named after the twenty-eight constellations. The twenty-eight branches were everywhere in the country, and it must be the sect with the largest number of people nowadays.
Duan Canghai thought that Qi Ning knew nothing about the Beggar Sect, so when the carriage moved forward, he explained outside the window on horseback, “The Beggar Sect has twenty-eight branches, which are named after the twenty-eight constellations. The members are everywhere in the country, and the Ghost Golden Goat Branch is only one of the seven constellations of the southern sky.”
“Seven constellations of the southern sky?”
“Dragon of the eastern sky, Tortoise of the northern sky, Rosefinch of the southern sky and Tiger of the western sky.” Duan Canghai was very familiar with the underworld organizations. “The Rosefinch Hall in the south controls seven branches, the seven constellations of the southern sky, and the Ghost Golden Goat Branch is one of them. As far as I know, there is a leader in each branch in the south, while the seven branches are under the control of the elder in the Rosefinch Hall, who is in the capital city.”
“Oh?” Qi Ning asked curiously, “Who is the general leader of the Beggar Sect? Have you seen him?”
Duan Canghai shook his head. “The general leader of the Beggar Sect is secretive in his movements and traces, and few members of the sect have seen him. I have heard that the general leader is extremely powerful in martial arts as the most powerful genius in the Beggar Sect in the past one hundred years. I don’t know if it is true.” Then he added, “The madman may be a member of the Beggar Sect if he is not their enemy.”
“A member?”
“Yes. I have heard that the rules in the Beggar Sect are strict, and there are twelve rules. Once a member breaks a rule, he will be expelled from the sect at least and even be sentenced to death at most,” Duan Canghai said. “Anyway, we’d better not offend the beggars. Although we don’t have to fear them, we don’t need to offend them.”
Qi Ning smiled. “The rules in the sect are strict?” At the same time, he thought of the beggars in Huize county seat who cheated others out of anything and even trafficked in young girls, but he didn’t know how those guys should be punished according to the rules in the sect.
However, he was relieved after pondering. Huize was just a small county seat at the border of the Chu State, and there were many kinds of people. Moreover, the members of the Beggar Sect there were just from a subbranch of the Winged Fire Snake Branch, so they would be neglected, while Jianye City was the heart of the Chu State. If the members from the branches of the Beggar Sect were loose and idled about, doing something evil in the capital city, the mansion of the Divine Marquis would punish them before the general leader of the sect disciplined them.
In addition, the elder of the Rosefinch Hall was in the capital city, and the Ghost Golden Goat Branch was watched by an elder of the Beggar Sect, so they would be much more well-behaved.
There was no more accident on the way, and they returned to the mansion smoothly.
All people in the mansion of the Marquis of Honor were waiting anxiously. Not only Gu Qinghan, but every manservant and maid was nervous.
All of them knew that Qi Ning was summoned to the imperial palace to see the emperor today. In the eyes of all people in the mansion, it was an important test to the Marquis of Honor who had just inherited the title of nobility. The rise and fall of the Marquis of Honor were related to everybody in the mansion. After they waited one afternoon, the marquis hadn’t returned, and they didn’t see Qi Ning come back even after it had been dark for a long time. All people including Gu Qinghan were in anxiety.
They were in a marquis’s mansion, which was different from the ordinary family, and they knew something about the situation at the imperial court roughly.
All people knew that there was a big change in the capital city recently although it looked tranquil. The late emperor passed away, and the new emperor took the throne, so the situation at the imperial court was far from being stable.
The unstable situation at the imperial court could change in an instant. It was said that once the new emperor took the throne, the officials would be different. Although the previous two Marquises of Honor enjoyed honorable status and reputation in the country, nobody dared to ensure that Qi Ning who had just inherited the title of nobility would enjoy the same treatment. After all, all of them were clear that even though this young master had inherited the title of Marquis of Honor, in all fairness, he hadn’t made any contributions to the imperial court, and his meritorious service and prestige couldn’t be put on a par with that of the last two marquises.
The old marquis followed the second emperor to conquer the world since he was young, while the second Marquis of Honor Qi Jing started to follow his father to the battlefield and had done outstandingly meritorious deeds when he was the heir. Compared with them, the current Marquis of Honor was remembered to be stupid when he was the heir.
It was in the evening now, but the marquis hadn’t returned home, so some people even thought that there was something wrong.
Gu Qinghan was in a fret, yet she knew that she was the mainstay in the mansion at this hour. No matter what kind of news came, she couldn’t be in panic. If she was restless, all people in the mansion would collapse.
As every minute passed, Gu Qinghan would suffer more.
The mansion was in deadly silence, with about two hundred people standing in the courtyard thickly. Gu Qinghan sat in the main hall. Although she was exhausted, she still waited quietly.
Suddenly the footsteps broke the silence, and all people looked at the comer, to see that it was a guard at the gate. Gu Qinghan got up and asked, “Has Marquis come back?”
That man had run for merely a short distance, but he seemed to be out of breath, pointing to the door. “My Lady, Marquis…he…”
Everybody stared at him anxiously, and Gu Qinghan walked out quickly, asking in a hurry, “What’s wrong with Marquis?”
Then they heard a voice with a smile. “Why are you all here? Will you have a meeting?”
They saw that Qi Ning walked over lightly and quickly, while Duan Canghai was next to him.
Qi Feng, Zhao Wushang and the others were in the crowd. After seeing Qi Ning, they looked at each other and sighed with relief. It finally took a weight off their mind.
“Ning…” Seeing that Qi Ning came back safe and sound, Gu Qinghan asked joyfully, “Are you okay?”
Qi Ning walked forward and felt warm to see Gu Qinghan’s worried face, saying with a smile, “Aunt, I am all right. His Majesty summoned me to the imperial palace and chatted with me. At dusk, he was afraid that I couldn’t have dinner in time after I returned home, so he told me to stay and have dinner with him.”
After hearing that, all people around were stunned but soon looked happy.
It was great news that the emperor told the marquis to have dinner with him, and all people finally got relieved.
Gu Qinghan heaved a sigh of relief and showed a smile. Then she waved her hand. “All of you can go now. Marquis has returned, so you don’t need to worry.”
All of them scattered happily. The marquis won the emperor’s appreciation, so everything in his family would naturally go well in the future and all people could rest easy.
After they returned to the main hall, Gu Qinghan asked Qi Ning a lot of questions, and he certainly said what he should say and left out what he shouldn’t say. The information Gu Qinghan got from Qi Ning was that the emperor respected the previous two Marquises of Honor for their loyalty and meritorious service and hoped that Qi Ning could inherit their ambitions and share weal and woe with the imperial court.
Till Gu Qinghan rested assured and Qi Ning saw that she was exhausted, he advised her to have a rest.
At midnight, Qi Ning lay in the bed and thought of his conversation with Emperor Longtai at daytime. He knew that this young emperor would do anything after making plans. When he offered advice today, it was obvious that the young emperor listened carefully, but for some things, it was easy to say, while it was not simple to do.
Moreover, both Duke of Huainan and the Marquis of Loyalty were big shots. The emperor wanted to control the two with political trickeries and strengthen himself when the two confronted each other, and it was easy to say but hard to do. He needed to control the strength and time. Qi Ning didn’t know if Emperor Longtai could control the duration and degree at the age of only 20.
However, he knew that Emperor Longtai was patient.
After Xiang Tianbei found Qi Ning at the funeral, Emperor Longtai didn’t lose temper but sent Xiang Tianbei in private to confirm it after a period. Qi Ning believed that Xiang Tianbei had watched him not only in the flower market, and sometimes he didn’t notice being spied on.
Emperor Longtai waited patiently and summoned Qi Ning to the imperial palace only after he confirmed it.
Patience was the basic quality for a man to make great achievements.
Qi Ning closed his eyes and lay in the bed, lost in thought. Suddenly he heard a slight chatter from the window. After he was poisoned by the demon girl Nao last time, he got more cautious, and the mansion was more heavily guarded. He instantly got up and asked in a low voice, “Who?”
There was no answer. Qi Ning grabbed the Cold Blade and walked to the window slowly, to find that there was a small crack as the window was opened even though it had been closed tightly.
He frowned and grasped the Cold Blade. Suddenly he saw that there was a stack of things on the empty table by the window.
He approached the table and saw that it was a stack of pictures. He grabbed them and only had a look before his expression changed all of a sudden.
On the table were the pictures of swordsmanship that he couldn’t find after searching everywhere.
