Secular Immortal of the Nine Realms - Chapter 82
Chapter 82: What a Beautiful Nun
The southern region consisted of Nine Commanderies.
Both the Profound Saber Sect and the Heavensword Mountain Villa were located in the same commandery—the South Immortal Commandery. It was the largest Commander in the southern region, which made it the de facto capital of the southern region.
The other two sects were located in another commandery.
That was also the reason the biggest suspect behind the massacre of the Heavensword Mountain Villa was the Profound Saber Sect. They benefited the most from the massacre of the Heavensword Mountain Villa.
“Let’s take a sip of tea and rest. We’re about fifty kilometers away from Profound Saber Sect, so there’s no rush.” Fang Chen nodded with a smile.
The group made their way toward a roadside teahouse, which had a massive tree next to it that provided shade for those resting here. There were many travelers resting their feet here, be it martial artists or merchants.
All of them revealed fearful looks upon seeing Fang Chen and hurriedly stepped aside.
Fang Chen’s group consisted of over thirty people.
Yuan Zhuang and the other rectifiers from the Court of Great Brilliance emanated an imposing disposition that was nurtured from having dealt with many powerful officials over time.
The constables under them were dressed in casual wear, but they were all Ki Condensation martial artists. With the exception of Yuan Yu, they had brawny and towering physiques that relayed they were not to be trifled with.
Ironically, Fang Chen, Jade Fairy, Abbess Clearlotus, and Huangfu Jie were the ones who looked harmless in the group.
“Sorry about it, esteemed customers. We’re a small teahouse, so we only have five empty tables left. Do you mind squeezing with the others?” The teahouse’s manager welcomed them with a fawning smile.
“We’re fine with sharing tables.” Fang Chen nodded with a smile.
Huangfu Jie, Yuan Zhuang, and the other rectifiers shared a table. Fang Chen, Jade Fairy, and Abbess Clearlotus shared a table. The other constables occupied the remaining three tables.
The other customers discreetly observing the situation understood that Fang Chen was the one in control of the group. They deduced that Fang Chen might be a young master of a major clan, whereas the others were here to guard him.
“Here’s your tea.” It didn’t take long for the waiters to deliver some tea to each of the five tables.
Jade Fairy was surprised. The tea was puffing with white smoke, but it wasn’t hot. Instead, it was refreshingly cold to drink.
“Young master, how did you chill the tea?” Jade Fairy asked.
Only the affluent and powerful could afford to eat chilled stuff in the capital. Jade Fairy couldn’t imagine how a small teahouse in the South Immortal Commandery could afford to squander precious ice cubes here.
“You must not know much about the southern region.” Fang Chen chuckled. “There’s a spring filled with naturally chilled water around fifteen kilometers away from here. This spring water can draw out the flavors of any tea leaf without boiling. Even inferior tea leaves can be elevated to a new level through it.”
Jade Fairy was surprised. She didn’t think that there would be such mystical spring water here. Abbess Clearlotus was taken aback too, and she fell into deep thought.
“Young master, you know a lot.”
Yuan Zhuang and the others exchanged looks. They, despite being rectifiers of the Court of Great Brilliance, didn’t know that there was such mystical spring water in the South Immortal Commandery.
“Why don’t we see such water in the capital then?” Jade Fairy asked out of curiosity.
“This spring water can’t be preserved for long. It has to be drunk within six hours after being harvested from the spring, or else it’ll lose its special properties and become no different from normal spring water,” Fang Chen explained.
“I see.” Jade Fairy nodded as she looked at Fang Chen in admiration.
Just then, a shout could be heard from the teahouse’s entrance, “Whose horse is this? Take it away! Where do we put our horses if you’re occupying all of the space here?”
A waiter rushed to Fang Chen’s table and softly asked with a strained smile, “Young master, may I ask you to move your mount elsewhere? The young master out there is not someone to be messed with.”
The rectifiers and constables exchanged looks. No matter the standing of the young master, can he possibly be more formidable than our Great Xia’s War God?
“Yuan Zhuang, go and move our mounts,” Fang Chen instructed.
“Yes, young master.” Yuan Zhuang nodded.
Moments later, he returned and reported, “Young master, I have moved our mounts.”
Fang Chen nodded in acknowledgment. He took a sip of the iced tea, and it was so refreshing that it dispelled the heat from the scorching weather. No wonder this teahouse has such good business. It’s like a long-awaited treat to those traveling in this sweltering weather.
Just then, a group of people entered the teahouse. The young man standing at the forefront of the group frowned upon seeing how crowded the place was.
Before he could say a word, the brawny martial artist standing next to him bellowed, “Manager!”
“Coming, coming!” The manager rushed over.
“There’s too many people here. Our young master doesn’t like crowded places. Squeeze out five tables out for us,” the brawny martial artist ordered.
Nearby customers turned livid when they heard those words, but there were some who recognized the young man’s background and silently informed their companions, prompting all of them to fearfully lower their heads.
The troubled manager sheepishly replied, “My apologies, esteemed guests, but I can only squeeze out one table for you. There are five of you, so may I trouble you to squeeze a little…”
“What a joke. You’re asking us, servants, to squeeze with our young master? Who do you take our young master to be?” the brawny martial artist roared in anger.
Without any warning, he slapped the manager, sending the latter flying into a nearby table.
The other customers were enraged by the brawny martial artist’s unreasonable attitude.
One of them, a late Ki Condensation martial artist, who was dressed like a pugilist in the southern region, stood up and said, “You’re being too unreasonable.”
“Hah, it looks like there’s an ignorant buffoon here,” the brawny martial artist sneered. “What’s your background?”
“I’m Chen Da from the Blackriver Sect!” the other party replied.
“Blackriver Sect’s Chen Da?! That’s the number one expert of the Blackriver Sect!”
The crowd was astonished.
The Blackriver Sect was famous in this region. They did business relating to water shipping, and they had over a hundred disciples in their sect. Chen Da, their number one expert, was rumored to have survived ten moves from a Ki Explosion martial artist!
“The Blackriver Sect? Hah!” The brawny martial artist snorted. He took out a token and asked, “Since you’re from the Blackriver Sect, you should recognize this token, right?”
Chen Da took a look at the token and gasped. “Valiant Defender?”
Valiant Defender?!
The crowd panicked. They would have never thought these people were from the Valiant Defenders. That was an army under the direct command of Great Xia’s emperor. Even officials in the imperial court would have to show them some respect, let alone pugilists like them.
Chen Da’s face darkened. In the end, he clasped his fist and said, “I was foolish to have crossed you. Please…”
“The person you crossed isn’t me but my young master,” the brawny martial artist sneered.
Chen Da turned to the young man behind the brawny martial artist and asked, “Young master, my apologies about…”
“What a beautiful monk,” the young man suddenly remarked, as he stared at Abbess Clearlotus with lustful eyes.
—
Starve’s additional trivia about commanderies
Ancient China is huge in size and communication is tough, so it is hard for the emperor to manage all of his territories alone. Thus, they split the country up into commanderies (which you can think of as administrative units or individual states).
These commanderies have their own armies and governor, though they have to report to a Commandery Chief assigned by the emperor.
The benefit is that you get a local government that immediately acts on issues, instead of reporting matters to the capital and asking for permission for everything.
However, this also means that these commanderies operate autonomously (though yes, there is a commandery chief keeping an eye on them), and there are cases of commanderies getting so powerful that the emperor is no longer able to control them.
