Unsheathed

Inside a quiet and unremarkable courtyard in the city, there resided an esteemed guest from the capital. The courtyard wasn’t very grand or opulent, but it was very tidy, and all of its furnishings were quite elegant and tasteful. Furthermore, the courtyard was situated in a quiet pocket in what was otherwise quite a busy location, so it was clear that a great deal of thought had been put into its site selection and construction.

There was a woman standing in the courtyard, and even though she was already quite advanced in age, she looked after herself very well, and much of her youthful beauty still remained. At first glance, one could easily mistake her for a young woman only around thirty years of age.

At this moment, she was bent over slightly, feeding the fish inside a large vat. Inside the vat were around a dozen tiny goldfish, while on the surface of the water were numerous water lilies, and there was an alluring contrast between the green and the gold.

Aside from her, the only other person in the courtyard was a physically imposing maidservant with a saber strapped to her waist.

However, there were many more people lurking in the shadows on the streets and alleys around the courtyard, including elite soldiers from the military and several formidable martial artists. Some of the most experienced and capable law enforcers of the regional supervisor’s manor had arrived in the area well in advance, and that was a clear indication that the woman staying in the courtyard was quite an important figure.

However, despite all of these protective measures that were in place, the maidservant in the courtyard, who was as well-built as a man, suddenly crumpled to the ground without any warning, while a handsome young man holding a folding fan appeared behind her.

His sideburns were drifting slightly in the light breeze produced by his fan, and he cast his gaze toward the elegant woman still feeding the fish in the water vat. Her stunning figure was certainly a sight for sore eyes, and for him, it was worth making the trip just for this piece of stunning scenery.

The woman stood up straight as she turned in silence to look at the young man, who smiled as he said, “Greetings, Madam. We’ve met before in the capital city.”

The woman remained calm and collected as she sneered, “Since when did the Han Clan of Mount Xiaochong dare to oppose a general?”

The young man put his folding fan away, then placed his hands over his own face, rubbing it. A moment later, a face that was extremely familiar to the woman was revealed, and his voice had also changed into one that she couldn’t have been more familiar with as he asked, “How about now, Madam?”

Before the woman could scream, Han Yuanshan gently pressed a finger over her lips as he made a hushing motion and said, “Rest assured, Madam, I like to claim the hearts of women, but I would never stoop as low as to have my way with a woman by force. However, I’m sure that you’ll be willing to surrender your body to me someday, and when that time comes…”

At this moment, Han Yuanshan had adopted Chu Hao’s appearance, and he pointed at the water vat of fish as he concluded, “We’ll be able to have as much fun as a pair of fish swimming through the water.”

————

In the Blusher Prefecture of Colorful Garment Nation, an elderly scholar with a jade pendant hanging from his waist was standing atop the city walls with a grim look on his face.

Inside the imperial study in the capital city of Colorful Garment Nation, another elderly scholar was standing with his hands clasped behind his back. He also had a jade pendant hanging from his waist, and was looking out the window in silence, while the emperor of Colorful Garment Nation was standing beside him in an uneasy fashion, not even daring to sit down.

In Ancient Elm Nation, there was yet another elderly scholar with an identical jade pendant hanging from his waist. He was sitting in a crude horse-drawn carriage that he had rented, and the coach driver was a young man constantly complaining about everything. While they were still around ten kilometers away from Ancient Elm Nation, he was abruptly rooted to the spot.

He had very good eyesight, and could see a large army in the distance, accompanied by some important-looking officials dressed in formal attire. There was also a golden-robed man standing beside the official road, and from the looks of it, all of them seemed to be waiting for someone.

The scholar inside the carriage set down the book that he was reading, then said to the coach driver, “Take me to the relay station. Rest assured, they’re waiting for me. In addition to the deposit issued to you earlier, the reward given to you in private by Ancient Elm Nation’s imperial court will serve as the rest of my payment.”

The scholar began packing up his bookcase with a smile on his face as he continued, “It’s not every day that we get to go out on a trip. Make sure you don’t annoy our mountain master anymore once you return to Water Combing Nation.”

Meanwhile, at Sword Water Villa, the alliance leader election ceremony was about to commence. Inside the hall, there were several faces missing from those who had been present during the earlier festivities, but also many important figures from both the path of righteousness and the underworld alike that had just arrived. By this point, most of the significant figures of Water Combing Nation had made their appearance.

Song Fengshan was in the main seat, and he wasn’t displaying much of a reaction at the sight of these important figures.

There were people with all types of different agendas among them, including some who wished to pledge their allegiance to Song Fengshan, some who were eager to see his downfall, some who wished to assess the situation before placing their bets, and also some from the imperial court who thought that they would be treated to a good show.

Not far away from Song Fengshan sat his wife, whose opulent attire and regal demeanor definitely wouldn’t have lost out to any of the imperial concubines in the palace.

Of course, Song Fengshan was extremely confident, but there were others present who were just as confident as him.

However, neither side could’ve anticipated that the arrival of an unwelcome guest would completely shatter the plans that they had meticulously put together over the course of many years.

There was no report from the porter, nor did any of Sword Water Villa’s disciples step in to stop this unwelcome guest. The man simply arrived and declared his own identity, and almost everyone present immediately extended respectful bows, as mandated by Confucian etiquette.

The new arrival was a young man in a Confucian robe with a jade pendant hanging from his waist, and he walked with an indescribable gait and rhythm, making his way into the main hall of Sword Water Villa in an unhurried fashion.

After stepping into the hall, he took a glance at his surroundings, then declared once again, “Greetings, everyone, I am Virtuous Scholar Zhou Ju of Lake View Academy.”

Almost everyone in the hall instantly rose to their feet to extend respectful bows toward the young virtuous scholar.

The young man returned their salute, then took a few steps forward before casting his gaze toward Song Fengshan, who was looking back at him with a dark expression.

His wife gently laid a hand onto his arm before giving him a subtle look, indicating for him to proceed with caution.

“Is Han Yuanshan of Mount Xiaochong’s Han Clan here at the villa?” Zhou Ju asked in a calm voice.

Song Fengshan suppressed the fury in his heart as he put on a fake smile and replied, “I’m afraid you’ve missed him. He was here at the villa just yesterday, but he’s no longer here today. He told me that he was suddenly struck by a bout of wanderlust and wanted to see what sights and scenes Water Combing Nation had to offer. May I ask what business you have with him, esteemed virtuous scholar? If it’s nothing urgent, I would be more than happy to pass on a message for you.”

Zhou Ju smiled as he replied, “Han Yuanshan is a top scholar of Water Combing Nation’s imperial court and a follower of Confucianism, yet he’s cultivating demonic arts and harbors sinister intentions to spoil the welfare of a nation. I’ve been tasked with taking him to Lake View Academy to be punished, and as for what his punishment is going to be, that will be decided once he gets there.

“Song Fengshan, here is a word of advice for you from me, not as a virtuous scholar of the academy, but simply as Zhou Ju: it’s still not too late to turn back. Don’t run your horse off the cliff, then only come to regret your actions as you fall.”

Song Fengshan placed his elbow on the armrest of his chair, then rested his chin on the palm of his hand as he cocked his head to the side, sizing up Zhou Ju with an amused smile on his face.

It was said that whenever these noble scholars left the academy to carry out official duties, they would always be carrying these jade pendants bestowed upon them by the sage of the academy. Those jade pendants recorded their experiences and conduct, and was supposed to be a measure put in place to assure others of their integrity and cleanliness of conduct.

The jade pendants were the simplest of jade amulets meant to bring safety and prosperity, but they had different text engraved upon them depending on the noble or virtuous scholars they had been assigned to. The inscriptions were always extremely profound, often containing expectations and advice that the sage of the academy had for these scholars.

In a display of extreme rudeness, Song Fengshan showed no intention of replying, so his wife naturally interjected to defuse the situation, standing and extending a curtsey toward Zhou Ju as she smiled and said, “If Han Yuanshan really has committed such heinous crimes, then our Sword Water Villa will be sure to perform its duty and assist the academy in apprehending him.”

Zhou Ju cast his gaze toward the woman, then scoffed in a cold voice, “You’re only able to stand here and speak in such a righteous manner because your bridge of immortality was severed long ago. Otherwise, you won’t be in a much better position than Han Yuanshan right now. Those who pursue the demonic arts have no place in this world, and any demonic practitioners who dare to disrupt the welfare of nations will have our academy to answer to!”

Song Fengshan sat bolt upright as he glowered intently at Zhou Ju. “Have a bit more respect when you speak to my wife!”

“Fengshan!” the young woman hurriedly called out as she turned to him with an urgent expression, and Song Fengshan took a glance at her before heaving an internal sigh and falling silent again.

All of a sudden, Dou Yang, the self-proclaimed leader of the demonic orthodoxy, took a large swig of wine, then slammed his cup heavily onto the table with an audible sneer.

Zhou Ju turned to Dou Yang as he declared, “Once I’ve completed the official duties assigned to me by the academy, I’ll be removing this jade pendant from my waist. I hope you still have the courage to sneer at me then.”

Dou Yang took a derisive glance at Zhou Ju out of the corner of this eye, then chuckled, “Others may fear Lake View Academy, and I do as well, but I’m nowhere near as afraid as the others as I’m aware of your academy’s rules. I know the barriers to entry for virtuous scholars, as well as the bottlenecks that prevent them from advancing beyond that status, and I know just how big the gap is between virtuous scholars and noble scholars.

“So I suggest you don’t try to intimidate me with empty threats. Even if you remove your jade pendant, I’ll still fear your academy, and I wouldn’t dare to fight you all-out, but if you were to renounce your status as a virtuous scholar of the academy altogether and face me as a man, then pardon my language, but I would beat the living shit out of you!”

This was an extremely bold declaration from Dou Yang, but also one that was quite cathartic for everyone present. Even though many of the righteous individuals present resented him fiercely for his past actions, they still couldn’t help but feel a sense of admiration toward him for his courage to be so blunt and forthright even in the face of a virtuous scholar of Lake View Academy.

The fact that Water Combing Nation had such a valiant spearhead of the demonic orthodoxy surely placed it above the likes of Colorful Garment Nation and Ancient Elm Nation.

A faint smile appeared on Zhou Ju’s face, and he lowered his head as he began to murmuring to his jade pendant, “Do you hear that, Teacher? How can I just stomach these blatant insults without retaliation?

“I understand that I have to refrain from beating up those virtuous scholars of our academy, but I’m not in the academy right now, do I still have to be so tolerant of a demonic Qi refiner? I know you’d definitely tell me to be more tolerant, and that if I could rein in my temper, then I would be reinstated as a noble scholar, but I just can’t do it… What was that? What did you say, Teacher? Hello, can you hear me? It looks like there’s something wrong with this jade pendant of mine.

“You really have to reprimand the jade pendant makers at our academy so they do a better job, Teacher! In the meantime, I’ll speak to you later. Make sure to assign me a new jade pendant once I return to the academy, Teacher…”

From everyone else’s perspective, it was as if Zhou Ju had suddenly gone insane, grabbing onto the jade pendant hanging from his waist and shaking it around vigorously while pretending that it was vibrating on its own. In the end, he made a hand seal, and a gentle breeze blew toward him, forming a cocoon around the jade pendant. Only then did he remove the jade pendant from his waist with a smile before stowing it up his sleeve.

In the meantime, the young woman hurriedly made her way over to Song Fengshan’s side, then said with a wry smile, “I’ve managed to recall who this is, Fengshan. He’s one of the direct disciples of the sage of the academy. Among all of the sage’s direct disciples, he’s the youngest and has the shortest temper.

“As for his powers… If he’s not ranked at the top, then he’s at least the second-ranked disciple. At just thirty years of age, he became a noble scholar, and that had created a massive stir at the time. He’s regarded as the second brightest young prospect of the academy, behind only Cui Minghuang, so he’s always been closely protected by Lake View Academy.

“According to our sources, his name is Zhou Juran and not Zhou Ju, and that’s why I wasn’t able to recall who he was right away.”

Dou Yang gulped nervously as a sense of foreboding welled up in his heart.

He didn’t know that Zhou Ju was Zhou Juran, hearing Zhou Ju mutter to himself about beating up virtuous scholars and a reinstatement to the status of noble scholar had alerted him to the fact that this was not someone to be messed with.

Hence, he immediately rose to his feet and was about to apologize.

There was no shame in conceding inferiority to a noble scholar of Confucianism.

However, Zhou Ju didn’t give him a chance to apologize. He stabbed a finger in Dou Yang’s direction as he smiled and declared, “Our Confucian predecessors once spoke of a valley filled with broken rocks and gusts of wind fierce enough to have those broken rocks swirling around like weightless leaves. It may sound implausible, but I’ll demonstrate that all of you right now!”

All of a sudden, fierce astral winds swept through the air in a radius of about three meters around Dou Yang, and they were as ferocious as a tornado as they revolved around Dou Yang in a frenzy.

After the astral winds subsided, all that remained of Dou Yang was a bare skeleton.

Zhou Ju didn’t even bother to take a glance at Dou Yang’s skeletal remains as he turned to Song Fengshan and said, “I’m sure you’ve come to realize that I was actually speaking to your wife with plenty of respect just now.”

Song Fengshan was so furious that veins were bulging on the back of his hand, but his wife was holding him down with a firm grip and a smile on her face. She replied, “Of course. We are extremely grateful for your kindness, esteemed virtuous scholar.”

Zhou Ju smiled as he said, “Seeing as Han Yuanshan isn’t present, I won’t interrupt your ceremony any longer. I’ll go look for him, you can continue as you please.”

With that, Zhou Ju turned and departed in a casual and graceful fashion. Right as he emerged from the entrance of the villa, a duo consisting of a young boy and an old man just so happened to be returning. Both of them had blood stains all over their clothes, indicating that they had just endured some tough battles.

None of them stopped or said anything, and they passed each other by right as they were striding over the doorstep.

Zhou Ju immediately began to scrutinize Chen Ping’an intently, and the latter found that to be rather strange, so he returned Zhou Ju’s gaze, and their eyes met.

Even after Chen Ping’an had already made his way into the main hall, and their eye contact was broken, Zhou Ju was still staring intently at Chen Ping’an with an unblinking gaze.