Martial King's Retired Life

The Minor Lordʼs Arduous Responsibility

Tang Yeʼs situation quickly spiralled downwards. He was suspended in mid-air with nothing to leverage. With his skills, heʼd be able to immediately come back if he could find a spot to leverage. But because he rushed over so fast before, he was suspended in mid-air and much farther away than someone in particular.

Tie Hanyi didnʼt want to let his opponent lose because of a foot-slip either, but because he was standing too far away, he couldnʼt save him even if he wanted.

But something that shocked the crowd then happened.

A strong gust of wind suddenly blew. The four walls of the imperial city were very high so they always managed to block the wind, but for some reason, a strong gust of wind suddenly blew inside the imperial city.

As a result, Tang Ye who was falling got blown back up. While others may not have noticed, Tang Yeʼs fall was stopped by that gust of wind.

Tang Yeʼs foot was in the ring as his head fell towards the crowd. Leveraging the the gust of wind, he used the power from his hips and used his feet to bounce off the wind to change his position. After sixteen consecutive mandarin duck kicks in the air, he forcefully turned in the air so that his head was pointed towards the ring. Tang Ye revealed his horseshoe tricep, grabbed a large timber post sticking out of the ring, weaved a brilliant hand gesture with his other hand and scaled along several timber posts sticking out of the ring. He then performed a leap and returned to the ring.

The crowd wowed consecutively at what they witnessed, surprised at how the heavens helped the young man.

Needless to say, it wasnʼt the gods that helped him. It was me. I used the Spring Wind Rainy Night Arts to create the gust of wind. Whether or not Tang Ye loses isnʼt a big deal, but I donʼt want to lose my little Mingming!

Tang Ye gave me a look of gratitude and I gave him a resolute gaze. In that moment, our brotherhood burnt up in our chests.

Tang Ye gestured with his hand to Tie Hanyi for him to come at him.

However, Tie Hanyi didnʼt budge. He glanced at him and said: ”You were in a rush to mould energy just now so you expended a fair bit of energy. I wonʼt take advantage of you. Have as much rest as you need, and weʼll fight when youʼre fully recovered.”

However, Tang Ye bluntly asked: ”Would I be worthy of the title ʼminor lordʼ if I needed to be given a handicap?”

Ooohhh!! I saved Tang Ye once and now heʼs finally willing to take up the crown as the minor lord now!

As soon as he finished speaking, the minor lord struck out with a palm strike. The force of his palm strike was an area of effect attack that covered three feet around him while the air became warmer. Heʼs coming out with Yang Blood True Qi right from the get go.

Tie Hanyi exclaimed: ”How arrogant!” He then raised his hand and struck out with a palm strike of his own.

Tie Hanyiʼs alias is Iron Blood Hanyi. And thatʼs because other than him being incredibly strong, his execution of his palm techniques is also amazing. When he clashed head-to-head with Long Zaitian, Long Zaitian lost even though he possessed that much brute strength, which goes to show just how amazing Tie Hanyiʼs palm techniques are.

Bai Ling brought her snow-white face closer. She tippy-toed up and came close enough to bite my ear: ”Look at your Tang Ye, heʼs as arrogant as can be. Tie Hanyiʼs skills arenʼt easy to guard against, yet heʼs so full of himself, saying he doesnʼt need any rest.” The warm air from her breath made my heart feel ticklish.

I narrowed my eyes: ”That might not be true. Tang Ye is very straight-laced, but heʼs not an idiot.”

Tie Hanyi struck out but he didnʼt feel any force resisting him like he was hitting the air. Just as he was wondering to himself what was going on, he noticed Tang Ye had pulled back his strike. But Tang Yeʼs feet didnʼt stop. His feet slid over to Tie Hanyiʼs side and he thrust another amazingly swift palm strike at Tie Hanyiʼs big pressure point on his big.

Tie Hanyi is a man with lots of experience and knowledge, yet he never expected the young man to switch moves so quickly. He turned his palm up to guard against the attack.

Half-way to its target, Tang Ye changed the nature of his attack from a palm strike into a finger strike like a combination of the Spinning Flower, Triple Feint Strike and Yang Blood True Qi, breaking through Tie Hanyiʼs guard in under three moves.

Tie Hanyi exclaimed with surprise: ”Ming Jing Palaceʼs Flower Wheel Finger Arts!”

If internal arts werenʼt involved in the styles of every school, I wouldnʼt really be able to recognise them. But that does indeed look like the Northern Seaʼs Ming Jing Palaceʼs martial arts.

Bai Ling was slightly surprised: ”Ming Jing Palaceʼs Flower Wheel Finger Arts. Heʼs quite the impressive young man to have learnt it at such a young age. Thatʼs a style that Ming Jing Palace does not teach to outsiders. Normally speaking, those who master it are at least over thirty-five.”

I felt a little happy: ”That proves that our minor lord is highly-talented.”

But Bai Ling scoffed at me: ”That may not be true. Tie Hanyi canʼt be beaten so easily.”

Tie Hanyi re-focused his qi to his dantian and as a result, the air around him turned dark as if he was wearing armour with dark clouds entrapped inside. His power comes from his training in the Iron Palm Arts, so when he moulds his qi, his skin turns into a dark iron colour like heʼs wearing body-armour. And thatʼs where his name, Iron Blood Hanyi comes from. When he enters that mode, no blades will be able to penetrate him, allowing him to become fearless towards weapons and empty-handed attacks, making it his ultimate art.

That proved that Tang Ye was a threat to him. Even he himself didnʼt expect to have to use it so soon.

After enveloping his body, the power behind his palm strikes also increased. Further, he could now focus on attacking without having to worry about defending, so he was multiple times stronger now.

Tang Yeʼs expression looked unwavering as if he wasnʼt afraid of his opponentʼs brute strength at all. He pulled his right arm back while he moulded energy on his left hand, turning it into a blade like weapon and readied it. The power on his hand was like a candle-flame flickering in the wind. His knife-hand attacks were fast as the wind, yet so sharp it was astonishing. One was light, the other dark, with power and technique separated, yet very clear. Such technique was a rare sight.

Bai Ling widened her beautiful eyes: ”Red Sleeve Divine Blade! Thatʼs the Bu family in Jiang Nanʼs Acacia Gorgeʼs secret sabre style!” She glared at me as she grumbled, ”You knew he knew it long ago, didnʼt you?”

”How would I have known?” I glared back at her innocently: ”What sabre style is that? Isnʼt it a palm style?”

While I know the internal arts of many schools, Iʼm useless when it comes to recognising the techniques of different styles. Tang Ye is clearly using his palms.

Sabre style? I got a little confused……

Bai Ling puffed her chest out. An alluring and beautiful curvature line revealed itself through her white clothing. She took a step forward with her slender and shapely legs like a teacher of some sort, completely oblivious to what she was revealing.

”Heʼs using his hand as a sabre, Iʼm one-hundred percent sure heʼs using sabre techniques. The sabre style I speak of is called Red Sleeve Divine Blade, which is taught by the Bu family, one of the seven white champion princes in Acacia Gorge. Its magic lies in the fact that its technique and power are separated, creating a technique where he has both internal and external elements. There are four elements that made it famous in the martial world, understand?”

”Erm, I……”

Bai Ling pouted her lips in a way that indicated she was looking down on me: ”There are four intricacies to the Red Sleeve Divine Blade art: swift yet strong and slow; slow yet heavy; heavy yet the force is messy; messy yet orderly sophisticated, thus leaving their opponent at a loss for what to do. Think about it. If a blade was already at your throat, but strong yet slow, would you save energy to guard or quickly guard against the blade?”

”Well……”

Teacher Bai Ling continued: ”Itʼs hard to decide in a split second, isnʼt it? And itʼs not like the attack would be telegraphed, making it even tougher to deal with. As such, most people who get struck with the technique ʼSubstituteʼ are defeated and need to retreat to come up with an alternative plan. Tang Yeʼs execution of it was very precise. He maximised the dark and light elements, and captured all four intricacies of the style with one move. You could say that he perfected it to its peak. Many from Acacia Gorge donʼt even manage to execute it so well in their lifetime, including those from the Bu family themselves. Is Tang Ye related to the Acacia Gorge? That doesnʼt make sense because he just used the Northern Seaʼs Ming Jing Palaceʼs martial arts.”

I had already stopped listening. I took out a bag of melons and comfortably enjoyed myself.

General Manager Bai looked at me with a slight frown: ”Hey, are you listening to me?”

”While I donʼt really get it, in short, itʼs some incredible stuff, right?”

Bai Ling glared at me as if to say ”hopeless idiot”, and then focused her attention back to the ring, only to see a shocking scene.

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