Martial Cultivator

Hearing these words, Li Chaohai could not help but feel his heart waver. If someone had told him in the past that one day the Great Liang Dynasty would make all the cultivators in the world bow their heads, taking the laws of Great Liang as the sole standard of this world, he would have scoffed.

But now, with Chen Chao saying it, he believed it.

Because the young Lord Warden Commander before him had already accomplished many things, and would surely accomplish many more.

In the two hundred years of the Great Liang Dynasty, one could not say no great figures had ever appeared. Every generation of emperor had been remarkable. Even Emperor Lingzong, who was most criticized by the world today, had in truth done many things for Great Liang during his reign, allowing its national strength to steadily rise.

Yet after two hundred years, the people’s attention naturally settled only on the past ten-some years: from the ascension of the Great Liang Emperor, to the moment this young Lord Warden Commander assumed his position.

These uncle and nephew were the two most important people of the Great Liang Dynasty.

”His Majesty...”

Li Chaohai hesitated for a moment, wanting to ask whether the emperor was still alive. Although the Crown Prince had served as regent for the past two years, the people still missed His Majesty dearly.

Chen Chao glanced at Li Chaohai and said nothing.

The latter hurriedly lowered his head and said, “This lowly official misspoke. Please punish me, Your Excellency.”

Chen Chao laughed it off.

“The Great Liang Dynasty has no rule forbidding speech. But as for His Majesty’s whereabouts, no one knows. In any case, this official believes His Majesty is somewhere watching over us.”

As he spoke, Chen Chao patted Li Chaohai’s shoulder, then took a pill from his robe and handed it to him. Chen Chao’s own injuries could not be healed by an ordinary pill, but the warden before him was only at the Bitter Sea Realm. An ordinary pill was more than enough.

“Thank you for the medicine, Your Excellency.”

Chen Chao shot him a glance, as he smiled with narrowed eyes, “In a bit, let’s work together for a moment. I’m a few years older than you, but I can probably be half a teacher. Let me take a look at you?”

If Chen Chao giving him medicine earlier was still nothing to Li Chaohai, since a single pill was hardly enough to win someone over, then receiving personal instruction in the martial path absolutely was not an ordinary matter.

Now, the world already had rumors: after the previous Great General passed away and His Majesty embarked on his journey, the martial artist who could claim first place in the world was either the Northern Frontier Great General Ning Ping, or this Lord Warden Commander.

And after the events in the desolate north, let alone outsiders, even among the martial officials of the warden faction, it had become certain that among the martial artists of the world, Chen Chao was the undisputed number one.

What made it even more frightening was that this unparalleled martial artist was just over twenty years old, still some distance from his thirtieth year.

To be personally instructed by him, for the martial artists of this world, that was nothing short of supreme honor.

It was enough to make one tremble with excitement.

......

......

When the sky had yet to brighten, Chen Chao left Osmanthus County, taking that lantern with him.

Li Chaohai waited at the city gate until daybreak before turning around and leaving.

......

......

Continuing south from Osmanthus County, it was already within Heavenly South.

Besides the division of the nine prefectures, many other terms of the Great Liang Dynasty were actually folk usage. Things like the so-called Heavenly Southern Ridge, or Northern Ridge, were all passed down by the common people from generation to generation. ＲἁΝоβÈs̈

Although the imperial court tacitly accepted these terms, they generally would not use them in official writing. Therefore, back then Hundred Streams Pavilion had spent quite some effort to find the sect that man belonged to.

The sect’s name was ordinary, called Myriad Blessings Sect.

It was just on a small hill outside a place called Clear Pool Town.

It was said that the common folk there had always assumed that the small sect on that hill was not an immortal dwelling at all, but a bandit stronghold.

Fortunately, nothing like robbery or pillaging had occurred around Clear Pool Town in recent years, otherwise the sect outside the town would probably have been saddled with a troublesome black pot.

When Chen Chao arrived at this small town carrying his lantern, it happened to be deep into the night. The lantern naturally served its purpose. Otherwise, walking in broad daylight with a lantern, everyone would surely say that this sickly-looking fellow was not only frail in body, but his head had problems too.

The town had no curfew, so when Chen Chao entered, he was not obstructed at all. Instead, this young martial artist stopped voluntarily at the town’s entrance.

Two people had long been waiting there.

Two women. One was slightly older and could be called a matron, yet she still retained her charm. Not only was she tall, but her chest was broad, unlike most women.

The other woman looked much younger and more inexperienced. Her face could not be called peerless, but she was definitely a budding beauty. In a few years, when she grew into her looks, she would surely be far more beautiful. Although her figure was also slender, in certain assets she was far inferior to the matron beside her.

In truth, the women of the world were like all kinds of flowers - yellow or white, delicate or radiant, all different.

And the preferences of men also differed. Some women meant nothing in the eyes of some people, yet in the eyes of others, they were unmatched beauties.

There was simply no way to generalize.

When she saw Chen Chao, the matron came forward, executed a greeting, and said softly with a smile, “Your Excellency has traveled a long, dusty road. It must have been tiring.”

Chen Chao smiled and shook his head. “Speaking of it, it doesn’t really count as tiring. It’s just walking a bit. But the things you all have been doing are not simple, that’s what’s truly hard.”

The matron smiled. “With Your Excellency’s words, it’s like swallowing a mouthful of honey. Where would there be any bitterness left?”

Chen Chao laughed. “No matter what you say, the salary won’t increase by even a single copper coin.”

“It’s fine. Your Excellency can pocket it for yourself, so you can afford a few more wives and concubines. After all, with Your Excellency’s martial talent, if it isn’t passed down, wouldn’t that be a loss for my Great Liang Dynasty?”

Although her voice was gentle, her demeanor was not too servile. Compared to Li Chaohai earlier, she was a completely different kind.

Somewhat neither humble nor arrogant.

Chen Chao sighed helplessly. “Before coming, this official had already heard of Madam Redcloud’s reputation. Seeing you now, it’s indeed well-deserved.”

The woman before him had originally been the wife of the sect master of a small sect in the foreign lands, and that sect was called the Redcloud Sect. Later, because the Redcloud Sect and another sect developed some conflict. Frankly speaking, it was that other sect that first provoked them. Yet the Redcloud Sect was too small, with no powerhouses within the sect, and thus suffered extermination. Even the sect master died in that conflict. Afterward, Madam Redcloud managed to escape by luck, and she happened to encounter an official from the Hundred Streams Pavilion. Through his mediation, Great Liang dispatched a powerhouse to avenge Madam Redcloud. After that, Madam Redcloud no longer had the intention to rebuild the Redcloud Sect, and so she joined the Hundred Streams Pavilion.

Within White Deer Prefecture today, she counted as the number three figure, overseeing several counties including Osmanthus County.

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