Martial Cultivator

Autumn was gradually approaching.

All told, Chen Chao had already returned to the Divine Capital for more than two months.

Today, Chen Chao changed into a different set of clothes, though it was still a black robe. From head to toe, piece after piece, it was hard to find him in any other style. Fortunately, this Lord Warden Commander was already used to it. Aside from his official robe, he only wore black robes.

But while he was like this, his disciples were not. Yu Qingfeng changed into a green robe today, of fine material. It seemed to be something Xie Nandu had arranged for several of them back when she was still in the Divine Capital. Xie Nandu was meticulous in such matters: not only had she fully prepared the children’s current clothing, she had also considered how quickly children grow, deliberately leaving several sets that had looked much too large before, but now fit just right.

He Liang did not deliberately change into anything especially nice, merely switching into a clean gray cloth robe, looking like a scholar. As for the young girl Ning Qingnian, she had never liked the floral dresses favored by girls her age, instead wearing a plain white outfit, which also looked very good.

Aside from his three disciples, those going along today to freeload a meal also included Yu Xiyi and his disciple. Yu Xiyi was still dressed in a green robe as usual. That green robe of his was actually made from special material, dust-proof;no matter how long it was worn, no matter how one looked at it, it would remain spotless. But even so, wearing it for too long still drew complaints from his closed-door disciple, Jiang Xiao’an, who grumbled that her master did not care about his appearance at all, saying clothes should be changed often. Otherwise, how was he supposed to find her a mistress?

But Yu Xiyi laughed it off every time, clearly not taking the matter to heart. Still, even though she was stuck with such a master, Jiang Xiao’an herself had specially changed into a yellow floral dress. The dress had been made by her mother, who had gone to buy the fabric not long ago. This was the first time she had worn it out.

When the group of six arrived at the gate of Song Lian’s residence, Weng Quan, who had long been waiting there, immediately ran over. Looking at Chen Chao, his face was full of joy. “My lord, you’ve finally arrived.”

Back when Chen Chao was still the Left Guard’s deputy commander, Weng Quan had been an official of the Left Guard. Every time Chen Chao returned to the Divine Capital, the two would naturally meet. But now that Chen Chao was already the Lord Warden Commander, and since he had not attended court sessions these past few times, this was actually their first meeting.

Chen Chao glanced at him, clicked his tongue, and said, “You’re already at the Bitter Sea Realm. It won’t be long before you reach the Great Beyond, will it?”

Weng Quan grinned. “It’s all thanks to this lowly official’s second uncle’s teaching.”

As Song Lian’s nephew, Weng Quan had not suffered little over the years. With an uncle who was a Nepenthe martial artist, he was frequently dragged along to practice fist techniques and cultivation. When they sparred, his uncle hardly held back at all, leaving Weng Quan bruised and swollen every time. Officials of the Left Guard who did not know about this relationship would see Weng Quan in that state and joke that he must have been peeping at some girl bathing and refusing to repent, getting beaten black and blue every time.

Weng Quan never argued, merely practicing his boxing in silence.

Chen Chao narrowed his eyes and smiled. “Hurry up and train well. In the future, once you reach the Nepenthe Realm, the commander posts of the Left and Right Guards, you can pick whichever you like.”

Weng Quan muttered, “So being a commander now already requires the Nepenthe Realm?”

Chen Chao heard it and only smiled, saying nothing.

In earlier years, the commanders of the Left and Right Guards had merely been Great Beyond martial artists. When Chen Chao himself was a deputy commander, his realm had not been high either. But times were different now, the number of cultivators in Great Liang had long since multiplied several times over compared to before.

Even within the warden faction, Chen Chao had brought over two people, both top-tier martial artists of the current age. In fact, aside from these two, many other martial artists later chose to swear loyalty to the Great Liang Dynasty as well. However, not all of them entered the warden faction;more of them were arranged by Chen Chao to serve elsewhere.

But no matter what, a Great Liang Dynasty now stood with not only him, the Lord Warden Commander, presiding at the top, but also with many people flooding in below, strengthening its foundations.

The present Great Liang Dynasty could already be considered a colossal entity.

Yet restraining the cultivators and martial artists who poured into Great Liang required more than just the laws of Great Liang, it also required him, this Lord Warden Commander, to remain in place.

As long as he remained there, even if he did nothing, those martial artists and cultivators would think twice before acting. Because once they did something wrong, this Lord Warden Commander would take action. As for whether he would kill them or do something else, they did not even dare to think about it.

After all, there were never many people who were truly of the same path[Dao].

After entering the courtyard, the one who came out to greet them was not Song Lian, but that woman instead. She looked radiant, far better than when they first met, back when she had still been washing clothes for a living.

Chen Chao smiled and said, ”Sorry to trouble you, Sister-in-law.”

As he spoke, He Liang came forward carrying the items. When coming over to freeload a meal, basic courtesy still had to be observed.

Seeing what He Liang was carrying, the woman grumgled a little, ”You are just here for a simple meal, why bring anything at all?”

Chen Chao smiled and said, ”Its nothing valuable. If Sister-in-law does not accept it, then this meal cant be eaten.”

While he was speaking, He Liang had already carried the items into the house. With no other choice, the woman shot Song Lian a glance and then turned back inside to continue cooking.

Chen Chao walked over to Song Lian, bumped his shoulder lightly with his own, and asked with a grin, ”Really have the will but not the strength?”

Song Lian stiffened his face and was about to retort, but Chen Chao quickly changed the subject and asked, ”What did the Mountains and Rivers Sect say?”

The matter of the Mountains and Rivers Sect had been handed over to Song Lian by Chen Chao.

Song Lian nodded and said softly, ”I made a trip to the Mountains and Rivers Sect. The talks went fairly well, but that Sect Master still wants you to go personally.”

Chen Chao raised his brows. ”Me? Not His Highness the Crown Prince?”

Song Lian said helplessly, ”You.”

At present, in the eyes of those foreign cultivators, the Great Liang Dynasty was nominally under the Crown Prince’s authority, but in reality, Chen Chao was the one who had the final say, especially when it came to matters involving those foreign cultivators.

Just this point alone would have been enough, if it were any ordinary emperor, for suspicions between ruler and subject to arise. Yet the current Great Liang Dynasty did not seem to be like that.

”Originally, I planned that if you couldn’t settle it, Id have our Sword Immortal Yu go over there and shake things up with a bit of sword qi.”

Chen Chao glanced at Yu Xiyi. The latter frowned, his expression unpleasant. ”Surname Chen, why is it that every reputation-ruining thing gets pushed onto Your Father? Your Father’s dignified great sword immortal reputation, just staying around you turns it into a complete mess.”

Chen Chao asked curiously, ”What? Does Great Sword Immortal Yu really think you ever had a good reputation to begin with?”

Yu Xiyi rolled his eyes, too lazy to respond.

Song Lian said with a smile, ”If Great Sword Immortal Yu were to make a trip, Id wager they’d be trembling over there. Even if they wouldn’t genuinely agree to the matter, at the very least they wouldn’t dare refuse outright.”

Hearing this, Yu Xiyi was even more furious. ”Old Song, what do you take Your Father to be? A bandit?”

Song Lian asked, ”Aren’t you?”

Once those words were spoken, Yu Xiyi said ”good” three times in a row, grinding his teeth. This great sword immortal had probably only ever managed to suffer repeated setbacks when dealing with Chen Chao.

Chen Chao said with a straight face, ”Do you want Your Father to go one by one and expose all the big talk you spouted in front of Your Father;’s disciples earlier?”

”You, what are you doing? Aren’t we brothers who’ve risked our lives together? What’s this yours and mine stuff? You’re really still holding onto something this small? No reason for that. Alright, alright, it was just a joke. What’s the big deal?”

Yu Xiyi scratched his head, wearing a fawning expression.

When he, Great Sword Immortal Yu, traveled the world, what he cared about most was nothing more than his reputation.

”Then I’ll find some time to make a trip.”

Chen Chao rubbed his cheeks and smiled. Making a trip to the Mountains and Rivers Sect was not a big deal anyway, as long as the matter could be finalized.

Song Lian asked, ”And over at the imperial court?”

Chen Chao said, ”The resistance is actually not small, but I already went to see Zhou Gouqi before.”

”Mr Zhou?”

At present, Zhou Gouqi was the acting dean of the academy and also a scholar who had reached the end of Nepenthe. Although his status still could not be compared to that of the academy dean, overall, the gap was already very small.

With Zhou Gouqi speaking on this matter, the resistance would be much lighter.

After all, when a leader of half the world’s scholars spoke to express his stance, there was basically no major problem.

Chen Chao said, ”I also still need to make a trip to the Xie Family and meet that Minister Xie.”

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