Tianxing City is about one and fifty hundred kilometers from Qingyun City and Qixing Sect enjoys the same high position as Three Chivalries Garden does. The Xu family, which is part of the Qixing Sect, controls each and every line of trade across Tianxing City, with a clout comparable to that of Three Chivalries Garden.
As a childe of Qixing Sect, Xu Guang is known for being haughty and arrogant. Seeing his expression, Li Fei can immediately tell Xu Guang isn’t happy about the seating arrangement at all.
At that moment, a devious plan suddenly comes to Li Fei’s mind. After scheming with Li Zheng for a while, the two shot each other a knowing glance and decide to take action.
Li Fei, holding his wine cup, walks up to Xu Guang with a fawning grin, “Long time no see, Mr. Xu! You’re as handsome and graceful as always!”
Aloof as he is, Xu Guang is quite fond of being an object of the apple-polishers. Hearing Li Fei’s flattering words, he turns his head around and returns in a chilly voice, “Li Fei, I didn’t know you came as well.”
Li Fei sits down next to Xu Guang and starts a random chit-chat with him, before letting out an unexpectedly yet intentional sigh.
Xu Guang is curious and asks, “Li Fei, anything upsetting?”
Li Fei points in Li Xing’s direction and securely vents, “Did you see that they had put that inferior and dumbbell of a person like him on a front seat? It’s outrageous!”
As a matter of fact, Xu Guang has noticed Li Xing for a while and has felt pissed off by the casual and easy manner on the man’s face as if everyone present is beneath him.
“A goddamn nobody! I’ve seen many holier-than-thou men of his kind.”
That was the first impression of Li Xing to Xu Guang when he laid eyes on the former. To him, Li Xing was nothing but pretentious.
Hearing Li Fei’s complaint, Xu Guang asks seriously, “Who the hell is he?”
With a smirk, Li Fi says, “To be honest, that man is a disgrace to Three Chivalries Garden. His father has been a drunkard and his mother was a shameless woman of dubious background. After he was born, he had been a good-for-nothing, unfit for blood practicing and lived like a lowly servant. Somehow, he had a mysterious stroke of luck lately and has been able to practice blood. And not lone ago, he managed to snatch a spot for Qiyun Sect.”
Xu Guang obviously seems surprised, asking, “Did he really win a spot?” It turns out that just like Three Chivalries Garden, Qixing Sect was also allocated spots for Qiyun Sect and Xu Guang is aware that whoever gets the spot is either from a high place or has enough strength to hold a safe lead above anyone else.
Li Fei slaps his own leg, continuing with his malicious attack, “Who knows what kind of evil scheme that bastard used to win the spot? Mr. Xu, don’t you think it’s a humiliation to us all that such a wretched waste of a man and bastard should upstage us?”
Xu Guang already found Li Xing an eyesore and after being told the story about the man, his anger and hatred toward Li Xing grow even bitter. He scans the crowd to confirm that the princess is not here yet, and quickly signals someone behind him with his hand.
A servant immediately walks over.
As the servant approaches, Li Fei can feel a sense of crushing fierceness, thinking, “This man is no less powerful than Butler Li Yuan!”
Xu Guang whispers into the servant’s ear and after taking a look at Li Xing, the servant says while nodding, “Rest assured, Young Master! I will make him leave with his tail between his legs.”
Satisfied with what the servant said, Xu Guang turns to Li Fei and says, “Mr. Li, you and I are about to see a show now.”
A sense of revengeful delight rushes over Li Fei who secretly gloats, “Li Xing, I doubt you can handle this! Even if you can, you will definitely make a powerful enemy of Xu Guang!”
Li Xing is in the middle of blood practicing when suddenly he is gripped by an ominous sensation.
Startled, he takes a close look at the crowd around him, wondering, “Is there someone after me?” A blood practicer like him can be highly vigilant and is able to quickly anticipate an ill-intentioned enemy.
As Li Xing speculates, the servant of Xu Guang walks over with a cup of wine and says respectfully, “Childe, my Young Master sent me over to toast you!”
The servant has extremely steady footsteps and as he walks, the ground slightly shakes and the carpet below his feet dips by about one and a half centimeters under pressure.
Li Xing, who is on high alert, sees through this but stays as calm as always, saying loudly, “My honor! May I hear the name of your Young Master?”
The servant takes a few steps forward and answers smilingly, “It’s Childe Xu Guang from Qixing Sect, and here is a toast from him to you!” As he finishes his sentence, he has already reached right in front of Li Xing, handing his wine cup to him.
Li Xing pauses while thinking, “This man cannot possibly intend to kill me in front of all these people.” So he reaches his hand to the wine cup, but the second he touches it, he feels a terrifyingly strong blood force roaring into his body, damaging his meridians as it forces its way inside his body. .
The pain all over his body makes Li Xing slightly tremble, but he manages to hold still the wine cup and focuses his cold stare at the servant.
With a fleeting sinister look, the servant turns around and takes off.
The man had assumed that if Li Xing reached his fingers to the cup, he would either be unable to touch it and forced to retreat or steel himself into grabbing hold of it. The first scenario would leave him humiliated while the second scenario would leave him severely wounded, denying him the chance of staying at the banquet for a minute longer.
It’s almost a fail-proof plan, but he has had no clue that the last thing Li Xing is afraid of is physical injuries.
Therefore, faced with the mounting threat from the servant in front of him, Li Xing didn’t step back. Instead, he reached to the cup and holds it with his hand, and consequently, it caused harm to his meridians.
After finishing with the toast, the servant returns to Xu Guang and whispers something into his ear. An icy-cold grin is seen on the latter’s face as he turns his mocking face to Li Xing.
Li Xing, who has already noticed Xu Guang, also shoots a cold glance in his direction, and the second his eyes move to Li Fei next to Xu Guang, he immediately realizes what happened. Evidently, Li Fei was abetting Xu Guang.
“It’s true what they say ‘All lay loads on a willing horse’!” Li Xing says to himself, “Some people are deserved to be treated like dogs and taught the lesson about submission!” The truth finally becomes clear to Li Xing.
Li Xing closes his eyes, letting the Bead of Nine Yangs magically restoring his body.
Around half an hour later, almost all Li Xing’s injuries are healed, but he keeps his eyes closed and continues with blood practicing, when suddenly he hears a familiar voice, “Li Xing! I’ve been looking for you!”
Li Xing opens his eyes and sees Qian Bixie standing in front of him with a cheerful face.
He feels surprised, wondering how Qian Bixie found out his real identity.
When Li Xing worked at Fortune Restaurant those days, he didn’t reveal his identity and has long assumed that the Qian family doesn’t know who he really is. It quickly dawns on Li Xing that Qian Bixie must have had something to do with his invitation to Murong Jiaojiao’s banquet. Apparently, Qian Bixie has learned Li Xing’s background.
Qian Bixie seems to have seen through the puzzled look on Li Xing’s face and sits down next to him, saying jokingly, “Mr. Li, you have kept me in the dark for so long! Hadn’t there been the highly capable informants of the Murong family, I wouldn’t be able to find out you are a young master of the Li family.”
Keeping a straight face, Li Xing asks, “Did Murong Jiaojiao helped you find out who I am?”
Qian Bixie nods, “Exactly! After Murong Jiaojiao read your poem, she was completely blown away and immediately had someone go around and ask about you. But I had no idea where you lived. I didn’t expect the Murong family managed to dig out the truth about you in just one month.”
“Nor had I ever expected that you are from Three Chivalries Garden. Why on earth would someone from the wealthy Three Chivalries Garden seek employment in Fortune Restaurant? It was only a while later that I learned you are from Purple Bamboo Community. Mr. Li, you are truly an admirable person.” Qian Bixie keeps commending Li Xing for his adaptability to the adverse changes in his life.
Li Xing doesn’t show much emotion, saying, “We don’t need to rehash the past, Mr. Qian. I was indeed invited by Princess Murong. Could you please tell more about this scholars’ banquet?”
A mystic smile comes to Qian Bixie’s face, “Well, um, it’s too early to tell. If you don’t mind, just be patient and find out yourself. Murong Jiaojiao has a penchant for leaving people hanging. It might be a while before she makes her appearance. You and I can just enjoy our wine at the moment.”
Qian Bixie seems to have grown closer to Li Xing whom he also holds in high esteem, and he keeps refilling his cup with wine.
Wine to blood practicer is just like water to ordinary people, since they won’t feel drunk even after one thousand cups. So Li Xing keeps chugging liquor one cup after another.
Qian Bixie is a rather well-known poet in Qingyun City and is recognized by half of the attendees at the banquet. Seeing Qian Bixie approaching and talking to Li Xing intimately after witnessing the latter receiving a toast from someone else, everyone is inevitably filled with curiosity as to who exactly Li Xing is. Could he be a man of royal or noble decent? Or why else has he been seated in the front and acquainted with so many renowned people in the city?
In the meantime, Bai Jing and Bai Qiong keep glancing at Li Xing from another side and discussing between themselves.
“Sister, we both thought of him as a loser before, but he turns out to be a talent. He not only managed to win a spot and apparently, he also has some kind of connection with the Murong family,” Bai Qiong says.
Bai Jing follows with a snide comment, “This man is so calculated and shrewd that he has managed to fool everyone for years. That is a really terrifying character on a person.”
Bai Qiong, however, seems to a have different opinion, “A man should have shrewdness in his character for self-protection.” Then she takes a look at Chen Xue and speaks in a low voice, “Seems Chen Xue is going to win big this time!”
Bai Jing disagrees, saying, “Chen Xue was betrothed to Li Xing by Li Ziran before she was born. Back then Li Ziran held the most authority and influence and no one dared to say anything. But things are different now. If Li Ziran doesn’t renew the proposal, I don’t think Chen Xue would be thick-skinned enough to follow the engagement through.”
Bai Qiong doesn’t know how to respond for a moment, then she whispers cheerfully, “That’s true. If I were Li Xing, I don’t think she would be good enough for me, either. Why would anyone like a girl who is so cold and distant and looks down on everyone else?”
Chen Xue and Chen Shuang are the most beautiful sisters in Three Chivalries Garden, which is an acknowledged fact to everyone. Although Bai Jing and Bai Qiong are also pretty girls themselves, they don’t hold a candle to the Chen sisters.
In Three Chivalries Garden, people have always compared the Bai sisters with the Chen sisters and their preference to the latter has long filled Bai Qiong with bitter jealousy.
After chatting with Qian Bixie for a while, Li Xing starts asking him about Murong Jiaojiao.
Qian Bixie tells him, “There are four Jade Marquises and one Divine Marquis in Ping State. I suppose you are aware that Ping State has long been divided up by the marquises into thirty-six districts. Each marquis either separately controls three to five towns or as many as one hundred towns.”
“Every marquis has some sort of benefit-based connections with the several major sects in the state. For instance, in Qingyun City, Local Marquis Wang Zixing is an on-site disciple of Qiyun Sect, meaning that the thirty-five towns he administers all have some kind of connections with Qiyun Sect.”
“Take Three Chivalries Garden for an example, at least one fifth of its annual earnings must be allocated to Qiyun Sect. Or else, why would Qiyun Sect give out nine spots to Three Chivalries Garden for no reason?”
“And Murong Tianxing is one of the Jade Marquises who administers one hundred and eighty-six towns. He is among the top five marquises in Ping State.”
“Speaking of influence, Murong Tianxing is ranked second among the five marquises. So almost on one dares to challenge him.”
Li Xing, who had only known a smattering of what Qian Bixie just said, is getting more interested and continues to ask about how the various sects and their respective turfs in Ping State.
Although Qian Bixie is a man of letters, he clearly knows everything happening in the state. Dipping his finger in wine, he starts drawing on the table, mapping out the segmented districts to Li Xing, “The thirty-six marquises in Ping State belong to five major sects, among which Qiyun Sect is the most powerful.”
Tianxing City is about one and fifty hundred kilometers from Qingyun City and Qixing Sect enjoys the same high position as Three Chivalries Garden does. The Xu family, which is part of the Qixing Sect, controls each and every line of trade across Tianxing City, with a clout comparable to that of Three Chivalries Garden.
As a childe of Qixing Sect, Xu Guang is known for being haughty and arrogant. Seeing his expression, Li Fei can immediately tell Xu Guang isn’t happy about the seating arrangement at all.
At that moment, a devious plan suddenly comes to Li Fei’s mind. After scheming with Li Zheng for a while, the two shot each other a knowing glance and decide to take action.
Li Fei, holding his wine cup, walks up to Xu Guang with a fawning grin, “Long time no see, Mr. Xu! You’re as handsome and graceful as always!”
Aloof as he is, Xu Guang is quite fond of being an object of the apple-polishers. Hearing Li Fei’s flattering words, he turns his head around and returns in a chilly voice, “Li Fei, I didn’t know you came as well.”
Li Fei sits down next to Xu Guang and starts a random chit-chat with him, before letting out an unexpectedly yet intentional sigh.
Xu Guang is curious and asks, “Li Fei, anything upsetting?”
Li Fei points in Li Xing’s direction and securely vents, “Did you see that they had put that inferior and dumbbell of a person like him on a front seat? It’s outrageous!”
As a matter of fact, Xu Guang has noticed Li Xing for a while and has felt pissed off by the casual and easy manner on the man’s face as if everyone present is beneath him.
“A goddamn nobody! I’ve seen many holier-than-thou men of his kind.”
That was the first impression of Li Xing to Xu Guang when he laid eyes on the former. To him, Li Xing was nothing but pretentious.
Hearing Li Fei’s complaint, Xu Guang asks seriously, “Who the hell is he?”
With a smirk, Li Fi says, “To be honest, that man is a disgrace to Three Chivalries Garden. His father has been a drunkard and his mother was a shameless woman of dubious background. After he was born, he had been a good-for-nothing, unfit for blood practicing and lived like a lowly servant. Somehow, he had a mysterious stroke of luck lately and has been able to practice blood. And not lone ago, he managed to snatch a spot for Qiyun Sect.”
Xu Guang obviously seems surprised, asking, “Did he really win a spot?” It turns out that just like Three Chivalries Garden, Qixing Sect was also allocated spots for Qiyun Sect and Xu Guang is aware that whoever gets the spot is either from a high place or has enough strength to hold a safe lead above anyone else.
Li Fei slaps his own leg, continuing with his malicious attack, “Who knows what kind of evil scheme that bastard used to win the spot? Mr. Xu, don’t you think it’s a humiliation to us all that such a wretched waste of a man and bastard should upstage us?”
Xu Guang already found Li Xing an eyesore and after being told the story about the man, his anger and hatred toward Li Xing grow even bitter. He scans the crowd to confirm that the princess is not here yet, and quickly signals someone behind him with his hand.
A servant immediately walks over.
As the servant approaches, Li Fei can feel a sense of crushing fierceness, thinking, “This man is no less powerful than Butler Li Yuan!”
Xu Guang whispers into the servant’s ear and after taking a look at Li Xing, the servant says while nodding, “Rest assured, Young Master! I will make him leave with his tail between his legs.”
Satisfied with what the servant said, Xu Guang turns to Li Fei and says, “Mr. Li, you and I are about to see a show now.”
A sense of revengeful delight rushes over Li Fei who secretly gloats, “Li Xing, I doubt you can handle this! Even if you can, you will definitely make a powerful enemy of Xu Guang!”
Li Xing is in the middle of blood practicing when suddenly he is gripped by an ominous sensation.
Startled, he takes a close look at the crowd around him, wondering, “Is there someone after me?” A blood practicer like him can be highly vigilant and is able to quickly anticipate an ill-intentioned enemy.
As Li Xing speculates, the servant of Xu Guang walks over with a cup of wine and says respectfully, “Childe, my Young Master sent me over to toast you!”
The servant has extremely steady footsteps and as he walks, the ground slightly shakes and the carpet below his feet dips by about one and a half centimeters under pressure.
Li Xing, who is on high alert, sees through this but stays as calm as always, saying loudly, “My honor! May I hear the name of your Young Master?”
The servant takes a few steps forward and answers smilingly, “It’s Childe Xu Guang from Qixing Sect, and here is a toast from him to you!” As he finishes his sentence, he has already reached right in front of Li Xing, handing his wine cup to him.
Li Xing pauses while thinking, “This man cannot possibly intend to kill me in front of all these people.” So he reaches his hand to the wine cup, but the second he touches it, he feels a terrifyingly strong blood force roaring into his body, damaging his meridians as it forces its way inside his body. .
The pain all over his body makes Li Xing slightly tremble, but he manages to hold still the wine cup and focuses his cold stare at the servant.
With a fleeting sinister look, the servant turns around and takes off.
The man had assumed that if Li Xing reached his fingers to the cup, he would either be unable to touch it and forced to retreat or steel himself into grabbing hold of it. The first scenario would leave him humiliated while the second scenario would leave him severely wounded, denying him the chance of staying at the banquet for a minute longer.
It’s almost a fail-proof plan, but he has had no clue that the last thing Li Xing is afraid of is physical injuries.
Therefore, faced with the mounting threat from the servant in front of him, Li Xing didn’t step back. Instead, he reached to the cup and holds it with his hand, and consequently, it caused harm to his meridians.
After finishing with the toast, the servant returns to Xu Guang and whispers something into his ear. An icy-cold grin is seen on the latter’s face as he turns his mocking face to Li Xing.
Li Xing, who has already noticed Xu Guang, also shoots a cold glance in his direction, and the second his eyes move to Li Fei next to Xu Guang, he immediately realizes what happened. Evidently, Li Fei was abetting Xu Guang.
“It’s true what they say ‘All lay loads on a willing horse’!” Li Xing says to himself, “Some people are deserved to be treated like dogs and taught the lesson about submission!” The truth finally becomes clear to Li Xing.
Li Xing closes his eyes, letting the Bead of Nine Yangs magically restoring his body.
Around half an hour later, almost all Li Xing’s injuries are healed, but he keeps his eyes closed and continues with blood practicing, when suddenly he hears a familiar voice, “Li Xing! I’ve been looking for you!”
Li Xing opens his eyes and sees Qian Bixie standing in front of him with a cheerful face.
He feels surprised, wondering how Qian Bixie found out his real identity.
When Li Xing worked at Fortune Restaurant those days, he didn’t reveal his identity and has long assumed that the Qian family doesn’t know who he really is. It quickly dawns on Li Xing that Qian Bixie must have had something to do with his invitation to Murong Jiaojiao’s banquet. Apparently, Qian Bixie has learned Li Xing’s background.
Qian Bixie seems to have seen through the puzzled look on Li Xing’s face and sits down next to him, saying jokingly, “Mr. Li, you have kept me in the dark for so long! Hadn’t there been the highly capable informants of the Murong family, I wouldn’t be able to find out you are a young master of the Li family.”
Keeping a straight face, Li Xing asks, “Did Murong Jiaojiao helped you find out who I am?”
Qian Bixie nods, “Exactly! After Murong Jiaojiao read your poem, she was completely blown away and immediately had someone go around and ask about you. But I had no idea where you lived. I didn’t expect the Murong family managed to dig out the truth about you in just one month.”
“Nor had I ever expected that you are from Three Chivalries Garden. Why on earth would someone from the wealthy Three Chivalries Garden seek employment in Fortune Restaurant? It was only a while later that I learned you are from Purple Bamboo Community. Mr. Li, you are truly an admirable person.” Qian Bixie keeps commending Li Xing for his adaptability to the adverse changes in his life.
Li Xing doesn’t show much emotion, saying, “We don’t need to rehash the past, Mr. Qian. I was indeed invited by Princess Murong. Could you please tell more about this scholars’ banquet?”
A mystic smile comes to Qian Bixie’s face, “Well, um, it’s too early to tell. If you don’t mind, just be patient and find out yourself. Murong Jiaojiao has a penchant for leaving people hanging. It might be a while before she makes her appearance. You and I can just enjoy our wine at the moment.”
Qian Bixie seems to have grown closer to Li Xing whom he also holds in high esteem, and he keeps refilling his cup with wine.
Wine to blood practicer is just like water to ordinary people, since they won’t feel drunk even after one thousand cups. So Li Xing keeps chugging liquor one cup after another.
Qian Bixie is a rather well-known poet in Qingyun City and is recognized by half of the attendees at the banquet. Seeing Qian Bixie approaching and talking to Li Xing intimately after witnessing the latter receiving a toast from someone else, everyone is inevitably filled with curiosity as to who exactly Li Xing is. Could he be a man of royal or noble decent? Or why else has he been seated in the front and acquainted with so many renowned people in the city?
In the meantime, Bai Jing and Bai Qiong keep glancing at Li Xing from another side and discussing between themselves.
“Sister, we both thought of him as a loser before, but he turns out to be a talent. He not only managed to win a spot and apparently, he also has some kind of connection with the Murong family,” Bai Qiong says.
Bai Jing follows with a snide comment, “This man is so calculated and shrewd that he has managed to fool everyone for years. That is a really terrifying character on a person.”
Bai Qiong, however, seems to a have different opinion, “A man should have shrewdness in his character for self-protection.” Then she takes a look at Chen Xue and speaks in a low voice, “Seems Chen Xue is going to win big this time!”
Bai Jing disagrees, saying, “Chen Xue was betrothed to Li Xing by Li Ziran before she was born. Back then Li Ziran held the most authority and influence and no one dared to say anything. But things are different now. If Li Ziran doesn’t renew the proposal, I don’t think Chen Xue would be thick-skinned enough to follow the engagement through.”
Bai Qiong doesn’t know how to respond for a moment, then she whispers cheerfully, “That’s true. If I were Li Xing, I don’t think she would be good enough for me, either. Why would anyone like a girl who is so cold and distant and looks down on everyone else?”
Chen Xue and Chen Shuang are the most beautiful sisters in Three Chivalries Garden, which is an acknowledged fact to everyone. Although Bai Jing and Bai Qiong are also pretty girls themselves, they don’t hold a candle to the Chen sisters.
In Three Chivalries Garden, people have always compared the Bai sisters with the Chen sisters and their preference to the latter has long filled Bai Qiong with bitter jealousy.
After chatting with Qian Bixie for a while, Li Xing starts asking him about Murong Jiaojiao.
Qian Bixie tells him, “There are four Jade Marquises and one Divine Marquis in Ping State. I suppose you are aware that Ping State has long been divided up by the marquises into thirty-six districts. Each marquis either separately controls three to five towns or as many as one hundred towns.”
“Every marquis has some sort of benefit-based connections with the several major sects in the state. For instance, in Qingyun City, Local Marquis Wang Zixing is an on-site disciple of Qiyun Sect, meaning that the thirty-five towns he administers all have some kind of connections with Qiyun Sect.”
“Take Three Chivalries Garden for an example, at least one fifth of its annual earnings must be allocated to Qiyun Sect. Or else, why would Qiyun Sect give out nine spots to Three Chivalries Garden for no reason?”
“And Murong Tianxing is one of the Jade Marquises who administers one hundred and eighty-six towns. He is among the top five marquises in Ping State.”
“Speaking of influence, Murong Tianxing is ranked second among the five marquises. So almost on one dares to challenge him.”
Li Xing, who had only known a smattering of what Qian Bixie just said, is getting more interested and continues to ask about how the various sects and their respective turfs in Ping State.
Although Qian Bixie is a man of letters, he clearly knows everything happening in the state. Dipping his finger in wine, he starts drawing on the table, mapping out the segmented districts to Li Xing, “The thirty-six marquises in Ping State belong to five major sects, among which Qiyun Sect is the most powerful.”
