Chapter 823: New and Old Successively

Three hundred Imperial Forest Guards simultaneously pressed their hands to their sword hilts. Even though a Ministry of Justice master had been repelled by the young vassal king in a single move, and the king now stood ready to force his way into the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, these three hundred elite Zhao Dynasty guards, clad in light armor and carrying golden sabers, did not immediately draw their swords to attack.

This certainly didn't mean the Imperial Forest Guards were mere decorative "embroidered pillows," useless in a fight, nor that they possessed exceptionally good temper. Had it been anyone else standing at the entrance, these three hundred Imperial Forest Guards, entrusted with a secret imperial decree, would have long since charged forward, unleashing a slaughter.

However, the young man before them, for reasons unknown not wearing his vassal king's python robe, was, after all, the son of General Xu Xiao, who commanded 300,000 Northwestern Iron Cavalry. He was also a grandmaster of martial arts, renowned alongside Cao Changqing and Deng Tai'a. In terms of prestige in the martial arts world, he probably even surpassed the other two "land immortals."

Whoever drew their sword first would die first; the logic was that simple.

With the Ministry of Justice enforcer having been knocked away, the Deputy Commander of the Imperial Forest Guards had no choice but to step forward. This burly, top-tier master from the imperial palace wore a "Yonghui Heavenly Character" imperial saber at his waist.

During the reign of the previous emperor, palace artisans spent five years gradually forging eighteen such sabers. The first three of these were treasured within the imperial palace. The previous emperor would only wear one of them when donning his golden dragon ceremonial armor for hunting expeditions. By the end of the Yonghui era, three sabers—Yonghui Heavenly Characters Sixteen, Seventeen, and Eighteen—had been bestowed upon the three Imperial Forest Guard commanders (one chief and two deputies). By custom, while the rank of Imperial Forest Guard Commander was not hereditary, the golden sabers were, meaning only those holding these three positions were qualified to wear these three blades. Grand Pillar Gu Jiantang, Prince of Shu Chen Zhibao, Tangxi Sword Immortal Lu Baijie, and Wu Chongxuan, who had just arrived in the capital for court, the four successive Ministers of War of the Liyang Dynasty, were each granted one, which they could keep and pass down. Among the eight Grand Generals (four for pacification, four for garrison), apart from Wu Chongxuan, only General Ma Luluang of the Northern Pacification Army received this honor. However, the specific numbers of these five "Hui character sabers" were unknown to anyone.

After the current emperor ascended the throne, he ordered the replication of nearly five hundred new imperial sabers, modeled after the Yonghui Heavenly Character sabers. He personally named them "Xiangfu Grand Endeavor Sabers," or simply "Grand Endeavor Sabers." Their scabbards were uniformly made of wood covered with gold-plated peach skin, and their guards were oval-shaped iron-gold filigree disks containing three movable jade dragons, vividly lifelike. When drawn, the dragons would rattle like dragon roars, a truly ingenious design.

The Deputy Commander of the Imperial Forest Guards took a deep breath. His tone was no longer as rigid and unyielding as that of the unfortunate Ministry of Justice official before him. He said solemnly, "King of Northern Liang, please do not make things difficult for us."

Xu Fengnian, standing with his hand on his saber, remained silent. He did not draw the ordinary, old-style Liang saber, which was forged very early. Instead, he lightly tapped the hilt with his finger.

It was like the beat of a drum from Northern Liang.

To be a Deputy Commander of the Imperial Forest Guards for the Zhao Dynasty of Liyang, one would naturally not be a coward. The burly man smiled nonchalantly, showing a certain valorous spirit, ready to generously sacrifice his life for the emperor since he had accepted the emperor's stipend. Perhaps knowing he was doomed, he shed the formality of his usual duties beside the emperor in the imperial palace. Looking at the Northwestern vassal king before him, he laughed heartily, "I am Yang Dongping, a country martial artist from old Dongyue. I joined the Imperial Forest Guards twelve years ago when I came to the capital. It's been twelve years since I left the martial arts world. For my last battle in this life, to be able to fight the King of Northern Liang—my life has not been in vain!"

After speaking his last words, Yang Dongping drew the Yonghui Heavenly Character Number Seventeen Imperial Saber, which he knew not to whom it would be entrusted after his death. He shouted loudly, "To arms!"

Three hundred Xiangfu Grand Endeavor Sabers were drawn simultaneously.

Yang Dongping charged forward first, saber in hand, roaring, "Follow me to repel the enemy!"

In an instant, twenty Imperial Forest Guards, including Yang Dongping, lunged forward to attack.

One hundred Imperial Forest Guards remained in place, maintaining the formation's depth outside the main entrance of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau. The remaining guards swept towards the left and right flanks of the battleground where the King of Northern Liang and Yang Dongping were. Clearly, they intended not only to block the young vassal king's path forward but also to cut off his retreat.

The movements of the more than two hundred Imperial Forest Guards were extremely swift. For a moment, the area outside the Imperial Astronomical Bureau's gate seemed like a dazzling swarm of butterflies. This left the Li family armored soldiers, who were arrayed inside the gate, feeling bewildered and a chill running through their bones. They asked themselves, could an ordinary master truly survive such an aggressive encirclement?

Yang Dongping, leading the charge, caused a dull tremor with every step he took on the street. He dared not leap up and strike down from above. Against a grandmaster like the King of Northern Liang, whose strength was vastly superior to his own, there would be too many openings, inevitably leading to a fatal blow. Even the rather self-assured First-Rank Vajra Realm master Yang Dongping chose the most conservative move. He used his saber like a sword, thrusting its tip directly at the King of Northern Liang's chest. This thrust was not executed with full force, reserving three or four tenths of his internal energy for contingencies. If he proved no match, he would risk injury to escape, absolutely not allowing the King of Northern Liang to succeed with a single move. Although Yang Dongping had been away from the central plains martial arts world for over a decade and his name was not prominent, he never slacked off for a single day within the imperial palace, which housed countless martial arts secret manuals. In the path of martial arts, one must advance or fall back, like a boat against the current. Yang Dongping, whose talent and innate aptitude were exceptional, endured loneliness during these past ten years. He did not care for the superficial fame of a Finger-Profound Realm master but instead forged his Vajra Realm cultivation to be incredibly solid. This current thrust, which integrated several unrecorded ultimate techniques, and had also received guidance from the former Director of the Directorate of Ceremonial, Han Shengxuan, had almost reached the pinnacle of returning to simplicity, with no superfluous grandiosity, unadorned, and with contained internal energy.

Even though Yang Dongping dared not underestimate the new grandmaster of the current era in the slightest, he quickly realized that it had been many years since he had faced a top-tier grandmaster in a life-or-death battle. Once he encountered someone of the King of Northern Liang's caliber, even a slight misstep could be fatal.

Yang Dongping's original intention was that if his saber strike failed to achieve its objective and the situation looked unfavorable, he would try to pass by the King of Northern Liang. Otherwise, he would retreat immediately, with the Imperial Forest Guards behind him filling his position and helping to delay the fight. He would still have a slim chance of survival, and then he could continue to fight later.

Unfortunately, Yang Dongping did not realize that he would die not from overestimating himself, but from severely underestimating his opponent.

The young man in plain white mourning clothes showed no intention of blocking. He allowed the Yonghui Number Seventeen Imperial Saber, which could cut iron like mud, to stab straight towards his chest.

In that moment of decision, hovering between life and death, Yang Dongping, believing he saw an opportunity, suddenly unleashed a surge of internal energy from his fingers. No longer holding back, the three jade dragons in the imperial saber's guard immediately rang out like clashing dragons.

Just as the saber tip was about to touch the young man's linen chest and then pass straight through his body, a tremendous force suddenly rebounded from the blade. The saber in his hand felt like it had struck a mountain, like an egg hitting a rock.

Yang Dongping was decisive enough to immediately abandon the extraordinarily precious Yonghui imperial saber. But just as he let go, the King of Northern Liang extended a palm. Yang Dongping was struck as if by a battering ram, his body still moving slightly forward, but his entire chest instantly caved in, and his back simultaneously bulged out significantly.

Yang Dongping, a First-Rank Vajra Realm master and Deputy Commander of the Imperial Forest Guards, died instantly on the spot.

Yang Dongping's body flew backward, colliding with another guard who was waiting for an opportunity to lunge at the young vassal king. The unparalleled impact caused a large splatter of blood to burst from the chest of the latter, who had no time to dodge.

A guard behind tried to reach out and stop his "severely injured" comrade. With a crack, his arm exploded, giving him no chance to regret. The two bodies, showing no signs of slowing their backward momentum, slammed into him.

Then, three bodies flew backward together, sliding across the ground. The bodies slowly came to a halt before the hundred Imperial Forest Guards who stood in an unmoving formation like mountains, leaving a crimson trail of blood on the ground.

The dead were dead, and the living were horrified.

After Yang Dongping was killed by a single palm strike, the Yonghui Heavenly Character saber, which was supposed to be passed to the next Deputy Commander of the Imperial Forest Guards after the battle, flew from his hand. Xu Fengnian casually waved his hand with an air of nonchalance.

The unsheathed imperial saber, thrown high into the air, paused briefly, then, as if guided by a land sword immortal controlling a flying sword, it began to move.

The imperial saber first slashed across the neck of one Imperial Forest Guard. The next instant, it pierced through the shoulder of a comrade beside him, entering through the left shoulder and exiting through the right. A nearby guard who had leaped high with his saber raised was even cut in half at the waist by a single strike.

It circled around Xu Fengnian in a wide arc.

These Imperial Forest Guards were, after all, reputable masters from the imperial palace. Along the trajectory of "Yonghui Seventeen's" arc, many drew their sabers, either to protect themselves or to intercept it. But without exception, whenever a saber was drawn, the temporarily ownerless Yonghui Seventeen remained unharmed. However, the Xiangfu Grand Endeavor Sabers in the hands of the other guards shattered on the spot.

Without any visible action from Xu Fengnian, Yonghui Seventeen began to trace a second, larger arc.

At the same time, within the first large circle around Xu Fengnian, the sabers of all Imperial Forest Guards who had fallen in battle before they could even draw them also began to leave the ground, flying into the air and joining the arc's trajectory.

Along the second arc, even further from Xu Fengnian's body, the grating sounds of Grand Endeavor Sabers shattering continuously echoed, and bodies constantly fell to the ground.

The more than 160 surviving Imperial Forest Guards were forced to stand outside the arc. While it appeared they had layers of encirclement around the King of Northern Liang, who had not yet truly drawn his saber, in reality, they couldn't even touch a corner of the young vassal king's clothes.

As Xu Fengnian began to step forward, the arc, which was visibly moving quickly yet predictably, suddenly showed a ripple-like change. Occasionally, it would break away from the arc, eliminate a guard, and then return to its trajectory.

Over twenty unprepared guards died instantly.

After someone, it's unknown who, first shouted "Break the formation together," the Imperial Forest Guards outside the circle began to desperately hack at the arc with their sabers.

An ordinary person might not even notice a single breath. For a typical martial artist who has entered the inner halls of martial arts, a single surge of internal energy is still like a raindrop falling from an eave, vanishing upon impact. But for a grandmaster of martial arts, internal energy is as long and flowing as a river. Ever since Gao Tingshu, the "Human Heavenly Being" who personally established the four ranks of martial artists, it has been said that a master's internal energy can traverse eight hundred li in an instant within their body.

When masters of similar strength face an enemy, it is largely a "contest of breath." Whoever has longer breath can often stand undefeated. Whoever takes less time to exchange breath can more quickly seize fleeting opportunities, leading to a life-or-death outcome.

Regardless, the remaining Imperial Forest Guards realized they could no longer allow the young vassal king to continue his comfortable "one-breath" assault.

Xu Fengnian continued to move forward, ignoring the Imperial Forest Guards' desperate attempts to break the formation. He turned and glanced at Xu Yanbing, who held the Momentary Spear; the latter smiled and nodded.

Xu Yanbing's purpose in accompanying them this time was not to help kill people, nor even to help Xu Fengnian block the armored heavy cavalry at both ends of the street.

These individuals would all be dealt with by Xu Fengnian himself, who had ascended to a new realm at the Xiamawei post station.

His role was to tie down two people and two formations before Xu Fengnian entered the Imperial Astronomical Bureau.

Today, Xu Fengnian stood in Tai'an City.

Just as Wang Xianzhi would stand in Wudi City in the years to come!

This state of mind was related to one's martial arts cultivation level, yet at the same time, it was not strongly related.

However, whether one possessed this state of mind, and its inverse effect on cultivation, was already fully demonstrated when Xu Fengnian, at the final critical moment in Xiamawei, truly fought two people single-handedly, living up to his reputation.

At that time.

Cao Changqing, Luoyang, Wu Jian, Xuanyuan Qingfeng, and others acted with intent.

Deng Tai'a, Chen Zhibao, Yu Xinlang, Chai Qingshan, and others acted unintentionally.

On the wide, empty street, Xu Yanbing took a shallow breath, and the shaft of his spear vibrated greatly.

This man, who had always been severely overlooked in both the Liyang Dynasty and the central plains martial arts world—a middle-aged martial artist whom others had almost never heard of leaving the Northern Liang territory, and who had few prominent combat achievements against enemies—looked up at the Heavenly Ascent Platform within the Imperial Astronomical Bureau and asked, "Chen Zhibao, Xie Guanying, who will come first? Or will you come together?!"

Inside the Heavenly Ascent Platform, Xie Guanying said helplessly, "Of us two, you, who can fight, are unwilling to act. And I, who can run, currently cannot run. What are we to do? This is a headache."

Chen Zhibao said calmly, "Of the two great formations inside the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, isn't the Longhu Mountain one enough to restrain Xu Yanbing?"

Xie Guanying sighed, "Although more than sixty jade seals of various sizes from the Spring and Autumn States are all here, whether the Duke Yan Sheng is personally present makes little difference. However, if the Longhu Mountain Grand Formation isn't used first to weaken Xu Fengnian's strength, the effect will be vastly different. The most important thing is that you are unwilling to act..."

Chen Zhibao interrupted the ambitious scholar, "You should understand, Xu Fengnian is here to do something I would have done myself in the future. My mere presence here is already giving you much face. If you wish to use this opportunity to bring about the mutual destruction of Liyang and Northern Liang's destinies, then do so with your own abilities."

Xie Guanying said with self-deprecating humor, "Yes, yes, I know. Our cooperation is just like seeking skin from a tiger. I, Xie Guanying, understand."

At this moment, Jin Xin'an, who had been the leader of the Northern Qi Refiners for twenty years, suddenly rushed into the Heavenly Ascent Platform, his face filled with apprehension.

Xie Guanying frowned, his fingers quickly pinching calculations within his sleeve, muttering to himself, "It's not surprising for Duke Yan Sheng to suddenly leave the capital, but apart from that, what other major variable could there be?"

Jin Xin'an's face was ashen, and he said miserably, "Mr. Xie, I just went to the Seal Repository myself and found that Duke Yan Sheng had, at some unknown time, taken the central great seal symbolizing Confucian fortune."

Xie Guanying was first stunned, then burst into laughter, his wide sleeves shaking as he gazed south. He said spiritedly, "Oh, Duke Yan Sheng, Duke Yan Sheng! Do you truly believe that such a rebellious act can stop me, Xie Guanying? You've merely overthought it! You scholars who only know how to read dead books!"

On the post road, inside a simple carriage traveling from north to south, sat a middle-aged Confucian scholar and a young bookboy.

The young bookboy watched his usually composed master unusually restless. He truly couldn't fathom what in the world could make his master so uneasy. The bookboy finally couldn't hold back his curiosity and asked, "Master, what's wrong?"

Before his master could answer, the young bookboy had a sudden thought, believing he had found the answer. He grinned and asked, "Master, could it be that you're not used to the climate in the capital and have an upset stomach?"

The middle-aged Confucian scholar, who had a small, intricately carved wooden box on his lap, remained impassive after hearing the child's jest.

The young bookboy, worried, asked with a pained expression, "Master, are you worried about the affairs of the world? Can I share your burden?"

Soon, the bookboy sighed heavily, "Certainly not, I don't even have official status yet."

The middle-aged Confucian scholar smiled faintly, "The rise and fall of the world concern every common person. Capability is secondary; having righteousness in one's heart comes before capability."

The young bookboy's expression still didn't improve. "Having read so many sage's books with you, Master, I naturally understand these principles."

The scholar chuckled, "The truth is, you insisted on accompanying me to the capital this time because you wanted to skip your studies and read to your master!"

The young bookboy let out an "Oh," then began to loudly recite the Ten Household Maxims that his master had summarized from his life's work.

His master's household maxims were, in essence, the "household maxims" for all scholars under heaven.

Inside and outside the carriage, the sound of reading resonated clearly.

The middle-aged Confucian scholar closed his eyes and focused his mind, a scholar listening to the sound of reading.

"When you see a virtuous person, think of emulating him; when you see an unworthy person, examine yourself inwardly."

"Do not do unto others what you do not want others to do unto you."

"I examine myself daily on three points..."

When the young bookboy read the last maxim of the ten: "A scholar must be broad-minded and resolute, for his burden is heavy and his road is long."

The middle-aged Confucian scholar silently recited along, "A scholar must be broad-minded and resolute, for his burden is heavy and his road is long." Then he suddenly opened his eyes, patted the young bookboy's shoulder, and with resolute eyes, slowly said, "Precisely because the burden is heavy and the road is long, we scholars must remember one thing even more: A scholar must be broad-minded and resolute!"

The young bookboy didn't understand the full meaning but nodded vigorously.

It was the middle-aged Confucian scholar, the contemporary Duke Yan Sheng, who smiled and opened the box.

It was empty.

Duke Yan Sheng softly said, "Xu Fengnian, with your desperate fight in the front lines in Northern Liang, our Central Plains shall naturally be broad-minded and resolute from behind!"