Chapter 263

Jing Ke had come to find Ge Nie to drink.

Following the Six-Fingered Black Knight's return to the position of Mohist Leader, he first conducted a purge of the Mohist School. Many who had been attached to Yan Dan were ruthlessly dealt with, as he knew well that Yan Dan's anti-Qin stance meant these people were of no benefit to keep. If the Mohist School wanted to attach itself to Qin and find a path to survival, these people had to be dealt with.

In this process, the Mohist School lost many people, including the leader Da Da Tiechui, who had been appointed by Yan Dan.

But it was only after dealing with those who harbored ulterior motives that the remaining Mohists became more loyal to the Six-Fingered Black Knight. Especially Jing Ke, who was the first to acknowledge that the Six-Fingered Black Knight was not dead and followed his orders to abandon the assassination of the King of Qin; the Six-Fingered Black Knight entrusted him with more and more responsibility. Many in the Mohist School could see that the Six-Fingered Black Knight intended to groom Jing Ke as the next Mohist Leader.

However, the few remaining leaders said nothing. During the Six-Fingered Black Knight's era, there were not many Mohist leaders to begin with, and even fewer young ones—only Jing Ke, Qin Qin Wuyang, and Dao Zhi. The other leaders, whether it was Master Ban, Master Xu, or Pao Ding who was far away in Qi, had no intention of becoming the Mohist Leader.

Among the three young leaders, Qin Qin Wuyang was dead, and Dao Zhi had no great ambitions. Only Jing Ke, who was proficient in both literature and martial arts, was the most suitable person to become the next Mohist Leader.

More importantly, after the incident with Yan Dan, the Mohists realized that outsiders were ultimately not of the same mind as them. Especially someone like Yan Dan, who was born of royal nobility, would never empathize with the suffering of the common people. Letting him become the leader would only turn the Mohist School into a tool for his ambitions, which was not a good thing for the Mohists.

Over the past year, in order to integrate the Mohist School into Qin as quickly as possible, the Six-Fingered Black Knight not only urged the Mohists to help Qin with farming and develop various agricultural tools, striving to help the states of Han, Zhao, and Yan—which had already been conquered by Qin—restore their vitality, but he also frequently brought Jing Ke to Xianyang to walk before the King of Qin, Ying Zheng, to draw closer to him.

The Six-Fingered Black Knight knew well that the future of the Mohist School did not lie with the Mohist School itself, but with the future master of the world, the King of Qin.

As long as the King of Qin was willing to let the Mohist School exist, this world would have a place for the Mohist School.

Conversely, if the King of Qin insisted on suppressing the Mohist School, even if it survived for a while, as long as the Qin state existed, the Mohist School would eventually become a heresy, fit only to survive in the cracks, and would one day perish.

The Six-Fingered Black Knight saw the future very clearly.

Jing Ke originally had no good feelings toward Qin, but because the Six-Fingered Black Knight often brought him here, he became familiar with Qin over time. Of course, he still did not have many acquaintances; the person he was most familiar with was probably Ge Nie.

Almost every time he came to Xianyang, he would come to Ge Nie's place to drink.

Today was no exception. After Ge Nie left the palace and returned to his residence, he brought two jars of fine wine and came over immediately.

Just as he was about to enter the residence to drink the night away with Ge Nie, Jing Ke's gaze inadvertently caught a nearby residence. The residence was brightly lit, clearly indicating someone was inside.

"That residence, if I remember correctly, seems to be..."

Jing Ke often traveled to Ge Nie's residence, and the nearby residence had been in an unoccupied state for a long time, but Jing Ke had heard Ge Nie explain whose residence it was.

"It is Mr. Su's residence in Xianyang!" Ge Nie replied.

"The Yin-Yang School Sect Master, Su Xuan—has he come out of seclusion?" Su Xuan had saved the Six-Fingered Black Knight, and the Mohists were grateful to him. After the Mohist turmoil ended and Jing Ke followed the Six-Fingered Black Knight to Xianyang, he also intended to visit Su Xuan to express his gratitude in person and take the opportunity to get closer to the Yin-Yang School, because the Six-Fingered Black Knight had told him that he should only befriend the Yin-Yang School and never offend them.

Jing Ke thought this was very true; after all, the strength of the current Yin-Yang School Sect Master was simply too powerful. If one could make a friend of such a person, one should avoid becoming his enemy if possible.

Unfortunately, he had not seen Su Xuan because Su Xuan had gone into seclusion. Afterward, he traveled between the Mechanical City and Xianyang several times, but Su Xuan had remained in seclusion.

"Mr. Su came out of seclusion recently. In the last few days, he has been going to the palace frequently to teach the King the path of cultivation!"

As the Chief Palace Swordsman, Ge Nie knew something about Su Xuan's movements.

"Oh?" Jing Ke was somewhat surprised, not expecting Su Xuan to teach the King of Qin the path of cultivation. However, thinking that although Su Xuan was young, his strength was shocking, he was indeed qualified to teach the King of Qin.

Putting aside the surprise in his heart, he said to Ge Nie, "Brother Ge, I want to visit Mr. Su!"

He told Ge Nie the reason he was prepared to visit Su Xuan, "Mr. Su saved the Six-Fingered Leader and gave my Mohist School a new lease on life. After the Mohist affair ended, I wanted to visit him, but he was in seclusion. Now that he is in Xianyang, it is only right and proper that I visit him."

Ge Nie knew Jing Ke very well and a strange smile hung on the corner of his mouth, "I'm afraid that's not all!"

Jing Ke did not hide it from Ge Nie, "Besides that, I heard from Brother Ge that Mr. Su's swordsmanship is also peerless in the world!"

It was not that Jing Ke had never seen Su Xuan act. That day in the Mechanical City, with a flick of Su Xuan's sleeve, all the Mohist disciples who came to attack them were defeated, but Su Xuan had not displayed any techniques related to swordsmanship.

It was only later, when he came to Xianyang, that he learned this from Ge Nie.

As a descendant of the Ghost Valley, Ge Nie's swordsmanship was transcendent, and he had even defeated his fellow disciple Wei Zhuang, which meant that if nothing went wrong, Ge Nie would become the next Ghost Valley Master.

However, even so, Ge Nie still held Su Xuan in extremely high regard, saying that his own swordsmanship was still far behind Su Xuan's.

Ge Nie immediately knew that Jing Ke wanted to visit Su Xuan because his hands were itching and he was prepared to ask for a sword duel with Su Xuan!

Over the past year, he had also heard Jing Ke describe his life after the fall of Puyang—joining the Mohist School, learning Mohist martial arts, and then traveling the world, asking for sword duels with many swordsmen to hone his own swordsmanship.

Wine and swords could be said to be the two things Jing Ke loved most in his life.

"I will go with you!"

Ge Nie was worried that Su Xuan would refuse Jing Ke's request for a duel, so he prepared to accompany Jing Ke. In any case, his relationship with Su Xuan was more familiar than Jing Ke's relationship with Su Xuan, and Su Xuan might give him some face.

Jing Ke and Ge Nie, carrying the wine they had originally prepared to drink at Ge Nie's residence, changed course and headed toward Su Xuan's residence.