Chapter 639

Outside the city, there is a mountain named Yuquan Mountain, with gentle slopes stretching for a hundred miles.

Back then, the Taizu Emperor waved his hand and bestowed this mountain upon the Jixia Academy, including the fields at the foot of the mountain and the tenant farmers.

With Yuquan Mountain, the Jixia Academy soared and became the number one academy of this dynasty. Many officials in the imperial court came from the Jixia Academy, such as Yu Xiang, Yu Zhaoan. These officials, branded with the Jixia Academy seal, formed a natural alliance. No matter how they fight internally, when there is trouble, they will help each other.

The officialdom has effectively developed a Jixia Academy Gang.

Subsequent emperors realized the severity of this problem and began to deliberately suppress and divide them, intentionally provoking internal strife within the Jixia Academy.

Through multi-faceted efforts, the Jixia Academy lived up to expectations and split into multiple factions. It appears to still be a force that cannot be ignored, but in reality, its influence is declining year by year.

Taking Yu Zhaoan as an example, he never identifies himself as a student of the Jixia Academy when outside, nor does he frequently associate with his former classmates. After he sat in the position of Grand Secretary, he deliberately erased the Jixia Academy label from himself and deliberately kept his distance from officials who graduated from the same school, having little contact in private.

Now, a more obvious label on him is that of a treacherous minister.

The reason he is called treacherous is because he is sycophantic. Although his sycophancy is very high-level and very subtle, the officials standing in the imperial court—who isn't a successful candidate in the imperial examinations, who hasn't studied hard for over a decade? Everyone is a top student, and their brains are sharp; they are not like that ignorant piece of trash Jiang Tu. No matter how subtle the sycophancy is, it sounds disgusting, base, and shameless to the ears of the court officials.

In private, everyone curses Yu Zhaoan for having no shame just to flatter the Emperor. The Jixia Academy produced such a piece of trash; it serves him right to be provoked by a small Jiang Jiang Yucheng today.

The day of the duel arrived.

At the foot of Yuquan Mountain.

Gongs and drums, firecrackers, colorful flags—none of these were there.

However...

It was a sea of people!

Thousands upon thousands of people had traveled in groups out of the city last night, running to the foot of Yuquan Mountain early to occupy spots. Anyway, the weather is still quite hot now, so spending a night in the wild is fine; it's just that there were a few more mosquitoes, but they could endure it.

After dawn, even more people flocked to Yuquan Mountain. Looking around, every place with a foothold was occupied by people.

The capital, with its population of one million, seemed to have been emptied out on this day.

The accountants in the shops looked listless, stretching their necks, wishing they could grow wings and fly out of the city.

Chen Guanlou, the person involved in the duel, still ran to the Heavenly Prison to clock in early in the morning, making Medical Official Mu blow his beard and stare.

"Could it be that you are going to flee before the battle?"

"Just kidding. How could I flee before the battle? The time for the duel is noon; there are still several hours until noon. If I run over there early, I'll be like a monkey for people to watch! A protagonist like me must appear right on time to show my extraordinariness."

Even at this point, he still had the mood to joke; it seemed his state was very good and he was extremely confident.

Medical Official Mu told him, "The prison guards who are not on duty today are all going out of the city to wave flags and shout for you. I rented a carriage; if you don't have transport, you might as well ride with me."

"No need! It's only a few dozen miles; I can get there in a moment."

"The person dueling you is a Ninth-Rank peak warrior; you must save your strength at this time and not waste it on the journey."

Medical Official Mu was earnest and well-meaning; although he knew in his heart that Jiang Jiang Yucheng Chen couldn't win, he still fantasized about him not losing too miserably.

"Did you place a bet?" Chen Guanlou decisively changed the subject. He had been nagged by the Prince Chen Guanfu the day before yesterday and nagged by Master Du at night. Yesterday, he was nagged by his eldest sister Chen Xiaolan and his brother-in-law. Today, he still had to listen to Medical Official Mu's nagging; his head was about to explode.

Let's hurry up and talk about something else to free himself.

"Hurry up and place a bet; bet that I'll draw, bet that I can beat Master Qi until he vomits blood and gets injured. You'll definitely make money."

"So confident?" Medical Official Mu didn't believe it.

You can calculate it with your toes: a young man in his twenties, even if he started practicing Wu Gong from his mother's womb, has only been at it for twenty-some years. Master Qi next door is nearly sixty and has been practicing for fifty or sixty years. The comparison in time is already too miserable to look at.

He can't win!

There is absolutely no chance of winning.

Chen Guanlou's advice went unheeded, and he was very regretful. "Old Mu, you missed a chance to get rich. Don't regret it after I finish fighting."

The logistics department was particularly attentive today, preparing a table of easily digestible food early so that Jiang Jiang Yucheng Chen could eat his fill before going to fight.

Medical Official Mu asked curiously, "Doesn't the Hou Fu control you? Letting you run to the Heavenly Prison to work?"

"The Hou Fu wants to control me, but I find it annoying, so I drove all the people from the Hou Fu away."

After eating and drinking his fill, there was still about an hour until noon.

Chen Guanlou stretched his waist. "It's about time for me to set off. Those of you who want to watch the excitement should hurry up too. If you go late, there definitely won't be any spots."

"There are spots, there are spots. I spent money to buy a spot from the Wucheng Military Commission the night before last."

"When did the Wucheng Military Commission start managing Yuquan Mountain? Can the Jixia Academy watch them make money?"

"The imperial court tacitly approved it. There must be some shady dealings in this, but we don't need to worry about it. We just need to spend money to buy seats."

Medical Official Mu was afraid of running out of time, so he hurried into the carriage to rush out of the city. Once out of the city, he found that the official road was so crowded it was almost a traffic jam. Everyone was going to Yuquan Mountain to watch the excitement—dragging families, calling friends, people from all walks of life, and wealthy nobles.

Regardless of status, regardless of gender or age, today is a day of carnival for the whole capital. Even if they don't understand anything, just joining the fun is fun!

Shrewd small vendors had long since occupied favorable positions and began hawking along the street. The income of one day today is worth a month's worth of normal days.

As the saying goes, if you don't open for business for a month, you can eat for a month once you do.

You absolutely cannot miss it!

Tens of thousands, a hundred thousand people... surging toward Yuquan Mountain. The imperial court was also nervous about such a large-scale gathering of people.

The Wucheng Military Commission, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and the Three Great Camps were all dispatched. There was also the Imperial Guard, responsible for the safety of the Emperor and his concubines.

Prince Chen Guanfu had indeed invited the Emperor Jian Shi out of the palace, running happily to the Jixia Academy to watch the excitement, wanting to personally preside over the public duel of a Ninth-Rank warrior, which is rarely seen in decades.

Everything is ready, only the east wind is missing.

Tens of thousands of people were looking forward to it, just waiting for the east wind to arrive.

Who is the east wind?

Naturally, it is today's protagonist, Chen Guanlou.

Yuquan Mountain was unprecedentedly grand, and Chen Guanlou arrived late.

He came from the sky and landed at the foot of the mountain, holding a scallion pancake in his hand and gnawing on it. He didn't seem to have eaten his fill at the Heavenly Prison earlier, so he bought two pancakes on the way.

Paired with a very handsome face, even though his clothes were ordinary and didn't reveal his status, he still hooked the young ladies and wives present into howling.

Especially the young ladies and wives of the Chen clan, who rushed to the front one by one to cheer and boost his morale. There were also young ladies from the neighborhood who wished they could stick their whole bodies onto him, shoving scented handkerchiefs into his face.

Chen Guanlou:...

He has entered the Cave of the Spider Spirits!

Can't afford to offend, can't afford to offend!

He stepped lightly, leaped into mid-air, and stepped on the early autumn wind into the Jixia Academy located halfway up the mountain.