Chapter 1180

The five-consecutive-win martial artist of the seventh bout was also ended by a later challenger, and so the list of seven martial artists entering the finals had been confirmed, with nine spots still remaining.

The competition for these remaining nine spots was exceptionally fierce—truly in full swing.

The captain's quarters.

The Young Master was watching with great interest through the magic mirror as well, but by the later bouts the five-consecutive-win martial artists were clearly not as powerful as the previous ones; many had only barely won their five consecutive matches through luck.

Fan Qinghai entered the captain's quarters with a letter in hand, stood beside the Young Master, and obediently waited for him.

"Speak," the Young Master said flatly, without so much as a glance at Fan Qinghai.

"The items have already been delivered to the Imperial Capital. Your Majesty is probably personally judging Tang Li and the entire Tang Clan right now."

"Understood," the Young Master nodded lightly.

Right now, nothing was more important to her than watching the arena matches.

Elsewhere.

In Beast Pen City, Lord Xuan Wuji also received the news that the entire Tang Clan had been imprisoned by Your Majesty and would soon be executed down to the last member. His face was full of shock.

He had assumed the Tang Clan would simply abandon Tang Li as a member—after all, the intelligence and evidence he had gathered almost all pointed directly at Tang Li, and Master Jianong's suicide out of fear of punishment had cut off any subsequent leads.

Yet now—

"I didn't expect other important figures in the court to have stepped in."

But then again, it was only natural.

On the surface, the Imperial Princes all pretended to be harmonious and united, but if they could truly trip one another up, brothers would strike without the slightest hesitation. This time it was probably some brother trying to weaken another brother's faction.

It had nothing much to do with him.

Once the new Beast Pen City City Lord arrived, he could hand over his duties and head back.

As the matches drew near their end, Fan Qinghai took the initiative to speak: "Young Master, I have a piece of secret intelligence here that you may find interesting."

"Oh?"

Fan Qinghai respectfully handed the letter to the Young Master, who tore it open and read it. It contained some investigative information about Lin Cheng.

His background: three generations back his family was a renowned imperial artisan house, which later declined. He is now alone. What followed was a record of the merits and abilities reported by Brother Dongfang Hong of Blackrock City, Lord Xuan Wuji's evaluation of him from Yongjicheng, and a report on his achievements in improving military equipment.

The information itself didn't really strike anyone as particularly impressive—it just gave the impression of a prodigy in the field of forging.

But at the very end of the letter, it turned out that the two City Lords of Blackrock City and Yongjicheng had both strongly recommended him, which was genuinely surprising.

In the Young Master's memory, both Dongfang Hong and Xuan Wuji were members of the neutral faction. How many years had it been since they last recommended anyone to the Empire? Probably no less than ten-plus years.

In the eyes of the other factions, an artisan recommended by two neutral-faction City Lords was hardly worth mentioning. The Imperial Capital had more famous artisans than you could count on one hand—even if Lin Cheng were a prodigy, could he really surpass an entire group of renowned artisans?

But in the Young Master's eyes—perhaps it was a woman's intuition—she felt that Lin Cheng truly did have something special about him.

The letter's assessment of Lin's specific abilities was very vague. All that was known was that he had merits in Blackrock City and Yongjicheng, but the specifics were unclear; it was only briefly described, without any detailed elaboration.

This meant either the information had been deliberately obscured—Fan Qinghai's clearance level wasn't high enough to obtain more details—or it truly wasn't worth mentioning.

If it wasn't worth mentioning, why would the two City Lords strongly recommend him?

To deliberately obscure and summarize intelligence like this, probably only Lord Xuan Wuji, the legion commander directly under His Majesty, could manage it.

These things looked utterly unremarkable on the surface and were easy to misunderstand, but they couldn't fool a discerning eye.

It seemed there really was a need to make contact with the man, but first more detailed information had to be obtained—what exactly was the other party capable of?

"In my name, request more detailed information on Lin Cheng from the Imperial intelligence department. I want to know exactly what he has made."

"Yes."

The morning arena matches were drawing to a close.

Nine more five-consecutive-win martial artists were subsequently selected, but just as the Young Master had said earlier, the quality of the later martial artists simply couldn't compare to the earlier ones. The ones she had her eye on were still only the first few.

She looked forward to a dark-horse contender bursting onto the scene.

Everything awaited the evening finals.

Lunchtime.

Lin Cheng, Miss Qianhui, and General Ji Xia were sitting in a quiet corner of the dining hall, chatting and eating while looking out at the sea view. The specific content was some details about opening a shop after arriving at Boulder Fortress City. The three chatted happily and ironed out many details.

They were in such an out-of-the-way spot, yet there were always some stubborn people who insisted on coming over to cause trouble.

The group that had tried to stir up trouble at the morning arena matches had specifically tracked down Lin Cheng and the others at lunch, looking to cause trouble.

"Oh, the little lady's not bad-looking—how about keeping us boys company for some fun?"

"How about it?"

As he spoke, one of the martial artists who had caused trouble at the arena earlier leered and reached out to touch Miss Qianhui.

However, Miss Qianhui directly seized the man's wrist in a counter-grip.

The man was stunned for a moment, then saw the cold smile on Miss Qianhui's face and thought this woman wanted to be a little more forward herself.