Chapter 41: Add Emphasis!!!

Sixteen military tally tokens of the border troops.

Among them was even one soaked in tung oil, larger than a normal tally token, and bearing some patterns; it represented a squad leader, with seven knife scars on one side, signifying that he had once slain seven enemies when facing the State of Ying.

This was a hardened soldier who had been through at least ten battles!

Yet he had died at the hands of this youth. The old man's gaze seemed to freeze for a moment, and then, with seasoned shrewdness, he asked directly: "Where are the corpses?"

Li Guanyi answered truthfully with the location, saying: "I've already made some preliminary arrangements."

"Good."

The old man tapped the table.

An old servant, also white-haired and white-bearded, with silent footsteps, appeared beside the old man, head bowed to await orders. Xue Daoyong spoke concisely: "Take people there immediately, deal with the corpses properly, and be quick."

The old servant nodded and turned to leave.

Xue Daoyong looked at these wooden tokens. His wide sleeve swept over them, brushing the border troop tokens aside so they fell onto the soft cushion laid nearby, without a sound. The old man pointed at the food on the table and said calmly: "Eat first."

Li Guanyi and Xue Daoyong, one old and one young, sat across from each other at this table.

The old man's expression was calm and unhurried.

Only the face of the Bai Hu Dharma Idol showed obvious shifts in expression—confusion, shock, curiosity. It paced back and forth around the youth over there, lowered its head, and sniffed the top of Li Guanyi's head with its moist nose. Finally, it stuck out its tongue and licked the cheek of the little white tiger on the youth's shoulder.

It licked the little white tiger onto its back, all four paws flailing, helplessly raging.

Li Guanyi could almost read such a human-like expression on the massive Bai Hu Dharma Idol.

Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!!!

What breed of little cat is this?

So small, yet so fierce?!!!

One lick, one sniff.

And one could roughly understand the emotions in the heart of the seemingly calm and composed old man.

For some reason, the bronze cauldron showed not the slightest ripple this time.

It seemed that the same Dharma Idol, within the same realm, could only accumulate Jade Liquid once.

Like a progress bar, it was already full before entry.

Today's yellow rice porridge had calming and spirit-soothing medicinal ingredients added—mild in nature, gently tonifying. Li Guanyi felt a sensation of being slowly soothed throughout his limbs and bones, and his spirit eased along with it. After finishing it in big bites, the old man had the dishes cleared away and brewed tea.

"Any fighting or struggle will inevitably cause damage to the body."

"It violently consumes one's essence. So a veteran of a hundred battles, if he doesn't know how to take care of himself, often dies young and is plagued by illness. Ginseng tea to replenish qi and calm the spirit is the best."

Li Guanyi had come in a rush, but the old man was unhurried.

He had Li Guanyi eat first, then drink tea, blunting that momentum. He himself remained unhurried, seizing the initiative instead, calm and composed. And Li Guanyi could also hold his composure, simply drinking tea. As the old man brewed tea, he took out a Go board and asked with a smile: "Do you play chess?"

Li Guanyi thought of the brutal matches against his aunt and nodded: "A little."

"But I'm terrible."

Xue Daoyong laughed heartily: "It's just chess, a game, don't mind winning or losing."

"Come, come, come. Shuangtao and Changqing don't like to play. This old man is usually terribly bored and can only entertain himself."

He set up the board with great enthusiasm, picked up a white stone, and while playing finally asked:

"A guest retainer coming to find me must have some request."

The old man placed his stone on the board and asked casually: "Then, what don't you want?"

He didn't ask what you want, but directly asked what you don't want.

Fully displaying his shrewdness.

Li Guanyi held a black stone and placed it on the board, saying: "I don't want trouble."

The old man burst out laughing: "Hahahaha, trouble, indeed it is. A big trouble. They say it's deserters turned bandits, but deserters don't carry military tally tokens. This is likely a mutiny caused by problems at the border. After leaving the army, they attacked civilians, so they are certainly unpardonable. But a man of insight can glimpse the hidden dangers within the border troops."

"Those in high places don't want people to know about this."

Li Guanyi said: "Not solving the hidden dangers, but preventing the hidden dangers and problems from being known?"

The old man said calmly: "In that way, in His Majesty's eyes, all is peace and prosperity again."

Li Guanyi picked up a stone and said: "Not afraid the problem will grow?"

The old man said calmly: "Grow?"

"Even Marshal Yue has been recalled from the border. What else do they have to worry about? Within the border there is no one who can subdue those hardened soldiers, no one who can defeat Ying's famous generals. Chaos is certain. An ordinary person killing these deserters would be equivalent to knowing this information, and would be silenced."

"It's just unclear whether it would be with money or with something else."

Li Guanyi played chess calmly: "So, I came to find you."

The old man laughed: "Are you so certain I can help you?"

"You don't want trouble, but does that also mean you don't want the bounty?"

"Actually, the Xue family can let you claim this reward without having to worry about any future trouble."

His original intention was to use words to pressure the youth.

Li Guanyi simply reached out and pointed at his Suni Bow, saying: "Suni Bow, with a bow body of catalpa wood, horn of rhino, sinew of crocodile dragon, mixed with southern sea shark glue. Valued at one thousand five hundred and thirty guan. Given by the Young Lady."

He pointed at the saber again: "Three-hundred-fold heavy saber, dark-grain wood inlaid with brass scabbard, one hundred guan."

He straightened his back slightly: "Given by the Young Lady."

Meaning he didn't need to care too much about that one hundred taels of silver reward.

The old man laughed in spite of himself.

Cursing: "This old man's words are bound by the affairs of children."

Little granddaughter, you've tripped up this old man! Xue Daoyong shook his head and smiled: "Forget it, forget it, truly…"

"I understand. The traces and news of your killing, this old man will seal off for you. As for that one hundred taels of silver, this old man will pay you out of his own pocket. However, a bounty and fame delivered to your door, yet you don't want them—ordinary people would find it absurd, but placed on you, it's also normal."

The old man sat cross-legged there, his left hand propping up his chin, his elbow resting against the knee of his left leg drawn up in a cross-legged seat.

His right hand pinched a white chess piece and set it down with a soft click, then lifted his gaze slightly to look at Li Guanyi, smiling: "After all, after ten years on the run, you've finally arrived here."

"When you're only one step away from leaving seclusion, of course you wouldn't want anything unexpected to happen, would you? If I were you, I'd make the same choice."

Wind passed over the lotus pond, sending ripples across its surface. The greatest secret had been spoken aloud in a single breath! Li Guanyi's heart gave a violent thump. He raised his head to look at the old man before him; the old man regarded him with a half-smile. The Bai Hu dharma-form lay quietly there, with no great malice in its eyes. His placing of pieces, like his words at this moment, was sharp and direct, as though trying to pierce through the defenses of the one opposite.

The young man's heart settled.

Back straight as a rod, he pinched a black chess piece, continued the game, his gaze on the old man:

"As expected of the Xue family patriarch who places pieces across the realm."

"Your intelligence network seems to be even more formidable than Chen State's Tiqi."

The smile on the old man's face faded slightly.

The young man opposite placed his pieces with equal edge, just like his words.

But he did not dislike it.

Instead, more admiration welled up in his heart.

A man with nothing but martial prowess is nothing more than a brute; the world is not short of heroes who can stir up chaos in a region, what it lacks are true heroes. There are many with high martial value, but those with only martial prowess are not the ones he would stake heavily on. The old man laughed:

"I'm merely curious, Guanyi—what crime did you commit, to be hunted for so long?"

"As for intelligence, hahahaha, you are also one of my family. This old man simply wishes to know whether the guest retainer in the household is worthy of trust—isn't that only human nature?"

Li Guanyi picked up a chess piece in his hand.

Five pieces.

He placed the pieces swiftly on the board.

With each piece placed, he softly spoke a name: "Chen State, Ying State."

"Tujue."

"Tujue."

"Tangut."

He wasn't saying anything more—these were the Xue family's commercial dealings he had glimpsed, and also an open secret. The old man laughed heartily: "Hahaha, merchants pursue profit. Selling our Chen State's goods to the Tangut people brings ten times the profit—how could we give that up? How childish."

Li Guanyi withdrew his hand. He sat quietly there and delivered the final fatal blow: "But now the common folk all speak of the Xue family's benevolence, and of the Chen State emperor's heavy taxation."

The smile vanished instantly from the old man's face. His eyes fixed on Li Guanyi before him. The enormous Bai Hu beside the old man rose to its feet, its fur bristling and standing on end, its brow furrowing to form a vague character, baring its fangs at Li Guanyi—but there was no killing intent.

Li Guanyi was utterly unafraid. His gaze passed through the Bai Hu dharma-form and settled on the old man, and he said softly: "Merchants pursue profit."

"Yet small merchants scheme for profit."

"Great merchants scheme for the nation!"

Xue Daoyong's gaze paused slightly. The thought in his heart had been spoken aloud by another. He felt no killing intent, only a kind of wonder and regret for talent. This was also the information Li Guanyi had gleaned from the Bai Hu. The smile on Xue Daoyong's face faded slightly. The old man sat in a slouched posture; the young man's back was ramrod straight.

The wind rose, and ripples upon folds upon ripples spread across the lotus pond.

The two played their game. At this moment, the Listening Wind Pavilion itself was the chessboard, and their words were the pieces.

Xue Daoyong sighed, and said with a half-smile: "Then, young Mr., do you think I am scheming for profit, or scheming for the nation?"

Li Guanyi's gaze shifted away from the now-quiet Bai Hu dharma-form, and said:

"I too have a question for Xue Lao."

Li Guanyi straightened his back, the black hair at his temples lifting slightly: "Small merchants scheme for profit; great merchants scheme for the nation."

"Do you scheme for the realm?"

"Or for an age-long peace?"

To scheme for the realm, to scheme for an age-long peace!

Just as the old man expected Li Guanyi to say 'scheme for the nation,' these two sentences struck the old man's heart like massive stones, shattering his expectations and sending towering waves crashing through his heart. An old man suddenly seized by the wildness of youth, for a moment he felt his blood surging. The old man looked at that calm youth, then suddenly burst into laughter: "Hahahaha, good, good, good—this old man misjudged you!"

"A man like you, accomplished in both civil and martial arts, ruthless yet decisive."

"I once said you were the material of a fine minister—I was wrong."

"A man like you is like a flood dragon trapped in a well. When the age of chaos arrives, you shall be the talent of a king-maker!"

"What a pity I didn't meet you a hundred years earlier."

The old servant from before had already rushed back, leaning close to the old man's side. Xue Daoyong said:

"When did those people die?"

The old servant replied: "Near the end of the Hour of the Ox."

That was precisely the moment the Cloud-Splitting Heaven-Shaking Bow had let out its long howl.

Xue Daoyong trusted the testimony of corpses even more.

It all lined up. At the moment this youth was slaughtering freely, the Seven Mansions of Bai Hu had risen from the west to the zenith of the sky.

When the arrow pierced the bandit's throat, blood gushed forth, and so the Cloud-Splitting Heaven-Shaking Bow wailed in unwillingness.

It all lined up.

The person before him was none other than the Bai Hu Da Zong, who had parted for five hundred years and now once again arrived in this age of chaos—the star-god in the heavens who presides over weapons and warfare. The old man sighed within his heart, looked at that youth accomplished in both civil and martial arts, and finally made his decision. He smiled slightly and said: "Then, regarding the matter of your bounty just now, I have another proposal."

Li Guanyi was puzzled.

His objective should already have been achieved.

Xue Daoyong spoke unhurriedly: "This old man happens to have here an empty slot for a ninth-rank Wu Sanguan. It carries a rank, but no attached post; there is an assignment, and the duty is the pursuit and arrest of fugitives."

"The Xue family can give you a blank identity, a ninth-rank Wu Sanguan."

Li Guanyi was about to refuse.

The old man said calmly: "Once you hold a rank, you may carry a spear, wear a crossbow at your side."

"You may—"

"Wear armor."

The youth's voice froze.

This is a heavy wager! The old man rose with a smile, stepped aside, and pointed at the divine weapon resting quietly in slumber on the ebony rack behind him: "Besides, why not go and grip this bow as well?"

(End of chapter)