Chapter 429

Li Fei was followed by Lu Wenxing, and the two walked into the square and sat down in the corresponding area.

Two seating areas were set up on both sides of the high platform in the center of the square; the left area was for the Crown Prince, Imperial Princes, Imperial Princesses, and imperial court officials.

The right area was for Martial Arts Grandmasters and True Persons from various places.

Although Li Fei was also a reserve member of the Lanxun Pavilion, his main identity was the Marquis of the imperial court and the Lanxun Special Envoy, so he walked toward the left.

In the first row of this seating area sat the Crown Prince and several Imperial Princes; besides the First Imperial Prince and Third Imperial Prince that Li Fei had seen, there were also three other Imperial Princes and two Imperial Princesses.

For this rare grand event today, these Imperial Princes and Princesses were all here to watch the excitement.

"Li Fei."

Just as Li Fei intended to walk to the back row to find a seat, the Crown Prince sitting in the middle of the first row suddenly called out to him.

"Your Highness."

Li Fei could only stop and walk toward the other party.

The Crown Prince stood up with a smile and beckoned to an Imperial Princess:

"Zishu, haven't you always wanted to meet Marquis Jing'an? Imperial Brother happens to be helping you introduce him today."

As his voice fell, a young and beautiful woman wearing a golden hairpin and kingfisher feathers stood up somewhat shyly and walked toward the two.

She wore a brocade long dress embroidered with complex patterns, shimmering with light. A pair of eyes were as clear as autumn water, carrying innocent and lively spirit.

"Imperial Brother, how can you introduce someone like that?"

She said with a pout.

The Crown Prince laughed: "On weekdays, he is either busy practicing or busy going out to fight; when would I have time to bring you to meet him? Today is just the right time."

As he spoke, he patted Li Fei's arm very casually:

"This is my Imperial Sister, Qin Zishu."

"Greetings, Princess."

Li Fei took the initiative to bow.

He vaguely remembered that the current Empress had one son and one daughter; looking at it, this Qin Zishu should be born to the Empress and was the Crown Prince's own sister, which was why the Crown Prince had such an attitude.

"Zishu greets Marquis Jing'an; I have long admired your name, and today I finally get to see you."

Although Qin Zishu appeared somewhat shy just now, at this time, when she officially started talking to Li Fei, she appeared generous and had a certain bearing.

Li Fei: "Princess, you are too polite."

"You don't know, my Imperial Sister also practices martial arts and is very talented, so after hearing about your deeds, she became very curious about you."

The Crown Prince said with a smile to the side.

"Marquis Jing'an, don't listen to his nonsense; what kind of talent do I have?"

Qin Zishu suddenly became a bit anxious.

She was indeed proud of her martial arts talent on weekdays, but how could she be embarrassed to mention it in front of the number one genius in history?

"Hahahaha."

The Crown Prince laughed loudly, attracting everyone in the square to look over here.

The First Imperial Prince, who was also sitting in the first row, sneered and turned his head away, no longer looking here.

The Third Imperial Prince stared at the few people with a smile.

The Crown Prince was so close to Li Fei in front of so many people, especially in front of the reserve members of the Lanxun Pavilion from various provinces; everyone understood the meaning behind this.

Yet it was indeed very effective; whether it was the group of officials in this area or the Martial Arts Grandmasters and True Persons in the opposite area, after seeing this scene, they were all thoughtful.

After the three chatted for a while, Li Fei walked to the back row and found a seat to sit down.

A moment later, both seating areas were basically full.

When the time reached 8:00 AM sharp, the solemn sound of horns rang out.

Behind the high platform, a row of horn players stood on the city wall of the Zhengyang Gate, blowing the horns.

Then someone beat the drums, the drumbeats getting faster and faster, as if stepping on people's heartbeats, making people involuntarily become hot-blooded!

On the high platform, that huge display screen lit up, presenting the scene on the high platform.

This was the start of the national television broadcast!

Very few people could watch television at home at this time; in order to let more people see this broadcast, the imperial court specially prepared many large display screens on the streets of major cities, allowing people to go to the streets to watch this live broadcast today.

Twenty-three provinces, hundreds of cities, at this moment, over three thousand display screens were broadcasting the referendum ceremony about to begin in this square in Lanling City!

Thousands of people walked to the streets, crowding in front of these huge display screens.

Half of these people were ordinary people watching the excitement, and the other half were Jianghu people and gang members from various places.

At this very moment, the number of people watching this live broadcast had exceeded two million!

"Please, Senior Grand Secretary—"

In the square, a loud voice suddenly shouted.

Subsequently, people in both seating areas stood up one after another.

Even the Crown Prince, this heir apparent, also stood up, showing respect to the Senior Grand Secretary.

Inside the Zhengyang Gate, Ye Zean, dressed in a blue official robe, walked out, looking straight ahead, and walked directly onto the high platform.

An amplification microphone had been placed on the high platform in advance.

Ye Zean walked to the microphone:

"Thank you all, please sit."

The scene quickly quieted down.

"Today is the first day of the official establishment of the Great Lan Dynasty's Lanxun Pavilion. We are holding the first Lanxun Pavilion referendum ceremony here, and it now begins."

Without a passionate or literary opening, Ye Zean also didn't say any nonsense, just announced the start of the referendum simply like this:

"Representatives of Yidong Province, please come to the stage."

Everyone present was a bit stunned, not expecting the rhythm to be so fast.

After waiting for a few seconds, three people stood up in the opposite seating area and walked toward the high platform.

These three were all Martial Arts Grandmasters, representing the three strongest factions of Yidong Province to participate in the referendum.

After the three went on stage, the picture on the huge display screen behind Ye Zean changed:

A high platform also appeared, but the scene around it was clearly different from here.

That was the branch venue set up in the provincial capital of Yidong Province; next, all participants of the Yidong Province Lanxun Pavilion would come to the stage one after another and cast their votes in the live broadcast in front of everyone!

This form of referendum was unprecedented and also eliminated the possibility of any black-box operations.

With this move, Ye Zean wanted to tell the world:

The Lanxun Pavilion pursues fairness and justice!

Only by having no problems oneself can one have the confidence to inspect others.

The branch venue was hosted by officials from the provincial capital, and the Inspection Envoy of Yidong Province and a group of pavilion officials were also at the scene.

Soon, an old man with some white hair took the stage.

The old man was a participant of the Yidong Province Lanxun Pavilion, with Dao Foundation stage cultivation.

He was clearly somewhat nervous; he walked to the microphone, paused for a moment before saying:

"I am... Elder Jiang Deyu of the Red Leaf Sect; it is an honor to serve as a Lanxun Pavilion participant. I cast this vote for reserve member Master Tan Feng!"

As his voice fell, someone in the main venue immediately shouted loudly:

"Reserve member Tan Feng gets one vote!"

On the high platform, a wooden board had already been placed, covered with white paper, with the names of the three reserve members of Yidong Province written on it.

A eunuch holding a writing brush recorded a stroke under Tan Feng's name.

At the branch venue on the other side, Red Leaf Sect Elder Jiang Deyu went off stage, and the Sect Master of the Red Leaf Sect came on stage; he also cast his vote for Tan Feng...

Just like that, one participant after another came to the stage to vote, and on the main venue side, votes were constantly being recorded on the platform.

In the end, a total of 94 participants from Yidong Province came to the stage to vote, and Tan Feng received 35 votes, 2 more than the second place, successfully elected very thrillingly.

This person was the Sect Master of a Jianghu major sect in Yidong Province; in the absence of universities or top-tier factions in the province, this Sect Master being able to be elected successfully allowed the sect to have a chance to go one step further!

"I announce that Tan Feng has become a member of the Yidong Province Lanxun Pavilion."

On the platform, Ye Zean announced calmly.

This Martial Arts Grandmaster Tan Feng revealed obvious excitement; if it weren't for the occasion being inappropriate, he would have wanted to express his feelings.

But Ye Zean did not arrange this process; after the result came out, he directly let the three representatives go off stage, then let the representatives of another province come on stage to conduct the referendum in the same way.

After the process started, it felt a bit boring.

Except for people from the corresponding province who were very concerned about the result, everyone else was somewhat absent-minded.

Someone roughly estimated the time required for each province to publicly select, and finally reached a result:

This public selection would have to continue uninterrupted until late tonight!

Thinking of this, the expressions of many people changed, especially the several Imperial Princes and Princesses sitting in the first row.

This referendum ceremony today was unprecedented, and with the Senior Grand Secretary and the Grand Marshal of the Military Council present, the specification was very high, so they were curious and ran to watch the excitement.

But after the initial freshness passed, only boredom remained.

These Imperial Princes and Princesses already regretted running to watch the ceremony.

Yet Ye Zean was still standing on the platform, and even though they were noble Imperial Princes and Princesses, they didn't dare to be disrespectful to this Senior Grand Secretary, so for the time being, no one dared to slip away, and they could only look left and right in their seats.

Only the Crown Prince, the First Imperial Prince, and the Third Imperial Prince remained calm, sitting steadily in their seats.

Qin Zishu turned around and looked toward the back; she wanted to see what Li Fei was doing.

Then she saw Li Fei sitting in his seat with his back straight, eyes closed.

"He wouldn't be practicing, would he?"

Qin Zishu was surprised.

Before, the Crown Prince said that Li Fei was either practicing or fighting with people on weekdays; she felt it was a bit exaggerated.

Now seeing this scene, she had to secretly admire him.

Some people, with top-tier talent, could still work hard to this extent; it really left one speechless...

"Representatives of Shangyu Province, please come to the stage."

On the high platform, Ye Zean called another province.

Hearing this name, everyone present was refreshed, and many showed curiosity.

Because Shangyu Province had the Tianyi Tower, and the representative sent by the Tianyi Tower this time was the 'Peerless Wind and Elegance' Zhu Fenghua!

Under the curious eyes of everyone, Zhu Fenghua went on stage calmly, eventually harvesting countless sighs of disappointment.

This election had no suspense; Zhu Fenghua was elected as a member of the Shangyu Province Lanxun Pavilion with a very high number of votes.

After another province passed.

"Representatives of Bai Sha Province, please come to the stage."

As Ye Zean's voice fell, everyone present looked up one after another.

Like Shangyu Province, which only had one top-tier major faction in the province, the election naturally had no suspense.

Bai Sha Province was just the opposite; it was afraid it would be one of the most intense elections in this referendum!

Bai Sha Province was a famous major martial arts province; besides having a Bai Sha University, there were also several top-tier factions.

Among the 'Sanshan, Four Sects, and Seven Families,' one of the 'Sanshan,' Mount Baituo, one of the 'Four Sects,' the Gouchen Sword Sect, and one of the 'Seven Families,' the Divine Fist Yu family, were all within Bai Sha Province!

After Ye Zean called the name, a total of seven Martial Arts Grandmasters stood up!

The seven stood in a row on the stage, looking somewhat spectacular.

This was also a very important point that attracted Jianghu people to this referendum.

Most people couldn't even see Dao Foundation stage martial artists on weekdays, let alone Martial Arts Grandmasters?

Seeing seven Martial Arts Grandmasters standing on the same stage at once like today was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for many people!

Over 200 participants from Bai Sha Province participated in the voting; after more than an hour of long voting, in the end, the representative of the Gouchen Sword Sect, one of the 'Four Sects,' was elected as a member.

Jianghu often said 'Sanshan and Four Sects,' putting 'Sanshan' before 'Four Sects'; besides the relationship of the size of the numbers, the comprehensive strength of the 'Sanshan' was also stronger than the 'Four Sects.'

But the election result at this time was that the Gouchen Sword Sect, one of the 'Four Sects,' won against Mount Baituo, one of the 'Sanshan.'

Although one couldn't see the games hidden behind this, many people could imagine that the Jianghu pattern of Bai Sha Province was afraid it would change drastically in the future!

After Bai Sha Province was Qing Province.

Qing Province also didn't have any top-tier major factions, but it had the Jianghu-famous Mengyan Sect.

The Mengyan Sect's art could construct illusions, thereby allowing people to hone martial arts skills within them.

So many Jianghu sects would send disciples to the Mengyan Sect to 'experience' for a period of time, and the Mengyan Sect also made friends all over the world because of this, having friendships with many sects.

Coupled with its own strength being one of the best in the entire Qing Province, it was elected successfully without any suspense.

On the stage, Shen Zhen, a True Person who became a member of the Lanxun Pavilion, looked at the area on the left, her gaze finally falling on Li Fei, who was practicing with his eyes closed.

Li Fei felt something and suddenly opened his eyes.

But at this time, Shen Zhen had already withdrawn her gaze, her expression as usual as she walked off the stage.

Li Fei was expressionless, closed his eyes again, and continued his cultivation.

Time passed bit by bit, reaching past 2:00 PM.

During this period, tea, snacks, and various foods were sent to the people in the seating area.

The Imperial Princes and Princesses sitting in the first row had already secretly slipped away, leaving only the Crown Prince, the First Imperial Prince, the Third Imperial Prince, and Qin Zishu.

Qin Zishu actually couldn't sit still long ago; the reason she insisted until now was that she wanted to wait to see Li Fei go on stage.

"I'll leave after seeing Li Fei!"

She made a decision in her heart.

She didn't know why she had to wait to see Li Fei go on stage, but looking at Li Fei, who had been practicing with his eyes closed in his seat, she vaguely had an intuition:

This Marquis Jing'an seemed to be preparing for something.

Inside the Imperial City, Military Archive.

This warehouse was specially used to store confidential documents of the Military Council; an official holding a wooden box walked to the gate of the Military Archive and handed the wooden box in his hand to the Military Council official responsible for verification.

"Is this the box given to Marquis Jing'an yesterday?"

The Military Council official responsible for verification outside the warehouse gate asked.

"Yes, it was sent over yesterday and has been placed in the front courtyard. Yesterday was the information you selected; today it is still for you to archive."

"Good."

The two Military Council officials opened the wooden box in front of the person.

A folded piece of white paper was placed on the top layer of the wooden box, which made both of them stunned.

All the information in this wooden box was counted one by one by them yesterday before being put in; both of them clearly remembered that they had not put a single piece of white paper in it separately.

The two took out the white paper, opened it, and saw four lines of words written on it, looking like a poem.

"This..."

The two looked at each other.

They could be sure that this piece of paper and the content on the paper definitely did not come from the Military Archive.

"Is there any problem?"

An official on the side saw the clue and asked with a frown.

"Has this wooden box passed through anyone's hands?"

"Yesterday, it was sent by Eunuch Feng, the Chief Eunuch of the Imperial Palace. After it was sent, the wooden box was placed in the front courtyard for guarding; during this period, absolutely no one touched this wooden box. The Imperial Guards on duty yesterday and today can testify!"

The matter involved first-class secrets of the Military Council and was no small matter, so the person said very seriously.

Confidential materials borrowed from the Military Archive were sometimes stored in the front courtyard guarded by Imperial Guards if there was no time to archive them.

For so many years, there had never been any problems.

"We must investigate immediately!"

The two Military Council officials responsible for archiving also said very seriously.

So next, the entire Military Archive side was alarmed.

Soon, the news was sent back to the palace, and the Imperial Eunuch Feng Cheng, who was responsible for this matter yesterday, also learned of it.

He learned of it, which meant the Emperor learned of it.

"There was an extra note in that wooden box?"

The Emperor was somewhat surprised after learning the news:

"Have you found out who put it there?"

Feng Cheng: "It has already been investigated; no one else touched that wooden box."

The Emperor smiled: "In that case, this note was written by Li Fei? Heh, bring it for me to see."

"Yes."

Feng Cheng turned and left.

"Representatives of Feng Province, please come to the stage."

Ye Zean's voice rang out in the square.

Qin Zishu was refreshed and sat up straight.

In the back row, Li Fei, who had been practicing with his eyes closed, slowly opened his eyes and stood up from his seat.

He walked toward the high platform calmly, and went on stage with two other Martial Arts Grandmasters.

The whole audience focused their attention on Li Fei.

Among all the representatives who went on stage today, Li Fei was the only representative with Dao Foundation stage cultivation.

At the same time, he was also the most famous one among all the representatives!

"Start..."

"Senior Grand Secretary!"

A voice suddenly interrupted Ye Zean.

This made everyone present stunned.

On such an occasion, with a national broadcast, who dared to be presumptuous?

"It's coming!"

In his seat, Qin Zishu was excited.

She really hadn't guessed wrong!

Li Fei was really going to cause trouble!

"What is the matter?"

Ye Zean turned to look at Li Fei, his gaze severe.

Although this Senior Grand Secretary had no cultivation, his momentum at this moment was like a Great Grandmaster!

Li Fei looked directly at the other and said loudly:

"Today's referendum is a grand event for our Great Lan Dynasty; your subject wants to add flowers to this grand event!"

These words caused a commotion at the scene.

At this moment, a man walked quickly to the First Imperial Prince's side and said a sentence to him using strength transmission.

At the same time, two other people came to the Crown Prince and Third Imperial Prince's sides respectively, also saying things via transmission.

The First Imperial Prince was startled and looked up at the other:

"What is the content written?"

The person handed him a note.

The other two also each took out a note and handed them to the Crown Prince and Third Imperial Prince.

The three looked at each other, all somewhat curious.

The investigation of the Military Archive even alarmed the palace; such a big movement naturally couldn't be hidden.

The Crown Prince, First Imperial Prince, and Third Imperial Prince all had their own eyes and ears in the palace, so they received the news almost at the same time.

"A thousand years ago, martial arts and arts stood side by side, and Martial Saint Gongsun Yan first proposed the concept of combining law and martial arts."

On the stage, Li Fei's voice resounded throughout the audience.

The four words 'combining law and martial arts' immediately attracted the attention of the three, making them look up subconsciously.

"Since then, generations of predecessors have worked hard to try to find a way to combine law and martial arts. But for a thousand years, only Senior Lin Tianyi of the Tianyi Tower has truly walked through this path."

Imperial Study.

The Emperor sat in his seat, with a television set placed opposite, also broadcasting the Lanxun Pavilion referendum.

A few minutes ago, Feng Cheng handed the note Li Fei personally wrote to the Emperor.

There were a total of four sentences written on this note, looking like a poem, but even the most basic rhymes were wrong, as if several sentences were pieced together forcibly.

From this perspective, this was undoubtedly a 'bad poem.'

But the spirit contained in the poem was truly amazing!

After seeing this poem, the Emperor was silent for a moment before shaking his head with a smile, letting Feng Cheng turn on the television.

Li Fei's voice came from the television:

"Although Fei is untalented and far inferior to Senior Lin, today I am willing to walk this path that only one person has walked through in the past thousand years in front of all the heroes in the world!"

This voice was not passionate, but it was resonant.

Inside the Imperial Study, the Great Grandmaster Feng Cheng, hearing this sentence, couldn't help but change his expression.

"Heh."

The Emperor looked at the young face on the black-and-white screen, "But... it is appropriate."

On the paper in his hand, the first sentence clearly read:

My generation should have the ambition to reach the clouds, not failing the river that flows for ten thousand ages!

Feng Province, provincial capital, Lu Mansion.

In the study, Lu Wenzheng and Xu Jing sat in a row, watching the live television broadcast together.

After hearing what Li Fei said, Lu Wenzheng's face changed, and he looked at Xu Jing:

"What does he want to do?"

Xu Jing's face also sank, staring fixedly at the screen, not speaking.

Datong Prefecture, Martial Arts University.

On the small mountain where Shi Caiming lived, in the courtyard, Shi Caiming and Qin Zhen were watching the live television broadcast together.

"Principal, has he really mastered combining law and martial arts?"

Qin Zhen asked.

Shi Caiming looked at the television screen and scolded with a smile:

"This brat, I don't know why he didn't reveal a little news in advance."

"What do you want to do?"

On the high platform, Ye Zean asked the question in everyone's heart.

Li Fei smiled:

"For a thousand years, only Senior Lin Tianyi has broken through the level of Martial Arts Grandmaster and the level of True Spirit at the same time."

Martial arts reaching the level of Grandmaster, arts reaching the level of True Spirit, were both very big barriers and also a very obvious dividing line.

Two paths, choosing to break through one, the difficulty of breaking through the other would become very great, which was also a problem that was difficult to avoid in dual cultivation of law and martial arts.

In a thousand years, only Lin Tianyi broke through to the level of Martial Arts Grandmaster and the level of True Spirit at the same time when breaking through.

In the end, only he alone completely walked through the path of combining law and martial arts, ascending to the peak.

Zhu Fenghua, known as 'Peerless Wind and Elegance,' wanted to imitate his master, suppressing his own realm for many years, but eventually failed.

"Today, I want to imitate the predecessors, breaking through two realms at the same time; I ask all the heroes in the world to witness it together!"

On the high platform, Li Fei stated his purpose.

These words could be described as earth-shattering, triggering a huge uproar!

When Lin Tianyi broke through two realms at the same time, he was already over thirty years old; how old was Li Fei this year?

Twenty years old, breaking through to Martial Arts Grandmaster and True Person at the same time; how many historical records would this break?!

Off stage, the Crown Prince, First Imperial Prince, and Third Imperial Prince all couldn't help it anymore, opening the notes in their hands, seeing the four magnificent sentences on them:

My generation should have the ambition to reach the clouds,

Not failing the river that flows for ten thousand ages.

One body turns to fight three thousand miles.

One sword can block a million teachers!

PS: The poem is pieced together because I really couldn't find a complete one that was suitable for giving a 'response.'

Anyway, the protagonist doesn't follow the 'cultural pretense' route, so just like this~

(End of chapter)