Why do I have so many masters?

Gongsun Jing had never thought in this direction before.

At this moment, as he looked at Wang Anfeng, whether it was psychological influence or the stimulation from the taste of the pickles in his mouth, he increasingly found the youth before him similar to the frail scholar he remembered.

But hadn't the Great Marshal fallen in that incident?

A flicker of unusual light danced in the depths of Gongsun Jing's eyes.

It was after that incident that General Li severed all contacts with his subordinates, like a raindrop dissolving into rivers, leaving no trace. Despite the frantic search by the people of the Divine Martial Mansion back then, they found no hints; thus, the Great Marshal perished, and the main general vanished from the world. Even though the people of the Divine Martial Mansion were still present, the once-dominant Iron Cavalry was virtually extinct in name and reality.

To appease the provoked noble clans, today's Emperor, who was the Crown Prince at that time, had no choice but to disband the Divine Martial Mansion. He broke it up and distributed its members among the Great Qin's eighteen routes of Iron Cavalry, many of whom were assigned under the noble clans' jurisdiction.

After visible and invisible conflicts.

Nearly seventy percent of the Divine Martial Mansion's Iron Cavalry resigned from the military. Those born into noble clans and unable to leave continued to degenerate in the military, indulging in drink day and night, hoping to be expelled, completely listless, and lacking the vigor of pack of tigers dashing forth as in the past.

When the leading tigers disappeared, they unwittingly blunted their own claws.

They would rather blunt their own claws.

The only regret was that these claws were not blunted on the battlefield. More lamentably, even the vast Great Qin saw heroes fall in the Imperial Court rather than in battle.

But now...

The expression in Gongsun Jing's eyes gradually stabilized. He glanced at Wang Anfeng and decided to bury this matter deep within himself. The Great Marshal had been too proud, establishing a mansion in Great Qin at the age of sixteen. Although it didn't last long, such achievements were rare throughout history. His brilliance had long aggrieved those noble clans' eyes.

The Great Marshal had never cared.

But the Young Master before him was different from the Great Marshal. The powers of those noble clans that had opposed the Great Marshal were now stronger, while the Divine Martial Mansion, which the Great Marshal had relied on, had already scattered across the world and could hardly be gathered again. If those people knew that the Great Marshal still had descendants in this world, who knows what they might do.

Thoughts flashed through his mind.

At least, he would wait until the Young Master was stronger to tell him these things.
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The General and the Great Marshal concealed their identities, probably for this reason as well.

Having followed Wang Anfeng for a long time, he knew a bit about the young man's background, knowing he lived with Li Bo, also known as General Li, in a small mountain village. As for his father, he had passed away when the young man was still a boy.

Having made up his mind, Gongsun Jing's expression subtly changed.

As if twenty years ago, when accepting military orders, he looked at Wang Anfeng, yet unknowingly, he found himself thinking.

If today he did not need to worry about the reactions of those noble clans, if now, he could spread the Divine Martial Order throughout the world, how many familiar faces would reappear?

How many no-longer-young hands would again draw spears, shedding the mundanity of ordinary life, retrieving still gleaming Divine Martial Armor from the dust-covered past, mounting black horses, straightening their backs, stepping out of dim memories like figures from a storyteller's tale, and regathering under this banner?

His eyes slightly closed.

It seemed like the crisp sound of horse hooves rang by Gongsun Jing's ears.

As if he could hear that desperate roar again.

Would they be the same as before?

They would be the same as before.

Gongsun Jing's features softened considerably, his lips curling into a quiet smile, bearing the marks of time, reflecting a nostalgic demeanor. Then he suddenly came to his senses, seeing Wang Anfeng curiously watching him. Out of a reflex to conceal, he instinctively chewed on the food in his mouth, and then...

The man's body tensed instantly, the mixture of tastes intensifying again, his previously serious face instantly contorted as if struck by several punches.

This damned pickle!

Just like back then...

His eyes reddening slightly, yet a feeling of exhilarated laughter rose from within him.

............

Fufeng County City.

Seven hundred meters from the Academy, an inn.

As the days moved deeper into winter and the weather turned colder, ordinary people had already bundled up tightly like zongzi, but Li Lao San was wearing only a fur vest, his robust arms as thick as steel bars exposed, muscles bulging from a recent saber drill, sweat glistening, emitting steam in the cold winter air.

The right arm was notably thicker than the left, clearly marking him as a saber wielder. In his right hand, he held a Great Qin Broad Saber, its handle and the nearby scabbard smoothed to a sheen through long use, the originally sharp metallic luster having softened to a gentle glow through years of friction.

Li Lao San furrowed his brows, staring into the sky, lost in thought.

Ever since Meng Yuexue arrived in Fufeng County City the day before, she had been obsessed, sleeping very little. Aside from attending to the still comatose Chuan Lian, she spent all her time poring over the books in Wind Character Tower of the Academy, growing thinner every day, her eyes increasingly bright.

He had never liked those women from wealthy backgrounds, thinking them too pampered and fragile, crying over every little scratch, completely intolerant of hardship. Even though in Gongsun Jing's view, those young ladies did not even regard him highly enough for his disdain to matter, Li Lao San still disliked them.

But Meng Yuexue was an exception.

Thinking about the gradually thinning girl and Chuan Lian still lying on the bed, Li Lao San felt somewhat choked up inside, feeling this truly wasn't any kind of good job. He liked things straightforward and direct, where effort surely led to results, which is why he loved the army and practicing martial arts.

This kind of effort that could end up being meaningless despite how much was put into it.

Just thinking about it made him feel terribly suffocated.

But in this world, too many things are just like this.

He heavily chopped down with the saber in his hand, stirring up a fierce wind. When the saber stopped, a tiny yet visible crack formed on the ground, and dust was swept up by the air current, spreading out from both sides of the blade and quite effectively cleaning the bluestone tiles of the inn's backyard.

After venting his frustration, Li Lao San breathed out a long breath of foul air, preparing to go back for a cold shower to relieve his fatigue.

Just at that moment, the sound of Flying Eagle flapping its wings suddenly reached his ears, causing Li Lao San's turning motion to pause slightly.

A Flying Eagle, with wingspan around three meters, circled a few times in the sky. Having recognized Li Lao San below, it let out a gentle cry, folded its wings, and descended. Li Lao San recognized this as a bird used for communication within the Giant Whale Gang, his expression turning somewhat solemn as he glanced over the letter tied to the Flying Eagle's claws, knowing it must be the plan for the next move from Gongsun Jing's side.

He just hoped it wouldn't order him to return directly.

Li Lao San murmured to himself, flicked off some sweat, and took the letter from the Flying Eagle's leg, unfolding it to see. To his surprise, the handwriting wasn't Gongsun Jing's—it must have been the Young Master's, which made his expression even more solemn. He read carefully, his eyes lighting up before he muttered in a low voice:

"Poison of the Drug Man?!"

Holding onto the letter in his right hand, Li Lao San breathed a sigh of relief, feeling the knot in his heart loosen a lot.

This case was typical of difficult and intricate issues; knowing the name meant finding the correct treatment wasn't difficult. While it was a relief, Li Lao San also felt some resentment: he didn't understand why Wang Anfeng hadn't told Meng Yuexue directly earlier, letting her suffer so much these past few days that even a rough fellow like him found it hard to watch.

"Chuan Lian, my brother, your luck is truly good..."

Li Lao San entered the room, checked Chuan Lian's pulse, and found no abnormal changes, only that it seemed a bit stronger. However, Chuan Lian was stricken with a strange poison, and his pulse had always been extremely faint; such minor changes were really hard to notice.

Moreover, with Li Lao San feeling rather joyful at the moment, he wasn't extremely diligent in checking the pulse. Having hastily confirmed that the worst hadn't occurred, he turned and hurried towards the Academy, even pushing the idea of taking a bath to the back of his mind.

After Li Lao San left, only Chuan Lian remained in the room, lying there quietly.

The other experts from the Giant Whale Gang were scattered around the city attending to various tasks, each taking turns with three remaining nearby each day to prevent any accidents, and these three martial artists, without any urgent matters, would not enter that particular room.

Thus, the inner chamber was just peaceful.

Only the faint, extremely stable sound of breathing could be heard, the wind so soft it could suppress the sounds of breathing. God knows how long it had been when that breathing paused slightly.

Underneath his robe, Chuan Lian's heart suddenly throbbed abnormally a few times, and tiny blood-colored lines emerged, continuously merging into an extremely strange flower. The petals, like threads of blood, were enchanting and eerie, unlike anything of this world.

The flower slowly unfolded.

The miracle medicine, gathered over an unknown length of time, finally reached its peak at this moment, much sooner than Wang Anfeng had anticipated by the signs—by a whole half-month. If he had been there, he would have realized that this strange flower was even more mysterious than he had predicted, able to disguise the signs as if it had its own sentience, obviously nothing ordinary.

Every day, the flower absorbed vital energy, mixing it with the essence blood of Chuan Lian's Eighth Rank Martial Artist inner strength and the medicinal power supplied without interruption by Meng Yuexue over the past two years, streaming into Chuan Lian's heart like a torrential river.

What used to be a faint heartbeat, nearly completely vanished appeared to be unable to withstand such a tremendous shock and disappeared entirely.

The room fell into complete silence.

............

Fufeng Academy·Wind Character Tower.

31st Floor

A girl in ink-blue vigorous attire held an old yellow scroll, rifling through it swiftly. Her originally clear eyes reddened, but there was not the slightest relaxation. She bit down on her lower lip, desperately but reassuringly thinking to herself.

Senior brother... I will definitely find a way to cure you...

You must wait for me.

You must believe in me...

Suppressing the anxiety in her heart, she kept searching for relevant classics. Unbeknownst to her, other students frequently in the library for Master's assessment preparation often cast astonished glances at her, wondering what was fueling this gaunt girl.

At that moment, someone seemed to gently tap her shoulder.

A familiar, gentle voice came to her ears, softly saying:

"Hmm."

"I naturally believe in you..."

Meng Yuexue's body stiffened, and she abruptly turned around, only to see the spirited students of the Academy quietly reading, with people coming and going, some laughing and others whispering quietly, their expressions filled with tenderness. This was the lively Academy she had once longed for, yet at this moment, it felt as though it was cut off from her own world, completely severed.

As she watched the bustling scene, she felt an indescribable loneliness, as if the vast world was broad and boundless, yet only she stood alone in this world.

No longer having a way back.

PS: The second update of today is presented...