The flaps of the tent were roughly pushed apart after which several brawny men stepped into the tent, eyes brimming with hostility and murderous intent.
Having lived in hostile environments all their life, the men of the Steppes were no stranger to bloodshed. The moment they got serious, they would exude an oppressive aura incomparable to ordinary folk.
However, all that only applied to ordinary people. The pair within the tent weren’t just numb to killing, they were freaks who didn’t even bat an eye when they killed a person.
Ning Chen wheeled himself around and with a resounding thud, stabbed the Ink Sword into the ground in front of him. Etched onto his face was unbridled dissatisfaction with these men. Right now, he had on a face which said, if it’s a fight you want, it’s a fight you’ll get, let’s see who’s afraid of who.
A moment later, the bearded elder, Ming Cheng and the physician entered the tent as well. Looking at the calm, unaffected expression on the face of the young man clad in a blue shirt, their eyebrows furrowed.
“Take him away.” The bearded elder exclaimed.
“Understood.” The seven brawny men circled around the wheelchair and directly reached out to grab the blue shirt young man.
Seeing that, the displeasure on Ning Chen’s face grew even deeper. Did they think he was transparent or something? Giving his Ink Sword a resounding slap, a wave of True Qi suddenly burst forth and knocked them all back several steps.
“Let’s be civilized here.” Given that the fault laid with him in the first place, Ning Chen didn’t wish for this matter to blow up so he suppressed his usual attitude.
“Ming Cheng, stall him.” The bearded elder angrily declared, his face turning darker as he uttered each word.
“Understood.” With no other choice left, Ming Cheng drew his scimitar with a resigned look on his face. Taking a couple of steps forward, he told the teen, “Brother Ning, pardon my offense.”
At that, Ning Chen’s face grew even colder. He gave them face and yet they chose not to take it.
*shing*
The Ink Sword left its scabbard and suddenly the air around the sword started to freeze. Frost began to form on its blade and snowflakes started to swirl around the tent. In an instant, the tent’s temperature was lowered several degrees.
Seconds ticked by in what felt more like years as tensions escalated within the tent — a huge battle was about to start. Yet, it was at that moment that the normally silent Prince Yan finally opened his mouth.
“That’s enough, stow your sword.”
As he said that, he strode towards the tent exit and flatly said, “Let’s see what all this is about.”
“Mhm.” Ning Chen blinked his eyes before returning his sword to its sheath and walking out as well.
Now that the pair had left, Ming Cheng finally broke out in cold sweat. They had truly underestimated that wheelchair bound teenager. Even if there ten of him, he probably couldn’t restrain that teen.
“Tribe Leader, you mustn’t use force.” Ming Cheng tried once more to persuade the stubborn elder.
Hearing that, the elder coldly harrumphed before promptly stepping out of the tent.
Stepping into Pei Yan’s tent, the pair found the beautiful girl lying motionless on a bed. At the side, the physician told them about her true condition.
“Senior, can she be saved?” Ning Chen asked in a whisper only they could hear.
“Crystal Chestnut Flower.”
“So there’s no saving her then?”
“Use your blood, if this prince acts, her lifespan can be lengthened by another three years. I’ll repeat myself once more, I’ll leave it up to you on how we should handle this.” Prince Yan calmly answered.
“We’ll do our best then.” Ning Chen nodded his head as he said that.
Having finished with their discussion, Ning Chen turned around and looked at the elder who had just entered the tent. “We can lengthen Lady Pei Yan’s lifespan by another three years. In exchange for that, all our past transgressions will be settled.”
The elder was stunned, and so were the people present. Ning Chen, however, didn’t rush them but merely waited patiently and coolly.
Compared to the worried looks on everyone else’s face, their calmness was truly a refreshing contrast. Back then, Zhang Sun had mentioned this before and now it had been proven beyond reasonable doubt: Ning Chen was actually the most cold hearted person in this world.
If the fault didn’t lay with them in the first place, he honestly wouldn’t give a hoot whether or not anyone died.
It’s not like she was Ah Man!
“Are you sure about that?” Asked the elder, his eyes clearly showing the disbelief within him.
“Whether or not you believe me is your business.”
Hearing that, the elder’s face immediately underwent a myriad of changes. A moment later, he violently bit down on his teeth and finally said, “Alright, I’ll agree to your terms.”
“All of you, leave.” Prince Yan blandly declared as he stepped up to the bed.
However, none of the tribesmen moved, clearly hesitating about that order.
“There’s still time to change your mind if you want.” Ning Chen brought himself to the bed as he coldly reminded them.
“Everyone, leave.” The elder chased them all out of the tent. Having finally come to a decision, he then left the tent himself.
“Pity the parents for their love of their child.” Ning Chen sighed lightly before promptly running his sword finger across his arm. As he did so, a red line appeared on his arm from which drops of blood began flowing out and along his arm till they dripped onto Pei Yan’s heart region.
With the Revolving Heaven Pill’s medicinal strength within him, not to mention the fact that he had just taken a bath in the Mongol’s Divine Pond not too long ago, he was basically a walking medicine bag.
At the same time as that, Prince Yan gathered his Qi into his palms and wrapped the crimson fluid in his Xiantian energies as they rapidly dissolved into the girl’s skin. At the very instant Ning Chen’s blood dissolved, the medicinal strength within it dispersed throughout the girl and slowly but surely, began seeping into girl’s severely weakened heart.
Roughly ten breaths later, Prince Yan withdrew his palm while Ning Chen wiped his hand over his cut, stopping the bleeding instantly with a flash of silvery light. They then turned towards the girl and quietly waited for her to awaken.
After waiting for half an incense stick, Pei Yan finally woke up. Looking at the blue shirt young man in front of her, she weakly murmured, “Can you tell me what is your true identity?”
“Grand Xia, Prince Yan.”
Pei Yan’s eyes went wide with shock for a brief moment after which she weakly closed them, a teardrop dripping down the corner of her eye as she said, “Thank you.”
The pair then left the tent after which the elder immediately rushed into the tent. Seeing her awake, he couldn’t help but break into tears of joy.
“Let them go.” Came the elder’s voice from within the tent. Hearing that, Ming Cheng and the others cleared a path for the both of them to leave.
“Let’s go.” The prince blandly declared before taking the lead and leaving, blue shirt fluttering in the wind behind him.
“Mhm.”
Thus, the two of them left, neither too hurriedly nor too slowly. Within their eyes, there was a distinct lack of nostalgia for the Steppes. No matter how beautiful the Steppes were, they were just passersby in the end; a single look was enough for them.
“The mountains stand not as to be a witness.
The waters flow not as to be a witness.
Violets wither and a prince departs.
Clouds fade back into nothingness
As willow trees turn one again green.
The azaleas remain silent, not daring to ask…”
(TL: Credits to callmemistress for this part.)
As they traversed the steppes, a voice bidding them farewell suddenly echoed from behind them. Ning Chen turned his head around to find a girl dressed in a red bridal gown seated before a tent. Resting in her arms was a pipa (TL: Chinese lute) which, just not so long ago, graced her blood red lips and pale contenance. Like a rose blooming amidst a gale, one couldn’t stare directly at her breathtaking beauty.
“Such a waste.”
Ning Chen lightly sighed but said no more. He promptly turned his head around and continued forward.
In front of him, the prince was just as calm as always, his footsteps never wavering.
The Steppes were vast. As the pair continued northward, their travelling never ceased till they finally reached their goal of the Mongolian capital.
It was a city built in the middle of a desert. Gazing at it from a distance, it almost seemed like a sacred city floating atop a sea of yellow; beautiful and stunning at the same time.
After entering the royal capital, they found that the lives of the citizenry differed vastly from that of the Steppes. Instead, they resembled the citizens of the Central Plains. At dawn, they would work and man their various businesses, at dusk they would break for the day.
Looking at the mighty palace in the distance, Ning Chen coldly harrumphed. According to what he heard, after the previous Great Khan died, the palace was embroiled in internal conflict as the various princes (TL: Khan Khuu) fought over the throne.
(TL: Great Khan -> Mongolian Emperor.)
It was at that moment that Fan Lingyue appeared seemingly out of nowhere, and thoroughly swept away any resistance she encountered. With no one left to oppose her, she raised an infant to the seat of Great Khan and ended the internal strife within the Mongolian Empire in one bloody swoop.
Given that bit of history, the young Great Khan of the Mongols was now barely seven years of age.
“That desert sword in the Mongolian territory is about to make its appearance, this prince plans on having a look so we’ll have to part ways for now.” As he said that, a glint flashed across his eyes.
Hearing that, Ning Chen was shocked but he quickly recovered and nodded his head. Since the senior didn’t wish for him to follow, that meant that his strength was lacking at the moment and accompanying him might pose a danger to his life.
“How do I contact you?”
“No need, this prince will come find you.” Before those words even left his words, the prince had already disappeared in a flash of light and rushed towards the north at blistering speeds.
Ning Chen opened his mouth as if to protest but merely shook his head in the end. He had initially hoped that the prince could accompany him as he enacted his plan. From the looks of things, he was on his own now.
That made things a little difficult but he couldn’t keep delaying it either. Grand Xia was in dire straits and who knows what state Zhang Sun was in right now. Given all that, he had to do something and quick.
Not long after he stepped into the royal capital, he managed to obtain information about the current state of the war:
Fan Lingyue actually managed to breach Grand Xia’s Heaven’s Gate, her 300 000 Mongolian Army had invaded the Central Plains successfully and the three military marquis who pursued them ended up being stranded outside of the pass.
Without a doubt, there was no worse news than what he had just heard. Ever since the start of the war till now, the amount of losses Grand Xia suffered had already reached a horrific level while the Mongolian army had basically lost nothing.
200 000 casualties in the Northern Plains and Yangui City. 350 000 casualties from Zuo Qiusheng’s failed assault. If you added in the 300 000 neutralized troops under the command of those three stranded military marquis, Grand Xia had essentially expended 850 000 troops in order to unsuccessfully repel the Mongol’s 350 000 troops.
However, the biggest difference between the two empires had to be that the Mongols had a Fan Lingyue while Grand Xia didn’t. That was a woman who could forge an era just with her own two hands. No matter how you looked at it, she was an invincible existence.
The whole reason why he didn’t want her to know that he was still alive was because he didn’t want to engage in a head on confrontation right now. Even he was filled with fear at the prospect of going against such a formidable woman.
Ever since he arrived in this world, he suffered multiple setbacks. For all those times he nearly died, she basically had a hand in all of them.
She wanted him dead and he wanted her dead, plain and simple. It was so simple that nothing else mattered.
The Qing family was one such pawn in their schemes.
Based on the evidence that was Ming Cheng’s scimitar, he could basically conclude that the assassins who tried to kill Zhang Sun came from the Qing family. In that case, one could also conclude that the Qing family was one of Fan Lingyue’s hidden chess pieces.
He wanted to enter their family. He wanted to see for himself what kind of place it was.
The Qing family was located in the royal capital of the Mongols. In this imperial plot of land littered with aristocratic families and nobles, the Qing family weren’t really a conspicuous existence.
However, the Qing family had one thing that set them apart from the other aristocratic families and nobles, they weren’t actually a mono-surname clan.
There were very few direct descendants in the Qing family. Furthermore, they weren’t allowed to marry outside of the family and this resulted in the number of direct descendants dwindling over time. Forced by such dire circumstances, the Qing family enshrined a new rule which stated, anyone who made a major contribution would be rewarded with the surname of Qing.
With regards to these customs and rules, Ning Chen only had one thing to say, morons!
‘Haven’t you guys heard of incest? Bunch of retards.’
However, their stupidity ended up being extremely convenient for him. In order to carry on their bloodlines, their attitude towards the strong was basically this, we’ll accept all we can and award them a surname once their contributions are high enough.
Naturally, he wasn’t interested in their surname, in fact, he was there to stab them in the back.
The Qing family was a huge clan, astonishingly huge to be exact. In order to join such a clan, Ning Chen picked the most arrogant and the most conspicuous method of entry. He chose to fight his way in.
As a seventh-grade practitioner, there was no doubt he could gain the immediate attention of the higher-ups. After all, there were hardly any seventh-grade martial practitioners who were under twenty years old.
“This Little Master is here to be your guest envoy. Summon for me a person of authority!” He bellowed at the pile of fallen adversaries before him and stabbed his broken iron sword into the ground with a resounding clang.
Footnotes:
C87&88 do not exist.
