Book 14: Chapter 1

A Still Shadow on Peace

“Fuma.” Although her exterior packaging had changed, her innate classy aura was undeniable.

Ming Feizhen couldn’t explain why, but he hated the charm.

“H-how did you get in?!” A maid in the rear finally noticed Ming Feizhen.

Ming Feizhen never deliberately concealed his presence when he entered, but none of the maids noticed he was there until now.

“How dare you barge into Mistress’ room? Get out! I’m reporting you to the principal and making sure you… you can’t participate in exams!”

One maid after another confronted Ming Feizhen as though they were going to carry him out, but he just kept drinking his tea.

“He’s my guest.”

The maids ceased their shouting instantly.

The maids weren’t supposed to react so out of control. One could pretend, but it was extremely difficult to hide your internal breathing, so Ming Feizhen knew all of them could hold their own weight in a fight. While they had the physiques of typical maids, they most likely favoured swordplay judging from the shapes of their wrists and the conditions of their hands. Given their petite physiques, they’d easily assassinate their target once they had encircled them. The only reason they feigned panic was to eliminate the risk of their mistress’ first mask. In other words, they knew about their mistress’ transformations. All these factors qualified them to act as her bodyguards on the academy grounds.

“Jin Zhaoying” instructed her maids to fetch her glazed bowl to wash her hands. With a modest upward curve to her lips, she slowly cleaned her hands and remarked, “This lass is a glutton.”

Ming Feizhen tilted his head to the side. “You sent your puppet here as soon as you returned to Hangzhou. You really are obsessed with the capital. Why not just build a sojourn palace in the capital? Given how much your father loves you, wouldn’t it be better to live closer, Your Highness?”

People tended to forget Jin Zhaoying gained her reputation after her meeting with Li Jingan. Jin Zhaoying was never known to be a genius with a brush until they met. Many years ago, she was a girl with no interest in martial arts, politics, status in the clan or wealth. She, in fact, was frowned upon similarly to other girls who were born with silver spoons.

Bai Yumo was young and seldom ventured into the pugilistic world, but she was a legit inheritor of Bai Clan’s broadswordplay and proved so when she put away several notorious villains.

Luo Sword Manor’s Luo Mingzhu embodied Mount Tian and her father’s swordplay, so she had her swordplay.

You could send a gang running if you just mentioned the names of Mount Lu Sword Sanctuary or Song Clan’s eldest daughters.

Black Robe Brotherhood had Princess Li Hongzhuang. Who’d dare compare themselves to her?

Since everyone in her bracket shone so bright, Jin Zhaoying’s ordinariness stood out. Luckily for her, she met Li Jingan.

Li Jingan once paid a visit to Jin Clan’s headquarters in Zhenjiang, where she became acquainted with Jin Zhaoying. The former encouraged the latter to read more poetry and to work on developing her character so that she wouldn’t lose the ticket to a bright future, claiming that women didn’t need to fight to get ahead in life. The gluttonous fan of sleeping and anti-work maiden took Li Jingan’s advice on board, eventually communicating through letter exchanges with other scholars, which started her meteoric rise in the Central Plain.

Ming Feizhen knew there was more to the story, but he was still surprised when he learnt what Li Jingan achieved. Jin Zhaoying was still the gluttonous maiden who liked to sleep, read fiction and laze at home, and yet Li Jingan singlehandedly turned Jin Zhaoying into a genius through just writing.

To change one’s goals was far beyond something you could perform through martial arts – or knowledge. As established, classifying Heart Realm disciplines as martial arts disciplines was pushing the definition of martial arts. How they functioned and how they were performed were completely unlike the other seven types of martial arts discipline categories. The user didn’t require internal energy, and its effectiveness wasn’t predicated on their internal energy attributes.

Martial arts disciplines that affected one’s mind didn’t require training in internal disciplines or physical training, but the user could perform almost miraculous feats, such as changing another person’s motivations.

There was plenty of interest in disciplines that attacked the mind, but the information on it wasn’t credible since they were primarily hypotheses or rumours. That being said, they genuinely existed, and there was an abundance of examples to prove the fact.

It was practically impossible to identify someone as an expert in them since the training and utilisation processes were different to all other martial arts. They could’ve been an elder who needed a walking stick or some bratty maid. This was the reason they weren’t part of the martial world. When they passed away or passed knowledge down, it went under the radar.

Ming Feizhen had a much deeper understanding of the disciplines due to the fact that “Spring Wind Rainy Night Art” that Ming Huayu taught him was recorded using a mental discipline. That was how he saw through Li Jingan when he saw Jin Zhaoying for the first time. Whether her instant admission was a form of honesty or not would be only something she knew. As to how Li Jingan pursued – or conquered – Jin Zhaoying, that, too, was beyond Ming Feizhen’s deduction abilities. Regardless, it wasn’t important.

“I refuse.” Once the maids exited, Jingan, with a hand over her mouth, quietly said, “Is my father not yours, My Lord?”

Every single time they met up, Ming Feizhen had to deal with her teasing, even when she was Jin Zhaoying.

Ming Feizhen stood up, sat down on the couch and responded, “Oh, so you haven’t forgotten I am your husband. This is how you take care of your husband? Where’s my massage?”

Glossary

Internal breathing – Unlike breathing that requires you to use your nose and mouth, this is a fictional method of breathing that martial artists use, whereby they can absorb and expel oxygen through their skin.