The First Lackey Under The Empress

"Second match, Zhao Shaobao wins!"

The spring breeze swept through the entire peach blossom forest, and only then did the peach blossoms, which had been spinning and dancing in the air, fall one by one.

After a long silence, the Jinwu Guard commander, who was standing on the sidelines and acting as the "referee," came back to his senses, stepped forward, and announced loudly.

While speaking, the look in his eyes towards Zhao Du'an was filled with amazement and complex emotions.

Yes, amazement!

After the Buddhist-Taoist competition last year, Zhao Du'an gained great fame by stepping on Tianhai, the little monk. In the past six months, his reputation in martial arts has spread far and wide.

However, because of the existence of the "Tai'a Sword," almost everyone in the Jianghu believed that he was seeking fame and reputation, and that he was a pawn sent by the Empress to speak for Tianhai.

Of course, this view is not wrong. Zhao Du'an's martial strength was indeed not high enough at that time, and he did rely on the Tai'a Sword to a great extent to gain an advantage.

— Even obtaining the recognition of a divine weapon is a manifestation of his own ability.

In fact, not only the people of Jianghu, but also the martial artists in the capital secretly thought so?

Including the many military warriors in the Imperial Guards, such as the Jinwu Guard commander in front of him, before this, they only admired Zhao Du'an's skills in the court and his methods of handling affairs.

But when it comes to martial arts... cultivation...

How could he be convinced in his heart? He just didn't dare to say it publicly.

However...

Just today, only half a year after the Buddhist-Taoist debate.

Zhao Du'an defeated Xiao Ran, a top student of Green Mountain, with only a peach wood branch... Once the news of today's battle spreads, it is conceivable that it will cause a great sensation.

"Zhao Du'an..." Chai Keqiao narrowed his eyes, his mood extremely complicated, and Qi Ye beside him was even more flushed, his face the color of pig liver.

The joy of winning just now had vanished.

He "watched" the whole process and thought that even if he were to play, it would be difficult to perform better than Xiao Ran.

Thinking back to his provocation half a month ago, and the injustice he felt for his friend "Little Monk Tianhai" before coming to Beijing... his face suddenly felt a little painful.

"Thank you for the concession!"

Zhao Du'an smiled, cupped his fists, and then bent down and stretched out his right hand to Xiao Ran, who was lying on the ground.

Xiao Ran was silent, refusing his "kind help," and supporting her still-painful body, stood up little by little.

She was not seriously injured. Just now, her Qi was interrupted for a moment, but that moment was enough for Zhao Du'an, who was close to her, to seriously injure or even kill her.

"No need to pretend. Losing is losing. I can't afford the word 'concession'." Xiao Ran said coldly.

Picking up the soft sword on the ground, she walked silently back to the team with her scattered black hair.

Tsk... this little girl has quite a temper. It's like I'm willing to help you. It's risky to show gentlemanly demeanor, okay? Zhenbao is watching next to me... Zhao Du'an curled his lips and walked towards the Empress.

He clasped his fists and saluted: "Your Majesty, I have not failed my mission and won the battle."

Xu Zhenguan had a smile on her lips, but in front of outsiders, she had to maintain her dignified demeanor, so she only said "En" softly and said:

"Zhao Qing has worked hard."

Sharing worries for the leader is not hard... Zhao Du'an almost blurted out a flattering remark subconsciously, but he held back.

When he stepped back into the team, Eunuch Hai smiled at him:

"The Peach Blossom Divine Sword was used well."

"It's all thanks to His Majesty's good training, as well as Eunuch Hai's daily care. The colleagues in the Martial Arts Hall are united, and the palace servants up and down the palace have also provided a lot of help," Zhao Du'an said modestly.

Eunuch Hai was stunned when he heard this, feeling that although this rhetoric was not very sincere, it was inexplicably comfortable to listen to.

"Congratulations, Shaobao." Tang Jinzhong, a worshipper next to him, said seriously.

Zhao Du'an patted him on the shoulder and smiled:

"Just do your best, don't feel pressured."

Tang Jinzhong, who was cold and silent and best fit the stereotypical image of a "palace guard," nodded, supported his saber hilt, and stepped forward.

The referee shouted loudly:

"Third match, Green Mountain's Chai Keqiao versus Martial Arts Hall's Tang Jinzhong!"

The surrounding crowd then came back to their senses, remembering that there was still the last match, which was also the decisive match.

Chai Keqiao, wearing a linen shirt and straw sandals, stepped out and greeted Tang Jinzhong, who was dressed meticulously on the opposite side:

"Last time I came to the capital, I wanted to ask for advice on royal martial arts, but unfortunately I didn't get my wish. Please enlighten me today."

Tang Jinzhong remained silent. He was bearing the pressure of the final victory, and the burden on his shoulders was conceivable. He only said calmly:

"Please."

...

In the crowd, Zhao Du'an stood beside Eunuch Hai. The old eunuch in a python robe folded his sleeves, his eyes straight ahead, but his voice echoed in his mind:

"Watch carefully. A battle in the Seijin realm may help you break through in the future."

Zhao Du'an held his breath and concentrated, and said:

"What does Eunuch think the chances of winning are?"

Eunuch Hai was silent for a moment, and said:

"If Green Mountain sent Duan Shui Liu, we would definitely lose."

Eh, do you mean... there's a chance of winning? Could it be that Lao Tang has been hiding his strength before? Zhao Du'an was surprised and wanted to ask more questions, but he saw that the two sides in the field had already moved!

Chai Keqiao took the lead. He didn't pull out the axe from his waist, but there was a faint cyan cloud flowing around him, and he stepped forward.

When he took the first step, the cyan energy covered his whole body.

When he took the second step, the cyan energy almost solidified into plate armor.

When he took the third step, his face also turned indigo blue, like a ghost or demon.

Tang Jinzhong snorted coldly, and unexpectedly hung his saber on his lower back. His knees sank, and with a "boom," a spark of fire sprang up between his eyebrows.

Then, a two-meter-tall, translucent Futu general suddenly condensed on his body, covered in armor.

"Remember that you can learn from the ancients in the scrolls in the Six Chapters Sutra? This Futu general is Tang Jinzhong's 'master' in the Six Chapters Sutra, and also his enemy. When he stepped into the Seijin realm, he refined this ancient man into his own 'life spirit'..."

You can roughly understand it as a much weakened god, or the prototype of a martial god..." Eunuch Hai explained in a low voice.

Ah? It can still be like this? So our "Martial God" path is upgraded like this? Isn't it... then when I step into the Seijin realm, can I also refine Pei Niannu into a 'life spirit'?

That's not right. Pei Niannu is obviously not a simple "painting"... it's more like the existence of a spirit of an item... and I can summon her to appear now, without waiting until the Seijin realm... Well, every time I ask her to take action, the price is to write ten chapters of a novel...

Zhao Du'an hesitated to speak.

Moreover, if we talk about "life spirit," there is also a "dragon soul" sleeping in his Qi Sea.

Well, so to speak, what will happen when I step into the Seijin realm? I always feel that it will be very different from you... Wait, don't think wildly, concentrate...

Zhao Du'an restrained his thoughts and concentrated on watching the battle.

"Bang!"

After Tang Jinzhong's life spirit phantom merged with him, it immediately condensed into armor covering his whole body, condensed from Qi.

The two did not dodge or avoid, and rushed towards each other at the same time, throwing out their fists.

When the four fists collided, a violent air wave spread in all directions with the two as the center.

The Empress raised her eyebrows slightly, stretched out a slender white finger and tapped lightly, and the air wave of the battle disappeared without a trace in front of everyone.

"Boom boom boom..."

The two bombarded each other frantically, and the roar was endless. They also jumped up from the ground and fought into the air, and then fell again.

After dozens of rounds, Tang Jinzhong blasted out a cannon fist, and Chai Keqiao flew backwards into the air like an autumn leaf. He took a few steps in the air, grabbed the axe and threw it downwards!

The axe was red-hot and scorching in an instant, as if it had just been tempered in a thousand-degree furnace, whistling and spinning towards Tang Jinzhong, but it was suddenly picked away by the top-grade long saber that he had suddenly drawn out.

Chai Keqiao was in mid-air, grabbed the flying axe, and chopped down again. With one axe, the entire peach forest ground tore out a hideous scar of more than ten feet.

Tang Jinzhong stepped aside to avoid it, and then suddenly rushed to him. The two sides engaged in close combat, and the sound of weapons colliding was as dense as drumbeats.

"So strong... whether it's the thickness of internal strength or the control of martial arts, I can't compare to it in the Shenzhang realm."

Zhao Du'an was focused and the more he watched, the more shocked he became. The joy after his breakthrough and promotion was gradually replaced by awe.

In the past, he had witnessed the Seijin realm take action several times, but he only watched the excitement. Now that his cultivation has improved, he can see the tricks inside.

Xue Shence, Dong Taishi and others were also concentrating. The former looked serious, while the latter, although he couldn't understand it, could roughly judge that the two sides were a bit evenly matched.

The entire peach blossom forest was affected by the attacks of the two rude martial artists and suffered an unwarranted disaster.

Although they tried their best to control it, more than one peach tree still fell.

Finally, after hundreds of rounds, the armor around Tang Jinzhong's body suddenly expanded, and the life spirit reappeared for the second time. This time, there seemed to be some vitality in the eyes of the life spirit.

The illusory Futu general from six hundred years ago coldly scanned Chai Keqiao, grabbed a giant sword out of thin air in his hand, and raised it high.

Tang Jinzhong also made progress simultaneously, raising his long saber high.

A scarlet murderous aura emanated from his body, and a phantom of an ancient battlefield faintly appeared.

Chai Keqiao frowned, and a fierce look flashed in his eye sockets, but in the end, he sighed and defended with Gang Qi.

"Boom!"

Tang Jinzhong's bloody saber light crashed down like a bolt of white silk. Chai Keqiao was not surprised; he was struck down on the spot, falling to the ground, dropping his weapon, coughing up blood, and raising his hand in surrender.

The head referee stepped forward, excitedly announcing:

"Guardian Tang, victory!"

Whoosh—

Only then did the surrounding crowd, who had been holding their breath, awaken as if from a dream, inhaling almost simultaneously—they had been so engrossed in watching the battle that they had forgotten to breathe.

Victory! They had actually won!

Everyone struggled to contain their joy. Xue Shence was also stunned for a moment, then took a deep look at Tang Jinzhong and sighed softly.

"What happened?"

Qi Ye and Xiao Ran helped the nearly exhausted Chai Keqiao back, feeding him healing pills and asking with concern.

They had both seen that Chai Keqiao had held back at the last moment.

"That madman wanted to gamble his life with me," Chai Keqiao said, his face pale, his eyes helpless.

The two were stunned for a moment, then fell silent.

Gamble his life!

Once a cultivator steps into the Worldly Realm, unless surrounded and killed, making escape impossible, their vitality is extremely strong.

Similarly, once a Worldly Realm cultivator completely abandons any retreat and engages in a life-or-death struggle by overdrafting their potential, they become exceptionally fierce.

Tang Jinzhong bore the honor and disgrace of the entire Martial Arts Hall on his shoulders, and he was willing to risk internal injuries, choosing to gamble his life.

But Chai Keqiao was unwilling to risk his life for a mere martial arts competition.

"Those Guardians are different from us. For us, this is just a competition, but for them, it's a fight to the death," Chai Keqiao shook his head.

It wasn't that he couldn't win, but that he didn't want to gamble.

"Ugh!" On the other side, Tang Jinzhong fell from mid-air, his knees buckling, kneeling on the ground, desperately using the hilt of his saber to support his body, spitting out a large pool of blood.

The Guardians of the Martial Arts Hall immediately swarmed forward, feeding him the prepared pills.

Eunuch Hai sighed softly, his python robe swaying, walking to his side, pressing down on his shoulder, channeling internal energy into him, both gratified and bitter, saying:

"No need to speak, go back and rest first."

Then he ordered people to take Tang Jinzhong away.

Zhao Dunan felt the complex emotions of the surrounding Guardians, both joyful and黯然, and suddenly understood the weight of the words "the old and the new not connecting".

Over six hundred years, the lineage of the "Martial God" had ultimately withered. Tang Jinzhong had to risk his life to force Chai Keqiao to hold back. What were the chances of Zhenbao and that unparalleled martial arts master, who was almost breaking through the void with martial arts, winning in a competition?

"Today's competition ends here," Xu Zhenguan stood up and said calmly:

"Mo Chou, order people to send top-grade wound medicine to both sides, so they can recuperate well. After they are well, escort the esteemed disciples of Green Mountain away from the capital for Us."

Everyone obeyed.

Xu Zhenguan then looked at Zhao Dunan, who was somewhat distracted, her beautiful eyes flickering:

"Zhao Qing, walk with Us."

Zhao Dunan collected his thoughts and respectfully said: "Your subject obeys."

… …

… …

The martial arts trial in the Peach Garden ended. As the crowd dispersed, news of the details of this competition spread like a whirlwind to many people in the capital who were paying attention to it.

Zhaoyamen, the Grand Supervisor's Hall.

Today, except for Zhao Dunan, the chief constables of the other eight halls gathered here. Qian Kerou, the confidential secretary representing Zhao Dunan from the Pear Blossom Hall, also came over.

It wasn't to discuss official business, but everyone was scattered around the round table in the inner hall, waiting for news from the palace.

"Grand Supervisor, it should be almost over by now. I wonder what the specific results are," Haitang said, hugging her shoulders, leaning back in the high-backed chair.

Ma Yan, sitting at the head, looked at the sky and nodded:

"The news should be coming soon."

A chief constable sighed:

"It's a pity that the Grand Supervisor left the palace early and is no longer considered a Guardian of the Martial Arts Hall. And today, he has other matters to attend to, so he couldn't go to watch in person. Otherwise, we could have gone to join in the fun."

Haitang rolled her eyes and said:

"Do you think you can just watch any kind of excitement?"

She had a relative relationship with Eunuch Hai, but she didn't have the nerve to beg to watch the battle. The core reason wasn't that she was too lazy to go, but that she didn't dare.

Just like Ma Yan's so-called "official business" was just an excuse. In reality, he didn't dare.

He didn't dare to witness the failure of the Guardians of the Martial Arts Hall.

As for why Ma Yan didn't participate, it was because he had been busy with official duties in recent years, and his martial arts cultivation had slackened. He knew that he was not as confident as Tang Jinzhong.

And with his Worldly Realm cultivation, he couldn't bully Xiao Ran and Qi Ye.

Sharing the same judgment as Xue Shence, Ma Yan also lacked confidence in this once-in-a-century competition.

"Tang Jinzhong has always been hiding his cultivation, and he dares to fight to the death. Against that Chai Keqiao, who has just advanced, his chances of winning are not small. But Song Jinxi is good at assassination. Against either Qi Ye or Xiao Ran, it will be difficult for him to exert his full strength, and he will probably lose. As for the other Divine Chapter Realm cultivators in the Martial Arts Hall today, there is no one outstanding," Ma Yan sighed, his brows furrowed in sorrow:

"It's a pity they came too early. If it were a year later… no, half a year, perhaps Zhao Dunan could have faced one of them."

A year? Half a year?

I'm afraid that by then, that guy will have already stepped into the Worldly Realm, and he won't be able to fight either… Haitang sighed.

In the stifling and oppressive atmosphere, suddenly, the sound of rapid hooves came from outside the hall, followed by the sound of horses reining in.

Immediately, a brocade-clad guard, who had been waiting at the entrance of the Imperial City, ran in panting, with a joyful expression, shouting to announce the good news:

"Reporting to the Grand Supervisor! We have won! The Martial Arts Hall has won! Two out of three rounds!"

Won?

Grand Supervisor Ma, with his long, thin face and gloomy expression, suddenly stood up. Haitang, Zhang Han, Qian Kerou, and others could not hide their surprise.

"Did Song Jinxi win?" Ma Yan asked in surprise.

In his opinion, winning two out of three rounds could only be achieved if Tang Jinzhong and Song Jinxi, the two most outstanding, won.

The messenger ran to the front of the hall, shaking his head and said:

"No… Guardian Song lost to Green Mountain's Qi Ye. Guardian Tang did win against that Chai Keqiao."

Everyone was stunned. Haitang couldn't help but ask:

"So, who won against Xiao Ran?"

The messenger said:

"It was Constable Zhao. Constable Zhao has advanced to the high rank of the Divine Chapter Realm and personally went into battle."

Zhao Dunan? He went on stage?

"Did Master make a move?" The round-faced little secretary Qian Kerou's eyes lit up.

Zhang Han, with his poker face, was shocked and hesitated:

"Could it be that Constable Zhao used the Tai'a Sword?"

The messenger shook his head, his eyebrows lively, and said excitedly:

"No. Constable Zhao didn't use the sword at all. He only used a peach branch."

Peach branch? What kind of divine weapon is that? Everyone was dumbfounded.

The messenger raised his hand and pointed to the tree in the courtyard:

"It's just a branch from an ordinary peach tree…"

Then, he vividly recounted the process of how Zhao Dunan used a peach branch to unleash his famous sword technique "Opening the Heavens" and defeated Xiao Ran, and how he and Tang Jinzhong jointly won this once-in-a-century small competition, as relayed by the Guardians of the Martial Arts Hall.

He only used a branch from a peach tree… He didn't even use magic, but relied solely on martial arts to defeat Xiao Ran head-on… Ma Yan was stunned.

He only felt it was unbelievable.

The other chief constables also looked at each other in astonishment. Haitang rubbed her face and said blankly:

"Last time, when he fought Tang Zhao, he seemed to have used Buddhist spells, right?"

No one responded.

Only Qian Kerou had a happy face, without any hesitation, and quickly ran outside, preparing to return to Pear Blossom Hall to announce the good news.

In her heart, it was perfectly normal for her master to perform any miracle.

… …

… …

The Censorate.

In the back office.

Censor-in-Chief Yuan Li sat upright in his "office", reviewing the thick documents sent by his subordinates. When he casually picked up another document involving the appointment and removal of new local officials in Jiancheng Road and opened it.

The handsome,沧桑-eyed man in the blue robe, with slightly white sideburns, suddenly frowned and said to the clerk standing guard outside the door:

"Summon Chen Hong."

"Yes."

The clerk responded and left.

Shortly after.

Chen Hong, a mature and experienced censor with a silver tooth inlaid, strode in, cupping his hands and saying:

"This subordinate greets Lord Yuan. May I ask what instructions Lord Yuan has?"

Yuan Li waved his hand with a serious expression and pushed a document across the table:

"Did you submit this?"

Chen Hong glanced at it and said shrewdly: "Indeed."

Yuan Li leaned forward, his expression serious:

"Are you confident? You must know that this matter involves the appointment and removal of new government officials and also involves a noble, so you must not speak falsely."

Chen Hong seemed to have expected this and said calmly:

"Since this subordinate has presented it to Lord Yuan, it is not without foundation."

"Good!"

Yuan Li suddenly stood up, stuffed the document into his sleeve, and said:

"You will accompany me to the palace to meet the Emperor."

Chen Hong looked at the sun and said: "At this time, the Emperor is probably busy with the martial arts competition in the palace."

Yuan Li said faintly: "We'll just go to the palace and wait."

"Yes."

The two of them walked out of the backyard one after the other, and saw a censor walking in from the gate. Seeing Yuan Li, his eyes lit up:

"Lord Yuan, the martial arts competition in the palace has come to an end!"

… …

Misspelled words will be corrected later.