The Emperor Reigns Them All

Chapter 183 The World Did Not Know

Li Ye didn’t expect that he could meet Yang Feng’s carriage gang again. It was a bit of a surprise to him. As for Wei Nianci, he intentionally neglected her. There were two kinds of cultivators that deserved his respect, either a friend with whom he saw eye to eye, or a powerful enemy, Wei Nianci was obviously neither.

Yang Feng was very happy to see Li Ye. After introducing Mei Xiaoyu, he quickly tidied up the dishes on the table and invited Li Ye to sit down. He winked and asked, “Brother Li, where is that Immortal Taoist?”

Li Ye took the wine bowl handed by Mei Xiaoyu. These two were eating large chunks of meat and drinking from bowls, and there was not even a leaf of green on the table. It seemed that the carriage gang had earned quite a lump sum by “safely” delivering the goods. After all, the carriage gang was not ordinary people. Although the guys had not reached a high level in terms of cultivation, they had no problem to gorge on food and drink after a delivery.

“The immortal Taoist?” Li Ye heard this title and couldn’t help laughing, and he then asked, “Which one are you talking about?”

The three people clinked their bowls heavily and sipped it at the same time. Mei Xiaoyu actually finished the drink first. After downing her drink in one swift neck action, she stared at Li Ye. Her eyes were very bright, and it was as though she wanted to see through the Childe who could make Wei Nianci get down on her knees. The swordswoman had a very macho quality, whose actions were bold and brave as though she had nothing to hide.

Yang Feng put down the bowl and explained naturally, “Of course I meant Su...”

He wanted to say the Taoist Su, which was an obvious answer. Obviously, he didn’t mean Taoism Wei, who was too far from immortal. But Yang Feng had to freeze there as only half the name popped out. He then cleared his throat and swallowed the rest of words.

Yang Feng then saw the Junior Priestess behind Li Ye, and the only expression left on his face was shock.

She had already changed into new robes of a similar style, without the dirty mud from the battle of course. Whenever she stood before you, she would exude a fluttering quality as if she were floating. Though her face was hidden behind a scarf, just from her eyes, you would not doubt that she was a beauty. This was, after all, the petite Junior Priestess, whose figure and beauty was very apparent.

Without saying anything, Yang Feng was stunned for a while before coming to his senses. He wondered in his mind, “Who exactly is this brother Li, who seemed to always be surrounded by so many beauties?”

The Junior Priestess did not deliberately conceal her Qi. He hadn’t noticed at first, but before long, he could feel the stressful pressure, which had made him breathless. Could it be that this was another high level master?

Yang Feng came over and gave a thumbs up. “I got to hand it to you brother Li, for you have your way around beautiful women!”

Li Ye winked at Mei Xiaoyu and added, “You are not bad yourself.”

Yang Feng shook his head and added, “You know I like the little sister of my gang.”

Li Ye suddenly remembered and added, “The little sister is gorgeous, and when are you going to introduce me?”

Yang Feng answered, “No problem, when we go back to the Qing Prefecture...” He suddenly thought of something, and he then looked at Li Ye guardedly. While scratching his head, he added with a smile, “Forget it.”

Li Ye laughed out loud.

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Coming out of the restaurant, Yang Feng said goodbye to Mei Xiaoyu, who was planning to go to the Immortal Taoist Conference. Then she suddenly said, “Don’t say goodbye, I will go to the Qing Prefecture with you. Didn’t you hear what the people in the restaurant said, the Immortal Taoist conference exists in name only, and now it’s the Kung Fu Championship in the Qing Prefecture!”

The Immortal Taoist Conference and the Kung Fu Championship were both big events in Pinglu Jianghu. “Unknown swordsman” like Mei Xiaoyu was not qualified to be invited, but since they were still people of Jianghu, they had to go to such events. Otherwise they would not have any bragging rights. How could they then still call themselves Jianghu men? Participation was not important, but being there was.

Speaking of the Kung Fu Championship, Yang Feng got excited. As they walked, he said, “There’s a legend about the Kung Fu Championship. It’s been spread all over Jianghu the past few days. The new commissioner is very powerful, expelling the thousand-year-old Penglai with just the Black Office. I heard that he was the Grand Prince...”

“Your Highness Prince An, I know that!” Mei Xiaoyu too was full of enthusiasm, who then added, “He and the emperor had also gotten rid of the treacherous minister Wei Baoheng and the head eunuch back in the days. Man is he something. Now that Your Highness Prince An is coming to the Qing Prefecture, the weather in Pinglu is about to change!”

“Exactly! I mean if it weren’t for Prince An, who else could wrestle with the Penglai Taoist Sect?” Agreed Yang Feng, who had the utmost respect for Prince An, though he had yet to meet him. He then turned to Li Ye and asked, “Brother Li, aren’t you from Guanzhong? Have you ever heard about Prince An? You must have heard of him. Have you ever seen him?”

Li Ye was planning to get on his horse when he heard Yang Feng’s question. He thought about it and said, “May-maybe?”

“That means you have not seen him before! You’d remember it if you had seen him,” answered Mei Xiaoyu as she mused.

Li Ye nodded and added, “You’re right swordswoman!”

Cui Keli and others were on the official road outside the market. There were quite a lot of people since his men had all come to converge. So they didn’t go to the market, and the Manor’s eight hundred cavalries were not far away. Of course, the Black Office was there, too.

Yang Feng was so happy to see Su Emei and others. He was about to greet them when he suddenly saw the eight hundred cavalries nearby and stopped. His eyes revealed a mixture of respect and fright.

Whenever Jianghu cultivators encounter armored cavalry, it was like a meeting between natural enemies. Except for those high-level masters, most of them like Yang Feng were used to being careful around the cavalry. Moreover he too could see that they were not usual cavalry. Although the cavalry were staying still without moving an inch, the pressure they exuded was like waves coming at them.

Seeing the cavalry standing behind the crowd not far away, Yang Feng could not help getting closer to Li Ye and asked, “Brother Li, how come these cavalries are following you so closely? Are you familiar with each other?”

Mei Xiaoyu’s words were relatively straightforward. She glanced at Li Ye and added, “Seeing the fierce Looks on their faces, Brother Li, they’re not here to get you for something you did, are they?”

Yang Feng felt that it was sensible, Brother Li had high cultivation, and there were many masters around him. If he did something, the average cultivators couldn’t deal with him. So that was why the cavalry was here.

Li Ye yelled, “I don’t think they’re fierce at all. Are they really?”

Mei Xiaoyu was suddenly stunned. “The general is headed here.”

Yang Feng looked pale, but gathered his composure and added, “It doesn’t matter, and it should have nothing to do with brother Li since he did not even want to run away...”

As Shangguan Qingcheng went straight up to Li Ye, Yang Feng and Mei Xiaoyu couldn’t help holding their breaths. It had been a tradition for thousands of years that people feared the officials. Thus, the fact that Jianghu cultivators were afraid of the sergeants was in their bones. Both of them felt a tremendous pressure.

Mei Xiaoyu suddenly thought of something. Her face turned pale as she tugged Yang Feng’s sleeves and whispered, “I heard that more than a thousand people died in battle at the Qingshui Villa. Chen Beiwang’s cavalry was annihilated by the Prince An’s cavalry! It was rumored that their deaths were hard to behold. I mean there was not a complete corpse in sight... Could they be the cavalry of Prince An?”

Yang Feng was stiff, then he immediately shook his head and added, “No, they couldn’t be?”

Now Shangguan Qingcheng was already in front of Li Ye’s horse. She held clasped her fist in her hand and added loudly, “Reporting to Your Highness, food is ready, we can leave at any time, at your command!”

Li Ye added, “We’ll be on our way.”

Then Shangguan Qingcheng answered loudly, turned and left without any hesitation.

“Your Highness?” Yang Feng and Mei Xiaoyu’s tongues were tied as they looked at each other. They turned their heads together and looked at Li Ye, swallowing, and added again, “Your Highness?”

Li Ye touched his forehead in distress. He had no need to hide his identity now that the Penglai Taoist sect was gone. On the contrary, he needed to let everyone in Pinglu know his name and achievements. So he no longer wanted to keep a low profile, otherwise he would not have allowed the eight hundred cavalries to follow him around, parading across the city.

However, Li Ye did not want to show off in front of Yang Feng either. He preferred that they got along on equal footing. But he no longer could hide his identity now that Shangguan Qingcheng suddenly ran over.

Li Ye shrugged and said lightheartedly, “Yes, I am Prince An Li Ye, the new commissioner in Pinglu.”

Yang Feng and Mei Xiaoyu both took a few steps back. They looked at each other and finally got their acts together; they quickly saluted and said, “At your service, Your Highness!”

Li Ye waved his hand and added, “You don’t have to do that.”

Yang Feng and Mei Xiaoyu had become cautious and nervous, which had made their journey boring. Li Ye had to let them follow behind the carriage gang to avoid any discomfort. He then went to talk with Su Emei and the others.

Su Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang did not have any problems. On the contrary, Li Ye was a bit uncomfortable because, for some unknown reason, Su Emei had brought that little maidservant in the green dress along when she left the Qingshui Villa.

The little girl was next to Su Emei, she kept her head down in embarrassment. But every so often she would sneak a look towards Li Ye. Gradually, she got over her initial fright and started staring at him. She thought no one noticed her actions, Li Ye couldn’t have noticed seeing that she was behind him on the side. But once someone’s cultivation had reached Li Ye’s level, they would become sensitive to any small movement. So Li Ye could see every one of her small actions.

Li Ye thought that his skin was quite thick, comparable to his cultivation, so he did not care. But Su Emei, for some reason, kept driving their topic towards the little maidservant. She even introduced the little maidservant to him as her little sworn sister. Su Emei said that she was great at taking care of people, and she made great tea. Su said that the little maidservant would be a great candidate for his personal maid.

This time, Li Ye had to admit defeat. He felt grief and indignation in his heart and the Tao of Heaven was unfair. All he did was to give her a piece of jade to show his kindness, for she was quite lovely. But this is how the heavens reward him for his kind gesture?

Feeling helpless, Li Ye had to slip away and talk to Cui Keli.

Wei Xiaozhuang looked at the flushed maidservant in puzzlement and asked, “Sister, are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

Su Emei threw her long hair behind her neck, and said in a thoughtful tone, “What do you know, this is called retreat to attack.”

Wei Xiaozhuang had suddenly seen the light, and he gave her the thumbs up and added, “Sister, you really are the reincarnation of the Guanghan Fairy. After all who else could come up with such strategy? You have my respect and admiration!”

Su Emei glanced at him with a mixture of embarrassment and anger, she then added, “Shut up!”

The little maidservant seemed ignorant with a blank expression, completely unaware of what the two were saying.

Li Ye hurried beside his team on his horse, after catching up to Cui Keli, he popped inside his carriage. Cui Keli’s carriage was big and spacious, and they sat across from each other.

Since his studying days, Cui Keli had formed the habit of placing a pot of tea next to him so that he could drink while reading. Li Ye had admiration for his custom. Cui Keli truly embodied a Confucianism scholar with his mannerism and customs. If it were your average scholar, he would have a pot of wine next to him, and whilst he took a sip, he would recite a few poems to show his raw boldness.

After a little chat, Li Ye asked, “Who on earth is the master of Su Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang?”

Cui Keli put his manual down, mused for a while, and then added, “I met with the Taoist Chu by coincidence. We don’t see each other much, but usually, communicate through letters. I heard that 30 years ago, in order to compete for the title ‘number one in the world’, the Taoist Chu and Zhang Jiuling had had several battles. Oh, and I heard that they also fought for a woman. That’s about all I know.”

“For a woman... Taoist Chu was really a man who wore his heart on his sleeves. Having heard the conversation between Taoist Chu and Zhang Jiuling that day, the woman seemed to have fallen for Zhang Jiuling. What a pity!” Li Ye sighed and thought, “He doesn’t know how sloppy Chu Nanhuai is otherwise he would not be surprised why she didn’t like Chu Nanhuai.”

Women in the world came in all shapes and sizes, but probably none of them would like sloppy men.

Li Ye was concerned about the woman at all. He asked, “Taoist Chu had such a high level of cultivation, reaching Qi-refining Level 9 at the age of 30. Now, he is at the Spiritual Master Realm. How could such an amazing and brilliant person’s history, lineage be unknown?”

There was no doubt that a great teacher produced brilliant students, especially when it came to cultivation. Self-taught was possible, but they still needed to steal from other teachers. Li Ye did not think that sneak learning from teachers could make Chu Nanhuai reach the Qi-refining Level 9 at the age of 30.

For Li Ye, Chu Nanhuai was like a mystery. Not only because of his cultivation, but also because of Su Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang. The fact that they had reincarnated aside, it seemed so unreasonable that they suddenly appeared.

Li Ye thought about it carefully. Why did Chu Nanhuai send Su Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang to help Cui Keli when he knew their cultivation were not high.

Chu Nanhuai had to have known Cui Keli’s situation at the time. He had to fight for the title of ‘head of the family’. After that they would have to travel to Penglai, encountering many pitfalls along the way. If he reached Penglai by a stroke of luck, there were more dangers awaiting him. By then, it would’ve been all for naught even if Su Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang had reached Qi-refining Level 9.

But all these problems no long existed, because of the “sudden” arrival of Li Ye.

By now, Su Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang had both become Li Ye’s guards.

They were two Qi-refining Level 9 guards, as long as they didn’t encounter anyone of the Spiritual Master Realm, they could ensure his safety in dangerous places.

Li Ye could see that everything was a scheme. Although he could benefit from this scheme, there were still some angst and fear for the schemer.

Cui Keli shook his head to indicate that he did not know anything about Li Ye’s question.

In front of the Boji Mountain Taoist temple, the browned cloaked Taoist Chu Nanhuai was washing the stone steps.

It was not necessary to wash the stone steps, which were clean and not trampled after the heavy rain, but Chu Nanhuai still washed them very carefully.

Not only did he wash the stone steps, but also the walls.

Chu Nanhuai was not usually like this.

After cleaning the stone steps, Chu Nanhuai stood in front of the Taoist temple with his hands clasped behind his back and looked up at the three big words on the door.

That was the name of the Taoist temple.

The name had already faded through the motley years.

However, after the cleansing, the last word was almost visible.

That was the word ‘Cave’.

The last word of the Taoist temple’s name was not actually ‘Temple’, but ‘Cave’!

What cave?

The world did not know.