Volume 1: Meteor Festival Chapter 2: Night Talk

  "Seventh Young Master..."

  "Huh?" Gu Qing snapped back to reality from the temporarily unsolvable problem at the sound of the call.

  Raising her head, she saw that the sky had unknowingly darkened completely, and except for this secluded courtyard, the entire Wang Fu was already brightly lit, with all sorts of lighting tools illuminating it as if it were daytime!

  It should be around 8-9 pm based on previous timing.

  From eight to nine, at this time, the Hou Mansion had already passed dinner time, but from start to finish, not a single servant entered this courtyard to call Seventh Young Master to come and eat. The seclusion of the North Courtyard was one factor, which also indirectly reflected how dispensable Seventh Young Master was in the entire Wang Mansion.

  However, Gu Qing didn't seem to mind all this. His gaze followed the clear voice and fell on the woman who had spoken up. When he saw that it was the girl who had destroyed all the formulas and patterns she had drawn today walking over, he smiled lightly and nodded at her.

  "Xiao Lin, is there something?"

  "Uh... Seventh Young Master... Miss... she..."

  Gǔ Qīng's face still had a faint smile: "If there's something on your mind, just say it."

  Seeing the smile on Seventh Young Master's face, Xu Xiaolin always felt a bit strange. However, for the sake of her own young lady and the future of this young master in front of her, she still patiently said: "Seventh Young Master... you... can you practice your sword more often? Look at Eldest Young Master, he is already a high-ranking expert with Eightfold Qi Refining. Even Second Young Master, who plans to become a civil official in the future, has started to open up his meridians and prepare for breaking through the Seventh Realm of Qi Refining a month ago. Our Great Qi Empire was founded on martial prowess, but Seventh Young Master spends all day indulging in those messy paintings and doesn't focus on cultivating... that's why Miss...

  Gu Qing smiled lightly and nodded slightly.

  Seeing her own young master always having such an unenthusiastic expression, Xu Xiaolin couldn't help but feel a bit stifled: "Seventh Young Master, did you hear what I just said?"

  "It went in one ear and out the other."

  "What was I just saying?"

  "Cultivate as soon as possible and reach the realm of eightfold Qi channel, let your family's young lady look at you with new eyes."

  "So you plan to start working hard tomorrow?"

  I have been working very hard.

  Xu Xiaolin heard this and immediately rolled her eyes: "I've never seen you cultivate before."

  "Every day, every night, no distinction between day and night!"

  "Day, night? You spend your days scribbling and drawing on the ground, and at night you sleep on the rooftop like a little kid counting stars and moons. Is this what they call cultivation?" As she spoke, her tone paused slightly, as if recalling something. Her adorable face revealed an expression of slight depression: "Don't tell me that the soft, awkward, and clumsy fist technique you practice every morning, which even old people can easily master, is actually your cultivation method?"

  Gu Qing smiled lightly and nodded her head.

  Seeing him like this, Xulian was even more angry than if she herself had not made an effort: "Is that what you call fist method? Is that what you call cultivation? You can easily find an old man over 60 years old on the street who can defeat the user of this fist method with ease. Seventh Young Master, you are also a young master of our Hou Mansion, relying on the sword methods, fist techniques, and internal skills secret books collected by the young master, which one can't make you cultivate to achieve something?"

  "What's the use of those skills? Even if you master them, what can you do with them?"

  "What's the use? How can it be useless!" As soon as Qi Wang heard this complete outsider, Hou Fu, say that the cultivation methods collected in the Hou Mansion were useless, Xu Xiaolin immediately analyzed them one by one: "I won't mention the high-level cultivation methods such as Qi Wang's swordsmanship, Wu Hu Pian Tian Quan, Liu Li Su Jin Zhi, Long Pan Xiang Ju Gong, and Tian He Tu Lu that require high innate talent and enlightenment. Let's just talk about the two cultivation methods that don't require high innate talent, but only require perseverance and the use of spiritual medicine to cultivate the body: Jin Gang Xuan Yu Shou and He He Na Qi Fa. Although He He Na Qi Fa is an ordinary cultivation method, if cultivated to the extreme, it can not only give birth to powerful true energy in the body, but also break through all the meridians in the body. If one has a certain opportunity, they can even enter the eighth realm of the true energy's rushing airway, where the true energy is strong and thick, and can transform the body into various forms. Even in our great Qi Wang Dynasty, this would be considered a top-notch master. In the military, becoming a high-ranking general would not be difficult at all. And Jin Gang Xuan Yu Shou, this attacking method, is even more extraordinary. When cultivated to the extreme, one's hands become like refined iron, and can easily destroy gold and jade, or cut through tofu as if it were nothing. For those with airways below the fifth level who have not yet cultivated true energy, they would almost certainly be killed with a single touch, how magnificent!"

  Gǔ Qīng lightly laughed and said: "Refining to the extreme, destroying gold and jade? What's the difference?"

  "Look at Seventh Young Master, still with that arrogant and ignorant look on his face. Originally having no patience to begin with, Xu Xiaolin immediately erupted: "Useless, you're of great use now! If you can really cultivate this technique to the extreme, and open up all the meridians in your body, with true energy surging non-stop... everyone in the entire Wang Manor will look at you with new eyes. When guests come, they'll have to personally pay their respects to you. Even the young masters, the stewards, and the servants won't dare ignore you. Even if it's His Excellency the Marquis, he'll make time to summon you himself, bestowing upon you grand mansions, beautiful women, gold, silver, jewels... Miss will definitely not fight with Qingping County Princess because of you..."

  When she said the last sentence, Xu Xiaolin suddenly realized that she had misspoken, and her scolding voice stopped abruptly. She hurriedly tried to explain: "Uh, no, no, actually the young lady went back home for a family visit."

  Gu Qing looked at her and nodded with a slight smile: "En."

  Xu Xiaolin stared at Gu Qing with wide eyes, who was smiling lightly, as if she were looking at a monster.

  "What's wrong?"

  "Seventh Young Master, did you really not hear what I said just now, or are you pretending not to have heard?"

  "What's up?"

  Xu Xiaolin pursed her lips, thinking of the Seventh Young Master's temperament, and stopped beating around the bush. She said straightforwardly: "In recent days, Second Prince Ning Tianqi, Qingping Junzhu Ye Xueqing, General Wang Shendu, Lin Daojin, a genius in cultivation, Nian Wusheng, the legendary Sword Saint, and Fang Ziying, the Holy Maiden of Snow City, all the young and talented people from all over the kingdom, including rising stars and high-ranking officials in both literary and military fields, have rushed over from all directions to attend the Emperor's 50th birthday celebration. Miss accidentally encountered Qingping Junzhu and suffered humiliation because of you, and even..."

  Gu Qing slightly restrained the smile on his face and nodded.

  "Heavens, Seventh Young Master! The young lady is your formally wedded wife. She's now being bullied outside and was even injured by Prince Ning Tianqi's sword energy during their confrontation. Now she's locked herself in the courtyard, refusing to come out... and you're actually..."

  "Your family's young lady has always been very strong."

  "You..."

  Xu Xiaolin opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but no matter what she was going to say, everything seemed so powerless in the face of this sentence!

  Go for it!

  Others don't even worry about Seventh Young Master, what's a servant girl like you worrying about?

  "This sentence suddenly made Xu Xiaolin, who was originally still full of vigor and energy, seem to have exhausted all her strength, and she became extremely disheartened: "Seventh Young Master... you... you... you're really not a man..."

  Gu Qing smiled lightly: "It's gotten to the point where it's about being a real man, this is getting serious. So I'll ask you, what do I need to do to be considered a man? Do I need to draw my sword and charge into the imperial palace for a one-on-one duel with the Second Prince?"

  Xu Xiaolin curled her lip: "You can't even get into the palace gates."

  "Heh heh, back then the Second Prince abandoned her and chose the powerful and ambitious Qingping Junzhu who would help him contend for the throne. She was so angry that she immediately chose to marry me, a nobody with no achievements or fame. It's only natural to expect this kind of outcome."

  "But... but Seventh Young Master, no matter how you put it, Miss is your legally wedded wife. Even if she doesn't like you, can you really bear to see her, a young girl, being ridiculed everywhere because of your own incompetence?"

  "What kind of choice you make, what kind of consequences you have to bear." As he said this, Gu Qing thought of something and his tone changed slightly. He shook his head: "Too troublesome."

  "Anything wrong?"

  Gu Qing responded with a single word and fell silent again.

  It wasn't easy for the young master to relax a bit, but Xu Xiaolin wouldn't let him off so easily. She quickly continued to ask: "What's wrong, Seventh Young Master? Which aspect are you referring to when you say it's troublesome?"

  Gu Qing still shook his head.

  "Tell me, Seventh Young Master, is there something troubling you? If there's a problem, we can overcome it together with Miss. As the saying goes, 'a couple's hearts are as one, and they can cut through gold'."

  "The second prince has shown exceptional talent since he was young, mastering both literary and military arts, as well as the tactics of war and the ways of emperors. He has also honed his skills through bloody battles on the borders, reaching the pinnacle of the eighth level of Qi cultivation, just one step away from advancing to the ninth level and becoming a Grandmaster. He is considered one of the top young experts in our Great Qi empire, with a reputation that shines like the sun at noon. If he were to form an alliance with Princess Qingping of the Western Town King, he would gain the full support of the king and become unstoppable, destined for greatness. At this point, if I were to reveal my own extraordinary talent, cultivating to the eighth level of Qi in one breath, helping your family's young lady teach a lesson to Princess Qingping, venting our anger, it wouldn't be necessary for the second prince to take action. For the sake of national harmony and stability, the Emperor of Great Qi would not tolerate my existence as a potential threat to the second prince's reputation."

  Listening to the Seventh Young Master, who originally had no outstanding qualities in her mind, discussing the pros and cons of this matter with such clarity, Xu Xiaolin suddenly raised her head, looking at him with some surprise: "Seventh Young Master... these things you're saying, aren't they just something you heard from someone else's nonsense?"

  "These power struggles are too mind-boggling, my time shouldn't be wasted on such boring things. However, what I just said is something that anyone with a bit of brains can think of."

  "So you've been quietly staying in the Hou Manor all this time, I suppose it's not just for nothing, but to lie in wait and make a shocking move?"

  "There is something good hidden."

  "Ah, Seventh Young Master, you didn't hide?"

  Gu Qing nodded slightly.

  "What you show is the real you?"

  Gu Qing saw her looking up at him with a surprised and curious expression, and he couldn't help but chuckle as he reached out to gently pat her little head: "Xiao Lin, this star is just one of the stops in our journey through life, we really don't have to..."

  However, as soon as he touched Xu Xiaolin's soft and smooth hair, Xu Xiaolin suddenly retreated to the side like a startled kitten, her voice somewhat panicked: "Young Master Qi, we have our respective positions, please restrain yourself..." As she spoke, she seemed afraid that he would make another improper move, so she hastily added: "Young Master Qi, it's getting late, you should also go back and rest early. I won't disturb Young Master Qi anymore. Xiaolin will take her leave first."

  As soon as he finished speaking, without waiting for a response, he hastily ran towards the direction of his own young lady's courtyard.

  Gu Qing looked at Xu Xiaolin, who was shocked, and then looked at his own right hand still suspended in the air. He seemed to have thought of something, shook his head slightly, and went straight to the North Courtyard where he lived.

  In the courtyard where he lived, there was a three-story pavilion. The top of the pavilion had various strange devices that absorbed the dappled moonlight and starlight scattered all over the place, bringing it down. Moreover, the walls on the top floor were made of some special material, so when people were inside, they felt as if they were in a world of stars, with a vast expanse of starry sky before their eyes...

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