Martial King's Retired Life

First Person

“How much do you know about Lady Bai, Patriarch Jin?”

The wooden bench creaked as if it was weeping on the golden bear sat onto it, but the indifferent patriarch crossed his arms and cracked a smirk. “If she was money, you would not be able to afford her.”

Ming Feizhen laughed genuinely. “How much is she worth?”

The two shared a laugh.

“If you do not know, Patriarch, you can just admit it. I have a few sources.”

“Is this a test, Master Ming?”

Ming Feizhen did not respond. In contrast, Jin Buhuan looked as satisfied as he could have ever been. Ming Feizhen recognised that sitting before him was Patriarch Jin, not some knock-off at Jin Wangsun’s level. Nobody could make an influential leader of Jin Buhuan’s level question his decision. They could have drank merrily with you last night, or they could have been blood-related relatives, but that would not make him hesitate to make a cruel decision. Suppose Jin Wangsun was given another decade, he still would not have been able to transform himself into this sort of character. It was something one either had or did not have. Even if one were the superior fighter, they would have no choice but to await a decision against one of Patriarch Jin’s nature.

“Fine.” Jin Buhuan’s temperament switched to become as affable as a family member once he determined that he would be able to recoup over ten times the value of his investment later. “This is a deal we can proceed with.”

Experience was not something time could even out. Expecting to have good luck against a survivor of the battle at Lawless Cliff was wishful thinking at best.

“Do you really know, Patriarch Jin?”

Jin Buhuan chuckled as he played with his big beard. “His wife is anything but ordinary. It’s only natural that we can’t dig into his family background, but you know how it is. With age, memory deteriorates, and we forget people, so a detailed background check becomes crucial for peace of mind. At the very least, we need to know this, right?”

After dipping his finger into tea, Jin Buhuan drew a lotus on the table. Ming Feizhen could not believe the quality of the image. Had it been him, he would have spent three days, only to draw something that a dog could mindlessly piss into existence. Jin Buhuan, on the other hand, drew as if he was an artist.

While others may have been ignorant to the fact, the two in the room recognised it was one of Tang Clan’s exclusive projectile weapons.

“Lady Bai is from Bashu. She can change her accent, but she can’t change her habits. She doesn’t care for much, but she is interested in wine, weapons and projectiles. It’s said that she once exhibited masterful craftsmanship when she crafted items in Hangzhou. Based on these points, what do you suppose her background is?”

Ming Feizhen only confirmed Lady Bai was Tang Clan’s former matriarch thanks to his confrontation with Elder Lianhua after he left the underground palace and then heard Hong Jiu’s report. Jin Buhuan, on the other hand, discerned her appearance solely based off what he heard. Considering the secrecy of events in Hangzhou at present, it was hard to collect information, yet Jin Buhuan was up to date.

Jin Buhuan laughed with so much fervour that his chair squeaked. “If the enemy has only one source, cut it off, and then strike them down with overwhelming force. My clan neither has strong support, profound martial arts nor a vast network. Therefore, we can only devote our efforts to other fields. I’ve long yielded to reality. No matter how much we train, we’ll never be able to compare to you monsters – mostly your shifu. Since I have given up on martial arts pursuits, I needed to reach another peak. Had I not, my clan would be behind the other six clans.”

“There is Song Clan to fall on at the bottom, is there not?”

“Why else do you think I had to insult Song Lian?”

Jin Buhuan laughed with his hands over his stomach until he was asked, “Since you are virtually what I expected, this will be easier. Based on my observations, there has been a villain eyeing Lady Bai recently. Would this happen to be true?”

“How could someone as perceptive as you be wrong? However, there is more than one.” In response to Ming Feizhen’s surprise, he raised up his fingers to count off. “Including today, she has had three bizarre encounters. She said there were two people today, which confused me, but now that I’ve met you, I understand what she meant. The second incidence occurred a few days ago. Hua Yumeng tried to infiltrate her room, but Bai Zhiqing caught him in the act. Our combined efforts were insufficient to arrest him.

“The first incident was when we first arrived in Hangzhou. Everyone was asleep when I suddenly sensed an extremely dense sword qi. When I went to take a look at who it came from, I discovered it came from Ling Yaoshi as he fought someone adorning black attire.”

Ling Yaoshi was given the moniker “Jiangnan’s general manager”. Despite being younger than the other clan heads, he was a first-rate martial artist, so it was not surprising for him to be first to detect the assailant. If anything was weird, it was the assailant.

The third incident was today, so it could be ignored. There was not much combat during Hua Yumeng’s appearance in the second incidence. A fierce fight only broke out in the first incident. Spying on someone at night and then engaging in a fight upon being discovered sounded worse than Hua Yumeng’s deeds. Unless they were plotting something unjust, why would they try to silence the person who discovered them immediately? Had his opponent not been Ling Yaoshi, there would have been a critical injury or death.

“We were unable to stop him,” remarked Jin Buhuan, breaking Ming Feizhen’s train of thought. Jin Buhuan virtually never spoke in that serious manner. It was just that his recollection of that night was that impressionable. Their opponent was able to shut down Ling Yaoshi’s swordplay, Bai Zhiqing’s broadswordplay, Song Lian’s palm techniques and Jin Buhuan’s boxing singlehandedly, after all. “Old Song, Bai Zhiqing and I attacked together… He used just a single broadsword. As you suspect, he has unlocked Divine Realm.”

Glossary

Bashu – refers to an ancient cultural and geographical region in what is now southwestern China, primarily encompassing Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality.