Martial King's Retired Life

“Come on. Sell me some good will. Shut down the formation for a while. Rounding up, I’m a hundred and two years old. Surely you’ve had enough. If you need to explain to your boss, don’t worry. I’ll go talk to him. Everyone is a family under this sky; we can talk it out. Alternatively, let me out for a while. I’ll be back in two hours, promise. You know what they say: first meeting, we’re strangers. Second time, we’re acquaintances. Third time, we’re long-time partners. Fourth time, we’re partners for life. Since you’re all so pretty, I’ll give you a 50% discount. You can lock me up eight times, deal?”

Sky Palace reassigned all of their forces at Wugou’s formation to Ming Feizhen’s formation as it was the day that Ming Feizhen was most likely to start something, only for him to constantly flap his gums.

“L-like hell I’ll believe you!”

“I’ll sign. I can swear an oath? The moon represents my heart, deal? I love you all, uh, till the end of time.”

Seven maidens: “Shut up!”

To break the Ice Heart training of seven disciples was something one could proudly boast about.

Ruisi: Men really are nothing but liars! He lies without batting an eye. He didn’t even take his eyes off that sheet of paper, yet he’s trying to sound sincere. Who is teaching a kid his age to lie like this?!

Ruisi: “Hey, that thing in your hand…”

Ming Feizhen pulled out a bunch of stuff from his shirt to hold up, specifically a piece of agate, jade, a big bag, a calligraphy scroll, a go board and a porno. “Which one?”

When did he get his hands on those things?! He can’t leave the formation!

Ming Feizhen laughed under his breath, ignoring Ruisi. “Hahaha, that guy did it in the end, huh?”

“What?”

“Nothing. Miss Ruisi, it’s only been a few days since we last met, yet you’re looking prettier already.”

Ruisi didn’t answer or get closer as she was afraid she’d spring Ming Feizhen’s trap. Howbeit, it became the reason that she didn’t see his eyes behind the sheet of paper were gradually turning red.

***

Nobody conducted a background check or recommended Leng Jingliu when he first joined. In fact, they started off as foes. Miguo didn’t go out to recruit him; he was out to put away Leng Jingliu when the latter beat everybody he sent. Once he saw what Leng Jingliu was capable of, Miguo desired Leng Jingliu’s services.

There wasn’t anything that could be traced back from Leng Jingliu’s swordplay that surpassed Zhuo Fengru’s or his jet-black sword. Though Miguo might give the impression that he was bold in planning, he wasn’t actually a fan of taking risks, but he made an exception for Leng Jingliu.

Adepts never just fell from the sky; Leng Jingliu had to have quite the backstory. Nonetheless, Miguo saw beyond Leng Jingliu’s skill. Miguo believed that someone who didn’t trust anyone and coveted nothing but improvement in his swordplay was an individual he could make use of. Leng Jingliu was practically a clone of Miguo. That was why he still couldn’t believe Leng Jingliu betrayed him. Never did Miguo imagine someone who could kill without batting an eye would be an employee of the imperial court.

“All right. All right, then.” Miguo chortled in a low voice. “Everything has been smooth sailing in recent years. So the reason we never clashed head on with Liu Shan Men was because they already planted a spy. Young Master Wuzheng truly took everything into consideration. That’s the ‘Man Who Can Do It All’ for you. Why didn’t you take this one’s head?”

Leng Jingliu, gaze against Miguo’s, whipped the blood off his sword. “Two reasons. First, I can’t cut through your armour to behead you.”

“… And the second?”

“My task was to stab you once. What comes after isn’t my concern. I’m not interested in fighting you as you are now, either. That’s all there is to it.”

Even if a foreign entity penetrated a Vajra Realm practitioner’s armour, if it didn’t inflict fatal damage, it was second only to damaging meridians. Thus, Miguo sat down to recover on the spot, except his grin never went away.

Regardless of what Miguo had planned, Zhuo Fengru wanted to deal the finishing blow due to his own circumstances. He looked over to Hua Qing, his only hope of finishing of Miguo. While getting rocked did disrupt Hua Qing’s flow of true qi, he wasn’t injured, and he regained mobility. Therefore, as soon as he met with Zhuo Fengru’s gaze, Hua Qing glued his left fingers together and thrust toward Miguo.

Triumph was but one thrust away, yet something outside of Hua Qing’s body took his balance from.

“Are you still going to keep playing around?” Yungu swept Hua Qing off his feet – literally – with a single wave of hand, then ascended the platform. Facing the audience below, she sternly questioned, “Venerated leaders of Divine Moon Cult and League of Assassins, have you forgotten why we are here and why we are supporting the establishment of New Lotus Cult? Should he be allowed to continue running amok?”

Bai Tianbin: “Hey, if you keep talking about sharing a common enemy, this old man is going to mistake himself as one of you. What? Your leader fall for ours? Sadly, our virtuous leader isn’t interested.”

“We may not share the same goal, but our goal is common for the most part, not to mention it all hinges on one person. Else, who could mobilise all three unorthodox sects? This one fails to understand your actions, so she would like a clear answer now.” Sounding as cold as ice, Yungu asked, “Are you going to ignore the blood of God of Battle that has finally appeared?”

Trivia

The moon represents my heart – Yes, it is a reference to the cult-classic song Teresa Teng popularised that’s still performed around the world in different languages. Bonus trivia: Chen Fenlan actually first sang it, but Teresa Teng made it popular. Some people think Teresa sang it first like some people think Whitney Houston sang “I Will Always Love You” first.