Chapter 98: Fighting (First Update)

  Yun Ning and the others heard what Zi Ruoye said, and their hearts warmed up involuntarily. Yun Ning's clear and sparkling eyes quietly looked at Zi Ruoye sitting next to him, then turned to Shi Yi, "Lord Shi, since the guest has arrived, let Lord Shi decide whether it will be a battle of wits or a martial duel."

  "Let's forget about the martial arts competition, after all they are not skilled in it. Let's have a literary competition instead, I hope Ye Wang's husband will show mercy." Ha! If it were a martial arts competition, wouldn't that be completely exposed?

  "Let's watch it together with the king and the emperor, just like a special program for the envoy." Zi Ruoye raised her wine jug, gesturing to Qing Luan Envoy who had been ignored for a long time.

  Bifen had been ignored since the group from Haiyue arrived, and she was already unhappy. Although she was a envoy from a defeated country, it was too much to be treated this way, and her discontent grew. She was just about to leave and tell the Empress about the humiliation she suffered today.

  "Bifen, calm down. Don't let them provoke the relationship between our two countries." Bifen was startled and looked up to see Ziyueye leaning against Yunying's side, with a seemingly smiling yet not quite smiling expression. As a civil official, she still had some martial arts skills, and King Ye was so far away from her that he could transmit sound!

  Suddenly, a cold sweat broke out behind her back. How high was Ye Wang's martial arts? Obviously, she was only twenty years old and had such skills? Being frightened by Zi Ruo Ye like that, Bi Fan couldn't help but secretly regret being too impulsive. If she went back and told the truth, if the Female Emperor flew into a rage again and launched another attack on Purple Mystic, the final outcome of the two countries would inevitably be mutual destruction, and the only beneficiary would be Hai Yue.

  At this moment, Qing Lan should be recuperating and not reigniting the flames of war. Bi Fan looked at Zi Ruo Ye, nodded slightly, and her gaze changed subtly as she looked at her.

  "I and the Empress will act as judges. Let's begin." With a wave of her hand, the royal attendant stepped forward to announce the content of the competition.

  "The first round, calligraphy. The prescribed time is one incense stick."

  A person's words often reveal their inner cultivation, and "a man is as good as his word" means just that. In a short while, the stage where songs and dances were performed had been replaced with two tables, on which were placed writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones.

  "Nú Màn Wén is willing to step forward and compete in calligraphy." Among the ten men, a man stood out, with a delicate face full of confident expression. The emperor had trained them since childhood, whether it was martial arts or things that men should learn.

  "This round is mine." Yu Qingyou slowly stood up, her white brocade robe shimmering with a soft glow under the moonlight and the refraction of the lanterns. Just before she stepped onto the stage, she turned around to glance at Zi Ruoye, her pink lips slightly parted as she whispered, "You dead scoundrel, just watch me, I will definitely win." With that, she raised her steps and walked towards the stage in front of the Imperial Garden.

  "Be careful." Zi Ruoye said softly, she smiled slightly, she saw Liu Qingyou nodding lightly, and her ears were unnaturally red.

  Zi Ruoye had no worries about Liu Qingyou's calligraphy, for his skills were something even she couldn't match. Since childhood, he had practiced the characters of a hundred families, and his writing was just like him - proud, with an air of not conceding to anyone. This was his pride, a shining point that no one could erase. Zi Ruoye liked this proud side of Liu Qingyou, even though sometimes he would be stubborn to the extreme; yet his strong will always made her eyes light up.

  Liu Qingyu walked up to the table, glanced at Manwen who had already started writing beside him, and slightly hesitated, thinking about what he should write. The pure white rice paper was spread flat on the table, his gaze turned towards Ziyue Ye, and found that the scoundrel had been staring at him all along, even from a distance, he seemed to feel the scoundrel's silent support. Humph! Would he still lose? Although he was a bit pleased that the scoundrel was so nervous about him, he picked up the wolf hair brush beside him, and the black ink flowed like a dragon and snake on the rice paper.

  Man Wen looked towards Liu Qingyou, and his unintentional swing of his sleeve was a gust of wind that swept towards Liu Qingyou. The corner of his mouth curled up into a smile. Now that they were so far apart, who would notice?

  Liu Qingyou's body moved slightly, and a palm wind slapped the table. The rice paper on the table jumped up, Liu Qingyou's toe tapped, and he directly jumped onto the table. The wolf hair was not affected by any disturbance and continued to swing his brush. In an instant, Liu Qingyou fell down, looked at the manuscript, and if there weren't too many people here, he would have swung his sword over. If it were his usual skills, he might not be able to withstand that power. But now he was no longer the same as before. To secretly calculate him, it's still too early. He said to that bastard that he would win, so he must win!

  Liu Qingyu put down the wolf hair brush, raised her eyes and glanced at Manwen who was slightly stunned beside her, then softly said to a servant on the side, "I've finished writing. Please trouble Wang servant to present it to His Majesty for review."

  But Man Wen continued writing his own poem after a moment of stunned silence, never expecting that Liu Qingyou would be skilled in martial arts. The intelligence they had gathered must have been incorrect - wasn't it just a few months ago that Liu Qingyou was only good at writing about fist and footwork? Yet he not only dodged their attack but also managed to gain the upper hand.

  After finishing writing, he also handed it over to Wang Shiren. Wang Shiren then presented the two finished letters to Zi Yanran. Liu Qingyou walked down and returned to Zi Ruoye's side.

  "What did you write?" Zi Ruoye originally liked Liu Qingyou's poem, but at this moment, she was afraid that only one sentence had been written.

  "In short, this young master will win anyway." Liu Qingyou slightly turned her face to one side, her voice carrying an inexplicable shyness. At most, only his brother and the emperor had seen the words he wrote; he didn't want to tell this scoundrel what they said. If she found out...he was afraid it would be another joke at his expense. But those words were what he thought were the most precious in his life...they were the words that lit up his darkness when he was helpless.

  Muyong Xing looked at Ziyuan Ran, seeing her holding two sheets of xuan paper in her hand, took a step forward. Her sickly beauty was evident despite her weakness, and people couldn't help but let out another disappointed sigh. Why did she have such an ordinary face? "Your Majesty, Muyong Xing is being presumptuous, but this competition must be fair and just. As for Your Majesty and the Empress's comments, please forgive Muyong Xing's inner discontent."

  All the ministers took a cold breath, and they actually dared to speak directly in front of the emperor, was this questioning whether the emperor would be partial to Zi Xuan? They really didn't want to live anymore.

  Ziyan's eyebrows slightly furrowed as she looked at Ling Rou Xing, displeased with his tone. "What does the Third Prince think?"

  "Rou Xing thinks that Your Majesty might as well let everyone appreciate both works, so that everyone has a basis for comparison." Mu Rou Xing smiled lightly and said, after which he seemed to breathe slightly heavily, probably because his physical condition wasn't suitable for speaking too much.

  "What's wrong with that? The Emperor and Empress both like the calligraphy of Wang Ye Zhengfu Liu Qingyou." Zi Yanran smiled and said, gesturing to the two attendants to present the two pieces of calligraphy in front of everyone.

  The first to unfold was Manwen's letter, which was elegant and generous, but not lacking in good words. However, Ziyue Ye still sensed the murderous aura between the lines, after all, the disappearance of the Dark Guards were days of adding blood. Even if hidden well, it would still be revealed. The poetic meaning was nothing more than a heartfelt admiration for the Emperor, with a strong intention to please.

  "It's indeed a good handwriting, good handwriting." The ministers all said, although he was Haiyue's person, but that man named Manwen, wrote indeed a good handwriting.

  "Qing Yu, what's wrong? Everyone says he writes well." Zi Ruoye said with a worried tone, but her eyes showed absolute trust and doting on Liu Qingyu.

  "Hmph! You'd love for that person to win, wouldn't you? Dead idiot, don't even think about it." Liu Qingyou glared at Zi Ruoye again and looked back at Wang Shiren.

  After hearing everyone's praise, Shi Yi smiled even more confidently, but the next second he was stunned. Mu Rou Xing looked at Wang Shiren's other calligraphy and admired it in his heart, apart from the calligraphy itself, what made him most amazed was that one line of words.

  A sword dance stirs up all directions!

  What a heroic spirit, and yet it was written by a man. The strokes of the characters are bold and powerful, with an air that doesn't belong to a woman, and this one character in particular reveals the owner's pride!

  How can those soft romantic poems compare to this magnificent and grand sentence, just like the difference between a drop of water and the ocean, there is no comparison at all. And how can the word "love" be so simple?

  "How is that? Am I being biased?" Zi Yanran asked back, she was also surprised for a moment, didn't expect it.

  Zi Ruoye's smile curved her eyebrows and eyes as she looked at Liu Qingyuan with a hint of amusement, saying softly, "Qingyuan, why does this sentence seem so familiar to me?"

  Which minister doesn't know this phrase? Isn't it the one Ye Wang praised when Liu Qingyu danced with a sword on stage at his birthday celebration? It turns out they were already secretly in love back then...

  "In short, I won't lose." He didn't expect Mu Rou Xing to make a proposal that would make everyone look at him together. This sentence had always been his treasured words in his heart, and there was no other word that could compare to it on that day when he stood helplessly on the stage, with everyone looking at him with disdainful eyes, as if he had fallen into a helpless black hole. In fact, on that day, he had many choices, he could have given up, but he chose to dance with his sword instead. Moreover, at that time, he still had illusions about Li Yu, and when he saw Li Yu's equally disdainful gaze, his heart was even colder than ice. It was this bastard who, just as he was about to suffocate from the silence, applauded and told him, "One dance, four directions."

  Liu Qingyu looked at Zi Ruo Ye's eyes that seemed to be smiling but not, and had no choice but to surrender, saying in a stifled tone, "This young master just likes that sentence, what's wrong with it. Won't you give it?"

  Zi Ruoye leaned against the willow tree, smiling lightly. "I won't refuse, I'm very happy, as long as Qing Yu likes it."

  Lan Ge looked at the sentence, was it what she had said? A dance of sword energy moved in all directions... Her calm eyes gazed at Zi Ruoye, wondering what she was thinking.

  Muyong Xing said before, "Empress Shengming, the word of King Ye's husband is indeed much better than Manwen's word, we lost this round."

  At that moment when he saw the word, he already knew they had lost, and was slightly annoyed, not expecting a twist. Wang stepped forward, "The next round is a chess match."

  "Man Qi wishes to go forward."

  "This game is mine." Shangguan Meng stood up and said, his small face full of sweet smiles, looking harmless. This small chess game was nothing to him, but before he left, Shangguan Meng leaned in close to Ziyue Ye and winked at her with sparkling eyes, "Meng will do my best, wife, watch closely." He knew that his wife didn't care about winning or losing, but if those men entered the palace, the Emperor would probably bother his wife constantly. Meng didn't want the Emperor to bother his wife, so he had to win this game of chess.

  The player is another kind of deployment, so-called one step wrong, every step wrong, the whole game loses. The chessboard is like life, every step needs to be carefully considered, but it also contains countless variables. After all, the opponent is an enemy who disrupts your life, and you need to both defend and attack. Even experienced players can't guarantee a win this time.

  Shangguan Fei looked at her son, how did she not know that Meng'er was good at chess? She only knew that Meng'er liked collecting stones, all kinds of small stones, what did this have to do with chess?

  Zi Ruoye rubbed the top of Shang Guanmu's little head, smiling and saying, "Do your best, don't force it too much." Playing chess is a place where you fight wits and courage, which consumes a lot of energy and even more brain power. She knew that Shang Guanmu had learned various formation layouts since childhood, but she couldn't help but worry.

  Shangguan Mengmeng smiled sweetly at Zi Ruoye, then hopped and skipped towards the chessboard. After sitting down, she took a glance at Man Qi, blinked her eyes, as if wanting to see every single hair on Man Qi's head clearly.

  Man Qi also looked up at Shang Guan Meng, but after a while, she secretly lowered her head. Why did the man in front of her have such pure and innocent eyes? This was the kind of gaze that this group of people living in darkness most resented, it was the gaze of someone who could touch sunlight, while they could only struggle to survive in the dark.

  They were ten people who had been summoned to the imperial palace since they were very young, and received all kinds of training. They didn't understand why they had to receive such treatment, but if they didn't listen, they wouldn't be given food to eat. They had never hit them, because they couldn't let them get hurt, they were pawns, soulless pawns.

  "Spare my life."

  "Please." As soon as Shangguan Meng picked up the chess piece, a faint light flashed in his eyes, and he became much more calm and composed, as if he had transformed into another person.

  Black and white pieces fell alternately, black pieces pressing step by step, killing intent in every move. Man Yue looked at Shang Guan Meng, subconsciously wanting to destroy that sunny smile, which he didn't like, only feeling it was too dazzling, making him uncomfortable. As men, why did they have to suffer every day, while he smiled so happily? Black pieces wandered with killing intent, the chessboard would soon reveal a faint killing aura.

  Shangguan Meng's white piece, however, was not flustered. As he saw the increasingly intense killing intent, his eyes flickered slightly, and the moves of his white piece began to change slowly. On the chessboard, if one didn't keep their mind steady, they would be led astray by the pieces. When playing chess, one must always remember that it is oneself who is making the moves; otherwise, losing focus would lead to getting lost in the chessboard.

  Both sides made their next move, and the palace attendant would arrange the same pieces on a larger chessboard beside them, so that everyone could see. Zi Ruoye looked at the chessboard, slightly annoyed, and thought to herself that Mei was really mischievous. This game of chess seemed like a cat-and-mouse game between black and white, but upon closer inspection, it was clear that this was actually a tiger teasing a cat, with the white pieces clearly playing tricks on the black pieces, just like an excellent hunter luring its prey step by step into a trap.

  Man Qi stared at the chessboard, wondering why he had been in a good position just now, but was struggling to make moves. Frowning, fine beads of sweat had already appeared on his forehead, as if every move would lead to a dead end. His hand holding the black piece hesitated, and the sweat on his forehead grew more profuse.

  Shangguan Meng raised his head and glanced at Man Qi, his soft voice carrying a hint of persuasion, "This brother, has already lost all hope, why not give up? Being too stubborn will only lead to self-destruction." Shangguan Meng's eyes held the power to see through people's hearts, his bright eyes shining with a pure and transparent gaze that saw right through the world's indifference.

  Man Qi was shocked, the black piece on his finger slipped down to the tip of his finger, he closed his eyes, and the dazed expression at the bottom of his eyes slowly cleared up. After closing his eyes for a while, "Man Qi concedes defeat." He had almost fallen into the chess situation, really just half a step away from being trapped in his own heart demon. Looking at Shangguan Meng sitting across from him, he said that sentence at exactly the right moment, could it be that he saw through his nearly falling into his own heart demon?

  Shangguan Meng jumped up and shouted loudly at Ziyue Ye, "Wife, wife! Meng won! Meng won!" As he spoke, he bounced and jumped to Ziyue Ye's side, like a pet seeking praise.

  "Thanks for your hard work." Ziyue Ye rubbed his little head, that chessboard must be a formation, although she didn't understand formations, but she could still see that the white piece was about to make a fatal blow, and the black piece had long lost its counterattack power.

  Two consecutive losses made Shi Yi anxious, she had not expected that the man beside Ziyue Ye would be so formidable. She was very confident in Man Qi's chess skills, but now she lost, and lost by three and a half pieces.

  "Meng'er, have you already set up the formation?" Zi Ruoye asked softly. Seeing Shangguan Meng's sweet smile, she knew that this little guy was likely to have set up the formation from the very beginning, and the temporary retreat on the chessboard was probably just to buy time for herself.

  "That person had been wanting to eat away at Meng'er's white piece from the start, but in the end still lost. If he didn't mind causing trouble for his wife, after all if he drove someone crazy it would be hard for Zi Xuan to explain, he would have made a move long ago. By the end he wouldn't even remind that person, what's-his-name, who had killing intent in his eyes from the start, and Meng'er had already let him off once."

  "If this goes on, will Haiyue continue to compare? Ziyanyan said with a good mood, does Haiyue really think that Zixuan is easy to bully? The bottom of her eyes was dark and unclear, and Ziyanyan's gaze had some cold intent."

  "Isn't the game already underway? How can there be any reason to not continue? You say so, right? Haiyue Envoy?" Zi Ruoye said with a smile.

  Mu Rou's starry eyes flickered slightly as she spoke softly, "What Ye Wang said is right, I, Hai Yue, have no reason not to continue the competition. Let's continue." She stopped Shi Yi's movement beside her, glanced at Zi Ruo Ye, and continued, "The next round will be the zither."

  "Your Majesty, Manqin and Manser are competing in this match. Because the two of us brothers have always been playing together. Your Majesty can also send someone to compete with them." Two people stood out from the crowd, their faces having seven parts similarity and three parts divinity, only one was charming and the other was pure, truly a peculiar pair of brothers.

  Two compared to one?

  The grand ministers of Zixuan looked at each other in dismay, unsure of what to do.

  "I'm coming." Lan Ge said softly, glanced at Man Qin Man Se lightly, and then ignored them.

  Those two brothers couldn't help but choke, yet they still smiled and said, "Then let us two play first, and Prince Lang Song can follow later?" It's a fact that people have fixed ideas, once formed, it takes some effort to turn back. These two brothers wanted to play first, they must be very confident in their piano skills, confident that Lang Song's piano cannot surpass theirs.

  After all, there are only two outcomes for the people who come later. Either they will be overwhelmed by Lan Ge's piano sound, or they will not be able to produce good music under the pressure of their own piano sound. The last two rounds made them realize that they must take it seriously, otherwise, if they fail to complete the task, they will also have nothing to gain when they return.

  "It doesn't matter."

  Manqin and Mansa let out a sigh of relief in their hearts, while also finding it amusing that Langan was too confident. After all, even the number one qin master of Haiyue couldn't compare to the two of them. The two each held their qins and walked up, sat down cross-legged, and after exchanging a glance, the sound of the qins flowed out.

  It's no wonder that the two brothers have always been together, the sound of the guqin is perfectly harmonious, one complementing the other, it's a subtle sentiment and a deep affection, Zi Ruoye couldn't help but shake her head, how can these people be so sentimental whether in words or music...it's really unoriginal.

  After the piece ended, everyone started applauding. Although Zixuan's officials were discontent in their hearts, their skills on the guqin were indeed very high, with exquisite techniques and a light, lively, and moving sound that touched people's heartstrings... They couldn't help but look at Lang Ge, wondering if this young tenth prince of Qinglan could really win? The crowd's hearts began to beat in anticipation...

  Digression

  Pfft...

  Here is the first update...