Chapter 112: World Three [26] Part 2

Yin Honglian knew that at six years old, she had already been forced to learn how to kill. When traitors were punished, she was always brought along by her Cult Leader to watch at close quarters.

As for Yin Honglian at sixteen, she could infiltrate the Central Plains Wulin alone to stir up trouble. She’d been injured and fallen into danger countless times, most of which she had endured alone.

“This is her first time going on a long journey alone.” Jing Ke picked up a chess piece, thought for a moment, then placed it down.

“Slowly get used to it. After the first time, there’ll be a second. Your little disciple has seen blood before, don’t worry too much.” Yin Honglian stared at the chessboard for a while, then couldn’t help but click her tongue.

“I lost.” Yin Honglian threw the piece back. “If you’re really so uneasy, you can use up one of your favors. How about I secretly follow and watch over your precious disciple for you?”

“Let you follow?” Jing Ke’s eyes held clear doubt. “Your internal energy cultivation isn’t even comparable to Ye Wenxin’s.”

The implication was clear: how could someone with low martial arts skill look after someone with high martial arts skill?

“But I have plenty of experience. I know the Jiangnan area very well; I’m intimately familiar with the deeply entrenched factions there.” Yin Honglian said slightly discontentedly. After all, she was at least thirteen years older than Luo Yuezhu, and her Jianghu experience was at least double hers.

“Enough. If you followed, you’d only be a burden to my disciple. It’s just twenty days; I can wait.” Jing Ke said. “Want another round? If you can beat me once, you can reduce one favor.”

“Let’s go again. Maybe this time I’ll win.” Yin Honglian said, unwilling to admit defeat.

–

Twenty days was neither too long nor too short. Counting the days on her fingers, Jing Ke finally saw it pass.

On the thirteenth day after Luo Yuezhu’s departure, a reply letter actually arrived.

Luo Yuezhu had written the letter when she finished purchasing the grain and was about to set off for the return journey. Calculating the time for the letter to travel, she must have finished purchasing the grain and started heading back by the seventh day.

The letter first reported her safety to Jing Ke, then explained why the purchasing time took two days longer than expected, followed by stating that the return journey speed would be slower and she should arrive back in Peace Offering City on the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month.

Finally, it instructed the Rice Shop Manager to take people out a day early to meet her in the neighboring town.

Jing Ke originally wanted to go with the Rice Shop Manager, but thinking that her little disciple was doing this precisely to prove herself, she silently suppressed the idea. She just waited at home for her little disciple to return.

On the afternoon of the twenty-third, the clip-clop of horse hooves sounded outside the Luo Residence.

Luo Yuezhu, wearing clothes clearly made in a Jiangnan embroidery workshop and carrying a bundle on her back, walked in very happily.

“Master, I’m back, I’ve finished the matter.” Luo Yuezhu gave her Master a big hug, then, like offering a treasure, handed the tightly wrapped bundle to Jing Ke.

“Master, this is a gift I prepared for you. See if you like it.” Luo Yuezhu grinned widely.

Jing Ke took it and squeezed it. The feel was soft and plush, likely a clothing item. “You prepared new clothes for me?”

“Master, just open it and see.” Luo Yuezhu neither confirmed nor denied, only urging her Master to quickly unwrap the gift.

Jing Ke opened the bundle and found a Lotus-shaped Cloak with a mainly red body, the collar made of fine White Fox Fur.

“You bought this in Jiangnan?” Jing Ke asked.

“Half and half. I met a Hunter hawking goods on the road, so I bought the fox fur. Then, while waiting for the grain purchase, I asked a highly skilled Seamstress to help sew it.” Luo Yuezhu said, her eyes clear and bright.

“Master, your clothes are either cyan or Profound Black. You need to try other colors occasionally.” Luo Yuezhu shook out the cloak and draped it over her Master’s shoulders.

“Master, do you like it?” Luo Yuezhu asked expectantly.

Jing Ke reached out and touched the fox fur on the collar. A smile involuntarily spilled from her ink-black eyes. “Mm, I like it. I like it very much.”

“Hehe, then shouldn’t Master give me a little reward?” A sly smile appeared in Luo Yuezhu’s eyes. She didn’t hide it, just looked at her Master with such direct and burning expectation.

“I accepted your gift, so I should give you some thanks in return.” Jing Ke said softly.

Her little disciple was already tall enough to reach her eyebrows now, taller than some men. No matter how she looked at her, she no longer seemed like a child.

“What reward do you want? As long as it’s something I can do, I can satisfy you.” Jing Ke said, her firm principles and bottom line wavering involuntarily.

If her little disciple seized the opportunity to make that request, she would just half-reluctantly, half-willingly agree.

At worst, she just wouldn’t take the initiative herself. Let her little disciple do as she pleased for a while. She could slowly claim it back after she turned eighteen.

“Master, can you kiss me?” Luo Yuezhu said without hesitation. This was the reward she had thought of long ago.

Luo Yuezhu didn’t ask for too much. She just needed her Master to actively kiss her once. She just needed her Master’s initiative.

Jing Ke didn’t speak but instead reached out her hand toward her little disciple. One hand covered her little disciple’s eyes, the other cupped the back of her head, and then she kissed her.

It wasn’t a superficial, hesitant kiss. It was one that pried open her teeth and entered deeply, stealing the air away.

Her little disciple had only performed surface-level kisses before. Although she had frantically crammed a lot of related knowledge afterwards, being kissed until she couldn’t breathe was a first-time experience.

Once the kiss ended, her little disciple’s face flushed bright red. Her tongue seemed tied in knots, and she stammered, unable to speak.

“The hot water is prepared. You’ve come back from a long journey, so take a bath first to wash away the fatigue.” Jing Ke said, patting her little disciple’s head.

“O-okay, Master. Your disciple… is going to bathe now!” After reacting, the corners of Luo Yuezhu’s mouth nearly stretched to her ears. Unable to resist, she bounced on the spot once before rushing into her own courtyard like a whirlwind.

Jing Ke watched her little disciple’s retreating figure, smiling with a sigh. After reaching out to touch the furry collar, that thing called the bottom line was kicked hard again, beginning to teeter on the brink.

–

They say absence makes the heart grow fonder. Even though Jing Ke and Luo Yuezhu hadn’t married yet, that didn’t stop this common saying from proving true for the two of them.

After washing up at lightning speed, the now fragrant Luo Yuezhu clung to her Master, her bed-creeping skills incredibly practiced.

However, Luo Yuezhu didn’t rush to do anything with her Master. Instead, she shared the experiences that weren’t written in the letters.

Luo Yuezhu: “Master, the Martial Arts Alliance and Four Seas Pavilion are serious this time. When I went to Jiangnan, I almost never saw martial artists fighting in restaurants. Even if there were verbal disputes, they didn’t draw swords and turn hostile.”

Jing Ke: “Is that so? Then the situation for ordinary commoners has improved?”

Luo Yuezhu rubbed her chin against her Master. “I think it’s much better than before. If those people carrying swords and sabers refused to pay for their drinks, the waiters had the guts to demand payment.”

“But many arenas were set up inside the city and in the outskirts. I heard it’s a new rule: life and death on the arena stage is one’s own fate. No matter who kills whom, neither the Martial Arts Alliance nor the Imperial Court will intervene. But if someone kills recklessly outside the arena, whether for revenge or just to vent murderous intent, they’ll be arrested and interrogated in prison.” Luo Yuezhu added.

“How’s the enforcement strength?” Jing Ke asked, reaching out to pinch a strand of her little disciple’s somewhat unruly hair. After twirling it around her fingertip twice, she tucked the strand behind her little disciple’s ear.

Luo Yuezhu recalled. “It’s decent. Although they can’t catch the truly formidable ones, most martial artists don’t actively cause trouble. I saw the Martial Arts Alliance and government Yamen Runners arresting someone together; they cooperated quite well. The Martial Arts Alliance people were responsible for gravely injuring the target, and the Yamen people were responsible for administering medicine and hauling them away.”

To put it simply, such changes weren’t good for martial artists. They’d find those rules restrictive, no matter what they did.

But for the far more numerous common people, who had no strength to resist martial artists, the cooperation between the Imperial Court and the Martial Arts Alliance was incredibly good news. It allowed them to feel much safer even when sleeping at night.

No more worrying that a master might blow the roof off their house while they slept. No more worrying about being caught up in a fight between experts on the street and becoming cannon fodder.

“Seems like a good change. The Imperial Court’s methods weren’t as forceful as expected.” Jing Ke commented.

Although she didn’t know who was mediating within, based on the current implementation, it brought many benefits to both the martial world and the court.

The court didn’t need to worry about those martial artists having no scruples, suddenly rushing into their homes claiming they were corrupt and slitting their throats with a single sword stroke.

The Martial Arts Alliance didn’t need to worry about the court truly mobilizing its army for a bloody purge using iron-fisted methods.