Chapter 114: World Three [End] Part 1

Jing Ke’s demonstration was very direct. She channeled her inner strength into her weapon and then attacked the ground. A perfectly straight ditch appeared before her and her little disciple.

By using her full strength, Jing Ke could carve a ditch over a hundred meters long with her sword. If she kept it up continuously, after twenty such strikes she would be drained and need to rest for about a shichen.

Twenty times one hundred meters was a full four li. Four li every shichen, and if she worked five shichen a day, that was twenty li. Diverting a river from fifty li away would only take three days.

This was the power of a peak expert. Moving mountains and filling seas was an exaggeration, but it wasn’t completely fabricated.

After watching her Master put on a small display, Luo Yuezhu, who had never seen such a scene before, opened her mouth wide. It took her a good while to collect her emotions.

“Master, are you going to dig a river channel all by yourself?” Luo Yuezhu asked. This truly exceeded her understanding; she had only ever seen such powerful sword qi in storybooks.

But then again, if a battle between top experts could level a large courtyard, was using sword qi to blast a hundred-meter-long ditch really so far-fetched?

“No, it should be you and I together.” Jing Ke calmly sheathed her sword. “Maybe not a hundred meters, but twenty meters—you should be capable of that, right?”

Luo Yuezhu looked at the hundred-meter ditch on the ground, then at the sword in her own hand. “Master, can I try it out?”

“Give it a try.” Jing Ke took a step back, wanting to see how well her little disciple could wield sixty years of inner strength.

Luo Yuezhu had been taught entirely by Jing Ke. Her style of striking was almost identical to her Master’s, but the mud and sand kicked up by her sword qi was far less than Jing Ke’s, only just over ten meters—not even reaching twenty.

“Master, I used my full strength.” Luo Yuezhu estimated the distance. For the first time, she clearly recognized the gap between herself and her Master.

“That just means your control of inner strength isn’t refined enough yet. The next few days will be a good time to practice.” Jing Ke patted her little disciple on the shoulder. “I’ve roughly mapped out the route. The river water will pass by some other villages that are also short on water; their people will help you modify the riverbed.”

“Master, shouldn’t we notify the government about something like this?” Luo Yuezhu asked.

Diverting a river was a major undertaking. If they didn’t give the authorities a heads-up, she felt it might lead to unnecessary trouble.

“No need. We’re only diverting water, and that river already flows past Peace Offering City. What we’re doing doesn’t violate any relevant laws; it’s simply unpaid assistance to some common folk,” Jing Ke said.

Before proposing this, Jing Ke had already researched the specific laws. Modifying a river channel for irrigation on a small scale was indeed permitted.

The law only forbade privately recruiting a workforce of over a hundred people to artificially alter a river channel. It said nothing about two people building a channel with a straight-line distance of fifty li, and a total length of nearly seventy li.

With Jing Ke’s assurance and encouragement, Luo Yuezhu obediently started working.

However, Luo Yuezhu was nowhere near as formidable as Jing Ke. After using all her inner strength in one burst, she could only add a somewhat uneven ditch on the ground, totaling just over a hundred meters.

But this seemingly thankless task indeed improved her mastery of inner strength. After three days of hard work, she could slash a twenty-meter ditch with a single strike.

Nearly all the people of Peace Offering City were suffering from the drought. Hearing that kind souls were willing to dig a channel to bring water for free, they were all extremely enthusiastic. Grabbing their hoes, they came to help of their own accord.

Thus, just before the farmland Luo Yuezhu bought completely dried up, she successfully diverted water from fifty li away. Not only did this save her own crops from withering, but it also helped over a dozen villages rescue the crops they had planted after surviving the snowstorm.

News of such a massive undertaking naturally reached the local Yamen of Peace Offering City. But this was something the local officials couldn’t interfere with; it had to be reported up the chain to the Imperial Court.

Even though the Imperial Court had granted the County Magistrate of Peace Offering City the special privilege of reporting directly to the throne, the time needed for reports to go back and forth was enough for the master and disciple to finish messing around with the river channel.

This life-saving act won over the hearts of the people far more than selling low-priced grain had. The Imperial Court had already been restless before, and now they were even more so.

But Jing Ke and Luo Yuezhu had already resolved the problem. Even if the Imperial Court sent someone, what could they do? They couldn’t possibly change a river channel that benefited the common people back to how it was, could they?

After deliberating for over half a month, the Imperial Court appointed the Deputy Pavilion Master of the Four Seas Pavilion as a Special Envoy. Riding a fast horse, she rushed to Peace Offering City and formally submitted a visiting card to the Luo Residence.

“What? The Emperor wants to give us rewards?” Jing Ke didn’t turn the Special Envoy away, choosing a time to meet with her.

“Heroine Jing, to be precise, His Majesty wishes to commend Young Hero Luo, bestowing upon her the title of County Princess, to receive the Imperial Court’s official support,” the Special Envoy said politely.

The envoy was well aware of Jing Ke’s identity and strength. From the start, she did not adopt an envoy’s haughty manner, but placed herself in the position of a junior or subordinate.

This attitude roughly indicated the Imperial Court’s current stance: they were very wary of Jing Ke and Luo Yuezhu, but had absolutely no desire to fall out with them.

The ability to take a person’s head amidst an army of ten thousand was an immense danger to the Emperor, and he had no intention of testing whether those words were true with his own life.

“There’s no need for County Princess. If the Imperial Court truly wishes to show sincerity, they can simply grant my little disciple the title of Carefree Marquis. We want no fief and no stipend from the court. We only need permission for her to travel freely within your borders,” Jing Ke said.

Jing Ke didn’t fully reject the Imperial Court’s outreach, because she genuinely had no interest in rebellion. If the Court felt compelled to buy her off with something, Jing Ke leaned towards securing a Marquis title for her little disciple.

County Princesses were generally the children of Princes, which sounded like a generation lower. But a Marquis was different—it sounded prestigious, and the identity of a Little Marquis was countless times more useful than that of a County Princess.

“This…” The Special Envoy looked troubled. She understood the difference between a County Princess and a Marquis perfectly well. This had exceeded her authority to handle.

“I’m not in a hurry for an answer. You can go back and discuss it properly with your master.” Jing Ke smiled. “You’re free to go.”

Hearing this, the envoy politely took her leave. Without a moment’s delay, she immediately sent a carrier pigeon back, writing down Jing Ke’s reaction and demands in great detail.

Upon hearing Jing Ke’s request, the Imperial Court’s first reaction was refusal. Granting a sixteen-year-old child a Marquisate was simply too absurd! A Marquis wasn’t some common cabbage!

The Court’s logic was simple: generally speaking, only the children of a Prince could be granted the title of County Princess. Based on the principle that ‘a teacher for a day is a father for life,’ if Luo Yuezhu became a County Princess, Jing Ke would effectively become an Imperial Prince.

Given Jing Ke’s status as a descendant of the Former Dynasty’s Imperial Family, making her a Prince wasn’t too outrageous.

But if Luo Yuezhu became the Carefree Marquis, the concept was entirely different. Duke, Marquis, Count, Viscount—these ranks were fixed and hereditary. For an ordinary person, it required immense meritorious service to earn a title.

If it were handed so lightly to Luo Yuezhu, it would cheapen the ranks of Marquis and below, and court officials who held the same title would feel aggrieved.

The Emperor himself didn’t care; it was just an empty Marquis title. At most, it would cost a set of official robes and a few thousand taels of silver a year as a stipend.

But the powerful nobles with real authority had a different opinion. They felt Jing Ke was doing this deliberately to probe the Imperial Court’s bottom line. They had to appear firm; otherwise, retreating step by step would only inflate her ambitions.

Thus, after sending the message, the Special Envoy waited and waited for a reply from the Court, but none came. Only when it started to rain, and the leaves on the outskirts began to yellow and fall, did the Imperial Court finally send its answer.

Making Luo Yuezhu a Marquis was acceptable, but she was forbidden from entering the Capital without an Imperial Edict. The title could not be inherited by her descendants, and she would have no opportunity to interfere in state affairs.

Perhaps deterred by the pair’s overwhelming martial prowess, the Imperial Court later added that the Carefree Marquis could assist the Martial Arts Alliance in managing Jianghu figures. They also sent a token as proof of her identity.

“Master…” Luo Yuezhu couldn’t believe it. Without doing anything, she had a Marquis title just fall into her lap.

“Just take the token. With it, you can freely travel anywhere outside the Capital City from now on,” Jing Ke said with a smile.

For her, who had no ambitions, this deal was quite worthwhile. It might even give her little disciple a place in the history books.

Just like that, with the official Imperial Edict issued before the new year, Luo Yuezhu’s status shifted from an ordinary commoner to the Imperial Court’s Carefree Marquis, drawing many people’s attention.

Visitors to the Luo Residence became an endless stream, busier even than when she won the Martial Arts Tournament championship.

Luo Yuezhu didn’t want to entertain these people. Picking a convenient time, she took her Master and ran off, leaving Little Mu to look after the house.

It wasn’t until after the New Year, when Jing Ke celebrated her little disciple’s seventeenth birthday, that master and disciple slowly rode back on their horses.

“You, Jing Ke! Without a word, you secured a noble title for your little disciple! You’ve put me right on the spot! The Cult Leader almost chased me down to put a knife to my neck and demand to know what was going on!”

Yin Honglian was the first to jump out. She didn’t care anymore if she could beat Jing Ke or not; she just charged straight at her.

Jing Ke nimbly dodged and said calmly, “If you were willing to accept a title from the Imperial Court, I imagine they wouldn’t be stingy with a Marquisate.”

“Forget it. Our Cult Leader is practically declaring himself king already. If I actually dared accept an Imperial Court title, I doubt I’d see the sun rise tomorrow.” Yin Honglian sighed deeply.

“You really threw caution to the wind. I heard quite a few Jianghu figures unhappy with the Court’s policies are planning to use your little disciple to make an example,” Yin Honglian added.