Chapter 126: Chapter 126

Even the surrounding Mei Hall disciples had sensed the charged atmosphere.

Shen Xiuhan didn’t back away. He parted the crowd before him and walked up to Luo Qiance, his gaze level.

“Is there something I can help you with?”

Luo Qiance’s smile didn’t waver. He looked Shen Xiuhan over, then spoke at a leisurely pace.

“Shen Xiuhan… I’ve heard of you. Your talent is indeed impressive. But take a piece of advice…”

The smile dropped away. His tone turned crisp and cold.

“Don’t wade into muddy waters. Some people, some matters, are not yours to meddle with. Otherwise… no one will be able to protect you.”

The words fell like stones. The air seemed to freeze. Those nearby held their breath, not daring to make a sound.

‘Muddy waters… is he telling me to cut ties with the Ji clan?’

Shen Xiuhan studied the man’s composed expression, was silent for a beat, then let a defiant grin pull at the corner of his mouth.

“Whether I can wade these waters or not isn’t for your mouth to decide.”

He raised his eyes to meet Luo Qiance’s, and a fighting spirit kindled steadily in their depths.

“If you have the ability… convince me with your fists.”

Luo Qiance’s face stiffened. The corner of one eye twitched. Then he straightened, brushed down the hem of his brocade robe, and spoke.

“…Very well.”

He gave Shen Xiuhan one long, measuring look, turned, and walked away.

“I’ll see you on the platform.”

…

Up on the viewing platform.

Zhao Zheng clapped his hands and laughed, his voice booming across the stands.

“County Magistrate Luo — I believe that makes it my win!”

“…Congratulations to the Colonel.”

Luo Changming tugged at the corner of his mouth in a thin, dry smile. His tone gave away nothing.

“The matter I agreed to earlier — I’ll draft a letter and make the arrangements for the Colonel’s son.”

“Ah!”

Zhao Zheng waved a broad hand, cutting him off. A sly gleam entered his eye.

“No rush, County Magistrate. The fighting’s not over yet — why not go another round?”

Luo Changming’s grey brows creased. Wariness stirred.

“What does the Colonel have in mind?”

Zhao Zheng leaned forward, his tone affecting helplessness.

“It’s still about my second boy. He’s wild — can’t hack military life. I was wondering if the County Magistrate might pull a few strings and get the lad into the Fury-Sea School’s inner gate?”

“The inner gate?”

Luo Changming’s expression shifted. He raised a hand in flat refusal, his voice iron.

“The Colonel jests!”

“The Fury-Sea School is a great Southern Sea sect, centuries old. Their rules are strict. Every inner-gate disciple must possess exceptional talent and pass layer upon layer of selection. I’m merely a county magistrate — I haven’t the reach for that.”

Before he could finish, Zhao Zheng held up three fingers.

“Colonel… what does that mean?” Luo Changming looked puzzled.

“Three men. Three years.”

Zhao Zheng enunciated every word.

“If the County Magistrate wins, I will personally select three of the Luo clan’s younger generation and take them into my Zhenyue Battalion. Three years later, I return them to you — three Hidden Strength fighters.”

“Hss!”

Even Bai Qingcang, silent in the next seat, couldn’t help but turn his head. Surprise flickered in his ancient eyes.

Three years.

Three Hidden Strength fighters.

The Longxiang Army’s resources were staggering indeed.

In Changyun County, a single Hidden Strength master could prop up an entire great house.

With Transforming Strength fighters rarely entering the fray, Hidden Strength was the load-bearing pillar.

One more meant one more voice, one more deterrent.

Even a power like the Luo clan, not counting retainers, currently boasted only four Hidden Strength fighters bearing the Luo surname — and one of those was fading, qi-blood in decline.

Luo Changming’s gaze wavered, visibly torn.

Zhao Zheng saw the hesitation and, inwardly sneering, threw on more kindling.

“Since my arrival in Changyun, the County Magistrate has seen to every need — provisions, barracks, logistics. I’ve noted all of it. So even if the County Magistrate loses, I’ll still take one Luo clan youth into the army for tempering. You have my word.”

A guaranteed floor even in defeat!

A can’t-lose proposition. Luo Changming’s last resistance crumbled.

At that precise moment, a Luo clan steward hurried onto the platform and whispered a few words into his ear.

Luo Changming listened. The tension in his face melted away at once.

BANG!

He slapped the table. The teacup bounced half an inch, sloshing tea.

“Done!”

“Since the Colonel is so keen, this official will oblige to the end. Only — has the Colonel decided whom to back?”

“Shen Xiuhan again!” Zhao Zheng laughed, not a moment’s hesitation.

Luo Changming’s heart settled like a stone finding the riverbed.

‘So Zhao Zheng has no deeper scheme. He simply wants to trade military resources for his son’s future.’

‘For me, it’s no more than lifting a finger. But for the family — it’s a windfall.’

‘Three more Hidden Strength juniors… when the time comes to swallow the Ji clan’s trading houses and fleet, we’ll have our own people to run them.’

And losing?

With Luo Qiance on the platform…

He simply could not imagine any Manifest Strength fighter in the county who could beat him.

Luo Changming raised his cup, using the lid to hide his smile.

“In that case… this official will once again wager on his opponent to win.”

…

At the same time.

Beneath the Hidden Strength bracket’s platform, the crowd was equally packed.

Shen Xiuhan and a group of Mei Hall disciples had squeezed to the front, craning upward to watch.

On the platform above, force-waves rolled and wind shrieked.

Jiang Qinghong, in crisp martial attire, was locked in a furious exchange with a white-robed young man — fists and feet clashing at lightning speed.

The young man was tall, features cold and sharp — none other than Wang Xuanyang.

Both had broken through to Hidden Strength. In their hands, speed and destructive power dwarfed anything Manifest Strength could produce.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Fist met foot, accompanied by the piercing crack of externalized force — like muffled thunder detonating.

The hard red-pine platform, beneath their blurred, crossing figures, was shedding splinters everywhere. Footprint-craters pocked the boards.

The watching crowd gasped in waves.

“What speed!”

“The Zhendong General’s son — truly worthy of the name!”

“That Jiang Qinghong of Mei Hall is no slouch either. Fierce technique!”

But what looked like an even fight to the uninitiated told a very different story to Shen Xiuhan’s eyes.

He could see it plainly.

Jiang Qinghong’s defeat was a matter of a hundred moves at most.

Wang Xuanyang had entered Hidden Strength two full years ago. Three of his nine apertures were open, his reserves immensely deep — mid-Hidden Strength was not far off.

Every blow was mountain-steady, his force unbroken and continuous — a great river that never ran dry.

Jiang Qinghong, by contrast, attacked with fierce, pressing technique, but she was new to Hidden Strength. Her reserves couldn’t match his depth.

Wang Xuanyang seemed to retreat step by step, yet every move was measured — a frog slowly boiling, draining her strength.

In another few dozen exchanges, his counterattack would come.

So Shen Xiuhan turned his attention to the intelligence he hadn’t yet finished reading.

【Intelligence 2: Luo Qiance. Manifest Strength Perfection. Studied under Fury-Sea School Elder Xiahou Zun. Cultivates the Fury Sea Raging Tide Art — the subordinate method of the Fury-Sea School’s divine-power scripture, the Abyssal Frost-Fiend Sea-Overturning True Scripture. Fury Tide Nine Folds at Full Mastery. Coiled Silk, Gentle Cloud Hand at Full Mastery. Misty Rain Saber at Full Mastery…】

‘What?!’

Shen Xiuhan’s pupils contracted. A tidal wave of shock crashed through his mind.

‘The Abyssal Frost-Fiend Sea-Overturning True Scripture?!’

‘Isn’t that the divine-power scripture of Diaohailou’s Abyssal-Dark Peak? What’s it doing connected to the Fury-Sea School?’