Chapter 496: Progressing of the Comrades

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Yan Liqiang sent Wang Jianbei and his personal attendants off a few hundred meters outside the archery academy’s gate. He waited until their silhouettes completely vanished behind the little hillside in the distance before averting his gaze.

When Wang Jianbei arrived, he was stopped at the gate of the archery academy. However, when he left, Yan Liqiang had carried out the full etiquette and there was nothing that Wang Jianbei and his personal attendants could nitpick.

“Did the Prefectural Governor come on behalf of the Transportation Office to discuss peacemaking?” Shi Changfeng suddenly stood beside Yan Liqiang and asked when he saw Yan Liqiang turn around.

Yan Liqiang smiled and nodded. He knew that with Shi Changfeng’s intelligence, Shi Changfeng would be able to guess this without him saying anything. “Jiang Tianhua went to the Zhong Clan in Gan Province. The Zhong Clan then went to Provincial Governor. The Provincial Governor requested for Wang Jianbei to come and check on me. Jiang Tianhua is finally afraid!”

“Well of course, a thousand cavalrymen were killed without even batting an eyelid. Jiang Tianhua understands that no matter how high his ranking is and how precious his life is, it wouldn’t be more important than the lives of one thousand cavalryman. Two days ago, I heard that the security of the Transportation Office in Yin Province had become a lot stricter. Jiang Tianhua even ordered a custom-made four-wheeled carriage from the weaponsmith quarter in Yin Province. The four-wheeled carriage seemed to be made of wood but it was layered with steel plates so that arrows would not be able to pierce through. He’s very cautious when he goes out these few days as if he’s afraid that he will be killed anytime by an arrow!” Shi Changfeng smiled mockingly and shook his head, “He’s been scared to such an extent, that it is inevitable for him to admit defeat. But what’s your next plan?”

“Those who ought to be killed were killed, and those who deserved to die had died. What’s left are a few insignificant crippled bandits. They are of no use to me — keeping them will only waste my food. I am not fond of killing people, so we should release them!”

“That’s really it!” Shi Changfeng nodded.

“Haha, the Prefectural Governor saw that I honored him, and he was in such delight that in return, he gave my father the post of militia commissioner at Qinghe Country!”

“Gan Province is a border province. In order to stabilize the border, the local officials have the right to let the locals set up a local militia in order to protect their land and maintain peace. During necessary times, the militia can also be used as a reserve power to jointly defend the border with the Military Governor’s Office. The title of militia training commissioner would bring a lot of convenience to you and you will not be tagged with an unfair label again. This is indeed good news!” Shi Changfeng also smiled.

“Indeed. Let’s go back!”

Yan Liqiang and Shi Changfeng once again walked to the front gate of the archery academy. When they were at the gate, they looked at the students of the archery academy who were keeping watch. Yan Liqiang suddenly stopped and asked the person with the red captain armband, “What’s your name?”

“Reporting to headmaster, my name is Xue Cao!” answered the young man who had spoken to Yan Liqiang before. He stood straight with his head high and chest out. Judging by the age, that person was actually slightly older than Yan Liqiang. Yet in this archery academy, Yan Liqiang’s age was already automatically overlooked by everyone.

“Where are you from?”

“Tieguo Village of Huanglong County!”

Yan Liqiang smiled and nodded. He swept his eyes across the faces of all the students who was on duty, “All of you have done well today. You stuck to your post and strictly executed the commands and rules of the archery academy. You managed to stop the Prefectural Governor here, which meant that you did not stay in the archery academy for nothing. Today, all of you will be awarded with third class merits!”

The archery academy followed a set of honors, rewards, and penalties system. When the young man who guarded the gate heard that Yan Liqiang awarded third-class merits to them, they were instantly excited and their blood raced. Everyone once again saluted by hammering their left chest with their right hand…

This was the first third-class merit that was awarded since the establishment of the archery academy…

“You all deserve it!” Yan Liqiang nodded and gave a pat on the shoulders of those young students. After encouraging those young men, he went inside the archery academy with Shi Changfeng.

“It seems like this news should be announced at tomorrow’s morning exercise so that everyone is aware of it!” Shi Changfeng said with a smile.

“Absolutely. This is your responsibility, Chief Shi!”

Shi Changfeng shook his head and smiled when he saw Yan Liqiang walking toward another direction as he said, “Are you slacking off again? You’re not going to the training field?”

“Shi Zhiyao and Qu Mingcheng are both from the Soaring Heaven Sect in Yun Province. The Soaring Heaven Sect Lord was at least already at the peak of Martial Devil realm now. Jiang Tianhua doesn’t have the nerve to come look for trouble with me anymore but it’s hard to say for the Soaring Heaven Sect. I must put in more effort in my cultivation to guard my little life!” Yan Liqiang waved to Shi Changfeng, then walked toward his courtyard before even waiting for Shi Changfeng whose expression had changed to say something. Beneath his courtyard was an underground hidden chamber which was the most suitable place for cultivation.

Although Yan Liqiang had reacted calmly to Wang Jianbei’s words just now, as someone who died ‘twice’ in the Heavenly Realm, he clearly understood the horror of an expert assassin. He certainly didn’t want to repeat the last tragedy and would love to avoid the scenario of having the Soaring Heaven’s Sect Lord Guo Yifei to come knocking on his door.

Yan Liqiang went into his study first when he returned to his courtyard. He took out the Soul Mountain Sect’s honorary visitant token that he received from Zhang Yourong and thumbed the polished the golden token for a while before retrieving some papers to write a letter to Zhang Yourong.

In the letter, Yan Liqiang first asked Zhang Yourong about the progress of his research on the ‘steam engine’. Next, he probed Zhang Yourong on the principle of the lever and pulley and made a simple sketch of a set of pulleys. Lastly, he talked about his conflict with Yun Province’s Soaring Heaven Sect.

Yan Liqiang did not ask for help in his letter, but he knew that if the Soul Mountain Sect was really sincere and valued his honorary visitant token, they would certainly take action after reading his letter. The Soaring Heaven Sect might not put the nominal Qiyun Protectorate in their eyes now and Guo Yifei might have the guts to ignore Yan Liqiang’s background in the officialdom, but as one of the four major sects, the Soul Mountain Sect was definitely good enough to act as a deterrence to the Soaring Heaven Sect.

Everything had a weakness — Jiang Tianhua had Lin Qingtian in the imperial court, and Yan Liqiang had the Emperor in the imperial court. Jiang Tianhua had his troops; he also had his own troops. Jiang Tianhua had the Soaring Heaven Sect; he also had the Soul Mountain Sect. Now, it was time to see who could suppress the other.

After he finished writing the letter, he placed it inside an envelope which was inserted into a bamboo tube and sealed with wax. Yan Liqiang opened the study’s window facing the east, then hung a silk waistband in front of the window. Soon after that, the sound of flapping wings was heard and a silver falcon landed on the window sill in just the blink of an eye.

Yan Liqiang fastened the bamboo tube with the letter on that silver falcon’s leg, then patted the falcon’s head and told it to go. The silver falcon immediately flew up and disappeared into the blue sky.

This silver falcon was one of the latest ‘mailmen’ that Yan Liqiang had summoned from the toy capsule machine. It was responsible for the communication between Yan Liqiang and Fang Beidou from the Imperial Capital. Yan Liqiang let the silver falcon deliver the letter to Fang Beidou first. Once Fang Beidou received the letter, he would definitely pass it to the Soul Mountain Sect’s Imperial Capital Branch, and eventually the Soul Mountain Sect’s Imperial Capital Branch would deliver the letter back to the Soul Mountain Sect.

Although the process required a lot of detours, this was the fastest communication method in this era. At this moment, Yan Liqiang had not established a direct communication channel with Zhang Yourong so he could only use this as a temporary method. The next time he met Zhang Yourong, he would definitely give him a silver falcon.

Yan Liqiang only felt relieved after delivering the letter. Even so, he did not slack off. Instead, he cultivated Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing. The only way to weather through all the crisis was to make himself more powerful.

Yan Liqiang wasn’t sure if Wang Jianbei had accepted his suggestion on dealing with the Shatu people. However, he wasn’t too anxious about this matter. After all, Wang Jianbei was responsible for Pingxi City so he should be the one to decide for the city.

…..

During the morning assembly the next day, when Shi Changfeng announced that Xue Cao and the rest who were on duty yesterday were the first in the archery academy to receive third-class merits, all students in the archery academy erupted as expected.

Meanwhile, Yan Liqiang was still focused on cultivating. He had been practicing Muscle Tendon Changing and Marrow Cleansing every day to strengthen himself. While he didn’t expect that there wouldn’t be any possibility for him to breakthrough his realm for the time being, Shen Teng progressed into a Martial Warrior three days later. In another two days, Shi Dafeng also progressed into a Martial Warrior.

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