Chapter 574: Rumors on the Wind
Fan Sheng lowered his head even farther. “Big Brother, we were wrong. You already gave us a scolding a few days ago. But when you went into the palace today... D-did the Lord Emperor hand down punishment?”
“We?” Fan Long let out a cold laugh. “The only one who caused trouble here was you. Third Brother was led along by you, and I was implicated by you!”
Fan Sheng did not dare talk back.
Outsiders all said that Deputy Commander Fan had a fierce, explosive temper, but in front of his eldest brother, he was as docile as a lamb.
“The Lord Emperor had no wish to see you, so I went into the palace today to plead on your behalf. In the end, I came back having taken the punishment myself,” said Fan Long. “That old ba and his son both submitted memorials, and both mentioned you. Though they didn’t directly accuse you of aiding evil, you were on assignment in Qingding City and still slipped off to Baishajue on your own to beat people up for Cen Boqing, and the man you tried to beat just so happened to be the special envoy handling the case for the State of Chiyan! Hah!”
Fan Sheng could not help but say, “Big Brother, I only wanted to repay Cen Boqing’s favor. I thought that fellow He was just some outsider. I had no idea he was working on the elixir of youth case, otherwise...”
The day Zhongsun Mou was abducted, his intestines had practically turned green with regret.
“An outsider? An outsider Cen Boqing himself couldn’t deal with, did you really think he’d be some harmless nobody?”
Fan Sheng found himself unable to reply.
All the things that seemed so obvious now had not occurred to him at the time.
Fan Bao had grown tired of standing on all fours, so it simply padded over behind Fan Long and plopped down on the floor.
Fan Sheng glared at it. So Third Brother isn’t even going to share the brunt of Big Brother's anger?
“Abandoning your post without permission, interfering in the internal affairs of a vassal monster state, attempted assassination of a special envoy from a vassal monster state, and collusion with the principal criminal in the elixir of youth case.” Fan Long counted off the offenses on his fingers.
At that last charge, Fan Sheng waved both hands repeatedly. “Big Brother, I absolutely won’t admit to that one! I didn’t know anything about it.”
If one did not know, then surely one should not bear the crime.
“And it was precisely on that point that I argued most strongly on your behalf.” Fan Long sighed. “Fortunately, the Lord Emperor remembered old ties. Though he was angry that you made such a mess, he had no intention of taking your lives.”
“For you, half a year’s stipend docked, demotion by half a rank, and ten days from now you will accompany General Da Chang to the eastern front as deputy commander of the left forward wing.”
“As for Third Brother, half a year’s stipend docked and demotion by half a rank.”
“As for me, for failing to keep order among my own men, half a year’s stipend docked, a public self-accusation at court deliberations, and a written letter of apology to the King of Chiyan.”
It did not sound that severe to Fan Bao. The big bear stretched out its tongue and began drinking noisily, slurping with conspicuous enthusiasm.
“Third Brother!” Fan Sheng barked.
The big bear stopped and wiped its mouth with a paw.
“Big Brother, I’m going to the eastern front?” Fan Sheng asked, thoroughly surprised.
“Yes. Haven’t you always wanted to win merit?” Fan Long’s mouth curved into the faintest of smiles. “Beijia hasn’t fought a major war in a long time. A chance to take part in one doesn’t come easily.”
“Yes!” Fan Sheng could not help smiling too. “The Lord Emperor is wise!”
“By all appearances, the Lord Emperor has demoted you and sent you to the front. In truth, he’s using the chance to remove you from this place of trouble for the time being. Once matters here settle down, you’d do well to have accumulated some military merit before coming back.”
“Yes.”
“One more thing. Tell me again about your two fights with He Xiao in Baishajue. Tell me every detail. The more precise, the better.” Fan Long’s expression turned thoughtful. “You still remember them clearly, don’t you?”
“How could I not?” At the mention of those two fights, Fan Sheng almost ground his teeth. “Every move, every exchange, I remember everything!”
“Then break down every move and show me.”
Both of Fan Sheng’s clashes with He Lingchuan had been brief and brutally fast. Put together, they had not even lasted fifteen minutes. Yet once he began reconstructing them for his big brother, explaining them step by step, the whole account stretched to an hour.
Of course, in the second battle at Lotus Palace, he and He Lingchuan had never actually exchanged blows head-on. From beginning to end, it had been one stratagem after another from the other side.
Fan Long watched with extraordinary care, and the further it went, the graver his expression became.
At the end, he asked, “He Xiao is really only seventeen or eighteen?”
“At least he looks that age. As for his true age, who can say?” Fan Sheng knew perfectly well that there were plenty of nonhuman beings in the world, some of whom could be over a hundred years old and still wear the face of a tender youth.
Don’t those state preceptors all look very young as well?
“Do you know where you lost?”
Fan Sheng nodded seriously and said, “I was arrogant and careless. I didn’t take him seriously.”
“That explains the first battle. But was it still the same at Lotus Palace?”
Fan Sheng said bitterly, “The first fight ended without a clear winner. I thought that if I went all out the second time, I’d definitely put him down!”
Before the second round began, several of his subordinates had already reached Baishajue, which strengthened the local origin energy on his side and increased his confidence further.
“His cultivation is beneath yours. His raw strength is beneath yours. Even his divine techniques may not truly match yours.” Fan Long then said slowly, “But if the two of you fought a third time, the one who would likely lose would still be you.”
Over the past month or so, Fan Sheng had repeatedly replayed those two battles in his mind. When he heard his big brother say this, his first instinct was to refute it. Yet when the words reached his lips, he swallowed them back down.
He did not accept it, but neither did he actually hold certainty in his mind that he would win.
That sort of feeling was subtle. It was the inevitable shadow left behind by a great defeat.
At this level of combat, confidence itself was momentum.
At that moment, the big bear began slurping water again.
“Third Brother!” both older brothers said in unison.
Fan Bao hurriedly stopped.
“The reason is this: his method of fighting is plainer than yours—or rather, more practical. His grasp of opportunities in battle and his use of the environment are both far superior to yours.” Fan Long rose and paced a few steps. “That is the swordsmanship of a man who kills. That is the way a soldier, who has truly hacked his way through real battlefields, fights.”
He saw Fan Sheng’s lips move, as though wanting to argue, and cut him off first. “There’s no point in sulking about it. You may have killed quite a few people, but the duties of the Tongxin Guard are mostly catching criminals and slaying enemy monsters. How many times have you actually gone to the true front line? Twice? And not even with the main army. How many enemies could you have killed there?” He let out a low laugh and added, “Between you and He Xiao lies, in all likelihood, the difference of many, many human lives.”
At last, Fan Sheng managed to get a word in. “Big Brother, you mean to say he’s slaughtered his way through battlefields?”
Fan Long nodded. “When you spar with me, when you spar with your brothers, no one’s trying to kill anyone. Naturally, you never gain that understanding that comes from fighting while walking the line between life and death. When you go east to the front, perform well.”
“Yes.”
“Strange, though. Even you can hardly get a chance to fight a real war. So, where could this fellow have gained so much battlefield experience?” Fan Long’s eyebrows drew together. “Beijia hasn’t fought a major war in decades. Everyone scrambles for the chance to go to war, train on the field, and win merit.”
“Maybe in one of the smaller neighboring states. Their local conflicts never really stop.” Fan Sheng drew in a deep breath. “Actually, the more I’ve turned those battles over in my head these past days, the more He Xiao’s way of fighting reminds me of someone.”
“Who?”
“Hong Chenglue.”
Fan Long’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Hong Chenglue is one of the rare true military talents.” After a moment’s thought, he said, “I’ll look for a chance to test this He Xiao myself.”
“Big Brother, don’t kill him. Leave him to me,” Fan Sheng hurriedly said. “I have to defeat him with my own hands!”
Only then could the knot in his heart loosen, and only then could he stride forward freely on the path of cultivation.
Fan Long gave him the faintest sneer. “Scram!”
* * *
A few days later, even Fushan Yue began to feel the undercurrents pressing in around them.
There were too many eyes near the post station now for him not to notice.
But he had no wish to stir up trouble by taking action in Lingxu City itself.
Even when he went out in his royal father’s stead to make formal calls, more than once he heard people ask him, “When you investigated the Baishajue case, you sent a special envoy there, did you not? What sort of person is he, and where is he now?”
Once enough people had asked, the way Fushan Yue looked at He Lingchuan when he returned grew increasingly strange. “The two of us have become rather famous, and your exploits in particular are now being talked about all over the floating island.”
“Me?” He Lingchuan pointed at his own nose. “On the floating island? Isn’t that where the grandees live?” Songyang Mansion really is efficient to an alarming degree.
“This isn’t necessarily a good thing. How many days have we even been in Lingxu City? No idea who’s stirring the pot behind the scenes either.”
“What exactly are they saying about us?”
“That Cen Boqing and Zhongsun Mou put together was still no match for the two of us, and they were made to run in circles like idiots, especially Zhongsun Mou. Apparently, he kept crashing straight into walls under your hand, hated you like hell, and even brought Fan Sheng in from another city to kill for him, only for the pair of them to get a savage beating from you instead. Zhongsun Mou even ended up paying you tens of thousands in gold and silver after his death...” He waved a hand and said, “Anyway, it’s all been heavily embellished. They’re making Zhongsun Mou sound like a pig or a dog. If I didn’t already know how stupid he really was, I might have believed it myself.”
He Lingchuan frowned. “Should I be worried?”
“The Zhongsun Family is probably furious, but with you under my protection, you don’t need to fear them.” Fushan Yue rubbed his hands together. “What worries me more is the Fan brothers...”
At that, He Lingchuan immediately had a bad feeling. “What about them?”
“The story of your battles with Fan Sheng is also spreading everywhere. By now, at least half the people on the floating island have heard that the Fan brothers ambushed you twice and failed both times, that Fan Bao nearly lost a foreleg, and that Fan Sheng got trapped in the water by you and held under for the better part of an hour, forced to endure flesh-eating fish gnawing his face so badly that he still hasn’t dared show himself.”
He Lingchuan gave a bitter smile. “Surely it hasn’t gotten that exaggerated? He was still running errands for Deputy Cloud Envoy Bai in Baishajue.”
At the time, Fan Sheng really had ended up with a few bloody craters in his face, and within a couple of days they had scabbed over black, leaving him looking like he had a face full of giant pockmarks... However, before returning to Lingxu City, those little injuries should have long since healed.
“In any case, the account of the brothers’ miserable defeat has spread in vivid detail, as though every speaker had seen it with his own eyes.” Fushan Yue sounded almost regretful. He had not been present at any of those battles. “And the fact that they were going to help Zhongsun Mou with a private dirty job makes it even more humiliating.”
“Since those rumors spread, Fan Sheng hasn’t shown himself in public once,” Fushan Yue added, rubbing the side of his nose. “And as for Fan Long, the eldest brother, he hasn’t said a word either. He’s not someone easy to deal with.”
Back in Baishajue, the retired old Chiyan official Xiang Yan had already said that Fan Long, the commander of the Tongxin Guard, was a shrewd, seasoned man with formidable cultivation. In other words, he was a truly dangerous character. From the sound of it now, Fushan Yue felt exactly the same way.
He Lingchuan felt the painful sensation of dropping a rock onto his own foot. Had Li Qingge perhaps gone a little too hard in arranging those rumors?
But the thought had barely crossed his mind before he realized something was off. The information he had given Li Qingge had never mentioned the Fan brothers at all.
Whether he had forgotten consciously or not, somewhere deep down, he had clearly wanted to avoid escalating things too far with those three brothers.
Yet now the floating island was full of people gleefully relishing the story of how he had defeated Fan Sheng and Fan Bao. That did not sound like Li Qingge’s handiwork.
Could there be someone else involved?
Come to think of it, for the rumors to have spread and become embellished this thoroughly in just a few days, Li Qingge alone probably could not have managed it anyway. After all, she was still an outsider herself. However capable she was, she could not possibly make the winds and rains of Lingxu City dance at her word.
This meant that someone else was pushing things along from behind the scenes.
He Lingchuan pressed a hand to his temple.
Even for something as small as spreading rumors, there are actually people competing with me?
