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"Report... Grandmaster Wei Heng, an urgent message from the Ming Sect!"
At Hangzhou Port, a black-clothed member of the Western Factory dashed forward with a secret letter in hand, presenting it to Wei Heng, who was sitting majestically atop a high platform, arrayed in a python robe and dark cloak.
Wei Heng received the letter, waved away his subordinates, and briskly scanned through it... The letter detailed how Yang Tiansheng publicly accepted three moves from the Sect Hierarch Yang Potian, securing a position as a Ming Sect King and becoming the leading candidate for the next Sect Hierarch.
After reading it once, Wei Heng couldn’t help but go back for a second look, reading every word carefully.
He let out a heavy sigh after a long while, murmuring with boundless emotion, "This kid has really made it big..."
He remembered the night at Lu Ting when he first met Yang Erlang and Yang Tiansheng.
At that time, he merely thought these two young men were recklessly courageous, daring to encroach upon the imperial envoy despite being at the mere Qi Sea Realm.
In the blink of an eye, three and a half years passed, and those two young men he had beaten into a hasty retreat had become one, the world’s foremost, and the other, the next leader of the esteemed Ming Sect.
Looking back on it now, he suddenly realized... this might be what true strength looked like!
The weak wield their sword against the weaker.
The strong wield their sword against the stronger.
Strength varies in magnitude.
But conviction should not be subject to such disparity.
Can one who lacks the courage to maintain conviction when weak truly uphold it when strong?
Without an unwavering conviction throughout, how could anyone achieve extraordinary feats?
Take, for example, the affair of the three great grain merchants hoarding supplies—it affected the whole region from Jiangnan to the north and encompassed half the realm.
Yet in the end, those bold enough to confront these dark affairs were only the two young Qi Sea Realm brothers, Yang Erlang and Yang Tiansheng...
With such hearts and minds, they deserved the achievements they held today!
Or rather, it was precisely because of such hearts and minds that they were able to hold their achievements today!
A Grandmaster physique?
In the history of martial arts, while geniuses with a Grandmaster physique were not many, they were certainly not unheard of.
But among them, only Yang Erlang had attained the achievements he had today!
Most who possessed a Grandmaster physique perished, their foundation too weak to surpass the True Essence Peak Realm and ascend to the rarefied Grandmaster Realm.
Otherwise, the term "Grandmaster" wouldn’t come prefixed with "junior."
Wei Heng’s face showed a fleeting loss as he slowly put away the secret letter, looking aimlessly towards the horizon where the sea met the sky.
The principles, he had come to understand.
Yet it would have been better if he hadn’t understood them at all.
If he hadn’t, he might still hold some hope, continuing to dream that ’perhaps one day, upon enlightenment, he would ascend to the Grandmaster Realm.’
Because he understood, he knew that he would never ascend to the Grandmaster Realm in this lifetime.
The rules and reverence he had learned from childhood in the imperial court had seeped into his bones and become instinct, inescapable, indelible...
It was only then that he suddenly realized why the Inner Court never lacked the support of these imperial martial eunuchs: all kinds of martial skills, precious medicines, and divine weapons, readily available and taken at will, and with Grandmasters occasionally offering personal guidance. Yet for almost a hundred years, not a single martial eunuch had reached the Grandmaster Realm.
On the contrary, during the reigns of Emperor Taizu and Taizong, despite worse conditions for practice and many having started martial arts midway into their lives, an unbroken line of martial eunuchs had emerged as Grandmasters... They had been forged on battlefields alongside Taizu and Taizong!
"Grandmaster, Grandmaster..."
With downcast eyes, he whispered, "Only those with the courage to lead, the wisdom of a sea that embraces all rivers, forging a path where none has trodden, can be called Grandmasters!"
With a deep sigh, he silently extinguished the faint ambition in his heart to become a Grandmaster.
Soon after, the chief of the second rank of Western Factory, Cao Ying, came forward with a bow and said softly, "Grandmaster, the ship has arrived."
Wei Heng lifted his eyelids to see several specks appearing on the horizon where the sea met the sky.
He straightened his posture and glanced sideways at Cao Ying, who was bowing and grinning beside him, and said expressionlessly, "Stand up straight and compose yourself!"
Instinctively, Cao Ying straightened up, slapped his own face as he came to his senses, and said ingratiatingly, "This servant has disturbed your rest, Grandmaster. Please punish me!"
Wei Heng opened his mouth, as if to say something, but then deflated, dispiritedly waving his hand and saying, "Go attend to your duties!"
"Yes!"
Cao Ying nodded with a smile, bowing and backing away. He then quickly turned and strode over to the Western Factory guards nearby, brandishing his authority and commanding, "What are you waiting for? Blow the trumpets, beat the drums..."
In an instant, the dragon flags fluttered, and the sound of gongs and drums filled the air.
Yet Wei Heng found everything somehow discordant.
After a short while, the ships slowly entered the port, and the clamor of drums grew more intense.
Wei Heng got to his feet and straightened his robe to greet them. He saw several figures leaping onto the dock, striding quickly forward, the leader among them shouting, "Subordinate Nangong Feiying, reporting to the Grandmaster."
Wei Heng finally showed a hint of a smile. He stepped forward quickly to help Nangong Feiying, who was bowing, but as he drew near, a strong sense of Evil Qi rushed towards him, slowing his steps.
He looked closely with surprise, noticing that Nangong Feiying’s lower jaw and the area by his lips were covered with a circle of dark stubble... nearly matching his own beard!
"Have you completed the ’Sky Gang Youth Skill’?"
Wei Heng stared in shock at Nangong Feiying. He was well aware of this man’s martial arts; when he had sent him on an expedition to the east, Nangong Feiying had barely reached the True Essence Realm, and for "Sky Gang Youth Skill" to be fulfilled, it would typically require at least five or six more years of hard work.
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