Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 129 - 126 Rock, Paper, Scissors (Extra - for Guild Master Cz)"_1

Chapter 129: Chapter 126 Rock, Paper, Scissors (Extra Chapter for Guild Master Cz)"_1

Just as Li Xuan took his seat, two middle-aged men decked in scholar gowns were quietly observing him from outside the pavilion.

One of them, despite his simple attire, emanated an air of elegance. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his interest piqued as he spoke, "Is that him? The young man whom many have their eyes on?"

"Indeed, it is him."

The one who responded was ’Cheng of Guozi Bureau’ Shen Jiang, "Li Xuan, the second son of Earl Chengyi’s residence. I’ve seen his portrait. According to information leaked from the Liudao Division, it was him who, under the orders of Duchenghuang, brought the original version of the Song of Righteousness to Dasheng Pass that night. Later, he fought against Yuan Zhou using the power of the Song of Righteousness, almost destroying the Taishan Prefecture Lord Sacrifice. Sadly, due to the desertion of Panguan Wu Guo Liangchen, his efforts fell short. Still, he managed to hold on until reinforcements that Duchenghuang had called for arrived."

However, there was a slight hesitation in his voice.

"Honorable Jijiu, I find it hard to believe that this guy could inherit the great righteousness of Zhonglie Duke Wen. Moreover, I don’t believe he could perform such brave acts. As far as I know, his conduct and reputation have been less than stellar," he said.

"Perhaps he has the recklessness youth, but his noble spirit of integrity, it can’t be faked. In his youth, Wei Yibo was also reckless, but when he gained enlightenment, he rose to be a great scholar in the world within ten years."

The middle-aged man leading them, quite pleased and expectant, laughed out loud, "This is a rough diamond, Cheng. He’s an uncut gem of superb quality. As long as we meticulously sculpt it and remove the impurities, it could become a jade of the highest grade, peerlessly exceptional. For people like us, is there any greater satisfaction than to guide and instruct such talented individuals, and continue this legacy of past sages?"

However, he turned around and headed towards the main hall right afterward.

’Cheng of Guozi Bureau’ Shen Jiang quickly followed after, "Honorable Jijiu, since we’ve come across him, won’t you meet him first? With your stature, if you wish to take him under your tutelage, the Earl would certainly be overjoyed."

"The time isn’t right." The middle-aged scholar shook his head. "Since his noble spirit is akin to Zhonglie Duke Wen, he must be a stubborn person. Thus, guidance rather than force is necessary. If you can’t make him willingly devote his mind to studying Confucianism, there’s no use in forcing it. We can’t force a cow to drink water by pushing its head."

Unaware of the gaze observing him from beyond the window, Li Xuan was smirking at those seated at his table.

The six people opposite him indeed fell silent, remembering his disproportional showdown against over two hundred people on the Xuanwu Lake pier and sending a group of profligates, including Cui Hongan, to the prison of Liudao Division.

-- Although his skills in Martial Law cannot compare with the top talents of Jin Dynasty, among these prodigal children of officials, he certainly carried himself with undeniable swagger.

Especially recently, there were rumors that the area under Li Xuan’s jurisdiction was around the Qinhuai River, and this made people even more wary of him.

As a result, an eerie silence fell over the entire table.

At this moment, Li Xuan gave a slight squint and continued to exert pressure, "It seems you’re not convinced? How about we set a time and place to spar? Or perhaps, I could visit each of you for personal instruction over the next few days?"

In the next instant, however, he saw the six men across from him rise from their seats all at once, fleeing in panic.

Li Xuan blinked in astonishment, looking at the now empty table – save for him – with a puzzled expression.

He simply wanted to ’lead by virtue’ as the ancients did, but it seemed his cultivation was insufficient, his virtue was meager, and he had exerted too much force.

-- This situation was rather awkward. While all the other tables were full, he was the only one left by himself, solitary and helpless.

Li Xuan thought about it and glanced at Peng Fulai and Zhang Yue, but these so-called ’buddies’ of his pretended not to see his gaze.

When he looked at Yue Qianqian, she shook her head vehemently. Her eyes resolute as she had no intentions of jumping into the fire with Li Xuan and being executed by the blade-like gazes of everyone else.

Just as Li Xuan was getting anxious, he heard a boisterous voice, "May I ask, is this spot taken?"

A dwarf-sized man with a bushy beard approached Li Xuan and greeted him with great enthusiasm, "If it isn’t, I’d like to borrow a seat."

His voice was like heavenly music to Li Xuan’s ears, who cheerfully chuckled, "Sit! Sit! Sit! No one’s here, make yourself at home."

He figured if there were two people, it wouldn’t be as awkward.

He admired this man’s audacity. Hadn’t he noticed the tense atmosphere? Hadn’t he noticed that everyone was gunning for him?

The burly man seemed oblivious to any oddities, laughing heartily, "It’s a great honour to share a table with you! It’s not easy to find a seat with the enormous crowd attending the birthday celebration at Duke Zhen’s residence today."

"Good! Good!" Li Xuan curiously asked, "Your accent doesn’t sound local to Nanjing, and it seems we’ve never met?"

As a notorious local dandy of Nanjing City, Li Xuan was quite familiar with the faces in the circle of nobles. However, this man was a complete stranger.

"It’s normal you’ve never seen me before." The man with the bushy beard bowed, "I came from Datong up north. My family hereditarily holds the rank of Zhihuishi. When Duke Zhen held the position of Zongbing in Datong Town five years ago, I had the honor of serving under him."

"So you’re a northern general." Li Xuan nodded politely, albeit unenthusiastically.

The rank of Zhihuishi, a martial minister from the Weisuo Institute, was highly revered decades ago. But now, the Weisuo of the Great Jin Dynasty had decayed, and these hereditary martial ministers had degraded to the point of draining the blood of soldiers and became known for their extravagance and incompetence.

The previous setback at Tumu Fort was primarily due to the fact that the soldiers of the northern Weisuo were no longer capable.

The bearded man didn’t care about Li Xuan’s attitude. After the servants from the Zhen Dong Marquis’s Mansion served the dishes, he simply started to eat and drink on his own.

At first, all was fine, but when the third dish, ’Oil-Braised Blood Chicken’, was served, both men reached for the chicken buttocks at the same time.

Li Xuan’s expression tightened slightly and he cast a sidelong glance at the man, thinking to himself that he was a man of the same profession. However, he was not willing to give this piece up.

"Since you are from out of town, don’t you know any etiquette at all? Have you heard of giving way?"

The bearded man laughed heartily: "I do know about manners, of course, but it seems that you, sir, are not very popular in Nanjing either, not much better than me."

Li Xuan laughed, realizing that the man was not insensitive to the situation.

However, judging from the power transmitted from the chopsticks, this man could not be won over by virtue, for his martial strength was not inferior.

"How about we split it in half?"

"Alright!" The bearded man agreed readily. His chopsticks moved and a sharp force that was like the blade of a knife permeated out, easily splitting the chicken buttock in half.

Next, both of their chopsticks reached for the breast meat of ’Secretly Prepared Black Suckling Pig’ at the same time.

Lucky for them, they had learned their lesson from before. Once again, they split the meat in half.

Li Xuan was surprised to find that the man beside him had very similar preferences in food. Out of every ten bites, their chopsticks met nine times. Thankfully, there was plenty of food provided by the Zhen Dong Marquis’s Mansion, enough for both of them. Therefore, the atmosphere remained pleasant.

However, when the last dish, ’Shiquan Baoyuan Soup’, was served, both men, once again, wanted the same piece of tender meat in the soup.

That was a piece of tender meat from the belly of a leopard. If the leopard were to evolve, that’s where the Demon Core would form. Li Xuan had eaten it before and it was uniquely delicious.

Li Xuan wasn’t willing to share this time; he looked at the bearded man, "Rock, Paper, Scissors!"

"I’m not too good at that," the bearded man shook his head. He thought for a moment, "How about we play rock, paper, scissors?"

"Sure!" Li Xuan responded, contempt in his heart. This man, who came from the Borderlands, didn’t even know how to play Rock, Paper, Scissors?

Things became awkward when Li Xuan played scissors and the man also played scissors. When Li Xuan played rock, the man also played rock.

Scissors, rock, rock, paper, rock - after ten rounds, Li Xuan began to feel familiar. He wondered how this person’s actions could coincide with his so frequently. Who was the last person just like this?

The bearded man didn’t play another round. He stared at Li Xuan for a moment, then let go of his chopsticks: "Forget it, it’s yours. I don’t really like it anyway."

Li Xuan didn’t think much of it and happily put the piece of tender meat into his mouth.

It was when he had eaten his fill and was preparing to leave that Jiang Hanyun came over with a frustrated look on her face, "Yunrou told me that Hua Shenxiao has gone to the north and will not be back for a while. You don’t have to worry."

Li Xuan felt relieved. Although he didn’t fear Hua Shenxiao, the pressure was still there when he was targeted by someone of Jiang Hanyun’s caliber.

"Please thank Miss Xue for me, Xiaowei Jiang."

Li Xuan then asked softly out of curiosity, "Have you still not found her?"

"If Demoness Zidie were that easy to find, then we of the Liudao Division wouldn’t be so helpless. You’ve been on the case for a few days and you want to capture Zidie already? Isn’t that laughable?"

The person answering was not Jiang Hanyun, but a middle-aged man behind her. His words were laced with sarcasm and his gaze swept across the room with a cold glare, "We’ve confirmed that she’s in the Marquis’s Mansion, but we don’t know her identity or where she’s hiding."

Li Xuan recognized him. It was Sima Tianyuan, the General Commander of the Huoque Department, who was in charge of the pursuit of Demoness Zidie - a collaborative effort with the Sitian Department.

"Indeed this woman is tricky. Lei usually has pieces of her clothing as samples, but today he didn’t even smell anything suspicious."

Jiang Hanyun’s eyebrows were furrowed as she stroked the Four-Tailed Spirit Fox in her hand, "Li Xuan, are you done eating? Come with me after."

The middle-aged man sneered and looked at Li Xuan, "Do you rely on him, Xiaowei Jiang? I’ve heard of your subordinate who is becoming famous in our Zhuque Hall, but excuse my candor, even if the Superintendent himself were to take action, he may not be able to see through Zidie’s disguise."

At this moment, Li Xuan suddenly had a thought, and remembered something. He cast a glance at the bearded man who had been eating and drinking without a care in the world.

Was it him? He thought, but the man seemed normal. He was calm and composed, even with two slay demon Xiaoweis standing next to him, he continued to feast unflinchingly.

Then Li Xuan thought of a saying: it’s better to wrongfully kill than to let go. Trying wouldn’t hurt.

With this thought, he opened his eyes wide and called upon his Great Rectitude within, "Hey, Demoness Zidie, how long do you plan on pretending?"