The Glory After Rebirth [ɇÇ”Ÿä¹‹Å°Šè£] Chapter 106- 108

Chapter 106: I Accept Your Invitation to the Capital City

Before dawn the next day, when most residents of Tangyang were still asleep, Yuwen Tong returned.

As soon as he showed up in the mansion, the guard informed him of Ling Zhang’s talk with Yuwen Qi the night before. Yuwen Tong wondered after hearing the message, ‘To what end did Ling Zhang ask Yuwen Qi those questions?’

“How was his expression last night?”

“Childe Ling said that he just wanted to worm some information out of Yuwen Qi. The look on his face was normal, but when he left the wing-room, he seemed a little angry.”

Yuwen Tong thought for a while and went into his room to change. Then he walked out and asked, “And then?”

“Then Childe Ling returned to his place. Before leaving, he told me that there was something weird about Yuwen Qi, that he had smelled some kind of disgusting fishy odor. He suspected that Yuwen Qi was carrying some poisonous creature on him. I kept a close watch on Yuwen Qi outside the room for a whole night but have noticed nothing suspicious so far.”

Yuwen Tong’s movements briefly paused. Then he turned around, went to the wing-room and directly kicked the door open.

The door of the wing-room swung open with a loud bang. Yuwen Qi, who was still sleeping, was taken aback. “Who is it?!”

Yuwen Tong walked up to him, dragged Yuwen Qi out of the bed and said to the guard, “Come here and search him.”

Startled, Yuwen Qi yelled, “Why are you doing this to me, cousin!”

Regardless of Yuwen Qi’s efforts to resist, the guard forcibly searched him. Apart from some money, a pouch and an official seal, there was also a bamboo tube.

As soon as the bamboo tube was revealed, an extremely faint, fishy smell emanated from it.

The guard was instantly on the alert. “Marshal.”

The look in Yuwen Tong’s eyes went cold. He took the bamboo tube and asked Yuwen Qi, “What’s in it?”

Beads of cold sweat seeped out of the forehead of Yuwen Qi. “Nothing. It’s just a bamboo tube. I–I use it to contain letters.”

“Letters?” Yuwen Tong smiled wryly and then unplugged the tube.

“Be careful, Marshal!” the guard hurriedly reminded him.

Unexpectedly, there was nothing in the tube. It was empty.

Yuwen Qi observed immediately, “I told you I use it to contain letters. There’s nothing special about it.”

Yuwen Tong raised the tube to his nose, took a sniff and then said with a cold, sullen look, “Snake.”

Yuwen Qi’s countenance changed. He couldn’t believe that Yuwen Tong actually found out by merely taking a sniff.

“Snake? What are you talking about, cousin? You can’t wrong me like this!”

“What did you send it to do?” Yuwen Tong stared fixedly at him.

“I really didn’t send out any snake.” Yuwen Qi briefly rolled his eyes sideways and added, “It’s just that this bamboo tube was once soaked in special medicine to make it poisonous, so that only people who have ingested the antidote beforehand can take the letter out of it without being poisoned. It’s for the sake of confidentiality. I got this tube before coming to Tanyang and carried it on me in case I need it in an emergency.”

His explanation aroused the guard’s suspicions. ‘Is he by any chance telling the truth? After all, there are indeed people who would adopt this kind of method to keep their letters safe.’

Yuwen Tong didn’t even believe a single word of Yuwen Qi, but due to the absence of any definite proof, he couldn’t mete out any punishment to Yuwen Qi.

“If you dare to play any tricks, or hinder my plan, or hurt any of my men, I will not let you get away with it, even though I’ve made a promise to my father that I would take care of you. Yuwen Qi, you’d better behave yourself. Don’t test me.”

“Cousin, I really didn’t do anything. I made those remarks yesterday because I feared that you might force me out of Tanyang. Why on earth would I want to ruin your plan? And I won’t stoop so low as to harm that Ling Zhang either,” responded Yuwen Qi immediately.

“Is that so? Then how did you find out that I’m dealing with Zhang Chong?” asked Yuwen Tong, staring at him.

Yuwen Qi fumbled awkwardly for words. Seeing Yuwen Tong’s darkening face, he didn’t dare to hide the truth any longer. “I heard about the feud between Ling family and Zhang Chong the first day I arrived in Tanyang. Ori–Originally, I had intended to take a glimpse at Zhang Chong and see what he looked like, but after I entered the Prefecture Encampment, I accidentally found that one of your guards was covertly staking out that place.”

The guard was taken aback by Yuwen Qi’s words. ‘How’s this possible? One of us got spotted by Yuwen Qi but has been oblivious of it all along. And that person also failed to notice Yuwen Qi’s appearance in the Prefecture Encampment.”

“You went there with the intention to have Zhang Chong deal with Ling family, didn’t you?” asked Yuwen Tong flintily.

Under great pressure from Yuwen Tong, Yuwen Qi instantly broke out in a sweat. “To what end would I do that? Although I believe you are way out of Ling Zhang’s league. I will never do that kind of thing. You misunderstood me, cousin. I was just curious as to what kind of man Zhang Chong is and why he came into conflict with Ling family.”

“What else did you find apart from these?” asked Yuwen Tong.

“Nothing else.” Yuwen Qi quickly shook his head. “I realized the reason why you’d been spying on Zhang Chong must be that you were trying to deal with him, so I didn’t dare to conduct any further investigation for fear of compromising your plan.”

“Why didn’t you come to Ling family to meet me at the very beginning?” Yuwen Tong asked another question. “Was threatening Ling Zhang in private part of your original plan?”

Yuwen Qi was startled. “Of course not. It was after my arrival in Tanyang that I came to know your presence in Tanyang was a secret. It greatly surprised me, which was why I didn’t come to Ling family immediately.”

Yuwen Tong coldly gave a snort. “Stay here and behave yourself.”

After having the guard release his grip on Yuwen Qi, Yuwen Tong left the wing-room.

The guard locked the door and followed in Yuwen Tong’s wake. “Marshal, was Childe Qi telling the truth?”

“You tell me,” replied Yuwen Tong coldly.

‘It was in a covert manner that Yuwen Qi came to Tanyang, so his intention was no doubt to lay threat on Ling family and put an end to this engagement. Anything suggesting otherwise is bullshit,’ he thought.

“I think he wasn’t. He came to covertly threat Ling family,” said the guard.

“Your stupidity is not incurable,” observed Yuwen Tong.

The guard gave a soft cough. “But Marshal, it has already come to Childe Qi’s knowledge that you’re preparing to deal with Zhang Chong. If by any chance he discloses this…”

“Judging from his previous remarks, it has been only two or three days since his arrival in Tanyang. Even if he saw something, he couldn’t have inferred much from it. As regards potential disclosure, worries about it are totally unnecessary. When Zhang Chong’s conspiracy is brought to light, will there be a single person in the capital city who will remain unaware I’m the one who’s been conducting behind-the-scenes investigation?”

“That’s right,” answered the guard. “I was being foolish.”

“Then, that bamboo tube…”

Yuwen Tong halted, turned around and looked at him. “Spare a couple of detoxifier pills.”

The guard immediately produced five detoxifier pills, put them into a little porcelain phial and handed the phial to Yuwen Tong.

Yuwen Tong took the little porcelain phial and walked out of courtyard, heading straight next door.

Ling Zhang, who had just got up as well, was bidding Xia Feng to tell servants in the kitchen to prepare breakfast when he saw Yuwen Tong coming.

‘He came so early. The breakfast isn’t ready yet.’

“You’ve just woken up?” Yuwen Tong asked him.

Ling Zhang nodded. Seeing that Yuwen Tong was wearing dry clothes, he came to realize that Yuwen Tong had changed clothes before coming. “So how did it go? Was there any trouble?”

“So far so good. Everything’s going as planned.” Yuwen Tong entered Ling Zhang’s room, sat down, fished out the porcelain phial and put it on the table. “There are five detoxifier pills in the phial. Keep one and give the other four to your grandfather and others.”

“Detoxifier pills?” Ling Zhang was confused about why Yuwen Tong gave him detoxifier pills.

“The poisonous creature carried by Yuwen Qi has gone. It should be a venomous snake. I don’t know what his intention is, so keep these detoxifier pills, just in case.”

On hearing that the poisonous creature carried by Yuwen Qi was gone, Ling Zhang knitted his eyebrows. Since the person Yuwen Qi worked for didn’t want him to marry Yuwen Tong, it was not impossible that he or she would resort to dirty tricks to take his life. Therefore, he put away the porcelain phial. “Thanks.”

Yuwen Tong flicked a glance at him.

Ling Zhang gave a cough in the knowledge that he had just displeased Yuwen Tong with that remark “Thanks” once again. “I’ll deliver these to my grandfather and others later.”

“My apologies. I know Yuwen Qi is definitely an eyesore, but I can’t evict him right away,” observed Yuwen Tong.

“I understand. He’s locked up anyway. The worst thing he could possibly do is swear, which won’t really bother me,” said Ling Zhang, slightly lowering his eyes to conceal the cold look in them.

‘In this incarnation, they haven’t got the opportunity to do that yet, and I’ll make sure they never get one,’ he thought.

“You once said that you wanted to invite me to the capital city. Is that offer still available?” Ling Zhang raised his eyes to look at Yuwen Tong and asked in earnest.

A delighted look unnoticeably flashed across the eyes of Yuwen Tong. “Sure. It’ll always be available.”

“Okay, then. After all these matters are handled in Tanyang, I’ll go with you to the capital city,” observed Ling Zhang.

The day before, he spent the whole night contemplating and eventually he made up his mind. Since those people resorted to every expedient to kill him in his last incarnation, he wanted to go to the capital city and make life difficult for each and every one of them in this life. Besides, even if he chose to let it go, there was no guarantee that those people would do the same. Only by removing all threats would he find peace of mind.

Yuwen Tong had no idea why Ling Zhang had suddenly come to this decision, but he was positive that it had something to do with those remarks made by Yuwen Qi.

‘Exactly which words made Ling Zhang change his mind?’

“Do you know what it means to go to the capital city with me?” Yuwen Tong fixed Ling Zhang with a stare, a meaningful look in his eyes.

Ling Zhang felt a fleeting twitch of alarm. “I do.”

Acceptance of Yuwen Tong’s invitation to go to the capital city was synonymous with approval for continuing his engagement to Yuwen Tong.

Watching him with deep eyes, Yuwen Tong suddenly rose to his feet and drew Ling Zhang to him. Putting an arm around Ling Zhang’s waist, he raised Ling Zhang’s chin with the other hand, quickly lowered his head and landed a kiss on Ling Zhang’s soft and rosy lips.

Ling Zhang was dragged over to him and held tightly. The tender touch on his lips was different from the ones he had had during the previous two kisses. This time, Yuwen Tong was really kissing him.

Ling Zhang’s whole body involuntarily tensed. His hands were stiff for quite a while before he could reach them out and grab the front of Yuwen Tong’s clothes.

“If you give me your word, there’s no coming back.” After a while, Yuwen Tong let go of Ling Zhang and made this remark.

Ling Zhang panted for a while and swallowed hard. Yuwen Tong’s gaze froze his blood. Just for an instant he felt an urge to give up, but he never shrank from doing what he had made up his mind to do. “I never go back on my word.”

The fervency in Yuwen Tong’s eyes instantly deepened significantly. He put his arm around Ling Zhang’s waist again and pinned Ling Zhang tightly against him with great force. With his lips within an inch of touching Ling Zhang’s, he said, “Remember your words.”

With that, he immediately pressed his lips onto Ling Zhang’s again.

Ling Zhang gasped for a few moments. He moved his lips aside but Yuwen Tong’s lips immediately found their way back to his, as if Yuwen Tong wouldn’t let him go until he deemed this kiss long enough. The thought that Xia Feng might come back at any time worried Ling Zhang, his heart fluttering, a pink flush on his cheeks and ears. ‘I just agreed to go with him to the capital city. Why is he reacting so dramatically?’ he wondered.

But Yuwen Tong’s aura was very intense, and the movements of his lips and tongue blunted Ling Zhang’s response.

Chapter 107: A Guard Testing the Formation

“Young Master, breakfast is…”

Since Ling Zhang had bidden him to get the breakfast ready as soon as possible, Xia Feng walked into the room in haste to report. On entering the room, he saw his young master abruptly pushed Lord Yuwen away. Xia Feng widened his eyes, wondering what he had just seen, ‘What were they doing? Was it what I think it is?’

“You may serve,” Ling Zhang quickly wiped his lips and said as calmly as he could, his back to Xia Feng.

Xia Feng was still in an astonished trance, barely able to believe what might have just happened.

Not having heard Xia Feng moving, Yuwen Tong cast a penetrating stare at him.

On contact with this kind of gaze, Xia Feng abruptly shuddered and collected himself. Lowering his head, he answered, “Yes, Young Master.”

‘That must be a hallucination. It must be. How was it possible that Young Master and Lord Yuwen were hugging? I must be imagining things,’ Xia Feng thought.

Keeping telling himself that he had been hallucinating, Xia Feng bade servants outside to bring the meal boxes into the room and place them on the table.

While the servants were serving breakfast, Xia Feng couldn’t help stealthily sizing up Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong.

On the sight of Ling Zhang’s slightly swollen lips and the blushes on his cheeks, Xia Feng was transfixed with shock as if he had just been struck by lightning. All those words that he had said to himself stood feeble in the face of reality…

“Xia Feng.” Ling Zhang called Xia Feng in a cold voice as he saw Xia Feng staring at him emptily.

Xia Feng abruptly snapped out of trance. As his eyes met Ling Zhang’s cold ones, he hurriedly lowered his head. “I was being disrespectful and I deserve to be punished, Young Master.”

“Make sure it doesn’t happen again. You may leave. None of you is needed here,” Ling Zhang replied blandly.

“Yes, Young Master!” Xia Feng and those servants left the room immediately. After walking outside, Xia Feng heaved a deep sigh of relief and then fell into a light trance again.

‘So Young Master has been in that kind of relationship with Lord Yuwen?’

After Xia Feng and those servants left, the room went deadly quiet. Ling Zhang immediately glared at Yuwen Tong and reprimanded, “Obviously you heard Xia Feng coming in just now. Why didn’t you let go of me right away?”

Yuwen Tong raised his eyebrows. “What’s wrong with letting him see it? He’ll find out about our relationship sooner or later.”

Ling Zhang stood speechless.

‘I just agreed to go to the capital city. My engagement to him merely stands temporarily! I never gave him my word that I would marry him! Yet this guy is acting like we’re a couple-to-be,’ Ling Zhang thought angrily.

“Our engagement stands but only temporarily. I never promised I would marry you.”

Yuwen Tong merely flicked a glance at him. “Do you want to go back on your word in front of a Marshal or are you afraid to take responsibility for me?”

Ling Zhang’s eyes rounded. ‘He sounded as if I’m forsaking him after having dallied with him.’

“Finish your breakfast,” said Yuwen Tong as he down a bowl of congee before Ling Zhang. “After that, we’ll go and check how your security guards are doing with their training. We can have one of my bodyguards test them.”

Ling Zhang stood speechless.

He took up the bowl, having no intention to utter another word.

Yuwen Tong’s eyes softly swept across his cheeks and then his lips before he withdrew his gaze, recollecting the pleasant feeling of that kiss a moment ago, a deep look in his eyes.

Neither of them made any further remarks during the breakfast. Ling Zhang finished first. He put down his bowl, wiped his lips, gargled and intended to stand up and leave.

“Wait,” said Yuwen Tong. He hadn’t finished breakfast yet.

The corners of Ling Zhang’s mouth twitched. Believing that he would be a fool to listen to Yuwen Tong and wait for him, Ling Zhang unhesitatingly rose to his feet and walked straight out of the room.

Yuwen Tong put down his bowl, looked at Ling Zhang’s receding figure and chuckled, “What a little hedgehog.”

Then he rose from his seat and followed in Ling Zhang’s wake.

When they arrived at the guards’ yard, all security guards were startled as they caught sight of Yuwen Tong. ‘Is it this Lord Yuwen who’s going to spar with us again today? Didn’t Young Master say that it would be a bodyguard?’ they wondered.

Wang Dashan, who had already been informed of Yuwen Tong’s true identity, involuntarily straightened himself on Yuwen Tong’s arrival, excitement gleaming in his eyes.

Apart from anything else, this man in front of him was the Supreme Commander of armed forces, a legendary war hero. It was in his nature to revere the strong. Though Wang Dashan was a security guard of Ling family, whose first duty was to Ling family, his admiration for Yuwen Tong and his duty were not mutually exclusive.

“Today I’ll have my guard spar with you,” Yuwen Tong said. As soon as he finished his sentence, a guard in black descended from mid-air and landed on the drill field.

All security guards gave a gasp of relief. ‘Fortunately, it is not Lord Yuwen who’s going to test our formation.’

While they refused to admit defeat and were confident that one day they would be able to trap Lord Yuwen, clearly that day hadn’t arrived yet. They were bound to suffer a quick and disastrous defeat if the opponent was Lord Yuwen, and none of them was willing to find out how it felt to suffer a quick and disastrous defeat.

The guard in black’s eyes swept across the twelve people. “Bring it on.”

Those security guards exchanged glances, thinking, ‘Fuck! We’re indeed no match for Lord Yuwen, but by no means will we fail to trap this guard. This kind of underestimate is beyond the pale!’

“Brothers, form up!”

All security guards yelled “Aye!” and with that the twelve of them formed into Trap-and-Kill Formation, encircling the guard in black at the center ring upon ring.

“Begin,” said Yuwen Tong.

On hearing the order, the guard in black immediately launched an assault.

Those security guards were instantly on full alert. After their fight with Yuwen Tong on that day, they had been specially training their reflexes during the past two days. As a result, instead of being flustered, they stood more able than the last time when dealing with the sudden and violent attack of the guard in black, and the teamwork among them had also improved.

“Not bad. They sort of made progress,” Yuwen Tong standing beside Ling Zhang said in a low voice.

Naturally, Ling Zhang had also noticed the betterment of the skills of those security guards, feeling gratified.

“Did you see that? Liu Yi’s counterattack is the quickest and also the steadiest. The way he reacts is more unhurried than that of others, which means that he’s not using his full strength,” added Yuwen Tong.

After hearing Yuwen Tong’s remarks, Ling Zhang naturally began to pay more attention to Liu Yi. Ever since Yuwen Tong told him that Liu Yi was keeping something behind on that day, he had been observing Liu Yi all along. There had also been some occasions when he had Liu Yi stay out of an assignment. He knew Liu Yi would come wary, but he was deliberately doing this to sound him out. He meant to send a message to Liu Yi that he had noticed something, and he wanted to find out how Liu Yi would react.

He believed that Liu Yi was by no means sent here by Jia family or Zhang Chong, but he had no intention to risk being fooled.

But Liu Yi’s reaction had greatly surprised him. He had been acting calmly all along, without any unusual response to his alienation and wariness.

When he had no assignments for Liu Yi, Liu Yi would put all his efforts into performing his duties as a security guard. He had also been doing formation training with others and occasionally offered advice to them.

Ling Zhang stood uncertain to what was on Liu Yi’s mind.

At this time, he stared squarely at Liu Yi in the knowledge that Liu Yi would surely notice, but there had still been no particular reaction of Liu Yi so far. He was not flustered, and neither did he make any attempts to conceal his strength or anything like that. He was just doing what he had been training to do.

“He’s pretty good at retaining his composure,” said Yuwen Tong.

“You said that he didn’t seem like a spy. Then to what end do you think he came here?” Ling Zhang couldn’t help asking Yuwen Tong.

As Yuwen Tong, who had been waiting for Ling Zhang to speak to him, heard the question, a faint smile crossed the bottom of his eyes and with that he replied, “I’m not Mr. Know-all, so of course I have to do some research before I can give you an answer.”

Ling Zhang curled his lip. He had thought that Yuwen Tong had already found out about this.

Yuwen Tong cast him an amused look. “Have I always been so almighty and omniscient in your eyes?”

The corners of Ling Zhang’s mouth twitched. “Don’t overthink it.”

Even if it were true, he wouldn’t admit it.

As regards Liu Yi, he would find an opportunity to directly talk with him. Intuitively, he knew that Liu Yi meant no harm, so he chose to have a frank talk with him and find out what kind of reply Liu Yi would make. As for the investigation in Yanzhou, Xia Feng had already been there to investigate that matter. Ling Zhang believed that Xia Feng definitely had spared no effort to figure out the truth, but without any luck, he hadn’t found anything, which had served as a proof that with his current manpower, he wouldn’t be able to achieve anything in the investigation, so he had decided not to waste any more time on it.

If Liu Yi refused to tell the truth, he would have no alternative but to ask him to leave.

Though he had an intuition that Liu Yi was currently no threat to him, there was no guarantee that he wouldn’t become one in the future.

On the drill field, the guard in black and the twelve security guards had already exchanged dozens of blows. Since security guards had only mastered the first array, their strategy for dealing with the opponent was not flexible enough. While this guard of Yuwen Tong’s had been through numerous trials and tribulations and was extremely experienced. There had been many occasions when the guard in black caught those security guards unawares and nearly broke out of the encirclement, which had struck terror into their hearts several times. As a result, all of them sharpened their vigilance and concentrated all their attention on the moves of the guard.

After watching for a while, Ling Zhang perceived something. “The guard never performed his lightness skills, but he never mobilized his full strength to attack either.”

“Yeah. I told him not to finish this test too quick. It is meant to be another form of training.” Yuwen Tong gave an honest answer.

Ling Zhang was like this: …lol, completely speechless.

‘So for all this time, my security guards believe that they successfully restrained the guard when actually he is merely sparring with them?’ he wondered.

“This won’t take long,” said Yuwen Tong.

Unsurprisingly, after some time, the guard in black launched an all-out assault. Soon, he downed the weakest one of the twelve men and broke the formation apart.

But this time, the situation was different from that of the last time that Yuwen Tong had tested the formation. On that day, after Yuwen Tong defeated a security guard, the other eleven were unable to maintain the formation.

And Yuwen Tong even sneered at them on that occasion. But this time, maybe it was because they had learned their lesson, after one of them was downed, the others quickly managed to form up and besieged the guard in black again, which was rather surprising.

The guard in black was also somewhat surprised, and the look in his eyes slightly changed when he gazed at those security guards. Previously, he had merely been trying to fulfil the task assigned to him, but now he was taking these men much more seriously, showing them more respect as well.

Eventually, when there were only seven men in the formation, the guard downed them all with one blow and broke out of the encirclement. This time, all security guards were lying on the ground, too tired to make a single movement.

“Good. This time you did very well. You outshined yourselves by a considerable margin. I think you’re ready to start learning the second array,” observed Ling Zhang.

Since his security guards had been striving so hard, he believed he should give them more goals to strive for.

As expected, on hearing his remark, all security guards cheered. “Great! Thank you, Young Master!”

“You may take a day off if you feel tired,” offered Ling Zhang.

“That won’t be necessary, Young Master. We can resume training after a short rest.”

“Yeah, Young Master. Don’t worry about us. We have enough strength to continue training.”

Maybe because they had managed to restrain the guard in black for a rather long time, they seemed to have regained some confidence. All of them stated categorically that they were not tired, that they were willing to continue training.

‘It’s a good thing that they have this kind of drive.’ Ling Zhang was only too anxious to let them continue training, so of course he wouldn’t force them to rest.

“Well, then. But do it in moderation. Don’t push yourselves too hard.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

The guard in black walked up to Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong. “Childe Ling, Your Lordship, this is indeed an ingenious formation.”

Chapter 108: Priceless

“I’ve never seen any formation as ingenious as this one before,” observed the guard in excitement.

Seeing that Yuwen Tong’s guard seemed to be very interested in the Trap-and-Kill Formation, Ling Zhang suddenly recalled that pamphlet hidden by him.

He believed that Yuwen Tong probably could grasp the secret of the couple of formations within a very short time, given his good memory and excellent comprehension.

Now that he had already confirmed that Yuwen Tong was not the one responsible for the annulment of their engagement for marriage in his last life, he believed that this Yuwen Tong in front of him was trustworthy.

“What are you thinking?” asked Yuwen Tong as he saw the absent-mindedness on Ling Zhang’s face.

“I want to show you something.” Ling Zhang snapped out of his trance. “Let’s go back.”

A little curious about what Ling Zhang intended to show him, Yuwen Tong returned to his abode with him.

Ling Zhang took out the pamphlet that he had been hiding and handed it to Yuwen Tong. “Seldom will I have the chance to use any of these formations. Since you are a master of formations, I think they would prove helpful to you in case of a battle. Take a look.”

Surprised, Yuwen Tong took the pamphlet, opened it and started reading it.

The Trap-and-Kill Formation of Twelve was already ingenious enough, but the formations in the pamphlet were even more ingenious and more powerful.

Moreover, they were also formations that Yuwen Tong had never seen before. They were elaborate and suitable to use in a battle. Yuwen family had been renowned as a family of prominent military commanders since the previous dynasty. Though Yuwen Tong had grown up in a family with such a long and rich history, these formations were still strange to him.

Most importantly, only those with full knowledge of the power and value of these formations could understand how precious these six sheets of paper were, and Yuwen Tong was one of them.

“Why are you offering these to me?” Yuwen Tong gazed fixedly at Ling Zhang.

Feeling somewhat uneasy beneath his gaze, Ling Zhang turned his head aside and replied, “I hope these will bring you more victories.”

Yuwen Tong silently stared at him for quite a while. Perplexed, Ling Zhang twisted his head back to look at him. “What’s wrong? Are they useless?”

“Of course not. They’re priceless.”

“Then why don’t you say something? And you look fairly unhappy.”

“Because you’re too silly.”

Ling Zhang stood speechless.

‘Why did he criticize me for no good reason? Does he really think I’m a pushover?’ he thought angrily.

“It was silly enough of you not to get mad at me when I peeked at the Trap-and-Kill Formation of Twelve. And now you’re handing me these formations on a silver platter. Aren’t you worried that I might turn against you after taking them?” observed Yuwen Tong.

With a serious face, Ling Zhang looked at him and said, “I trust you.”

Yuwen Tong heaved a sigh, solemnly put the pamphlet into his inner pocket and then replied, “I won’t betray your trust, but you should never easily show this kind of thing to anybody else again. These formations are very powerful. Even I have not seen any of them before. They’re extremely precious and must be of uncommon origin. Misfortune might come if you show them to the wrong people.”

These had crossed Ling Zhang’s mind before. It was because he had trust in Yuwen Tong that he had given this to him. “I understand.”

“I’m very glad.” Yuwen Tong looked deeply at Ling Zhang. Such was the preciousness of this trust that he decided to store it at the depths of his heart and cherish it forever.

Ling Zhang gave a soft cough. “Okay, then. This is it. You may go and do what you’ve got to do.”

Of course Yuwen Tong was not the kind of man who could be dismissed with a single remark. Since they were having such a good moment, he would be a fool if he didn’t make full use of it.

“When will you tell your grandfather we’re going to the capital city together?” Yuwen Tong naturally sat down beside Ling Zhang and had him sit down as well.

It was after sitting down that Ling Zhang reacted, making a response. “I’ll tell him after these issues are handled. There’s no hurry.”

“How about we take your grandfather with us? There should be some old friends of Lord Ling in the capital city,” Yuwen Tong offered.

Ling Zhang thought for a while and declined. “My grandfather is a man of advanced years. He’s no longer in a fit state to have a long and tiring journey. Besides, there’s nothing there that my grandfather would deem worthy of a visit – you’re aware of what happened when he left the capital city back in that year, I suppose. And he never mentioned he had any old friends there either.”

Naturally, Yuwen Tong had heard about what happened to Ling family in the capital city in that year. He did want Ling Xingzhong to go with them, since it would be more convenient to confer with him about their wedding, but if Ling Xingzhong would feel uneasy in the capital city, then it wouldn’t be necessary.

“I want to teach six arrays to Elder Brother Wang and the others before I leave. I think that will spare me some worries when I’m away from home. So I might need some more time. How much longer can you stay in Tanyang?” asked Ling Zhang. Now that the matter of going to the capital city had been brought up, he told Yuwen Tong his considerations.

“It depends on when the imperial edict arrives. His Majesty won’t let me stay in Tanyang for long. If the imperial edict is urgent, I won’t be able to delay leaving for more than five days.”

With whip and spur, it would take a courier seven days to travel from the capital city to Tanyang, which meant that he still had at least half a month.

After thinking for a while, Ling Zhang came up with a general plan. “Okay.”

“Wang Dashan and his group have already learned the first array, so it won’t be difficult for them to master another five within this amount of time, but I’m afraid the other twelve men in the herb farm wouldn’t be able to do the same,” observed Yuwen Tong.

“I plan to take the twelve of them to the capital city with me,” replied Ling Zhang.

Yuwen Tong was not surprised by his decision. “All right. You do need some men to protect you.”

“Think it through and see if there are some others that you want to bring with you apart from those twelve. Living conditions won’t change much when we arrive in the capital city. Beside my place, there’s also a courtyard house that has stood unoccupied for a long time. Your men may live there. Nobody’s going to disturb them.”

It had never crossed Ling Zhang’s mind that Yuwen Tong had already had his accommodations planned out. Originally, he had meant to live elsewhere, but now he was too embarrassed to tell Yuwen Tong.

“What’s the matter? Is there a problem?” asked Yuwen Tong as he saw Ling Zhang keeping silent.

“I’d like to live somewhere else. I don’t want to live in the mansion of Yuwen family,” replied Ling Zhang.

“It’s safer to live in the mansion of Yuwen family. My place is pretty far away from those of others, and there’s also a wood in between. Nobody dares to go there without my permission, so there’s no need for you to worry that anybody will bother you,” said Yuwen Tong.

Ling Zhang did dislike living with other members of Yuwen family. It would make him feel very uncomfortable.

But after he heard Yuwen Tong’s words, living there struck him not bad.

“Then I’ll make a decision when we get there.”

Seeing that he had already been swayed somewhat, Yuwen Tong nodded. “Okay.”

He was going to marry Ling Zhang, so of course he wanted Ling Zhang to stay close to him. How could he allow Ling Zhang to live far away?

Several plans instantly crossed Yuwen Tong’s mind. He was a-hundred-percent sure that Ling Zhang would live in the mansion of Yuwen family after he entered the capital city.

Apart from these, Yuwen Tong also asked Ling Zhang many questions about his living habits. Though a lot of them had already come to his knowledge after his observation, there were still some he was unaware of.

Ling Zhang’s mind was brought to perplexity. “Even if I decide to stay in Yuwen family, somebody else is going to take care of these things. Why bother asking?”

“I’m more comfortable with taking care of your needs myself,” replied Yuwen Tong with a natural face.

But this remark made Ling Zhang’s heart flutter. He twisted his head aside and said, “Well, we can talk about these after we get to the capital city. There’s no need to make a decision right now. If you’ve got anything to deal with, just go.”

“Okay, then. Remember to inform me when you’re ready to tell Lord Ling.”

“I will.”

Bursting with impatience, Ling Zhang quickly saw Yuwen Tong out of the courtyard. Then he hurried back to his room and gulped down a cup of tea which had already gone cold. And with that, the weird feeling was finally allayed.

Yuwen Tong returned to the Green Bamboo Mansion and fished out that pamphlet. He read it carefully and then closed his eyes, replaying every detail of the six formations one by one in his mind. After confirming that he had lodged them firmly in his memory, he burnt the pamphlet.

Its existence meant a higher risk of leak.

Ling Zhang trusted him, but he couldn’t afford to put Ling Zhang in danger.

“Guard.”

“Marshal.”

His bodyguard showed up at the summons.

“Are there any messages from those responsible for finding out where Ling family got those formations?”

“Negative, Marshal.”

Yuwen Tong knitted his eyebrows. ‘Is it really so difficult? There has to be someone who taught Ling Zhang these formations. They couldn’t even get any information about the identity of this person?’

“Keep me informed of any developments.”

“Yes, Your Lordship!”

…

After daybreak, servants of Lin family, after quite some inquiries, finally managed to find out what happened in Jia family the night before. It turned out that Jia Yin had been bitten by some poisonous bug and his body was covered with red, swollen, festering and extremely terrifying blebs. The illness had once been suspected to be smallpox, which brought all people of Jia family into horror.

Mrs. Lin’s spleen was dissolved considerably after hearing that people of Jia family had nearly been scared to death. She stealthily said to Lin Yuan, “I wonder how Childe Ling managed to do that.”

Lin Yuan replied, “Since Childe Ling avenged our sufferings, all we need to do is keep this favor in mind. How he did it is not something we are supposed to dig into.”

In embarrassment, Mrs. Lin gave a nod of agreement. “You’re right, my dear.”

“Master, Mistress, I’ve also heard some other news,” the servant said.

“What is it?” Mrs. Lin asked him.

“It is rumored that last night Cao Dong, who’s responsible for managing the mine of Jia family, got drunk at a brothel. In front of a great many prostitutes and guests, he openly claimed that Jia family was not afraid of Zhang Chong, that Zhang Chong had been secretly purchasing ore from Jia family’s mine and all transactions were recorded in an account book, that Jia family would hand the account book over to the authority if Zhang Chong dared to cause Jia family any harm,” replied the servant.

Mrs. Lin was struck dumb. Lin Yuan was astounded as well. “Did he really say that?”

The servant responded, “I think so. There are a lot of discussions about this matter out there. Incidentally, when I was making inquiries at the residence of Jia family, I saw a Yamen runner go there to deliver a visitor’s card. It seemed like Lord Tao was going to pay a visit to Jia family.”

Mrs. Lin said in a displeased tone of voice, “Jia family assaulted you, yet Lord Tao still intended to go and check on Jia Yin?”

“No. It must be because of that account book that Cao Dong mentioned last night,” Lin Yuan observed. “I wonder if this matter has come to Lord Ling’s knowledge. Lee, go to Ling family and inform them what you’ve heard.”

The servant answered, “Yes, Master. I’ll see it done.”

The servant was a quick runner. He hurried to the residence of Ling family and required an audience with Ling Zhaowen, but Ling Zhaowen had gone to Prefecture Yamen, so it was Ling Zhang who came out to meet him.

After hearing the servant’s remarks, Ling Zhang gave a smile. “Please tell Supervisor Lin I’m grateful to him for his kind word of warning.”

Ling Zhang had Xia Feng tip the servant of Lin family and the servant happily took his leave.

“Young Master, since even people of Lin family have heard about this matter, the news must have spread across the whole Tanyang. I think it will come to Zhang Chong’s knowledge very soon,” observed Xia Feng.