Martial King’s Retired Life

Book 16: Chapter 2

“In summary, Lass Yu showed up when you were trying to get away from Night Sparrow?” Ming Feizhen snacked on peanuts left over among the mountain of plates as he conversed with Tang Ni.

As she tied up her hair, Tang Ni responded, “Yeah. She’s formidable. Her fame in Jiangnan is justified, hahaha.”

Yu Feiyuan merely tried to clear the mist with the spear in order to stop the fight, never expecting barely any of them were able to endure the tornado she generated. Mist Oriole’s head rolled as a result of being in her range.

Seeing as a third party had joined the rumble, Tang Ni did not hesitate to flee. She did not have any deep-seated bad blood between herself and Yingfeng’s Four Elites, after all, to insist on killing them. However, it was impossible to outrun Yu Feiyuan when she was carrying Li Zizi. Hence, before the situation degraded into more fighting, Tang Ni expressed, “Miss, we were framed. You must get your facts right.”

“… Mm, stay by my side and speak,” Yu Feiyuan responded after some thought.

Tang Ni actually replicated Yu Feiyuan’s voice almost perfectly before exhaling a breath of relief. “Thankfully, she let down her guard once I explained Zizi is Ming Feizhen’s disciple, or she would have attacked us. I don’t know if she’s clever or really wanted to fight. Either way, her ability to force people to tell the truth is scary.”

“Oh, I can guarantee she was sincere.” Not seeing Yu Feiyuan after looking around, Ming Feizhen questioned, “Where’s Lass Yu?”

“Gone, probably? I don’t know. I just came here with Zizi since we were hungry and heard you were treating everyone here. There were too many people, though, so I couldn’t find you, but Zizi said he met up with you. I didn’t get to speak to you since I was busy drinking at the time. I never expected this to be Zizi’s shifu.”

Tang Ni scanned Ming Feizhen in a manner that gave the impression she saw his true nature. Despite how many people he had met in his lifetime, Ming Feizhen seldom met anyone with a similar gaze in the same age bracket.

“Oh, Mr. Ming, you noticed I’m a girl? You’re experienced.”

“You can cut the pleasantries out. I’m nothing impressive compared to you, who turned the capital upside down without being detected. Hey,” Ming Feizhen grinned, “you’re part of Tang Clan?”

“Hehe, you’re part of Mount Daluo?”

Ming Feizhen thrust a finger towards Tang Ni, withholding his qi within so that it would not blast out. Tang Ni gently tapped the table, causing a bunch of hair strands to rise. Like needles, the hair strands pierced an opening in Ming Feizhen’s wall of qi, which would have eventually erased his collected qi if he tried to repair the hole. Instead, though, Ming Feizhen cracked a grin and amped up the ante, dragging along the cutlery as if they could float.

“Aiya.” Tang Ni vaulted upwards.

The fight with Pangu inspired some new ideas, this thrust being one of them, which helped Ming Feizhen improve his string skills considerably.

Although Tang Ni never saw a dragon roar before, she could tell how dangerous the thrust was. She relied on deft movements to spring from one piece of cutlery to the next. Ming Feizhen unleashed the qi he built up as a wide-radius blast, causing the suspended cutlery to fall. Tang Ni, using the cutlery as shields, descended methodically between the cutlery to avoid getting hit.

“Impressive. Clever girl.”

The most impressive part was that Tang Ni deduced Ming Feizhen would hold back. Seeing as he treated the customers, she assumed that Ming Feizhen was friends with the proprietor and therefore would not damage the place or items.

Having fought with Li Zizi plenty of times, Tang Ni had the impression that Ming Feizhen’s strength lied in sophistication, never expecting him to be someone who was actually the opposite and relied on overwhelming internal energy. Based on the fact that Ming Feizhen did not even breathe hard after performing the thrust and was able to line the cutlery back orderly without breaking a sweat, Tang Ni estimated his internal energy cultivation rivalled her father’s – if it was not superior.

“You are the one who is impressive, Mr. Ming. Your internal energy explains why you are Zizi’s shifu.”

Ming Feizhen snorted. “If we’re talking about internal energy, you’re not shabby. You must think very little of your life considering you won’t even show what you’re capable of.”

Tang Ni reacted surprised before pouting. “Mr. Ming, picking on me would besmirch your heroic reputation.”

“Hahaha, who would know about it? Go ahead and scream. Even if you scream until you lose your voice, nobody will h-”

“What are you doing?”

Ming Feizhen coughed as if he choked on a drink. He did not even need to turn around to identify the speaker, but he discovered more than he assumed when he did look. The one who questioned him was none other than Shen Yiren, but she had company.

“Brother Feizhen,” Yu Feiyuan, who accompanied Shen Yiren, saw Ming Feizhen’s hysteric laugh, prompting her to tilt her head and query, “what are you doing?”

“Yeah, what were you doing?”

Ming Feizhen dryly chuckled. “It’s like this: she appeared to be a lively one, so I just tested her skills, that’s all. Um, Lass, why are you here?”

Yu Feiyuan, to the shock of everyone, threw herself at Ming Feizhen and said, “I missed you.”