Liu Shan Men and the Three Departments - Have Some Soy Bean Milk

I vaulted over the wall, contemplating which route to take to Wuying Hall. I was mid landing and planning to begin my search, but…

"Aaahh!"

As soon as I vaulted over, a pretty boy roughly thirteen to fourteen blankly looked up at me. He held on to a…

'Is that a spiked mace?!'

The boy shrieked, and then swung the mace at me as he stepped back owing to his anxiety.

'Shit me! Do you have to be that vicious?! And watch where you're swinging it!!'

I used my qi to elevate myself thirty centimetres back up in order to avoid a mace splattering me! However, my manoeuvre stunned him. Face red, he opened his mouth and shut it multiple times until he eventually stammered, "M-Monster! Sister Lian! There's a monster!"

Oh, and he began to swing the mace wildly again. I could feel the wind generated hit me in the face each time. I had to bob and weave my head then circle around to his rear.

The boy was dumbstruck, yet he switched to a double-hand grip and continued swinging the mace. He swung it behind him without even looking back. The kid's reaction was unwelcomingly fast! He was too short, and his reach was too short compared to me, unfortunately. I chopped the section of the mace without spikes, grabbed on to the reverse side and snatched it from him.

The mace was notably heavy. It was sized for an adult martial artist. A rough estimate would be ten to twelve kilograms. The kid's arm strength was impressive for his age; he was able to swing it without any hitches. With the correct guidance and training, he would grow up to embody astounding might.

He was dumbstruck when he looked down to his empty hands. Livid, he pointed at me and stomped his foot: "Wh-Wh-What insolence! How dare you snatch my spiked mace?!"

I didn't expect him to throw a fit over having his spiked mace snatched… More importantly, I couldn't figure out what a kid was doing at Cold Palace. He wore the uniform of imperial guards if I was correct. The only imperial guards in the palace who could move about freely in the palace were trained by the Emperor's Entourage…

'Shit, don't tell me he's a second generation official.'

I surveyed the immediate surroundings to see swords, sabres, spears, halberds and whatnot littered on the ground. Swinging a weapon around in the palace was a crime but all eighteen?

'You know what? Getting out of here is the best strategy. His Majesty is waiting for me!'

"Who… are you?" asked the kid, frigidly frowning and imposing his aura. "Sister Lian said there are some things one can't possibly do. She said that no matter how skilled one may be, once they have maximised their output, they can't produce more force. How did you elevate yourself thirty centimetres back up when you were falling? Wh-Who exactly are you? I'm not afraid of you."

He cowered after saying that, revealing his nature as a kid.

"Your sister told you a commonly applied concept in martial arts. It's correct," I stated. I poked the ground with the spiked mace, cracking it and sinking it deep enough for it to stand steady. I casually elaborated, "However, internal arts never obeyed common sense. I know more than thirty internal styles for using old force to produce new force or storing force within yourself to deal with various sticky situations. Shaolin, Wudang, Emei and even the Demon Sect have their own version. They aren't rare methods by any means. As for who I am, I'm just a passing… constable."

The boy didn't listen to me; his wide eyes were fixed on the spiked mace in the ground.

"Th-That's crazy."

"This is nothing!" I furrowed my eyebrows: "This is enough to impress you? Listen: you know of the principle 'it's better to receive than attack'? That sort of brute force style would be completely dismantled by a true adept at absorbing force. You can hurl your strongest attack at him, but if your opponent withholds seventy to eighty percent of his strength, you tell me who gets the short end of the stick."

"It's better to receive than attack? Really?" Thrilled, the boy eagerly asked, "Really? Can you do it? Teach me please?”

“I…” I stopped myself. If the kid really was an official's child, it wouldn't be wise of me to reveal my skills to him: "In short, I need to go to work. I have someone waiting for me. I have no time to play with you, so see you later."

"W-Wait!" the kid