To play with an axe in front of the legendary craftsman Lu Ban‘s door, sell liquor in front of the legendary brewer Du Kang‘s storefront, and to dry books in front of the sage Fu Zi’s door was certainly the most immodest behavior. But if the perspective was changed, when Lu Ban saw that fellow handling his axe in front of his door, when Du Kang saw that fellow in front of his liquor shop, when Fu Zi saw that fellow in front of his door where he dried books, and in that particular moment they discovered the most supreme sacred existence beyond the secular world, would they not act on their itch that was birthed from the deepest depths of their being like Ning Que had?

I want to create a wooden bird that explains to that fellow that flight works like this with a flying model. I want to brew a fine liquor that tells that fellow that a destroyed country’s brews worked like this. I want to write some long-winded words that tells that fellow this is what food for thought is. I want to write a few characters that tells that fellow what kind of characters could be called calligraphy – even if you are the Emperor, Son of Heaven, you have to obediently listen to me.

Ning Que in this very moment, was immersed inside this kind of extreme pleasure. He looked in satisfaction at the gradually drying ink on the Xuan Province’s sapling paper, fantasizing about talking with His Majesty the Emperor’s calligraphy teacher, and using those natural and elegant brush strokes of ink to whip that old man’s palms, berating sternly with contemptuous disdain.

“Written wrong again! Stretch out your hand for a spanking!”

He was exceptionally satisfied with the characters he wrote, and even felt that they were the best characters he’d written in years. Besides the brush, ink, paper and inkstone of all equally fine quality, located in the Imperial Study, this fantastic place, the most important reason was still because he had acc.u.mulated too much itch in this room, and even more because of the fact that the first characters were written by His Majesty himself.

He was deeply admiring his own curving use of the brush, the smooth and broadly rich imposing manner. In a moment he unexpectedly didn’t want to destroy this paper, and thus he prepared to take this paper outside to dry completely and then hide it in his sleeve, and secretly take it out of the Palace. But just in that moment, outside the Imperial Study that had all along been quiet without a sound, suddenly echoed with an indignant groan.

“Where did that rotten thing run off to!”

Ning Que was alarmed, and raised his head just to see a hand pus.h.i.+ng open the door of the Imperial Study.

His pupils shrank, and with a quick reaction his finger made a tiny flick, and the drying calligraphy sheet on top of the table slid lightly into an empty corner of the bookshelf. Closely following with a turn of his body, he held his sleeves feigning seriousness as he looked at the shelves of the book collection. With his sleeves swis.h.i.+ng, the row of books already changed the direction of tilt, pressing that Blossoms Open Transcendental Skies tightly inside. No one would be able to see that someone had once moved it.

Walking into the Imperial Study was a short and stout middle-aged general, wearing Palace guard clothing. Fastened on his belt was a black gold lace, showing his extremely high rank. This middle-aged general saw Ning Que next to the books, and watching the oblivious youth, focused like a bookworm as he read, his eyes turned angry, and he sternly yelled out, “Who the h.e.l.l let you come in?”

Ning Que seemed oblivious but was actually all along listening to sounds from the back room. Hearing these words his heart thumped, and guessed that there was some misunderstanding in this, that he should have misheard what that little eunuch had told him. This shouldn’t be a conspiracy like White Tiger Hall – if the Palace wanted to handle this kind of small person, they simply wouldn’t need to make such moves. However to enter the Imperial Study without permission, this kind of crime could be big and could be small; no matter what he wouldn’t let himself fall into this kind of trouble.

He turned his head around like a cute little scholar mesmerized by the book collection. Rubbing his eyes, he looked at the short and stout Imperial Guard Chief, and with his face full of confusion he said, “I was given Imperial Orders for an audience. What is the problem?”

The short and stout Imperial Guard Chief slightly paused. He had probably never imagined that someone being caught inside of the Imperial Study could still be so cool and so calm, and his face couldn’t help but to show a flabbergasted expression. Painfully using his hand to cover his forehead, and angrily talking to himself he said, “Old Chao you b.a.s.t.a.r.d! You didn’t teach any of the rules in advance!”

Ning Que came out from behind the table he was at, cupping his hands in propriety he quizzically asked, “Sir general, you know Big Brother Chao?”

At 47th Street, in Spring Wind Pavilion, no matter the kind of heroic temperament he showed to Chao XiaoShu, all along Ning Que didn’t recognize the word ‘brother’. But in the very moment he didn’t hesitate in the slightest and naturally said these two words “big brother” in order to protect himself, as if asking this question back was to parry, to attack. In any event, his objective was to take the other party’s attention somewhere else other than the Imperial Study.

The short and stout Imperial Guard Chief confirmed that no one else was in the Imperial Study. With his face full of alertness and worry he looked at the surroundings, and not discovering anything unusual, with some lingering fear he again covered his forehead. With a pained expression he said to Ning Que, “Kid, quickly roll yourself out of here. Daddy has been looking for you for half an hour, who would’ve thought that you would actually dare to come in here? Remember this, today you didn’t come here. In your whole life don’t think about bragging about it to people, or else I’ll destroy you!”

Ning Que followed the complaining nagging Chief of the Imperial Guard and left the Imperial Study, heading west and circling for two paces. Then they came to the Spring Harmony Hall’s daytime office of the Imperial Guard.

Within the darkness of the room, he finally knew that this short, stout and angry, with a HeBei accent fellow, with every word seeming to carry the scent of green onions, was unexpectedly the Palace’s Imperial Guard Vice Commander Xu ChongShan – exactly the host that Chao XiaoShu had said he would come in to see last night.

“His Majesty is extremely fond of calligraphy, and you just happen to sell calligraphy. And so this ident.i.ty was used to take you inside the Palace, just to avoid eyes and ears. Since you are a piece of work kid, unexpectedly without a noise or sound you went into the Imperial Study! Do you actually think you’re some kind of great calligrapher! Did you really think His Majesty invited you here to award your writings!”

Xu ChongShan angrily pointed at Ning Que’s nose and snarled in a low voice, saliva like the stars flew splas.h.i.+ng, filling the sky.

Ning Que rubbed his nose in distress, secretly thinking that indeed His Majesty didn’t invite him here to award him for calligraphy, but he had already written some words in the Imperial Study, what can you get to show me how it works? Thinking of this, and thinking of that Blossoms Open Transcendental Skies pressed into a nook of a bookshelf, he secretly wondered, in the future, how would he get this thing out?

Xu ChongShan was a bit tired of berating. Panting, he grasped his thick and solid waist, and said, “Let’s talk about your matter.”

Ning Que happily smiled and replied, “Please speak.”

Xu ChongShan glanced at him a bit strangely, and said, “You this happy-go-lucky youth, where do you have half of the appearance that Old Chao’s said?”

“That’s because you Sir Commander, your tiger-like power is too magnificent.” Ning Que very seriously explained.

A golden mountain, a silver mountain, copper walls and metal bastions can all be pierced, only flattery cannot be. Even if it was a young and clumsy flattery, it would have its uses. Even more so, this fellow that gave the flattery was a young and clumsy youth. Xu ChongShan’s face became a bit better, and then after clearly coughing twice he asked, “By now you should know who Old Chao is a.s.sociated with right?”

Ning Que slightly frowned, and feigning stupidity he asked, “Big Brother Chao is Sir Commander’s subordinate?”

“I don’t have the guts to go and order Spring Wind Pavilion’s Old Chao, besides…..from now on don’t call him big brother Chao. There were already fewer of those old people from back then. We’re used to calling him Chao Second Brother.” Xu ChongShan sternly said.

Immediately he thought of the ma.s.sacre in the spring rain last night, and thinking of Old Chao’s a.s.sessment of this youth, and seeing that Ning Que was a bit pleasing to the eye, the topic suddenly changed and with a smile he asked, “Last night, why did you want to go help Old Chao?”

“I was paid 520 silvers.” Ning Que very honestly replied.

No one would walk from life to death for someone they had just become acquainted with for 520 silvers. Not to mention that person was still a sixteen year-old, and a youth that had just been admitted to the Academy. Xu ChongShan didn’t believe his explanation, so he didn’t think that he was greedy for money, and even more felt he was truly a sentimental person, instantly finding him more pleasing to the eye.

“His Majesty likes sentimental people. I also like them.” Xu ChongShan smiled towards him and asked, “Then next I need to ask you a question, and that is…..are you willing to sacrifice your life and even your honor for the nation?”

Ning Que slightly hesitated, and frowned for a long time. On one side he was trying to guess what this high official’s reason for asking was, and on the other he didn’t quite understand why he used “even” in front of “honor”. Could it be that honor would be even more important than life?

This question was very big and very broad, very serious and very sacred, but also made him very uncertain about the point. He thought for a long while, thinking of several of the generals around Wei City, and thought of those comrades who would share life and death together, and thought of the warm common people in ChangAn City, and slowly and seriously replied, “If it had to come to that, life can be given……”

Having said this, he suddenly thought of one of the scenes from the night before. After Chao XiaoShu reluctantly put down half a bowl of noodle soup, and looked at the distant gray wall across from the shop, he said quietly to himself, and thus hesitated to say add these words, “But some things won’t do.”

Xu ChongShan seriously looked at him, and discovered that the youth’s reply didn’t have the initial tone of lacking any hesitation of throwing the die, and was rather serious even to the point of troubled as he pondered for half the day. In regards to this point, not only was the Vice Commander not angry, but instead was extremely appreciative, because he was very clear that after going through a thought-out, cautious answer was much more trustworthy than a vehement, hot-blooded response.

“From today onwards, you are a member of my Great Tang’s Imperial Guards.”

With no more questions, and no exams, just a few lines of very simple conversation, Xu ChongShan decided to accept this youngster into the ranks of the Great Tang Palace’s Imperial Guards. Included was the factor of Chao XiaoShu’s a.s.surance, but the even bigger reason was he really quite liked that this youth when responding, showed his temperament.

Consequently it was Ning Que’s turn to be shocked silent. He looked at the dull sheen of the ebony tablet in his hands, and looked at the symbol of status on top. After a very long silence, he said in a daze, “After fighting once, I’ve become a big inner Imperial Guard?”

“The Fish Dragon Gang was forced into the open by those moronic high ministers of the Palace. No need to look at me like that, the word ‘moron’ was His Majesty’s personal evaluation last night – so we have to once again set up new helping hands hidden in the Night Scene.”

Xu ChongShan coldly explained, “This is an honor of the people of the Tang Dynasty. Don’t think about refusing.”

“It’s not a problem of refusing or not.” Ning Que helplessly said, “The problem is, what does the Court need me to do? And what can I do? Most importantly, I’m about to partake in the entrance exam of the Academy.”

Hearing the word “academy”, Xu ChongShan’s face slightly changed, and it wasn’t for any other reason, but that as an elder of the Imperial Guards, he was very clear the things that Chao XiaoShu suffered back then – and exactly because of those memories, these days this generation of hidden Imperial Guards don’t have the treatment of those years. He had a gentle smile as he looked at Ning Que, and said, “Don’t worry, if you can enter the Academy then go. After you leave the Academy, in the end isn’t it still for the effectiveness of the Court? The two don’t conflict.”

“You still haven’t said what I need to do.” Ning Que persisted to ask.

“The Fish Dragon Gang has been placed in the open, but the JiangHu of ChangAn City is already without other problems.” Xu ChongShan slightly frowned and said, “Your mission is very simple, that is to gather intelligence. The specific mission will be discussed later.”

If the JiangHu was no longer a problem, then the biggest problem beyond Imperial power was naturally the xiuxing cultivator world. Thinking that he was about to enter the Academy, and thinking again of the Vice Commander’s vague description, Ning Que very naturally thought of some possibility – did the Imperial Court want to do something to the Academy?

The Imperial Guard plaque in his hands was a bit moistened in sweat, but he knew these things wouldn’t allow him to refuse, and he could only hope that someday the direction of this matter and his own imagining wouldn’t be the same.