Having failed at the handshake, Song Zining didn’t know how to deal with Wei Potian for the moment. This shameless wild boar was never one to observe etiquette and happened to be the nemesis of someone like Song Zining.
The latter closed in and whispered through clenched teeth, “Are you here to cause trouble? I’ll deal with you in a bit, just you wait. I might just stuff you into the Great Maelstrom if you don’t listen to me.”
Wei Potian was full of smiles. “I’m here to enter the Great Maelstrom!”
“What?” Song Zining cried out, only realizing afterward that he had spoken too loud. He immediately dragged Wei Potian away.
Moments later, the two of them entered the main tent and Song Zining closed the door. The first thing he said was, “Are you crazy!? Or has the Wei clan gone crazy?”
Wei Potian rubbed his head in confusion. “I’m quite fine I think, I only received minor injuries recently. Why do you say I’m crazy?”
“Why would you want to enter the Great Maelstrom if you’re not!?” Song Zining’s volume rose several decibels. “Do you know how dangerous it is inside? Do you know where this pa.s.sage leads? Let me speak frankly, a fifty percent probability of survival is already too generous for someone like you. What are you going to do inside? Throw away your life? You’re a future marquis, and you don’t even have a wife yet, let alone kids. Are you trying to sever Marquis Wei’s line by entering the Great Maelstrom?”
Wei Potian seemed somewhat puzzled. “Is it that serious?”
Song Zining’s anger turned into laughter. “Is it that serious!? Take a look around, which clan’s direct heir has entered the Great Maelstrom? Let alone an heir, even the more important characters in the family weren’t allowed to enter.”
“Umm… didn’t Li Kuanglan go in?”
Song Zining said angrily, “Look at her abilities! Look at yours! She is certain about survival after going in. Why don’t you look at yourself in the mirror and ask if you’ll even last one day?!”
Wei Potian laughed. “What kind of person do you think Wei Potian is? I definitely have a seat among the peak characters of the empire. Are you stopping me from seeking fortunes because you’re jealous of my future accomplishments?”
“Fortunes my a.s.s!” Song Zining wanted nothing more than to kick this Wei Potian flying. He stomped hard, shouting, “No! I’m the current commander of the Imperial forces in the Eastern Sea. Whatever I say counts! As long as I remain here, you can forget about going in secretly. It’s useless even with that stolen set of Northern Legion clothes!”
“I didn’t steal them.”
Song Zining sneered, “Still trying to deny? You were brought up in the Broken Winged Angels, and they’ve always been at odds with Marshal Lin. How come you’ve suddenly transferred to the Northern Legion? Is this renouncing the darkness to join the light?”
Wei Potian didn’t feel embarra.s.sed at all. “Let’s just say it is.”
Song Zining was so p.i.s.sed at Wei Potian’s shameless behavior that he didn’t know what to say.
Wei Potian said seriously, “I’m really in the Northern Legion now, and I came to enter the Great Maelstrom under Marshal Lin’s orders.”
Song Zining sneered, “Liar! Don’t tell me you brought the marshal’s command token too?”
“Umm… that I didn’t.”
“No? Do you think I’ll believe you?”
“But the marshall really did permit me to come.” Wei Potian was somewhat speechless. Song Zining simply wouldn’t believe him no matter what he said.
Wei Potian jumped up anxiously. “I know you’re doing this for my own good, but didn’t you send Qianye in as well? I can help him once I get inside!”
Song Zining clenched his teeth. “Do you know how strong Qianye is right now? He can devour three wild boars at a time.”
“Umm… appet.i.te isn’t related to strength, is it?” Wei Potian was once again puzzled.
“Of course it is!” Song Zining said with a serious expression.
It was at this moment that the tent doors opened and a young girl in military clothing walked in. “What made seventh young n.o.ble so angry?”
The girl looked rather familiar. Her delicate face had a hint of n.o.bility to it, and her thick combat attire did little to hide her lithe figure. Song Zining was startled, unable to recall who she was.
The girl smiled faintly. “Kong.”
“Kong…” Song Zining still couldn’t recall which girl from the Kong family she was. But that wasn’t too surprising since the high-ranking aristocratic family wasn’t on great terms with him back in the year. They had clashed again later during the b.l.o.o.d.y battle and that brought the Kong family further away from Song Zining.
Seeing that she wasn’t recognized, the lady stopped holding back her name. “Kong Xuan.”
“Ah, it’s Miss Kong Xuan. You are indeed as young and pretty as they say.” Song Zining praised her out of habit.
Kong Xuan chuckled. “As expected, seventh young n.o.ble really does know how to praise girls. We’ve only met once when we were young, and I had only returned from the Li family. Where could you have heard of me being pretty?”
“Wait a minute, you said you were at the Li family. Don’t tell me…”
“I was learning divination and sword arts at the Li family and also served as Young n.o.ble Kuanglan’s maid. Now that I’ve completed my studies, it’s time I went home.” There was a hint of disappointment in Kong Xuan’s expression as she said this.
Song Zining immediately had a guess. “Miss Kong, are you thinking about…”
“What else but to learn more arts?” Kong Xuan cut him short.
Song Zining already knew what was going on at this point. Li Kuanglan was a peak candidate both in terms of appearance and sword arts, only slightly inferior to Zhao Jundu. Kong Xuan claimed she wanted to learn, but what she truly wanted was to use her maid status to be in the same tent as Li Kuanglan. Song Zining knew of Li Kuanglan’s true ident.i.ty and, quite naturally, could tell that Kong Xuan’s notions would be in vain.
“Then why have you arrived here, Miss?”
Kong Xuan replied, “The old master has ordered me to enter the Great Maelstrom for training. It just so happens that the Wei clan heir is also entering, so I wish to go in with him. We can help each other out along the way.”
Song Zining glanced at them with a frown. “Miss Kong, did the old master of your family really instruct you to do so?”
“Of course! People from the Kong family will arrive soon, you can confirm with them.” Kong Xuan was somewhat unhappy.
Song Zining’s brows knitted even tighter. “But we still don’t know when the pa.s.sage can be opened again, and the dark races might return by the time it recovers. How do we go in?”
Wei Potian said, “Marshal Lin has long since made preparations. He gave us some treasures and said he has already set things up inside the tunnel. Those holding the treasure will be noticed and guided to the Great Maelstrom.”
With that, Wei Potian produced a crystal bottle with a bone-bead floating about inside.
Song Zining glanced over at Kong Xuan and found that she had a similar crystal bottle.
“That means the marshal and your families do know that you’re going in?”
The two of them nodded at the same time.
Song Zining’s expression was odd, but he made no comment. He simply patted Wei Potian’s shoulder and said with a serious expression, “Then go in!”
Wei Potian felt a bit scared now. He dragged Song Zining back and asked, “What? There won’t be any bad things inside, will there?”
“Of course not! The Wei clan heir is at the peak of his fortune now, you’ll surely turn misfortune around even if you do encounter it. What are you afraid of?”
The more Song Zining spoke in this manner, the less confident Wei Potian became. Kong Xuan, on the other hand, was quite calm. “It’ll be fine. Marshal Lin prepared more than just two secret treasures. There’s at least half a dozen of them as far as I remember! All of us will enter the Great Maelstrom sooner or later. When the time comes, we can take care of each other.”
Wei Potian nodded, and his countenance recovered somewhat. He was still quite sharp, nonetheless—an increasing sense of uneasiness came over him as he recalled Song Zining’s odd expression. He knew full well that Song Zining would reveal that secretive demeanor when he was up to no good.
However, there was no time to nitpick on the details. According to Lin Xitang’s arrangements, they were to enter the pa.s.sage without delay after arriving in the neutral lands.
Both he and Kong Xuan had made ample preparations, with both families offering them spatial equipment. That was a huge investment.
Song Zining knew time was of essence, so he arranged for the duo to head to the holy mountain immediately.
The people from the Kong family soon arrived on their airs.h.i.+p and handed Kong Xuan a set of protective armor made especially for traversing spatial pa.s.sages. This set of armor was incomparably thick and looked like a steel ball around the young miss. It took several strong men to carry her up the holy mountain. Wei Potian, however, was much more relaxed and donned only his usual battle armor. The Wei family’s Thousand Mountains was known for its defense, and he also had Lin Xitang’s treasure in hand. It would be a joke if he couldn’t get through the tunnel.
In half a day’s time, Wei Potian and Kong Xuan were standing before the entrance to the Great Maelstrom pa.s.sage, looking up at the flickering ball of dark radiance with pale expressions. Both of them seemed somewhat frightened at the thought of pa.s.sing through the boundless void and into an unfamiliar world.
Song Zining stood alongside them and sighed. “Take care on the other side.”
Wei Potian nodded. “Aren’t you entering?”
Song Zining shook his head. “I don’t have the Marshal’s secret treasure, so I’ll have to wait for the pa.s.sage to stabilize.”
Wei Potian slapped his forehead at that point. “Oh my! I nearly forgot, the marshal gave me an extra treasure to give you.”
Song Zining was positively livid. “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
Wei Potian produced a crystal bottle and pa.s.sed it to Song Zining. “I was so happy to see you that I forgot some stuff!”
How could anyone forget something so important? Speechless, Song Zining received the crystal bottle and kicked Wei Potian on the b.u.t.t. “Get in!”
The kick was so powerful that it sent Wei Potian flying into the pa.s.sage. The four experts nearby grabbed Kong Xuan by her limbs and hurled her inside as well.
Song Zining tossed the crystal bottle in his hands as he gazed at the pa.s.sage.
Eunuch Zhang arrived beside him. “Aren’t you going in?”
Song Zining shook his head. “There’s no rush. I’m still needed on this side. It’s fine for me to wait until all the others with the secret treasures have gone inside.”
Eunuch Zhang praised, “You’re indeed benevolent. It’s a relief for me to be working with someone like you.”
Song Zining chuckled. “You praise me too much.”
At this point, a hand reached out from the side and s.n.a.t.c.hed the crystal bottle in Song Zining’s hand.
Shocked out of his wits, Song Zining stepped to the side and glanced back. What he saw there was an outrageously big hand-cannon.