Chapter 681: The Strategy
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
By this time Zhou Bao was in a very bad mood.
Anybody who encountered a situation like this would go crazy. If w.a.n.g She or the Child-endowing Buddha heard about this, they would split their sides laughing.
Someone shouted and swore at him in a crowded tavern in his very own Wuyang Region. The d.a.m.n urban management officers did not do a thing but just stood there laughing. What kind of f*cking urban management was this?
They were basically soft and powerless.
Seeing Zhou Bao suddenly stand up among the crowd, pointing at his nose and swearing, the scholar was stunned at first. He then reacted. Straightening himself up, he asked, “Who do you think you are, daring to rant and rage in the Cloud Crane Tavern?”
“F*ck!” Zhou Bao cursed quietly. No longer saying anything, he lifted his hand. There was a cracking sound. The scholar who had just been shouting was slapped twice.
Now, the whole tavern was silent.
“It’s not a case of daring. I can do what I want,” Zhou Bao said coldly. In a moment he was by the scholar, clutching him with his hand. “Boy, you should know there’s a price to pay for swearing!”
“Your Excellency has such skills, why would you make things difficult for a scholar? Maybe all the feats you learned could be used to show this weak scholar your might?”
“Hmph, you finally appeared? I thought you were hiding upstairs!”
“If you hit my brother, of course I will come out!”
Zhou Bao smiled. This Feng Xuan really had the capital to attract women. He was tall, handsome, and masculine. Zhou Bao thought about his own appearance, and looking at this boy, he got even angrier.
“F*ck, what does this boy think he can gain from being so handsome? Does he think he can seduce my daughter with that d.a.m.n handsome face?”
This Feng Xuan had grown to be a talented person, very smart and very attractive. When Zhou Bao looked at him, anger burned inside him.
His daughter was only thirteen years old and she was tempted by this boy. This was not comfortable to live with. Out of the corner of his eye, Zhou saw a short blade glint strangely at the boy’s waist and had a very familiar feeling.
“Sh*t, is that the Pure Yang Celestial Device grade wizard weapon I dredged up from the Sea Area? How could this boy have it on his waist?” Looking at the short blade, Zhou Bao’s anger reached its limit. “So you are Feng Xuan?”
“Yes. I am Feng Xuan. May I ask Your Excellency, what is your name?”
“Look, Feng Xuan is talking with someone again!”
“Quick, quick! Go to the Cloud Crane Tavern, there’s going to be another fight!”
“It’s Feng Xuan again. It’s the seventh time this month. This time something big will go down!”
“The owner Li Yunhe has no idea what kind of place this is. Every day there’s a commotion. Saying that in Wuyang Region everything was really bad. And he still has the nerve to slander His Excellency King Wuyang. If it was anyone else, he would have been taken away by the urban management right away!”
“Oh. Don’t tell him, let him think he has a good brother!”
“But Feng Xuan is too arrogant. There is n.o.body in Wuyang Region as arrogant as him.”
“It’s not his fault he looks down upon everybody. I don’t know why, but the Great Commander Jiang is very lenient with him.”
“Yes. I don’t know what kind of upbringing Feng Xuan had. But Great Commander Jiang is too tolerant of him. Could it be Feng Xuan is his illegitimate child?”
“What are you saying? If he was his illegitimate child, Great Commander Jiang would not be able to protect him so openly. No, I think he must be the illegitimate child of His Royal Highness!”
“Well, I suppose it’s possible. Great Commander Jiang and Zhu would not tolerate him so much otherwise!”
“Yes, but this boy is so arrogant. Do you think that maybe he has support from somewhere in the Wuyang Region that’s allowed him to survive this long?”
While Zhou Bao and Feng Xuan were talking, the place was in a commotion. People were saying all kinds of things. Zhou Bao understood Feng Xuan’s actions in some way. This scholar was in the tavern all day wantonly proclaiming Zhou Bao’s shortcomings, saying bad things about him, and saying that Jiang Xiao and Zhu Ba did not care about him. As for why they did not care, Zhou Bao imagined what the reason could be. In the beginning, they could not be said to care as such. It was Zhou Qing who had stepped in so that this boy could survive until now, with all his arrogance.
This made Zhou Bao even angrier. He could not stand to look at him.
“You are not qualified yet to know who I am!” Zhou Bao said coldly. “I see the short blade on your waist. It’s a nice design. Where did you steal it from?”
“Steal?!” Feng Xuan looked angry. Ever since he started out, from a small Level Two fighter to the Level Six master of martial arts he was today, about to make the key step into the Level Seven Expert Realm, he had killed, but never stolen a single thing. All his life, the people he hated most were thieves. And yet, here was Zhou Bao telling him right to his face he was one. He was incensed.
“Touch a dragon’s scales and you will be killed. Don’t anger me!”
He bellowed, and the blade flashed, dazzling Zhou Bao.
“Clang!”
There was a sound of metal clas.h.i.+ng and sparks flew everywhere. Cutting into Zhou Bao’s forehead with the st.u.r.dy Pure Yang Celestial Device grade short blade was like cutting into an indestructible diamond. His body was shaken by a strong force. The blade flew back and smashed through a window on the second floor of the tavern, cras.h.i.+ng to the ground.
“Dragon? Hmph, what a joke. How could a person with your stupid face call himself a dragon? F*cking dragon scales? Who taught you that if you say a few words, you are suddenly invincible?”
“Who the h.e.l.l are you, anyway?” Feng Xuan knew that he had encountered a master of martial arts. His face grew severe. The short blade in his hand was a Pure Yang Celestial Device grade wizard weapon. He had used all his strength to hit this guy where it would hurt, yet it had been repelled away by him. What kind of power was this? How strong was this man? A normal expert could not reach this level of strength. Even a Level Nine expert who had developed a Real Body could not resist this type of Extreme Yang Level wizard weapon. Could this guy be an Individual Immortal?
If he was, then he must be one of the commanders of the Wuyang Region.
But he knew the Wuyang Region well, and he had never heard of there being such a commander here. Perhaps he was new here?
“Who am I? Why should I tell you, boy? You dare to create a scene with such little skill? And your dragon scales, did you know that in Wuyang Region the most worthless and least welcomed of all things are dragons? If you are indeed a dragon, then I give you two choices. One is to die here in Wuyang Region, the other is to leave and never come back!”
“Your Excellency, you have spoken a little too much!”
Although Feng Xuan was proud and skilled, he was not stupid. He knew that he was facing a psycho and could not hold his own. But he also didn’t want to lose his reputation or lose face. His body flashed, and once again he jumped onto the tavern building. “This is the Wuyang Region, you don’t have the final say here!”
“So you do know that this is the Wuyang Region? You have been getting more and more reckless and you will come to harm. Running your mouth and spouting nonsense in the Cloud Crane Tavern, one day you will reap what you sow. Why don’t you just stop now?”
“This is the Wuyang Region, not a bandit’s lair. It’s true when they say it’s a bit hostile, but it’s not a place where you can be convicted for your words!”
“Maybe not before, but it is now. What you say puts me in a bad mood, and because I am in a bad mood, scripture courses this year have been canceled!”
“What?!”
When Zhou Bao said this, everyone stared blankly. What did he mean?
Could he cancel the scriptures courses just like that? Who was this man?
“This weak and powerless boy is swearing at me in public, but it doesn’t matter. I will be generous and consider this an act of ignorance. I will spare him his life but will not condone what he says. I do not want to argue with him, so the Imperial Examination will be canceled instead to save trouble. That’s right, it’s not just scripture cla.s.ses in Wuyang Region, but in all of the Jin Dynasty. From now on they are completely canceled. The nonsense that spreads from sages of the School of Five Virtues and Mingyi School, and their books, they will all be eradicated from the Central Mainland Region. I didn’t want it to be this way, but what this boy said has made me very angry. I’ve made my decision, and no-one can oppose it!” Zhou Bao chuckled. He spoke these words so politely, like a cool breeze brus.h.i.+ng the face. But it blocked the path of every scholar who had been reading sacred books since they were little.
“You are King Wuyang!”
Feng Xuan looked again at his expression. His face sank, and in his eyes there was a glint of astonishment. He suddenly remembered rumors he heard about Zhou Bao at Jianghu. Could the King Wuyang, Zhou Bao, of these rumors be the man standing right in front of him? The guy wearing a green robe all day, in the guise of a scholar? Embarra.s.sing people for no reason, not letting you express your anger and stifling you? Was this the way it was now?
“Haha, I thought you would straight out say my name, boy! Come and find me at the king’s chamber tomorrow afternoon at twelve forty-five, and I’ll make a deal with you. And I’ve had enough of you, Zhu Ba, you b*stard. Get out of my sight!”
“Hehe, Your Royal Highness, I’m not in…”
“Did you not understand what I just said? From now on, scripture exams in the Wuyang Region and Jin are canceled. Pa.s.s this news on to my brother-in-law and tell him how it happened!”
“Yes, Your Royal Highness!”
Zhu Ba nodded at once. When he lifted his head again, Zhou Bao had already left, as if he had never been there in the first place. And the crowd in the Cloud Crane Tavern never looked at the scholar in the same way again.