Simply Trading

This was, however, only the att.i.tude of those Sects and Schools with a medium to lower prominence. The more powerful ones already had more influential disciples of their own, and there were even some who had close ties with some of the Royal Families of the Lesser Kingdoms, there to the West of the Empire. Such as ...

"You should have heard of some of the more prominent ones, there in the North, haven"t you? Like Snow Swallow Palace? Or ..."

Lin Liushui"s groan interrupted Du Yan"s words at this point. And made the tough-looking fellow flinch visibly, as he suddenly remembered that his handsome, studious-looking companion had issues with the Snow Swallow Palace that he had just mentioned. That was enough to make him stop, and shoot an apologetic glance at Lin Liushui.

The scholarly fellow forced a smile, but it was clear that he was less than pleased to be reminded of his beloved. But he waved Du Yan"s apology aside, nonetheless. His look, however, made it rather clear that he did not wish to make an issue out of it. Especially in front of Qin Feng.

Which reminded Du Yan that the younger man was a former member of the Heaven Sword School. Wasn"t that where Lin Liushui"s beloved grew up? What was her name again? Du Yan could not remember it offhand, and it frustrated him a little, when his memory failed him. But he had been warned not to speak further on the subject, so he simply went back to his original topic, although he was careful not to mention the Snow Swallow Palace by name again.

Then Du Yan turned to glance at the younger man. There was the chance that he would ask after the matter, and wondered if he should signal Qin Feng to leave the matter alone. After all, he was from the Heaven Sword School, so he might start asking for the girl"s name. Which could lead to a whole lengthy session of complaints and curses from Lin Liushui!

But thankfully, Qin Feng was astute enough to realize that something was not altogether right with the handsome man, and so made no mention of the Sect as well.

"Well, suffice to say, there are certain Sects and Schools that are very powerful and has a certain influence, even in the Empire, in the North. Unlike this stretch here, which only has a handful of prominent families and three Martial Schools of any particular influence. By that, I mean Martial Sects that are known only here in this Kingdom.

"Your Heaven Sword School, for example, is merely a Martial School whose power only covers the Western and Southern Reaches of the Kingdom. Just as my Du Family is only influential hereabouts."

He turned then, and pointed a finger at the still morose Lin Liushui, and offered the handsome fellow a smile. His words, however, were spoken to Qin Feng, all the same:

"Unlike our friend here. Brother Liushui"s family is rather wide-spread, and has some influence in most of our neighbors to the North and East. By that, I referring to the Kingdoms and the Empire in those directions, and not the petty neighboring n.o.bles to our esteemed Duke of the Westlands."

Lin Liushui forced a smile then, although Du Yan could see that his praise had managed to raise the good-looking man"s spirits a little. Probably because it gave him an excuse to poke fun at some of his more arrogant relations?

"Don"t be too annoyed with Brother Yan here, Brother Feng. He has a propensity to make fun of me and my family, and I have had to pull his fat out of the fire, every time that he offends one of my obscure cousins from the distaff lines. But what he says is more or less true. My family does have a rather large sphere of influence. That is due to the fact that my great-great-great grandfather had many children, and had spread them out over the Kingdoms, binding them to this family or that by marriage.

"So you should not be too surprised if you were to meet one of my distant cousins here and there, while you travel the Kingdoms. Just try not to be too annoyed with those idiots. Honestly, I have always found the whole lot of them far too arrogant and too ignorant. How did they manage to convince their fathers to let them wander the World, I would like to know."
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Qin Feng managed a weak smile back at Lin Liushui at that. While Du Yan secretly smiled to himself. He had been with Brother Liushui for almost two years now, so it was no surprise that he had learned what sort of b.u.t.tons to push, to get the handsome man to react in the way that he wished. Of course, he did make mistakes from time to time, like that mention of the Snow Swallow Palace earlier.

Still, he had to confess that he had almost forgotten about the heartbreak that Lin Liushui had to endure, less than a year ago, when his beloved was pressed into the Snow Swallow Palace by her father. Lin Liushui would take a good bit of time to get over that, he was certain.

Du Yan decided that it was time to rejoin the conversation, and Lin Liushui"s warning about his distant cousins did leave him an opening to change the subject:

"Well, I doubt that they would bother to come all the way here, to trouble you, Brother Liushui. Especially not with Li Changhai and his father tightening up the security here in Yanyun City. Quite honestly, I did not expect Fatty Zhou to have it in him, to attack us out in the open like this. That seems a little out of character for him."

To Du Yan"s surprise, Qin Feng gave out a soft grunting sound as soon as he heard that. "I would be surprised if he was constantly biting people out in the open, rather than just picking on our Ducal Prince. From what I had experienced, he seems to be rather confident in his skills. Otherwise, he would not have picked a fight with me here in the Ducal Palace."

Lin Liushui nodded gravely, as he glanced at the big, brawny fellow at his side. "That is true. And he had always behaved himself in public, in the past. I mean, when he is out and about in the City. Regardless of whether he was accompanying the Ducal Princess. I mean, the former Ducal Princess."

Du Yan found himself agreeing with that immediately. If he had, this attack would not have been as great a surprise, he had to admit. Then a thought struck him, causing him to cry out at once:

"Perhaps that was why he restricted himself to the people in the Palace, rather than anyone and everyone in the City. For one thing, he would not open himself to attracting the attention of a true expert. And for another, he might have been gathering information on the people within the Palace itself!"

The pair seated on either side of him gave out a grunt the moment that he finished, and Qin Feng"s brow tightened in a deep frown. Even as Lin Liushui gave voice to the same thought that had surely crossed the trio"s minds:

"In that case ... Since he was finally driven to act ... Could something had changed significantly for him to make such a drastic move?"

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