The Prince of the World
Proofreader: Prof Zhu Yuan
As soon as Yan Li got off the carriage, a group of warriors of the prince mansion, who had just put off the armors and put on the blue samurai clothes, were guarding the prince. His royal highness almost lost his life in the a.s.sa.s.sination last time, so every guard of the Yan Li kept alerted to avoid any potential dangers.
Last time, Yan Li left the imperial palace with 80 warriors whose skills had been above Yuan realm.
Especially captain Liu Feng, a master of the Xuan realm. Unfortunately, last time when Li Li was a.s.sa.s.sinated, Liu was killed in order to protect him. Only forty two of the eighty guards had survived.
"It"s okay. You guys please back off. This is in the region of the Da Huang palace and no one would overdo it." Yan Li waved and said in a low and deep voice. In his eyes people could see his intention to kill.
Those who want to kill him were his uncles. Although Li Li was not the real one, he had to protect himself from those people if he would use Li Li"s ident.i.ty. What was more, he had to kill his uncles when it was necessary.
The experience in the previous life made Yan Li realize that if one wanted to live better, the first step was to be strong and the second was to be cruel to kill his enemy.
"Yes, Sir!"
The guards stepped back and surrounded the courtyard so that no one else could break in.
There were only seven days before the annual test day of the Palace. Once pa.s.sing the test, one could become an out-door disciple of the Palace.
In the Da Huang Palace, all the disciples are categorized into several levels. The first level is the out-door disciple and then is the in-door disciple, elite-disciple comes next and the highest level is the core disciple.
Different disciples enjoy different treatments.
Take the out-door disciple as an example, one would get ten vigor elements for free per month and a chance to select cla.s.sics for martial arts.
There are four things that are most important to a warrior: technique, skill, medicine, and weapon.
Everyone practiced martial arts in Tian Huang Land, but only the royal family members had the opportunity to learn the supreme skills and technique. That"s why many of the sons of the wealthy families were ambitious to learn in the big sect.
What was more, one who learned the skills in the sect was not allowed to teach the skills to others without the permissions of the sect; otherwise he would be expelled from and all his skills would be destroyed.
Yan Li had already known this before in his previous life.
Suddenly, he thought of a question which was crucial to him. Was Liang Chen, the out-door disciple he attached to in his previous life still alive in his rebirth in this life?
If he were alive, he would be Liang Chen or somebody else?
Thinking of this, he felt dizzy and had a headache. He then stepped in the room with a stroll. He called Wu Zhongmu to come aside and asked him to search for a disciple named Liang Chen in the Da Huang palace.
"Yes, Sir."
Wu answered without asking the reason for this search.
In the coming two days, Yan Li kept a low profile. He would not even come out of the yard except daily exercises. The town of Luoxia was bustling with noise and excitement as the test day was approaching.
"Your Royal Highness, I have got the news about Liang Chen." Wu Zhongmou replied with a weird facial expression.
"Really? What was going on?"
"According to my inquiry, Liang Chen was n.o.body but a clumsy disciple in the palace, and he died of falling off the cliff five days ago."
Wu Zhongmu was confused, and he could not understand the reason why his highness was asking him to investigate a c.r.a.p.
Yan Li said with complex expression in his eyes, "Ok, I know, thanks .And you could leave."
Yan Li could not help but have a long sigh after Wu left. His guess was almost right—he took the place of Liang Chen in the previous life but in this life Liang Chen would die without his replacement.
"Well,"
He made a living for a hundred years as Liang Chen. Now he felt sad since he knew Liang Chen"s death. Thinking of this ,Yan Li suddenly realized that perhaps the Mixed Yuan Cla.s.sic was closely related to his rebirth back to Tian Huang Land.
He nodded and decided to put it aside. Yan Li thought about the Mixed Yuan Cla.s.sic.
However, his improvements were little, for after exercises for several days his Mixed Yuan element still could not be the first level of the Lian Qi.
With this speed, it would take him many years to reach the power of the first level of Lian Qi. It seems that this G.o.d-cla.s.s skill would be the slowest one.
At the moment Yan felt annoyed and called Ling Er, planning to go for a walk.
"Your Highness, please allow me to go with you," Wu Zhongmu asked Yan Li, seeing him about to go.
Ok.
Yan Li nodded. Living for several centuries, he still looked young; however deep in heart he was fairly mature, filled with vicissitudes of life.
Walking in the street in Luoxia town, one felt the blowing hot noisy feeling, the street lined with many wine shops, pharmacies, blacksmith"s shops and so on.
Pa.s.sing by a blacksmith"s shop, Yan heard a sound of "Ding Dong" and came up with an idea. He remembered the moves of martial arts called "Taking-in void" in the first level of the Mixed Yuan Cla.s.sic. And he decided to buy a sword for his practice.
There are different levels of weapons in Tianhuang Land and they are normal weapons, magic weapons, spiritual weapons, secret weapons, the king-level weapons and the emperor-level weapons.
Many of the smiths can make all these normal weapons, but only the specialized smelters could make the magic weapons, spiritual weapons, secret weapons. As for the king-level weapons and the emperor-level weapons, even the smelters can"t forge them, because they were the weapons used by the king and the emperor.
Entering the blacksmith"s shop, an apprentice greeted him warmly, "Sir, can I help you?"
"Yes, I would like a fine steel sword." Yan Li nodded.
"This way please!"
Under the guidance of the apprentice, Yan Li and his warriors came in front of a wooden shelf, on which dozens of different-looking swords were placed, and even some of them were decorated with cat-eye gems, which looked gorgeous.
The apprentice picked up a sword with its hilt and sheath inlaid with gem. "Sir," he said, "This sword is well made, and it is inlaid with gem. It seems that you are from a wealthy family. Why not take this sword with you so that you may pa.s.s the test of the Da Huang palace."
Listening to the apprentice"s words, Yan Li was not impressed. Born into the royal family, he had seen all precious stones. What he wanted to buy was a practical sword rather than a art craft.
His look around the shelf and stayed focused on a long black iron sword at the bottom, which was primitive in shape and twice as thick as most of swords, with no blade or sheath.
"Show me that sword!" Yan Li pointed to the sword.
The apprentice was a little odd-looking, and picked up the black iron sword from the bottom. He seemed unhappy since he originally expected the customer to buy a refined sword. He did not expect the customer to be interested in a sc.r.a.p sword.
"Sir, the sword is not good in quality indeed. Why not change for a new one?
The apprentice reminded him, seeing that Yan Li seemed more interested in the iron sword and.
No, thanks. I have made up my mind and I will take this iron one. How much is it?" Yan Li shook his head and asked for this sword.
"Well," the apprentice hesitated, and at last could only mope and say, "This is a sc.r.a.p sword. Since you like it , I"ll sell it to you at a cheaper price, and please pay me 10 Liang."
Generally, a well refined sword will be around 100 to 150 Liang, and even the normal weapons will cost 30 to 50 Liang. So it was fair that the apprentice asked for 10 Liang for this sword.
"Uncle Wu."
"Yes , sir."
Uncle Wu pa.s.sed ten Liang to the apprentice. The currency in Tian Huang Land was silver and gold, which was similar to that of the ancient China.
The black iron sword was two feet in length and it was extremely heavy— at least 35 to 40 kilograms.
"The heavy sword was not sharp. And I will call you Wu Feng."
Yan Li said to himself. Although he did not see the peculiarity of the sword, he had a hunch that the sword was not a useless sword.
Ling Er grew up in the palace, so she was very curious about all the outer world. Thus Yan Li walked with her for a long time and bought some gadgets for her, which made the little girl excited.
An hour later, the three of them walked back to the courtyard.
Just stepping into the inn, Yan slightly wrinkled his eyebrow, and Wu Zhongmou was serious in look, and people could see something chilly in his eyes.
In front of the courtyard where Yan Li lived, a young man in black was bossily pointing to the two guards guarding the gate of the courtyard and shouting, "Today, I will leave the harsh words here today. No matter who lives here, you must make room for me!"
The two bodyguards had a faint look of anger on their faces, but kept Wu"s orders in a low profile. They kept in silence.
Seeing this, the young man in black raised his voice, for he thought the guards were frightened of him, "You two listen to me carefully. You"d better report to your master in a hurry. Be a little clever to leave, otherwise..."
"Or what do you want?" A sudden sound interrupted the man in black.
He turned around and saw a middle-aged man looking at him unfriendly.
Staring at by Wu, the man in black felt some pressure, but thinking of the people who supported him, he turned courageous again. He held his head high and said, "Hey, listen, Xiao Feng, The son from the Xiao Family on the south is interested in this courtyard, you"d better be a little clever."
"Get out!"
Wu Zhongmou interrupted him and didn"t give him the chance to go on saying.
"What the h.e.l.l! You asked me to get out! You bulls.h.i.+t!"
The man in black showed anger in his eyes, but he said and did nothing for he was frightened of Wu Zhongmou.
"The Xiao Family on the south!"
Something sharp flashed in his eyes. According to Li Li"s memory, his second aunt, the wife of the second prince Li Chengzong was exactly the daughter of the Xiao Family.
Among the princes, the second prince Li Chengzong, the fourth prince Li Yuanxun and the eighth prince Li Xuanji made the highest appeal, who were most likely to replace Li Wuming to be the new prince.
The a.s.sa.s.sination of Li Li almost killed him. And the three princes mentioned above were the most suspected. Xiao Feng should be younger generation of the Xiao Family. His behavior this time to seize his courtyard, was unintentional, or on purpose, which was worth taking into consideration.
"Who dares not give me the face of Xiao Feng?"
Just then, some one said this in an arrogant way.
Yan Li looked up and saw a handsome young man in purple stepping forward with a group of warriors.